Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

The highest award is for being selected, with a prize of 200 million yen; for a merit award, it is 100 million yen; and for a shortlisted entry, it is 50 yen.

The winning entries will be published in a special issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, which is a very valuable opportunity for newcomers to gain exposure.

For Eri Aragaki, the Tezuka Award has another advantage.

That is, the Tezuka Award accepts a wide range of works, not limited to shonen manga, but also gag manga, drama manga, and short stories.

This gave her a lot more options.

Furthermore, the judges of the Tezuka Award place great importance on the creativity and personal characteristics of the work, which is very advantageous for her, given her memories of her past life.

More importantly, winning the Tezuka Award will receive high attention from publishers. Once you win the award, it basically means that you can sign a contract with Shueisha and become a professional manga artist.

This perfectly aligns with Eri Aragaki's goals.

She wanted to become famous overnight through the Tezuka Prize, use the prize money to alleviate her debt pressure, and at the same time get the opportunity to serialize her work.

Eri Aragaki was aiming for a direct selection and award.

She is both a time traveler and a cheat-like online player on Earth.

She has that confidence.

Especially since the work she copied was very famous and absolutely award-winning!

That is……

Attack on Titan.

Putting everything else aside, although Attack on Titan was very controversial in the later stages, the plot in the beginning was really undeniably excellent.

As for Hajime Isayama...

All she could say was sorry, especially since she was already in a precarious situation herself.

If Hajime Isayama existed in this world.

Why do you say that?

Because she discovered that this parallel world is not necessarily exactly the same as her previous life. There are Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece, as well as Dragon Ball, but some works and manga artists do not exist.

For example... the dark fantasy action manga she loved in her past life.

Berserk.

It's not just the cartoonist and his work that's missing; some annoying guys are also gone, like that magnanimous guy.

But she wasn't sure if Hajime Isayama was still around, because Attack on Titan is an 11-year-old manga.

But as I said before, she herself is in dire straits right now, so it's a bit unreasonable to talk about conscience anymore.

The reason for choosing Attack on Titan is that its plot and setting are top-notch.

However, after some research, she learned that there are strict restrictions on submissions for the Tezuka Prize.

Here's a brief explanation of the Tezuka Award selection process, which mainly consists of four steps.

The first step is the initial screening by the editorial department. All the editors of JUMP conduct a first rough reading to filter out works that are obviously non-compliant, have more than 31 pages, or have obviously poor drawing skills.

The second step is the review, and this step involves not only editors but also senior cartoonists, mostly active and leading cartoonists.

It might sound like the main comic artists aren't that great, but actually... the names of these main comic artists are...

Akira Toriyama, Eiichiro Oda, Masashi Kishimoto, Kenjiro, Yoshihiro Togashi, and many more...

Together with reader representatives, the three parties carefully read and scored the works, and then conducted a final review to determine the winning entries.

Therefore, the first step is to strictly limit the number of manuscripts to 31 pages. If it exceeds one page, it will be rejected in the initial review.

There is also strict control over the subject matter, which is that it is basically all shonen manga and shonen manga. After all, this is the foundation of the JUMP system, so this is normal.

Therefore, regarding the plot of "Attack on Titan", she had to make a choice and select a good part to complete before submitting it.

Ultimately, she made her choice through her exceptional creative work.

In short, she completed the Attack on Titan artwork a week ago and sent it to Shueisha.

"I really hope the results come out soon..."

Eri Aragaki breathed a sigh of relief and said hopefully, "I think I'll be selected. If we pay off one million of the remaining two million yen in installments, not only will Erina's tuition for the new semester be covered, but we can also choose a nicer apartment to move into... and have a big meal. It's been so long since I've had yakiniku..."

As she said this, she swallowed hard, as if she could smell the long-lost aroma of roasted meat.

Chapter Three Best Works

Meanwhile, at Shueisha, the company that Eri Aragaki longed for, the preliminary round of the Tezuka Award had already been completed.

The manuscripts that were initially screened were less than 30.

This is actually Shueisha's style: better to have nothing than something bad.

If a work does not meet the standards, it will not be promoted, even if it has not won an award.

Even Eri Aragaki was unaware that, in her previous life, the Tezuka Award would face a nearly eight-year gap after 2007, with no final nominees selected for that position.

The judges felt that no work deserved the Tezuka Award's final prize.

After the initial screening selects the works that meet the standards, the next step is naturally the second review.

However, the review process may be a little different from what you think. It's not like all the judges gathered in one place in a serious manner like in a meeting, watching one work, giving a score, and then passionately speaking up for the works they like on the spot.

