- Location
- Phoenix, Arizona
- Pronouns
- She/Her
[X]Plan Knowing our Team
Don't Miss Your Deadline! (Manga Editor Quest)
- Thread starter zamin
- Start date
- Original Modern
10ebbor10
DON'T PANIC
- Location
- Present
Don't forget about mobile apps.
- Location
- Italy
I was kinda tempted to make a variant of this one with that, but at this point we're far enough that it's probably not worth it. In the end we're just delaying Big 3 and trending by a turn, we're probably going to take at least one each turn anyway.
mangaplus is again a decent example to imitate, though there's also plenty of kinda-pirate-y ones too, that ignoring advertisement/popups/limitations are actually better than the official ones
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Ugh, it's even worse than I thought.It basically looks like a kid's site from the 00s. So something like this:
In the future you may have a chance to bring it up with the board. Convincing them to fix the site will definitely cost a good chunk of Favor ("It's always worked fine before. Why should we pay to change it now?"), but if you can do it it'll increase your popularity dice because more people will come to read your stuff. So instead of 2d6 you may start rolling 2d8, 2d10, etc. instead.
I guess we're really going to have to get our professional suck-up on if we want to fix that mess.
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It's websites like this that remind me why exactly minimalism has become such a big thing as far as graphic design goes. Good lord, what a mess.
How are they even a profitable business with such a terrible website?
… we are profitable right?
Hyacinthium
Writing about sad cannibals as we speak.
- Location
- Bedroom
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Jesus the website is THAT BAD?!
That's actually quite illuminating. Hits home his character, but has some possible implications too. I wonder what would be different if he picked something for himself and then really went for it.
DarkKing98
Certified Village Idiot
- Location
- USA
Can I just say, I actually liked the CartoonNetwork website design?
Artemis
What's a pirate's least favourite letter?
- Location
- The Seven Seas
Ambit directed me this way. I'm really enjoying it so far! I quite like the MC we have, his own perspective of how to exploit his advantages is quite funny, but I liked that part where the boss cut him short about how meeting in person is better.
I'll vote in a bit, but first, is there any particular omake policy?
I'll vote in a bit, but first, is there any particular omake policy?
zamin
The Watcher in the Dark
Out of character, the company is still barely managing to lurch forward through sheer inertia. In character, Maeda doesn't know all the details but has definitely noticed a lot of cost cutting measures being implemented lately.
Haven't really thought about it yet, but I definitely don't want to give rerolls or bonus points cause that's probably going to end up with people spamming a bunch of low quality omakes for rewards.
Instead, I'll say that omake writers can be rewarded with a chance to suggest manga ideas for series that Maeda won't be handling. For example, things like the Top 10 list or even the other series currently being run on the Sunday Star. Alternatively, they can choose to gain Favor points instead to represent Maeda's off-screen social schmoozing.
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- Location
- Israel
How will we even do the omakes? It's going to be pretty hard to think on how to integrate several of these ideas.
I think it goes like this...
Manga Idea
Title: Cross the Blade
Inspiration: The Strongest Fencer Doesn't Use [Skills]
Genre: Action, Sports, Supernatural, Isekai
Sypnosis: A world class fencer got Isekai'd to a world where swordfighting is a way to earn glory. After saving the life of a runaway noble, he sets out to reach the top once again. Magic be damned.
Selling Point: The action scenes, it is just not made to appeal to the audience. It is made in such a way that the reader can easily see what goes on the mind of the main character making it clear that his technique is not the only thing that wins him but also his mind games. The side characters (and rivals) also show their character development thank to the author's generous day in the limelight chapters.
trooperist
Cinnamon Roll AI
Idea for a currently trending manga.
Title: Anastasia
Genre: Action, Supernatural, Historical Fiction
Synopsis: The imprisoned Romanov family is executed one by one by their bolshevik guards. But when it is Anastasia's turn, her fervent wish to survive activates the magical medallion in her possession, summoning the spirit of one of Russia's most famous knights Dobrynya Nikitich to protect her. Saved by her newly awakened magic, Anastasia must journey across Russia to the port of Vladivostok while being pursued by bolshevik assassins and the mysterious wizard Rasputin.
Main Characters:
Anastasia Romanov - The last of the royal family, Anastasia struggles with the trauma of her families death, unsure if she should try to take revenge, reclaim the crown, or live her own life. As she travels across Russia during its Civil War, she learns people's struggles as well as the goods and bads of the various sides.
