Full-time comic artist

Only after he started learning did he realize that comics are not just about drawing skills.

In comics, frames and borders all serve a purpose, and even sentences and white space are very important.

How to ensure readers have a satisfying reading experience and are engaged in thoughtful reflection is a complex and challenging task.

Tori Akino did a really good job in this respect. Now that Yamamura thinks about it, the paintings of Arai-sensei, whom he was very satisfied with, are obviously much inferior to those of Tori Akino.

This is his real rival, the target he wants to surpass.

"But why does it take so long to draw a single match?"

The village chief was utterly speechless.

His comics are basically set up in two chapters per event.

The beginning, development, climax, and ending of the story are all clear and straightforward.

I never imagined that a single game in "Slam Dunk" would take six chapters to draw.

In written form, it would be easy to write 2 to 3 words. And this competition is not over yet.

According to Yamamura Morimichi's estimate, there should be at least four more chapters.

The thought of having to wait so long to find out the result of the match made Yamamura Morimichi feel like ants were crawling all over him.

"Oh no! Training is about to start."

Shancun stood up, walked out of the room, and went downstairs.

……

Yamamura's studio is located in Chiyoda Ward, Tokyo, near an art training center. This training center is quite famous in Tokyo.

The mountain villager wanted to achieve the best results, so he looked for many training courses, but he was not very satisfied with any of them.

Finally, he found this Akimiya Art Training Center and learned that Akino Mirai had once been a student there, so he immediately paid the training fee.

Occasionally, a fierce-looking old man would come to teach at the Qiugong Art Training Center. I heard he was the owner of the training center and a great painter.

It was very helpful, and the mountain village was very satisfied.

He hurried toward the Qiugong Art Class, but a college student stopped him.

"Not now, I'm busy." Yamamura thought they were there to ask for his autograph, so he waved his hand and prepared to walk around them.

"It won't take long," the college student said with a smile. "How about checking out the basketball game?"

He handed a flyer to the mountain villager, and despite the villager's refusal, he stopped another person.

"A basketball game?" Yamamura was taken aback, watching as he walked. "A friendly match between Meiji University and Tokai University?"

I checked the time; it was the weekend.

He was somewhat tempted.

……

It was 2 PM on a weekend afternoon in the meeting room of the Weekly Shonen Jump editorial department.

Torishima Kazuhiko and the two deputy editors-in-chief were still in a meeting.

Deputy Editor-in-Chief Kondo held the report and looked at Torishima Kazuhiko with great respect.

"Jump's lowest circulation was 443 million copies two months ago, only 12 more than Magazine."

"At this critical juncture, when it is in danger of losing its crown as the highest-selling product at any moment."

"The editor-in-chief was appointed to the position in a time of crisis. In addition to the usual author training and new talent discovery, the strategy he came up with was to use resources on 'Slam Dunk'."

"Slam Dunk's initial performance was mediocre. To be honest, I thought you had misjudged it."

“It’s not just me. In the editorial department,” Kondo looked at Sasaki and nodded, “aside from you and Sasaki, I doubt anyone would think that Slam Dunk would become such a hit.”

Hearing his words, Torishima Kazuhiko was overjoyed; he had won his gamble once again.

As expected, when it comes to vision, no other editor can beat me.

Sasaki held the report and read it aloud word by word: "The recent rankings of 'Slam Dunk' are 1, 3, 2, and 1. The results are surprisingly stable."

"Slam Dunk's sales increased from 443 million copies to 447 million copies. A large part of this increase, or rather, the main reason, was due to the influence of Slam Dunk."

"Although Slam Dunk is not as popular as Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho, its appearance has indeed saved Jump at this stage."

"We can finally take a breather."

Sasaki rubbed his eyes, feeling them dry.

Torishima Kazuhiko nodded with a smile.

He breathed a sigh of relief; a huge weight had been lifted from his chest.

