NEW![GACHIAKUTA] Talking Shop with Kei Urana – Part 2

Interviews #GACHIAKUTA #Kei Urana August 26, 2026

This article was originally published on September 20, 2025.

Welcome back to part 2 of this interview with Kei Urana! If you missed it, you can catch part 1 here!

Point 2 – First impressions matter most!

――The bad guys in GACHIAKUTA are really distinctive and full of character. What did you decide on first when coming up with them?

The design. When I’m coming up with the bad guys, I use the teams from Pokémon as a reference. When you look at those characters, their appearance lets you know immediately which team they belong to, right? I think that both the characters themselves and their uniforms are very well designed. For GACHIAKUTA, I keep in mind that I want their affiliation to be really obvious from their design.

――What do you focus on when drawing the Raiders?

The shadows on their faces, and their eyes. It’s easiest to tell with Zodyl from the Raiders, but I put a lot of shadows on their faces, and as the story continues, they get darker [laughs]. For the eyes, I try to draw them so their gaze isn’t focused on anything, to make it hard for the reader to imagine what they’re looking at or what they’re thinking.

――How do you come up with the Vital Instruments the characters use to fight with?

First, when I’m deciding what the item will be, I want it to be something the readers are familiar with. Something that they’ve had before, or seen before. Also, I make a really focused effort not to make them look like things intended for violence from the beginning, like guns or swords.

From there, I think about a design and power that fits the character that will be using that vital instrument. Usually, when I design the Vital Instrument’s weapon form, I think about the character’s personality and how it will be used, then I kind of wing it as I draw. For example, Follo’s Vital Instrument has tubes on it, which are designed to show that the power of his emotions runs through them. Even if two characters use hammers, their minds and personalities are different, so the designs and abilities will be different.

▲Leader of the Raiders, Zodyl. The shadows on his face and his gaze tell you all you need to know.

▲Follo and his Vital Instrument.

Point 3 – Powerful enemies should have aura

――The trash beasts that Rudo and the Cleaners are tasked with eradicating also add more flavor to the world of GACHIAKUTA. They’re incredibly realistic and have a strong impact, but what do you focus on when drawing them?

No matter what type of trash beast I’m drawing, I try to get across how difficult it is to read whether or not they have any emotions. I also make sure to include some white plastic parts in the design. At the same time, I try to give them some individuality. For example, the trash that makes up the trash beasts differs depending on the habitat. For places like the highway, I included car and motorbike parts, signboards and so in in the beasts.

――How do you convey the different strength levels of the trash beasts to the readers?

The stronger the beast, the more weight and presence I try to give them. If they’re small but powerful, they’d definitely give off a strong aura, so I use the art and story developments to add more weight to those moments.

▲A cat-like trash beast that appears on the highway, featuring motorbike parts.

Point 4 – Big personalities

――We’ve talked about the design for the antagonists thus far, but what about their personalities?

For me, a lot of my characters come from my own emotions. From that base, their personalities gradually get fleshed out. For example – this is a little TMI, but – Jabber from the Raiders came about from the feeling I got when I had diarrhea. There was this one time; it was so rough to go through, but somehow I ended up laughing like “I might as well enjoy it, wahayyyy!” [laughs] He was born from that feeling, but his character gradually got more fleshed out as I thought about what other things he would enjoy or parts of things he would enjoy.

Point 5 – Antagonists are not necessarily evil

――When you’re drawing the antagonists, is there anything you focus on with their personalities to differentiate them from the main cast’s allies?

I try to show them not as purely evil villains, but as entities whose values are fundamentally incompatible with the protagonist. Actually, so far in GACHIAKUTA, there haven’t really been any “pure evil” characters yet. For example, the leader of the Raiders, Zodyl, and Rudo have a lot of circumstances in common. But the people around them have affected their thoughts and their sense of justice, so they’ve ended up as characters on opposing sides. So I think it’s really important to dig deeper into each of their backgrounds to find out what made them this way, and what points of contention there are with the main characters.

――The way the Raiders speak is also pretty distinctive. Is there anything you keep in mind while writing their lines?

I don’t pay special attention to anything just because they’re the Raiders, but I do think about what kind of pressure the main cast or I would find most uncomfortable when coming up with their lines.

Point 6 – When you hit the wall, have fun!

――Thank you for answering all our questions so far! Finally, could you leave some words for any aspiring manga artists?

Have fun with your work! I hope you can enjoy what you do, keep the stress to a minimum, and freely draw what you want!

――Speaking of stress, what do you do when you feel like you’ve hit a wall?

When I was still a rookie, whenever I felt like the strfess had built up, I would go and have fun. People might think it’s not the best thing to slack off when they hear that, but I think there are ideas that can only come from those times you’re enjoying yourself. Like when you’re playing games, your brain is thinking about something different, so you might end up thinking of the kind of manga you want to draw or the kind of story you want to see in the world.

I think other artists might have some better advice for you, but for me, the more I have fun, the more I draw [laughs].