Dobrynya Nikitich - Dobrynya experiences issues with culture shock as he finds himself almost a thousand years in the future as well as forgetting parts of his life that he remembers as the journey goes on. As he gets to know and teach Anastasia about ruling and combat, he struggles with his growing attachment to her along with knowing that his time as her guardian spirit is limited.
Misha - A young hunter tasked by bolshevik leadership with hunting down Anastasia. A believer in the bolshevik cause, he struggles between his ideals and if killing an innocent girl will truly bring justice like he has been told. He later ends up joining Anastasia and acts as the group's guide.
Rasputin - A selfish wizard that previously exploited the Romanov's for personal gain. He narrowly escaped death but is now living on borrowed time with the only thing that can save him being Anastasia's magic.
The series is praised not only for its mostly historically accurate look at Russian culture during the time of the Civil War but also for its interesting character dynamics, dialogues, and fight choreography. It recently finished up a very popular arc where Anastasia's group, the Reds, the Whites, and Rasputin, team up together out of necessity to fight the mythical witch Baba Yaga. The series has a sizable foreign fanbase, mostly in Russia.
The mangaka is also exasperated that people keep shipping Anastasia and Dobrynya together.
Title: Anastasia
Genre: Action, Supernatural, Historical Fiction
Synopsis: The imprisoned Romanov family is executed one by one by their bolshevik guards. But when it is Anastasia's turn, her fervent wish to survive activates the magical medallion in her possession, summoning the spirit of one of Russia's most famous knights Dobrynya Nikitich to protect her. Saved by her newly awakened magic, Anastasia must journey across Russia to the port of Vladivostok while being pursued by bolshevik assassins and the mysterious wizard Rasputin.
Main Characters:
Anastasia Romanov - The last of the royal family, Anastasia struggles with the trauma of her families death, unsure if she should try to take revenge, reclaim the crown, or live her own life. As she travels across Russia during its Civil War, she learns people's struggles as well as the goods and bads of the various sides.
Dobrynya Nikitich - Dobrynya experiences issues with culture shock as he finds himself almost a thousand years in the future as well as forgetting parts of his life that he remembers as the journey goes on. As he gets to know and teach Anastasia about ruling and combat, he struggles with his growing attachment to her along with knowing that his time as her guardian spirit is limited.
Misha - A young hunter tasked by bolshevik leadership with hunting down Anastasia. A believer in the bolshevik cause, he struggles between his ideals and if killing an innocent girl will truly bring justice like he has been told. He later ends up joining Anastasia and acts as the group's guide.
Rasputin - A selfish wizard that previously exploited the Romanov's for personal gain. He narrowly escaped death but is now living on borrowed time with the only thing that can save him being Anastasia's magic.
The series is praised not only for its mostly historically accurate look at Russian culture during the time of the Civil War but also for its interesting character dynamics, dialogues, and fight choreography. It recently finished up a very popular arc where Anastasia's group, the Reds, the Whites, and Rasputin, team up together out of necessity to fight the mythical witch Baba Yaga. The series has a sizable foreign fanbase, mostly in Russia.
The mangaka is also exasperated that people keep shipping Anastasia and Dobrynya together.
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zamin
The Watcher in the Dark
Wait. Wait wait wait wait wait-
Thank you so much for the enthusiasm, but this isn't what I meant at all. To be clear, I do not want people to just start sending me manga suggestions out of nowhere. For a more detailed explanation on why I won't be allowing this, you can check my post here.
It's more like:
Step one: Someone writes an omake
Step two: Omake gets approved and threadmarked
Step three: The omake writer can choose to submit a new manga suggestion* OR gain Favor OR declare first dibs on one of the future rolls**
* Once again, this is only for manga that Maeda will NOT be handling himself. So things like the top 10 list, other editor's work, etc.
** I'll @ you when it's time to do the roll and you will have 24 hours to respond. If you're too busy, you can ask someone else to roll for you instead.
I'm really sorry for not being clear about this earlier. Have edited my post above and will be adding an Author's Note in the first threadmark so that there will be no more misunderstandings about this in the future.
