Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

That's quite a comment...

It was, after all, Akira Toriyama's evaluation, but it only caught Fujimoto Itsuki's attention a little.

After all... the Tezuka Award has been held for so many years, and Akira Toriyama has often given many good comments as a judge.

Moreover, isn't it normal for judges to give good reviews to the winning entries in such competitions?

In addition, reviews from other well-known comic artists are also included above.

For example, Eiichiro Oda's comments on One Piece—

I was drawn in from the very first page. The oppressive feeling of being trapped in a cage, and the sense of praise for human courage, were conveyed directly to the reader through the visuals.

The world-building, the Titans, and the 3D Maneuver Gear are all ingeniously designed, and the battle scenes are thrilling.

I'm really looking forward to the future development of this work, if "If You Don't Eat Pears" continues to serialize it.

Masashi Kishimoto, Naruto —

The world-building is very solid; the giants and the walls are all interconnected, and none of them are superfluous.

The character development is also very good. Eren's courage, Mikasa's calmness, and Armin's wisdom are all well-developed. Each of the three has their own characteristics and complements the others.

This is a work that I really like and am looking forward to.

Death Note is also... the "Kami" of the new world, Takeshi Obata—

That's amazing!

His drawing skills and panel layout have reached a professional level, even surpassing some active comic artists.

The handling of action scenes, in particular, demonstrates excellent pacing.

For a newcomer's work, this is already beyond expectations; there's no reason it shouldn't be a finalist for this year's Tezuka Award!

Looking at these comments, Fujimoto Itsuki could tell that this work was quite good.

Because... none of the judges mentioned any flaws in Attack on Titan, and they all seemed to be hoping that Attack on Titan would not only be a short story, but a long-running manga series.

This explains the situation somewhat.

However, no matter what others say, I still don't really feel anything.

Fujimoto Itsuki didn't think too much about it after that... and decided to find out for himself!

He eagerly turned to the first page of the work.

The first page is a huge overhead view.

A city surrounded by towering walls.

The height of the city wall is so exaggerated that it's suffocating.

Beyond the city walls lay endless wilderness, devoid of any human presence.

The opening composition is very impactful.

The vine tree immediately caught my eye.

He continued reading.

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

At some point in time, humanity's natural enemy appeared.

giant.

The surviving humans built massive city walls to survive.

They hid within the city walls, which brought them over a hundred years of peace.

When Fujimoto saw this, he immediately found the concept very interesting.

The oppressive feeling of being trapped in a cage seemed to travel directly to him through the comic book illustrations.

He continued reading.

The main character is Eren, and his two childhood friends are Mikasa and Armin.

The three men underwent soldier training and became soldiers in the training corps.

The conversation revealed their aspirations and past.

Fujimoto nodded as he looked at the panel layout in the manga.

The composition of the picture has a great sense of depth.

Sunlight streamed down from above the city walls, symbolizing hope and the unknown.

This technique of conveying emotions through visuals has already surpassed the level of novice cartoonists.

Fujimoto Tree continued turning the page.

This is where a scene from Eren's memories is inserted.

This is the storyline from three years ago when Wall Maria was destroyed by the Colossal Titan. However, due to the limitations of the Tezuka Award, Eri Aragaki could only shorten this part of the story as much as possible.

The dialogue between Eren and Mikasa was cut, as were the dialogues between Eren and the lazy soldiers like Hennessy.

It quickly describes the worldview of humans, Titans, and the three walls, as well as the interactions between Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, before the Colossal Titan makes its appearance.

Nevertheless, this part of the plot is still quite captivating.

The composition of that page, in particular, is very striking.

The face of the colossal giant peered out from above the city wall, its body even taller than the wall itself.

Muscle tissue without skin allows heat to escape from the body.

The sense of oppression almost overflowed from the paper.

It looked down at Eren, Mikasa, and Armin, who were looking up at it.

The narration beside it reads—

"On that day, humanity finally remembered the fear of being dominated by giants."

Upon seeing this, Fujimoto Itsuki couldn't help but mutter under his breath, "Sugoichi!"

That's truly impressive; the immersive storyboarding creates a powerful sense of immersion for the viewer, while simultaneously conveying a similarly compelling and oppressive atmosphere...

It also makes people want to know how humanity will fight against such powerful giants, which naturally creates a sense of anticipation.

He continued reading.

The plot is very fast-paced.

From the establishment of the world view to the outbreak of the crisis, and then to the tragedy of the protagonist.

Every page propels the plot forward.

There are no unnecessary words or images.

Fujimoto became more and more engrossed in his reading, completely forgetting about the time.

He didn't even notice that the popsicles on the table had melted into water.

After reading it, he immediately had an idea.

"Those judges' comments were simply...too conservative!"

He said, both dissatisfied and excited, "This Attack on Titan is more than just good; if it were a long-running manga... it would absolutely! It would definitely become a work second only to Claymore and Baki!"

In his opinion, manga like "Claymore" and "Baki" are true masterpieces!

Attack on Titan was quite to his liking, although it's still not as good as Claymore or Baki.

But the silver-eating Titans and the realistic and cruel reality show that even with the 3D Maneuver Gear, which seems to give humanity the power to resist, humanity is still so powerless in the face of the Titans.

The key point is that he genuinely thought the plot was fantastic.

In Allen's class, those characters who were initially developed and thought to be major characters later on suddenly faced plot twists and heartbreaking events. That kind of plot is more realistic!

"I really hope that the work this 'Pear-Not-Eating-Pear' author chooses to serialize is the sequel to 'Attack on Titan'!!"

"Fujimoto Itsuki said expectantly."

……

On the other side...

But it was four hours earlier, at noon.

"You're... the teacher who doesn't eat pears?"

Looking at the radiant, tall girl in front of him, whose beauty resembled that of a Tokyo girl walking the runway, Masaya Sakurai asked uncertainly.

Because of preconceived notions about cartoonists... especially relatively introverted and withdrawn cartoonists.

He had assumed that Eri Aragaki would be a relatively ordinary-looking girl, and in his imagination, she would even wear black-rimmed glasses and have a rather dull appearance.

But what I didn't expect was...

It turned out to be a girl in front of him, who was about the same height as him, with a graceful figure and an idol-like, exquisite appearance.

No... would a girl like that really be withdrawn and introverted?

A girl this beautiful with such a supermodel figure, shouldn't she have been discovered by a talent scout at the age of fourteen or fifteen and then debuted as a model, idol, or actress?

How did you end up becoming a cartoonist?

This is completely unreasonable!

"Um, it's me..."

Eri Aragaki didn't quite understand what was wrong with Masaya Sakurai, but she still tried her best to prove herself by taking out her personal identification card and other documents that could prove her identity, and said, "My name is Eri Aragaki, pen name I don't eat pears."