New issues of comic magazines are starting to go on sale one after another.
Among them, "Weekly Shōnen Jump" published by Shueisha is the leader among manga magazines.
As one of the most well-known comic magazines.
In Japan, at least 1 in 20 people is a reader of "Shōnen Jump".
As "Shounen Jump" has accompanied countless people's youth, its series in the 1990s——
In the era of "Dragonball", "Slamdunk", and "Rurouni Kenshin",
It even set an unprecedented and terrifying record of 6.53 million copies published in one week.
Looking at the entire history of weekly magazines and even Japanese magazines, this sales record is unprecedented.
Although the market has continued to shrink since then, the circulation volume of each issue is still around 2 million, ranking first among the three major weekly shonen manga magazines.
The second place is Kodansha's "Weekly Shonen Magazine", and the third place is Shogakukan's "Weekly Shonen Sunday".
Both are released on Wednesday, and each issue has a circulation of about 1 million copies.
The three constitute the leader of Japanese comic magazines and are known as Japan's three major weekly shonen comic magazines.
Below this are many mid- to lower-level comic magazines.
The Fusugawa Manga Department has always been dissatisfied with the reputation of the three companies as "Japan's top three" and believes that they should be changed to "Japan's top four".
After all, our own "Shōnen Undead" comic magazine has a circulation of about 500,000 per issue, making it truly the fourth in Japan, but it has never been recognized by the above three companies.
Whenever this matter was mentioned, the editor-in-chief of the Immortal Sichuan Comics Department, who was smiling one second and looked like the old man next door, would become stern and gloomy the next second.
Mayu Xiangra didn't know much about such little gossip, but she still came to the bookstore near her home early today.
Come and buy magazines, comic magazines, and juvenile comics magazines.
Target: "Young Undead".
After paying 280 yen, she got her wish and bought "Shounen Undead" which was not very popular at all.
After that, she spent another 510 yen to help her resentful brother bring a copy of "Shounen Jump" and "Shounen Magazine" before returning home with shopping bags.
The reason for doing this is not because of her whim, nor because she likes shonen comics.
In fact, Sagara Mayu's taste has always been very stable, that is, she likes cute things.
This point can be explained by her own works or the works of other wives in the circle she pursues.
Normally speaking, although Mayu Sagara likes to read comics, she usually reads shoujo comics, and she has almost no connection with shonen comics.
After all, how can those male characters who fight and sweat all day long have the soft, fragrant, and cute fragrance of girls?
However, today was different. She bought a juvenile comic magazine out of her own will, and the reason was related to the release of the fourth volume of "Metronome of Love" the day before yesterday.
More specifically, it is related to the remarks written by the teacher "Kasumi Shiko" at the end of the volume.
In addition to the formulaic thanks to the workers related to the work, there was a passage in it that aroused Mayu Sagara's strong curiosity.
This is what it says:
"In the process of creating this novel, there was a person who was important to me in every sense. He not only provided me with a lot of advice and help, but now he has also entered this industry as a cartoonist."
"His work "Chainsaw Man" will be serialized in "Young Undead", which will be released on Monday (October 5th) of this month."
"Although he is still a newcomer, I hope everyone can witness his growth with me. I would like to express my sincere thanks and see you in the fifth volume!"
——This passage has caused a lot of discussion in the circle of "Metronome of Love". Out of trust in teacher Kasumi Shiko, book fans have expressed that they will buy this issue of "Young Undead" to read.
As for Mayu Sagara, in addition to being curious about the manga mentioned by Kasumi Shiko, she also smelled a smell of gossip in it.
‘Is the author of this comic someone that Kasumi Shiko-sensei likes? What kind of person would he be~?’
She couldn't help but think about it, and thought of the previous meeting at Xia COMI, and the beautiful girl who looked like Sayuka.
‘I wonder if Kasumi Shiko-sensei will participate in this year’s winter COMI. It would be great if we could have an opportunity to exchange thoughts on the novel.’
