Tokyo Soft Rice King.

"Nihei-san! This is a heavyweight newcomer we absolutely have to recruit!"

Saito Tetsuya seemed very excited. As an editor, he could sense that this duo were likely the kind of 'pillar' manga artists who could easily secure serialization rights in their own magazine and then serialize for more than ten years.

On the contrary, it was Nihei Yoshihisa who calmed down first and said with his arms crossed.

"Hmm... if it really is a work completed by only two people, then they are definitely geniuses we must try to acquire..."

Saito Tetsuya was taken aback, and immediately asked in return.

"You mean, these two comics weren't created by a duo?"

"You idiot! Are you underestimating manga? How could two people possibly have produced something of this quality?!"

"I'm so sorry..."

Just as Saito Tetsuya finished apologizing, he saw Nihei Yoshihisa grinning slyly.

"Actually, it's because I saw their club composition on CM, hehe."

Saito Tetsu rolled his eyes, thinking that the deputy editor-in-chief's skills were still much deeper, as he could even tell the composition of the team. He didn't expect it was just because he had seen the author team on site.

However, Saito Tetsuya quickly lost his speechless mood and excitedly asked about the club's members.

"Have you met the author in person yet? If it's not just two people, then how many people are there?"

"I'm not sure which character Shirako is in the original work, but I recognize who is doing the artwork. She should be mainly responsible for character design, and there should be two assistants who draw the backgrounds and background characters. It's a team of at least four people."

"Four people? If it's a product of a club, then I can understand..."

Saito Tetsuya was slightly disappointed. He had originally thought that there were only two authors, which meant two hardcore writers, but now that the number of authors had increased to four, the output speed was not as exaggerated.

However, this was just a bonus and did not detract from the fact that they had created two excellent works, so he then asked another question he was concerned about: the author's age.

How old are they?

Although being a comic artist is not a profession that relies heavily on youth, and it's a career that can be entered at any time, many comic artists either entered the industry midway through their careers or are late bloomers.

However, it is well known that younger authors are more enthusiastic, have better motivation, and their art style and story content are more in line with the times. Therefore, editors tend to prefer younger comic artists, which also makes marketing easier.

"It's no fun just telling you the answer directly. Come on, try to guess, Zhe."

Nihei Yoshihisa deliberately kept everyone in suspense, also wanting to test Saito Tetsu's experience.

"Hmm... Both works have great plots, well-designed characters, distinct and unique settings, interesting stories, beautifully drawn backgrounds, and very clear themes. They are flawless from any angle... So to be honest, I think the authors of these two works must be no younger than thirty years old; they are far too experienced."

"So, Ah Zhe, are you going to guess thirty years old?"

"...No! I'm guessing they're under twenty! Are they from a university's manga club?"

"Oh ho? Why do you guess that?"

"Because the character design and coloring are so innovative! It has the feel of a new generation of comic artists! This is something that only a very young comic artist could draw! It's not something you can learn by imitating others! It must be an innate talent to create such a visual style!"

"Oh ho..."

After giving his answer, Saito Tetsuya nervously inquired about the result.

"So, Nihei-san, what was the result...?"

Nihei Yoshihisa gave two thumbs up and smiled wickedly.

"Bingo~ Everyone is super young!"

"Oh oh oh oh oh!"

This is like winning the lottery!

"Although I don't know their exact age, I feel they should all be high school students. If they have time to draw two comics and can also participate in commercials, they are probably not in their senior year of high school yet, so the oldest is probably no more than seventeen years old."

"Seventeen years old...! A genius! A true genius!"

Nihei Yoshihisa couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes, but this can no longer be called genius..."

"Why?! Isn't this genius?"

"Because if we call this genius, then all those newcomers we called geniuses before will be reduced to mediocrity..."

I never expected that even the usually cautious Deputy Editor-in-Chief Erping would give such a high evaluation.

"Anyway, you must have guessed their ages by now, right, Nihei-san?"

"No, I was really surprised when I saw them in person. I even wondered if the author had invited a bunch of high school cosplayers to help sell the products. I never expected that they were the original production team."

"You didn't expect to be so young?"

"Haha, yeah, so you're already better than me, Zhe."

"What are you saying... You must have noticed more details, which is why you don't think it's a work by a young person."

"Well...that's true. To be honest, the storyboarding is just right for me. It gives me the feeling that 'whatever scene I want to see next will appear next,' as if the editor guiding the storyboarding is someone as experienced as me..."

Saito Tetsuya nodded in agreement.

"Yes, I can also see a huge amount of experience in it... I feel like the original author may have read more comics than I have."

"That's reading experience, and experience is accumulated over time. Nobody starts reading comics from the womb, right? Unless they're reborn... well, just kidding. Most likely, they're a super bad student who completely abandoned their studies and spends all their time immersed in comics. I heard that Mori, the editor at Hurricane Bunko, was obsessed with novels back then. He joined the editorial department right after graduation, so he became the editor-in-chief at a very young age."

Although Keima Mori was not the editor of the manga, his deeds were known to other colleagues.

"But if the club is full of young people, I really can't understand why someone with such drawing skills and paneling ability would be willing to play a supporting role..."

"Oh? You mean the story doesn't match the artwork?"

"Not really, it's just that I realized the 'comics were too well-made,' and looking back I found that the characters and backgrounds of both comics were 'wholeheartedly serving the storyboard.'"

This was the most surprising thing for Nihei Yoshihisa.

"Ah Zhe, you've looked at them closely just now, and the artwork in both comics is amazing, isn't it?"

"Yes, it's a feast for the eyes. I haven't seen an artist with such amazing skills in a long time."

