My girlfriend is Kusunoko Saiki

Or it reaches the peak in terms of care, like in ink paintings and other works.

What the system has given now is that Naoto has reached the pinnacle of both aspects and is a rare master of art in the world.

This shows how high this evaluation is.

Although Naoto doesn't know how many levels this skill has, at least after reaching this level, Naoto will be one of the best in the world.

After acquiring this skill, Naoto picked up the pencil at hand without hesitation, and then began to draw quickly on the drawing paper.

In just less than ten minutes, a portrait of Kusunoki appeared in Naoto's hands.

Nan Zi in the painting has a face full of happiness and a sweet smile.

While achieving the likeness, the Nan Zi in the painting seemed to have a soul, as if the Nan Zi in the painting would come alive in the next moment.

Just based on this portrait that he had casually drawn, Naoto dared to say that it was ten times better than the most beautiful smile that he had previously given to Kusunoki.

"With such painting skills, I should be able to succeed this time. So, I should think about what kind of subject matter I should paint this time."

At this time, Naoto began to think about the topic of this art award.

Friendship, just two short words, contains so much information.

In art competitions like this, sometimes a broad topic is not necessarily a good thing.

Just like a composition assignment, sometimes too free thinking can make you become a wild horse that has broken free from its reins, running off to who knows where.

When it comes to friendship, the first thing that comes to mind is probably various sports competitions, such as volleyball, baseball, football, basketball and the like. The cooperation among teammates creates all kinds of friendships.

From this perspective, it is definitely the best creation.

But unfortunately, Naoto has never done these sports, and there are not many friendships generated from these sports.

In fact, it is better to say that among traditional art painters, those who like these sports are rare, so this proposition is obviously not feasible.

In addition to the friendship generated by sports competitions, there are also propositions such as comradeship, but for Naoto, they are all too far away.

If Naoto used such creation, he might fail.

This is why Naoto was reluctant to start drawing. He has friendship, but it is not so easy to draw on paper.

"It seems like the judging panel this time did it on purpose. The seemingly broad questions are full of traps."

After thinking about it carefully, Naoto felt that the level of the judging panel this time was a bit high.

This is because most of these painters are otakus and it is impossible for them to have that kind of deep friendship, so they deliberately use this proposition to embarrass them.

"However, the more difficult it is, the more interesting this challenge will be, right? Let me show you my strength, Naoto Yamashita."

After Naoto calmed himself down, he started drawing on the drawing paper.

One painting after another began to appear in Naoto's hands.

Nan Yunxiao, who wanted to be Naoto's strongest opponent, was still lying on the bed, half dead.

Chapter 146: Nebula Award Selection

As time goes by to May, the originally peaceful days gradually begin to become less peaceful.

At this time, the Nebula Awards, which the big names in various fields of the Japanese art world have been looking forward to for a long time, is finally about to begin.

The Nebula Award is an award given by Japan for the SF works of the previous year. It is divided into several categories. The participants of the Japanese SF Convention held every year vote to select the winners. This award was created based on the Hugo Award of the World SF Convention. The name of the Nebula Award is generally believed to come from Nebula, the first SF magazine published in Japan in 1954. It was awarded in 1972. The awarding departments initially included the Japanese long-length department, the Japanese short-length department, the overseas long-length department, the overseas short-length department and the media department. Later, the film department, the comedy department, the art department, the literary works department and the free department were added. The selection of additional lectures is decided by the executive committee of the Japanese SF Convention.

The shortlisted works are those published between January 1 and December 1 of the previous year.

In fact, the selection scope of the Nebula Awards is no longer SF in the general sense, but a combination of science fiction and fantasy.

In the film sector, Hayao Miyazaki, Leiji Matsumoto, Hideaki Anno, Hiroyuki Yamaga, Makoto Shinkai and others have all won this honor.

As for the comics department, well-known people such as Rumiko Takahashi, Katsuhiro Otomo, Masamune Shirow, Hayao Miyazaki, CLAMP, and Nozomi Hagio have all won awards.

In the novel department, besides Shinichi Hoshi, Yasutaka Tsutsui and Sakyo Komatsu (7 times each) are the ones who have won so many awards. Kanbayashi Chohei, who brought us Sentai Yoshikaze, also won a lot in the Nebula Awards. As for other familiar novelists, there are Baku Yumemakura, who brought us Onmyoji, Yoshiki Tanaka, who wrote Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Hiroyuki Morioka, who wrote the Star World series.

