Chapter 50: Representing Jump’s Future
Sakamoto Ken focused on creation, and even though it was just replicating the content from his memories, the workload still couldn’t be reduced.
It was purely the work of drawing, and handling two manuscripts at the same time took up all his time.
After all《Look Back》 had to complete the full manuscript before the call for submissions deadline, and《Chainsaw Man》 couldn’t miss the weekly deadlines.
Although the WEB currently only updated to chapter 5, and he had already submitted the manuscript for chapter 13, if he wanted, he could discuss with Editor Kaji to delay by two weeks.
But even just for the original manuscript fee, he had to draw more and submit more.
Calculating it, last month he submitted a total of 250 pages of manuscripts, plus one color page, and on settlement day, he could get just over 3 million yen in original manuscript fees, of course this was pre-tax.
After tax, it would be around 2.5 million yen.
Once weekly serialization began, the original manuscript fee would rise to 20,000 yen per page, and they would make up the difference for the previously published portions.
He had to make money quickly, after all, he didn’t know what JUMP’s future development would become this time.
In his previous life, Sakamoto Ken paid little attention to other fields, but he was quite attentive to news in the manga industry.
The JUMP+ platform remained dormant until 2016, and it was only with Tatsuki Fujimoto Sensei’s《Fire Punch》 that it started to heat up.
Then there were《Astra Lost in Space》,《Spy x Family》 and such works.
By this point, the influence of the JUMP+ platform was actually no less than that of the physical magazine Weekly Shonen JUMP.
So, in his previous life, Shueisha never even considered serializing works on both sides at the same time.
Even hit works on the JUMP+ platform would occasionally release a “special chapter” in the weekly, which even helped boost sales of the physical magazine.
In that sense, he was also participating in the history of the industry.
In the present of 2015, few were willing to read WEB manga, and most readers still preferred physical magazines.
From the perspective of popularity, works published in the weekly had much higher popularity than those serialized on WEB, by many times.
This situation where physical popularity was higher than the digital version would continue for another two years, until 2017.
Mobile internet speeds got faster, phone screens got bigger, tablets became more widespread… all these factors favored digital manga even more.
So, starting from 2017, total sales of digital manga slightly exceeded physical manga.
By the pandemic period in 2020, digital manga completely crushed physical manga, accounting for over 70%, and companies still heavily investing in physical magazines were in quite a tough spot.
If Shueisha hadn’t established the JUMP+ platform, JUMP, which had been around for fifty years, would probably fade from then on.
Of course, as an author, he just needed to focus on drawing manuscripts, while the editors had much more to consider…
……
At that moment, in Shueisha’s large meeting room, all editors were present, and the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.
This meeting wasn’t just about the fate of a certain manga, but also about the future of all of JUMP.
At the head of the conference table sat President Horiuchi of Shueisha, with several high-level executives from other sales departments beside him.
He sat with arms crossed, expression serious, gaze sweeping over everyone present.
Across from him were the editorial department members, led by JUMP Chief Editor Ono Tomohiro.
“Ono-kun.” President Horiuchi’s low voice rang out, “JUMP+ is a project you spearheaded, and now you’re pushing《Chainsaw Man》 hard. I want to hear your thoughts first.”
Everyone’s gazes focused on Ono Tomohiro.
Ono Tomohiro slowly stood up.
Although the JUMP editorial department’s work style was much freer than traditional Japanese companies, if you looked at the whole of Shueisha, it was still a somewhat conservative publishing group.
When they initially wanted to establish the online platform, the opposing opinions were the majority.
It was Ono Tomohiro who withstood the internal pressure and built the JUMP+ platform from scratch.
“President, everyone, I believe the emergence of《Chainsaw Man》 is an opportunity for our JUMP.”
He looked around and continued, “Everyone knows that print media has had tough times these past few years.《Weekly Shonen JUMP》’s circulation has been declining year by year. It’s not that our manga isn’t good enough, but the times are changing. We must find a new path for JUMP.”
“When I founded JUMP+, I set a core philosophy: it absolutely cannot be just a digital version of the weekly; it must become a platform that can produce masterpieces.”
Ono Tomohiro was balding and had gained weight, but his words carried weight, and his eyes lit up when talking about manga.
“Now,《Chainsaw Man》 is the first successful work that Kaji unearthed for us. As a new work, it achieved the platform’s first time with over 10,000 votes, and currently all major SNS are starting to have discussions about Chainsaw Man.”
The room was silent for a few seconds, then a sales department executive knocked on the table and spoke: “Chief Editor Ono, the current problem is commercial conflict. If readers can buy cheap manga on JUMP+, who will still buy our magazines? You yourself said the weekly’s sales are dropping.”
“As for the weekly… if sales drop, they drop.”
Ono Tomohiro shook his head and said, “Is our core conflict the price gap between physical magazines and digital versions? No, it’s reader loss.”
“Young people have already started not buying physical magazines. The existence of JUMP+ is to keep these readers under our group.”
“My plan is… to serialize《Chainsaw Man》 on both platforms, and keep the WEB side ahead of the weekly serialization. We’ll promote on the weekly that they can read《Chainsaw Man》 updates on JUMP+.”
The editorial department side had already exchanged information beforehand, and they just silently watched Ono Tomohiro, while the group executives attending the meeting furrowed their brows.
Ono Tomohiro continued, “Everyone, diverting readers from the weekly to the JUMP+ platform is better than them going to Shogakukan and Kodansha’s online platforms, right? Plus there’s LINE Manga, Korean webtoons, all competing for the same reader group.”
