Full-time cartoonist

Chapter 11 Minor Positive Grades
When comics are published in trade magazines, the works are not exclusive to the writers.

Therefore, the direction of the work will be influenced by many people, and the ending of the work is not under my control.

Akira Toriyama also suffers from this.

"So, will Dragon Ball end in 1995?" Higashino wondered.

Eiichiro Oda also said that after the end of "One Piece", there will be no long-form serialization.

It's really uncomfortable.

……

Dinner at Akira Toriyama's on Friday afternoon at 5pm.

"That guy Torishima is a very strict person." At the dining table, Akira Toriyama waved his chopsticks and strongly condemned, "In order to be able to serialize, I drew 500 manuscripts in two years, 500 pieces! He rejected them all!"

"Yeah~" Mrs. Toriyama covered her face in embarrassment when she saw her husband's rudeness.

"500...It sounds painful..." Higashino nodded.

"Yes! Painful! Too painful!"

A big man has not had a job for two years, and he has been drawing comics at home, and he doesn't know if there will be any results.

It's really tough.

"However... thanks to him, I was able to draw "Alalei"."

Higashino recited silently, "The so-called heaven will send a great mission to a human being. He must first suffer from his will, exhaust his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, empty his body, and mess up his actions. Therefore, his heart and patience have benefited what he can't do. .”

Akira Toriyama nodded, "That's the truth."

Akemi Akimiya patted Higashino Higashika on the shoulder, and said boldly: "You did a good job on your back! It seems that your studies are very effective. Teacher, I am very optimistic about you!"

"Teacher?" Higashino squinted at her, a teacher who had never taught a class.

Akemi Akimiya waved her hand, "You will know later."

She covered her mouth and snickered, as if remembering something happy.

Higashino Hibiki ignored her, the idiot was much happier in his mind, let her entertain herself.

"One thing to say, Higashino-kun really worked hard," Toriyama Akira said, "Sometimes when I wake up at night, I find his window is still lit."

Toriyama Yumi looked at Higashino, and persuaded: "Even if you have to draw manga and study hard, you should take a good rest at ordinary times."

"Well, thank you for your concern." Higashino said: "I understand, I don't want to be sick and hospitalized because of fatigue just after I got the qualification for serialization."

Toriyama Yumi nodded, "It's good that you have a bottom line in your heart."

It feels good to be cared about by others, Higashino doesn't think they are bothersome, and feels warm in his heart.

Toriyama Yumi looked at Toriyama Akira, "That should come."

"Ah." Akira Toriyama looked at the time and nodded.

Akemi Akimiya was curious, "What?"

"Determining the ranking of works that live or die."

As soon as Akira Toriyama finished his sentence, the landline at home rang.

"Let me pick it up." He said to Toriyama Yumi, then got up, and went to the landline phone at the door of the house.

"Well," Yumi Toriyama nodded, and then explained to the curious Akemi Akimiya, "It should be the editor of "Dragon Ball", Mr. Takeda Tomono. Every Friday afternoon, Xiaozheng will be notified of his grades."

Higashino suddenly realized.

He has some knowledge of this thing, also known as the ranking of this newspaper, which is the ranking obtained through the reader questionnaire carried in the jump.

Because "Weekly Shonen Jump" was founded later than the other two major shonen manga magazines, in order to gain readers' support, we need to understand readers' thoughts.

There are reader questionnaires mixed in the manga magazine.

One of the most important items is the ranking of "favorite works".

Most of the time it's 3, sometimes it's 1.

Before every Friday, 1000 responses from readers will be selected, and the rankings will be made in terms of gender, age, class and other aspects. This is Xiaozheng.

If the grades are not satisfactory for three consecutive weeks, they will be cut in half and the manga will be forcibly ended.

And the better the score, for example, Xiaozheng No.1, then your comics will be placed at the forefront of the magazine.

The capable go up, the mediocre go down.

It is a very important indicator for cartoonists who serialize on Jump.

Works such as "Shaman King" and "The Tutor" that were once all the rage were cut in half because of Xiaozheng's poor grades.

So even popular manga artists worry about this.

In addition to such exceptional works as "Dragon Ball", "One Piece", and "Naruto".

But this is also a very realistic thing. If manga can't attract readers, then let's end it.

After a while, Akira Toriyama came back.

He raised a finger and returned to the dining table triumphantly, "Sure enough, it's No.1 again!"

"That's amazing! Teacher Akira Toriyama!"

Akemi Akimiya, who kept her head up nervously, applauded excitedly.

No.1, a lot of serial manga artists, from No.2 to No.20 have all won, but No.1 is very difficult to get.

"Ah! I really want to serialize too!"

"There will be such a day, as long as you keep working hard."

Higashino smiled and said, "Congratulations, Teacher Akira Toriyama."

"Actually, I have won the first place many times," Toriyama sat on the seat, "sometimes even several times in a row. But when I hear that I am the first, I will still be very happy. After all It is jump's number one."

Japan's No. 630 manga magazine, with an average sales volume of [-] million, it is a great achievement to get it No. [-].

……

On Monday, "Weekly Shonen Jump" goes on sale.

Akemi Akimiya borrowed a car and took Higashino Hibiki to Nagoya City.

"I want to see the comics I drew!"

she said so.

I want to see the result of my hard work as an assistant.

Unfortunately, the 35th issue of "Weekly Shonen Jump" released today does not serialize the content drawn by them as assistants.

"Ah, I forgot!" The idiot roared loudly: "After the manuscript is submitted, the serialization will be delayed by one week!"

Higashino shook his head, "After all, we need to allow time for proofreading, printing, and distribution."

Pulling myself over without making a sound, I thought it was a big deal.

"It's a pity..." Akemi Akimiya lowered her head.

"But there is the latest issue of Jump!" She cheered up again.

Such a person would definitely not be depressed, Higashino thought to himself.

Really self-regulating.

……

Higashino used to think it was a happy thing to go out with a 24-year-old beautiful young lady.

It is only now that I understand that not every young lady is called Akemi Akimiya.

“Very spicy, very spicy!”

The tears flowed from eating spicy tofu, and the snot and tears kept stuffing into his mouth.

What a funny scene.

"If you can't eat it, don't eat spicy food." Higashino couldn't bear to look directly at it. Hearing that spicy taste is a pain sensation, I really doubt that Akemi Akimiya is a fan of SM.

Pain and happiness.

He put a spoonful of Mapo Tofu into his mouth and savored it carefully.

"But...but it's very cool, I can't control myself." Akimiya Ningmei took out a tissue, wiped off the sweat, and looked enviously at Higashino Higashino who had no sweat beads and a calm expression, "You...hashas, Isn't it spicy?"

"It's okay." Higashino replied.

(End of this chapter)