In the field of anime, famous works such as Space Battleship Yamato, My Neighbor Totoro, Peaky Blinders, and even SSSSS Gullit have won these awards.

Although the authority of the Nebula Award has declined in recent years, it is still the most authoritative award in the Japanese science fiction community every year.

The works that can win this award are basically recognized as masterpieces. Often, only the most dazzling works of the year can win such an award.

And every year, the fighting in the Nebula Award is particularly brutal.

Before the official selection, fans of each work have already started arguing for their favorite works on the Internet.

Some of the more angry ones are even preparing to start offline solos.

However, among all the post-Nebula Award works, only Naoto seemed to be completely unconcerned about what was happening outside. He just spent the whole day revising his own oil paintings, as if the Nebula Award was completely unnecessary for him.

Naoto's behavior also made Souma and Akito very puzzled.

"Brother Naoto, are you sure you don't want to say a few words? After all, I see that other authors seem to want to canvass for votes."

In response to Akito and Tsuchitsugu's questions, Naoto simply answered calmly.

"So what? After all, whether I win the award or not, what impact will it have on me in the end? Instead of worrying about whether I can win the award, I might as well do my job well now."

"But, that's the Nebula Award."

"The Nebula Award can't make you a big shot in the industry overnight. At the very least, you have to remember that if the quality of a work needs an award to be recognized, then the award itself is unnecessary. What determines the quality of a work is only the audience's love for it."

In fact, even the famous Uncle Long has never won the Oscar for Best Actor, but this cannot conceal Uncle Long's strength, and he is also the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. Even if he has not won the Best Actor, Uncle Long's status is there, and no one can shake it.

Although they all understood Naoto's logic, they really couldn't treat the Nebula Award as if it was nothing. After all, once you win the Nebula Award, it means you are extraordinary. It is the recognition of the big guys. Every winner is a leader in the industry.

And seeing that Takahiro and Akito were still somewhat unconvinced, Naoto had no choice but to put down his pen and spoke to the two of them.

"An award winner should not be honored just because he or she has won an award, but because of the award, because of the winner. The reason why the Nebula Award is so authoritative is that it was created by many people together, right? If an award has become the only criterion for judging the quality of a work, that would be the saddest thing. I have already made Parasyte, and the audience likes it, so what else do I need? Does it mean that my work needs to win an award to be loved by everyone?"

The people in the creative department just couldn't understand Naoto's realm. This realm was too high and they couldn't comprehend it.

Could it be that winning the Nebula Award is no longer enough to impress Naoto? Is this the real boss?

Regardless of what the other club members thought, Naoto once again focused on his creation.

On the other hand, the judging panel of the Nebula Awards has also begun reviewing last year's works.

I have to say that there were indeed many excellent works last year, and each one was very powerful.

But when it comes to Naoto, the judges are a little embarrassed.

“Both of ONE’s comics were shortlisted?”

"That's true. After all, the time between "Vampire" and "Parasyte" was less than a month."

"So what should we do? Which work should we choose?"

"Both works are very popular, especially since the number of votes for the two is almost the same."

"Can't both works win awards at once?"

"What are you thinking? Two works winning awards at the same session? How is this possible? This has never happened before."

"But both works are excellent. We can't just give up on one of them. If one of them doesn't win an award, then..."

"It's really annoying. He's just a high school student, but he caused us so much trouble."

"You still think ONE is a high school student? Which high school student can be as influential as ONE? Didn't you see it? He just sent a tweet and it caused such a big storm."

"This is terrible, what should we do now?"

At this moment in the SF review meeting, all the reviewers were staring at the forms in their hands anxiously.

Logically speaking, there was no objection to Naoto winning the award, and even the famous judge voted for Naoto's comics.

But what’s bothering me now is, which of Naoto’s works should win the award?

At this moment, someone said something that made everyone fall into deep thought.

Chapter 147: Double Award

At 7:30, the XX Nebula Awards ceremony finally began. Under the illumination of the giant artificial crystal chandelier, countless well-dressed men and women returned to their seats, began to applaud, and extended enthusiastic greetings to the highest award in the Japanese science fiction world.