Random Member
Gardener of Human Happiness
- Location
- Behind You
[x]Plan Networking, vampire and study
zamin
The Watcher in the Dark
Alright, thanks for your patience, everyone. VOTE IS NOW CLOSED
Winner is: Plan Knowing Our Team
I should have the next post up tomorrow evening. Not sure if I'm going to put it all into one big post or split it up, but we'll see how long the introduction to the new editors will be first.
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- Location
- Italy
Well, not that it's a big deal. I'm fine with the differences (networking with cousing vs networking with ninja mangaka, and research big 3 vs research sunday star magazine). I still heavily prefer big 3 over sunday star, but I admittedly don't think it will make much of a difference.
On one hand, we only have guesswork on whether the vampire manga based on mangaka Real Life or not, and IC-ly our PC don't even think it...so IC-ly we have no strong reason try to talk to higher up.
On the other hand, I'm 95% sure we will ignore the ecchi request from PC cousin, so I hope it didn't damage our PC rep too hard...or lose favor points.
On the other hand, I'm 95% sure we will ignore the ecchi request from PC cousin, so I hope it didn't damage our PC rep too hard...or lose favor points.
Crafter of War
The Dorf
- Location
- Bend
If us not talking to our cousin backfires and makes the problem worse, I have the right to say I told you so.
- Location
- Italy
eh, I don't REALLY expect it to cause much problems, as long as the manga gets better. It's not like he actually gave us an order, and success buys a lot of forgiveness from those who actually care (and he doesn't seem to care that much anyway)
At most an "I told you so" moment, or slightly hurt feelings.
Worst case, we can go over his head and network with HIS boss.
One simple problem, our PC is nepotism hire by his uncle, not our PC dad.
It is heavily implied that the cousin in the PC uncle son.
So the cousin in-office boss is the cousin dad underling.
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Birthday
Have a Happy One!
- Location
- Somewhere
I think it should be fine. At worst, we spend some favor next time to placate him. Like, the two things Maeda is good at are office politics and kissing ass. This kinda thing shouldn't really be a problem. Now, if we were either of the two other editors, this could develop into something bigger. But we specifically chose the starting option that's good at smoothing things over.
8. Knowing Our Team (Part 1) (Week 2 Pre-Pitching)
zamin
The Watcher in the Dark
[X]Plan Knowing our Team
-[X] [Overtime] No
-[X] Networking (Masaru-senpai): It's probably a good idea to butter up your direct superior before your other riva- I mean, editors arrive.
--[X] Look At Me, I Am The Senpai Now (Special): It seems that the new editors will be joining your team later this week. Considering his current workload, Masaru would probably be really grateful if you 'volunteered' to handle the welcoming process. The fact that it'd let you make a good first impression is just the icing on the cake. (Gain +1 Favor)
-[X] Networking (Mangaka): Paying a visit to one of your current mangakas might be a good idea, if only to ensure that they aren't having any problems meeting the deadline.
--[X] Aoki Akira: You have to admit, Aoki-san doesn't seem like the kind of person you'd typically expect to be interested in a mangaka career. It might be a good idea to learn more about his motivations.
--[X] Sano Morita: You may be new, but even you can tell that hiring someone so young is going to cause some issues. It's probably a good idea to visit him eventually, if only to reassure his parents that you're not trying to take advantage of him.
-[X] Research: It's probably a good idea to make sure that you're not totally ignorant about your job anymore. (Progress towards removing Maeda's "Complete Newbie" trait)
--[X] Sunday Star Series: What kind of series is your magazine currently running? If nothing else, this should let you see what your direct competition will look like.
-[X] [Overtime] No
-[X] Networking (Masaru-senpai): It's probably a good idea to butter up your direct superior before your other riva- I mean, editors arrive.
--[X] Look At Me, I Am The Senpai Now (Special): It seems that the new editors will be joining your team later this week. Considering his current workload, Masaru would probably be really grateful if you 'volunteered' to handle the welcoming process. The fact that it'd let you make a good first impression is just the icing on the cake. (Gain +1 Favor)
-[X] Networking (Mangaka): Paying a visit to one of your current mangakas might be a good idea, if only to ensure that they aren't having any problems meeting the deadline.
--[X] Aoki Akira: You have to admit, Aoki-san doesn't seem like the kind of person you'd typically expect to be interested in a mangaka career. It might be a good idea to learn more about his motivations.
