Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

"Readers' opinions are somewhat polarized. Some say your art is too avant-garde and they don't dare to look at it at all. Others say you should paint bolder and include more distorted human figures."

Oh, she's started talking about work.

"Because I told you this story, I decided to draw it, also to lay the foundation for another comic."

In magazines, short comics have always served as a testing ground for longer comics.

Whether this comic will be accepted by the market is anyone's guess. Let's just put it on the market and see.

If the results are good, I'll continue publishing; if they're just average, I'll revise it and try again.

"According to Ms. Nagai, her friend was terrified but still wanted to watch it. Many readers share this sentiment."

Horror comics have always had a market, and Junji Ito occupies half of it, which is not a small niche.

But for Fushimikawa now, things are becoming increasingly difficult.

He needs to try writing works that are more acceptable to readers.

Now he has some ideas.

A while ago, something caused quite a stir.

Starting in 1931, the discharge of cadmium-rich wastewater by Mitsui Mining Company caused many people in Toyama Prefecture to suffer from Itai-itai disease. After a long legal battle, 14 victims finally won the first instance and were awarded 400 million yen in compensation.

However, Mitsui Metals chose to appeal and lobby the government to assemble a team of experts who questioned whether Itai-itai disease was caused by cadmium poisoning.

These people are currently conducting experiments, the results of which will directly impact the future of hundreds or even thousands of victims.

Many news outlets are following up on the story, making it a hot topic, and environmental issues have once again become the most concerning issue for the Japanese.

It even surpassed the hostage situation at Asama Sanso that occurred half a month ago.

After all, this directly relates to their lives.

Minamata disease in Kumamoto, Shin-Minamata disease, Yokkaichi asthma, and now Itai-itai disease—the Japanese have suffered far too much in these areas.

When Fushimikawa was a child, he almost died because of Morinaga arsenic poisoned milk powder.

Unfortunately, he will never see the scene of the company's son-in-law being shot dead in public.

Taking these factors into account, Fushimikawa decided to use one of his favorite manga, Parasyte, to salvage his reputation.

This comic from the 80s has stood the test of time and is still loved by readers of the new era.

Main text

Chapter 82 Earth's Self-Purification

Megumi Asano stayed at the Oikawa studio for more than an hour.

During this time, she did not disturb Fushimikawa's work on his new piece, but instead organized the interview data for the day.

Sometimes she would cover her mouth and chuckle when she saw the words praising Fushimikawa, and other times she would remain expressionless, suppressing her anger.

Because he values ​​him so much, he finds it hard to tolerate some of the malicious comments from readers.

This reminded Asano Megumi of her experience in junior high school when Fushimikawa was bombarded with letters of abuse after writing an article exposing the distorted comfort women system in Japan.

The young man was driven to "sacrifice" for the country, going to the front lines to kill innocent people from other countries, which gradually drove his mind to extremes.

So he went to the place where soldiers were being entertained.

After their lovemaking, he learned the name of the woman who had come from Japan.

She was actually my sister, whom I hadn't seen for six years?!

He couldn't accept that he was serving the Emperor on the front lines while his sister became a comfort woman.

The two embraced and committed suicide under the grenade.

"It's much better now than it was back then." After comforting herself for a moment, Asano Megumi patted her chest and carefully examined the glaring words, analyzing their true meaning.

After nine o'clock, she took the organized data, glanced at Fushimikawa who was still drawing, and turned to leave the studio.

Keep up the good work!

……

The following Wednesday, another short story by Tomie was serialized in Weekly Youth Future.

The story is about Yukiko, a girl who received a kidney transplant from Tomie, and the bizarre tale of Tomie's brain growing inside her body.

The style remains the same, but the story is much more complete.

It also reveals that Tomie possesses the ability to make men kill or dismember her in a fit of impulse.

Readers who liked it really liked it, while those who didn't criticized Fushimikawa harshly in the survey.

Tokyo was still a bit chilly on March 16th, and the cherry blossoms hadn't bloomed yet. Fushimikawa felt a little disappointed on his way from the studio to the company.

Fortunately, on February 14th, Fujiwara Maki gave him a gift called Heianfu, which had a pink rose embroidered on it, giving him a flower to look at from time to time.

Soon they arrived at the company entrance, where Fushimikawa saw people registering.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Oikawa." The receptionist bowed and greeted Fushimikawa upon seeing him.

That's the troublesome thing about Japan; there are so many rules. People of lower status have to bow to those of higher status, or they will be criticized.