After Ono Tomohiro finished speaking, the meeting room erupted in discussion.
“This is too risky.”
“If it fails, the weekly will be done for too.”
“In the end, who takes responsibility?”
Kaji Keiko, sitting on the editorial department side, had been watching the president’s expression and noticed him shaking his head repeatedly. Before he could speak, Kaji Keiko pushed back her chair and stood up.
“If I may be so bold, President!” Kaji Keiko nervously clenched her fists and said, “What the Chief Editor said is the reality we in the editorial department face every day. Reader feedback from the weekly is decreasing, and the sales department colleagues must feel it even more—the performance pressure from magazine sales is growing.”
“Right now《Chainsaw Man》 has quite high discussion volume online. Many readers downloaded JUMP+ for the first time because of this work, then went on to read other works.”
“Actually… the issue everyone mentioned about digital manga being cheaper than physical magazines doesn’t exist at all!”
Kaji Keiko said, “A weekly is just 260 yen, containing serializations from 20 works, which averages merely 13 yen per chapter!”
“While our WEB platform subscription price is 40 yen per chapter. Even considering free chapters, event giveaways, etc., the per-chapter price still exceeds the weekly, not to mention that over half of a physical magazine’s sale price is fixed costs.”
President Horiuchi had been about to speak but held back earlier; now his gaze was fixed on Kaji Keiko, fingers lightly tapping the table.
Seeing the president not interrupting, Kaji Keiko pressed further.
“Taking the current weekly circulation of 2 million copies, with 30% being channel and printing costs, etc., it’s actually equivalent to us selling under a million chapter digital subscriptions.”
“Everyone, do you know《Chainsaw Man》’s current performance?”
When Kaji Keiko mentioned Chainsaw Man’s data, her voice grew louder: “Every week, over ten thousand readers vote for it, and the read counts are even higher, averaging over 70,000 reads per chapter!”
“According to our reader survey, over 70% of readers are willing to pay for《Chainsaw Man》. This new work that’s only serialized 5 chapters can, on its own, match 5% of the weekly’s total profit. JUMP+ is just getting started, and WEB platforms have no limit on the number of simultaneous serializations… while the weekly? The sales department must have some pessimistic predictions for future circulation, right?”
“Everyone, just like I said to Chief Editor earlier in the editorial meeting, I’m willing to bet my career on《Chainsaw Man》.”
The meeting continued from noon until dusk. At first it was Ono Tomohiro fighting for JUMP+’s rights, then Kaji Keiko got more and more worked up, practically hyping Sakamoto Ken as the internet era’s Kishimoto and Oda, until she felt like she might have overhyped it, then sat down and quietly waited for President Horiuchi’s final decision.
For JUMP+ and Chainsaw Man, President Horiuchi’s conclusion to Ono Tomohiro was that simultaneous serialization on both sides was fine, to closely monitor data and feedback, but no heavy promotion of JUMP+ on the weekly for now.
It was a compromise scheme, treating《Chainsaw Man》 as a test case—success would make everyone happy, and even failure wouldn’t affect the weekly’s base.
After the meeting ended, the executives left first, then the editors exited the meeting room.
At this time, Ono Tomohiro called out to Kaji Keiko.
“Kaji, thanks for earlier.” Ono Tomohiro said, “With just me speaking, I probably couldn’t have convinced them to agree to Chainsaw Man serializing on both sides. Though diverting from the weekly wasn’t approved, it’s still a good outcome.”
“It was what I should do. What I believe in isn’t just《Chainsaw Man》, but Sakamoto Sensei.” Kaji Keiko said.
Ono Tomohiro nodded, then continued, “They didn’t mention《Young Lady, Sniper Rifle, and Pantyhose!》 earlier. You should know the situation with this manga now—it started as a rich young lady serializing for fun, but now…”
He handed Kaji Keiko a few photocopies of manuscripts: “Take a look, this is her latest remade earlier content.”
“That Miyuki Haru Sensei really isn’t a flash in the pan; this level of illustration detail is top-tier even for the weekly.”
Kaji Keiko looked at the drawings, and her heart couldn’t help but be shocked.
How did the quality change so much all of a sudden in the same period? Is Chainsaw Man still safe?!
Ono Tomohiro had no idea Kaji Keiko was thinking about the competition between her and Chainsaw Man; he continued, “Relying on just one《Chainsaw Man》 is too concentrated risk, so I plan to push both works at the same time. And《Young Lady》… you know, she has connections with President Aiga, so even President Horiuchi won’t object.”
As they walked back to the editorial department, Ono Tomohiro shared his ideas.
Kaji Keiko said, “Chief Editor, you mean… to promote Sakamoto Sensei and Miyuki Haru Sensei as a duo? One focusing on plot and storyboard, the other on drawing?”
“Exactly.” Ono Tomohiro nodded, smiling slightly as he said, “This was actually Miyuki Haru Sensei’s idea. I’ll send you the specifics via email, then you notify Sakamoto Ken Sensei to prepare for the live broadcast.”
This chapter took a whole night to write, over 3000 words, compressed several times, but I still wanted to depict the moment of JUMP’s transformation.
In reality, JUMP’s JUMP+ platform and digital transformation were led by Chief Editor Hosono Shuhei, and behind Chainsaw Man, Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, Bold Party, Spy x Family, etc., was Hosono Shuhei—the prototype for the Ono Tomohiro character.
Lemon hopes to restore reality as much as possible in the book, of course, many things have been adapted for the plot.
