Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist

The image freezes on the moment she grits her teeth and stands up again.

"But Gunia certainly won't just fall like that."

He muttered to himself as he finished reading the chapter, then closed the magazine and pondered the possible future developments of the story.

He considered several possible directions but none of them seemed quite right, so he decided to put them aside for now and take another look later.

"Never mind, let's look at the Titans first."

Fujimoto Tatsuki turned to the Attack on Titan section and said.

Currently, the plot of Attack on Titan is mainly unfolding from Eren's perspective.

The story begins three years ago, on the day Wall Maria was destroyed by the Colossal Titan. Eren witnessed the horrific scene of his mother being eaten by a Titan, and the despair and helplessness he felt were directly conveyed to the audience through the visuals.

Then comes the storyline where he, Mikasa, and Armin join the Training Corps, and the three of them begin training to become soldiers.

The latest episode is episode five.

Allen encountered difficulties while learning to use the 3D Maneuver Gear.

He kept falling during balance training, and no matter how he adjusted his posture, he couldn't get it right. The instructor said he was completely incapable.

Allen was very frustrated by this and even began to doubt whether he had any talent to be a soldier.

Fujimoto turned to the page where Allen fell off the device.

In the scene, Eren is hanging upside down on a rope, his face down in the mud, while Mikasa is sitting steadily on the ground, looking at him expressionlessly.

"This is too tragic."

Fujimoto Itsuki couldn't help but say something.

He continued flipping through the pages. Allen went to the training ground alone that night for extra practice, but he still fell.

Mikasa stood at a distance, watching, wanting to go over but not going over.

Armin ran over to keep him company, and the two sat by the training field chatting. Armin also started reminiscing about how he was bullied when he was a child.

"Armin's role is all about talking."

Fujimoto Itsuki muttered to himself, but still finished reading the conversation.

Then, they gradually realized that the problem was actually with the testing device. After replacing it with a working device, they discovered that Eren not only passed the test, but also had an excellent ability to maintain balance.

Fujimoto closed the magazine and leaned back in his chair.

"So it turns out it was a problem with the device after all."

He grabbed a handful of potato chips from the bowl, stuffed them into his mouth, and chewed them with a crunching sound, complaining.

"When will we get to the part where we kill Titans again...?"

He picked up the cola, took a swig, and the icy bubbles rushed down his throat, causing him to burp.

He glanced again at the Survey Corps trio on the cover, the Wings of Liberty logo printed in the lower right corner.

"But it's still really pretty."

Fujimoto Tsuki reopened the magazine, turned back to the first page of Attack on Titan, and read it again from the beginning.

This time, he specifically chose to watch the scenes featuring Titans. Although the Titans only appeared occasionally as background figures in this episode, their blank expressions and disproportionate bodies still appealed to him.

"It would be great if there were more battle scenes involving killing Titans."

He flipped through the pages, muttering to himself, and sighed.

……

Meanwhile, on the other side is Shueisha.

At this moment, Masaya Sakurai is, as usual, working with his other editor colleagues to compile the popularity survey questionnaires that need to be statistically analyzed this week.

This is one of their regular weekly tasks.

In the large office, there were several stacks of reader survey postcards sent back from all over the country. The editors divided into several groups, categorized these postcards according to the works, and then counted the votes one by one.

This is a very tedious job, but no one dares to be careless, because the numbers on these postcards directly determine the fate of each serialized comic.

This is also the statistic from the popularity survey questionnaire of the first chapter of Attack on Titan.

Masaya Sakurai went through the stack of postcards he was in charge of, picked out the ones addressed to "Attack on Titan," and set them aside separately.

He picked and counted as he went, and by the end, he had a rough idea of ​​the number in his mind.

It's not considered high in the rankings... After all, it's a new work by a new author, which is normal. As long as the data isn't too bad, being ranked near the bottom is fine.

And the result he's currently expecting... is probably not last place.

Chapter 40: Initial Popularity

After all the statistical work was completed, the editors held a routine meeting in the conference room.

The meeting room was small, with a long table in the middle, around which the editors sat in a circle.

The wall is covered with a ranking chart of all the serialized works in this issue, and the whiteboard still has notes written during the previous meeting.

Editor-in-Chief Masahiko Ibaraki stood in front of the whiteboard, holding a statistical table in his hand, and adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses.

"Is everyone here?"

He glanced around at the editors present and asked.

No one spoke; they all nodded.

"Let's begin with this round's popularity rankings."

Ibaraki Masahiko glanced down at the statistics table in his hand, cleared his throat, and said, "Next, I will announce this issue's reader popularity ranking."

"Number one... One Piece."

Oda's editor, sitting by the window, nodded without changing his expression. Someone next to him whispered, "He's number one again."

This is of course not surprising; everyone is already used to it.

Conversely, it would be quite surprising if One Piece were to fall from its number one position one day, even if the work that defeated it came later...

"Second place, Naruto."

Second, without exception, it remains one of the three major shonen manga, and is the perennial runner-up most likely to dethrone One Piece from its position as the most popular manga.

"Third place, Bleach."

It was another result that was hardly surprising.

The order of the top three works remained unchanged from the previous period. These three works seemed to be welded to the podium, occasionally switching places but never falling off.

Ibaraki Masahiko continued reading.

"Fourth place, Gintama."

……

"Sixth place, 'Katekyo Hitman Reborn!'"

……

He read them very quickly, pausing for only a second or two between each name.

Some of the editors whose work was read aloud were taking notes, some were looking up at the whiteboard, and some were leaning back in their chairs with no reaction.

These rankings are largely unchanged from the previous period and are all within expectations.

"Eighth place, The Prince of Tennis."

"Ninth place, Claymore."

……

"Eleventh place, 'Neuro the Brain Eater'."

"Twelfth place, 'The Study of Heroes'."

"Thirteenth place..."

Ibaraki Masahiko didn't pause at all, but Sakurai Masaya suddenly had a premonition, and even felt that the whole world had slowed down because of it.

"...Attack on Titan".

When Masaya Sakurai heard this name, half of the weight in his heart was lifted.

He nodded slightly and wrote the number "13" in the notebook in front of him.

Lin Shiping, who was standing next to him, turned his head and glanced at him. He then smiled and mouthed, "Not bad."

Several editors in the conference room also turned to look at Masaya Sakurai.

For a new author and a new serialization to rank thirteenth in its first chapter is indeed a pretty good result in the cutthroat world of Weekly Shonen Jump.

After all, there are countless new comic artists who drop to the 18th or 19th place or even the bottom in their very first chapter.

For example, the next few...

Ibaraki Masahiko didn't pause for long and continued reading.

The following works are mostly at the bottom and at risk of being canceled.

Those ranked 15th or lower are fine, but those ranked 15th and below...

He read out names from sixteenth to twenty-first, and with each name he read, the corresponding editor's expression turned sour.

"Number twenty-first... The Eye of Catoblepas."

After reading it aloud, Ibaraki Masahiko placed the statistics table on the table, glanced around the conference room, and finally fixed his gaze on an editor named Katayama Hide.

"Have a good talk with the responsible comic artist and adjust the direction of the plot as soon as possible."

Ibaraki Masahiko looked at him and said calmly, "If there is no improvement in the next three weeks, you should know the procedure."

Katayama Hide nodded immediately, without any expression, and simply said, "Understood."

"Kataribes of the Eye" and "Belmonde Le Visiter" (ranked 20th) are both new manga series that started serialization in July, just like "Attack on Titan".