I am a Type-Moon comic artist!

Yoshikawa Taishi breathed a slight sigh of relief. Now that they had agreed to the visit, he was mostly convinced of the matter. The rest was up to him to see it for himself to be sure.

"Sorry to bother you."

"Sorry to bother you."

As Yoshikawa Taishi and Iwamoto Yu talked, they changed into slippers and walked towards his studio together with Kurokawa Kazuya.

"Your tea."

"Um... Ah, thank you. Kurokawa-sensei," Iwamoto Yu said gratefully.

"It's nothing, we agreed beforehand. I'll offer you tea when you come over." Kurokawa Kazuya said, placing another cup of tea in front of Yoshikawa Taishi: "Please enjoy."

"Thank you," said Yoshikawa Taishi, taking a sip. "It's a very good tea."

"I'm glad you like it." Kurokawa Kazuya said as he walked to the bookshelf in the studio and took out two stacks of already bound books, placing them next to the two of them.

"Is this the latter part of 'JoJo's Bizarre Adventure'?" Taishi Yoshikawa clicked his tongue in amazement at the thick stack of books in front of him. "Wow, it's so thick!" He thought. "These could easily be published as individual volumes, maybe twenty of them."

But what about the contents inside?

"Mr. Kurokawa, have you finished binding it?" Iwamoto asked in confusion.

“Ah, that’s right.” Kurokawa Kazuya nodded. “I guessed that some editors might want to take a look, so I made a few copies at home and bound them. The original manuscript has been sealed and stored away.”

"Really..." Iwamoto Yu breathed a sigh of relief. It would have been terrible if there had been a problem with the original manuscript.

“Hmm…that’s true.” Yoshikawa Taishi quickly flipped through the pages to make sure there were no shoddy works, or rather, even if there were, it wouldn’t be noticeable from this look: “Since so many have been drawn, such situations are bound to occur eventually, and it would be terrible if the original manuscript were lost. This is just right.”

Taishi Yoshikawa nodded: "What's the viewing order for this?"

“Just start with the top book,” Kurokawa Kazuya said.

"Is that so?" Yoshikawa Taishi picked up the top book.

“Well then, I’ll watch it again,” Iwamoto Yu said. “Even though I’ve already watched it once, how should I put it… I feel like I’m addicted. These kinds of scenes keep popping into my head these past few days, hahaha.”

"Oh, is there a cover too...?"

After turning to the first blank page, Yoshikawa Taishi said with some surprise.

After the first blank page comes a very dynamic cover.

The painting depicts several characters he has never seen before, and below it is the title of this series, "Battle Tide."

After thinking about it, I think the characters mentioned above should be the ones appearing in the second part.

There were two men in strange poses in front of him, and a woman beside them. Yoshikawa Taishi wondered if she was the female lead or something from this film.

As an editor-in-chief who wanted to offer his opinions on "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure," it was only natural that he had carefully read and savored the entire contents of the first volume of the manga. When he thought of the woman on the cover of this new volume, the first person that came to mind was Irina Shayk, the female protagonist of the previous part of "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure." Although she didn't appear often and had very few lines, she had left a deep impression on him.

The image of washing his mouth with the nearest muddy water after his first kiss was stolen made him realize the cartoonist's excellent imagination.

Through just one or two pages of description, the character of a woman is perfectly revealed.

Behind these people was a large moon and three men standing under it in strange poses.

"A fighting trend, huh... Well then, let me see..."

After reading the comic's title aloud once more, he opened the volume of the comic—

Then he became immersed in the world of JoJo.

Novel phrases, unique poses, unusual character personalities, ripples, Pillar Men, perfect creatures...

These things, which still seem relevant even in the 21st century, brought him endless surprises.

This is a truly dazzling comic—

He quickly finished reading the second volume of the manga and placed his hand on the next volume. The tea beside him had been sitting there for half a day, and he hadn't even drunk half a cup. He was so engrossed in the book that he didn't have time to drink tea or anything like that.

The new concept in the third part—the introduction of Stand users—once again brought him a huge surprise.

The variety of abilities gave this comic a unique vitality that set it apart from other comics!

Jotaro Kujo, the protagonist, also left a deep impression on him with his unique pretentious style.

And then there's Dio Brando, the villainous boss who appeared in the first book. His mysterious and unusual aura upon appearing in this book is something that even those outside the comic book world can clearly sense—

His hands kept turning over.

The story follows the protagonist team from Japan to Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Pakistan, the Red Sea, and finally—to DIO's stronghold in Egypt!

The local customs and people he encountered along the way gave him a sense that "this is how reality should be," even though... he had never been to most of these places.

The battles within were particularly exciting.

The characters' abilities are almost fixed from the moment they appear in the story, and they rarely get to become stronger.

The battles between them do not rely on increasing their abilities or overwhelming each other with numerical superiority.

In this comic, battles are often fought using wisdom and courage to defeat the opponent.

Even the main character who appeared in the second part said something like this: "The two words I hate the most are 'effort' and 'keep going'."