Despite his usual confident demeanor, he was actually quite flustered. The success of "Slam Dunk" made him reflect on his own luck.

There was an element of gambling involved, but luckily it worked.

"Sasaki, is Tori Akino-kun working hard on his manga? Is there a risk of it going on hiatus?" he asked.

Don't end up like Yoshihiro Togashi, failing at crucial moments.

Yoshihiro Togashi used to work very hard, sleeping only two hours a day and devoting all his energy to manga.

He's practically a high-quality human male.

Unfortunately, it's too late now...

“Absolutely no problem,” Sasaki said decisively. “Tori Akino is a man with very low desires and doesn’t have any deep forms of entertainment. Even though he really enjoys playing Go, he still considers whether it will affect his work. He’s one of the most mature people in the manga artist community.”

"He's definitely drawing comics in his studio right now."

"That's good." Torishima Kazuhiko nodded with satisfaction.

Although he has many requests to draw manga, compared to Yoshihiro Togashi, he is much more committed to fulfilling his contractual obligations.

He doesn't mess around, works hard, and is simply a model employee of the new era.

"Sasaki, inform Torishino and invite him to the serialization meeting in two weeks." Torishino Kazuhiko said with a smile, "These writers have good taste. Let's see what Torishino-sensei chooses."

"Yes."

Sasaki nodded, glanced at Kondo, and seeing that he had nothing to say, took out his phone and called Higashino Hibiki.

A few minutes later, no one answered the landline at the other party's home.

Sasaki coughed and looked up awkwardly.

I was just saying this guy was drawing comics.

He could only call Higashino Hibiki's cell phone, and it took almost a minute for the call to be answered.

It was very noisy across the street; quite a few people were talking.

He repeated it several times, but Tori Akino still couldn't hear him clearly.

Torishima Kazuhiko, who had been watching him closely, lowered his head and began to fiddle with the fountain pen in his hand.

Kondo also stood up and went to the window to look at the scenery below.

Sasaki was on pins and needles. After a while, he heard Akino Tori finally say, "Sorry, it was just in the basketball court. It's all right now."

Sasaki's eyes lit up, and he said loudly, "Basketball court? Are you doing this for a manga?"

He emphasized the words "basketball court" and "comic material".

“No,” Hibiki Higashino replied, “a high school classmate invited me to watch the game.”

Sasaki: "Yeah, yeah! Watching more basketball games is good; you might even learn something new from it."

Hibiki Higashino glanced at his phone curiously, then followed up on Sasaki's words, saying, "I had the same idea."

“That’s how it is.” Sasaki nodded.

"Is there something you need to call about?" Hibiki Higashino glanced at the basketball court; the game was about to start.

"I've invited you to the serialization meeting in two weeks. Do you have time?" Sasaki got down to business.

“I’m very interested,” Hibiki Higashino replied. “Thank you very much.”

……

Players from Meiji University and Tokai University of Japan enter the field.

"Wow, it's so high!"

"The Giant of Japan!"

There were many gasps of surprise from the audience.

Both of these universities are excellent schools, and their basketball clubs are very professional.

The team hired a retired national basketball coach to lead the team, and the players were selected from a pool of qualified candidates.

So its appearance caused a huge stir.

Higashino Hibiki was outside the door, thinking the game had already started.

He adjusted his baseball cap and hurried into the basketball court.

Wearing the number 10 jersey, Hua Chao looked up and scanned the crowd.

Apart from his girlfriend waving and shouting "Hua Chao!" at him, he didn't see anyone he wanted to see.

Hana's eyes dimmed, showing some disappointment.

"The competition is about to start, so cheer up!" Baba patted him on the shoulder.

"Yes, Baba-senpai."

He looked away, ready to concentrate on playing basketball.

Just then, someone climbed up to the second floor and waved at him.

"Higashino... he really came."

Hana Chaochong and Higashino gave a thumbs up.

……

Having just finished training, Yamamura Moromichi entered university and ran to the basketball court.