Welcome to my read-through of Chapter 161: Breather and Party in which we get supah metafictional, and Moriya makes me feel things that the boys are also feeling and stuff.

If you’re not caught up, please use this index here to do so. There are no spoilers past the current chapter.

Update: I have just hit a first lock on the cut of my film. Yippeeee. However, there is still work to be done. It’s going to be a lot less labor-intensive than the edit, so I should be back to weekly; however, sometimes it might be more. You know the game, at this point.

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Breather and Party

It Can’t Be Helped

Picking up directly from the previous chapter, the boys learn of the circulation of Zombie-Gun at 900K copies. Shujin asks why there is such a massive differential between the two mangaka. Hattori chalks it up to Zombie-gun’s ridiculous sales. Reversi is also selling well; it’s nothing to worry about.

The boys can’t stop worrying about it, though. Hattori doesn’t actually know why there is such a massive difference in publication, and he decides to bring it up at their next meeting.

On Friday, Hattori explains that the biggest reason for the difference is likely Eiji’s built-in base, since Crow was a signature series for the magazine for a long time. Even if people stop reading Jump, many would still buy a tankobon of the newest series from a hitmaker. Shujin recognizes that tankobon sales themselves are a large market with consumers who exclusively read them. Crow was selling at 1.5 million per volume, while PCP only sold at 500K. It can’t be helped.

Saiko doesn’t want to accept that there is little they can do in this situation. Saiko reminds Shujin of his own words: they need to hit a million copies per volume if they want to be considered a signature series. Shujin agrees, but also points out that that could happen after several volumes of the story have been released. Volume 1 is doing very well.

Saiko’s aware of that, but he wants to be Eiji and Zombie Gun to become the true number one series. Shujin agrees. Hattori agrees too: if they’re aiming for number one, it should be both manga sales and ranking. He thinks Reversi has that potential.

He also points out that they are doing well in both those arenas; the only thing right now is that they’re lagging sales of Zombie-Gun. They shouldn’t panic and do anything unnecessary.

The tankobons are selling well, and Shujin’s story improves the more you read it. It’s even better when you read the whole story as a graphic novel. That’s part of the reason why PCP and Trap received more reprints over time. They were nowhere near Crow back in the day. That still doesn’t explain the current situation.

Hattori thinks there is nothing to worry about if they understand the work that well. The important thing is to close the gap between sales of Zombie-Gun and Reversi.

A Breather Chapter

Hattori does point out that readers for Reversi skew older and are not as popular with girls, compared to Zombie-Gun. The boys wonder if it’s too difficult for children. Hattori thinks so, and it’s a very dialogue-heavy story. Hattori advises Shujin to tell the story “simply and easily” and avoid difficult words as much as possible

Good luck with that.

Shujin points out – objectively correctly – that he’ll try, but big words sound cooler, so he can’t help himself.

Same, my fictional acquaintance, counterpart, and friend.

Hattori understands and wants him to simplify as much as is reasonable without damaging the work’s atmosphere.

The boys propose a mascot for the series – a cute devil, a kid, or something that looks like an animal – Hatori doesn’t know if that will fit with Reversi. Shujin wonders if bonus pages in the manga would compel people to buy them

Uh huh. Uh huh. From storyboard to final pages, I’m looking at you.

Hattorrit thinks that’s more of a “Better in theory” type of idea: content matters more than extras (agreed, for the record). Shujin says they should pay attention to which chapter should close the graphic novel so the readers want to jump into the next volume. Hattori thinks it’s difficult to accomplish that, but there are mangaka who pay attention to that kind of thing.

Saiko has an idea based on the mascots: a breather chapter.

Uh huh. Uh huh.

When asked, Saiko explains that their stories tend to be pretty dense (no shit), so why not have a simpler episode that younger people would like to read? In other words, a relaxing chapter —not meant to prolong the story, but a side story that will look good because the series is so hardball.

I wonder where this is going.

