Normally, for soone serializing a manga for the first ti in one of the six major journals, their debut work is expected to be lukewarm, often hovering outside the top 10 for a very long ti.
After all, how many so-called "genius manga artists" can a country realistically have?
Anyone who starts from nothing and steadily rises until they reach serialization in a major journal is already a genius.
But Hikaru no Go reached eighth place in Dream Comic’s rankings in just thirteen weeks, and its first volu sold nearly one million copies in the first week.
Among all new serialized works in six major journals this year, this achievent is number one. No debate.
Even though the thirteenth Chapter’s plot was widely criticized, the sa fans who were complaining were also the ones voting, then running to every forum, social group, and comnt section to promote Hikaru no Go.
Plus...
People working in the manga industry aren’t blind. They all see the explosive potential behind Hikaru no Go.
The fan loyalty is simply too high.
Could this manga really make Go popular again?
...
On the weekend, Rei and his editor Misaki went to Hoshimori Group. Because of Hikaru no Go’s growing influence, several Go-related companies in were already requesting etings to discuss IP collaborations.
The Go industry isn’t huge, but when it cos to manga, there is only one mainstream Go-thed work: Hikaru no Go.
Naturally, collaboration requests could only go to Rei.
They signed the contracts that needed signing, posed for photos, and discussed promotional arrangents.
After a whole day of exhausting work, Misaki took Rei out to a restaurant for dinner.
Whenever she was with Rei, they were either working or talking about work.
"Hikaru no Go’s ranking is entering a tricky phase," Misaki said. "Every manga ranked above it has already been animated and broadcast on multiple TV channels, so they enjoy the extra boost of ani popularity. After this point, the ranking won’t rise as quickly as before. You should be ntally prepared... Hikaru no Go may stay around seventh or eighth place for quite a while. But that..."
"That’s already enough."
Rei cut in calmly.
Because anyone who can consistently place in the top three or top four, with average volu sales of 5–10 million copies, becos a first-tier manga artist in country.
And anyone who consistently ranks around seventh or eighth, with average volu sales of 4–5 million, becos a second-tier manga artist.
"Second-tier manga artist" may sound unimpressive, but their annual inco is usually around 200 million yen.
Just from volu royalties alone, if a manga releases six or seven volus a year at five million copies average, the inco is hundreds of millions.
And that doesn’t include adaptation royalties, rchandise, ga licensing, or other derivative profits.
For Rei, a manga artist who debuted less than a year ago, possibly earning Hundreds of millions next year...
How could that not be enough?
"I understand," Rei said, though he clearly wasn’t bothered at all.
To him, money wasn’t the issue.
What bothered him was Misaki’s view that the ranking would stagnate around seventh or eighth.
Because the truly explosive parts of Hikaru no Go hadn’t even begun yet.
The early arcs were just warmups.
Sai stole all the early spotlight. Hikaru’s true rise only happens later.
Rei believed that even without the ani boost, Hikaru no Go’s pure quality could push it into the top 5.
But...
When he looked at the three juggernaut titles that permanently dominated Dream Comic’s top 3, Rei’s confidence wavered a little.
And until Hikaru no Go got an ani, Rei knew he shouldn’t be overly optimistic.
In his previous life, Hikaru no Go peaked before Sai’s disappearance arc and declined afterwards. It never held first place for long among monsters like One Piece, Naruto, and Yu-Gi-Oh.
But here, in Dream Comic?
Rei wanted at least one week at #1 before the series ended.
Just once.
In his previous life, Hikaru no Go lost to absolute giants, Naruto, One Piece, Yu-Gi-Oh, Kenshin... It was inevitable.
But Dream Comic’s top titles here weren’t as monstrous as those legends.
Surely Hikaru no Go could reach #1 just once...
Misaki watched Rei’s expression as he ate.
After a while, she breathed out softly.
She knew he had heard her, but he didn’t agree.
Indeed, for a seventeen-year-old manga genius, if you tell him that he climbed to eighth place in the journal rankings in three months and will hover around that rank for a long ti, how could he possibly accept that?
It’s just... the waters of this Japan’s manga industry run deep.
Sotis, it isn’t just effort or determination that decides the market.
The inherent weakness of the Go the will always follow Hikaru no Go.
For a Go manga to co this far is already remarkable. Going further, even Misaki wouldn’t dare expect too much.
After Hikaru no Go finishes, for the next series, choose a mainstream, popular the.
Misaki looked at Rei quietly and thought:
"Go ahead and charge toward the peak."
Throughout the al, both had their own thoughts.
...
After the campus Go team tournant ended, Hikaru no Go fans were fiercely debating where the story would go.
Would Hikaru continue preparing for a third team tournant?No, too repetitive.
Or would Akira quickly take the professional Go exam and beco pro, forcing Hikaru to compete with him in the pro world?
Fans argued endlessly.
But instead, several consecutive Chapters opened a completely new storyline.
Because Hikaru couldn’t stand playing Go on Sai’s behalf anymore, letting others mistake him for so genius, he ca up with a plan:
On the world’s largest online Go website, under the userna Sai,he let Sai play freely against Go players worldwide.
With Sai’s strength, it took only two Chapters for Sai to beco a mysterious top-tier world-class player online.
Everyone was desperate to uncover this "unknown master’s" true identity.
