Chapter 224: The first chapter is a trap
"Monthly Shōnen Magazine" is a very long-standing manga magazine in Japan. This magazine was founded in 1965, three years earlier than Shueisha's "Weekly Shōnen Jump".
Moreover, "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" has several long-term serializations of the "Lifetime" series, which also gives the magazine a stable readership.
For example, "Dragon Wolf Turn", which started serialization in 1993, can only be regarded as a work of the prime of life in "Monthly Shōnen Magazine".
"Kamen Rider" started to be serialized in 1971, "Kung Fu Boy" started to be serialized in 1983, and "Slam Dunk" started to be serialized in 1989, these are all still serialized in "Monthly Shonen Magazine" work.
It is no exaggeration to say that I was still in elementary school when I first started chasing fans. After chasing after my son, he started to go to elementary school, and the work was not finished yet. If he continued to chase after chasing, his grandson was going to elementary school, and the work was still unfinished.
It is precisely for this reason that the readership of "Monthly Shonen Magazine" is not only teenagers, but also many middle-aged people, and they are all die-hard fans who have been following it for decades.
Of course, in addition to this lifetime series, "Monthly Shonen Magazine" will also have many new works, otherwise it will not be able to attract new readers.
Competition among Japanese cartoonists is still very fierce. After a work is serialized, if the reverse direction is not good, it will be cut in half by the editor and replaced with other new works to try again.
With the publication of the new issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine", "Chiji Giant" has also ushered in its first trial of the waters.
...
In a comic store that has been open for more than 20 years, the middle-aged owner moved the newly arrived magazines into the store with heavy steps.
After working for more than half an hour, the boss finished the work at hand and sat in front of the counter, breathing heavily and beating his waist with his hands.
“I just moved so few things, and my back started to hurt. I’m getting older indeed. If it were twenty years ago, when I was young, let alone these things, I would have three times more. "
The middle-aged boss lamented that time is not forgiving, and then picked up a copy of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine", which was the magazine he had just carried.
Monthly magazines contain much more content than weekly magazines, such as "Monthly Shōnen Magazine". One issue has more than 800 pages, more than 400 sheets of paper, and is as thick as half of the "Xinhua Dictionary". The latest revised "Xinhua Dictionary" only has 689 pages.
With more than 800 pages of content, excluding advertisements, it can accommodate approximately sixteen or seventeen comic works. One or two of them will be new ones.
The comic shop owner opened the "Monthly Shōnen Magazine", first looked at the catalog, and then went straight to the new issue.
In his opinion, those old fans who have been following them for many years need to calm down and take time to savor them carefully.
On the contrary, it is a new episode, so you can watch it in full to kill time.
Many people like to save the most delicious dishes for last.
""Chiji Giant" is a new show this month. I don't know what type it is, so let's take a look first!" The comic shop owner directly turned to the first page of Giant.
"This artist is too abstract! How can such a bad artist be serialized in a magazine?" The comic shop owner couldn't help complaining, but he still continued to read patiently.
Although the painter is poor, it is not unbearable, and this is not a book. No one is here for the painter, mainly for the plot.
Soon, the comic shop owner was attracted by the plot of Giant.
The first episode of "Giant" does not throw out too many settings. Instead, it brings more doubts to the audience through the compact plot. It is like digging holes and arousing readers' sense of expectation.
On the last page of the first chapter, the scene where the super giant's head suddenly appears and stares into the city wall has filled the readers' expectations even more.
This sense of expectation is not only an expectation for the direction of the plot, but also an expectation for the world background in which the story is set. This is also the benefit of this narrative structure. It first shows the reader a different world, making the reader interested in exploring, and then introduces the background of the story, and the reader will have a feeling of sudden enlightenment.
The comic shop owner quickly finished the fifty pages of the first chapter, but the feeling of unfinished content kept swirling in his mind.
Subconsciously, the comic shop owner returned to the first page and started reading from the beginning.
But this time, he didn't swallow it all, but read every painting and every line of dialogue carefully.
The door opened and a guest walked in. He was a high school student.
“Welcome!” The comic shop owner looked up and found that the visitor was a regular customer, so he ignored him and continued to read Giant’s comics.
The high school student is a little curious. He has been buying comics in this store since he was in elementary school. He has been friends with the comic shop owner for nearly ten years. It is rare to see a comic shop owner so focused on one thing. Among the comics.
"Yamanaka-san, what are you reading? Are you so fascinated?" The high school student walked over and looked down at the comics in the hands of the comic shop owner.
This painting is really hard to describe, I feel like my paintings are better than this.
"The new episode of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" this month is called "Chiji Giant"." The comic shop owner replied.