Hattori agrees with the idea. It will help dig deeper into the characters and enhance the work. Similar to the stand-alone that doesn’t stand alone, which is, for whatever reason, localized here as “Single Chapter Episode that isn’t a single Chapter Episode”. Shujin is open to trying that.

Also, Bakuman, what is with your localization changes in each volume? I don’t get it.

Eiji’s Irritation and Refinement

At Eiji Co., Ltd., Yujiro is over the moon at getting 900,000 copies printed. At this rate, they’ll get 2 million, no 3, maybe 4 million copies!

Eiji kills that last one: 4 million is a dream. Yujiro deflates at that. Yujiro wonders why Reversi is getting better survey results when he’s dominating graphic novel sales.

Eiji’s answer is simple: each chapter is a substantial piece of reading. Yujiro straw mans it again: Zombie-Gun’s graphic novels are the better read; Eiji disagrees. Yujiro’s even more confused: why the sales difference?

Eiji snaps at him to stop asking so many questions.

Meanwhile, Shujin takes notes on these small things and thinks that if they implement these minor changes, they’ll do even better. Catching up to Zombie Gun is another issue entirely. Saiko says they shouldn’t panic and do anything unnecessary; Shujin created the story to get better over time, and they’ve used various techniques with PCP and Trap, but they never tampered with the fundamentals of the story. They should continue creating Reversi without changing their minds about how it should be.

It’ll be fine, as long as they overcome Zombie-Gun by the end of the series. Shujin plans to beat Eiji’s graphic novel sales by the end of the series.

Saiko chews on that but is uncertain whether they’ll be able to do so.

A Breather

The next day, Kato wishes to discuss something with the boys. Saiko wonders if she’s planning to quit because she’s getting married.

Lol, no.

Kato doesn’t think it would be possible, but her friend has been bugging her about it. She knows it’s not a realistic request, and asks to be ignored: she has a friend who wants to attend the Tezuka Akatsuka grand awards party; she knows Kato has the connections and wanted her to ask the boys; she lets them know that she told her it would be impossible due to their schedule, but she wanted her to ask anyway.

Shujin thinks about it. They’ve been invited every time it’s held, but they’ve never attended because of their busy end-of-year schedule. Saiko pulls out the invitation, which allows them to take as many guests as they like. Orihara’s surprised to see it, but Ogawa explains that even though the invite is *technically* for Ashirogi, they can bring anyone they want as long as they have the card. Ogawa himself went twice when he worked for Hayashi.

He also lets everyone know that it is extremely “Luxurious,” with the all-you-can-eat buffet at the Imperial Hotel. It’s great.

Orihara would love to go.

Moriya, however, privately malingers over the fact that his most recent final draft was received poorly by Hattori and the editor at Shonen Three, who found it depressing. He asked to have it submitted to the Tezuka Award anyway; he hasn’t heard back.

Womp womp.

Shujin also remembers a lot of big names go to the ceremony; plus, Eiji will also be there because he’s one of the judges for the Tezuka award. Saiko would normally be inking his final draft…however, as long as they’re comfortable being a little late on submitting their final draft, they should go. Kato and Orihara are excited to hear the news.

Ogawa has to work on Monday for Shonen Three, but he thinks the aspiring mangaka should all attend to learn as much as possible. Moriya decides he wants to go.

Poor guy.

The guests will be Kato, Kato’s Friend, Orihara, Moriya, and the boys. Plus Kaya. On December 11th, 5:45, they plan to meet at the Imperial Hotel for the event.

The Tezuka Akatsuka Ceremony

On December 11th, Kaya discusses where the event is held, but Shujin, Saiko, Moriya, and and Orihara wait in the lobby to meet Kato and her friend.

Kato apologizes for her tardiness and introduces her friend Ririka Kitami—a rookie Voice actress who is quite cute. Shujin’s surprised to hear her profession. And everyone else takes her in.

