Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

He felt no sense of accomplishment whatsoever.

……

"Huh? Why did you order me a dark roast coffee? Take it away! It makes me want to vomit! It reminds me of my disgusting job in the PR department! Every day I'm assigned so many monotonous tasks, with no flexibility whatsoever. Coupled with this black liquid, it's practically killing my soul!"

Hirokane Kenshi's statement is extremely exaggerated.

It's like someone who's squeamish about blood seeing a needle.

Fushimikawa picked up his coffee and took a sip, puzzled. "It's alright. I can taste the rich aroma of the coffee beans, and it's also invigorating, helping me stay up all night drawing manga."

Hirokane Kenshi stopped his actions with a look of disdain.

“That’s true,” he nodded, picked up his coffee and took a sip. “Life isn’t something you can live the same way as everyone else.”

"Although Panasonic tells us to treat the company like home, there are different kinds of homes."

Hirokane Kenshi had two "families." One was Matsushita, where he wished he could do nothing at all, just go through the motions every day and be a salary thief.

One is comics.

He could easily bring his own food and devote his time and energy to unrewarding work, squeezing out his inspiration just to better work on it.

Now he's abandoning Matsushita and dedicating himself entirely to manga.

Fushimi Kawa likes people like that.

Without even asking about salary, driven solely by a burning dream, they were ready to go all in.

However, it's also possible that he was confident that even though Fushimikawa's treatment was poor, he felt he could serialize the story in a short time.

The arrival of Fushimikawa awakened his true self.

"I currently only have one monthly serialization, so I don't need an assistant much," Fushimikawa admitted.

"Currently?" Hirokane Kenji grasped the key point.

“Yes,” Fushimikawa nodded, “there will also be weekly serializations.”

Regardless of whether a deal can be reached for "Doraemon", he plans to work on two projects simultaneously, otherwise it would take too much time.

Fushimikawa could not tolerate such a low volume of work.

"How arrogant! What are your representative works?"

"I've only just become a comic artist, but I've drawn a doujinshi called 'Trying to Say Goodbye.' I didn't bring it with me today, but I'll give you a copy next time we meet."

“Thank you then,” Hirokane Kenji nodded, but he was thinking of buying a copy privately. The circle of people who buy doujinshi is not large, and he knew some people in that circle, so he thought it would turn out well.

"The number of working days doesn't matter; I can take on side jobs."

He agreed to become Fushimikawa's assistant simply to get into the manga artist circle.

Get to know excellent editors, find a niche that suits you, and then try serializing your work.

“Alright,” Fushimikawa nodded, “Let’s talk about compensation. I’ll cover lunch and dinner, and reimburse your subway commuting expenses. The daily wage is 2000 yen regardless of how long you work. That’s top-tier in the industry.”

“Very good, let’s do it this way.” Hirokane Kenji agreed immediately.

His salary was certainly not as good as when he worked at Panasonic, and his future prospects were bleak as could be seen at a glance.

But Kenji Hirokane did not hesitate at all, which is why the Japanese manga industry has produced so many talented people.

Manga artists of Osamu Tezuka's generation have nurtured many successors.

The future of Japanese manga is promising.

Fushimikawa therefore chose to write manga.

"It's a word."

They both stood up at the same time and shook hands firmly.

……

For the next few days, Fushimikawa was busy with the studio.

Purchase manga tools, set up dedicated tables and chairs, contact Shogakukan, and explore more work opportunities.

It wasn't until three days later that Fushimikawa Studio officially opened for business.

“Oikawa-sensei,” Hirokane Kenji called out Fushimi Kawa’s pen name as he rushed to the studio. He exclaimed, “Your doujinshi is really hard to buy. I went to great lengths and only managed to get a photocopy.”

"A photocopy?" Fushimikawa asked in surprise. "There are such things?"

"Didn't you know?" Hirokane Kenji exclaimed in surprise, "The photocopy of 'Trying to Say Goodbye' has already spread throughout Tokyo."

Chapter Twenty-Two: Fan Fiction Forces Original Work

"Editor-in-Chief, what's your decision?"

In the editorial department of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday, Toshiki Takei hurriedly caught up with the editor-in-chief, Shizuo Watanabe, and asked directly, "About Oikawa-kun."

