His drawing skill was, of course, beyond question. Relying on his talent and solid foundation, the meticulousness of his manga had almost reached its limit, unless he was willing to spend more effort on refining it.
Of course, for a manga, this trade-off wasn't worth it. Monthly manga was fine, but weekly manga demanded efficiency. If you couldn't even draw one page a day on average, it was better to give up early.
In this regard, it didn't stump Mashiro either. Even without an assistant, her speed surpassed most Mangakas rushing to meet deadlines.
But so what?
What limited Mashiro wasn't these aspects.
The mouse scrolled down.
Numerous manga panels flashed by.
Something like a 'click,' the female lead, with a piece of bread in her mouth, jumped from a tree and landed in the male lead's arms, turning into a 'fateful encounter.'
Something like an ordinary male lead being hit by a car and sent flying five or six meters, yet he could stand up as if nothing happened and present roses to the female lead.
Besides that, the characters with absolutely no changes in their facial expressions made him shudder, almost giving him nightmares at night.
…
In short, all sorts of strange settings and inexplicable plot twists were really getting to him, especially in the eyes of an old otaku like him. This was completely desecrating manga!
He could go to the trash can at a comic convention and find discarded manga with less ridiculous plots than this.
It was uniquely 'bad.'
"Ugh…"
Izumi Chihiro put a hand to his forehead, wanting to speak but holding back.
Why did such exquisite drawings look so messy?
Illogical, inexplicable, completely disorganized… bizarre!
This was Mashiro's manga.
However, since this was already the second revised version of the work, he temporarily suppressed his urge to complain.
"Chihiro, give me your opinion."
Mashiro urged him.
"No, absolutely not. A manga like this will never debut! It's simply incomprehensible! I already told you to give up on revising it after the first time I read it, but it's still no good… I'll be blunt, Mashiro is still very far from debuting right now."
Seeing her serious gaze, Izumi Chihiro expressed his thoughts without reservation.
This was the answer Mashiro wanted to hear, the most genuine opinion.
There was no trace of disappointment on the girl's face; she just said calmly, "I will continue to revise it. Please, Chihiro, point out the parts that need revision."
"Actually, I don't know much about manga either. If it were light novels, I could certainly offer some advice. Perhaps Mashiro, you should try to find someone who can truly guide you."
Izumi Chihiro shook his head at this.
If things continued like this, he was afraid Mashiro would go astray. After all, different fields were like different mountains. Although he enjoyed reading manga, he couldn't guide her on a professional path.
The problems he saw were merely his feelings as a reader.
?
Mashiro tilted her head, indicating confusion.
"A manga editor."
Izumi Chihiro explained.
It was Miss Sonoko's help that made him see his path clearly, although Miss Sonoko later became purely a tool.
Of course, when he first started in the industry, he also received some useful guidance.
"A manga editor?"
Mashiro remained questioning.
"Mashiro, do you know what process one goes through to become a mangaka?"
Izumi Chihiro asked back instead of answering.
"No."
"Then I'll tell you."
To become a mangaka, there are generally two paths. One is to recommend oneself, just like he did, directly taking the manuscript to a magazine.
However, this method requires a lot of time and effort from editors, and the success rate is quite low.
Because many of these submitted works are amateur-level; either the story isn't interesting enough, the settings are crude, or the art style is embarrassing. Most cannot reach the standard to be published in a magazine.
Therefore, the second option is to participate in a Newcomer Award (Newcomer Award), where top-ranked works can receive the qualification for official serialization.
…
Everything was proceeding at full throttle.
Whether it was his light novel or the path of other manga artists.
Then, spring break ended.
They welcomed the first day of high school.
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💯 PS = 2 bonus chapter