Four days later, the shōsei rankings were announced, and "Fate/stay night" was ranked 3rd.
Although it had slipped one spot, the ranking remained strong, which was a very gratifying result.
First and second place went to "Rurouni Kenshin" and "One Piece", respectively, while the ranking of "The Prince of Tennis" had risen slightly to seventh place.
As for the new serialization "zombie powder", it was ranked 8th.
Upon learning the results, Akira was somewhat surprised.
However, he could roughly guess the reason.
Or rather, he had already seen some related discussions online.
In fact, even from his perspective, although the first chapter of "zombie powder" wasn't necessarily brilliant, it shouldn't have performed so poorly.
However, Kubo Taito had committed a major, unwritten taboo—the protagonist's image was too mature.
Although the manga "zombie powder" had not yet mentioned the protagonist's age, judging by his appearance, personality, way of speaking, and a series of other characteristics, he was undoubtedly an adult male.
However, "Weekly Shonen Jump" is a manga magazine aimed at a teenage readership, so generally speaking, authors will set the protagonist's image within that stage as well.
Even for a manga like "Rurouni Kenshin", which sets the protagonist's age as an adult, the author deliberately designs the protagonist's image to lean more towards youth.
Although there were no written rules, a tacit understanding existed between the magazine, the author, and the readers.
But now, "zombie powder" had broken this tacit understanding, and it was obvious that this unconventional behavior had not been accepted by the readers.
'If you're going to draw an old guy as the protagonist, why publish it in Shonen Jump? Shouldn't you go to "Young Jump" next door?'
He had already seen quite a few comments similar to this.
"Weekly Young Jump" is the weekly seinen manga magazine published by Shueisha.
And this matter served as a reminder to him as well.
Perhaps because he had long passed the teenage stage in his previous life, he wasn't very sensitive to such things, which was actually a blind spot for him.
Fortunately, the protagonist group of "Fate/stay night" was designed as a group of high school students.
Come to think of it, if he had decided to draw F/Z first, wouldn't it have been a flop too?
However, speaking of "zombie powder", there was still one point that puzzled him.
"I think you guys shouldn't have failed to notice this, right?"
He asked Hisashi: "If that's the case, why was it able to pass the serialization meeting in the first place?"
"Well..." Regarding this, Hisashi said helplessly: "Actually, it's the same situation as "The Prince of Tennis"; the editor's recommendation reason was that perhaps they could explore themes geared more towards young adults."
After all, Shonen Jump hadn't released such themes in a long time, so maybe it would succeed this time?
It was precisely with this mindset that they ultimately allowed this work to pass the decision-making process.
However, judging by the performance of the first chapter of "zombie powder", the situation seemed somewhat less than optimistic.
"I see." Akira realized upon hearing this that it was an experimental work.
Thus, he silently mourned for Kubo Taito for a second in his heart.
But on second thought, maybe the other party also wanted to draw this theme, in which case it could only be considered a mutual desire.
However, based on the future situation he was aware of, this would likely only be a failed attempt.
That said.
The shōsei rankings were announced, and the small talk was finished, so Hisashi was preparing to hang up the phone and continue with other work.
But just at this moment, Akira suddenly stopped him.
"Please wait a moment, Mr. Sasaki."
On the other end of the line, Akira's voice sounded somewhat hesitant: "Actually, there is something I would like to discuss with you."
Something to discuss with me?
Hisashi felt somewhat puzzled at first, then seemed to think of something, his eyes lit up, and his tone became somewhat expectant: "What's wrong? Have you encountered any problems with your creative work?"
Who could understand his feelings at this moment!
Ever since the other party started serializing "Fate/stay night", apart from some minor issues with storyboards and pacing, he had never provided any guiding advice to him!
Facing a newcomer Manga Artist, he, a veteran editor, felt like an incompetent husband; it was truly frustrating!
So, had this opportunity finally arrived?!
This moment that best reflected the value of an editor—!
"Eh?"
However, the other party's answer broke his heart, as he heard him laugh and say: "It's not a problem in that regard. Besides, please rest assured about that."
It's precisely because you're too reassuring that it's your biggest problem!
However, in the next second, he felt that his thought was too outrageous, so he shook his head helplessly, casting away the distracting thoughts.
"Alright, then what do you want to discuss with me?"
"Well..." Akira said somewhat embarrassedly: "It's like this."
"Actually, I recently wrote a light novel in my spare time..."
The light novel he mentioned was naturally "Kara no Kyoukai", which he had started writing last month and finally finished recently.
Not only was it finished, but he had even completed the illustrations himself.
Regarding the money-making aspect.
In fact, he originally didn't intend to tell Hisashi about this, but planned to handle it himself, just like the contract with Being Inc. this time.
But recently, he suddenly thought of a question—what exactly was the situation with this "Kara no Kyoukai"?
He had previously signed an 『Exclusive Manga Artist Contract』 with Shonen Jump, which stipulated that during the contract period, he was not allowed to submit manga to other magazines.
Logically speaking, "Kara no Kyoukai" was not a manga, so it would not be constrained by this condition.
However, as one of the works in the Type-Moon Series, "Kara no Kyoukai" shared the same worldview as "Fate/stay night", and many settings were common to both.
For example, mages, magecraft, the Root, the Mage's Association, and so on...
In this situation, he was a bit unsure.
Come to think of it, besides him, there was actually another example of someone serializing manga while writing light novels—that person was Nisio Isin, the author of the Monogatari series.
In October 2009, he collaborated with illustrator Akira Akatsuki as the original manga author and began serializing "Medaka Box" in Shonen Jump, which finally concluded in September 2013.
During this period, he began serializing long-form light novels from the Legend series, including "Baku Monogatari" and "Higurashi Monogatari", in "Kodansha BOX".
However, this was a situation that wouldn't happen until ten years later, plus, their situations were slightly different, so it probably couldn't serve as a reference case for him.
Ultimately, after some thought, he decided it would be better to talk directly with Hisashi.
That was why he made the statement above.
Meanwhile, Hisashi's brain had somewhat crashed, as if he had heard something incomprehensible.
"...What do you mean you wrote a light novel in your spare time?!"