Noda Juju is a prodigy in the racing circuit and has gained an immense following over the years due to her popularity as a race car driver in Japan. She started to drive small cars when she was 3-years old and gradually began competing against adults in tournaments. She was 14 years old when she won her debut race at Danish F4 in June of 2020. She made headlines in the Formula 4 division in Europe and is currently practicing for the 2022 W-Series in Spain; her dream is to one day become the first woman to win Formula 1. Aside from that, she’s just a regular 16-year-old trying to juggle school and her English classes. When she met manga creator, Inuwashi in 2021, she was excited at the idea of adapting her story into a manga series on YouTube.
Inuwashi is a veteran manga creator who has worked as an assistant for other artists in the past. When Noda and Inuwashi sat down to talk about the series, Noda felt she could trust Inuwashi with her story and hopes it can be an inspiration to other girls that want to compete in male dominated sports.
Noda was introduced to racing by watching her father, Noda Hideki, compete in prestigious racing categories such as Formula 1 (F1) and 24 Hours of Le Mans. Noda Hideki opened his own non-profit organization called “Noda Racing Academy” and has been mentoring his daughter in her racing career.
Questions for Noda Juju
Do you have any favorite anime or manga?
特に好きな漫画やアニメはありますか？
Haikyu!! is my favorite manga because the art and the story is so good. Out of all the characters, Kita Shinsuke is my favorite because he tries his very best and wants to succeed in life.
ハイキューの画と内容にとても魅かれています。北信介さんの漫画に対する考え方に共感を得ます。
How did you meet Inuwashi and what made you accept adapting a video comic series based on your racing journey?
いぬわしさんとはどういう切っ掛けでレースのビデオコミックを作ることに？
I met her through my friend who recommended making my story into a manga. I like Inuwashi’s imagination and I felt she was the right person who could adapt my racing experiences to manga readers.
いぬわしさんは、共通の友人を通して知り合いました。いぬわしさんの想像力はきっと私のレースの経験をしっかり表現してくれると感じました。
Did you have any concerns about your story as a racer being adapted into comic form? Do you think Inuwashi did a good job adapting it?
レーサーとしてのお話をコミック化することに特にきにしたことはありますか？いぬわしさんはうまく描けたでしょうか？
She made it somewhat close to reality and it’s very detailed. Inuwashi did a good job balancing the realistic aspects and making it entertaining without deviating too much from the truth.
すごくリアルでありながら、時に漫画らしくバランスの取れた内容にして頂けたと思っております。
You’ve grown up watching your father, Noda Hideki, in several racing competitions. I imagine the exhilaration of watching these races motivated you to start your own journey as a professional racer. How does he continue to influence you and your career?
父の野田英樹のレースを見ながら育ちましたが、自分もレーサーとしてのキャリアを始めるときに感動と動機あたえたでしょう。彼は今どのようにあなたを影響していますか？
Since I was so young, I don’t remember his racing career very well, but I remember that he was really fast and had a lot of fans. I also told him that I was going to be a professional race car driver like him when I was 5-years old. He teaches me a lot of things about racing and isn’t a typical father. He has a lot of experience and I am really proud of him.
よく覚えていませんが、たくさんのファンに囲まれて、レースでは速くてかっこよかった記憶はあります。それを見て私が５歳の時に父にプロのレーサーになるって伝えました。
沢山のレースでの必要なことを教えてくれます。ふつうの父ではないと感じます。父の事を尊敬しています。
What are some of the challenges you face being a girl in a male dominated sport?
男性の多いこのスポーツでは女性としてどのようなハードルがありますか？
They don’t want to lose against females and sometimes they are too aggressive towards me. I believe it is not a matter of being male or female. The sport is a sport and has to be fair. The other problem that I may have to face in the near future is dealing with my physical strength.
よほど女性に負けたくないんだなって感じます。時々あからさまに対抗意識をむき出しにしてきます。私にとっては男性も女性も関係ないと思います。スポーツはフェアでなくてはなりません。女性が男性に交じって戦わなければならない事の難しい点は、身体的に基礎体力が違う問うことです。これに関してはルールを見直すべきだと考えます。
Usually, males have more physical strength and in order to keep up with them, women have to train much harder than them to meet the physical standards required in racing.