It's a pity that the other party has not set up a Twitter account at all, and rarely responds to letters from readers. It makes people feel cold and mysterious, but they can't help but have a stronger interest.
With this thought in mind, Mayu Xiangra took a leap of joy, hugged the shopping bag in her hand to her chest, and ran back to her apartment at a faster pace.
"I'm back~~!"
He took off his brown-red Martin boots at the entrance, and trotted towards his room with his little feet wearing white lace socks.
Open the door with a "click".
"——Oh~ welcome back, Mayu."
Sagara Mayu: "...?"
She saw her ruffian brother sitting in front of her desk, drinking Coke and reading comics, looking a little bored.
Sagara Mayu's happy expression froze for a second, then turned to disgust the next second, and she pouted her lips and complained.
"You are too bad, aren't you? Brother, how can you just enter the room of the opposite sex without the owner?"
"Hmm? Opposite sex?"
Fumio Sagara tilted his head slightly to the left, looked at her from top to bottom with a puzzled expression, then spread his hands helplessly and let out a sigh.
"It's too early for you to use the word opposite sex, Mayu. Besides, I just entered my sister's room. Why are you so reacting?"
“Because the smell won’t be cleaned away.”
"Huh?? Smell? What smell?" Sagara Fumio raised his arm and smelled himself, only to smell the smell of laundry detergent.
Then he said, "What are you doing? Isn't this normal?"
"Don't bother."
Mayu Xiangra glanced at him sideways, stepped forward, handed him the two comic magazines in the shopping bag, and said:
"Here, the comic magazine you want, and what I just said is the smell of a scumbag, the public enemy of women."
"What? It turns out it was just a joke. I almost took it seriously." Fumio Sagara leaned back on the chair in a nonchalant manner, crossing his legs with a cynical look on his face.
"Thank you for the comic ~ Mayu."
"oh."
Mayu Sagara ignored his playful smile, carried the "Shounen Undead" to the bedside, plopped down on it, and prepared to read the manga.
But then, she felt something was missing.
Gudu, Gudu~
Swish, swish.
Glancing at her brother who was reading tons of new comics, Mayu suddenly realized the crux of the matter, and her cheeks suddenly bulged.
"Brother! I want a Coke too, and help me get the milk pudding in the refrigerator."
Faced with the demands made by his own sister, although Sagara Fumio is a scumbag who plays with women, he is very considerate of the sister he grew up with and who provided him with the convenience of meeting girls in the two-dimensional world.
So I didn't hesitate to put down the comic in my hand, got up and walked out of the room.
Seeing his reaction, Mayu Sagara nodded with satisfaction and looked back at the comic magazine in her hand.
On the cover, a blond boy with a black eyepatch on his right eye is standing there holding a pet that looks like a puppy but has a chainsaw blade on its face.
Above is the magazine title of "Undead", and on the right is the comic title of "Chainsaw Man" in bold font.
Considering the readers' reaction, after discussing with the editorial department, Kato Yusuke made certain changes and used a gentler illustration as the cover, so it looks more acceptable.
"What a cute puppy~~" Mayu Sagara's eyes lit up slightly and she started to turn the pages.
During this process, she couldn't help but notice a problem.
That is the work "Chainsaw Man" that appears on the cover of this issue, but in terms of layout sequence, it is in the middle of the entire magazine.
Generally speaking, those works that are more popular are usually ranked higher. If the ranking is lower, it means that the ranking of the work is lower and the less attention it receives.
However, a work that is not taken seriously should not be recommended on the cover. However, this phenomenon happened with "Chainsaw Man", which is somewhat strange.
But when I think of the new king in the field of light novels - Kasumi Shiko, and the mysterious relationship between the two, this situation seems to be explainable...
"Hey, is this nepotism~?" Mayu said to herself excitedly, with an ambiguous smile on her face.
This idea was confirmed in the next second.
When the fingertips turned to the beginning of the page "Chainsaw Man", a brightly colored color page suddenly appeared in front of the eyes among the black and white pictures.
And in comic magazines.
Being able to have a central color page means that there must be support from the editorial department behind it. This will generally put the work in a slightly higher popularity position than it actually is.
