My Extraordinary Achievements - Chapter 299: The Legends of Manga
“Kodansha Comics?”
Meng Fan didn’t know much Japanese, but he could read most of the words on the business card Goro Takahashi gave him. Mr. Takahashi was an editor at Kodansha Comics. Given the style of the business card, he wasn’t an average editor either.
This was a pleasant surprise for Meng Fan!
Before and after he was reborn, his sisters sponsored him with many gifts on this trip. Before the rebirth, he was most interested in CV concerts and “meet and greets.” Now, he was more interested in visiting Shueisha Comics and meeting the comic artist Eiichiro Oda.
Of course, before the rebirth, he also loved manga and would have liked to visit Shueisha Comics and meet Eiichiro Oda. The visit, however, would just have been a regular visit.
Now, the purpose of his visit would be different.
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If he was rewriting his life, what would he need?
Manga would undoubtedly be a big part of his new life!
He didn’t realize one of the hostages was an editor, and a senior one at that, from a comics publisher. This was fantastic news for Meng Fan.
Perhaps it was Good Luck +1 in effect? It was a big coincidence.
Kodansha Comics was one of Japan’s three largest comic publishers. The other two are Shueisha Comics and Shogakukan Comics. Together, the three manga publishers are known as the Gosanke.
Most of the Japanese comics popular with fans worldwide came from these three manga publishers.
Kodansha Comics is known as an advancing giant in the industry.
The publisher with the longest history, Kodansha Comics, is regarded as the boss of publishers (not just comics) in Japan. It has serialized “Attack on Titan,””GetBackers,””Fairy Tail,””Initial D,””Legend of the Dragon’s Son,””Vagabond,””Ghost in the Shell,””The Three-Eyed One,””SM,””Card Captor,””The Tales of Genji,””Parasyte,” and other well-known mangas.
Shogakukan Comics is a publisher known for comics for kids and teens.
As one of the largest comprehensive publishers in Japan, Shogakukan Comics focused on elementary school students as its audience early on. Based on the names of its comics, it’s obvious that it has published many children’s classics, some of which had even mesmerized grown ups, including: “Case Closed,””Pokémon,””Doraemon,””Urusei Yatsura,””Ranma ½,””Inuyasha,” and many more.
Shueisha Comics is a publisher with some of the most talented comic artists in the industry.
Shueisha Comics publishes many comic magazines for teens, the most well-known of which is Weekly Shōnen Jump, which has the highest circulation in Japan’s serialized comics. The magazine has released plenty of hits such as “One Piece,””Naruto,””Bleach,””Gin Tama,””Dragon Ball,””Yu-Gi-Oh!””Saint Seiya,””Slam Dunk,””Chibi Maruko-chan,””Food Wars!” and so on.
Other comic houses within Shueisha Comics have released legendary comics including: “To Love Ru,””One Punch Man,””Tokyo Ghoul,””The Prince of Tennis,””NANA,” and more.
The number of comic classics published and serialized by Shueisha Comics is simply countless.
Shueisha Comics was founded last among the three legendary publishers. In the beginning, it was an entertainment magazine under Shogakukan Comics; now, it holds its own in the industry.
Most comic artists hope to have a chance to serialize their work in a Shueisha Comics magazine, including many Chinese comic artists, Meng Fan among them. This is true despite the shrinking comics market in Japan in recent years.
This is just like how, for most actors, their dream is to be a movie star in Hollywood — including most Chinese actors such as Meng Caiwei — even though China is now the world’s largest movie market.
That’s not to say that without being serialized in Japan or entering Hollywood, one would give up on the Chinese market.
Meng Fan put away the business card, his face showing happiness. He smiled at Goro Takahashi. “To be honest, I’m a college student majoring in comics. I actually have a series right now. One of my goals for this trip has to do with comics. I can’t believe I get to meet one of the trailblazers of the industry today, I’m so honored.”
Goro Takahashi looked surprised after he heard the translation from En’en’s dad. The reason he introduced himself: young people like Meng Fan were usually comic fans, so he figured maybe he could thank Meng Fan in this way. He had no idea Meng Fan was studying comics and a comic artist as well.
After Goro Takahashi shook hands again with Meng Fan, he said, “M-san, please, allow me to take you on a tour of Kodansha Comics.”
“Absolutely. It would be my honor.”
The two of them exchanged their contact information and made a date to meet again.
As he walked out, Meng Fan received at least fifty more business cards!
There were maybe even more than fifty, as they all came from the passengers on the flight, mixed in with numbers from several flight attendants.
While people knew it was unlikely Meng Fan would keep in touch with them, they clamored to leave him their contact information. It wasn’t because they wanted to copy others, they just really wanted to befriend a legendary person like Meng Fan.
Based on the names on the business cards, most of them were Japanese, some were expats in Japan, and a few were Chinese. It was not an exaggeration to say that if Meng Fan had thick skin, he could eat and play for free for the next three to six months in Japan. He would have a great time too, since people traveling from Singapore to Japan were usually pretty successful.
Just like En’en’s dad, after Meng Fan chatted with him after they got in the car leaving the airport, he learned the older man dealt in real estate, red wine, and soy sauce, but he wasn’t a real estate developer.
The biggest coincidence was when Meng Fan realized they were from Hangzhou, too. He almost swore when he heard their home was near his school!
It was a good thing they weren’t from the same district, just a nearby one; otherwise, it would be too much of a coincidence.
When En’en learned Meng Fan studied near her house, she was even more excited. She wanted to go back to China with him, leaving her parents chagrined.
When their car entered the financial district of Otemachi, it stopped briefly at the Aman Kyoto Hotel, part of Otemachi-Tower.
Meng Fan and En’en made sure to meet again, then he left under En’en’s reluctant gaze, carrying his suitcase.
The Aman Kyoto Hotel wasn’t an entire building; it was in fact located on the top six floors of the Otemachi-Tower. The hotel lobby was on the 33rd floor, making the hotel rooms even higher. Because of this, the Aman Kyoto Hotel was known as “a luxury above the city.”
As soon as Meng Fan entered the elevator, his phone rang. It was from Wu Tong.
“Are you in Japan?”
“Yes, I just got to the hotel.”
“How long are you staying?”
“Two or three days?”
“You’re not coming back earlier?”
“If I got everything done with the manga, I would go back earlier. Why, you miss me or worry about me?”
“So you do know!”
Wu Tong did sound a little displeased, but it was mostly worrying. Then she said, “Seventh Bro is taking his team to Kyoto today. When he gets there, you can head out and have him follow you, or have someone follow you.”
