Writing influences as a professional writer who sucks at reading
Despite working as a writer, I didn't read any non-comic books until late last year. My biggest influences are mostly manga and online articles as a result.
1. Comedic tearjerkers
Oresama Teacher, Gintama, Yakuza, Silver Spoon, Barakamon, Arakawa Under the Bridge
I love funny things, but I love them more when they're combined with drama. These series are all so over-the-top hilarious while having incredibly serious moments at the same time—yet they still throw in jokes at those serious moments.
My favorite is, of course, Oresama Teacher. It's the easiest to draw comparisons with since the author also writes Monthly Girls Nozaki-kun, another comedy manga with a similar high school setting. I like Nozaki-kun, but it's a slice-of-life gag manga through and through with little underlying plot to feel for. Oresama Teacher seems like that at first but, starting from the 9th volume, has a much more structured story beat where you learn more about the protagonists and antagonists across full arcs, often culminating with a tearful scene for both the characters and the reader. You'll already be crying from laughter before that though.
Gintama also has quite a direct comparison in Sket Dance. The two manga are very similar, but Sket Dance approaches its 'serious' chapters with the tone you'd expect for the topic. This makes the serious chapters feel incongruent because in other chapters the characters are training for an ancient Chinese ball game or randomly depicted as ninjas. In Gintama, chapters dealing with serious topics are still silly and funny as fuck and that's what I love.
Similar to Sket Dance, Yakuza clearly splits the serious and the hilarious. It feels less out of place since it's a video game—the funny moments are essentially optional. At most, Yakuza suffers from a general gaming phenomenon where the player can embark on side quests catching chickens while the main plot line has the dragon about to eat the princess.
Silver Spoon always stands out to me for how it treated the main character's pig.
The massive influence of these series on my mindset has led to an issue where I can't take myself seriously and feel so often self-conscious. At the same time, it's given me a good outlook on life where I can find a funny story in almost anything negative and keep myself amused and happy. Like yeah, it sucks I was mentally a NEET for 24 years (depsite being employed and/or in school for all those years), but isn't it funnier to be a long-term NEET character who finally becomes outgoing?
When it comes to writing, I try to employ the same energy in my comics, but I struggle with writing serious scenes so I just feel cringe about it.
2. Local news media but make it funny
Soranews24, New Zealand Today, The Spinoff, Buzzfeed Worth It
I love writing about local travel and fun things and I love reading about it too! It's all about the beauty in the mundane.
I like that the writers of Soranews24 don't just cover new topics, but also niche restaurants and stores that they randomly stumble upon. It aligns with my view that everything has an interesting story to tell, as well as that everything should be accessibly archived—in many cases, SN24 is the only English record of Japanese establishments. They have a couple of ongoing series such as Hey, Taxi Driver! which covers local food recommendations from the people who'd know it best.
The writers are really personalities in of themselves. It feels a bit like the golden age of Buzzfeed videos in written form, though most SN24 writers are much more lowkey. You discover small parts of their lives and personalities through informative articles about Japan, and through years of reading grow attached to Mr. Sato who pole dances as a middle-aged man and struggles to take compliments or P.K Sanjun who dubs background character roles in MCU films and spoke about his experience as a Zainichi Korean. My favorite SN24 writer is actually Charles, a Kenyan taxi driver who reviews hot chip stores.
The significance of New Zealand Today is explained by its own successor New Zealand Tomorrow, which partially focuses on the meta topic of the state of media in New Zealand that has led to a Guy Williams, a comedian, becoming one of the country's favorite journalists.
Yet as much as Guy denied/s his role as a journalist, I don't know what else you could call it. Sure he's doing it for a laugh, but he is actually going out on field and doing interviews to find answers to insignificant small-town stuff. And when he uses his platform for important topics, it just shows the role of comedy in making news media memorable. 1
I've seen Guy live a couple of times now, the first time being at his New Zealand Comedy Festival 2025 show. He vented his very real frustration about his ex-girlfriend potentially being set up by his dad to be the target of a national media blasting in the most hilarious way possible. At the time I watched it, I had been going through a rough period where I doubted the healthiness of my tendency to find humor in everything, but the show reaffirmed my way of living. You need comedy to cope with life.
