Master of the Machete Style Manga

Chapter 149 Harem Romance Manga
"Hey! What kind of looks are you giving me!" Endo Tatsuya quickly explained, "Don't get the wrong idea! I was talking about... a heartwarming family story about a married couple with a little girl! The really sweet kind!"

Ryuyuki breathed a sigh of relief: "Oh, I see. You scared me. I thought you were going to draw a lolicon manga..."

“However…” Ryuyuki Shin stroked his chin and said, “While family-themed stories are heartwarming, it seems difficult to find any explosive moments. The only one that comes to mind right now is an old-school family drama like ‘Chibi Maruko-chan.’ Sakamoto-sensei’s advice to me was very helpful. He said that I should design strong dramatic conflicts in the character designs.”

Tatsuya Endo nodded and said, "Yes, I've actually been considering adding some superpower elements..."

"A family with superpowers?" Ken Sakamoto looked at Tatsuya Endo and said, "Then could we make it so that everyone in their family has a secret they can't reveal?"

"A secret?" Endo Tatsuya was taken aback.

“Yes,” Ken Sakamoto guided. “For example, they conceal their secret identities from each other while trying to maintain the appearance of a harmonious family, plus the childlike psychology of a little girl… In this way, the audience of the work is not limited to children.”

"That's it!" Endo Tatsuya's eyes suddenly lit up, and he clapped his hands excitedly. "Let's make the male lead a top spy and the female lead an assassin! They'll each fake marriage and start a family for some reason!"

He got more and more excited as he spoke: "Then, the little girl they adopted is actually a mind reader! The male and female leads are desperately trying to hide their identities from each other, but the little girl knows everything from the very beginning! She also thinks her parents are incredibly amazing, and she's having all sorts of dramatic scenarios playing out in her head every day!"

"Interesting!" Keiko Kaji's eyes lit up immediately after hearing this. "This idea is brilliant! Endo-san, you must refine this line of thinking; it definitely has the potential to be a huge hit!"

Kenjiro Sakamoto never expected that his casual suggestion would lead Tatsuya Endo to actually come up with the core concept of "Spy House".

Kaku Yuji, who had been silent all along, muttered to himself, "It seems like only my manga is still unfinished..."

He clenched his fist, regaining his spirits: "However, I will definitely catch up with everyone as soon as possible!"

Ken Sakamoto looked at the three men, who were full of energy, and felt quite moved.

You guys are something else.

"Hellish Music", "The Daredevil Party", and "Spy Playhouse".

Last week, these three works were all best-selling titles on JUMP+, and they were three formidable talents from Fujimoto Tsuki Studio.

Now, this dream team has assembled ahead of schedule in their own studio.

Ken Sakamoto recalled the sales figures of these three works.

"Hell's Paradise" sold millions of copies, "The Daredevil Party" sold over ten million, and "Spy House" was even more of a heavyweight, having already sold over forty million copies before his rebirth in the previous game, making it a phenomenal bestseller.

He did not intend to claim ownership of these three works.

"Hell's Joy" only sold in the millions; he could have chosen works that sold in the tens of millions.

"The Daredevil Party" and "Spy House" are more like a collection of episodic dramas. Theoretically, the author could continue drawing them indefinitely if he wanted, and they were still not finished when he was reborn.

Only works that already have a clear main storyline and ending, or at least a phase of completion, are suitable for drawing.

Let them draw it themselves; it's not bad to be their guide.

In the evening, Keiko Kaji had to go back to the company first, and her three assistants had also left, so the studio finally became quiet.

In the vast detached house, only Ken Sakamoto remained.

Ken Sakamoto first tidied up the documents on his desk and carefully put away the completed storyboard.

He took out a new sheet of paper, but didn't immediately begin drawing the next chapter of "Chainsaw Man." Sakamoto Ken leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and the images of Natsume Mio and Mikazuki Haruna floated into his mind.

While Chainsaw Man is incredibly popular, it's essentially a mainstream... unorthodox, action-packed manga with virtually no romance elements.

Although the Reige arc proved that Fujimoto Itsuki definitely has the ability to create incredibly powerful romance stories, he still prefers scenes of flying heads and bloodshed, as well as plot developments that are hard for normal people to imagine...

Even in this work, Mio Natsume and Haruna Mikazuki still unconsciously identify with the characters of Machima and Power.

Mio could even project Denji's obsession with groping breasts onto him, and through understanding Denji, she connected it to Sakamoto Ken's experiences, concluding that he might not be such a scumbag after all...

Ken Sakamoto had to admit that the effect of this self-strategy was even better than he had imagined.

What is the ultimate principle for navigating a chaotic battlefield?

Take the initiative and take them down one by one?

That method is too common, and it could easily lead to an imbalance crisis, just like last week, when information is not shared.

But what if... it's the other way around?
If you don't need to take the initiative at all, and instead let them win you over on their own...

Therefore, a true harem romance story is the best weapon.

Let them associate him, the author, with the male protagonist in the comic, and let them identify with the female protagonists in the comic...

Coincidentally, he had a work in mind that started serialization in Weekly Shonen Magazine, a rival of JUMP, in the second half of 17.

Moreover, the male protagonist of that work and he himself do have some clever similarities.

The male protagonist's mother incurred huge debts during her business ventures, leading to extreme poverty for the family. To repay these debts, the protagonist had to desperately seek part-time jobs...

It's another classic story of a poor male protagonist starting out.

Although the Chainsaw Man series has only just begun and the assistant team has only just been formed, the Public Security arc is still a long way from being completed.

But preparations for the new work can already begin.

At worst, the two works can be serialized simultaneously, and they can even drive traffic to each other...

Although the two works are completely unrelated in style, can you imagine what the market response would be if Fujimoto Tatsuki released another harem romance manga after completing "Chainsaw Man" last week?

Anyway, it's bound to trend on social media several times.

Regardless, this is a phenomenal work that later sold over 20 million copies, with its merchandise selling like hotcakes and its anime adaptation becoming a huge hit.

Ken Sakamoto picked up a pencil and began to sketch the outline on the paper.

The first thing he drew were five girls in different poses.

Then, each girl's name was written next to her:
Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, Gogetsu.

(End of this chapter)