any chance there will be more sakana in the near future? I miss Yuudai lol. My brain supplies "Are you shitting me Jiro!?" anytime something goes wrong at work and I ahve to take an escalation even tho Jiro is not there and not to blame.
Hey, yes! Sakana has never been abandoned, no matter how often I go on hiatus. The truth is that Sakana has the unfortunate distinction of being my first long-format comic that I started when I was 20 years old, back when I had no idea what I was doing and had a very unhealthy relationship to work. I'm 36 now, and I have needed to put it down every now and then.
The SHORT-TERM answer, is that my partner and I have been in the process of moving and finding a new place to live for the last 6 months! We've been jumping around between relatives' houses in different states and have finally decided to head out west to LA for the time being. Sakana is the only comic I still make traditionally on enormous Bristol sheets, and I just haven't had the space or access to my materials that I need to work on it!
The MEDIUM-TERM answer, is that I'm trying to make the full-time jump from comics to the game's industry, which is ALSO notoriously brutal lol. I've been fortunate enough to find a contract job for the past year and a half, but that's currently on pause while the company tries to secure funding for the game. If it does, I can continue working with the same company! And if it doesn't, I'm concerned about finding a new job, just like everyone else! In the meantime, I've been plowing through a new idea (evil wizards!!!) that has lots of farming and fighting and magic and a bunch of gross stuff that Sakana, by its nature, doesn't allow me to draw very often. (And that's obviously why I've taken breaks to work on Robber/Robert too lol.) I'll have to shift into portfolio mode if the job uncertainty drags on for too long, but I wanted to give myself a month or two to make something I'm currently excited about.
There are, of course, cinematic parallels...Look, I said it was gross, ok.
LONG TERM--of course Sakana will be finished! It's over 650 pages long and, GOD WILLING, it will be complete around 800-850. Less than 200 pages! Only 6 more chapters!! (I think???!!!) I would prefer not to do comics as my full-time career any more, but completing it would be a huge win for my own satisfaction, and for all the wonderful fans, like yourself, who have stuck around all these years!
Very sorry to post barf on your kind and thoughtful ask. Thank you again for all the support 🥲❤️🐟🪱
