Upon hearing that the phone call was from an editor at Shueisha, Kotomi Izumi felt a slight lift in her heart. It seed her submission of Chainsaw Man had received a response.
"Yes, this is Izumi Ki," she confird.
On the other end of the line, Asuka Chizuru , the editor from Shueisha, sighed in relief. Thankfully, the contact information was correct.
Editors often encountered the frustrating situation where a talented manga submission was left without a way to contact the artist due to incorrect information. This could result in a great manga not getting published simply because they couldn't get in touch with the author. In Chizuru's experience, she had co across such scenarios too often.
But this ti, she managed to get through. Taking a breath, she enthusiastically began, "Izumi-sensei, I've just finished reading the first chapter of Chainsaw Man. I must say, it's a fascinating work! I couldn't help but wonder if this is even shonen manga! Despite the story's slight deviation from the usual path, Chainsaw Man is incredibly gripping! It definitely has potential for serialization!"
Asuka's excitent was hard to contain. Although Chainsaw Man didn't fit the mold of traditional shonen manga with its dark and chaotic narrative, its originality made it stand out.
While most shonen series hinted at darker thes gradually, Chainsaw Man unapologetically dove into its gritty world right from the start, with a rebellious "no brakes" attitude. It stood out among the nurous submissions at Shueisha.
Had the editorial environnt been less formal, her reaction might have been sothing more along the lines of, "Whoa! This is amazing!"
"Thank you for the praise. Does this an Chainsaw Man has passed the submission stage?" Kotomi asked, her voice calm.
"That's right! Izumi-sensei, do you have any free ti soon? I'd like to et with you in person to discuss the manga in more detail."
"I can et this Friday at 5:45 PM," Kotomi suggested.
"Great, I'll et you at Akita Café, 300 ters to the left of Shueisha," Asuka replied.
With the eting ti and place confird, Kotomi hung up the phone. Normally, a rookie manga artist would have to accommodate the editor's schedule, but Kotomi's case was unique.
The quality of the manuscript wasn't the only factor that made Kotomi stand out; her pen na—Izumi Ki—was already well-known.
That morning, when Asuka had arrived at work and opened the latest batch of submissions, she had found a file labeled Chainsaw Man. The artist's pen na was listed as "Izumi Ki."
Although the manga industry and the light novel industry seed like separate worlds, the truth was they were interconnected. Many light novel series got manga adaptations, and popular manga often received light novel spin-offs. Because of this, editors from both industries maintained frequent communication.
Asuka, while not an avid light novel reader, worked with many colleagues who were. When she opened the submission, her co-worker, Rena Tatsuya, happened to walk by. Rena's eyes landed on the na "Izumi Ki" on the submission package and she let out a surprised exclamation.
"No way! Is the submission really from Izumi Ki?"
Rena's reaction quickly attracted the attention of other manga editors nearby, and they gathered around to take a look.
"Wow, it really is Izumi Ki!"
"The sa na as the author of Sword Art Online."
"But isn't Izumi Ki a major light novel author? How would they have ti to draw manga on top of all their writing?"
"Maybe it's just soone using the na as a joke. So newcors like to use famous pen nas to get attention. Why not call yourself Yoshihiro Togashi? Now that would get even more buzz!"
One of the editors jokingly ntioned Yoshihiro Togashi, the creator of Hunter x Hunter, which made everyone burst out laughing. They soon went back to their own work, leaving Asuka in confusion.
Sword Art Online? Izumi Ki? A big shot in the light novel world?
Curious but unsure of who to ask, Asuka turned back to the manuscript.
"Let's just see what the work looks like," she said, shaking off the distraction as she flipped open the first page of Chainsaw Man.
The mont she started reading, she could tell this wasn't an ordinary submission. The opening was already intriguing.
"Oh? The first few pages are in color? Interesting," Asuka thought as she continued reading.
[The protagonist, Denji, mused about his ager earnings:]
["Cutting down trees nets 60,000 yen a month…"]
["Selling my kidney earned 1.2 million yen."]
["My right eye… 300,000 yen."]
["One of my balls… can't even rember how much that got , but not 100,000 yen."]
[...]
["Killing a devil… about 300,000 yen. Yep, being a devil hunter pays the best."]
The next scene revealed Denji crouching with his chainsaw dog Pochita, staring at a grotesque monster—the Tomato Devil.
"Wait, what? A Tomato Devil?" Asuka's head filled with question marks. Typically, a monster in a shonen series would be an intimidating adversary with a fearso na. But Tomato Devil? Really?
The fight seed inevitable, and Asuka expected an epic battle sequence showcasing Denji's abilities. It was common in shonen manga to kick things off with an intense fight to hook the audience.
But when she turned the page, she was in for another surprise.
Without showing any of the fight's action, the next panel featured Denji standing victoriously over the slain Tomato Devil, chainsaw dripping with blood.
The fight was already over.
"Wait, what?!" Asuka thought, her confusion growing. The climactic fight scene had just… ended?
While she had been prepared for an action-packed battle, the story skipped straight to the aftermath.
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