he tries above all to think about the appropriate length to stage all that he had to say on the initial idea, adding that the rest of the story should stay in that direction. He said that since the series is set in the 20th century, he counts on the occasion of the transition to the 21st century to create a "powerful event" that will alter its plot, commenting that if he manages to transcribe his ideas properly, "we will reach the culmination of my story." He affirmed that the had in mind the end of the story and that he knew the conclusion that he needs to make for each character, but that it must be staged in the right direction and in a consistent way. Hiroe said that to keep the manga interesting and exciting for both himself and the readers, he "takes a rest right in the middle. Just stop, take a step back, and relax for a bit so I’m not stuck in the grind," commenting that manga artists who write weekly manga or other long-running series, like those published in Weekly Shōnen Jump, "don’t have that luxury," and that working on a monthly series gives him the opportunity to work on a different project "to keep things from getting stale." The manga has been on hiatus several times; it went for an almost three-year hiatus from May 19, 2010, to January 19, 2013; it went on a three-year hiatus again from January 18, 2014, to May 19, 2017; it went on hiatus for a year from August 18, 2018, to September 19, 2019. Hiroe has attributed these pauses to his depression, adding that he is doing his best to move forward with the series without rushing too much. Characters Referring to the creation of the characters, Hiroe stated that he goes backward, imagining how they would think and how they lived, commenting that the process in itself "can be fun." He commented: "I sometimes first decide that this guy is from here, he's ethnically this way, he belongs to this kind of group, then look into historical facts and events. From there I try to tie all threads of those elements together, and when they can be tied organically together it's like, "Yay this is fun!" Hiroe said that the characters are not necessarily based on anyone in particular, but that from watching films in