Tokyo 1970: I'll draw Doraemon?

"Manager! Please reserve a copy of Naruto for me."

Someone shouted loudly behind him, which startled the store manager.

“My younger brother really likes Naruto, so the collected volumes would be a great gift.” Shop assistant Matsumoto gave a thumbs up.

“No problem,” the store manager nodded, then whispered, “We won’t be able to sell them all anyway…”

"what?"

"It's nothing, the shop will be opening soon, so don't walk around."

"Yes!"

……

Located in the heart of the Shibuya shopping district, Ryōya Bookstore is the flagship store of the chain, so foot traffic is not an issue.

After the shop opened, customers of all ages came in.

The store manager didn't have time to specifically monitor the sales of the Naruto manga volumes. When he returned at noon after receiving a batch of books, he saw something that surprised him.

A bookshelf filled with "Naruto" was surrounded by teenagers, who were flipping through the manga with great interest.

"Ah, Naruto graduated and became a member of Team 7, passing Kakashi's test. I really miss that part of the story."

"The paper quality of the single-volume edition is better than that of weekly magazines. It feels so smooth to the touch, and you can see many details that are swallowed up by inferior paper."

"I have no choice but to buy it."

These customers, dressed in matching school uniforms, were students from nearby schools. More than half of them were carrying Naruto manga volumes as they went to the cashier to pay.

The single volume is priced at 240, which is not cheap, but these children don't even blink, using their hard-earned pocket money to buy a comic book they've already read.

The Naruto books on the bookshelf were disappearing rapidly, and the staff quickly restocked them.

This continued until all 30 copies were sold.

After inquiring with the staff, the store manager learned that 80 copies of "Naruto" had been sold in just half a day.

Next, someone would buy Naruto Volume 01 every five minutes. This manga seemed to have no worries about sales and could refresh its customer base at any time.

This situation only stopped when the lunch break ended.

Even so, Naruto sold out faster than other manga during lunch breaks.

After 4 p.m., when students were on holiday, the sales of "Naruto" became even more exaggerated.

The bookstore was packed with students of all numbers, all with the same goal and excited expressions—they had come for Naruto.

"The Japanese economy is truly on an upward trend."

Chapter 140 The goal is a million!

Watching the teenagers eagerly buying the not-so-cheap comic books, the manager of Liangwu Bookstore sighed inwardly:

"The Japanese economy is really on the rise; even students don't care about 240 yen."

It seems I don't understand the market. There's no need to worry about the head office giving the Shibuya store a quota of 200 copies of "Naruto".

The only problem is that this number is still too small!

"What's the situation with 'The Little Devil General'?" he asked the stock clerk next to him.

The clerk did a quick mental calculation and then nodded, saying, "30 books, that's the number, no problem."

30?

The store manager was taken aback.

"It seems the problem lies with Naruto. The 200 copies in stock will probably sell out in less than two days."

He turned around, ready to contact the head office to request another batch of Naruto Volume 01, the same number of 200 copies!

“But manager,” the employee said hesitantly, holding out his hand, “we’ve already sold 50 copies of the Touch manga. The 120 copies won’t be long before they’re all sold out.”

He paused, then nodded: "I understand."

Although it's not as popular as "Naruto", it's still quite remarkable.

After the store closed at eight o'clock, the store manager calculated the day's sales and got a general idea of ​​the sales performance of several comic book volumes.

"Of the 200 copies of Naruto Volume 01, only 47 remain."

The Matsumoto employee breathed a sigh of relief; he was worried that if "Naruto" sold out, he wouldn't be able to fulfill his promise to his younger brother.

"Hiroshi Motomiya's 'The Little Demon General' has sold 50 copies, and there are still 100 copies left. There is no need to worry about unsold inventory."

"We've sold 83 copies of 'Touch,' it's time to restock."

"Ah."

After checking the data, the store manager was in a good mood. If books sold as well as comics, he wouldn't have to worry about performance evaluations.

"Manager," an employee raised his hand, "how many of the 'Kamen Rider' figures are left?"

“I’d forgotten about it if you hadn’t mentioned it,” the store manager said, startled. Then he flipped through the reports. “Kamen Rider Volume 02… wait, only 18 copies sold? This manga used to sell really well. Why are the results so poor now? There are still 110 copies of Kamen Rider in the warehouse. At this rate, we’ll have to return the remaining books to the publisher in a month.”

