Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

As for the graduation ceremony, Fushimikawa may not have time.

……

After Fushimikawa returned to his studio, Fujiwara Maki told him some bad news over the landline.

"Although we launched the 'Fuji Prize' manga contest through 'Shonen Future' and 'Senior Future,' we encountered some obstacles in other promotional channels."

"Huh?"

Fushimikawa was somewhat surprised, "Aren't our colleagues in Tokyo really that bad?"

He devoted all his time and energy to comics, leaving him no time to manage the publishing house. Gradually, he even lost some of his sense of crisis.

This is something that should have been prepared for much longer.

Maki Fujiwara was ready.

"What should we do?"

When Fushimikawa asked her a question, Fujiwara Maki smiled, but unfortunately she was in the president's office and no one could see her sly smile.

"Only the Tokyo Shimbun, with which we have a long-standing partnership, agreed to the advertising campaign. Other newspapers and media outlets declined our proposals for cooperation, which won't do."

"As for the countermeasures, I have already prepared them."

"That would be big news, big news that would attract the attention of the entire nation!"

Fushimikawa felt a little relieved and asked curiously, "What big news is it?"

"It has something to do with you, A-Chuan."

"Me?" Fushimikawa was very surprised. He had been holed up in his studio drawing manga, how could he have had time to make any big news?

"I don't know anything about it."

……

After the students' weekend break ended, the staff at Liangwu Bookstore were ready to welcome a large influx of customers.

However, the situation still took them by surprise.

A large group of students stormed into the bookstore, waving banknotes and shouting something.

"Give me a single volume of Naruto."

"Me too, please!"

They came for Naruto.

The store manager was somewhat surprised as he directed the work.

"Why is Naruto becoming popular again?"

They're practically indestructible, never dying, and always keeping the buzz going.

A customer who overheard his rambling explained with a laugh.

"The Chunin Exams arc of Naruto has ended, so we should at least reminisce about what happened before."

He brought up Naruto, and everyone chimed in.

"That's right. Naruto is so interesting to draw. Even just for that, I will support Oikawa-sensei's work."

"The battle scenes over the past three months have been so exciting that I can't live without Naruto anymore."

The enthusiasm of the people seemed endless, which amazed even the store manager, an outsider.

Chapter 157: 600,000 initial copies printed, a triumphant Jump.

Due to the excellence of the Chunin Exams arc, a large number of newcomers came to the bookstore thanks to word-of-mouth recommendations from longtime fans.

Buying the collected volumes of "Naruto" to catch up on the previous content is an essential thing they need to do.

In 1974, when the manga market was sluggish due to the oil crisis, Naruto bucked the trend and its sales increased repeatedly.

Since October of last year, six months later, the sales figures for the three reprints of "Naruto" are unknown even to Fushimikawa himself.

How much will it be?

He thought about the royalties in his bank account, resting his chin on his hand and guessing.

"70? Or 80?"

This is already a remarkable number.

Even the renowned "Ashita no Joe" only sells around 60 copies per volume.

Go Nagai's "Devilman" is roughly priced around 40 yen.

A work that achieves this level of success is a masterpiece, like Touch.

Naruto, with its sales far exceeding 50, has already opened up a new realm for Japanese manga.

Oikawa II broke through the ceiling, attracting more young people to get used to reading comic books, a contribution that Kodansha and Shueisha cannot erase.

……

With Parasyte finished and Fushimikawa having graduated from Waseda University, he finally had time to draw another medium-length Doraemon story, "Doraemon's Long Day".

This 09 birthday special episode, produced by Mizuta, is original content for the anime, yet it is unexpectedly touching and is a favorite episode of Doraemon for many viewers.

Even though Fujiko Fujio has passed away, there is a continuous stream of successors creating "Doraemon," ensuring that it will always be loved by a new generation of readers.

Fujiko F. Fujio's last wish continues to be fulfilled into the new century.

At this moment, Fushimikawa was biting his nails, pondering the content of "A Long Day," and sketching it out bit by bit with storyboards.