通常常識では男性は女性よりも力もあれば体力面で優れています。女性がそれと同等の体力を身に着けようと思うと男性よりもはるかにたくさんの努力が必要となります。
This also becomes a problem when dealing with the total weight of the car. For example, when you combine your weight and the car’s weight, the car becomes too heavy. Since females have less muscle mass than men we need to have more ballasts (a heavy material placed below the car) on our cars. However, men have less ballasts on their cars because they have more muscle mass. I don’t believe this is fair and I think the racing regulations need to be reconsidered to make it more equal.
これはレース車両の最低重量の問題にかかわります。自身の体重と車の重さを合わせると車が重すぎる事になります。女性は男性に比べて基本的に体重が軽いので車両にバラストを付け加えますが男性の場合はその錘の変わりに自身の筋肉の重さでまかなえます。これは同一条件とは思えません。レースの規則をより平等にするために見直しが必要だと思います。
How do you deal with your fame at such a young age and what motivates you to keep going?
とてもお若いですが、あなたはどのように名利を対応していますか？なにがあなたを励ましますか？
I really appreciate my fans cheering me on and I feel really motivated that so many people are following my racing career. Racing is my true calling in life and I love that I am able to follow my dreams. I feel so comfortable when I am driving a race car.
ファンの皆さんに支えられ、たくさんの方々に励ましていただき、元気を頂いております。レースをする事は私の自然な姿であり、夢を終えることはとても幸せであると感じております。とにかくレースをしている時が、一番自分らしさを表現できる瞬間だと思っています。
What are your personal goals for your racing career?
個人的にレーサーとしての目標は？
I would love to participate in the Formula 1, Indycar and Formula E, but for now I do the best that I can and people around me decide when and where I’ll end up driving next.
将来 はインディ、フォーミュラEなどで戦えることは素晴らしいと思います。でも今は与えられた環境の中でベストを尽くし、その状況に応じて、自ずとやるべきものが見えてくると信じています。
The fact you are competing in these races is breaking barriers for other girls that might want to become professional racers. What advice would you give them?
レーサーとして活躍することにより他のレーサー志願の女性へ希望を与えていますが、彼女等へのアドバイスは？
If you want to achieve something, believe in yourself, be confident and never give up. Most of the time you will face difficulties, but if you try again and again, one day you will end up winning. Maybe you might not win a competition, but you will end up winning in life.
自身で信じた何かを達成するには、自信をもって諦めないという気持ちが大切だと思います。いろいろな場面で、問題や壁に直面するでしょう。負けても負けてもあきらめないという気持ちをもってすれば、最後に勝つのはあなた自身です。試合では勝てない時があるかもしれません、しかしながら人生の勝者になる事が重要だと思います。
The fact that your life has been adapted into a comic is amazing. What are other projects you want to work on in the future?
レーサーとしての物語をコミック化されただけでも凄いですが、今後その他にやりたい事などありますか？
My dream is to open a shelter for rescued animals. I appreciate animals as they give me so much energy and joy.
夢は、動物の保護施設を作ることです。動物たちが私に与えてくれる勇気や癒しは、とても大きな原動力につながっています。
Questions for Inuwashi
What inspired you to start drawing manga?
漫画を描くきっかけは？
There was a forum where you could serialize your own comics online. I was inspired by those authors to start serializing my own comics.
WEB上に漫画を連載投稿できるお絵かき掲示板があり、そこで活動している作家に触発され、漫画の連載を始めました
Who are the manga artists you look up to?
特に敬意をもつ漫画家などは？
That would be Ajichika, the author of “Record of Ragnarok.”
「終末のワルキューレ」の作画をしているアジチカ先生です。
What is your creative process like?
どのように作品に取り掛かりますか？
Usually, I draw inspiration from manga, games, or movies. I would write about them over social media or talk about it with friends to develop stories.
漫画やゲーム、映画などで湧いたインスピレーションをSNSに書き込んだり、友人に話したりして話を作り込み、漫画を描くことが多いです。
How did you come to work with Noda Juju?
どのような切っ掛けにより野田樹潤とお仕事をすることに？
I got the offer to do the comic about Noda Juju from my editor at Comic Zenon.
コミックゼノン編集部の担当さんから野田jujuさんの仕事の話を頂きました。
What inspired you to adapt Noda Juju’s racing career into a mini-video comic series?
野田jujuのレーサーとしてのキャリアを漫画化することに特に引かれた点などは？
Seeing a girl younger than me taking on the world gave me strength. It fills me with a desire to succeed as a manga artist myself.
