Chapter 57: It’s Heating Up!
“Chainsaw Man?” Kaji Keiko looked straight ahead, her tone very certain, “Of course, I believe in Sakamoto Sensei’s strength.”
“Yeah, Chainsaw Man will definitely succeed in its adaptation, and the animation can also be a huge hit!” Natsume Mio said.
“It’s still too early now. Sakamoto Sensei has only drawn up to chapter 16. To get an animation adaptation, at least publish a few volumes first.” Kaji Keiko said.
“Eh?” Natsume Mio was slightly stunned and said, “Ah… cough cough, Sakamoto Sensei has already drawn up to chapter 16?”
“Hm?” Kaji Keiko realized she had accidentally revealed Sakamoto Sensei’s manuscript stock, so she quickly chuckled and said, “Writers can’t just finish one chapter and publish it right away. They definitely need to prepare some manuscripts in advance.”
After saying that, she still felt uneasy. She turned her head to look at Natsume Mio and said, “Natsume Sensei, just pretend you didn’t hear that. We can’t disclose the amount of a writer’s manuscripts to outsiders.”
“Yeah! I understand!” Natsume Mio quickly agreed.
The vehicle continued driving steadily on the road. After about five minutes of silence, when Kaji Keiko stopped at a traffic light, she turned her head again to look at the girl carefully flipping through the JUMP magazine in her hand.
She was looking at the 《Chainsaw Man》 section again. She must have read it many times already, but she was still reading it, so that should be true love.
Kaji Keiko said, “Is 《Chainsaw Man》 your first voice acting job?”
“Yeah, Editor, you could tell…” Natsume Mio chuckled and said, “I’m actually still a bit unprofessional.”
“No, Natsume-san’s voice acting just now was excellent.” Kaji Keiko said, “I’ve seen the voice actor resume from the agency. You’re about to enter the vocal music major at Kanzaki Art Academy, specializing in voice acting, right?”
“Yeah, school hasn’t started yet, so I’m considered an amateur…”
“Then you really have talent.” Kaji Keiko said, “If you receive some professional training, I think even among those experienced professional voice actors, you’d be among the best.”
“Thank you, Editor~” Natsume Mio felt a bit embarrassed from the praise.
“Speaking of which…” Kaji Keiko paused her tone and said, “Natsume-san, you want to continue voicing Makima in future animation projects, right?”
“Eh?!” Hearing Kaji Keiko suddenly bring it up, Natsume Mio immediately sat up straight. She lightly bit her lip, lowered her head in silence for two seconds, then softly hummed “mm.”
“I think, in the artistic industry, the most important thing is passion.” Kaji Keiko said with deep feeling, “Having passion is stronger than any professional skill. Readers and audiences can feel that… scent in the work.”
“Scent?”
“A scent of passion.” Kaji Keiko explained, “Works can convey emotions. If Natsume-san truly loves it, the audience will be infected.”
“Is… is that so…” Natsume Mio lowered her head in thought.
Kaji Keiko continued, “Once Sakamoto Sensei’s work gets an animation adaptation, I’ll definitely push hard to the production committee for you to be the lead voice actor.”
“Yay! Thank you, Editor!” Natsume Mio quickly thanked her.
Seeing her so excited, Kaji Keiko’s emotions were also infected.
She reached into her pocket, took out a business card, and handed it to Natsume Mio.
“Natsume-san, this is my contact info. Take it, and remember to send me an email so we can keep in touch later.” Kaji Keiko said.
“Got it!” Natsume Mio quickly took it with both hands.
By now they were near Natsume Mio’s home. After turning into an alley, Natsume Mio pointed to a detached house ahead: “Editor~ My home is right here. Thank you for driving me back.”
“Mm, see you, Natsume-san~”
“Bye-bye~”
Kaji Keiko waved to Natsume Mio through the car window again and drove out of the residential area’s alley.