……

After the climax of the preliminary rounds, Naruto entered a month-long training period for Naruto.

Since this kind of plot is not yet a cliché, readers find it novel, and Naruto's increased fighting power is something they have been looking forward to.

They were happy to see Naruto be able to face Neji's challenge with even greater strength.

Moreover, this kind of plot is particularly interesting, and it has been depicted in works such as Dragon Ball, One Piece, and Bleach.

It naturally brings a sense of urgency and anticipation to the reader.

After all, Naruto's opponents are all very strong, and he is not someone he can face directly right now.

During this month, there are Naruto learning summoning jutsu from Jiraiya, Sasuke being trained by Kakashi, Rock Lee recovering from his injuries, and the conspiracies of Sunagakure and Otogakure, with various storylines running in parallel.

Fushimikawa plans to encompass all of this in four episodes, and then begin the formal competition in November of that year.

That is, the battle between Naruto and Neji.

"Teacher Oikawa!"

Just as he was pondering, Tomoyuki Fukuda opened the door and walked in, his face flushed and looking extremely excited.

"You...you have a son?" Fushimikawa asked in confusion.

"It's even more joyful than the birth of my son!"

Tomoyuki Fukuda actually said that.

This made Fushimikawa even more curious.

He speculated, "What good news is there? Is the Yasukuni Shrine on fire? Or has the Emperor died suddenly?"

“None of those are true,” Fukuda Tomoyuki wiped away a cold sweat and quickly explained, “Naruto Volume 01 is a huge hit. In just seven days, 80% of the initial print run of 40 copies has already been sold! Breaking the million mark is not a problem!”

The fact that the first volume of the manga sold over a million copies is unprecedented in Japan.

Previously renowned titles like "Star of the Giants" and "Ashita no Joe" only achieved sales of over a million units thanks to the cumulative sales of the entire series.

It compares the sales figures of several books with the sales figures of one book of "Naruto".

Once this achievement is accomplished, it will cause a huge upheaval, like a depth charge.

Not just in the manga industry, but all of Japan will start talking about this.

It is a symbol of the industry's growing prosperity and has extraordinary significance.

Even so, Tomoyuki Fukuda wouldn't compare his manga achievements to the birth of his son.

Fushimikawa pointed at him: "Fukuda-san, you don't have a wife, do you?"

"Yeah, why are we discussing this?" He looked puzzled, then became excited. "The entire Future Society is cheering right now. They even sent me here to tell you that President Fujiwara has arranged a banquet at Shibuya West Station. Do you want to attend, teacher?"

They didn't even notify us by phone; instead, they sent the editor in person to deliver the message, as a sign of respect.

Fushimikawa, however, was not in a good mood; he had an "I knew it" look on his face.

"So you're a bachelor. If you get married and Fukuda's baby is actually born, you won't feel that the success of the manga is more gratifying than this."

Fukuda was taken aback: "You're younger than me, how would you know these things? You're just guessing."

Looking at him like an immature youth, Fushimikawa shook his head: "Just keep being stubborn."

"Never mind!" Fukuda waved his hand, not caring about the topic. Instead, he asked, "The banquet won't be fun without you, teacher. Let's go together."

“Since you’ve brought this up,” Fushimikawa stood up. “Then let’s set off.”

……

At the banquet, the ordinary employees enjoyed themselves immensely.

In the future community, they saw their future.

As long as you work hard, you won't have to worry about your salary or career advancement.

This is a particularly happy thing, so everyone has no worries and can drink and sing to their heart's content.

Compared to them, the higher-ups at Future Society didn't have much free time.

In another small private room, they held a brief meeting.

"40 copies will be sold out in less than 10 days... This is something I never dared to imagine," said Toshiki Takei, a senior editor who has worked in the comics industry for the longest time. He said that this was an eye-opening experience and a feat that had never happened before.

"What's next? What should we do?"

He no longer dared to view the issue from his own preconceived notions and began to ask for other people's opinions.

“Although the numbers are astonishing, they are still far from a million,” Utsunomiya said. “It would take at least a year and a half of accumulation to achieve this result.”

"Yeah," Kitahara Shinsuke nodded.

After the first week, the sales of the manga volumes need to gradually increase, accumulating over time.

“What should we do?” he asked.

Everyone pondered deeply.

Whether it's book signings or newspaper and magazine advertising, they can only play a part, and are far from enough to cover the huge gap of hundreds of thousands.