Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

“600,000 is a relatively appropriate number,” Fukuda explained. “Based on the marketing department’s assessment of the popularity of the Naruto manga, 600,000 copies can only sustain sales for a maximum of two months.”

"Huh?"

His words completely stunned everyone at the Oikawa Studio.

"so……"

After a long pause, Eiko Ueda asked:

What are the exact sales figures for the first volume of the Naruto manga, which has been on sale for six months?

It's already 600,000 in two months, it'll take off in six months.

Although the long tail effect of popular comics is short, selling two or three hundred thousand copies in as long as four months is not a problem.

The assistants began to suspect what kind of "killer weapon" Mirai-sha was hiding that would shake the industry.

"Haha," Fukuda laughed heartily, "you'll find out soon enough."

……

On March 10th, Mirai-sha announced in two of its magazines that the second volume of "Naruto" was going on sale.

This is not a particularly rare thing, but it has sparked heated discussions among readers.

"60 million!"

Matsumoto was speechless as he looked at the large initial edition numbers on the manga.

"That's outrageous! 60! That's enough to bury our classroom!"

“Our classrooms…” Fujiwara Chiko scoffed, “There aren’t enough classrooms on the entire floor.”

Although she was mocking Matsumoto, she was also deeply troubled inside.

"The publishing house that my sister and Oikawa founded has actually developed to this point, as expected..."

My sister is amazing!

"Isn't Future Society worried about a backlog of inventory?" someone in the crowd asked timidly.

Everyone was silent.

This is very likely to happen.

……

Editorial Department of Weekly Shonen Jump.

Upon seeing the news about the number of the first edition of Naruto Volume 02, Nagano Nori was not worried at all; instead, he grinned.

"President Fujiwara has lost her mind. She wants to use the figure of 60 to attract media attention and break down the cage we've erected. But she's being naive. While 60 is an exaggeration, it's not enough to attract the attention of most people. And..."

Nakano chimed in, "On the contrary, they will have to bear the inventory pressure of a huge quantity of 60."

As for inflated figures, they wouldn't believe it.

After all, they still have to pay taxes to the country.

“That’s right.” Nagano Nori was very happy.

His suppression of "Fujisho" can only last for a year or two at most.

The longer it takes, the higher the cost will be.

The collapse of a top publishing house is mostly due to internal factors.

An opponent who plays it safe and steady is always more difficult to deal with than one who likes to take risks.

The number 60 represents the fact that the future society has lost its way. Under such circumstances, the more it does, the more mistakes it makes.

Nagano Nori expects more flaws to be revealed in the future.

"Editor-in-chief, then I'll take my leave."

After sharing the good news, Nakano stood up and prepared to leave the editor-in-chief's office.

"Wait a minute."

Nagano stopped him and took a bottle of red wine from the bookshelf behind him.

"This is a gift from President Tao Shan as an incentive when Jump magazine's circulation surpassed one million copies. Let's drink it now."

"But...work..."

"Hey~ this bottle of red wine doesn't have a high alcohol content, it's okay."

As he spoke, he pulled out the cork, and the tart aroma of red wine filled Nakano's nostrils.

“Alright.” Since Nagano Nori had put it that way, Nakano saw no need to refuse.

Moreover, celebrating the jokes that caused him so much pressure with "future" is also worth having with some red wine.

"It's a wonderful thing to appreciate the failure of Future by looking at the past glory of Jump."

Swirling his glass, Nagano Nori was already drunk before even taking a sip.

The fact that he's so happy about just a small "problem" with Future shows his helplessness towards Future as a competitor.

Chapter 158 A Miracle of One Million Copies That Broke History!

"It's been half a month since the 'Fuji Prize' was announced, but there are only 89 original manuscripts submitted. Many of the participants are assistants from manga artists' studios, such as Toriyama, Oikawa-sensei's assistant."

In the editorial department of *Future*, Sato was worried about the situation of the first "Fuji Prize" of *Weekly Shonen Future*. He said to Tomoyuki Fukuda:

"Mr. Fukuda, hasn't President Fujiwara taken any effective action?"