自分も年下の少女が力強く世界に挑戦していく様を見て、勇気をもらいました。私も漫画家として活躍したい気持ちに満ちています。
You’ve worked as an assistant to artists for a while, what was it like to work on the short YouTube comic series about Noda Juju racing journey for the first time?
長い間アシスタントとして活動していましたが、野田jujuについてのビデオ漫画をYouTubeで掲載できた感想は？
I had some concerns since there were a lot of firsts for me, but it was an irreplaceable experience. The artist I assist gave me words of encouragement and some time off. Friends also helped by being my assistants. A lot of people helped me out. I couldn’t do this alone. It was my first time drawing racing scenes, but it was a novel experience and interesting to do.
初めてのことが多く不安もありましたが、かけがえのない経験になりました。 アシスタント先の先生から励ましの言葉とともに仕事のお休みを頂いたり、友人たちにアシスタントに入ってもらったりして、多くの人に助けられました。私一人では完成させられませんでした。レーシングの作画は初めてでしたが、新鮮味があって面白かったです。
What was it like working with Noda Juju on this series? Was adapting her life into a comic difficult in any way?
野田jujuさんとのお仕事はどうでしたか？彼女の人生を漫画に描くのに特に難しいところはありましたか？
I was surprised by how courteous Ms. Juju was when we met. Having seen that, I felt charged to draw a manga that matches the quality of her character.
One difficult aspect of comicalizing her experience was figuring out the flow of the comic to keep it commercially viable. I’m usually a doujin author and self-publish my manga. While I’ve enjoyed creative freedom up until now, this is a commercial product and I was told to make some general edits to the comics. (i.e. I was told some expressions I drew were too extreme)
jujuさんとお話させて頂いて、彼女の芯の通った礼儀正しい話し方に驚きました。その姿を見て、私もクオリティの高い漫画を描かなければいけないと気合が入りました。
コミカライズで難しかったのは、どこまでが商業として受け入れられるラインなのかの判断です。普段は私は同人作家として自費出版で漫画を描いています。今までは自由に書けたものでも、今回は商業なので一般的な表現に修正する作業が入りました。（パワフルすぎる表情など）
Were you a fan of racing before you met Noda Juju? If not, how do you feel about it now?
野田jujuに会うまえはレーシングに興味はありましたか？無かったなら、今はどうですか？
To tell you the truth, I had never even watched a car race until taking on this job. That’s why this felt so novel to me. It was exciting to touch upon a world I knew nothing about. I do one day wish to see Ms. Juju race in person.
実は今回の仕事をするまで、カーレースを見たことがありませんでした。だからこそ新鮮味が強く、初めて触れる世界に胸が高鳴りました。
いつかjujuさんのレースを生で見てみたいです。
What do you think about women in racing and what does Noda Juju’s story mean to them? After having worked on the comic, do you think your perspective has changed?
女性レーサーについての意見はいかがでしょうか、野田jujuは彼女らにとってどういう存在でしょうか。その意見はこの作品を描いた後どのように変わりましたか？
I think it’s great to give anyone an opportunity to rise up to a challenge. I think she is lending encouragement to many women by not only claiming her own stake in a place dominated by men, but doing so at such a young age. By taking on this job, I have developed a further sense of appreciation for female characters. I feel like I can now draw even better women characters than ever before.
誰にでも物事に挑戦する機会が与えられるのは、素晴らしいことだと感じます。
男性が多い場所に女性が、しかも年若い少女が切り込んでいく姿は、多くの女性に勇気を与えてくれます。
この仕事をしたことで、私が女性キャラクターに感じる魅力が増しました。以前より素敵な女性キャラクターを描けるようになった気がします。
Now that you finished the video comic series, what’s next for you? Do you have any other projects planned?
この企画が終わったいま、次の予定は？他の企画などはありますか？
I can’t talk about it, but I got a new job offer after I finished drawing Ms. Juju’s manga. I am currently putting my all into that job. In working on Ms. Juju’s manga, a whole new world has opened up for me.
内容はまだ秘密ですが、jujuさんの漫画を描いた後に、再び別の仕事を頂きました。
今はその仕事に全力を出しています。jujuさんの漫画を描いたことで、新しい世界が広がってきています。
Where can people follow you to support your work?
今後の活動はどこで拝見できるでしょうか。
I’m working with the Zenon editorial department to get published in Monthly Comic Zenon and its website as well. I would appreciate it, if you could check them out.
月刊コミックゼノンやWEBのゼノン編集部に作品を載せて頂けるように努力中です。
そちらもチェックして頂けたら嬉しいです。
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