Chapter 90: How To Get A Handle On A Jian?
31.74 million, that should be enough, right?
Sitting at her workbench, Mikazuki Haruna held her mobile phone and checked her bank account.
This was her accumulated pocket money, which she could use at any time.
If she wanted more, she would have to ask her parents again.
Today, she confirmed something with that voice actor junior named Natsume Mio, namely the matter of his debt from the dream.
First, she confirmed the Young Lady, sniper rifle, and pantyhose! This manga was one he would create in the future, and now it proved that this debt really existed.《》
The dream was real after all, and in reality, because I published the Young Lady early, it changed the predetermined future.《》
This manga was originally supposed to be published by him at a small publishing house, where it never gained much popularity and only had a very small reader group.
There were few readers, but everyone liked it a lot, and she had met A Jian through that reader group.
Actually, I am a reborn person with memories from my previous life!
But why do I only remember things related to him? If I had even a little impression of the stock market or investments, turning this 30 million into 300 million wouldn’t be hard, right?
What a shame. Probably the gods didn’t want me to make much money; they just wanted me to meet him again.
That said, that guy is pretty handsome, and she really likes both the Young Lady manga and Chainsaw Man.《》《》
Huh… something’s wrong?!
Mikazuki Haruna suddenly thought of something that didn’t make sense.
She and A Jian started serializing on JUMP+ on the same day.
That means before that day, A Jian had already submitted Chainsaw Man to Editor Kaji.《》
According to that memory, he should have drawn and submitted the Young Lady instead.《》
After all, A Jian had no idea at that time that I had copied his manga.
Something’s off, completely off!
Mikazuki Haruna frowned in thought, but she couldn’t figure it out.
She quickly gave up thinking about it.
None of that matters. Whether he draws Young Lady or Chainsaw Man, as long as he is Sakamoto Ken, it’s fine.《》《》
Besides, the current Sakamoto Ken definitely hasn’t talked about any relationships with them yet. He won’t be like in that memory, where this guy was with her, saying sweet nothings to make her happy, but actually dating two other women at the same time.
Although there was no memory of their appearances, one of them might even be Natsume Mio.
But she had already punished him back then.
Being stabbed with a knife must have hurt a lot.
Now that it’s starting over, of course I won’t let you get stabbed three times with six holes again.
Because there won’t be those two anymore; there’s only me.
Just follow the steps from the memory to win him over.
First, help you solve the debt problem.
It feels like the current A Jian has a slightly different personality from that memory. Maybe because Chainsaw Man is so popular, he has expectations for his royalty fees and isn’t as anxious about money.《》
In that case, if I transfer the money directly, he probably won’t accept it.
So how can I give him this money and make him willingly accept it?
“Finished another page!”
“Shijiyuan Sensei’s brushwork is still so delicate. The stockings’ texture is drawn so well.”
“I’m really looking forward to Miyuki Haru Sensei’s manga getting an animation adaptation. With dynamic camera work, the visuals would feel even better.”
The four assistants were working on the other side. When they finished a page, they would take a short rest and chat casually.
Huh… animation adaptation?
Hearing their discussion, Mikazuki Haruna came up with this idea.
What if I invest in the animation adaptation of your work?
Mikazuki Haruna was in the art department and had taken a class on the animation industry.
That class explained that due to conservative investment ideas, most animation production in Japan uses a system called the “production committee.”
Simply put, several companies like the publishing house, TV station, advertising companies, merchandise vendors, etc., pool money together to invest in an animation, with the goal of sharing the production risks.
Under this model, the “original work usage fee” that the original author gets—basically a one-time licensing fee—is extremely low.
For a standard 12-13 episode seasonal anime, it might be just a few million yen.
Some are even lower, only one million or even hundreds of thousands.
And this is the original work usage fee for the entire season, not per episode.
The big money comes from “secondary utilization royalties” after the anime airs, like Blu-rays, figures, games, IP collaborations…
But that’s still the production side making money. After layers of profit-sharing, what reaches the writer is also pitifully low, usually only 1% to 5% of merchandise retail sales.
And this money has to go through the publishing house first, then divided according to the contract, so the author gets even less in the end.
This way can’t solve A Jian’s debt immediately at all.
But there are exceptions.
If not using the production committee system, but having one company solely produce it, bearing all the risks themselves, then they also monopolize all the profits.
In this model, the production side gives the writer more profits, and the original work usage fee can be set higher too, since there are fewer stakeholders, making everything easier to negotiate.
The former seeks stability—no merits sought, but no faults either.
The key is, even if it loses money, it’s not one side’s responsibility; it’s the whole production committee’s.
Did the publishing house do its job? Did ratings drop because of the TV station? Did the advertising company promote well? Were the merchandise vendor’s products too half-hearted?…
Everyone argues and shifts blame.
This is also a typical Japanese mindset: since everyone shares responsibility, no one is responsible…
The latter gambles on a hit—it might make a fortune or lose a ton of money.
Traditional production companies don’t have many people daring to take full responsibility like that. If it loses big, they’d have to apologize.
What if I invest?
Haruna’s eyes lit up immediately.
Although Mikazuki Haruna’s family was in retail, they weren’t unfamiliar with the entertainment industry.
Previously, their mall had done collaboration events with several popular anime IPs. The mall also had areas selling anime, games, and merchandise, and had some connections with those animation production companies and copyright holders. Her father had met the president of Ichibashi through that.
Then she could convince her dad to invest in this animation, buy the copyright early, and negotiate with production companies—there would definitely be some willing to cooperate.
If the production cost per episode is 20 million yen, a season would be over 200 million. Even raising the production quality a bit, 300 million could handle it.
Moreover, this wouldn’t be a purely loss-making deal done just for A Jian.
With Chainsaw Man’s strength, it would definitely make money.《》
She was even more optimistic about Chainsaw Man than her own serializing Young Lady.《》《》
Once the volumes come out, a bunch of production companies might compete for Chainsaw Man’s copyright, potentially driving the price to a level her father wouldn’t easily agree to…《》
It’s only been serializing for a month, and popularity hasn’t expanded yet. I can be considered as securing it early.
However, the most crucial point here is…
Absolutely don’t let him know in advance that I’m the one operating everything behind the scenes.
The investor can be one of our family’s subsidiaries, or simply set up a new company to front it.
In any case, before all contracts are signed and the money hits his account, my existence must not be exposed.
Once he accepts this copyright fee and everything is settled without regret, then I can appear before him as the investor representative or some other identity.
Right!
To ensure he can’t run, add a special clause in the contract.
Invite him to personally participate in the animation production as the original work supervisor, and offer him high remuneration.
Of course, correspondingly, set a breach of contract fee.
Heh heh, by then, you’ve taken the money, signed the contract—let’s see how you run?
Mikazuki Haruna leaned back in her ergonomic chair, elegantly crossing her legs and gently swinging her small feet wrapped in black stockings, a confident smile on her face.
This way, you’ve been completely pinned down by me~
