Great Mangaka

After the rain, a huge manga advertisement was placed on the wet street.

In the bookstore, young people with umbrellas queued up to buy Weekly Shōnen, and the discussion was very lively.

"I didn't expect Mirai-sensei's new series to be a story about a mangaka."

"I was surprised too, but it's great. Compared to surreal stories, this type of career-oriented story is more suitable for people like me, who are over 30."

"The boss is really excessive. Bakuman has three episodes, but it only lets us see the first one for free. It's not a joke on purpose!"

"Yes, and the first episode ends with Moritaka's rejection of Akito's invitation. I want to know how Akito convinced Moritaka."

To get a promotion, the owner of this bookstore did something very bold. He used staples to fix the number of images on the back cover of the Weekly Shōnen he used as a test copy, and only allowed readers to see the first episode of Bakuman for free.

It turned out that this method aroused readers' curiosity, but it also filled the stone benches hundreds of meters from the bookstore.

"There's no room here. Let's find another one further down."

"How about the fast food restaurant? It's not full yet. Everyone inside is reading manga. Hey... why do I feel like it's a library?"

"What library? Osaka is almost becoming Mirai-sensei's backyard. Yesterday, my sister bought a copy of Weekly Shōjo Manga magazine and read it with my mother. Today, Weekly Shōnen magazine is on sale. When I saw the theme, I thought: 'Well, my father will surely read it; Mirai-sensei is going to turn my whole family into his fans.'"

The two teenagers walked down the street with a smile. Their voices made the girl sitting on the stone bench reading a book frown slightly.

She wore black-rimmed glasses, large and rustic. She had two braids tied at the nape of her neck. If you didn't look closely, no one would associate her with the beautiful romantic princess Kaya Hoshino.

Kaya Hoshino was a little displeased. 'Why is all of Osaka talking about Mirai-sensei?'

After the launch of Kanto Manga Company, Kaya Hoshino's Hoshi has sold more than Inuyasha. Now she is the true queen of girls' manga. But some still complain about her, thinking that Hoshi's triumph is due to the Kanto channel.

Yesterday Ouran High School Host Club came out, and Kaya Hoshino bought it and read it quickly. After reading it, she felt that Mirai-sensei had lost his fighting spirit and started drawing conventional girls' manga to follow the market.

Kanto Manga Company must have scared Mirai-sensei. He no longer dared to risk drawing new themes, and he would gradually fall behind in the future.

Kaya Hoshino had this idea in her hand, but as soon as Weekly Shōnen was published, she felt a slap and felt very uncomfortable.

Bakuman is, in reality, a manga about mangaka. Manga with this type of content are the most difficult to draw well. Mirai-sensei has not lost his fighting spirit at all. He remains the same as before, drawing what he wants and what he draws becomes popular.

"It's so exasperating!"

Kaya Hoshino was furious. She wanted to tear up the Weekly Shōnen she was holding, but she didn't. Seeing that Moritaka rejected Akito's invitation and turned away, Akito threw him out and said:

"Do you want to live aimlessly and be an ordinary office worker in the future? Is your life like that?"

This was Akito's question to Moritaka, but this phrase resonated in Kaya Hoshino's heart.

In this busy world, most people study, graduate, work, marry, and have children from a young age, as if they were locked in a cage and living a normal life.

If the world were a huge runway, most people would run on it without finding the meaning of their lives. But ask yourself: who doesn't have a dream? Who is willing to be ordinary? Who doesn't want to break free from restrictions and create their own legend? Everyone

wants to jump, but few can, and Kaya Hoshino is one of them.

Since childhood, she has been dissatisfied with organized life. She doesn't want to get lost in the crowd or live the same life as others. She jumped without hesitation and became a shining star. Kaya Hoshino doesn't dare to say how big she is, but at least she pursues her own dream, which is different from others.

"Mirai-sensei..."

Kaya Hoshino looked at the manga with a strange expression. She seemed to see her own shadow in

Mirai-sensei. He was the same as she was before. Mangaka, novelists, perhaps a group of people, pursue their dreams, but in the few years since Kaya Hoshino entered society, her vision has changed. Money and fame have become more important to her, no longer as pure as they were at the beginning.

The same applies to other people. For Kaya Hoshino, everyone competes, wanting to be richer and more famous.

"Do I want money? Or do I want to achieve my dream?"

Kaya Hoshino asked herself, and she discovered that she was on the wrong path. She has been writing love stories for girls, following the market to be popular. She has fewer and fewer of her own ideas and less freedom.

Due to money and fame, she doesn't dare to risk writing other stories. She cannot express her own ideas and has limited herself. But, in reality, the money she earns is enough for her. It cannot be said that she is rich, but she has no problem with food and clothing for life.