"Yes, but if you think about it carefully, doesn't it seem unreasonable? Especially after watching both, you'll find that the fan service comic uses thin lines and light backgrounds, giving it a strong sense of three-dimensionality, while the sports comic has heavier background strokes, with thicker main lines and more shadows, making it look more weighty."

"Yes, the assistant who drew the figures also drew them very meticulously... It feels like only a professional assistant with more than ten years of experience could draw at this level. It's amazing that a seventeen-year-old has such drawing skills."

"Such a capable assistant is rare in the entire industry. Usually, they don't work as assistants to a fixed comic artist, but rather become itinerant assistants, coming to the rescue in emergencies... But this one appeared in a new artist's new work."

"This...maybe it's to help a friend?"

"The assistant's explanation makes sense, but what about the lead artist? The bold use of color on the cover, the ingenious character design, the vivid portrayal of expressions, and the characters' movements are all so lifelike... Generally speaking, comic artists with this kind of drawing skill have a strong sense of self-respect and would choose to create their own works."

Therefore, famous comic artists are usually solo authors. They complete everything from the story to the storyboard to the artwork themselves. Only the background and other parts are handed over to assistants. The story content and development are discussed with the editor, but the final decision is still made by the author.

This is because cartoonists are a group of creatures with extremely strong creative desires and a strong desire for control. They do not allow others to 'tamper' with their works and must make their works conform to their own imagination.

Especially in Shonen Boom, most of the comics feature strong and distinctive personalities, and many of them have quirks that give the editors a headache.

But it is precisely because they have strong personalities that they are able to create those impressive and world-renowned works.

"However, when I saw it on site, the painters and their assistants were all young and beautiful girls, which made it even more incredible."

"They're all girls?!"

Saito Tetsuya was surprised by the gender of the artist.

He had already assumed the character was male, and the background of fan service comics and sports comics seemed like topics that men would be more interested in.

"Yes, it's amazing that such talented and young animators and assistants are helping with storyboarding... Although the original author's name is indeed impressive, the real skill of this author lies in finding geniuses and persuading them to assist him."

"Damn... I'm so envious! This is the ability editors most want to have! How do they do it?!"

The two middle-aged men probably never dreamed that Kuroba Akira, the original character, could be the leader because the girls liked him and were willing to play supporting roles for him.

"Most of the other people probably created these two comics entirely according to his instructions."

"However, the person who came up with this strategy probably doesn't understand our editorial department at all. Soul Battery should have no problem winning an award, but the grand prize is probably out of the question..."

The prize money for short stories in Shonen Boom isn't high; it relies entirely on its reputation to attract new authors, and most people are after the 'serialization rights' for the grand prize.

If someone can secure a long-running serialization in Shonen Boom, they can instantly become a famous manga artist in Japan and even the world—a true leap for manga artists.

While it's not true that getting a serialization opportunity guarantees becoming a popular manga artist—after all, Shonen Boom is also known as the "cancellation maniac," and most unpopular manga don't escape the fate of ending after only 12 chapters.

However, only a small group of comic artists at the very top of the pyramid can get the opportunity to have their work serialized.

However, the eligibility for serializing sports comics is now very strictly controlled.

That's because the current editor-in-chief of Shonen Boom, Sugi Sasaki, is known to dislike sports manga, so it's extremely difficult for sports works to get serialization, and they are basically never given the short story award.

Saito Tetsuya was quite disappointed. He actually wanted to see how the story would develop, after all, so many clues had been left.

At this moment, Nihei Yoshihisa stood up and said.

“I’m going to see Editor-in-Chief Sasaki… There’s no reason not to give this work the Grand Prize.”

Good works should be seen by more people.

Around the new talents and new works, a new trend of underdogs overthrowing their superiors has also emerged in the editorial department of Shonen Boom.

Chapter 411 The Serialized Life of Three People Together

The editorial department of Shonen Boom convened an emergency meeting with all on-duty editors, all for a single short story—a truly unprecedented move.

Moreover, at the meeting, after all the editors had read the manga, the topic of discussion changed from whether to give it the grand prize to whether to give it serialization rights.

In other words, all the editors, including editor-in-chief Sasaki, reached a consensus on awarding this work the Grand Prize.

Generally, the editorial department evaluates performance based on four aspects: background, characters, script, and performance, and then provides a comprehensive evaluation.

Soul Battery is a rare work in recent years that scores full marks in almost every aspect.

So the key question is whether or not to grant serialization rights...

Some of the more conservative editors felt that they needed to see the subsequent names to determine whether the story would be stable.

After all, short comics and long-running series are completely different things. Short comics can take more time to polish and can condense the highlights, while long-running series focus more on 'stable output'.

In other words, the story, visuals, and production speed all need to remain stable, and whether a sixteen-year-old has such stability is questionable.

In fact, if it were just a work that won the grand prize, the editorial department wouldn't have needed to go to such lengths. After all, being selected for the short story submission manga grand prize and published in Shonen Boom is just the 'first step' for a new manga artist.

Yes, don't assume that winning the grand prize guarantees a serialization opportunity. While it might be possible to get a serialization in other smaller comic magazines, this is Shonen Boom, the leading magazine in the comic industry. Getting a serialization opportunity here is incredibly difficult.

After winning the grand prize, the work still needs to be validated by the reader market. In other words, if it continues to lead in popularity surveys, it will be taken seriously by the editorial department and thus get the opportunity to be serialized.

At this point, the editor and the original author will collaborate to expand the story into a long serial, producing the titles and drafts for the first few chapters. Only after passing the serialization meeting can the serialization process begin.