Chapter 91: Before The Volume Goes On Sale
Friday afternoon.
These past few days, Sakamoto Ken has fully devoted his energy to the creation of Chainsaw Man, and today he just finished the manuscript for Chapter 18.
This means that right now, when JUMP+ platform has just updated to Chapter 8, he is already ahead by a full ten chapters, enough for five weeks of double serialization.
If following the progress of “Japanese sword VS chainsaw” from the ending of the first season animation of Chainsaw Man in his previous life, that would mean he has already completed half.
At the fastest, there wouldn’t even be any problem launching the animation project next month.
Of course, it definitely won’t be that fast; just assembling the production committee will take a very long time.
Chainsaw Man in his previous life was independently produced by MAPPA without setting up a production committee, but this time it’s probably impossible to have them produce it.
After all, producing animation is not like drawing manga, which a small team or even a solo effort can complete; it requires investing a large amount of manpower.
MAPPA has only been established for four years now and is still a newcomer in the animation industry, probably busy with the Ushio and Tora project.
Sakamoto Ken has no obsession about this aspect; animation adaptation is definitely going to happen, but even without the boost from animation, volume sales will absolutely not be poor.
Approaching 4 p.m., the mobile phone on the desk vibrated; it was a message from Kaji Keiko.
Kaji Keiko: Sakamoto Sensei, do you have time this afternoon? I’ll come pick up this week’s manuscript.
Sakamoto Ken: I’m at home; Editor can come over anytime.
He organized the latest two chapters’ manuscripts, placed them aside, and then continued drawing the first page of Chapter 19.
One hour later, Kaji Keiko arrived.
The apartment is not equipped with remote equipment to open the downstairs main entrance; if not catching residents coming in or out, Sakamoto Ken has to go downstairs to open it.
At the main entrance on the first floor, Kaji Keiko was dressed in a knit sweater paired with wide-leg pants, looking like a typical urban minimalist style.
It wasn’t until she entered the home and took off her loafers that Sakamoto Ken saw the green socks.
Last time it was blue Doraemon; this time the green socks have a Q-version Tornado avatar, a collaboration with One Punch Man.
She didn’t seem to find anything strange about this pairing and boldly stepped into the room.
“Sakamoto Sensei, sorry to bother you~” Kaji Keiko politely said, but without any sense of formality, she sat down directly at the table.
“This is the latest completed manuscript; take a look, Editor.” Sakamoto Ken took the manuscript over and placed it on the desk in front of Kaji Keiko.
“Thanks for the hard work; I’ll read it right away.” Kaji Keiko immediately started flipping through it, saying while looking, “Sakamoto Sensei, have you paid attention to the recent popularity of the work?”
“Oh? How is it?” Sakamoto Ken asked.
“Chainsaw Man has over 15,700 votes this week.” Excitement was hard to hide in Kaji Keiko’s tone. “It already broke the historical record for all new works since JUMP+ was founded last week, and this week it broke the record you yourself created.”
She looked up at Sakamoto Ken and said, “Moreover, there are still two days left in the week; user activity will be even higher over the weekend two days, and it might rush to 20,000 votes.”
“That’s pretty good.” Sakamoto Ken’s reaction was very calm; this result was completely within his expectations.
He asked again, “What about Young Lady?”
“Oh, that one…” Kaji Keiko recalled, “I didn’t note the exact number, but it seems like over 9,000 votes.”
“Nine thousand votes is already a lot, right?” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Yes, although it’s still quite a distance from Sakamoto Sensei’s, the upward speed is also very fast, already far surpassing third place.” Kaji Keiko said, “Now because of the works by you, Sakamoto Sensei, and Miyuki Haru Sensei, the overall popularity of the entire platform is rising very quickly. It wasn’t easy for the chief editor to convince the president last time to focus on developing JUMP+; these past few days, the president has already been proactively inquiring about JUMP+’s operation.”
She quickly flipped through the two chapters’ manuscripts, satisfiedly put them into the file bag; she had already seen the scanned versions Sakamoto Ken sent her before and knew the content well.
Then she took out some printed information from her crossbody bag.
“Sakamoto Sensei, about the Chainsaw Man volume publication matter, I need to confirm with you today.”
She handed a piece of information to Sakamoto Ken.
“Besides the cover and color pages, volumes usually add small illustrations or four-panel short stories on the pages between chapters.”
Kaji Keiko said, “I see that Sakamoto Sensei’s work has a mascot; the Pochita image is very suitable to display as small illustrations in these places, enhancing readers’ impression of the mascot, and it will sell much better for merchandise in the future.”
Sakamoto Ken thought about it; when looking at Chainsaw Man volumes in his previous life, he indeed had a deep impression of those Pochita small illustrations.
Those illustrations often took the theme of the current chapter’s story, drawing a corresponding Pochita image.
At first, the Pochita illustrations were all in various cute styles.
But later, Tatsuki Fujimoto Sensei’s abstract skills started to show, and he various tormented little Pochita…
For example, the chapter where Denji uses Fire Punch…
Sakamoto Ken said, “No problem; just use various Pochita images in this position.”
“Then these few days, I’ll have to ask Sakamoto Sensei to create some small illustrations about Pochita.” Kaji Keiko said.
“I’ll draw them for you now.” Sakamoto Ken directly picked up the paper and pen on the desk.
Kaji Keiko was slightly stunned: “Eh? Doesn’t Sakamoto Sensei want to think about it more?”
“I’ve already conceived them.”
Sakamoto Ken’s pen tip flew quickly across the paper; after all, it was just drawing Pochita, and the lines were very simple.
In a few minutes, several Pochita images were done.
Waving Pochita, ramen-eating Pochita, darkened bat Pochita…
Sakamoto Ken handed the drawn illustrations to Kaji Keiko.
“When laying out, just add the book title text next to them.”
“Sakamoto Sensei’s efficiency is really high…” Kaji Keiko took the drawing and said, “Right, the first few pages of volumes usually also include some character setting information; this…”
“I have the settings here.” Sakamoto Ken pulled out a few more hand drafts. “But the character descriptions are all handwritten, so I’ll have to trouble Editor to type them up and organize.”
Kaji Keiko quickly took them; she nodded and said, “I’ve repeatedly looked at the first 7 chapters these few days and originally wanted to suggest some revisions, but overall, I feel Sakamoto Sensei’s serialization version has already fully met the volume requirements; there’s nothing that needs revision.”
“Then next, we can formally enter the publication process.”
Kaji Keiko took out the design proof for the cover of Chainsaw Man Volume 1 from her bag.
“This is the cover designed according to Sakamoto Sensei’s requirements; subsequent covers will continue the same style.”
The cover image for Volume 1 is Chainsaw Man in combat state, with a splashed color ink art style; it’s actually designed based on his memory of the Chainsaw Man volume covers.
“Looks pretty good; continue this design in the future, just change the character each time.” Sakamoto Ken said.
“Yes… The subsequent binding design, proofreading, submitting to the printing factory, etc., will probably take about a month.” Kaji Keiko continued explaining the process. “At that time, it will first be distributed to bookstores across the country, then go on sale simultaneously according to our scheduled time.”
After saying this, Kaji Keiko let out a long breath, but the expression on her face became serious.
“However, Sakamoto Sensei, all these are just minor issues in the process.” She said gravely, “The biggest problem right now is actually, before sending to the printing factory, convincing the sales department to increase the initial print run as much as possible.”