Such a line, almost impossible to find in shonen manga, leads to... this person, who could have stopped aging with his Ripple technique, becoming an old man by the time he appeared in the third part...

The sun in the sky began to rise continuously from the moment they entered, and then slowly began to set...

He had also flipped to the later parts of JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 3.

Endor's dying words, "Even villains have their saviors," have once again filled me with anticipation for this comic.

But the story that followed, which didn't involve any fighting, was the most enjoyable episode he had ever read!

Then--

The story quickly progresses to the later stages, culminating in the battle against the final boss, DIO.

The successive sacrifices of Avdol, Iggy, and Kakyoin...

Dior's character is almost completely portrayed; there is no whitewashing, no justification. He is a born villain, and victory and domination are deeply ingrained in him.

Finally, Jotaro Kujo, having mastered the ability to stop time, defeated the final boss, Dio Brando, and indeed turned his vampire body to ashes in the sunlight.

"This is...a truly excellent comic," the editor couldn't help but exclaim.

Chapter Ten Pets

"How do you feel?" Iwamoto Yu asked, looking at the editor-in-chief, Yoshikawa Taishi.

It's already so late, he's hungry...

He had already read the comic once before, but even so, he still found it very enjoyable.

This isn't the kind of thing you wouldn't want to watch again after seeing it once.

"Ah, not bad." Yoshikawa Taishi nodded. "This must be the most interesting manga I've ever read."

"How does it compare to Fist of the North Star?" Yu Iwamoto thought for a moment and asked about the most popular manga currently being serialized in JUMC, "Fist of the North Star."

"Hmm..." The editor-in-chief pondered for a moment and shook his head: "It's hard to compare... But if I really had to cast a vote, I would vote for JOJO."

"Why?" Iwamoto Yu asked excitedly. After all, this was a manga artist under his management, which would be a great benefit to him!

"Due to personal preference and the number of original manuscripts."

He glanced at the stack of manuscripts in front of him, chuckled, and said, "First of all, it's a personal preference. Although Fist of the North Star has been number one for several consecutive issues, and will probably continue for some time, I feel that JoJo suits me better. Besides, there are so many manuscripts. You know what will happen next, right? When should this manga be given the right to a cover or a color page inside the volume..."

Yu Iwamoto nodded, agreeing.

With these original manuscripts, we can determine when to give him the cover and color pages during the meeting.

Normally, most comic artists know they will have a color cover page first, and then decide whether to speed up or slow down their storyline based on the situation on that day, so that they can catch a big or small climax.

But this doesn't need to be done that way.

With so many original manuscripts, the next step is quite simple.

Even... after seeing the later plot, Yoshikawa Taishi had a feeling... the popularity of the earlier JoJo might remain at its current level, neither high nor low, but later on—

After the introduction of Stand abilities in the third part, he felt that it was bound to become a huge hit! It might even reach the top of the Shonen Jump rankings, or even number one... It's not entirely impossible.

He even had an impulse to simply ignore the current serialization and start the third part directly!

However... he quickly suppressed his impulse. He knew it was irrational... as an editor-in-chief, he couldn't do such a thing.

"By the way, where is Mr. Kurokawa?" Yoshikawa Taishi asked, looking around the room.

“Him…” Iwamoto Yu glanced at the door and said, “It seems his sister is about to get out of school and is going to make dinner.”

"Really..." The editor-in-chief paused for a moment, then nodded...

That's true, with so many drafts in reserve, I can focus and do whatever I want...

"Well... let's head back now," the editor-in-chief said, standing up.

"Huh? Going back now?" Iwamoto Yu was taken aback. "We've only read the manga, we haven't even started anything else yet, have we?"

I didn't see how fast he was drawing, nor did I ask Kurokawa Kazuya what to do next.

“Ah, no need.” Yoshikawa Taishi nodded. “His sister is coming back, right? Based on his previous phone calls with us, he probably doesn’t want us to bother him.”

"No, there's no need," Kurokawa Kazuya said, pushing open the door. "Having a couple of guests occasionally is nice, and besides, I've prepared dinner for four, plus..."

"Add to that?" Iwamoto Yu asked, puzzled.

"My sister seems to want to become a comic artist. Although she is still young and has not studied comics, who knows what will happen in the future? It would be good to meet her now and get in through connections."

"Haha, you got in through connections, huh? Kurokawa's really not hiding anything these days." Yoshikawa Taishi chuckled. "Alright, then so be it. Iwamoto-kun, let's stay for a meal before we leave, I'm starving."

"Yes!"

"Well, that's perfect. Your sister hasn't come back yet, so I'll ask what the plans are for this comic. After the third part, will it end? Or will there be a fourth part?"

"There's a fourth part..." Kurokawa Kazuya thought for a moment and said, "Currently, we've come up with the seventh part."

"The seventh part? That's amazing..." Yoshikawa Taishi's eyes gleamed: "This could run for at least ten years."

"Ah, perhaps." Kurokawa Kazuya thought for a moment. As for the eighth part... he was still in the planning stages. After all, he didn't know everything about the manga. Whether he would continue drawing his own original works or end it with the seventh part... he didn't know.

However, he was not in a hurry.