Normally, for someone serializing a manga for the first time 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 time.
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 volume sold nearly one million copies in the first week.
Among all new serialized works in six major journals this year, this achievement is number one. No debate.
Even though the thirteenth chapter's plot was widely criticized, the same fans who were complaining were also the ones voting, then running to every forum, social group, and comment 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 meetings to discuss IP collaborations.
The Go industry isn't huge, but when it comes to manga, there is only one mainstream Go-themed 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 arrangements.
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 anime popularity. After this point, the ranking won't rise as quickly as before. You should be mentally 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 volume sales of 5–10 million copies, becomes a first-tier manga artist in country.
And anyone who consistently ranks around seventh or eighth, with average volume sales of 4–5 million, becomes a second-tier manga artist.
"Second-tier manga artist" may sound unimpressive, but their annual income is usually around 200 million yen.
Just from volume royalties alone, if a manga releases six or seven volumes a year at five million copies average, the income is hundreds of millions.
And that doesn't include adaptation royalties, merchandise, game 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 anime 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 anime, 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 time, how could he possibly accept that?
It's just… the waters of this Japan's manga industry run deep.
Sometimes, it isn't just effort or determination that decides the market.
The inherent weakness of the Go theme will always follow Hikaru no Go.
For a Go manga to come 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 theme.
Misaki looked at Rei quietly and thought:
"Go ahead and charge toward the peak."
Throughout the meal, both had their own thoughts.
...
After the campus Go team tournament ended, Hikaru no Go fans were fiercely debating where the story would go.
Would Hikaru continue preparing for a third team tournament?No, too repetitive.
Or would Akira quickly take the professional Go exam and become 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 some genius, he came up with a plan:
On the world's largest online Go website, under the username Sai,he let Sai play freely against Go players worldwide.
With Sai's strength, it took only two chapters for Sai to become 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 name 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 games!"
"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 memory: 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 anime will air. I heard the live-action rights were already sold too."
"For anime, 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 filmed 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 anime 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 anime!"
"But why do I feel that the development of Hikaru no Go's copyrights is so fast? I remember 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 development after a year because they only become popular after a long serialization, when the worldbuilding expands. And copyright companies also need enough content, otherwise the anime catches up. But Hikaru no Go doesn't have that issue. Its popularity and weekly page count are both extremely high, so investors don't hesitate to move fast."
...
In May, a month after the announcement of Hikaru no Go's anime 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 volume 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, something else was happening.
The names Shirogane and Rei were known to almost everyone.
Debuting at sixteen, serializing three manga at seventeen.
Hikaru no Go's anime 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 mentioned Aira from recent years.
Nor did they only mention Shinji, the legendary creator who debuted at seventeen, died at twenty, and left behind two classic masterpieces.
Now, the names Shirogane and Rei were constantly brought up.
But once people become famous, jealousy follows.
The first volume of Hikaru no Go sold 970,000 copies in its first week, and surpassed 2 million within one month.
Now with the second volume close to release, first-week sales exceeding a million seemed almost guaranteed. The manga was showing the potential of four million average sales per volume.
Meaning: unless something unexpected happened, Rei would most likely appear on the next year's national manga income 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, someone will slander you.
Whenever Rei opened his creator accounts on various platforms, he saw tens of thousands of supportive messages… 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.
Some introverted manga artists would mentally 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.Sometimes he even replied to trolls for fun after submitting his weekly chapter…
Under this environment, 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 something big.