Tokyo: The Manga Begins with the Funeral of Frilian

The doorbell rang a month later.

When Kamiya Yuma opened the door, he saw Onodera Ryota standing at the door.

There was only one kraft paper envelope.

"Senior, why did you come in person?"

Ryota Onodera walked into the living room and placed the envelope on the low table.

"I wanted to see how you two are doing."

Shiori Shirakawa stuck her head into the kitchen.

"May I have some tea, Onodera-senpai?"

"I'll have a drink."

Ryota Onodera sat down at the low table, opened the envelope, and found a stack of documents inside.

"The results of the third week's investigation are also in."

What rank?

Second place.

Yuma Kamiya took the survey form.

Dragon Ball is ranked first, and The Burial of Frilian is ranked second.

"Most readers who are high school students or above give it an A rating, while university students and the general public mostly give it an A+. The rating standard for students in grades one through six has also been raised from C to B."

Shiori Shirakawa handed the tea to Ryota Onodera.

"Isn't this a good thing?"

"This is good news, but there's also bad news."

  

Ryota Onodera continued.

"However, the release date for the first volume is starting next week, and Takahashi and the others have already raised their objections at the serialization meeting."

"How is it? But this still won't shut them up."

Yuma Kamiya asked a question.

"It's the same old formula. The first three volumes of 'Frilian' have no fight scenes or climaxes, so they're not suitable as the opening volume. I suggest halving the promotional resources for the first volume and saving them for the new 'Battle Manga' to be released next month."

After putting down the tea tray, Shiori Shirakawa sat down next to the low table.

"But Kamiya's ranking keeps improving."

"Takahashi's logic is that the ranking rise is due to the serialization getting into its rhythm, but the first volume only contains the content of the first three chapters, and the pacing hasn't picked up yet. Without a climax in the first three chapters, new readers won't buy in. The money spent will be wasted."

Before Kamiya Yuma could finish speaking, a screen of light appeared in front of him.

[Worldline Convergence Point: A Newcomer's First Volume's Life-or-Death Ordeal]

Option 1: Endure the humiliation and slowly work your way up to become a veteran author through serialization. Reward: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle" title, slight increase in stamina.

[Option Two: Refuse suppression and sign a pledge to the editorial department. Reward: God-level autograph drawing speed and a cover design for the limited edition of the collected volume.]

Yuma Kamiya glanced at the first option.

"Endure it my ass, when have I ever done such a thing?"

"I choose option two."

He did not hesitate at all.

At this moment, his ten fingers became very flexible.

The cover design sketch is already in my mind.

"senior."

Yuma Kamiya said.

"What's wrong?"

"We're going to the editorial office now."

Ryota Onodera was taken aback for a moment.

"Now? It's already eight o'clock in the evening."

"Didn't Takahashi need the proposal tomorrow? Let's get this over with quickly and give it to him today."

Yuma Kamiya got dressed.

"Shiori, I'll be back a little later."

Shiori Shirakawa walked to the entrance hall.

"Do you need me to come along?"

"It's alright, I can handle these small fry myself. You can just stay home and wait."

"I'll go heat up the soup for you."

She didn't ask any further questions.

"No matter when you come back, I'll be waiting for you."

.........

The meeting room on the sixth floor of the editorial office was brightly lit.

Tanaka's editor-in-chief sat down at one end of the long table, while a cup of coffee that had gone cold sat at the other end.

Takahashi sat opposite him, with a stack of printed data tables in front of him.

Yoshikawa Taro sat by the window, seemingly waiting for someone.

Several editors sat in folding chairs against the wall, and no one spoke.

I went in as soon as the door opened.

When Kamiya Yuma came in, Onodera Ryota followed behind him.

"You're here?"

Editor-in-Chief Tanaka raised his head, seemingly unsurprised.

"Please sit down."

"I'm not sitting here anymore."

Yuma Kamiya came to the long table.

"As stated by Associate Editor Takahashi, according to senior editor Onodera, the promotional expenses for the first volume should be cancelled."

"Takahashi pushed up his glasses and said."

"It's either about cutting it out or allocating resources reasonably. Volume 1 only goes up to chapter 3, the pacing is slow, and there aren't any obvious fighting climaxes. It's common sense to concentrate promotional resources on works that are more in line with Jump's core readership."

Where does common sense come from?

"data."

Takahashi pushed the form in front of him to the other person.

"Over the past five years, there has been a correlation between the sales of the first volume of Jump's newcomer outlines and the number of battle scenes appearing in the first three chapters of the series. The more battle scenes there are, the higher the sales of the first volume. The correlation coefficient is 0.73."

"How many non-combat comics are included in the data?"

"What?"

"I asked, how many of the non-combat manga in your data sample are primarily focused on romance?"

Takahashi did not answer.

No, I don't think so.

The answer given by Yuma Kamiya.

"Because Jump hasn't featured this type of book in its recommendations over the past five years. Using battle manga data to predict the sales of non-battle manga is like using the swimming speed of a fish to predict how high a bird can fly. No matter how impressive the correlation coefficient is, it's a flawed calculation."

The editors leaning against the wall looked at each other.

Yoshikawa Taro had the cigarette in his mouth, but he didn't light it.

Even if the data is not suitable for use.

Takahashi's words were very heavy.

"The first three chapters didn't have a climax. How can a single volume without a climax attract readers?"

"What will attract readers?"

Yuma Kamiya took a brown paper envelope from his coat pocket; inside were many sheets of paper.

"this."

Lay the letter flat on the table.

Ryota Onodera previously wrote more than forty letters to his readers.

Kamiya Yuma spread out all the letters.

"Deputy Editor-in-Chief Takahashi said the first three sentences lacked a climax. But these forty-odd people told me that the first three sentences made them cry. Can shedding tears be considered a climax?"

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Takahashi's lips moved slightly as he looked at the letters.

"Reader letters do not reflect the overall market situation. Forty letters are too few, and the sample size is not large enough."

"The reason for the small sample size is that very few people actually send letters. Generally, readers don't write letters after reading the comics."

Kamiya Yuma's gaze was fixed directly into Takahashi's eyes.

"But each of these forty-odd people takes the time to buy stamps, write letters, and mail them at the post office. One such reader is worth a hundred people who just casually flip through the pages."

Yoshikawa Taro said.

"very good."

He went to the long table.

"But the marketing budget isn't paid for with sentimentality. You can convince the readers, but you can't convince the bookstores. The first edition printed 30,000 copies. If they don't sell, the returned books will pile up in the warehouse, and Shueisha will suffer the loss."