Orihara was expecting Ririka to be closer to Kato in age since they’re friends, which pisses Kato off. Ririka smiles at Saiko.

Oh boy, here we fucking go.

Shujin leads the charge to he event since he’s starving. They’re all given stickers: Blue for magna artists and yellow for their guests, and they enter a totally not traced image of the actual award ceremony.

Everyone admires the event and Ririka and asks whether there are celebrities, and manga artists here whose autograph she can ask for. Kato kills that notion quickly. Orihara wants to start eating.

Wandering

Moriya goes to see the winners of the competition. He thinks the winners aren’t nearly as good as his work and he’s shocked he didn’t even make the short list.

Shujin tells everyone ot split up and do what they want. Orihara has gone to start bingeing. Good man. Kaya’s going to join him and get some food. Shujin doesn’t want to be left alone.

Meanwhile, Ririka sidles up to Saiko and asks him the question: Does he have a girlfriend?

Oy.

Saiko answers honestly: kinda, and Ririka pouts at that news. Kato is horrified at her behavior and wonders what her real motives for coming were. Kato also asks after Saiko’s GF: Is it Miho Azuki? Kato saw her in the magazine and recognized her. You don’t know that level of pretty often.

Saiko swears her to secrecy, and Ririka recognizes her from Azu-kyun. She sighs. They’re like the biggest power couple ever; she feels like going home now.

Kato scolds her friend as she walks away. Takahama asks if that’s Kato’s friend; he makes an absolutely savage remark about how like attracts like, which has nothing to do with their looks.

I’m sorry, Takahama, I was not familiar with your game. That is a burn for the ages. Saiko greets him, and Takahama expresses surprise to see Ashirogi at the event. It’s the first time he’s seen him there. It is his first time here. Takahama’s surprised: he tries to come every year because it reminds him that he’s a manga artist. Saiko understands what he means by that.

Rivals enjoying a party

He also gossips about Nizuma getting 900K in circulation and points Nizuma out among a crowd of businessmen who are clamoring for his attention: Crow’s anime is coming to an end, and they’re all eager to get his blessing for the anime of Zombie Gun.

Eiji, his mouth full of lobster and food, speaks in mouth full of foodese, which translates to: I need to wait until I have enough chapters for there to be a series. When asked further questions, he directs them to his editor for questions of this nature.

Saiko looks on: it’s only been six months, and there are already anime talks going on for him.

Takahama picks up the vibe and decides to peace out.

Saiko meditates on his goal to beat Eiji. Will he be able to do it?

Meanwhile, the swarm of thirsty animators mentions that they’ll need both Eiji and Yujiro’s blessing before they can start, according to Heishi. Eiji keeps deflecting.

Shujin breaks him out of his reverie: Eiji Nizuma’s brand has a lot of value since Crow was a signature piece and became a huge anime. Once Reversi becomes a big hit, they’ll be on equal footing with him. Saiko agrees: they need to be even bigger than Zombie Gun and Crow.

Yujiro sees them and lets them know that Hattori is also around somewhere. Shujin explains they didn’t tell Hattori they were coming. Yujiro’s surprised, but writes it off as fine; sometimes you need to forget about work.

Eiji asks if Yujiro got more food and sees Ashirogi:

His reaction is priceless:

He compliments their work on Reversi: it’s super duper good (a truly monolithic compliment), and he notes he keeps losing in the surveys. It’s been especially good the last few weeks.

The boys thank him, simultaneously shocked at his usual Eijiness.

That said, he won’t lose to them. He will rank above them in the surveys, and he will also beat them in graphic novel sales.

Saiko sees that Eiji is intent on winning just like them. Yujiro provides Eiji Sushi and roast beef, grilled eel on rice, shumai spring rolls, and whatever else Eiji hasn’t eaten. Eiji is intent on his rivals while he pigs out.

Saiko thanks him and the two promise to meet at the New Year’s party.

