Interview with Pixiv President Takahiro Takatoshi

I believe that more and more anime fans are now aware of a Japanese website called "pixiv". With 11 million users and 3.8 billion hits per month, the site is one of the most recognizable brands among ACG websites. And on the website, you can not only post illustrations, but also comics, novels, and other content, which is a heavenly place for those who like to create. So, why has this site been able to gain the reach it has today? Recently, some Japanese media conducted an exclusive interview with Pixiv's president, Takaken Katagiri, and learned from him about the charm of Station P.

Q: pixiv is a website that is popular with people of all ages, regardless of gender. Tell us about the concept of this website?

Katagiri: On pixiv, illustrators and people who like to draw can post their work and upload it through guò, so they can communicate with other users, so it also serves as a social networking site. In terms of management policy, we will make each element of things undifferentiated. For example, we will not completely separate secondary creations from original works, nor will we divide users into "readers" and "authors".

Q: In other words, Station P has the attribute of socializing, whether it is a user who comes to see casually, or a user who regards Station P as a part of his life, he can freely socialize here.

Katagiri: When we provide online services, we need to provide a platform with breadth, so that we can't define the website as a place that only deep fans can understand. We try our best to avoid the use of technical terms and jargon, and take care to provide you with an easy-to-understand service.

Q: On the other hand, Station P now has a function to link up with doujinshi sales meetings, and there is also a "BOOTH" network that can sell goods and books. In this way, you are also supporting the development of doujin activities.

Katagiri: I feel that this is the case, but it just seems that this is the case. After all, the user layer that uses station P actually overlaps with the people who engage in homo activities. Since we provide some of the services that our users need, it is only natural that we will add some services to support fandom activities. In this way, Tongguò provides such a service, and we are able to have a "coexistence" with the so-called "comiket culture", which is what I would like to see. This mentality is not only for Comiket, but also for copyright owners such as publishers. In order not to make them feel that Station P is an "enemy who operates in the shadows and may threaten the interests of the industry", we have to build a good relationship with them.

Q: Since the issue of copyright has been mentioned, it is true that secondary creation also belongs to the gray industry in a sense. In this way, a social networking site that concentrates a large number of secondary works is often prone to give people a very suspicious feeling. What do you do to prevent this from happening?

Katagiri: That's a problem. In 2007, when we first started operating Station P, I remember that we had two directions. Either as a sideline website, or to maintain a good relationship with the existing industry and come to the stage in a bright and bright way. I hope that users can experience something on P station, and these things cannot be achieved by the power of any one person. For example, if we want to provide users with such an experience as "turning a work into a physical book and placing it in a bookstore", "making a mascot for a company", etc., we must be able to see the light.

Q: On Station P, there are many projects that are realized in cooperation with companies and publishing houses, has this series of projects also greatly increased the user experience?

Katagiri: On the platform of the GuòP station, some people have become popular painters and are able to sell their products to the public. I think this can also reflect the advantages of Station P.

Q: A few days ago, there was a matter that sparked a heated discussion. That is to say, some companies have put forward guidelines for secondary creation. What do you think about this?

Katagiri: The concept of "guidelines" was introduced by NitroPlus. Basically, we have complied with the law and the relevant regulations set forth by the copyright owner. Despite the restrictions, I don't think the doujin industry is going to end or become sluggish. Of course, if the restrictions become too strict, then the culture may change in the future. For example, with the decline of secondary creation, the power of originality continues to rise, and so on...... Station P is not an online mall, so even if the society restricts sales, it has nothing to do with us. Of course, there are some people who became popular for secondary creation, but they have become well-known in the industry because they have released original works. Because such cases exist in zài, there will be some impact indirectly.

Q: From the standpoint of Station P, is there such a sentiment as zài: "I hope that the number of original works can be increased".

Katagiri: No, no, we don't have the idea of treating secondary works differently from original works. It's just that in our place, the original comics have been well received by many users. Now there are some people who have attracted the attention of publishers because of the publication of original comics on station P, and have realized the physical publication of their works. In addition, it is more difficult for users to search for original works than secondary works, so some interesting works are easy to be buried. For this reason, we also provide a "pixivspotlight" page, and we are making different special features every day, such as "illustrations drawn with ballpoint pens" and "illustrations of real food". Sort out some good works according to the theme. Since it is difficult for this genre to appear in the rankings, we have to choose it manually.

Q: Speaking of which, have you ever seen any of the works submitted by users?

Katagiri: I'm always paying attention to Station P! Like a demon! In the early days of the site, I and my members were staring at users' submissions all day long, and everyone thought, "Is the click-through rate of this website purely contributed by ourselves?" "(laughs) It's not just about reviewing the content, it's about paying attention to the work you think it's interesting. In the process, we will find some bugs or discover some new usages.

For example, let's say a user named "ぱげらった" created a work called "pixiv Carbon Manga". This is really great, and it has brought great changes to the development direction of P station and my life!

Q: What are some of your recent works that make you feel "interesting?" "What?

