Winning Vote: [X] Focus more on the post-editing process (Gain +30 Editor Points, 5 Suggestions per turn)
"I'd work more on the post editing process," you decided. "The mangaka obviously had some good ideas already, but even the best plot sometimes needs pruning."
"Well said!" John laughed. "I can't tell you how many times I've had to tell a writer to stop throwing in new shit just for the sake of it."
The two of you spent the rest of the walk chatting excitedly about what you would have done differently if you'd been in charge of My Hero Academia.
John seemed rather sour about the ending (though he still refused to share any details to avoid spoiling you). He argued passionately about how even the best writers needed time to work, pointing out many successful series that had ended up suffering in quality after becoming popular because the writers faced increasing pressure to publish their work quickly.
Not having any personal experience in the matter, you mostly nodded along to his words, chiming in occasionally when you thought of a new point.
After finally collecting your drinks, the two of you returned to John's place fully energized and ready to watch another season of spandex clad heroes and villains beating the shit out of each other.
===
The next morning, you remained wrapped up in your comfy blankets for much longer than usual, only crawling out of bed once the sun was high in the sky. Staring at your bleary, bloodshot eyes in the mirror, you cursed your past self for being so free and easy with his drinking.
You've shrugged off worse before, but waking up with a hangover is never fun.
After freshening up as best you could, you made your way to the kitchen only to find John looking as insufferably cheerful as ever despite the fact that he already had his work laptop up and running on the dining table.
"Morning, Maeda!" he called, ignoring your flinch at the loud volume as he pointed to the covered dish on the counter. "There's your breakfast. Wasn't sure what you normally have, so I just made the usual: toast, eggs, beans and bacon. It ain't fancy, but it'll fill you up."
Muttering your thanks, you grabbed your plate and sat down across from John. Instead of using your knife and fork as intended, you simply piled up all the other ingredients on top of the toast as an impromptu sandwich that was as messy as it was delicious.
Normally you'd try to be neater about it, but with your current headache you aren't really in the mood to care about table manners. Besides, you doubted that John would be the kind of person who'd care about eating "properly".
As you slowly worked your way through the wonderfully greasy meal, your coworker turned back to his work, stopping occasionally in order to take a sip from a mug with the words
"World's #1 Dad!" sloppily painted on the side.
"Well, that's a stinker," he sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Based on the views and comments so far, it looks like one of my series is probably about to get axed soon."
"Really? Which one?" you asked between bites.
"
'Homecoming Isekai: I Hate Being On Earth, So Let Me Return to the Dungeon'," he said, not even missing a beat at the ridiculous name. The sad part was that even you had begun to grow desensitized to bad titles at this point. "I did warn the mangaka that he needed to actually progress the plot this week, but apparently the Assistant Editor in Chief wanted him to add a
tsundere to the protagonist's harem first, so here we are."
Groaning, you covered your eyes. Goddammit, shit like this is why nobody wanted to talk to Daisuke unless they absolutely had to. It's embarrassing enough to be a lonely, socially maladjusted NEET, but did he really
have to act like one at every opportunity?
"Well, look on the bright side; at least that's one series you won't have to worry about anymore," you said, trying to cheer up the glum looking John.
He simply shook his head, sighing as he continued clicking. "I suppose you're right. It still sucks to lose a series this quickly, but there's not much I can do about it at this point. You wanna take a look at how your series are doing?"
"... sure, why not. It's not like my headache could get any worse."
Popularity of Space Racer Subaru-kun (Chapter 2): 3 + 3 =
6
AsukaisMyLaifu: Laaaame. What's with all this boring talky talky shit? Where's the racing?
MysteryMaster: As much as I appreciate worldbuilding, I have to admit to being a little disappointed here. The artstyle feels a lot sloppier this time, with the action scenes in particular looking much less polished compared to just last week. Despite its good start, it feels like this series has tripped and fallen after just barely crossing the starting line.
PrettyPinkCure: Wait, so Kiki can become anything she eats? What would happen if she ate Subaru? Would she… turn into him? Gross!
Popularity of Our Daughter is Actually a Vampire! (Chapter 2): 6 + 4 =
10
AsukaisMyLaifu: Okay, I can dig this. It's not the best, but at least it's kinda funny. And the daughter is cute too!
MysteryMaster: This week's chapter definitely feels like a step in the right direction. The relationship between father and daughter is as sweet as it is hilariously filled with misunderstandings, and the dialog in particular feels a lot funnier this time around.
PrettyPinkCure: The daughter and her friend are soooo cute together! I know they just showed up, but I'm shipping them already! Also, I love how the dad and daughter both actually look like they've lost a few pounds by the end of the chapter.
Popularity of My Secret Ninja Sensei Needs to Stop Training Me (Chapter 2): 8 + 0 =
8
AsukaisMyLaifu: The library fight was alright, but that's about it.
MysteryMaster: On one hand, the story seems to be progressing slightly. But on the other hand, this whole chapter feels like a bit of a slog to get through. I'll still give this a chance, but I'm not sure how much longer I'll stick with this.
PrettyPinkCure: At least it's a little better than last time? I'm glad they've stopped with the fart jokes, but the rest of it is just kinda meh.
"That bad, huh?" John said, watching you cradle your head in your arms in despair. "Looks like I'm not the only one who'll be getting a message from the Editor in Chief tomorrow then."
