Dad's Comic Life

At Ren's house

At this moment, Jada was performing her pre-sleep skincare routine.

Just then, the door opened, causing Jada to instinctively turn her head to look.

"Wow!" A flustered voice came from the doorway.

Ren was startled by the green mask on Jada's face, but he relaxed after a moment.

"Don't scare people in the middle of the night," Ren said as he closed the door, ignoring Jada's rolling eyes. He walked over and handed her a stack of papers: "Here, take a look at my comic."

"Okay." Jada nodded, took the comic from him, and began to flip through it.

She was immediately taken aback.

Because what Ren had given her was not the storyboard she had expected.

The term "name" refers to a storyboard draft, which is a concept familiar to many—it outlines the panels of a comic.

Typically, before submitting their work, comic artists provide these drafts to editors to get their approval before proceeding with the final drawings.

What Ren handed over were the original drafts. Judging from the style of these drawings, it was clear they were crafted with care, and he had completed them in just a few days, which was surprising to Jada.

Nonetheless, Jada continued to flip through the pages, suppressing her surprise.

The first page she turned to was usually the cover of a comic, which reflects the artist's skill.

The title of Ren's comic was at the top of the cover — "Your Name."

The background featured a gradient from night to day from top to bottom, with a shooting star crossing the sky, and below were clouds and a shining sun.

On the left was a young boy standing in a city, and on the right, a young girl on a grassy field.

The sun's rays acted as a divider, splitting the settings of the two characters.

The art style was quite beautiful; Jada felt the urge to use the cover as a wallpaper.

This showed that Ren's artistic skills were quite high.

However, this wasn't an illustration; the plot was what mattered.

"A boy and a girl, must be the main characters, right?"

From the cover alone, Jada guessed that the comic was likely a youth romance story, which made her take another look at Ren.

He had considered the magazine's genre.

Different comic publishers target different audiences.

For example, among the top five publishers, there are those that focus on action and others on horror and suspense.

Readers subscribe to these magazines specifically for such stories.

If an action magazine published a youth romance story, even if the quality was good, it might not be favored by its readers.

But her publisher's magazine focused on youth romance, heartwarming, and healing types of comics, mostly attracting female readers, and Ren's comic clearly matched their audience.

Thinking this, Jada turned the page and began to formally review the plot.

"Taki, Taki, do you not remember me?"

On a subway, as the doors opened, a puzzled boy looked across to a girl who untied her hair ribbon and, with a sad face, threw it toward the boy.

And she revealed her name: "My name is... Mitsuha."

The ribbon fluttered in the wind and was eventually caught by the boy's hand.

"Childhood friends who separated when they were young and met again on a subway when grown up, but the male protagonist doesn't recognize her? Eventually, through the girl's efforts, they meet again?"

Looking at the opening scene and combining it with the title "Your Name," Jada made a guess and nodded internally.

This start seemed decent.

The current market trend featured stories where the male lead encounters the female lead and a series of events unfold, similar to the plot of Ren's comic.

However, as Jada read on, her expression showed a bit of surprise because she found some parts hard to understand.

The scene shifted, and the girl, Mitsuha, woke up startled from bed, suggesting that everything that had just happened was her dream.

Mitsuha looked around confusedly, perhaps because she was too groggy from sleep, which made the plot so far quite normal, but...

"Sister, what are you doing?"

At some point, a young girl with one hand on the door looked helplessly at Mitsuha.

Unexpectedly, Mitsuha seemed unaware that she was the girl's sister and even doubted the authenticity of her own breasts.

Amnesia? Could it be that the events in the dream happened the previous day, and because the male protagonist did not recognize her, she was traumatized and lost her memory? Or was it due to an accident?

Jada's expression showed some interest.

However, the scene changed again; Mitsuha was about to have breakfast.

As she was serving the rice, her

 grandmother commented, "You're quite normal today."

"Yesterday was too fierce," even her sister teased her.

But Mitsuha seemed unaware of what happened yesterday, and as she continued to ask her grandmother and sister what had occurred, the television news suddenly broadcast a report—

It mentioned a comet that visits once every 1200 years, due to arrive in a month.

The comet was a key point!

Jada guessed this because there were two comets on the cover, and this particular frame emphasized it.

Nevertheless, she continued reading.

In the following scenes, even her classmates were curious about the difference between Mitsuha today and yesterday, even suggesting she undergo an exorcism.

However, these comments only made Mitsuha feel even more perplexed.

In the classroom.

Mitsuha's classroom notes suddenly had a line of text— "Who are you?"

Soon, the same question appeared on the blackboard, and the teacher even discussed the origins of the words 'dusk' and 'twilight,' saying that one might encounter non-human entities at those times.

This made Jada frown.

Adding mysterious and supernatural elements to a youth romance story? Or was it inherently a mystery and supernatural comic?

But she didn't say much and continued reading.