As they part ways, Saiko expresses gratitude for coming to his event. He explains that Eiji telling them he plans ot beat them at both tankobon sales means he’s worried about both. Given Zombie-Gun’s outperformance in sales right now, nd his comments on how good the recent chapters have been, he’s showing his hand.

He’s worried.

The boys take the ego boost, and they acknowledge they’re moving up: they’ll catch up with him for sure.

ON that hopeful note, the chapter concludes:

Breather and Party Reaction

Attack of Metafictiuon

Yeah, so I don’t feel like I need to explain the metafiction for this one. But I will anyway as the metafiction dude ™.

This was the breather chapter, and it’s one they’ve used a few times in the past, and technically in the last two chapters. Oh, and also this:

If you’ve been reading along with me on the Jump app or the original tankobon (and shame on you if you haven’t), you are no doubt familiar with this final page.

For me, it has become a symbol of the end of the chapter, and there is this weird mixture of relief and excitement for the next part of the journey. Excitement to turn the page; relief that some tension has been relieved; and a little annoyance.

Because it also means it’s time to start writing these read-throughs, which I do for you, my dear, dear reader, even though it’s pretty taxing, honestly.

But seriously, these little glimpses of the sausage getting made are a somewhat transparent attempt to increase the value of the tankobon purchase by giving you a little extra juice, as they were discussing in this chapter related to the tankobon stuff. And it’s actually kinda reassuring.

It’s interesting to see how the Ohba storyboards are so limited and straightforward. It’s not really until you get Obata’s storyboard that you really see why the division of labor matters. Obata is clearly writing his storyboard with a visual eye, while Ohba is purely going for what the story needs at any given moment. Plus, Ohba’s chibi characters are just amusing to look at. Neener neener.

If I ever make a manga – I’m still chewing on it – it makes me a little more open to the idea of just storyboarding it.

But yeah, this chapter had a lot of metafictional flourishes, and surprisingly, I was kinda right unexpectedly in the previous chapter.

There’s Nothing to Do In this Chapter

I will admit I was wrong that there wouldn’t be some maneuvering to get one over on Eiji, but I’m actually happy I and the boys experienced some synchronicity on the “there really is nothing to do” and then listed all the reasons why they don’t actually need to do anything right now to succeed.

It makes me feel good about my own assessment of the story at this juncture, but it’s also an excellent reminder that sometimes, there is nothing to do but wait.

And I think that’s a good note: waiting is not doing nothing. Waiting is waiting.

But even so, they still had a ton of little things they can do in the future that will make the writing work better, including cutting down the dialogue and making things easier to read and less wordy.

This got a hearty guffaw out of me because, let me tell you what, this series, even when it’s doing a piss take about how verbose it is, is still verbose as shit.

To wit, this is one of the longer summaries I’ve done in the last few chapters, and part of that is due ot how much dialogue there is that is necessary to understand the chapter. Could I stand to cut back a little on the actual back and forth? Sometimes. But sometimes I don’t know how to do it, and I am not being paid to edit this shit.

I’m not being paid at all!

But seriously, this is probably Ohba just copping to one of his big narrative failings: a total inability to do stuff simply and to the point and having to go for the most labyrinthine efforts imaginable. Granted, I do the same thing.

BUT ANYWAY

So they’re not going to really change the formula, which I really appreciate, even if they’re all annoyed that Nizuma is a capital-B brand at this point and, as a result, he gets a lot of perks related to that (more on that in a bit).

I think this idea of mild refinements – and maybe adding a mascot, or another chapter, the actual conclusion they came to – is a good one for creatives who hit a certain level of success. Success, I haven’t personally hit, mind you, but one to be mindful of.

You can always refine your process. And once you are at a certain level of success, all you can do is refine. But even though those refinements are going to be infinitely smaller and smaller than the big huge ones you made at the start, they will end up being the more significant changes between you and the rest of the pool.

Because refinement is really where a master becomes a master.