After the CM exhibition, he took "Trying to Say Goodbye" to editor-in-chief Watanabe, trying to get him to make a decision to communicate with Fujimoto Hiroshi and discuss the possibility of Oikawa and Fujimoto Hiroshi working together to draw "Doraemon".

A week has passed, but the other party keeps making excuses, which makes Takei Toshiki somewhat dissatisfied.

In the second half of this year, Shizuo Watanabe just took over as editor-in-chief of Sunday, and he has been trying to play it safe in everything, wasting many opportunities, and now he is still delaying!

Seeing that he couldn't get rid of him, Watanabe Shizuo pursed his lips and said bluntly, "Try to Say Goodbye is indeed very interesting, but it's not to the point of offending Fujiko-sensei yet. In the competition with Magazine and Jump, we Sunday are already lagging behind. Now we need to focus on improving our skills, so don't be too aggressive."

He's still waiting for Fujiko Fujio to continue creating miracles like "Q-Taro the Kid".

If you visit rashly and force Fujiko to cooperate with a kid, Fujiko will leave Sunday in a fit of anger, and then everything will be over.

“How could it be considered offending!” Takei Toshiki said, somewhat annoyed. “This is clearly a win-win situation. Oikawa-kun can showcase his talent through this, and Doraemon will become even more popular. Besides, everything is decided by Fujiko-sensei; we are just acting as intermediaries. It’s the editor-in-chief who is being too conservative.”

His blunt criticism made Watanabe Shizuo lose face.

"Wu Ju, I am the editor-in-chief!"

"you you……"

You'll regret it!

Takei Toshiki thought to himself.

There's no need to continue now that things have come to this point.

"Farewell." He bowed slightly and walked towards the door.

Then...

"boom!"

The door was slammed shut.

……

Tokyo in August is unbearably hot.

The frequent chirping of cicadas disturbed Jiro Suzuki's thoughts.

He rested his chin on his hand and looked out the window: "I wonder how Fushimi-kun's doujinshi is going."

"It should be pretty good," Fujimoto Hiroshi replied casually as he drew Doraemon.

Jiro Suzuki shook his head and said, "I don't think that's right."

"why?"

“He said he would send me a doujinshi, but he hasn’t come yet,” Suzuki Jiro said, sitting up with concern. “He must be too embarrassed to come because his grades aren’t good enough.”

“That’s true,” Fujimoto Hiroshi put down his pen. “He also said he would give me a copy, and according to our usual pattern of correspondence, it should have arrived by now.”

They exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with worry.

Jiro Suzuki said, "Fushimi-kun is a genius. What's the worst thing for a genius is to be hit hard and never recover?"

“Persistence is the essence of a cartoonist,” Fujimoto Hiroshi frowned. “Then I can only feel sorry for him.”

Even so, he was still thinking about whether he should go to Waseda to see Fushimikawa.

When he and Abiko Suo-xiong first started drawing comics, they fled back to their hometown because of the hardship and pressure.

If it weren't for the advice and comfort from Tokiwa-sho Terada Hiroo and others, and their help in lifting the editorial department's collective blacklist, there would be no Fujiko Fujio duo.

Just then, the studio door was pushed open, the leaves outside the window rustled, and two people walked in.

“Ms. Fujiko, this is editor Toshiki Takei,” one of them introduced.

Fujimoto Hiroshi stood up.

He told Kawai, the editor of "Doraemon," "Editor Kawai, I know editor Takei."

They had a mutual friend, Fujio Akatsuka, so although they weren't close, they were acquainted.

"I'm so sorry to bother you like this." Takei Toshiki bowed slightly.

"Don't be so polite, is there something you need?"

Fujimoto Hiroshi gave Suzuki a look, and Suzuki went to pour tea.

"Please take a look at this first."

Takei put down the cardboard box he was holding and gestured for Fujimoto Hiroshi to open it.

"This is?"

Kawai explained, "These are letters from readers in the last few days."

"Oh? Let me see." Fujimoto Hiroshi became interested.

He couldn't understand how his readers' letters could be related to Sunday's editors.

There must be something he doesn't know about.

He opened the letter.

"Doraemon is so much fun!"

His first words made him somewhat happy.

He hadn't received any praise for his work from readers in a long time.

But he didn't quite understand the second sentence.