One thing Rei was busy with during this period: He signed a contract with largest online Go platform, allowing the platform’s na to appear directly inside the manga.
He even registered the Sai account himself and synchronized the manga matches with the real platform’s backend, so fans could watch the real-world Sai play online.
The Go Association also approved Rei to draw real-life pro players into the manga as anonymous opponents defeated by Sai online.
So after this arc dropped, fans went wild:
"These moves match real professional gas!"
"This detail exactly matches the real platform!"
"Even if it’s fiction, it feels real!"
Sai suddenly felt like a real person.
"These Chapters are amazing. Sai is playing again, finally!"
"Hikaru makes everything awkward. He’s always getting crushed. I only want to watch Sai."
"That kid who figured out Sai was a child just from one online match, genius! Akira listening beside him looked like he got struck by lightning."
"When Akira heard the analysis, his PTSD activated, only one mysterious child Go monster exists in his mory: Hikaru!"
"Oh my god, will Sai use his online account to play Akira for their fourth match later?"
"WAIT, that would be incredible."
"This manga has two tracks: Sai vs Akira, and Hikaru’s growth. The second one is too slow. I’m here for Sai and Akira."
"Update faster, Shirogane-sensei!"
"You monsters, this kid draws FORTY PAGES A WEEK. He’s still in high school! Two Chapters a week?! Don’t kill him!"
"A good manga is never enough, no matter how much content. A boring manga still feels boring even if it updates daily."
"It’s May already. In half a year, the ani will air. I heard the live-action rights were already sold too."
"For ani, because the production cycle is at least half a year, broadcasting in January next year would already be very fast. As for TV dramas... that’s quicker. Filming Hikaru no Go isn’t difficult; a few people in a room with a Go board can shoot an episode’s plot, and tv dramas are fild and broadcast simultaneously. At the fastest speed, they could produce the first episode two months from filming to post-production..."
"See? As long as Hikaru no Go’s popularity on Dream Comic increases a bit more, and more content is updated, these ani and film and television production companies will definitely not let money slip by. It’s even possible that the TV drama might air before the ani!"
"But why do I feel that the developnt of Hikaru no Go’s copyrights is so fast? I rember that for other manga, animation and live-action adaptations usually aren’t considered until a year after the manga’s release, right?"
"One reason is Hoshimori Group’s support for Shirogane-sensei, and another is Shirogane-sensei’s own effort! Most manga only get copyright developnt after a year because they only beco popular after a long serialization, when the worldbuilding expands. And copyright companies also need enough content, otherwise the ani catches up. But Hikaru no Go doesn’t have that issue. Its popularity and weekly page count are both extrely high, so investors don’t hesitate to move fast."
...
In May, a month after the announcent of Hikaru no Go’s ani adaptation, and with its growing popularity and astonishing fan loyalty, even though Hikaru no Go’s current popularity ranking on Dream Comic was only seventh, its discussion heat was already second only to the top four works.
The second volu of the standalone manga was also about to be released.
Across the manga industry, Hikaru no Go’s buzz wasn’t the biggest...
But among young manga artists, sothing else was happening.
The nas Shirogane and Rei were known to almost everyone.
Debuting at sixteen, serializing three manga at seventeen.
Hikaru no Go’s ani already had an official broadcast slot. Its TV drama rights had already been sold.
Looking across the entire history of the country’s manga industry, it was almost impossible to find anyone whose career had been smoother and more explosive than Rei’s.
Industry professionals talking about "geniuses" no longer only ntioned Aira from recent years.
Nor did they only ntion Shinji, the legendary creator who debuted at seventeen, died at twenty, and left behind two classic masterpieces.
Now, the nas Shirogane and Rei were constantly brought up.
But once people beco famous, jealousy follows.
The first volu of Hikaru no Go sold 970,000 copies in its first week, and surpassed 2 million within one month.
Now with the second volu close to release, first-week sales exceeding a million seed almost guaranteed. The manga was showing the potential of four million average sales per volu.
aning: unless sothing unexpected happened, Rei would most likely appear on the next year’s national manga inco rankings,, earning millions or more.
And many people simply couldn’t stand it.
"Why am I working so hard and earning nothing, while you, a high school kid who doesn’t even study properly, draw manga and make tens of millions!!"
Jealousy of talent is a sickness.
As long as you succeed, soone will slander you.
Whenever Rei opened his creator accounts on various platforms, he saw tens of thousands of supportive ssages... and thousands of angry insults calling his story trash, pretentious, or claiming it relied on its art style to sell "BL undertones" or "gay vibes."
Just malice for the sake of ruining his mood.
So introverted manga artists would ntally collapse after reading such things.
Many creators truly had their careers destroyed by online abuse.
A manga artist’s pressure: ranking pressure, cancellation pressure, pressure from fans, and the flood of insults from anti-fans.
But Rei?
Heh.
He was just "porting" a masterpiece, none of it affected him at all.Sotis he even replied to trolls for fun after submitting his weekly Chapter...
Under this environnt, Hikaru no Go’s plot reached a major turning point.
On Wednesday, May 27, the seventeenth Chapter of Hikaru no Go released in the latest issue of Dream Comic.
This week’s magazine cover heavily supported the series.
Front and center: Hikaru and Akira locked in a dramatic stare-down.
Characters from other series surrounded them.
Anyone who normally bought the journal would know instantly: This week’s Chapter holds sothing big.
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