Instead, the selected manuscripts are bound together into a single review candidate manuscript, which is then sent to the judges individually so that each judge can review the manuscript and score it independently according to the standards.

Eri Aragaki's submission is currently among the candidates for review.

The drafts for review were being sent to the renowned judges.

"Hello, Toriyama-sensei, this is the entry for the second round of judging for the 73rd Tezuka Award. Thank you for your help."

The editors at Shueisha handed the manuscript to Akira Toriyama.

"Okay, you've worked hard too."

He was quite polite, and said with a smile.

"Okay, I still have work to do, Mr. Toriyama, I'll head back now."

Shueisha's editors come and go quickly.

Akira Toriyama looked at the thick stack of manuscripts and, without saying a word, immediately began reading the entries for this year's Tezuka Award, just as he had done before.

He had been a judge for the Tezuka Award many times before. Every time, he would send the shortlisted entries to his home or studio, read them in his spare time, score them according to the criteria, and then send the score sheet back.

Akira Toriyama leaned back on the sofa and opened the first manuscript.

The article is titled "Dreams Come True".

This is a comedy comic set in a school. The drawing skills are fairly neat, but the paneling is a bit stiff, and the timing of the jokes is not very good.

"And it's not quite the best; it's only passable and needs further improvement."

He shook his head, wrote down a few numbers on the rating sheet, and then turned to the next one.

The second manuscript, titled "Fool's Magic," is a fantasy adventure work. The setting is somewhat interesting, but the plot progresses too slowly. Half of the 31 pages are dedicated to introducing the world-building, with almost no actual plot development.

"It's okay for longer works, but it's a huge drawback when it comes to short stories..."

Akira Toriyama sighed; he had seen this kind of mistake, a common one among newcomers, far too many times.

But he thought it was alright; if it were to be serialized as a long-running comic, it might actually have potential.

So he gave it a fairly high score, which was about the level of a masterpiece in his mind.

He read several more manuscripts. Some had good drawing skills but boring stories, and some had interesting settings but rough execution. In short, none of them impressed him.

There wasn't a single work that he was certain would win the Tezuka Award, but he did see a few that could be considered contenders, with "Fool's Magic" being one he thought was quite good.

Akira Toriyama picked up a teacup from the coffee table, took a sip of tea, and turned to the next manuscript.

This is a sports-themed comic that tells the story of basketball.

After reading a few pages, he discovered that the author of this work was clearly influenced by "Slam Dunk," with Inoue Takehiko's influence evident in both the character design and the way the game scenes were handled.

Unfortunately, the imitation wasn't quite right; the key action scenes lacked the heart-pounding tension they'd create.

Akira Toriyama put down the manuscript and gave it a passing grade on the evaluation form.

He continued flipping through the pages and read several more works, including horror, romantic comedy, and science fiction.

The science fiction setting was quite interesting, about a war between humans and robots in a future world, but the author's handling of it was too bland, and many scenes that could have been very exciting seemed rather lukewarm.

Akira Toriyama filled out the evaluation form and turned to the next manuscript.

The title of this work is "Attack on Titan," and the first letter of the Romanization is "S," so it is listed quite late in the list.

He initially thought this was just another unremarkable work by a new author, but when he turned to the first page, he stopped in his tracks.

The first page is a huge overhead view of a city surrounded by towering walls, the height of which is so exaggerated it's suffocating, and beyond the walls lies endless wilderness.

The opening composition was very impactful, and Akira Toriyama was immediately drawn to it.

He continued scrolling down.

The plot unfolds layer by layer, showcasing the world view and basic settings of this comic.

Around some point in time before that, humanity's natural enemy... the giants appeared, and the surviving humans built huge walls to survive, hiding behind layer upon layer of walls, which brought them more than a hundred years of peace.

"A good setup."

Akira Toriyama sat up slightly, with a serious expression that said, "No, I have to sit up and watch."

This setting is very interesting; the oppressive feeling of being trapped in a cage is directly conveyed to the reader through the visuals.

He continued reading.

The main character is clearly Eren, a young human soldier in the Training Corps who has undergone three years of soldier training. The other two characters who are also part of the main group are his two childhood friends, Mikasa and Armin.

As the plot unfolds, the three characters' conversations reveal their aspirations, past, and other background information.

Akira Toriyama looked at the panel layout for the dialogue in the manga and couldn't help but nod in approval.

The composition of the picture is very layered. The sunlight shines down from above the city wall, symbolizing hope and the unknown.