===
-[X] Networking (Board of Directors): Alternatively, you can take his advice and just go directly to the Board. Calling on your Uncle Taishi for a favor might be a little overkill, but what's a little blatant nepotism between workmates?
On Monday morning, you arrived at the office about an hour earlier than usual. Normally you wouldn't bother, but today was the date of your meeting with the Board of Directors and you needed all the preparation time you could get.
To avoid embarrassing yourself - or worse, Uncle Taishi - you had to at least
look like a serious, hardworking worker who definitely knew what he was doing.
At 11am precisely, you stepped away from your desk, giving John and Shion a half-hearted wave as they wished you good luck. By 11.10am, you had reached the seventh floor where your uncle spent most of his time working.
His secretary, a cheerfully sweet young woman who had obviously been chosen for her looks rather than her skills, had barely given you a glance before waving you past.
"You're the nephew, right? Go on. Maeda-sama's free at the moment." she said.
Nodding in thanks, you brushed past her and took a deep breath before knocking on his office door.
"Ah, Hiroshi. Right on time, as usual," said the man sitting at the desk.
His name was Maeda Taishi. Vice Chairman of the Board, Executive Managing Director of the company, former
shogi professional player (you could see a few of his old trophies hung up on a shelf just behind him), loving father and husband (usually), and most importantly, your doting uncle.
"Good morning, uncle," you greeted him, bowing at precisely a 45 degree angle in order to show respect. Your uncle was a big fan of things being done "properly", especially if it involved someone else buttering him up for something. "I hope your day has been pleasant so far."
"Good enough, good enough," he said, gesturing at you to sit down in the chair across from him. It was a plain wooden chair, designed to be just a
little shorter than normal so that most people would have to look up to see him.
You try not to take it personally. You're pretty sure that he doesn't even
have a nicer chair to offer. After all, why would anyone he'd want to impress come down here to his office instead of summoning him over to theirs?
"Now then, Hiroshi," he said, resting his chin upon his hand as he leaned back. "You said that you wanted to bring up a few things to the board during the meeting today?"
"Indeed, uncle. It seems that our Editor in Chief has some… unreasonable expectations regarding our work. I was hoping that we could convince him to adjust his expectations a little."
"Hmph. This again?" your uncle grumbled. "Suzuki-san has been causing a ruckus at every board meeting he's attended so far. Quite frankly, if it weren't for his years of experience with the company he would have been sacked by now."
"Really?" you said, trying to hide your shock. "I had heard that he had been attending a lot of board meetings, but…"
"He's too stubborn, that one," your uncle said. "Good at his job, but stubborn. You'll have to watch out for him."
"If I may ask, why is there such animosity between the Editor in Chief and the Board of Directors?"
"Suzuki-san is still too idealistic. He wishes to cut down our running series to the bare minimum and focus on quality instead, but with the current state of the company that's simply not feasible," your uncle shook his head. "Most of the good mangaka have already jumped ship, and we can't afford to put all our hopes on a handful of new mangaka, no matter how talented they might seem."
"I'm guessing that the Board has other plans in mind?"
"Hmph. I wish!" Uncle Taishi laughed. "That would imply that we were actually united on something. Instead, it seems that everyone has their own ideas about how things should be going. Some agree with Suzuki-san and want to focus on a quality over quantity approach, some believe that we should loosen our standards and focus on pushing out more series than before. And of course we have a few who would rather keep everything just as it is and move along without changing a thing."
He sighed, shaking his head again. "Nowadays the whole board spends more time bickering than actually getting things done."
"I see. Then how about you, uncle?" you asked. "What would be your preferences on this matter?"
"At this point, I simply want to get this issue resolved at last," he said bluntly. "You're the editor on the ground, so I'll support you on whichever option you choose."
Well, wasn't that convenient. Having Uncle Taishi around to back you up would definitely make this proposal a lot easier, but you suspected that he wouldn't always be this helpful in the future.
Over the next hour or so, the two of you discussed your plans, eventually settling on:
Current Favor is 22. Please vote by PLAN for this one.
Quantity: How many series will the Sunday Star publish each week? Determines the total number of series being published.
[ ][Quantity] 15: The bare minimum that the board will accept at this point in time. (-15 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 20: A slight reduction, allowing you to cut off some of the worst performing series. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 25: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 30: Increasing the number of series will allow us to spread out a bit more. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quantity] 35: Your team can handle this, right? (-15 Favor)
Quality: How good will the Sunday Star's standards be? Determines the minimum stat needed for a chapter to be accepted.
[ ][Quality] 20: At this point, you'll take just about anything that you can get. (-15 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 30: Lowering your standards slightly in order to attract more potential mangaka. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 40: Let's just keep things the same for now. (-5 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 50: We should raise our quality to "average" at least. (-10 Favor)
[ ][Quality] 60: Only the best accepted here. (-15 Favor)
Personal Work: How much Maeda will be personally doing. Determines the minimum number of series that Maeda will be handling each week.
[ ][Personal] 3: You're happy to stick with your current series, thanks. (-5 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 4: Okay, maybe you can do a little more. (-4 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 5: You can handle this, right? (-3 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 6: Double the work, double the fun. (-2 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 7: What, are you a masochist or something? (-1 Favor)
[ ][Personal] 8: Didn't you come here to
reduce the number of series that you'd need to handle?
Edit: VOTE CLOSED
