Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 123 Bones Society (Seeking monthly votes~)

Although Kenjiro Sakamoto had anticipated that Chainsaw Man would be adapted into an anime, he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

After all, it has only been serialized for two months and has only been updated to chapter 10.

Even including the drafts already given to Keiko Kaji, it's only about twenty chapters.

The previous episode of Chainsaw Man began serialization in 2018, but the animated PV wasn't released until 2021, and the animated version wasn't released until 2022.

Of all the works that Kenjiro Sakamoto knows, the one that was adapted into an anime the fastest is probably "The Prince of Tennis," which started serialization in 1999 and aired as an anime in 2001.

At this pace, Ken Sakamoto worried that it might be a small project, outsourced to some unknown production company, so that it could be launched quickly but the quality would be very poor.

However, when Ken Sakamoto met Editor Kaji and they went to the conference room together, he learned that the production company was actually Bones.

When Ken Sakamoto heard this name, he felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders.

Bones is definitely one of the most prestigious names in the animation industry.

Furthermore, Bones also sent staff to discuss the matter together, which made Ken Sakamoto feel much more reliable.

Last week's Chainsaw Man was produced by MAPPA, but the times are different. At this point in time, MAPPA is still a company that has only been established for a few years and is busy with the production of Ushio and Tora.

What Bones excels at is precisely high-quality battle scenes.

Fullmetal Alchemist is a major representative work of Bones. Even earlier, Cowboy Bebop, which was produced at the beginning of Bones' establishment, was included in the Japanese classic animation guide as one of the thirty classic cases in animation history.

The meeting lasted all morning, and Ken Sakamoto gained a better understanding of the current situation.

An investment firm in the entertainment industry has its eye on Chainsaw Man and wants to acquire the rights to the character. They have contacted Bones for a collaboration.

Ken Sakamoto had never heard of a company called NESX, but according to their introduction, the company has been established for more than 20 years and its investment fields cover various fields such as industry, technology, and entertainment. Many well-known anime have received their investment.

Previously, they only held a small share in the production committee or made investments in related industries, and were not known to the public.

Unlike traditional production committees, NESX wants to produce this entirely on its own, for which they are willing to pay a substantial royalty fee.

As an investment company, it doesn't matter if we haven't heard of them before, as long as we can provide enough money, since the production is handled by Bones.

Everyone had great confidence in the capabilities of Bones.

For the manga itself, Ken Sakamoto could draw Chainsaw Man from memory, but adaptations are a different story.

Because the adaptation of "Chainsaw Man" was done so much earlier than the previous playthrough, neither the production company, nor the director and screenwriter could replicate the situation from the previous playthrough.

But Ken Sakamoto felt that having Bones produce it might yield even better results.

Sakamoto Ken then spent the entire day at Shueisha, showing them the storyboards for the follow-up content and explaining the character designs, plot, and world-building in detail.

Although it has only been serialized up to 10 episodes, the storyboard has actually progressed to 28 episodes, which can be used as a reference for screenwriting and storyboarding when adapting anime.

If other comics are adapted into anime during their serialization, there might be issues like the anime catching up with the manga and then starting to write whatever comes to mind, but that's definitely not the case with his comics.

If all else fails, he can stay up for a week and draw all the storyboards for the entire "Chainsaw Man".

The NESX representative was very professional and knew every detail of the Chainsaw Man plot. She had carefully read the original work before coming and was very serious about it.

Ultimately, the agreed-upon plan was that the investors would pay a copyright usage fee, of which 1500 million yen would go to Ken Sakamoto. However, this payment would not be made in a lump sum, but rather in several installments throughout the production cycle.

Next, Ken Sakamoto met privately with the person in charge named Kyoko Hanabe, who proposed to hire Ken Sakamoto as an animation consultant to oversee the entire animation project.

In return, they offer a monthly salary of 200 million yen.

Two million yen is not an unattainable figure for Ken Sakamoto now; it's about two-thirds of his monthly manuscript fees.

However, the workload is very small. Apart from being used in their publicity to say that "the author personally participated in the production," there is basically not much substantive work involved.

What caught Sakamoto Ken's attention a few more times was the amount of the breach of contract penalty for the position of "animation consultant".

The penalty for breach of contract is stipulated to be ten times the total remuneration received.

If the other party breaches the contract, the penalty will be the same amount, and the payment already made does not need to be refunded.

According to Hua Bu, this is a strict rule of their company, and she has no authority to change it.

Shueisha's legal department colleagues helped review the contract. Ken Sakamoto and the company's lawyers carefully read it several times. In fact, as long as he could complete the work smoothly, cooperate with the consultant work for no more than three days a month, and abide by the confidentiality clause, there was no risk of breach of contract.

Ken Sakamoto doesn't have much of a problem with keeping things confidential; he simply doesn't reveal anime information before the official announcement and doesn't collaborate with competing companies.