The picture on the coloring page shows a young man wearing a shirt and suit, with chainsaws on his head and arms. He is stepping on several humanoid monsters with one foot as if climbing a mountain.
The painting style combines madness and simplicity, and is full of tension.
"...Huh?" Mayu Xiangra's smile stopped on her face, she frowned subconsciously, and complained: "It's so ugly..."
It's not that the painting is not good, it's just that this kind of picture doesn't suit her preferences and she doesn't like it a bit. However, in order to satisfy her curiosity, she continued to read it.
After turning this page, the screen returned to the familiar black and white page.
The short-haired boy and puppy on the cover also appeared again.
"Chopping some wood, I can earn 60,000 a month~~"
"The kidneys sold before were... 1.2 million."
"The right eye is... 300,000."
"One egg was sold...how much did it cost? It seems to be less than 100,000?"
"And then I still owe others... 38.04 million."
?????
A series of question marks popped up from Xiangara Mayu's head.
Um--??
Hey, what is this??
Seeing the lines between the male protagonist and his pet named Bochita, Xiangraku couldn't help but feel a little confused.
"If you kill a demon, you get 300,000. As expected, demon hunters are the most profitable."
"Woof."
During the conversation between the male protagonist and Bochita, she continued to look at the next page.
What comes into view is a demon with many eyes on its head and many hands on its body, which makes people crazy.
"...What is...what?" Mayu Xiangra murmured. An absurd and weird emotion emerged from her heart, causing her to be stunned for a moment, and she mentally slapped the author of this comic.
A big question mark.
It would be ridiculous to say that the other party drew it seriously, but it would be a little different to say that the other party drew it blindly.
It gives people a feeling of neither superior nor inferior, and extremely absurd...
Mayu Sagara fell into confusion.
At this moment, Fumio Sagara opened the door and walked in.
"——Here, can the Coke and pudding you want be placed on the small table for you?"
"…………"
"Mayu?"
The brother's voice brought the sister back to her senses.
"...Ah, thank you." Mayu replied slowly, turned the comic in her hand upside down, got out of bed and drank a Coke.
Fumio Sagara had already helped her pour the Coke into the cup in advance, and even added ice cubes thoughtfully. Now he returned to the desk to read his comics.
Xiangraku took two sips of coke absentmindedly and glanced at the bed involuntarily, his mood jumping repeatedly between wanting to look and not wanting to look.
After a few beats, she finally couldn't hold back her thirst for knowledge and reached out to take the comic in her hand.
'After all, he is the person that Teacher Xia Shizi values, let's take a look.'
With this thought in mind, she continued to read.
The brother and sister each held a comic book and just looked at it quietly.
The beginning of the story is not difficult to understand. The male protagonist Denji, who was forced to sell his organs to pay back the money, worked for the underworld and had debts that he could never repay.
But most of the money they got every time they worked was taken away by gangsters, and Denci and the demon Bochita he adopted only had one piece of bread to eat for one or three days.
In his life, he had never even tasted jam. Being able to eat bread with jam was like a dream and out of reach for him.
In order to earn an extra 100 yen, Denji, the male protagonist, can eat hot cigarette butts under the teasing of the gangsters. And his biggest wish in life is to be able to live an ordinary life one day.
"This is too tragic..."
Seeing this, Mayu Sagara couldn't help but muttered, and her tone unconsciously contained a hint of sympathy, as well as a little more eagerness for the follow-up development.
At the same time, she also discovered something special.
That is, the storyboard of this comic work has a very cinematic feel, with a weird and unique beauty contained in it, as if the story is really being performed from the perspective of a movie.
This style made her feel novel, and she couldn't help but smile with interest.
But soon, she stopped laughing.
When I saw the male protagonist Denji and his Bochita being tricked into a warehouse, and then surrounded by gangsters who had turned into zombies, they were cut into pieces and thrown into the trash can.
"---Eh??!"
Sagara Mayu finally couldn't help but her mind went blank and she fell into a downtime state.