In a few days, new posters appeared everywhere in Osaka.
They were seen in stations, subways, plazas, and on both sides of the streets. It had been a long time since such large-scale advertising activities had been seen. Although people sighed at Hinotori Publishing's willingness to spend money, they also had fun with these posters.
"Puff!... What is this?"
In the morning, several girls at the subway entrance burst into laughter. In front of them was a huge poster: a skull with a straw hat.
The boy made a promise to the sea: "I am the man who will become the Pirate King!" Hinotori Publishing's new magazine, "Mirai Manga", spearheaded by Mirai-sensei's "One Piece", will be launched next week.
"Skull, why is that skull with a straw hat so cute!"
"How interesting this poster is! Is Mirai-sensei's new work cute?"
The girls laughed and chatted, and in other places in Osaka there were also many strange posters that made spectators laugh.
There's a wanted poster on the wall. Many passersby get scared when they pass by, thinking the police are offering a reward for criminals. However, if you look closely, you'll discover that the poster is a manga character with a straw hat, and below it there's a brief introduction to "One Piece" manga and "Mirai Manga".
The original and alternative promotional poster quickly introduced the new magazine to readers in Osaka, and Mirai-sensei's new work has also become the center of discussion among many young people.
"A sailing trip in search of wealth and dreams..." "Great dreams create the most passionate and passionate manga for young people!" "A pirate story never before seen!" "Encounter, friendship, dream, passion: all in "One Piece".
The content of the promotional poster describes "One Piece"'s characteristics, but these characteristics are very puzzling. On Mirai-sensei's home forum, many readers directly expressed their doubts.
"Is this a pirate story? It's actually about pirates. Why are there friendships and dreams? Mirai-sensei, what are your values?"
"Is the straw hat man the protagonist? He doesn't look handsome at all!"
"I didn't see any introduction to other manga. Could it be that Mirai manga only has "One Piece"?"
Takumi perceived these doubts, but completely ignored them. "One Piece"'s advertising effect is that everyone knows it. It's simply impossible to use advertising to explain this manga.
However, the new magazine "Mirai Manga". In fact, only "One Piece" appears in it.
After obtaining government department approval, Takumi and Hinotori Publishing had a heated debate. Hinotori Publishing's senior management hoped to publish more manga in this magazine, but Takumi flatly refused.
He believed that no other manga could be published in the same magazine as "One Piece". If "Mirai Manga" added other manga, sales would definitely not be as good as "One Piece".
Everyone knew this, but Hinotori Publishing's opinion was also clear: a single manga was not a magazine at all. Several senior executives thought Takumi was doing unnecessary things. If he only wanted to launch One Piece, it would be better to launch it directly in a single volume.
"I need a new magazine,"
Takumi replied to them. His manga are becoming more numerous. And it's no longer suitable to publish them in Weekly Shōnen. That manga weekly has several of his series. If it continues to increase, other mangaka will have nothing to eat.
The number of series in a magazine is limited. As a member of Hinotori Publishing, Takumi wants to leave more space in Weekly Shōnen for other mangaka, so he wants to reshape a new magazine and launch more manga in the future.
At first glance, there is only one serialization in Mirai Manga, One Piece, which seems a bit out of place.
However, this situation has no drawbacks, except for some media mockery. Even if One Piece is popular, the Mirai Manga brand will also be. When Takumi hands One Piece over to his assistant in the future, Mirai Manga's value will be reflected.
Then, when Takumi launches a new work, he can publish it directly in Mirai Manga's manga, reducing advertising and promotion costs, and will have a large number of readers as soon as it comes out. Just like when Weekly Shōnen Magazine launches a new series, it can gain a lot of attention. Readers who buy magazines without advertising.
The existence of Mirai Manga will give Takumi a lot of freedom. He could launch short series. Takumi believes this is very important for the future.
Without Mirai Manga's facade, One Piece's single volume sales will not be very different from Mirai Manga's. Furthermore, if Takumi cannot continue to fill Weekly Shōnen magazine's vacancy, he will only be able to sell individual volumes in the future.
Not only will it be a loss, but each volume will have to have more than ten chapters in reserve... At first, Mirai Manga's content was only One Piece, but after the launch of new manga, it can gradually become a magazine with several chapters.
In general, Takumi needs a magazine to exert his influence and appease those who want to draw more manga. Faced with his energetic request, Hinotori Publishing can only give in. Perhaps there's no way not to give in, because Takumi is the boss.
Of course, Takumi also made concessions. He increased the five episodes of One Piece to eleven. In an instant, all... The doubts and complaints at Hinotori Publishing disappeared. Who would have money problems?
It wasn't difficult for Takumi to come up with the plot for these eleven episodes. He prepared several during his trip to Tokyo, and now the eleventh episode is already complete. The reason he didn't mention it was that too many episodes had been sold this time, and the pressure for the next issue would be very high.
He had no saved manuscripts, and he would only be able to launch five episodes of "One Piece" next month. He didn't know if this would leave readers dissatisfied.
"We'll see..."
With this idea in mind, Takumi began to participate in advertising activities.
He drew some interesting posters. Hinotori Publishing and Sakura Books jointly handled the promotion in various regions, and the result was quite good. All Mirai-sensei's readers knew about this new work.
However, the huge advertising seemed ridiculous in the eyes of some.
"For a magazine with only one manga, what can so much advertising do?"
asked Sun-san, the happiest person at Kanto Manga Company. He had been worried for a long time, and felt a great relief when he saw Hinotori Publishing's announcement. Mirai-sensei couldn't handle Aika.
"One Piece"... It couldn't be more fun!
"A story of pirates, robberies, murders, and treasure hunting? Who would read such an unreal and evil manga?" he asked, looking to the other side: "Kazuki, is that right?"
"Yes, Minister...". Kazuki smiled: "As I recall, no literary work describing pirates has been popular. This theme is too difficult to tell, and the characters are villains, which is definitely less popular than detective novels."
When it comes to pirates and the ocean, anyone will fall into a narrow confusion with real pirates, thinking there isn't much worth exploring.
They wouldn't think that "One Piece" is an imaginary world...
- - - - - - - - -
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