Tokyo: Earth Online Manga Artist.

"photo?"

Eri Aragaki hesitated for a moment before saying, "Could you please not use my photo? For example, could you draw a portrait of me instead, Mr. Sakurai...?"

She really doesn't want to appear on camera; she always feels it would be too much trouble.

Once the photo is printed in a magazine, it becomes public information. You might be recognized on the street, or when you go to a convenience store. You won't be able to quietly stay at home and draw comics anymore.

"I understand what you're thinking, Ms. Pear..."

However, Masaya Sakurai said, "But I still think... well, I suggest that you, teacher, should appear in the video with a real photo."

"Hey, why?"

Eri Aragaki immediately asked curiously.

She knew that Sakurai Miyabi wasn't the kind of editor who would force people to do things against their will. They could discuss so many things before, so why was she suddenly so insistent on this matter of photos?

"Because... Ms. Riko, you have very good looks..."

Masaya Sakurai bluntly stated, "Being a 'beautiful girl manga artist' is a good bonus these days. If the author's collected volumes are promoted with this, it should greatly help the sales performance."

He added, "Teacher, you must also hope that your manga volumes sell well, right?"

Upon hearing this, Eri Aragaki immediately felt that what he said was strange.

What is this... a comment from a Japanese netizen!

A middle-aged editor was talking seriously on the phone about a beautiful girl manga artist. She thought such lines only appeared in Japanese dramas, but now they were actually coming out of her own editor's mouth.

Okay, Sakurai Masashi is Japanese, so it seems correct that he speaks this way.

Moreover, Masaya Sakurai's words seem to make sense.

After all, being a bishoujo manga artist seems to be quite a marketing tactic.

Don't say that this era doesn't understand marketing methods. There are plenty of similar marketing methods in this era. Idol voice actors, beautiful female writers, and handsome male directors—these concepts have been operating in the Japanese entertainment and publishing industries for many years.

It's just that the internet wasn't as widespread as it is now, so the general public didn't realize it was a marketing tactic, but the people at publishing houses and magazines knew it perfectly well.

It seems that the comic book industry doesn't care about gender, only whether the comic is good or not, and marketing doesn't seem to be of much use.

That would be a big mistake. When a comic is already good enough, marketing becomes useful if you want to further improve its performance.

Comics are the foundation, and marketing is leveraging that foundation; the two are not substitutes but rather complementary.

For example, the web novel authors who wrote about beautiful girls, rich second-generation heirs, high-achieving officials, and handsome and rich men in their past lives...

It's a marketing strategy implemented after a certain level of success, which then makes readers talk about it and improves the work's performance.

Physical appearance and family background may seem average when academic performance is poor, but these advantages become more prominent and generate additional discussion and virality when academic performance is good.

The ideal of being academically excellent and morally upright has always been a favorite in East Asian culture.

If a good-looking person is also talented, the word-of-mouth spreads exponentially. People are naturally more willing to talk about such a person and introduce them to their friends.

For example, with Eri Aragaki's "Attack on Titan," the manga is naturally good enough, so proper marketing can help boost sales.

It is well known that this tactic was ultimately effective on otaku and LSPs, who are among the groups most receptive to the "beautiful girl manga artist" persona.

Eri Aragaki suddenly understood.

Anyway, it's not like she's going to be on TV for a live interview. It's just about printing a photo in a magazine. As long as it looks good, that's all that matters.

She could only say, "Alright then, I'll prepare a personal photo later."

"Thank you for your help, teacher."

Masaya Sakurai nodded, then added, "Remember to take good pictures, teacher."

Eri Aragaki had a slight headache, but still said, "Okay, I understand."

Then he hung up the phone.

……

Just as Eri Aragaki was struggling with whether to have her real self appear on screen.

On the other side, on the Republic's internet.

Thanks to the dedication and tireless efforts of the Orange Cat Translation Group and other translation groups, the Chinese version of the short comic "Wu Song" has appeared on the People's Republic of China's internet.

After completing their translation of "Wu Song," the Orange Cat Translation Group posted it on their website, Anime House. Several other translation groups also released their own translations one after another.

This short story has been shared on several major anime forums and online communities. Although its spread is not as fast as that of popular works with animated versions, the reviews from those who have seen it are almost unanimously positive.

In a county town in Jingzhou.

Inside a residential building.

"I'm back!"

After returning home, Xiao Nanliang imitated the style of Japanese anime and shouted directly.

However, the next moment...

"Nanliang, quickly change your shoes, wash your hands, and then go do your homework!"

His mother's voice came from behind him, urging him on.

After all... his mother picks him up from school.

"Okay, okay, I'll go right away."

Xiao Nanliang shrank back and immediately spoke obediently.

Then Xiao's mother went straight to cook.

Xiao Nanliang went back to his room and obediently started doing his homework.

However, he was thinking about anime while doing his homework. Because of Xiao Nanliang's father, he had grown up watching anime and comics with his father since he was a child.

Xiao Nanliang's father was very tolerant in this regard.

"I wonder what kind of enemies Luffy and his crew will encounter this week..."

"And who is the Female Titan that Eren and his team encountered during their investigation outside the walls...?"

"I want to see Naruto and Sasuke meet again... Will they fight...?"

……

Because the animation was released slowly, and Xiao Nanliang's father was very lenient and allowed him to play on the computer at home.

So Xiao Nanliang learned to directly search online for pirated copies of the latest serialized comics, and he even joined the Orange Cat Translation Group's resource group.

He joined that group after seeing someone share resources on the forum. There were quite a few people in the group, and they talked about comics and anime every day.

He is usually quite active and is a very active member of the group. When someone posts resources, he clicks to download them and then thanks the translation team.

Even if no one shares resources, he will still liven up the atmosphere in the group.

Although Xiao Nanliang was recalling the plot of these comics, he only paused occasionally with his pen in hand.

Moreover, the Xiao family has a reasonable rule: if he finishes his homework early and it is checked without any problems, he can do what he likes earlier.

When my favorite anime is airing, I naturally watch it.

When there are no anime episodes, he goes online to read various comics.

I took out my math homework first and did it, and then I copied the English words three times.

Just then, his dad came home, and he stopped doing his homework and ate with his parents.

After finishing your meal, go back to your room to continue doing your homework.

After finishing his homework, he ran to the living room and cautiously told his mother, who was watching TV, that he had finished his homework. After receiving permission from his parents to turn on the computer and play for a while, he...

He immediately ran back to his room, turned on his computer, and it took him almost two minutes to get to the desktop. He couldn't wait to open QQ and start typing in the group chat.

"Thanks for your hard work, everyone! Has the Weekly Shonen Jump Chinese translation been updated this week? I'm requesting the resources!!"

After he finished typing, he felt it wasn't good to directly ask for resources like that, so he added a kneeling penguin emoji at the end.

However, at this moment, the localization group's administrator, Xiyang, posted a document in the group.

The file is named "《武松》Chinese version.zip".

[SOS Brigade - Sunset: This week's translation isn't out yet, but we've translated this short story first, so everyone can take a look.]

[SOS Brigade - A-Qiang: This short story is amazing! The boss highly recommends it!]