Full-time comic artist

"Thank you for your kindness."

He took his son's hand and left.

……

They strolled around the neighborhood for 20 minutes. Higashino Hibiki was worried that Akemi Akemi was getting impatient, so he headed back to the hotel. On the way, they came across a bookstore. He stopped, thought for a moment, and then led Higashino Mirai into the bookstore.

The bookstore was quite large, with all kinds of books; he even saw the single-volume manga of "Hikaru no Go".

However, it appears to be a pirated copy.

Among the books, Higashino Hibiki saw Liu Cixin's "The Three-Body Problem" and "Ball Lightning" and bought them.

Back at the hotel, Akemi Akemi was surprised to see Hibiki Higashino holding a science fiction novel. She hadn't expected that Hibiki Higashino could even understand Chinese novels.

"This book will dominate the Japanese sales charts in the future, and it will win the Seiun Award multiple times."

"Eh!" Akemi Akemi exclaimed, "Then tell me about it!"

So Higashino Hibiki told her the story of Ye Wenjie and the story of The Three-Body Problem.

They didn't go out that day, and when they woke up the next day, they all had panda eyes.

After sleeping until noon, Higashino Hibiki took them to climb the Great Wall, visit the Forbidden City, and go to the Temple of Heaven...

On August 8th, they watched the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games from the foreign VIP section.

During the Great East Japan Earthquake, Hibiki Higashino donated money and supplies to the disaster area through the Chinese Embassy in Japan, and is now receiving preferential treatment.

At the age of 45, Li Ning, suspended more than 50 meters in the air, maintained a horizontal posture and ran 500 meters in mid-air to ignite the Olympic flame.

"That's amazing!"

Higashino Mirai clapped and cheered!

The crowd erupted in cheers.

……

Nineteen days later, the Higashino family was about to fly back to Japan.

"Finally, I can go home." Akemi Akemi stretched. "These past few days have been so tiring."

"Yes, yes!" Higashino Mirai nodded repeatedly.

For them, it's only natural that they are more accustomed to living in Tokyo.

In the waiting area, the plane arrived, and passengers lined up to board. Higashino Hibiki was the last one. He stared outside for a long time without moving.

“Dad,” Higashino Mirai called out to him.

"Hibiki, come quick!" Akemi Akemi smiled and waved to him.

“They’re here,” Higashino Hibiki smiled and walked towards them.

……

Twenty-seven days after its release, "Your Name" grossed over 10 billion yen, becoming the first animated film not produced by Studio Ghibli to achieve this milestone.

It grossed 150 billion yen in box office revenue in about 8 weeks after its release.

By the 14th week, the cumulative box office had exceeded 194 billion yen, breaking the record of 193 billion yen set by Hayao Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke" in 1997.

By its 15th week, it had broken the record of 196 billion yen set by Hayao Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle" in 2004, becoming the second highest-grossing film in Japanese film history.

In that same week, the film grossed over 200 billion yen, becoming the second domestic film to surpass 200 billion yen at the box office after "Spirited Away".

Just before "Your Name" was taken off the shelves, it finally surpassed "Spirited Away" to become the highest-grossing Japanese animated film.

This brilliant achievement brought Tori Akino's future reputation to its peak.

People regret his departure from the comics career, but no one would think he had lost his creative spark.

……

Three years later, at the Higashino family home.

"Thank you, Dad, for taking the time to play with me."

“There’s nothing to thank me for.” Higashino Hibiki glanced at his son. “Haven’t we been doing this for the past few years?”

During students' winter, summer, and spring breaks, he and Akemi Akimiya traveled around the world with their son, leaving their footprints in many places.

Higashino Mirai was especially happy.

He has a friend whose father is always busy with work and has never even attended his parent-teacher conferences. He is particularly jealous of his good father.

With this comparison, Higashino Mirai is even happier.

But how could this be?

Higashino Mirai looked at the game controller in Higashino Hibiki's hand, feeling like crying.

"You should go to work, stop stealing my game console, ugh!!! Seriously!"

