Chapter 52: No Knife, Right?
“The style is indeed different from Chainsaw Man, but it’s not that scary. Editor, you’ll know when you see it.” Sakamoto Ken sat to the side, waiting for Kaji Keiko to flip through it.
She continued flipping through, and when she reached the second page, her eyebrows raised.
“Is this a manga with a girl as the protagonist? And… it’s a manga about drawing manga.”
She flipped through page by page, and Kaji Keiko’s expression changed from casual at the start to serious, carefully looking at the dialogue in every panel.
The two heroines cleared up their misunderstanding and debuted together with a short story. When she saw this part, Kaji Keiko still had a smile at the corner of her mouth.
But when she flipped another page, the editor suggested that the two heroines try submitting a serialized long-form story after graduating high school. But when graduation came, the two separated due to differing ideas.
“Kyomoto, you’re just responsible for drawing the background, right?”
“We can just leave that to the assistant…”
Kaji Keiko softly read the dialogue aloud, staring somewhat absentmindedly at the two figures’ backs in the storyboard panel.
“Eh? That’s it?” Kaji Keiko wanted to flip the page but realized the one in her hand was the last manuscript paper.
Sakamoto Ken said from the side, “We’ve only completed about half so far.”
“Sakamoto Sensei, I really didn’t expect you to try this kind of style…” Kaji Keiko flipped back through the manuscript while slowly saying, “If I had to evaluate Chainsaw Man, it’s wild imagination, shonen vibe, hot-blooded… but this Look Back is delicate youth emotions.”
“Although there’s not much conflict in the plot, Fujino and Kyomoto’s emotions are portrayed very realistically, especially that love for manga…”
“To be honest, it reminds me a bit of myself.” Kaji Keiko held the manuscript, slightly lost in thought.
“Editor, have you drawn manga before?” Sakamoto Ken asked curiously.
“Haha, that was all when I was a kid. I come from a small place in Yamagata Prefecture. Back then, my monthly pocket money was just a single 1,000-yen banknote. After buying the weekly JUMP, I only had enough left for two popsicles.”
“And then? My best friend and I agreed to buy different magazines and swap them to read. After reading a lot, we started thinking about drawing some ourselves…”
She flipped Look Back to the very front and pointed to Fujino’s four-panel manga published in the school yearbook news, saying, “To tell the truth, when I saw this part, I thought Sakamoto Sensei had referenced my childhood. Back then, I also published a four-panel manga in the campus magazine, with rough lines just like this.”
“My friend saw my four-panel manga published and started publishing in the campus magazine too. The two of us started competing…” Recalling the past, Kaji Keiko smiled with curved eyebrows.
“What happened after?” Sakamoto Ken was a bit curious too.
“Later… we didn’t end up cooperating to draw manga. She stayed home after high school graduation to help with her family’s fish shop business, while I got into Tokyo.
As Kaji Keiko spoke, her eyes grew slightly moist. She held the drawings farther away, worried tears would drop on them.
“If I hadn’t come to Tokyo, I’d probably be dealing with her every day. My family runs a ramen shop, with a specialty house-made fish broth. The fish all came from her family’s shop.” Kaji Keiko said with deep feeling.
“Editor, did you come to Tokyo for manga?”
“Exactly.” Kaji Keiko nodded and said, “When I was applying to university, I was thinking that even if I couldn’t become a manga artist, I’d do something manga-related. It wasn’t too bumpy actually; after graduation, I smoothly became a manga editor.”
Kaji Keiko looked at the illustrations on the manuscript and suddenly asked, “Sakamoto Sensei, there won’t be a knife later on, right?”
Sakamoto Ken shrugged and said, “Wait until it’s all finished, then I’ll show it to you, Editor. You’ll know then.”
“Phew…” Kaji Keiko exhaled and said, “Then no spoilers. I’m really looking forward to it. I can’t say how it’d do on shonen manga track, but for this call for submissions, it’s perfect. The first half feels just like watching half a movie.”
“Editor, do you know how this essay contest is judged?” Sakamoto Ken asked.
Kaji Keiko said, “The announcement just says it’s divided into public voting and expert selection. The voting part is easy to understand—after accepting submissions, they publicize the works for a period, and all readers can vote. As for the expert selection…”
“After all, it’s a Netflix-led call for submissions. They have film screenwriters, directors, scriptwriters, art experts, plus a few senior editors from our manga industry.” Kaji Keiko thought for a moment and added, “If it’s the Campus Star track, then club advisors from famous universities, professors in relevant fields, and such will participate too. Anyway, it’s not an evaluation you can easily get selected for.”
It sounded like this essay contest was being run quite seriously, and Sakamoto Ken felt it seemed a bit more reliable.
Especially with the prize in dollars—if he could win that, the debt would be directly solved.
If Look Back couldn’t win a prize, what work could?
Kaji Keiko neatly organized the Look Back manuscript and put it back on the desk.
She took out a small notebook from her personal bag and flipped through a page to look.
“Alright, Sakamoto Sensei, let’s leave the manuscript matter here for now. I came today to discuss some business with you.”
Kaji Keiko said, “We had a meeting all afternoon yesterday—no need for details. The conclusion is that from now on, we’ll position Sakamoto Sensei’s work as the featured work on JUMP+, serialized simultaneously on the weekly and WEB, but the main focus will be on WEB.”
“Oh?” Sakamoto Ken was a bit surprised to hear Kaji Keiko say this. “JUMP is doing digital transformation?”
In the previous life he knew this outcome, but the specific shift came later, with Fire Punch’s publication as the trigger.
“Sakamoto Sensei thinks digital is the future trend too, right?”
“Of course. JUMP weekly sales are now 2 million copies per week, only a third of the peak 6 million. In another ten years, dropping to a million copies would be normal.” Sakamoto Ken said.
“The sales department isn’t as pessimistic as you—they think it’ll drop 50,000 copies in sales each year for the next decade…” Kaji Keiko waved her hand and said, “Never mind these specific numbers. Anyway, thanks to the chief editor’s efforts, JUMP+ got better resources.”
“So, we’re officially starting a series of promotional activities around Chainsaw Man. What’ll need Sakamoto Sensei to personally appear for is the YouTube live broadcast this Friday evening.” Kaji Keiko said.
“That’s the regular live on the JUMP official account, right?” Sakamoto Ken said.
Kaji Keiko smiled and nodded, saying, “They just hadn’t built up the account before, but these days the operations department will do a series of animation tie-ins on the official account, and run ads on social media too. Popularity should rise quite a bit by then.”
“No problem for me.” Sakamoto Ken agreed directly. “Is it like that Young Lady manga’s author back then, just chatting a bit with the host on the live, answering a few questions, like that?”
Sakamoto Ken suddenly mentioned the Young Lady manga, and Kaji Keiko’s facial muscles stiffened slightly, but she kept smiling. She remembered the chief editor’s instructions: Mikazuki Sensei would also attend and it needed to be kept secret from Sakamoto Sensei to create a sense of surprise from contemporary competitors meeting.
Kaji Keiko nodded lightly and said, “Yes, it’s all about the work and creation. Sakamoto Sensei, don’t feel any pressure—it’s a very relaxed live.”