Learning a move is one thing, but doing that move as efficiently as possible, with the least possible movement and maximal control, is entirely another.

Most everyone likes the first one, though, because it’s flashy.

But let’s actually talk about the thing that they did this chapter, which was also their solution to the problem:

Breather Chapters

So the first time I encountered a true breather chapter was while watching My Hero Academia right after the first battle between All For One and All Might in season 3.

To say that the battle was stressful would be the understatement of the century. I was tired, it was sad, and presaged a dark turn narratively, which didn’t really start bearing fruit until the 4th season, and even then, we had a breather arc (which I will defend to my last fucking breath fuck you fight me) with the culture festival.

But the episode that immediately follows the end of All For One vs All Might is a cute little chapter in which all the hero students get to show off their new dorm rooms. It is tres cute. And it was tres relaxing. And I was tres pleased.

Tres

And if you’ve never binge-watched a manga or anime that is going hard into dense storytelling, or emotionally heavy storytelling, you don’t really understand how profound the breather chapters are until you are in one.

And I’ve called them slice of life chapters in Bakuman because they are more than that in most other series, but the idea still holds. Pauseing the narrative tog ive the characters some chance to be human andd o human shit, or go party.

The New Year’s Party – which I guess is coming up either in the next chapter or the chapter after that to keep this battle going – is the most prominent example of the chill-out breather chapter. But we also had the first-year anniversary breather during the romance arc, along with some other small character moments.

And even though there are a lot of important thematic parallels and plot motion, Hiramaru and Aoki were also a bit of a breather chapter from the intense battle of Eiji v the Boys.

SO I’m glad we’re still plunging all the minor intricacies of making manga even in this last run of chapters now that the boys have truly hit the top of the pops, and we’re also exploiting that to stall for time a bit.

Even though I like how elaborate this battle is, comparatively, there’s still only so much that can be done between the boys and Eiji as they are both at the top of their game. So it’ll get kind of boring.

But we’re not there yet.

I also like how they mentioned that some artists pay attention to when their tankobons will end to make sure the last chapter is on an emotional peak. And yet they still rush through the Eiji battle part one.

All I’m saying is I know what’s up. I am all-seeing and all-knowing at the baby at the center of the universe.

*wheez*

Weird dumb internet humor notwithstanding let’s get to the event itself:

I felt for Moriya

So yeah, I’ve actually become acquainted with this even through a chapter in Me & Roboco where one of the side characters wins the Tezuka award and gets invited to the ceremony.

But it was fun to see just how many excuses mangaka have to party just like every other profession. And to spend good money on “promising” mangaka. I’ve been to the Austin Film Festival a few times because my script placed, and spiritually it’s pretty similar: you go there to schmooze, party, and potentially get a beer with famous filmmakers while watching movies and networking.

It’s lots of fun. Highly recommend if you’re liquid enough to do it.

But yeah, the event itself seems like fun, and I’m not sure we’re actually done attending it just yet; but I do want to talk about Moriya because, hoo byo, yeah, my boy is going through it.

Aside from Orihara – who basically isn’t a character at this point, but more of just a series of phrases shouted at the top of one’s lungs, I didn’t forget about Moriya, necessarily, but he has basically disappeared since all the stuff with Shiratori.

I guess the stuff with Shonen Three never happened, but it might also have been a silly plot element, so that was a bad call on my part.

But he was the one I related to the most in this chapter, and I think most creatives who submit to these kinds of events feel what he’s felt.

Namely, the: What is this shit? Type feeling.

Yes. Even though we know the work of others is good enough to place, you can’t help comparing your awesome work (which is obviously awesome with no discernible flaws) against the work of other amateurs. And because they’re amateurs, it’s obvious how dumb, unprofessional, and bad their work is.

Obviously, I am joking. But it’s hard not to play that game when you’re in those situations, especially when your work isn’t quite up to par yet. I’ve been at the not-quite-up-to-par level for a very long time.

