Full-time comic artist

Page 374

Hibiki Higashino laughed and said, "Without Death Note, there would be no Death Note. This unorthodox manga would be no different from ordinary manga, losing its core selling point."

The protagonist is the villain, fighting against the forces of justice, which is one of the reasons why Death Note attracts readers.

"The teacher is really heartless," Tanaka muttered, "He doesn't understand the characters' situations just for the sake of the plot."

"I..." Higashino opened his mouth, but he wasn't Hirohiko Araki.

Just then, Higashino Hibiki's cell phone rang, interrupting his accusation.

The caller was Koji Yoshida.

"Teacher, the preliminary results for 'Red Pepper' are out!"

Today is Tuesday. Jump will select 100 reader survey forms to summarize readers' feedback on the manga, so that manga artists whose work is not performing well can make adjustments in advance.

Higashino Hibiki didn't care about this, so he didn't ask Yoshida to inform him.

This time it seems to be something special.

“I think I know,” Higashino Hibiki said calmly, “that your grades are not very good.”

"Ok!"

"So how much is it? That's why you contacted me in such a hurry."

“Eighth place,” Yoshida replied anxiously.

This is the worst result ever for the first chapter of Hibiki Higashino's manga.

"Millennium Actress" also ranked third.

Most of the others were first place.

It's a cliff drop now.

"I didn't expect it to be this bad..." Higashino pondered for a moment.

"So?" Yoshida asked.

"Let's continue like this," Higashino Hibiki said after thinking for a while.

“Continue…” Yoshida was incredulous.

“Yes, that’s right. By the way,” Hibiki Higashino nodded, then asked, “Jump won’t cancel Paprika, will they?”

"Please wait a moment," Yoshida said, covering the microphone and asking Sasaki.

“Paprika is just a short manga, so it won’t be canceled.” That was the conclusion he conveyed to Hibiki Higashino and Sasaki.

That's good.

Hibiki Higashino didn't care about the modest success of "Paprika".

Such artistic works are inherently unpopular with the general public.

He anticipated the series would be canceled, and although the current performance is very poor, it's good enough as long as it can be serialized.

Yoshida sighed after Higashino hung up the phone.

"What's wrong?" Onishi nudged Yoshida's shoulder and asked in surprise, "Why are Tori Akino-sensei's manga grades so bad? Is it because of you?"

When he saw that "Paprika" was ranked eighth, he even suspected that Xiao Zheng's ranking summary data was wrong.

"What does this have to do with me!" Yoshida Koji reacted strongly. "I'll sue you for defamation!"

"It's just that Mr. Toriakino no longer values grades as much."

After seeing the storyboard for "Paprika," he also advised Hibiki Higashino to portray the main storyline in a simple and straightforward manner.

Furthermore, the part where Pinkawa dreams at the beginning of the manga should be removed, and it should start directly from the theft of "DCMINI".

Hibiki Higashino still refused.

Yoshida was helpless; the manga artist wouldn't listen to his advice, and there was nothing he could do.

"Is it really not because of you?" Da Xi ignored his explanation, narrowed his eyes and asked again.

"There are...some, I suppose."

Yoshida blindly follows Akino.

Although he predicted that Paprika would fail, Akino Tori's legend continued, with masterpieces from Hikaru no Go to Death Note.

So he wondered if he was not capable enough, or if there were aspects he hadn't grasped.

Worried that his suggestions might negatively impact the success of Paprika, Yoshida offered one piece of advice and then stopped talking.

“I knew it,” Onishi said, exasperated. “I could tell all along that you idolize Tori Akino-sensei too much! As a reader, that’s understandable, but you’re an editor now, and your job is to fill in the gaps in Tori Akino-sensei’s work! Do you understand, Yoshida-kun?”

Koji Yoshida nodded thoughtfully. "I...I understand."

Paprika gave him a wake-up call, and Yoshida began to consider that he should change his mindset and break away from his superstition about Akino Tori.