“Effective action?” Fukuda looked at Sato in surprise. “Haven’t we been doing that all along? You know about it, like publishing the second volume of Naruto.”

"A single volume?" Sato couldn't understand it. "But the initial print run of 60 copies didn't make much of a splash. Everyone thought that Mirai Publishing was just gritting its teeth and building a 'spectacle.'"

"Don't worry about the first edition." Fukuda patted him on the shoulder. "You're really slow on the uptake."

……

Three days after the release of the second volume of Naruto, Mirai-sha's investigators, who were spread throughout Tokyo, presented the compiled data to Fujiwara Maki.

"The art style of Naruto is amazing! Even if it's just for collecting, I'd grit my teeth and buy a copy of the manga!"

"The paper quality of the collected volumes is much better than that of weekly magazines. Many details of Naruto are swallowed up by the inferior paper. To better understand Naruto, you have to read the collected volumes."

Through the data, Maki Fujiwara once again learned why the sales of Naruto manga volumes far exceeded those of other manga.

Compared to the cartoon style, the realistic and simplified style of Naruto is far superior in terms of the reader's viewing experience.

For many readers, if the only difference is between a weekly magazine and a single volume, then what is the difference if it's just to get used to cartoon-style content on cheap paper?

There is absolutely no need to buy the single volume, which costs as much as 240, to improve the viewing experience by a negligible amount.

Only works created with dedication, where every line represents the artist's hard work, deserve the reader's support.

Naruto is such a work that transcends its time.

That's why it became a groundbreaking work.

……

Mid-March was an ordinary day, but for cartoonists and readers alike, it was an extraordinary one.

It is something they should remember for decades to come.

After all, in 1974, comics were still in their infancy, and the sales ceiling for top works was only 50 copies. However, a comic called "Naruto" suddenly appeared, not only breaking this record but also far surpassing it, reaching a height that was unattainable for many comic artists.

One million!

The first volume of Naruto has sold over one million copies!

In just six months, it created this miracle!

When a full six zeros appeared on the cover of Weekly Shonen Future, everyone was speechless with shock at the sight of Naruto Uzumaki smiling brightly.

After a long while, a commotion arose:

Has Japanese manga developed to this extent?

Was I dreaming?

"How is this possible!"

"One, two, three, four, five, six, that's one million, no doubt!"

"I'm going to tell the rest of the class!"

This is why there is no internet now. If it were the future internet conditions, then this miracle of "Naruto" would be filmed and spread like a meme, filling the cyberspace.

After that, people rushed to buy comic books to take to their companies and schools.

Many years from now, this 14th issue of Weekly Shonen Future will surely become a collectible.

……

"Phew~" It was unusual for the Tezuka family not to be drawing manga. Osamu Tezuka sat in the corridor, looking at the courtyard scenery on the eve of spring, still unable to believe the shocking content he had seen in the sample magazine.

"A million volumes? Is this the kind of number that would appear in the 70s? Is the Japanese manga market really that big? It would take at least several hundred manga artists and 10 years of hard work and cultivation for the market to nurture such a behemoth."

"That's what I thought before, but now that the situation is actually unfolding before me... sigh..."

He sighed again.

This was clearly a shot in the arm for the current depressed market, but Osamu Tezuka didn't feel good about it.

Because the person who created this miracle was not him, but his competitor.

"You should never underestimate Oikawa."

"Seeing him makes me feel outdated."

In fact, influenced by the realism trend, Japanese manga has become increasingly elaborate, with artists drawing more and more detailed images to attract readers' attention.

Even Tezuka himself had to evolve, and the visuals in Black Jack became much more detailed.

If this weren't Tezuka's work, no one would believe that Black Jack was created by a veteran manga artist who debuted in the 40s.

As a result of this situation, the Japanese manga market did indeed expand ahead of schedule.

For some people who find cartoonish styles childish and dramatic illustrations eerie, the exquisitely realistic style has indeed attracted them, making them start to get used to reading comics.