"New show? Is it good to watch? You seem to have been fascinated by the first episode." The high school student continued to ask.
"Well...it's just the first episode, so I can't comment on it!" the comic shop owner said.
"You can still look at such a bad artist, so it should be pretty good!" The high school student paused, then said: "Then give me this issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" Go! ”
On the way home, the high school student couldn't help but start reading Giant. Within a few minutes, he was attracted by the content of the comic.
When he walked to the door of his house, he happened to see the last page, the scene where the giant giant appeared.
“It’s gone, it’s gone!” The high school student suddenly felt empty in his heart, as if he had missed something important.
The next second, the high school student realized that this was not the first time he had felt this way. When he watched "Naruto" before, he felt the same way when he saw Uzumaki Naruto summoning Gamabunta for the first time.
Based on this feeling, this "Chiji Giant" must be pursued!
This is the first episode, and I’m straight into the trap!
......
Kodansha, Comics Department, since the new issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" was released, the section chief has also been paying attention to the reputation of Titan.
After reading the first ten chapters, the section chief had high hopes for the work "Giant". He had a hunch that maybe this work would have a chance to compete with Shueisha's three giants.
Furthermore, Kodansha has been suppressed by Shueisha for several years. At this time, Kodansha urgently needs to blow the horn of counterattack and fight a turnaround.
"Chiji Giant" was regarded by the section chief as the first shot of counterattack. In order to let Giant appear in "Monthly Shōnen Magazine", he even cut off an ongoing series in half, just to make room for Giant.
Now with the release of the latest issue of "Monthly Shonen Magazine", it's finally time to test the results.
Kawakubo Shintaro rushed into the section chief's office with excitement on his face: "section chief, it's sold out, everything is sold out!"
"What is sold out?"
"The latest issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" is all sold out!" "Really? All sold out?" The class teacher was stunned for more than ten seconds, and then showed an ecstatic expression.
The sales volume of monthly comics magazines in Japan is far less than that of weekly magazines. The sales volume of the three major comic weekly magazines is more than one million copies, and the corresponding monthly magazines can have half of the weekly sales volume, even if it is a very high sales volume .
Of course, magazine sales are mainly related to content. For example, the magazine "Monthly Shōnen GANGAN" usually sells only a few hundred thousand copies. When "Fullmetal Warlock" was being serialized, it once reached a sales volume of 450,000 copies. After Fullmetal was completed, the sales volume reached 450,000. Sales have dropped back to the original sales of hundreds of thousands of copies.
As a long-established monthly magazine, "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" has a group of die-hard readers to ensure that it still sells more than 500,000 yuan per issue.
Since the monthly magazine is published for a month, extra copies are usually printed to ensure that the magazine can be found on the market until the new issue is released next month.
After all, as long as the magazine is placed on the bookshelf, it is an advertising effect. As long as it can become familiar with readers, readers will always buy it and read it.
A magazine with a sales volume of 500,000 copies needs to print at least 5,000 to 10,000 more copies every month to be able to cope with some unexpected situations.
Now the latest issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" has been sold out, which also means that even the extra prints have been sold out.
More importantly, it has only been ten days since the new issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" was released!
In ten days, the sales volume reached the usual monthly sales volume. This issue of the magazine was obviously a great success.
The readership of those old shows is already fixed. If new readers join the game, they have to start from the beginning and read the previous few hundred chapters before they follow the latest updates. Therefore, the threshold for readers to join the game is relatively high.
Relying on a top-notch old show can steadily increase the magazine's sales, but it is impossible to have a sudden sales surge.
So this surge in sales must be caused by the new series. Some readers think that a new series is very interesting and decide to get involved, so they will buy the magazine.
And in this issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine", the new show is only Titan.
There is no doubt that the surge in magazine sales this month was brought about by Giant.
This time, the section chief no longer worries about the reputation of "Jiji Giant". The sales volume of the magazine represents everything. With such sales, how can the reputation be bad?
"Section Chief, the sales department is asking if you want more printing?" Shintaro Kawakubo then asked.
"Printing, of course we must print more! It has only been ten days since the release of this monthly magazine, and there are still twenty days left! Print an additional 100,000 copies immediately!" the section chief said without hesitation.
......
Shueisha, the editorial team of the comics department, the editor Tsunehei Onishi is holding a copy of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" with a slightly solemn expression.
A young editor with long hair came over and said with a smile: "Hengping, why are you looking so serious? Are you reading mystery comics?"
"Koji, the latest issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" , have you seen it?" Onishi Hengping asked.
“Monthly Shōnen Magazine? That’s something only people of my father’s generation read.” The long-haired young man said with a cynical look.
"Look at this! I'm a little unsure about the new program in the latest issue of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine"!"