In the meeting room, Naoto, dressed in a formal suit, walked to their table under the guidance of Shueisha's senior executives and the editor-in-chief.

In the Nebula Awards venue, in addition to the well-known cartoonists, there were also well-known novelists, excellent screenwriters and production teams. Naoto even saw the production team of "Bloodline" at the venue.

As there were a lot of people at the venue, Naoto did not go up to say hello, but he estimated that he would not have the chance to go over at this time, after all, the members of the production team seemed to be greeting their colleagues in the industry.

"Naoto-kun, are you nervous?"

At this time, Mr. Masuda, the head of the Overseas Section of the Copyright Affairs Department of Shueisha, who was sitting next to Naoto, asked Naoto.

If you ask why this big shot would come to participate in the Nebula Awards, it is because Naoto's works are currently selling well overseas, so this big shot wanted to get familiar with Naoto in advance and came to participate in this Nebula Awards.

Although Naoto didn't know much about this big guy, at least he was very kind to him, so Naoto smiled and said to him, "It's okay, I don't feel much."

"Ah, look at my memory. After all, Naoto-kun has participated in various major competitions in the art world. He should be used to this kind of atmosphere."

Naoto smiled and said nothing to Section Chief Masuda's words. Perhaps he really had gotten used to it.

However, for some reason, when Naoto learned that he was about to win the award, he did not feel very happy. He even felt a little... bored and irritated.

Regarding this situation, Naoto just thought that maybe he was too tired recently.

Judging from the current news from the outside world, it should be a sure thing that "Parasyte" will win the award. After all, the strength of "Parasyte" is obvious to everyone.

Even the other nominees didn't think there was anything wrong with "Parasyte" winning the award this time.

Rather, it would be a real problem if "Parasyte" didn't win the award.

After Naoto completely defeated the other two comic magazines, even if there are people in the industry who are not convinced by Naoto, they have to admit that Naoto is very strong.

Moreover, after "Parasyte" became a hit and became a topic of widespread discussion in the industry, all science fiction writers had to admit that, at least among this year's works, they really couldn't find a work more outstanding than "Parasyte".

It is even said that some environmental protection organizations use parasites as an action program and call humans parasites of the earth.

Although it is a little ridiculous, it has undoubtedly increased the popularity of parasitic beasts.

Even overseas, "Parasyte" is regarded as a masterpiece.

Therefore, if "Parasyte" does not win the award this time, the other winners will probably be embarrassed.

Perhaps, Naoto is the least stressed person among all the people in the venue today.

As the award ceremony began, the hosts took the list they received from the judges and began to announce the names of this year's winners.

As an award that has been around for decades, the announcement of each work has a process, and some scattered awards are constantly being won. From time to time, several people stand up and go on stage to receive awards. The atmosphere has always been very lively. However, Naoto's eyelids began to fight.

Such a boring ceremony, where you can’t even play with your phone, is simply torture.

But seeing that the adults around him all looked very happy and were clapping and congratulating him from time to time, Naoto had no choice but to cheer up and listen to these boring contents.

After waiting for more than an hour, the awards ceremony for media and film and television works began.

This award is the top priority in every Nebula Awards. It can be said to be one of the three most important awards in the Nebula Awards.

Originally, Naoto should have nothing to do with this award, and Naoto himself didn't think his work was worthy of an award.

But when the host mentioned the first winner, everyone in the audience was stunned.

"Let's congratulate! The first winner of this film and television award is "Bloodline"!!!"

When the winning works were read out, many people stood there in a daze, unable to react.

"Bloodline? Wait, this work can't be..."

"It should be that work, the work of ONE teacher."

"But how could this be? Is 'Bloodline' also nominated this time?"

"Indeed, there are, and it's quite popular. Even the production team is here."

"But shouldn't ONE's work be awarded to Parasyte? How can it win two awards?"

"An author who won two awards at the same time? This has never happened in previous years, right?"

"However, if it is a film and television award, strictly speaking, it is awarded to the entire production team, so it is not considered the work of Mr. ONE alone."

"You mean, this could be a loophole?"

"Of course, you can also think that this is because the judges did not give Teacher ONE the award for Parasyte."

Faced with such words, everyone can just laugh it off.

After all, everyone knows that "Parasyte" will definitely win an award this time. There is no suspense at all. The popularity is there and it cannot be shaken.