He heard that many companies, when stamping their seals, would tilt the seal at a certain angle depending on the employee's status; the lower the status, the greater the tilt, to show a respectful attitude.

That was really scary, but thankfully Mirai-sha didn't go that far.

"You must be Mr. Oikawa!" Before Fushimikawa could return the greeting, the person who had just been registering excitedly came up to him, his face full of admiration. "I submitted my work to Mirai-sha because of you!"

"Thank you," Fushimikawa said with a gentle smile.

The man clenched his fist: "Don't be discouraged, bring out some Doraemon-style comics again!"

Fushimikawa was stunned and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

He completely disapproves of "Tomie".

“I appreciate your encouragement,” Fushimikawa said after a moment’s thought.

"Shanzhi, come here."

An editor named Masakyu Noguchi from Mirai-sha was standing in the company, waving at the person in front of Fushimikawa.

"Ah, it's Professor Fushimi," Noguchi Masakyu said, taking two steps forward after seeing Fushimi River. "President Fujiwara and the others have already arrived."

“Understood,” Fushimikawa nodded. He said to Yamato, who was about the same age as him, “I have something to do, so I’ll be leaving now. Good luck to you too.”

"Of course, I want to become a cartoonist too!" he said confidently.

Although he had never heard of the name Yamato, Fushimikawa had high hopes for him.

His hands are clearly those of a comic artist, not the kind that, after reading a comic, would excitedly want to serialize it.

……

After saying goodbye to Yamatoshi, Fushimi Kawa arrived at the conference room and found everyone there, discussing the compiled data.

"According to data from Toji Co., Ltd., most channels sold out of Weekly Young Future within 5 days, which is good news."

Upon noticing Fushimikawa's arrival, Utsunomiya, who was halfway through his speech, stood up to greet him.

Fushimikawa quickly waved his hand, urging him to sit down and continue.

"Don't worry about me."

After becoming a director of Mirai-sha, Fushimikawa's status rose instantly.

As if they had all agreed beforehand, everyone changed their usual attitude and began to be respectful.

"In addition, Keiji Nakazawa's 'Barefoot Boy' has received high praise, with many people saying that he depicted the persecution that a real anti-war family would suffer."

"Hirokane Kenji's 'Detective Story' resonated with some people, and many people wrote to us. One reader named 'Yamada' said something very representative: 'Hirokane Kenji's manga really captured the hardships of people at the bottom of society.'"

He spoke eloquently and had a well-thought-out plan, expressing his views fluently and clearly.

"Based on surveys printed from other manga magazines, our ranking is as follows: Oikawa-sensei's 'Tomie' is ranked first, but because it is a short manga, it does not take up a place in the ranking of long manga."

"Barefoot Boy is first, Detective Story is second, and Shiokaze's Manuscript is third. These three manga are all highly rated, enough to sustain the circulation of Weekly Young Future. Add to that Oikawa-sensei's manga, and I think..."

He looked at the others and said, “We can increase the number of copies issued appropriately.”

Toshiki Takei did not directly refute: "What you said makes a lot of sense, but don't act based on temporary data. Let's observe for a while longer."

Fujiwara Maki nodded in agreement.

"If we print more than we can handle, the comics will just be returned and piled up in the warehouse, becoming a burden. When they are destroyed, I think everyone will feel heartbroken."

Everyone present loved comics, which is why they entered this industry.

The thought of a magazine representing the culmination of a cartoonist's hard work being destroyed made everyone decide not to be too radical.

Of course, Fushimikawa understood that Fujiwara Maki had said all this for his own sake.

Although Tomie is number one, Fushimikawa clearly did not play his role as a pillar, otherwise the members of Mirai-sha would not have needed to be so timid.

After the meeting, Fushimikawa did not leave, but instead went to find his new editor, Kitahara Shinsuke.

When he took out the brown paper bag, Kitahara Shinsuke's eyes lit up.

"I knew it! Oikawa-sensei, you wouldn't be satisfied with just drawing short stories!"

In a lounge, he immediately took out the original manuscript and began to read it.

A person on Earth suddenly thought:

"If the population were reduced by half, how many forests could be saved from burning?"

A person on Earth suddenly thought:

"If the population were reduced to one percent, the amount of pollutants emitted would also be only one percent..."

A person on Earth suddenly thought:

"Unable to protect the future of living beings..."

After reading the preface, Shinsuke Kitahara understood the theme of this work titled "Parasyte".

It's about environmental protection and ecological critique.