361 Sharp Demon Soldier (1/2)
Seiji looked at the drawing.
The drawing was of the older brother displaying his skills for the first time, defeating some hoodlums and protecting his younger sister.
This seemed like it would leave quite a deep impression, especially with the excellent attention to detail on drawing the older brother's expression. It seemed slightly icy but not overly vicious. His punching seemed pretty cool, and there was nice work done on the details of his clothes…
”What do you think?” Saki asked.
”It's a pretty nice drawing, but I can do better,” Seiji responded.
His tone was filled with self-confidence.
While this drawing was pretty good, he still believed that he could do better if he was to draw the exact same thing.
Editor Yoshizawa blinked in surprise at this.
Seiji immediately brought out his own drawing that he had brought with him and placed it on the table in front of her.
Saki's gaze paused for a moment when she saw his drawing.
She slowly picked up the drawing and carefully looked it over for a long while.
”It's excellent.” After she finished, this was her review. ”If you can draw other drawings at this same quality, then you are indeed more suitable than Demon Soldier Sensei to become the artist for Brother Monogatari.”
”I believe that I can produce other drawings of similar quality,” Seiji said resolutely.
”I believe in your confidence, Harano.” Saki looked towards him. ”Let's go meet Demon Soldier Sensei, and have a discussion with him to obtain his understanding.”
Seiji nodded.
This type of thing was better explained as soon as possible.
Sharp Demon Soldier was the pen name of Shouri Tanaka, who was currently twenty-two years old. He felt that his current life didn't match his name of ”Shouri” at all, which meant ”victory.”
He had an ordinary appearance, he was introverted, he wasn't skilled at communication, and he was basically invisible all the way from elementary school to high school. He was someone that basically blended into the air. He didn't have friends, nor did he have enemies. He wasn't popular, but he had never been bullied before, either. He was the type who was just one step above the lowest rung of the bullied in a school setting.
He felt somewhat lonely about this, but he wasn't pained. That was because he found it bothersome to communicate with others, and he found it fine to simply live without attracting others' attention, so that he could completely immerse himself in his hobbies.
He was a huge fan of manga. Ever since the second year of middle school, he had wanted to become a manga author. Starting in high school, he began writing drafts, and finally received an ”Excellent Newcomer” award in his third year of high school, helping him to get published for the first time.
Afterwards, he gave up on attending college, and moved to this city and rented a place by himself, making it his goal to become a manga author published in a serial magazine.
By now, four years had passed.
Instead of getting closer to his goal, he seemed to be getting farther and farther away.
All the drafts that he worked his hardest on were either deemed bad by editors or couldn't receive good results in competitions. He continually received many impacts.
He became numb from failure, and felt confused about the future. He didn't know what path to take anymore. That was his current condition.
Recently, Tanaka received a job to draw art for a light novel that would be published soon. The request asked him to complete it as soon as possible.
Tanaka was deeply enthralled by this light novel when he read it.
It was too amazing!
He couldn't even recall the last time that he had gotten so excited over a light novel.
Due to his excitement, Tanaka even pulled numerous all-nighters and made many draft drawings. He didn't draw only scenes from this story, and also drew his own scenes and character settings that he received inspiration for from this story.
He recalled the joy he had from his earlier days when he was drawing his own manga, and felt as if he had rediscovered his passion.