--[X] Sano Morita: You may be new, but even you can tell that hiring someone so young is going to cause some issues. It's probably a good idea to visit him eventually, if only to reassure his parents that you're not trying to take advantage of him.
-[X] Research: It's probably a good idea to make sure that you're not totally ignorant about your job anymore. (Progress towards removing Maeda's "Complete Newbie" trait)
--[X] Sunday Star Series: What kind of series is your magazine currently running? If nothing else, this should let you see what your direct competition will look like.
Though he quibbled and worried a bit about putting too much on your plate, in the end Masaru agreed to let you 'volunteer' to welcome your newest team members.
After confirming the schedule and contact numbers, he dived right back into his ever growing pile of paperwork while you headed down to the rather cramped company cafeteria to grab a nice fresh cup of coffee.
Drink in hand, you took a seat in the quietest corner of the room and got to work. A few minutes later, you forced yourself not to groan as you read through the cluttered pile of notes that Masaru had shoved into your hands.
Since these were supposed to be experienced editors, you assumed that it'd just be a simple affair. Welcome to the office, here's your desk, let's get to work; a nice simple one-two-three.
Instead, it appeared that the official welcoming process was going to be more troublesome than you'd expected. Why hadn't you received a tour when you first arrived? And it would have been a lot easier to get acquainted with the rest of your coworkers if you'd gotten a copy of this staff list — though upon a closer look you realized that it was totally out of date.
Come to think of it, the rest of these notes didn't look anything like Masaru's handwriting either. Is that why Masaru hadn't done this introduction thing with you properly? Did he just assume that you'd already gone through the orientation earlier or did he deliberately… no, wait, you've seen his workload. You doubt that he'd have enough time or energy to screw with you like this, even if he wanted to.
What was going on here? Was there supposed to be someone else in charge of this? Had you… had you just agreed to do someone else's work for them?
Fuming at being tricked so easily, you threw yourself into the task with renewed focus. Obviously, whoever was actually supposed to be doing this was hoping that you'd screw up and embarrass yourself somehow.
Unfortunately for them, you had no intention of obliging. You'd give these newbies the best damn introduction they could imagine!
To ensure that you could answer any question they could think of, you snagged the latest copy of the Sunday Star the night before the new editors arrived. You made sure to go through the whole thing from cover to cover, paying special attention to the most popular series — or at least, the ones that seemed to be popular on the company's website.
By the end of the night, you had a list of the top five series in this week's edition.
First on the list was Railway Reborn, an isekai story where the main character was reborn as a minor noble in a fantasy world and decided to create a railway in order to connect his isolated region with the rest of the nation.
Personally, you felt the setting was a bit generic, but the main character definitely had a lot of heart and personality… though you weren't sure how much of the latest chapter's popularity was due to that and how much was due to the newly introduced tribe of skimpily clad bunny girl barbarians who'd just shown up to be awed and impressed by the main character's 'genius'.
The second most popular series was White Heron Fist, a martial arts epic about a young high school student trying to reconnect with his roots by learning an obscure martial art that had supposedly been invented by one of his distant ancestors.
Despite its premise, the story itself was… surprisingly down to earth. Whoever had made this obviously seemed to know what they were doing. With the amount of detail and attention put into the training process, you wouldn't be surprised if they'd been a martial arts practitioner themselves.
The third series on the list was All Your Data Is Belonging To Us, a cyberpunk story involving a spunky group of teen criminals breaking into corrupt companies' databases to find proof of their crimes and releasing it out to the public.
It was an interesting enough series, you supposed, with a rather unique setting and a psychedelic, mind-twisting artstyle to represent the weirdness of the digital world that the series seemed to spend most of its time in.
The fourth series was Great Hunter Saito, another isekai story — and one that was just on its second chapter, to boot. However, this one had a new twist; instead of being reincarnated into a generic fantasy world, the main character had apparently been dropped into a Jurassic Park style island filled with giant man-eating monsters and told to survive for as long as possible.
On the plus side, it was definitely an interesting concept. Even you had to admit that a land filled with fantasy dinosaurs was at least more interesting than the usual generic medieval fantasy land that most of these types of stories were set in.
It's a shame that the mangaka couldn't quite pull it off. While the beginning had been rather promising, the main character found a miraculous magical power up halfway through the latest chapter which kind of… deflated all the tension. It's hard to be scared of a T-Rex when you've got the ability to shoot a laser beam through its entire body, after all.