"I'm stupid!"

Kaya Hoshino thought, and suddenly she felt stupid. If she had money, why would she keep chasing it? She could live more freely. Whether she was popular or not, she could write whatever stories she wanted.

Just like Mirai-sensei, the mangaka earned more money than her, but he never limited himself to a single theme and wrote whatever he wanted.

"Okay!" Kaya Hoshino cheered up and lit a furious flame: "I will defeat that brat with other manga!"

Her mind expanded, and she felt that the world had become bigger and that many things awaited her: she wanted to be a mangaka, and there were thousands of new things waiting to appear on this path, completely different from the stagnant world of novels. And there was a person younger and smarter than her, who could be her lifelong enemy.

Kaya Hoshino had a new goal.

"Bakuman..."

At Kanto Manga Company's headquarters in Osaka, Yang looked at the Weekly Shōnen on the table and smiled: "What does this name mean? 'Bakuman' should be a shortened form... Does it mean 'dream manga'?"

"Yes, that should be the meaning."

Kazuki, the manga's editor-in-chief, was in the office and replied: "The name is not the problem; the problem is the content. It's about mangaka. I didn't expect Mirai-sensei to be so bold...".

Kazuki greatly admired him. Profession-oriented novels and manga are difficult to write, as this type requires a lot of professionalism and, to satisfy readers, must be written truthfully. If the story is too real, it will often be boring and unattractive.

But Mirai-sensei's beginning is very interesting. 'Who knows if he can tell a boring story wonderfully.'

"I heard it's selling very well?" Yang asked.

"That's right." Kazuki nodded: "There's a lot of activity at the bookstore, but this manga doesn't have much publicity. I reviewed the content. If it maintains its quality, Bakuman will be a very popular manga."

A best-selling manga, and the content is about mangaka. Yang rubbed his eyebrows.

"That Mirai-sensei is a real problem." He sighed: "I'm too lazy to read it. Tell me the general content of this manga."

Kazuki was stunned for a moment, then organized his words to reply: "The protagonist of Bakuman, Moritaka, is a third-year junior high student. He lives a natural life like ordinary people. He has a talent for drawing and, at the same time, is in love with Miho, from the same class...".

"Akito invited Moritaka: 'I'll write the script, you'll draw, and we'll become mangaka together.' But Moritaka didn't agree, so Akito lied to him and said he wanted to confess to Miho, and Moritaka ran to stop him...".

"The subsequent plot is very unexpected. It turns out that Miho's dream is to become a voice actress, and she also likes Moritaka. They both agreed that Moritaka would become a mangaka and Miho a voice actress. When Moritaka's manga were successfully adapted into animations, Miho would dub his animations and the two would get married...".

"So, Moritaka accepted Akito's invitation and worked hard to... become mangaka together."

Kazuki finished the manga in one go, and Yang was stunned: "I didn't expect so many things to happen for Moritaka to agree to become a mangaka."

The initial plot is very good, the transition of the protagonist's change of attitude is very good, and the sense of substitution and expectation is full. But... is the female protagonist a voice actress, and the male protagonist a cartoon?

"Kazuki, I remember Mirai-sensei debuted in third year of junior high?" Yang suddenly remembered and showed confusion on his face: "Do you think this could be his autobiography?"

Kazuki smiled bitterly, then shook his head and said: "Mirai-sensei debuted after graduating from third year of junior high, and we investigated him a long time ago. He has no partner. This coincidence is just a coincidence."

"Coincidence? I think something's wrong..." Yang frowned slightly: "And even if we think it's a coincidence, others might not believe it. If there's a girl who wants to be a voice actress near him, it would be even more incredible."

"I'm worried that Hinotori Publishing will use this as an excuse to advertise and further increase Mirai-sensei's popularity."

"It shouldn't..." Kazuki looked very surprised: "According to what we know about Mirai-sensei, he's not a very prominent person. Hinotori Publishing has no reason to promote him... But they've been very active lately. It seems Genji went to Tokyo to visit the NHK program team."

"I think Hinotori Publishing will heavily promote Bakuman, but Mirai-sensei... probably won't go out of his way to promote it."

Kazuki reserved some opinions. As Yang said, Bakuman's protagonist resembles Mirai-sensei a little. Although Hinotori Publishing has no intention of this, other media will probably take the opportunity to report widely.

Whether Bakuman's protagonist, Moritaka, represents Mirai-sensei or not will be a controversial topic for a long time... and this controversy also means that, regardless of what Mirai-sensei thinks, he and Bakuman will become more attractive.

This definitely does not benefit Kanto Manga Company.

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