On October 26th, Weekly Shonen Jump Issue 47 was released.
Chapter 16 of Fate/stay night was published alongside it.
The beginning of this chapter takes a turn back to a flashback, recounting a conversation between young Shirou and his foster father, Kiritsugu. It was a winter night five years ago, the last conversation between Shirou and his foster father.
"In my childhood, I also once longed to become an ally of justice."
"'Once'? Does that mean you gave up?"
"Yeah, it's a shame. Heroes have a limited time; it's hard to consider yourself a hero once you become an adult. If only I had realized that sooner."
"I see. Well, then it can't be helped."
"Yeah, then I'll be one instead. The old man is already an adult so he can't, but I should be fine. So leave it to me, the old man's dream."
"Ah, that's a relief."
Emiya Kiritsugu smiled, then quietly closed his eyes and never opened them again.
The flashback ended, and after waking up, Shirou went to school as usual. When he ran into Tohsaka Rin at school, he even smiled and greeted her.
But when Tohsaka Rin saw him, her expression turned sour. She left without even greeting him, leaving Shirou confused.
Immediately after, Shirou learned from his friend Issei that his friends from the Archery Club, Shinko and Ayako, had had a falling out and had both dropped out of school today, and that they couldn't be contacted. This made him feel uneasy.
So, throughout the school day, Shirou tried to find news about the two, but he couldn't find their whereabouts.
By the time school ended, Shirou was still thinking about their situation, not noticing that most of the students had already left.
Just then, Tohsaka Rin suddenly appeared before him and expressed her dissatisfaction with him quite unpleasantly.
Although Shirou tried his best to express that he did not want to fight her, Tohsaka Rin furiously declared war unilaterally and launched an attack on him!
The panel for Chapter 16 froze there.
For the vast majority of Fsn readers, they might be more concerned about the battle in the next chapter, but for Akira, the flashback at the beginning of this chapter was more important.
This conversation between Shirou and the dying Kiritsugu explained why Shirou wanted to "become an ally of justice," and also foreshadowed his later conflict with Archer.
But for a very small number of readers, this chapter had another point of interest—
"This Emiya Kiritsugu is definitely the same Emiya Kiritsugu from the one-shot manga!"
After finishing the chapter, Eiichiro Oda excitedly concluded.
As one of the judges for the Tezuka Award, and as one of the very few readers who had already read the one-shot manga "Emiya Kiritsugu," he had been very concerned about Kiritsugu's situation since the first chapter of Fsn.
Although both looked like the same person in terms of name, hairstyle, and appearance, none of the above information could serve as conclusive evidence.
Because his own "One Piece" had similar examples.
"Romance Dawn" was the last one-shot manga he drew before serializing "One Piece," and it was also the prototype for "One Piece."
In that one-shot manga, the person who inspired the protagonist, Luffy, to go to sea and become a pirate was not Shanks, but his grandfather, Garp.
Although Garp had not officially appeared in "One Piece" yet, he had already hidden his figure on the cover page of Chapter 92.
More importantly, this time he set Garp's identity as a Marine and always hoped that Luffy would become a Marine, which was the exact opposite of the setting in the prequel manga.
Because he had such diametrically opposite examples himself, he understood that one must never easily assume that the two Emiya Kiritsugus were the same person.
And the reason he was so certain this time was that Kiritsugu's statement in Chapter 16 matched his experience in the one-shot manga.
Therefore, the probability that both were the same person had greatly increased!
But if that were really the case, he was even more curious about what the character Emiya Kiritsugu had gone through to end up like this.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but exclaim: "How exciting!"
Although the manga only had a few simple strokes depicting Emiya Kiritsugu now, he believed that Mochizuki-sensei would definitely describe this character in detail in the future.
This was telepathy between creators (really)!
And because he also liked this method of foreshadowing, he even felt a sense of sympathy for it.
After finishing Fsn with lingering interest, he immediately turned his attention to another work by Akira in Shonen Jump—
"Weathering with You."
At the end of the first chapter last week, it was mentioned that the male protagonist, Hodaka, met the female protagonist, Hina, and discovered that she possessed a miraculous ability.
This chapter unfolded around the girl's ability, telling a cheerful story of Hodaka, Hina, and her younger brother using the ability to start a "sunshine girl" business;
At the same time, the police investigation into firearms and the intensification of abnormal weather phenomena hid a shadow beneath this joyful atmosphere.
After reading this chapter of "Weathering with You," Eiichiro Oda couldn't help but exclaim: "Mochizuki-sensei's drawing skills and imagination are truly amazing."
There was no need to say much about the drawing skills; he knew he wasn't the type to excel in drawing techniques, and even if he practiced more, it would probably be difficult to reach the other person's level.
However, he had already found his own style and was quite satisfied with it. At the very least, it could well present the content he wanted to express, and that was enough for him.
What he cared about more was actually the imagination.
Because he was also very confident in his own imagination.
And although it was all imagination, Akira's situation was different from his.
Take "Weathering with You" as an example.
The near-future world where technology and mystery coexisted, which the other party created, had both fantasy and rigor. In particular, the near-future sci-fi elements were portrayed very convincingly.
"Fate/stay night" was the same;
Although the worldview of Fsn had not been fully unfolded yet, one could faintly feel that there was a complete and self-consistent system supporting the words and actions of the characters behind the scenes.
In contrast, his shaping of the "One Piece" world tended more towards a whimsical style like a fairy tale.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart again:
I really want to get to know him.
Unfortunately, the social activities of serialized Manga Artists were almost zero. If he wanted to meet the other person, he would probably have to wait until the Shonen Jump New Year's party at the end of the year.
— — — — Wait.
That might not necessarily be the case?
Suddenly, Eiichiro Oda seemed to have thought of something, his eyes lighting up slightly.
The next moment, he immediately made a phone call to his editor.
"Mr. Asada, it's me."
"Regarding the interview video you mentioned earlier, I actually have an idea now — — — —"