Great Mangaka

"Launch delayed, but sales are maintained. Weekly Shonen magazine has been a huge hit in major bookstores!"

"Detective Conan introduces new characters and the myth of the protagonist crumbles, causing much dissatisfaction!"

"Beautiful and exquisite, shocking, Mirai-sensei shows off his wit, promising to use the most handsome thief to fight Detective Sherlock!"

Several newspapers were on Alice's desk. Without reading them, he knew that Takumi Sato had succeeded.

The impact of the delayed release was far less than the sensation caused by this issue of Detective Conan. The entire city of Osaka was in a shopping frenzy. Some booksellers even sold copies at a higher price privately, but they still sold out within a day.

The editors of the editorial department congratulated Alice with envy, and Haruki Suno, the secondary editor, asked her to pass on a letter from Professor Hayama.

That letter was not encrypted, so Alice could read its contents. Professor Hayama praised the new plot of Detective Conan, said he was a new fan of Master Mirai and hoped that he could defeat Detective Sherlock.

"Who is Professor Hayama?"

When Alice took over Takumi, she heard Kurosawa, editor-in-chief of Hinotori Publishing, specifically mention this veteran cartoonist. He was said to have a great prejudice against Takumi, and Kurosawa asked Alice to be careful not to affect him. However, little time has passed since then, and Professor Hayama has become a fan of the young mangaka.

Takumi is gaining recognition with her sleeves, which fills Alice with pride.

But while the entire editorial department was excited, the editor-in-chief, Kurosawa, sat at his desk with a frown.

"Editor-in-chief, are you not satisfied with the sales of this issue?" asked Alice curiously.

"No, sales are going well." Kurosawa shook his head, looked up, and said, "I was thinking if it would be appropriate for Takumi... Maestro Mirai will present the role of Kid more. His charm is excessive and can steal the limelight from the main hero."

He originally meant Takumi, but then changed words. Now the editorial department uses a pseudonym to refer to him, avoiding the risk of leaks.

"I don't think we should worry about that problem."

Alice smiled and said, "I've talked to Master Mirai and he has no intention of including Kid in the main plot. Kid is a special character who appears occasionally. Its greatest attraction is mystery, and Master Mirai will not destroy that mystery."

Keeping the mystery creates a special beauty. The original Kaito Kid is one such character. It mysteriously appears and disappears with an unattainable elegance. Readers don't know who he is, what he's like, where he comes from, or where he's going, so they're eagerly awaiting his next magnificent appearance.

In short, Kid's influence on Detective Conan is not very great, but it will have a huge impact on readers.

"If the editor-in-chief is worried, I'll go to Master Mirai's house to look for the manuscript for the next volume so we can learn Kid's position," Alice added.

Kurosawa nodded: "Good."

"By the way, could you help me remind Master Mirai of something?"

---

"Don't draw it too pretty?"

At noon, Takumi Sato received a message from Alice and couldn't help but wonder if Kurosawa was crazy.

Other artists want their works to look better, but Kurosawa wanted Takumi not to draw too pretty!

"This sentence is not what you think."

Alice smiled bitterly and explained that Kurosawa wanted Takumi to keep the normal comic fragments and not draw the images that exceeded the specifications, such as the last drawing of the first chapter, the promotional poster, and the Kaito Kid this time.

"Why?"

Takumi was a little unhappy: "I drew those images with a lot of effort. Aren't they good?"

He felt that his efforts had been in vain.

"Not bad, it's too good."

Alice shook her head, took some reports out of her purse, and spread them out on the table.

"Look, this is part of the results of the multi-month readers' survey."

Takumi took the report curiously, and Alice continued:

"In the survey of how readers fell in love with Detective Conan, we found something very strange. More than 50% of readers were attracted to the image of the first episode."

"They saw that image in magazines, the internet and with friends, so they were interested in buying the magazine. It's undeniable that Detective Conan is of great quality to retain them, but without that image, the readership would shrink considerably at first, and it could take a long time to consolidate before becoming popular."

"Are you exaggerating?"

"No, the original comics are less popular than you think."

Alice seemed indifferent.

If a market is desolate, even high-quality works take time to consolidate. Takumi broke that rule.

"Not only that, we did a survey on your posters and the results were amazing. A lot of people who haven't read Detective Conan plan to buy the individual tomes because the posters are so beautiful that they're willing to spend money to collect them."

"And with the Weekly Shonen issue  that came out yesterday, you showed that talent for the third time."

Alice paused, smiling.

"Guess what happened?"

"What?"

"Three hours," Alice held up three fingers and smiled. We printed more than 300,000 copies in advance, but it only took three hours for a week's worth of copies in Osaka City to sell out."

Let me tell you something: no matter how popular magazines are, publishers and booksellers usually reserve some copies for the next few days, so if you are going to close early the next morning for the weekly edition of Shonen, you still have a chance to buy it.

However, when the Kaito Kid appeared, Japan went crazy. Veteran readers preferred to pay more to get the magazine. Booksellers secretly sold copies at very high prices and are now pressuring the publisher to print more.

The reason, of course, is the charm of the Kaito Kid, but how did it come about?

'Mystery, beauty... none of that is the main cause. The real reason must be the stunning cover image.' That illustration shaped the first impression readers had of the Kaito Kid. And that impression fully blossoms once the plot unfolds and Kid's charisma is fully manifested.

"…"

Takumi Sato read the report silently, reflecting.

"No! According to what you say, this is a good thing, why don't you let me draw it?"

"The editor-in-chief isn't saying you should never draw it, but choose it carefully," Alice replied with a slight smile. "We worry that readers will get used to it if they watch it too often. We must not ruin the impact of history. The fewer drawings of that type there are, the better. As long as they show up at key moments, it's fine."

"You have to treat it like it's a magic weapon."

After listening to his explanation, Takumi finally understood.

'It makes sense... although, to be honest, inspiration rarely appears. So, even if I wanted to draw more, I can't always do it.'

'And Kurosawa is really worried about it? Shouldn't we be more focused on individual volume now?'