"You're not even sure? Then I have to see what kind of work it is!" The long-haired young man took the magazine and took a look at the new edition.
""Chiji Giant"? What type of work?"
"It should be considered a fantasy!"
"Fantasy! Then I'm the right one." The long-haired young man laughed. , and then complained: "This painter is really bad! He must be at the level of a junior high school student!"
"The painter is bad? I suggest you not to rush to comment. Look carefully, the expressions of the characters are handled very well. There is also storyboard management, which gives you a sense of familiarity with a movie or TV show!" Onishi Tsunehei said.
Onishi Tsunehei is Shueisha’s ace comics editor. The reason why he is the ace is because Oda Eiichiro, Kishimoto Masashi, and Sorachi Hideaki are all the cartoonists he is responsible for.
In other words, Onishi Tsunehei is the editor-in-chief of "One Piece", "Naruto" and "Gintama". The gold content of these three works needs no introduction. Among them, the author of "Gintama" Sorachi Hideaki was discovered by Onishi Tsunehei from among the newcomers.
The long-haired young man is named Yoshida Koji. He entered Shueisha in the same year as Onishi Tsunehei, and became the editor-in-chief of Yoshihiro Togashi's "Hunter" as soon as he debuted, and his works also include "Ghost of Soul" ", "Death Note", "The Exorcist Boy" and "The Tutor" are also popular masterpieces.
It is worth mentioning that there is a character named Koji Yoshida in "Dream Eaters", who was designed by the author based on the image of Koji Yoshida.
The works that Koji Yoshida is responsible for are all in the fantasy genre, so he said, "Just come to me for fantasy."
“Although it is the first episode, the rhythm is very well controlled, there is not too much background introduction, and the plot design is very compact. The painting work is indeed unsatisfactory, but it is precisely because of this painting work that it reminds me of Big thrush!
And the storyboard management you mentioned is really great, especially in the last few pages, where the giant looks down at the city outside the city wall, it gave me a feeling of oppression in the movie version! This kind of storyboarding is similar to that of Yoshihiro Togashi. ”
The so-called specialization in the art industry, as Shueisha’s editor specializing in fantasy works, Yoshida Koji does have a deeper understanding of works such as Titan.
The big name in Yoshida Koji’s mouth Oba Thrasher is one of the authors of "Death Note"
"Death Note" has two authors, one is Oba Thrasher, who is responsible for script creation, and the other is Obata Takeru, who is responsible for painting. It is said that one person has the brains and the other person takes action.
Many excellent cartoonists are not very good at drawing, but have excellent screenwriting skills; similarly, many cartoonists are excellent at drawing, but have poor screenwriting skills.
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If these two people collaborate to create a work, one is responsible for designing the plot and the other is responsible for painting. They can learn from each other's strengths and offset their weaknesses.
"Death Note" is such a work, and it is thanks to Ohba Thrush's screenwriting ability that such a wonderful plot can be produced.
Similar works include "One Punch Man".
ONE, the original author of One Punch, is a lousy painter, with the level of kindergarten graffiti. However, his screenwriting and storyboarding are indeed top-notch, but his painting skills are completely unable to demonstrate his storyboarding capabilities.
So there was "One Punch Man" redrawn by Yusuke Murata. Murata's painter is very good. It is said that he was born in drawing books, so the image of the female characters in "One Punch Man" is so vivid. !
Moreover, the storyboards re-drawn by Murata based on ONE's original paintings are indeed majestic, and the theme of "world famous paintings" in the animation industry also comes from this.
However, Yusuke Murata’s screenwriting ability is also really poor. In the reset version of “One Punch Man”, Murata’s own creations are always considered by readers to be a plot failure.
Yoshihiro Togashi, the author of "Hunter Hunter", has the nickname "God of Storyboarding". This nickname alone is enough to show how awesome Togashi's storyboarding is. .
As the editor-in-chief of Togashi, Koji Yoshida’s evaluation of the storyboards of Titan is not inferior to Togashi’s. It is definitely the highest evaluation.
After reading the first episode of Giant, Yoshida Koji also showed a solemn expression.
Both of them are Shueisha's ace editors, so they can naturally see the potential of this work.
After pondering for a moment, Yoshida Koji said; "I don't know where the limit of this work can be, but if the author really has the creative ability of Oba Thrush, and the storyboards of Yoshihiro Togashi, ability, then this work may be comparable to the three giants of our Shueisha."
Ota nodded in agreement, but still said with a lucky expression: "I think we should give it another look! Maybe it just started well, but the story behind it collapsed!"
...
At the end of 2005, the only work that could compete with the three major migrant workers comics appeared in advance!
(End of this chapter)