On the way back to Shueisha, Kaji Keiko made a detour to Akihabara first.
After parking the car, she went straight to Animate Akihabara store, where a huge Idolmaster character standee greeted her right at the entrance.
The animation that premiered two months ago was at the peak of its popularity right now.
Next to it was a promotional poster warming up the second season of the Fate/stay night animation.
On the other side, Shueisha’s IP also had a strong presence, with a giant Koro-sensei grinning at every passerby.
Even if not for work, Kaji Keiko visited here often. She entered the store with ease.
She took a deep breath.
“Whoa~” Kaji Keiko’s facial expression relaxed a lot.
Various anime merchandise, light novels, manga—it’s a reassuring scent.
After casually browsing the store, Kaji Keiko had four newly published works in her arms, which she planned to buy and read slowly.
Then she stopped at the magazine section.
《Weekly Shonen JUMP》 was placed in the most prominent spot, but the pile of magazines next to it showed that sales weren’t particularly explosive.
In recent years, sales of physical manga magazines had been steadily declining—a fact throughout the industry.
Even a store like Animate wouldn’t sell many copies of JUMP in a day.
It was already Thursday. Based on past experience, most follow-up readers had bought the magazine by Monday.
By Thursday, the weekly magazine released on Monday had lost its heat, and the shelves were usually deserted.
But now, several people were gathered in front of the magazine rack.
The bookstore only provided one sample copy for browsing, and those guys were huddled together, heatedly discussing one page in the sample copy.
Kaji Keiko pretended to browse other magazines and quietly approached to eavesdrop.
“I’m telling you, this manga is super interesting.”
“Isn’t it just another miserable broke person male protagonist? What’s so special?”
“You’ll know when you read it. The protagonist fuses with a chainsaw dog, and the art style and storyboards are awesome. I’ve already finished chasing it on WEB, and the weekly only published the first chapter.”
“What WEB?”
“JUMP+ of course. The first few chapters are free. I’ll send you the link. This manga is already updated to chapter 6 online.”
“Alright, let me check it out.”
Listening to their discussion, the corner of Kaji Keiko’s mouth curved up slightly.
Although it seemed to make the weekly sell even less, the popularity of 《Chainsaw Man》 was already visibly surging.
A strange sense of accomplishment bubbled up in her heart.
This was the manga she was in charge of!
She held back her excitement, took the books in her hand to the cash register to check out.
Although it was still early, it was definitely time to start preparing for follow-up work.
Sakamoto Sensei’s creation speed was astonishingly fast. He had already stockpiled enough manuscript for a full two volumes, so the volumes could be put on the schedule and released faster than usual works.
First publish the volumes, then the animation adaptation!
Kaji Keiko silently calculated 《Chainsaw Man》’s future development in her mind, feeling full of energy.
She knew the days ahead would be incredibly busy, but definitely a mix of pain and pleasure.
It had been two years as a manga editor.
In the first half year, she was just an assistant running errands behind her senior, handling some minor support tasks.
Later, she started handling writers independently, but they were all mediocre newcomers. Watching the works she managed get canceled due to low popularity, those writers losing heart and giving up creation—she even doubted her own judgment.
Then she was transferred to the unpromising new department JUMP+, handling online manga with even more uneven quality.
Every day, digging for gold in a sea of submissions, with no prospects in sight.
She once thought her career would end like that.
Just being an anonymous cog in the giant Shueisha.
Drifting aimlessly for a few years, achieving nothing, then getting shuffled to a marginal department to coast.
When she became an older single woman, she’d go to various matchmaking events, marry some guy who was barely acceptable but not really likable, and live that ordinary life where you could see the end at a glance…
Until 《Chainsaw Man》 appeared before her.
Now, everything was different!
Kaji Keiko had left Animate and looked back at the famous IP characters outside the bookstore, her eyes burning with ambition.
Sakamoto Sensei, you are the start of my career!