Finally, the fifth most popular series in the magazine was… Space Racer Subaru-kun. Huh. Well, you'd known it was good, but you didn't think it'd be this good. Tana-sensei had apparently managed to knock the previous big sci-fi series off the top five list. Now you just hoped that she'd be able to maintain it.
====
The next day found you in the office bright and early. Earlier than usual, anyway. Had to make a good impression on your newest riva- coworkers, after all.
You sat patiently in the lobby area, flicking through the now dog-eared copy of this week's Sunday Star as you waited for them to arrive. However, just as you were about to relax, you heard a voice call out your name.
"Hey, hey! You that Maeda guy? I'm John! Nice ta meetcha!"
Looking up, you couldn't help staring at the giant sized blonde man who'd just introduced himself to you. What was this? What was going on here? Were you being pranked?
Normally you tried to keep an open mind, even with foreigners. But this guy… what was he wearing? Didn't he know that this was supposed to be an office?
"Oh, I see you noticed my shirt!" he said, beaming with pride as he… flexed? What was he doing? Why was he doing it in public?! "Just found this bad boy over in Shibuya yesterday! It's crazy how easy it is to find merchandise here! You know, back in the states I'd have to pay nearly double the price to get something this nice. Crazy, right?"
"Ah, uh, Adam-san-"
"Just call me John!" he interrupted you, swinging an arm around your shoulders with a smile. "After all, we're buddies now, right? That Masa guy told me that the two of us'll be working in the same team from now on!"
"Masa-? Wait, you mean Masaru-senpai?"
"Yeah, that's the one! I knew I was missing something," he laughed, the sound echoing loudly through the now empty lobby. It seemed that all your fellow coworkers had seen what was happening and decided to make themselves scarce.
Well, almost all of them.
"Ah, excuse me?" asked the nervous looking young woman. At least this one had come dressed appropriately. "Are you the ones that I'm supposed to be meeting today? Maeda-san and Adams-san?"
"I'm Maeda. I'm guessing you're the second new editor?" you asked, noting the way she perked up at the question.
"Ah, yes. It's a pleasure to meet you!" she said, bowing formally. "My name is Shion Kazane. I will be in your care."
"Aw shucks, no need to be so formal around us!" boomed John. "After all, we'll all be working next to each other from now on, right? You can just call me John, by the way!"
"I, uh, of course, John-san," she replied, sounding just as flustered as you felt. You decided to intervene before he could derail this introduction even further.
"And I am Maeda Hiroshi. Although I am technically your senpai, I only just arrived a week before you, so there is no need to… extend that kind of formality with me." Not that John would, even if you asked him to. Better to just let it go now and look magnanimous than try to force it and look like a dick.
Over the next hour, you took your newest coworkers on a brief tour through the building, briefly stopping by each of the departments along the way so that they'd at least have an idea of where everything was instead of having to ask around like you'd had to.
Along the way, the three of you conversed — not always willingly, but John was very persistent — and learned a great deal about each other.
It turned out that Shion had been a former mangaka who'd decided to switch jobs and see how things worked from this side of the table. While she lacked experience with the actual editing side of things, you had no doubt that she would be much better at guiding your mangakas and helping them achieve their fullest potential.
In contrast, John was actually the most experienced professional editor out of the three of you. Despite his… mannerisms, you had a feeling that once he calmed down a bit he would give even Masaru a run for his money. Someone like you would have no chance of competing at all. Well, as long as he didn't meet anyone in person, anyway.
"So Maeda, my man!" he boomed once again, slapping your back so forcefully you nearly fell over. "You've been here awhile, right?"
"Only a week longer, but yes," you admitted.
"Great! Now, I'm confident in my skills, but I ain't ever worked with Japanese manga before. You seem to know what you're doing, so you got any tips you wanna share with your fellow newbies?"
"Well…" you said, noticing Shion lean in eagerly as you spoke. "From my experience so far, I'd say that the most important thing is…"
Choose one option to give your fellow editors a bonus for this week:
[ ] Finding series with good potential amidst the sea of dross
[ ] Giving good advice to help the mangakas refine their work
[ ] Meeting the mangakas in person to understand them better
[ ] Taking the time to review and edit the final drafts properly
======
VOTE CLOSED
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