Sometimes, when he was not satisfied, he would crumple the manuscript into a ball and throw it into the trash can next to him.

Describing an animation or story outline in a comic book is a very difficult task.

After all, whether it's the lines that suit the comic book style, or the use of small panels, large panels, vertical panels, or horizontal panels, these are all things that need careful consideration.

In addition, the visual language and pacing must be just right. Whether the reader will be immersed in the story depends heavily on the paneling.

Compared to American and Hong Kong comics, which resemble illustrated novels, many readers still prefer the cinematic storyboard style of Japanese comics pioneered by Osamu Tezuka, which is the purpose of storyboards.

In a seven-day week, Oikawa Studio had to complete the original manuscript of "Naruto" in just two days, because Fushimikawa had to take a day to conceive the storyboards, and this time could not be saved.

Of course, this was the situation when Parasyte was being serialized. Now, Fushimikawa can give them an extra day to come up with storyboards.

"Bang, bang."

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

Fushimikawa frowned. He was annoyed to be disturbed while he was working, and the Doraemon world in his mind quickly dissipated with the knock on the door.

Akira Toriyama, whose workstation was closest to the door, got up. He heard the voices outside and opened the door directly.

"Oh, it's Editor Fukuda. Please come in."

Fukuda Tomoyuki sat down on the sofa next to the studio with a stack of documents in his hand.

"Teacher, you go ahead with your work. There's no rush. We can talk about it when you have time."

Fushimikawa sighed softly: "I have plenty of free time right now."

He sat down opposite Futian and asked bluntly, "What's up?"

"It's about the first edition of the second volume of the Naruto manga," Fukuda said.

The document he was holding was a contract that required Fushimikawa's signature.

As for the compilation of the individual volumes and the drawing of the color illustrations, Fushimikawa had already completed them. Now it's the final step in publishing volume 02, and then it can be sent directly to the printing plant.

The reason for the long delay is the uncertainty surrounding the initial print run due to the oil crisis.

If the oil crisis affects the sales of the collected volumes, it would be better to postpone their release and launch them when the market is favorable.

A difference of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of copies translates to a loss of tens of millions of yen.

Future Society has to be careful.

However, now that Volume 01 has proven itself, Miraisha can be bolder.

How many copies were printed in the first edition?

Eiko Ueda asked curiously.

Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo also stood to the side, very curious about the answer.

Unlike the carefree Akira Toriyama, Katsuhiro Otomo stood at an angle, his head turned in another direction, seemingly unconcerned. Only his ears were perked up, quietly listening to Tomoyuki Fukuda's answer.

“60,” Fukuda replied calmly.

"Ah!" Eiko Ueda's mouth dropped open, her voice rising in astonishment until it cracked, "6...60! That's outrageous!"

"The average sales per volume of manga collected volumes before 73 were never this high, let alone for a first edition! Was it really worth taking such a risk?"

It's a little embarrassing to admit, but Eiko Ueda also contributed to the creation of Naruto.

She didn't think she was anything special, but the fact that "Naruto" under her hands had created such an amazing miracle made Ueda Eiko mutter to herself in a daze, "Am I a manga genius?"

"So strong!" The true manga genius Akira Toriyama crouched down, gathered his strength, and jumped up in cheers. He was genuinely happy and jumped for joy.

"Can shonen manga really achieve this?! It's amazing!"

He saw himself in the huge royalties of 60 for the first edition.

If I can achieve this in the future, then I will be financially free.

Draw the comics I want to draw, and live the life of my dreams.

And what about Katsuhiro Otomo?

He started calculating.

One times one equals one, two times two equals four. With this income of over ten million, he might be able to start making animations.

"hey-hey."

Even he, who had been so reserved, started grinning foolishly.

For those who dream of becoming assistants to manga artists, the more popular the manga market, the better. If all Japanese people love manga, then they can receive more positive feedback.

As for the fierce competition that this caused, Akira Toriyama and Katsuhiro Otomo did not care.