My screenwriting is inching past that point progressively. Last year was promising, and I’m improving regularly. But yeah, it’s hard not to be bitter.

I just wish Moriya would actually take the advice of the people around him and try to be less depressing and committed to his own vision. Not because he’d be sacrificing his work, but because he might be happier if he just took those notes and went with them.

Plus his work would probably be better.

And then there’s

Ririka

Yeahhhhhh, so, I mean, there’s not a whole lot to say about Ririka, honestly, since, at least at this point, she’s just a bit player to make a point about Saiko’s popularity.

But there’s a reason I admire Takahama more now.

And like, I haven’t shat on Kato in a while now, and she hasn’t been acting like a fucking asshole recently, so there’s that too. But seeing Ririka pretty shamelessly insert herself, knowing that she’s pretty and that she can get close to power while she pursues her own ends, was pretty brazen and aggravating.

If we didn’t know Siako nearly as well as we do, this would almost feel like a test for Saiko’s affections. But we know he’s down profoundly, unfathomably bad for Miho, and they are a “Power couple” now, so it’s not like it would matter anyway.

But I still feel the secondhand ickiness of someone leveraging their friend’s connections to get close romantically to someone in power, presumably to advance their own career, especially since Kato is much older than this cute rookie Seiyuu and is the subject.

But yeah, I don’t forget that Kato sucks too. Ig give Nakai the most shit because he was actively predatory and terrible, and there’s very little slack I want to cut him – though I fear I’m getting used to his trash presence at this point – but Kato deserves to get some hate because she’s a different kind of obnoxious.

She’s the type who is comfortable crossing professional boundaries when it’s self-serving, only to get flighty when the time comes to confront those realities. Her crush on Saiko, her crush on Shiratori, and her flirting with Nakai – even if it was never meant to go anywhere – I have to say it leaves a bad taste in my mouth no matter what.

So yeah, alls I’m saying is that Takahama hit the nail on the goddamn head with that assessment.

But of course, we still haven’t talked about that final moment, and the one this chapter built towards:

The Boys are Okay, but they’re not there yet

Yeah, I actually felt really strongly when Saiko watched Eiji getting offer after offer. It was a species of the same kind of envy that Moriya felt, but it was much more visceral because Saiko had worked super hard to get where he is, and he’s still not getting hounded for anime adaptations by thirsty businessmen.

Not that he would actually want that, but you know what I mean.

Seeing him still feel so distant from Eiji was a really powerful moment. And even though, in the world, they are now powerhouses of the manga industry —it’s undeniable at this point—they still feel like the two boys we’ve been following since middle school, trying to make manga because they love it and want to get an anime.

And in that sense, it feels like a massive gap not to be a brand.

But I think I see where the conclusion of this battle is going to be. They’ve said it, but I think it’ll be formalized as the story starts to wrap up on Reversi in the world: to win, they’re going to have to get First more times than Eiji before their series ends, and sell better than him.

This chapter made a pretty distinct statement on Author as Brand. And if you’ve ever been in a marketing spac,e you know the unique kind of hell that a personal brand is.

But the boys are building it. And even Eiji is feeling the heat. It’s why the sequence with Yujiro over the moon and Eiji being grumpy worked so well. It’s also why he’s so excited to see the boys, even though he’s always excited for that.

He feels that compulsion to beat them, and he’s worried.

And i htink when you’re in the prcoess of waiting for the big thigns to happen, and you remember where you starte,d it’s easy to feel like you’re making no progress at all.

But just like those minor refinements, you only notice how far you’ve come when you look back, or when you look in your rival’s face full of delicious food and they’re actually kinda nervous.

It’s progress.

Where will the next chapter go? I think it’ll either stay at this party or jump straight back into the fray.

But I know the New Year’s party is coming up. And i hav e afeeling there is going to be a bigger howdown there than ever before.

Let’s see if the world is ready to announce how far the boys have come.

Until next time,

peace