Chapter Nine: Senses
Gao Dian's first glance fell upon the manga's art style.
Being a New Manga Artist, there would surely be many issues with the drawing, and he planned to highlight these flaws and exaggerate them.
But after a few pages, his expression gradually became solemn.
While there might not be a manga in this world that is absolutely flawless, the artwork of five centimeters per second was definitely above the average standard for works serialized in Sakura Color Weekly, even significantly higher than that benchmark.
Then, Gao Dian, still unwilling, continued to flip through the story plot.
As usual, he reviewed the manga manuscript quickly, but that didn't mean he wasn't absorbing the content; years of professional work had honed his skill to read both quickly and thoroughly.
The manga content, scanned in a glance, was quickly understood, and he continued flipping through about twenty pages.
When he saw Takaki accidentally drop the handwritten letter he had intended to give Akari in person from his pocket while transferring trains, only for it to be carried away by the rushing wind into the sky, disappearing without a trace, and then the moment he teared up on the train platform… the suppressed emotions accumulated in the previous plot began to prepare for an outburst.
"This plot's immersion and emotional tension… a New Manga Artist?" Gao Dian's eyes were full of doubt.
Admittedly, the plot so far had no major twists.
Makoto Shinkai's early works actually didn't have complicated plots; the story of five centimeters per second could be summarized in one sentence: how a pair of childhood sweethearts drifted apart due to the barriers of time and space.
There were at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, romance manga with this theme in the Xia Kingdom.
However, the reading experience of 5 centimeters per second, with its detailed echoes within the manga, was vastly different from ordinary works.
Continuing to read, when he saw the girl with her head down, still waiting anxiously in the waiting room until the early hours of the morning, a soft spot in Gao Dian's heart was touched.
He was already over thirty years old and had experienced a few unforgettable romances.
Students who haven't been in love might find 5 centimeters per second painful and depressing. Adults who have been in love, on top of that, would have the added memories of past failed relationships, making it even more painful and depressing, but also, they would recall the beauty of those past failed romances.
Just like the tears dripping onto Akari's hand as she clutched Takaki's sleeve in the manga page at that moment.
There wasn't a single line of dialogue, but Akari's inner feelings, from initially thinking the other party had broken their promise and wouldn't come, that the chance to meet after exchanging letters for a year would be missed, and that this missed opportunity might mean they would never meet again.
Then, seeing the other party arrive, the rekindled hope and emotion were already evident.
Those tears must have been very hot.
Walking at night, the bare cherry trees, adorned by the snowy night, resembled the scene when cherry blossoms fall in spring.
It echoed the initial promise the two made to see cherry blossoms again next year.
A kiss under the cherry tree in heavy snow.
In front of the station, Akari and Takaki bid each other farewell, but after the train departed, Akari pulled out an unsent letter from her pocket.
Seeing this, Gao Dian already sensed something was amiss… Earlier, the male lead lost a letter in front of the station, and now the female lead also hadn't sent her letter. What was this implying?
If the male lead hadn't lost that letter, and they had exchanged letters, then what?
Would their subsequent story have developed differently?
Gao Dian continued reading, and in the second chapter, the astronaut, the launch of a space satellite was used to metaphorically represent life… loneliness, solitude, even traveling unimaginable distances in space, yet unable to touch even a single hydrogen atom.
Kayano's confession ended before it even began.
Knowing that they could never be together, she watched the rocket launch into outer space with Takaki at that moment.
This rocket was about to embark on its loneliest journey.
And what about Kayano and Takaki?
By this point, Gao Dian's emotions were already in turmoil.
He forgot his rivalry with Su Mingxi and simply flipped through the subsequent manga pages, one after another.
A hope arose in his heart: since even Kayano couldn't enter Takaki's heart, then Takaki would surely one day go find Akari, right? Such an unforgettable girl, no matter how long, no matter how much time passed, he would surely one day seek her out, to see her again, right?
With this expectation, Gao Dian looked at the content of the third chapter.
This chapter largely consisted of internal monologues between the male and female leads.
Both had forgotten their meeting on that night more than a decade ago.
However, they both, by coincidence, dreamed of blurry scenes and recalled their once most fervent emotions.
Finally, Gao Dian saw the railway tracks, saw the two individuals, after more than a decade, walking towards each other across the tracks in the place where cherry blossoms fell.
He also saw the final frozen image, the train passing by, and the empty scene on the other side of the tracks… Gao Dian's expression was calm, but his heart was very disappointed, an unspeakable sense of discomfort began to spread within him.
He looked at the other editors at the serialization meeting. He wanted to say something, wanted to criticize this manga, but in the end, the words he had prepared beforehand wouldn't come out.
Would it matter if he said whether this work was good or not?
Who among those present lacked appreciation? Couldn't everyone see it?
The thoughtful, pained, and sad expressions in the eyes of many people in the entire conference room, as well as the oppressive atmosphere that had settled over the entire meeting, clearly told Gao Dian about the manga's impact.
"Alright, everyone can now offer their comments," Director Huang Yan said at this point, then he thought for a moment and looked at Su Mingxi.
"The author of this short manga… is a newcomer?"
"That's right. He's also a High School Student…" Su Mingxi replied.
After this sentence was spoken, there was a slight stir in the meeting room.
Everyone was aware that the company had a support program for particularly young manga artists in the past two years.
This was because several competing magazine companies had seen a rise of several university student manga artists in recent years, who, relying on the gimmick of being 'manga geniuses', achieved unexpectedly good results with their works.
This was similar to how Guo and Han became famous in Xia Jing's previous life.
The depth and conception of their works might not have matched those of older literary figures.
But their underage status when they became famous allowed them to achieve sales figures that older literary authors would struggle to reach in a lifetime.
A High School Student manga artist, huh… Huang Yan pondered for a moment upon hearing this, then, at his nod, the discussion on the topic of five centimeters per second's manga content officially began.
"Amazing."
"I think it's very good."
"It's just that the ending is too sad, which might be different from the usual serialization style on our Sakura Color Journal." Gao Dian could only start his criticism here, but without Su Mingxi even needing to speak, other editors immediately retorted.
"There are too many romantic works with regretful endings; stories where the popular second female lead takes over, and the original female lead becomes a 'loser dog' have been serialized quite a bit before, there's no need to overthink this."
"Although it's a short story, the ending is quite touching, and the artwork is excellent."
"I think it's very good; this manga is very touching and reminded me of many things from the past."
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