Crossover Anime: The Heroine is in Trouble? I Take Advantage of the Situation

The "Jinta" in front of her, just through his messy room, evasive eyes, and resistance to the outside world, made her feel the image of a living boy burdened with a heavy past.

That "Menma" was innocent and carefree, yet she carried a hint of unreality, as if she didn't belong to this world. Every word and action of hers was connected to an invisible thread called "the past."

“This is… the real 'story'…” she murmured absentmindedly.

Take a deep breath.

Eriri suppressed her emotions and continued to examine the Name.

Those scribbles on stick figures, in the eyes of this professional artist, burst forth with unimaginable vitality!

On the first page, there is a huge horizontal panel that occupies two-thirds of the page, depicting Jinta's messy room, which sets the tone for the protagonist's decadence and naturally draws the reader's attention to the protagonist lying on the tatami.

The next frame is a close-up of Jinta's face, his eyes glazed over as he plays a game.

Then, the scene suddenly changes! A bright, sunny double-page spread depicts Menma from my childhood memories, looking back with a smile on a summer country road.

With just three panels, the story's core conflict—"the present bound by the past"—is vividly portrayed through the stark contrast between "darkness" and "brightness," and between "reality" and "memory."

She continued reading, and the more she read, the more horrified she became.

Every shot transition, every composition of every scene, every character's position and perspective... is precise to the extreme!

Seiji Fujiwara even skillfully employed the "crossing the axis" technique, which is often seen in movies, to express the character's inner turmoil and unease by breaking the conventional camera positions.

The use of paneling language and the control over rhythm have reached... no, far surpassed any professional cartoonist she knows!

She even felt that even Eiji Niizuma, the genius hailed as a once-in-a-decade talent in Weekly Shonen Jump, might not be able to surpass this seemingly hasty draft in terms of the appeal of his storyboards and the efficiency of his narrative.

· ······Request flowers·· ······

That can't be...

Her hands began to tremble slightly.

[This level of skill...this understanding of visual language...and it's unbelievable that an amateur could draw this! This is simply...]

Eriri felt a huge uproar in her heart, her eyes widened involuntarily, and a deep surprise appeared on her face.

She picked up her paintbrush and, with trembling hands, began to refine the storyboard.

However, when she drew a certain panel—a close-up of Jinta seeing Menma in his hallucination, with a complex expression on his face—she got stuck.

What kind of lighting and shadows can be used to express that feeling of illusion and reality intertwining?

Jinta's expression—was it more surprise or self-deprecation?

Eriri was caught in a dilemma.

At this time.

The studio door clicked open gently.

Seiji Fujiwara walked in carrying a glass of juice.

Walking up behind her, Seiji Fujiwara looked at the sketch and pointed out in a flat tone, "The expression here is wrong. When Jinta sees Menma, his first reaction is not surprise, but numbness and self-mockery like, 'Ah, here we go again.' So, the corners of his mouth should be slightly downturned, and his eyes should be more vacant."

As he spoke, he seemed to feel that words were not intuitive enough, so he picked up a pencil and quickly sketched a few lines on the draft paper.

A perfect expression, full of story, leaps off the page.

Eriri was completely stunned.

Before she could recover from her shock, Seiji Fujiwara's finger pointed to another part of the drawing.

"And then there's the lighting here. Menma is a 'phantom,' a 'ghost in the sunlight.' So the light should come from behind her, using backlighting, so that her whole body is enveloped in a hazy, holy golden halo. This is called 'rim lighting,' which effectively distinguishes her from the real scenery and emphasizes her unreal quality."

0 .... ...

As he spoke, he used a pencil to give a simple demonstration of the arrangement of light and shadow.

The precise and artistic handling instantly elevated the atmosphere of the entire image to a higher level.

……

Eriri listened blankly to Seiji Fujiwara's instructions, her mind completely blank.

this person……

Is this person even human?!

Not only are you amazing at literary creation, but you're also incredibly good at drawing comics?

He had even designed the lighting, colors, and the most subtle "acting" of the characters in the final draft!

It's as if you're shooting a complete, frame-by-frame movie using only paper and pen!

Monster!

Eriri stared blankly at Seiji Fujiwara, then looked down at the paintbrush in her hand.

Her prized manga skills were utterly crushed by Seiji Fujiwara.

……

……

The next few days.

Eriri devoted herself entirely to "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day".

She felt an unprecedented creative pleasure.

It's an amazing experience.

No longer do we need to rack our brains over the composition of a storyboard, nor do we need to repeatedly revise a character's expression for the slightest change.

All she had to do was fill the already formed framework with flesh and blood.

Three days later, the complete manuscript for the first chapter of "We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day" was drawn.

Eriri looked at the drawing in front of her, her heart filled with mixed emotions.

She was proud of the work's excellence, yet felt a secret sense of loss that this excellence did not originate from her.

Ultimately, she submitted the manuscript to a bi-monthly comic magazine in the industry, Monthly GIGACOMIC.

This time, she didn't have to wait long.