"It really is my fault after all," he said dejectedly.

"That's enough, keep trying in the future," Onishi comforted him.

"Yes, thank you, Onishi-kun." After thanking him, Yoshida asked, "How are the results of 'Dandelion'? It's the work of the newcomer you're in charge of, right?"

"Reader feedback says the ending was quite good. However," Onishi Kohei said somewhat dejectedly, "overall, 'Dandelion' is not performing well. The chances of it being serialized are almost nonexistent."

Hideaki Sorachi's first manga ended in failure.

……

Paprika has continued for two more chapters, but its ranking has not improved and has even fallen to outside the top ten. Based on the trend, it will likely fall to below the top fifteen.

Atsuko Chiba transforms into Red Hot Chili Pepper and has intercourse with the vice chairman in his dream. Through this intense sense of guilt, she helps the vice chairman recover during his climax.

Two more colleagues have been murdered at the company.

Himuro, who was initially thought to be the mastermind, turned out to be just a front. The real mastermind was someone else.

Koyama is fond of Atsuko Chiba, but Atsuko Chiba is more interested in the talented Tokita.

Although Tokita is an extremely obese person due to overeating, his ability to create a dream machine like "DCMINI" is far beyond that of ordinary people.

Chiba's affections were not understood by Tokita, who was focused on the development of "DCMINI," which made Chiba very dissatisfied.

"You're a mad scientist who doesn't even possess human thought!"

"If you only understand your own dreams, like a self-confident otaku king, you will be trapped by machines and forever addicted to your hands!"

……

What exactly is Paprika about?

"I can't understand it at all."

"It's completely boring."

"How could Chiba like Tokita? A beautiful woman with a fat otaku, they're completely mismatched. Is Tori Akino trying to seduce otaku?"

"He's really run out of ideas."

Keiko felt terrible listening to her classmates' words.

She is one of the few readers who enjoys Paprika.

Who is the mastermind behind this? She was very curious.

She wondered if Atsuko Chiba and Tokita had a happy ending.

She was equally curious about the consequences of a machine as surreal as "DCMINI".

She wanted to see the connections between people in dreams, and to see what other wonderful imaginations Tori Akino had.

Unfortunately, in the huge school, she was the only one who thought that way.

"What's wrong with Chiba liking Tokita? A person's soul is more important than their appearance."

"Tori Akino-sensei has not lost his talent at all; he has become even more amazing."

"The latest chapter clearly explained the reason for Detective Funakawa's psychological trauma, but does nobody care?"

"How could this happen..."

Keiko kicked at pebbles with her head down and returned home feeling depressed.

……

A chat program is filled with people who want to become cartoonists.

"Great, Tori Akino has finally fallen from grace! Seeing so many people praising him made me want to vomit. Now he's finally shown his true colors, and his works will be boring."

Taoka refreshed the forum, and seeing all the posts criticizing "Paprika" made him want to laugh with excitement.

"This is the most boring manga I've ever seen in Jump!" "Was this drawn by Akino Toriyama?" "It's incomprehensible, like the ramblings of a madman." Haha, that's what everyone's saying.

Taoka copied the text and sent it to the chat program.

His dream was to become a cartoonist, but despite his efforts, his work was never serialized.

Over time, Taoka became gloomy.

"My work is unpopular; it's all the readers' fault!"

"Tori Akino's paintings are all garbage, so why do so many people like garbage cans? They really don't know how to appreciate art."

"The clown resides in the palace, the master wanders the streets!"

He had this idea, and it became deeply ingrained in him.

Taoka: "I've disliked Tori Akino for a long time."

Nomura: "What are you barking like a dog?"

Taoka: "...Vulgar...crude!"

Sato: "What are you so excited about now?"

Sakurada: "Tori Akino-sensei's new manga isn't doing well, but at least it's still being serialized and has a lot of followers. What about you?"