Chapter 54

Chapter 10: Weekly Shonen and Shonen Monthly

Miyamoto Orie anxiously paced back and forth in the guest room. Although this room was considered to be of a high standard in Fengyuan, it was still quite simple by Japanese standards. However, Miyamoto Orie had no interest in such matters at the moment.

As a newly established manga magazine, "Shonen Monthly" was not yet prominent in the Japanese manga industry. However, its backing company, Enix Corporation, was a well-known name in Japan, being the publisher of the national game "Dragon Quest." This company, founded in 1975, originally engaged in real estate appraisal and street photo booths, and only began operating PC games in early 1982. At the end of 1985, under the encouragement of playwright Yuji Horii, Enix Corporation signed a contract with Nintendo to develop games for the then-popular Famicom console.

Enix's first work, "Dragon Quest," was a huge success, pioneering a new path for Japanese RPGs by drawing on Western game styles, and can be considered a milestone masterpiece. From a modern perspective, it is hard to imagine that "Dragon Quest I," which sold a total of 1.5 million copies, was completed in less than five months from script planning to production. The team of twenty people, including Nakamura Mitsuichi and the Takahashi brothers, who later became industry leaders, can be considered the most luxurious lineup in the future. Horii also invited the famous manga artist Akira Toriyama to design the character images for "Dragon Quest I" and promoted it extensively in "Weekly Shonen." In fact, "Weekly Shonen," which had a peak circulation of over 7 million, made a significant contribution to the success of the "Dragon Quest" series.

For Enix Corporation, which had previously been involved in PC games, a million sales was like a fairy tale. Its best-selling game, "Morita Shogi," with about 80,000 copies sold, was already a remarkable achievement in the PC game field. Faced with the influx of money, President Yasuhiro Fukushige and the development team continued their efforts and launched "Dragon Quest - The Spirit of the Gods" on January 26 of the following year. The phenomenon of Japanese people queuing up overnight to buy the game became a social issue, and the impressive sales of 2.4 million copies made even Nintendo, the console manufacturer, look at Enix with new respect, revising the contract terms to match those of veteran companies like Namco before the contract expired.

After these two successes, Enix Corporation's confidence in developing games for the Nintendo console grew, and they soon decided to make this their main business.

The establishment of "Shonen Monthly" was due to the realization by Enix Corporation's management that "Weekly Shonen" played a significant role in promoting "Dragon Quest." They also recognized the substantial profits from adapting excellent manga into games. Therefore, having a magazine under their control was undoubtedly a powerful tool for future business development. Thus, "Shonen Monthly" was officially established at the end of 1987.

Although the magazine was established, it was difficult to obtain works from the best manga artists in Japan, who were already affiliated with other publishers. Younger manga artists preferred the established publishers, and these older publishers often intentionally or unintentionally suppressed new talent. As a result, "Shonen Monthly" did not perform well in its first few months. So far, only four issues have been published, and the financial imbalance is not yet significant. However, finding excellent works to fill the magazine's content has become the top priority for everyone in the publishing house.

At the end of February, a staff member who attended a book fair in China suddenly reported back that they had discovered a promising manga in Beijing and had photocopied part of it to send back to the publishing house. Although it was just the beginning, the story was lively and engaging, and the four main characters were well-developed. The protagonist, Zhuge Yuzhu, a Sino-Japanese half-breed, works as a spirit detective and, along with his companions, eliminates evil spirits in the human world...

Such a story is quite popular in Japanese shonen manga. Miyamoto Orie immediately approved it, but encountered some resistance from others in the company. Some believed that the author being Chinese might affect the publication and make it difficult to gain acceptance in Japan. As a result, the matter was delayed. However, recently, the company learned that "Weekly Shonen" had also taken an interest in the manga and intended to send someone to China to negotiate the copyright. This immediately cleared the opposition, and the focus became how to sign the author before "Weekly Shonen." Miyamoto Orie was tasked with this responsibility.

Although he had already arrived in Fengyuan and contacted the author, he received bad news: an editor from "Weekly Shonen" had also arrived in Beijing and would likely reach Fengyuan by tomorrow or the day after.

Faced with the veteran "Weekly Shonen," what reason could he give to convince the author to choose their publishing house?

At this moment, Fang Mingyuan and his companion had already arrived at his uncle's house in Fengyuan. With the support of the Fang family, Fang Ya had established himself in Fengyuan and even bought a small courtyard house less than half a kilometer from the city government. The courtyard was not large, with only seven rooms of various sizes and an old-style toilet. In the summer, the smell in the yard would be unpleasant, but Fang Ya was very satisfied.

Su Aijun had been waiting for him for two hours. Su Aijun was now a department head at Fengyuan Jiaotong University and had recently married a teacher from the same university. Although Grandfather Su was somewhat displeased with the marriage, he eventually approved it.

"You little rascal, you've pulled off another big move without a word!" Su Aijun patted Fang Mingyuan's shoulder, noting that the young man had grown quite a bit over the past four years and was starting to look mature.

"Ah?" Fang Mingyuan looked at the information Su Aijun handed him, unable to believe it. "Weekly Shonen" was a well-known manga publishing house in Japan, and in his previous life, Fang Mingyuan was already familiar with it. Many of the classic works he knew, such as "City Hunter," "Rurouni Kenshin," and "Slam Dunk," were published by it. "Yuu Yuu Hakusho" was originally published by it as well. Getting its recognition was undoubtedly a good thing, and with its status in the Japanese manga industry, the success of "Yuu Yuu Hakusho" was almost guaranteed.

However, the other publishing house was also significant. As a loyal fan of "Final Fantasy," Fang Mingyuan was not unfamiliar with Enix Corporation, which would later merge with Square. Moreover, "Shonen Monthly" would also become a significant player in the Japanese manga industry, though its works were mostly focused on video games. However, Fang Mingyuan remembered that "Shonen Monthly" was only established in the early 1990s in his previous life. It seems history has been slightly altered.

"I have already gathered all the information about these two publishing houses, and all the details are here. Personally, I think 'Weekly Shonen' has a greater influence in Japan," Su Aijun pointed to the information, "but their editor just arrived in Beijing and will likely reach Fengyuan tomorrow. The editor from 'Shonen Monthly' is already in Fengyuan, and I have arranged accommodation for him. His name is Miyamoto Orie. Would you like to meet him this afternoon?"