Higashino waved him away, saying, "Go to the soccer team for training. There's a match coming up, right? Your parents will be watching. Remember to do your best!"

“Yes, yes,” Higashino Mirai rolled his eyes helplessly. He sat up and left complaining, “When have you ever missed a visit…you two are such a lazy couple.”

After Higashino Mirai left, Higashino Hibiki suddenly felt bored.

He put down the game controller his son had been begging to play, patted his bottom, and went to his study.

Three years have passed, and Hibiki Higashino's popularity on the internet has gradually faded.

This is the era of Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto, and Hajime Isayama.

Hibiki Higashino is a sailor of the old era, unable to board the ship of the new era.

"One Piece is so much fun! As expected of Oda-sensei, he truly deserves the title of Japan's number one manga artist!"

By 2011, One Piece had become increasingly interesting and its performance had improved significantly.

This comic, which began serialization in 1997, remains popular to this day and has spread all over the world via the internet.

Hibiki Higashino heard Yoshida say that the latest volume of One Piece was selling 100 million copies online in just one week.

Higashino Hibiki was stunned; he would never have dared to dream of such a result before.

In just three and a half years, the times have changed rapidly, and Higashino Hibiki has gradually lost touch with the times.

Due to the Great East Japan Earthquake, Jump even developed an online manga app called Jump+.

The editors in the editorial department came and went, and Higashino Hibiki didn't recognize half of them.

"Now, even if I want to draw comics, I have to study it for a while, so I'd better give up."

Higashino shook his head as he looked at the forum.

"Oda-sensei is the strongest!"

"It's clearly Togashi-sensei..." This netizen was a little unsure of himself, as Togashi Yoshihiro doesn't take many breaks, usually only once a year, and each break is only for half a year.

"I think Naruto is more interesting than One Piece. The bonds between the Konoha ninjas are something that the childish One Piece can't compare to."

"In terms of brutality, Attack on Titan is number one."

Hibiki Higashino sighed as he read the comments.

What about Bleach? Is Kubo already past his prime?

However, "Kochikame" is still being serialized.

"Comparing Masashi Kishimoto and Eiichiro Oda? I think Mirai Toriyama is still the best." Someone suddenly said.

Higashino was taken aback; it turned out that someone still remembered him.

"If you're being honest, that's absolutely true."

"Tori Akino is a legend in Japanese manga, and only he can be called number one."

"After all, he is Oda and Kishimoto's teacher."

"That's not the reason. All of Tori Akino's manga are masterpieces. His debut work, Hikaru no Go, is still a must-read manga."

"Tori Akino should not be proud of being Eiichiro Oda's teacher. On the contrary, Oda's ability to learn from Tori Akino is something that he will benefit from for a lifetime."

What was originally a chaotic post has now suddenly become a consensus.

This puzzled young netizens who had never heard of Tori Akino Mirai.

There isn't an author with this name in any of the currently serialized comic books, right?

"Tori Akino? Who is he?"

"Just a manga artist, the author of 'Hikaru no Go,' 'The Garden of Words,' 'Slam Dunk,' 'Millennium Actress,' 'Death Note,' '5 Centimeters Per Second,' 'Paprika,' 'Puella Magi Madoka Magica,' 'Hanzawa Naoki,' and 'Bakuman.' Nothing special."

"He's also a screenwriter. 'Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day' is one of his works, and 'Your Name' is also one of his works."

My name was given to me by my grandfather.

"Your name is Hoshino Akira?" someone joked.

"My name is Dou Zeyou."

The End

Finish this testimonial

I had many thoughts before it was finished, but now I've forgotten them all and can't write them down.

This book is finally finished. In the last month, I felt that my writing was messy, lacking passion and coherence, and I had no inspiration.

It ended as expected.

My mind is blank right now, and I can't write down any thoughts.

I can only thank everyone for your support over the years.

I'll probably take a month off to regroup, and then I'll come back to writing about Japanese entertainment manga artists. If you'd like to read it, you can leave it on your bookshelves for now; I'll post a separate chapter announcement for the book later.

The journey of life is long, see you next time.