As for the three-day consulting work each month, consider it a part-time job with a daily pay of 60 yen. After all, it's a work he created, and compared to most writers who have no say in anime adaptations, NESX shows him a great deal of respect as an author.

This was Ken Sakamoto's first time working on an anime adaptation. What followed was a series of contracts being signed. Shueisha, NESX, Bones, and Ken Sakamoto himself signed and stamped the contracts and confidentiality agreements.

Therefore, the animation adaptation of "Chainsaw Man" is officially about to begin.

According to Ken Sakamoto's own estimate, the time when Chainsaw Man's serialization ends will be roughly the time when the anime will air.

In this way, the comics and anime can promote each other, and since several volumes of the collected editions will have already been published by then, sales can experience an explosive growth.

……

After the meeting, Ken Sakamoto, Keiko Kaji, and Editor-in-Chief Tomohiro Ohno returned to the editorial office together.

As soon as he stepped into the somewhat cluttered space of the editorial department, Editor-in-Chief Ohno stopped in his tracks.

He turned to face the crowd, his face beaming with barely suppressed excitement, and clapped his hands with delight.

"Everyone, everyone!"

The editors, who had been busy with their own tasks, all looked up and turned their gaze toward the doorway.

Tomohiro Ohno cleared his throat and announced in a loud voice, "I have some good news to share with everyone!"

He turned to the side, pushed Ken Sakamoto in front of everyone, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Our Sakamoto-sensei's work—Chainsaw Man—is about to be adapted into an anime! Congratulations, Sakamoto-sensei!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the entire editorial department fell into a brief silence, which was then followed by a burst of enthusiastic applause and exclamations of surprise.

"Animated?!"

"The Chainsaw Master has been serialized for a month, hasn't he?!"

"real or fake?!"

The editor at the nearest workstation, Uchimura, stood up abruptly, his face filled with disbelief: "It's only been a month since the series started and they've already confirmed it's getting an anime adaptation? This breaks our JUMP's historical record!"

He recalled that the fastest record was a year-long serialization before an anime adaptation was announced.

Only a media conglomerate driven by entertainment capital would announce an anime adaptation after only one month of serialization, simultaneously developing novels, comics, anime, games, and even live-action films and television series.

For example, Love Live!, and BanG Dream!, which has just started to be heavily promoted recently.

It's unheard of for a serialized comic like "Chainsaw Man," especially one by a new author, to be adapted into an anime just one month after its release.

Editor-in-Chief Ohno smiled and waved his hand, saying, "It's normal that the investors are so optimistic about this work. I've read the current manuscript and Sakamoto-sensei's subsequent storyboard drafts, and I can feel the unique spirit in the work."

“Of course.” He changed the subject, turning his gaze to Keiko Kaji, who was standing next to Sakamoto Kenji. “I also want to thank Kaji for making it possible to finalize the anime adaptation so quickly!”

"She recently contacted various partners and did a lot of promotional work to promote 'Chainsaw Man.' I saw her working overtime at the company until very late for several days, burying herself in making PPTs. The investor NESX also came after seeing Gachi's recommendation meeting."

Upon hearing the editor-in-chief's words, Ken Sakamoto immediately turned to look at Keiko Kaji.

He then noticed that Keiko Kaji did indeed have dark circles under her eyes that were hard to hide, and her eyes also showed a hint of fatigue, which she had been covering up with a professional smile.

So, it turns out that Kaji-san put in so much effort behind the scenes for his work...

Ken Sakamoto looked at Keiko Kaji and said solemnly, "Thank you, Keiko-san."

Kaji Keiko felt a little embarrassed by his gaze and quickly waved her hand, a blush inexplicably rising on her face: "No, no, please don't say that, Sakamoto-sensei! I should be thanking Sakamoto-sensei."

"Meeting Sakamoto-sensei is the greatest stroke of luck in my career," she continued. "To be honest, if I hadn't been in charge of reviewing manuscripts for the JUMP+ Newcomer Award at the time, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet Sakamoto-sensei, and I would still be buried in piles of manuscripts every day..."

Recalling those days of painstakingly searching through a sea of ​​submissions, Keiko Kaji was filled with emotion.

None of the writers she previously worked with could stick it out. If this continues, she'll really end up taking on peripheral roles and will never be able to become a true editor.

Looking at Keiko Kaji's sincere expression, Ken Sakamoto understood how important it was to have a responsible editor for a work.

He doesn't need Jia Zhi's help with his creative work, but he has a lot of other work to do.

Ken Sakamoto smiled and said, "There are still many things to trouble you with in the upcoming anime adaptation work, so I'll have to ask editor Sang for help."

"Don't worry!" Keiko Kaji immediately straightened her back, patted her chest forcefully, and assured him with a firm look in her eyes, "I will do my utmost to do everything I can for 'Chainsaw Man'!"

　It's almost the end of the month, does anyone still have any monthly votes left?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)