Katagiri: The new feature of the website, "Moving Illustrations", is very interesting. And the reason why this function was born is also from an overseas website introduced by a super stylish friend. Creators have released many works in the form of animated GIFs, but this one is more like a derivative of an illustration than an anime. For example, only the dog is moving, it is raining, only the stars are running, and so on. We started working on this feature in the spring of this year, and it was successfully launched in June. After the zuò was completed, I was quite happy~ and then I searched every day.

Q: Is there anything you are particularly concerned about when a new feature is launched?

Katagiri: By nature, we're all network technicians. Therefore, we want to provide a popular service that can be used by a large number of users. We didn't have a manga feature at first, but after using some of the existing manga sites, we found their readers very difficult to use, so we had an idea! We wondered, "Can we make webcomics easier for people to read?" "While making zuò. And if you can provide good network services, then it will be more convenient for writers to create, right?

Q: The questions we just talked about are the "starting point" of Station P, but I am also very curious about Mr. Katagiri's personal starting point. Didn't you set out to create Station P?

Katagiri: Station P is actually a website that our engineer Takahiro Ueya wanted to create, and the rest of us are just starting to do it. To be honest, we didn't expect our service to gain the popularity it has and be used by so many users. If I really want to introduce my personal starting point, then I actually want to be a video writer. Isn't there a "tomato" creative team in London? I also want to make websites, videos, and drawings like they do. But even though they were doing some band PV and other things, I quickly felt like I couldn't survive with this kind of thing...... So I started my business.

Q: Instead of training or finding a job, it's "starting a business"!?

Katagiri: I thought about this when I was in high school. If you want to be able to work with people you respect or like, the most effective way is to open a company. But if I had to work as a video creator or designer, it would be too time-consuming, and I didn't think I had that much talent. Of course, there are many people who have been working hard for many years, but I don't want to be like them (laughs). Maybe my expression is a little inappropriate, but I think my "escape" is the Internet. In the world of the Internet, I think it will be faster to make your projects successful.

Q: As a result, the site has been a huge success.

Katagiri: Hmm~ But at that time, I really didn't think I would be able to rely on Station P to eat. Although it has gained some popularity, it is still a world away from the world where dozens of employees are employed and hundreds of millions of clicks are received today. For a while, we were also taking on tasks from other companies and operating in parallel with other web services. But when the task came, we couldn't trust our abilities at all. Thoughts like "I can't mix in this industry" and "I won't have more jobs...... are flooded our brains. When I first founded the company, everyone was very enthusiastic and shouted very happily: "Everything is so smooth and explosive!" "But once the company was up and running, we quickly realized the cruelty of reality. For the first time, I realized that we don't get a job just because we set up a company. Instead, you have to start from 0. I was restless and had been suffering from insomnia.

Q: When did you get rid of this anxiety?

Katagiri: It was in 2008 when the company name was changed to "pixiv Co., Ltd." However, at that time, we all had a mentality of "wanting to give up outsourcing tasks". We "escaped" from the work of video production and web production, and "escaped" from the outsourcing work, and what we finally found was "pixiv", which also gave us back our self-confidence. Of course, the escape we found was in the internet service industry, which is known as the "F1 high-speed circuit" (laughs). But after all, we have been ambitious in this area from the beginning. I was still in college when I started the company, but I didn't want to be called a "student entrepreneur" and dropped out of college. Starting a company is an indiscriminate battle, and I'm full of fighting spirit.

Q: I think there are a lot of people who want to work at pixiv, but what kind of people would you like to join the company?

Katagiri: Not a picky eater! Of course, if you have an allergic reaction to something, you can't do anything about it (laughs). Speaking of which, the other day we went to eat carp raw food, and there was a lot of commotion in the restaurant at the time...... Heck, don't eat this kind of food. Hey? What we're talking about! That's right, the recruitment question! Of course, we value the skills and knowledge of our talents, and we also care a lot about personality. For example, be gentle, be frank, and don't say anything negative.

Q: There will be a lot of students who are still in middle school who are reading this interview, so please give them something to say?

Katagiri: What you need to do now is to focus on one thing! After concentrating, I hope that you will be able to use this energy to become a technician, a doctor, or something like that. As the saying goes, no matter what you do, it takes 10,000 hours to get it right. It's hard to find what you want to do when you're young, but if you do, I want to do my best.

Q: Thank you very much for your advice. Finally, can you tell us a little bit about what kind of services you plan pixiv to offer in the future?

Katagiri: Today, about 60% of our newly registered users are from overseas. I hope that more foreigners can register on the website, so that Bilibili will become a global platform. To this end, we are also considering holding some exclusive events overseas. At the same time, in order to make the P station itself more acceptable to people, we also have a lot of things to do that need to be retrained. Most of the text on the page is in Japanese, which is inconvenient for foreigners, so we want to make it easier. I hope that the emoji feature (スタンプ機能), which will be launched in February this year, will contribute enough to the globalization of the site. However, there is still much to be improved. We will make Station P better and better!

Postscript:

Mr. Katagiri is a man full of curiosity, and there are quite a few childish parts in him. But at the same time, he also has the core features that are necessary to be a network technician. As a fan of the website, he physicalizes what he experiences, what he thinks, and what he finds interesting. Perhaps, this is the reason why Station P can make countless users happy. As for pixiv, which will continue to evolve in the future, let's look forward to it as a member!