The very next day, a number called her phone.

"Hello, is this Sawamura-sensei? I'm Yamada Aki from the editorial department of Monthly GIGACOMIC. Regarding your submission, 'We Still Don't Know the Name of the Flower We Saw That Day,' we..."

The woman's voice on the other end of the phone initially carried a professional politeness and restraint.

But when she mentioned the title of the work, her voice noticeably rose a few decibels, filled with an irrepressible excitement.

As a senior editor at GIGACOMIC, Aki Yamada has handled at least eight hundred to a thousand manuscripts from new authors.

At first, when she saw the original artwork, which was so gorgeous that it didn't look like something a newcomer would do, she just thought it was some old thing reincarnated.

But after reading only three pages, she sat up straight.

By the time she reached page ten, she had completely forgotten to drink water.

When she turned to the last page and saw Menma's phantom in Jinta's room, smiling at him like the summer sun, she felt as if her heart had been squeezed tightly by a gentle hand.

He couldn't help but take off his glasses and rub his slightly moist eyes.

"...A monster."

Looking at the name "Sawamura" in the author's column, she uttered those two words from the bottom of her heart.

The drawing skills are excellent.

But the truly terrifying thing about this manuscript is its "original work"!

This story, this storyboard... it has reached a top-tier level!

This is simply a top-notch art film! What a waste.

Chapter Sixty-Nine: "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day!" Ranked #1 in Reader Voting! (1/1)

"Sawamura-sensei!"

On the phone, Aki Yamada's voice was filled with excitement, "Your work is absolutely amazing! Especially the story! In all my years as an editor, I've never seen a story that portrays the emotion of 'sadness' so beautifully and so deeply!"

Hearing the editor's lavish praise on the other end of the phone, Eriri felt a surge of joy.

"Do you have time tomorrow? I'd like to discuss signing a contract and the details of the subsequent serialization!"

"Yes! I have time!" Eriri excitedly agreed repeatedly.

After hanging up the phone, she skipped and jumped into Seiji Fujiwara's study like a happy puppy.

"We did it! Seiji! The editor says he wants to sign a contract with us tomorrow!" She waved her phone, her face beaming with a bright smile.

"Oh, really?"

Seiji Fujiwara leaned back in his chair, his reaction as indifferent as if he had just heard "The weather is nice today," and nodded, saying, "Then congratulations."

With the Naoki Prize and the Rampo Award in hand, he was no longer excited about his mere manga debut.

Moreover, Anohana is of good quality.

If this article doesn't pass the serialization meeting, it only means that the publication to which it was submitted is hopeless.

"What do you mean 'congratulate me'? It's us!" Eriri corrected, displeased. "The signing is tomorrow, you're coming with me!"

Fujiwara Seiji didn't even look up: "Who said I was going?"

"Huh?" Eriri's smile froze on her face.

“I have no intention of appearing in the public eye,” Seiji Fujiwara said calmly. “You will be in charge of all external affairs. I will only provide the Name from behind the scenes.”

"Why...why?" Eriri couldn't understand.

“If I were to appear, the ‘Fujiwara-sensei’ brand would be ruined, and it wouldn’t be as simple as just a manga.” Seiji Fujiwara looked at her as if she were an idiot and said, “Can readers’ expectations of a new manga artist be the same as their expectations of an established creator?”

“Uh, yes…” Eriri scratched her cheek awkwardly.

She had forgotten all about "043" (referring to the character Seiji Fujiwara), who was the famous Fujiwara-sensei, and who won the Naoki Prize and the Edogawa Rampo Prize at a young age.

But you can't blame her.

Who told this bastard to be so indecent every day, with his head full of dirty thoughts!

Eriri thought of this, glared at Fujiwara Seiji again, and then, fearing being caught and retaliated against, she turned and ran away.

Seiji Fujiwara: "..."

Something wrong?

……

……

The next day.

Eriri went to the editorial department of "GIGACOMIC" alone.

The signing process went very smoothly. Yamada Aki showed her great enthusiasm and respect, and the contract terms far exceeded those of a typical newcomer.

After learning that "Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day" was a collaborative work.

In Yamada Aki's words, eight out of ten sentences are filled with praise for the story's author who has never appeared.

"Sawamura-sensei, your drawing skills are outstanding! You've perfectly captured the characters drawn by another artist!"

Eriri maintained a polite and appropriate smile throughout, but inwardly felt helpless.

She felt like an assistant accepting an award on her behalf. All the glory belonged to the absent person. And she was merely a tool, praised for "shining the trophy."

But in any case, this is her first step into the commercial world.

Keep it up, Eriri!

Eriri cheered herself up in her heart.

……

Back home, she handed the signed contract to Seiji Fujiwara, saying with a hint of jealousy, "The signing went very smoothly. The editor was so disappointed that he didn't get to see the original story of yours; he raved about it."

Seiji Fujiwara took the contract and casually flipped through it.

“Of course!” Seiji Fujiwara said matter-of-factly. “I’ve never lost in the field of storytelling.”