The Spinoff is an actual news organization that has current events articles, opinion pieces, and a high-quality version of Buzzfeed listicles. It's a lot more opinionated that NZT and SN24, despite the fact that the writers don't insert themselves in the story as much—I think because of their legitimacy as news media, there's a lot more 'telling it as it is' in their tone of voice, which makes stories like A parlimentary fashion report card and One man's search for meaning (and free stuff) at an Ikea housewarming party much more amusing.
3. Education through entertainment
Oishinbo, Black Jack, Master Keaton, Kounodori, Moyashimon, Thermae Romae
Real topics with an engaging, interesting storyline—edutainment manga is a lifesaver for my generation that doesn't read actual books.
Many of these manga aren't edutainment in a typical sense, but just by taking place in a real life setting outside of the stereotypical Japanese high school environment, they introduce the reader to concepts and realities that they might not have heard of before.
I'm drawn to the trifecta of Oishinbo, Black Jack, and Master Keaton in particular. These series are more self-contained and episodic, being much more approachable in that you can jump in anytime without losing out on too much. Admittedly I also just relate to the solitary attitude of the main characters.
Of these three, Oishinbo has left the biggest impression on me writing-wise. It's an incredibly long-running cooking manga, and to me, its lack of spectacle is its appeal. The artwork is terribly plain and the dishes are often real-world foods that everyone in Japan eats. So unlike Shokugeki no Soma or Yakitate Japan, which invent beautiful food and have gorgeous artwork and crazy character reactions, Oishinbo relies on writing to convey how delicious ordinary meals are—both in the description of the food itself and how characters the characters eat them.
Again, it brings out the beauty in the mundane. I love it a lot because my favorite foods aren't anything special either. The $5 tub of ika mata at the fish market is the most delicious thing in the world. The texture of raw fish feels like red meat without the heaviness that so often makes it unappetizing. Sour lemon and sweet coconut milk with the slightly stinging chives create the perfect combo chilled and submerged in a bowl of freshly steamed white rice.
But you can't get too descriptive with food descriptions or it sounds like generic AI slop. That's what I'm trying to balance—how to be engaging without sounding fluffy. More generally, the subtlety of normality. I want to write without sounding heavy-handed, especially as I explore using writing to promote ideals I believe in (just stuff like sort out your rubbish properly! Go vote! etc.)2
If I had time, I'd do it through comic or video game form, but for now I hope my blog writing is entertaining enough that you'll listen.
EX. Shigesato Itoi
I'm a marketing copywriter despite aiming to work in gamedev, so Itoi is the obvious choice for developers I look up to.
I adore Earthbound and Mother 3. Mother 3 has a very tight story and setting and dare I say is a perfect game. But I still love Earthbound more—its contemporary-fantasy setting and amusing absurdity is just much closer to my personal preferences. Funny and heartwarming! I'll say it again.
Itoi's actual copywriting work is the opposite to what I do in the SEO business, but I love it as well. Writing should be succinct and capture you in an instant.
The writing I love is a reflection of myself
I always knew I liked comedy and real-life stories before, but I didn't realize just how much my tastes sum up to 'making the most of the simple things in life'. It's a necessary mindset to have when you're like me and unable to properly exist IRL 'til your mid-20s. In between, that time you experience in 'reality' needs to be entertaining for life to be worth living.
But it is, in general, a good way to see the world as well. You can appreciate the world even when you fail to meet your aspirations and more easily engage with others when you believe that everyone has an interesting story to tell—so often, it's just how it's framed.3
When writing about my thoughts, I have a habit of spiraling and making myself feel worse. To prevent this, I don't journal privately. I publicly share most of my long-form writing, so I want what I write to be what I find worth rereading. This blog, then, has become my own way of sharing my reality of things that interest me—and make me laugh!
John Oliver could be another example of this, but he's just the 'newscaster' rather than the 'journalist'.↩
One of the first manga I ever read as a kid was Leave it to PET! which had a large impression on my ecological sensibilities. But in Japan, they just incinerate plastic bottles and consider that recycling for energy so...↩
This is an approach I take with art as well. So much of my layout exploration in the zines I run was an experiment in how framing affects the way single work was viewed when part of a whole piece of art.↩