Naturally, every creator involved in the 'Type-Moon World' project received a copy of the setting book.
After finalizing the terms with novelist Kirigami Ruri, the next step was collaborating with the three manga artists.
Compared to negotiating with a novelist, reaching agreements with manga artists was much simpler.
Just like Japan's animation industry, the manga industry was equally brutal. A stable serialized manga was practically every manga artist's dream.
The manga industry in Japan was no less ruthless than animation production.
Except for a very small number of manga artists who preferred playing mahjong, the more famous a mangaka became, the more sweat and sacrifice their success demanded.
Take two globally renowned shōnen manga from Kamiyā Yuu's previous world as examples—'Dragon Ball' and 'One Piece.'
Akira Toriyama, the creator of 'Dragon Ball,' once admitted that there had been a week during which he slept for only twenty minutes. His exact words in an interview were:
"I once went six days with only twenty minutes of sleep. It honestly felt like I was going to die."
Even the Saiyans from 'Dragon Ball' themselves might not have been able to endure such an inhuman workload.
According to Toriyama, he simply kept drawing manga until he could no longer stay conscious, then closed his eyes for a brief nap before waking up and continuing to draw. He completely lost any concept of day or night.
The claim of sleeping only twenty minutes a week might have been slightly exaggerated, but it certainly wasn't made out of thin air.
The suffering Toriyama endured in his youth left him psychologically scarred for life.
Even after becoming wealthy and famous through 'Dragon Ball,' he did not seriously return to drawing serialized manga for more than twenty years. Simply touching ink made him mentally resistant to the idea. At most, he would occasionally produce a very short one-shot.
Eiichiro Oda, the creator of 'One Piece,' once told Toriyama during an interview that he often slept only three hours a day, from two in the morning until five. Every remaining hour was devoted to rough drafts, final pages, or planning the story.
During the serialization of 'One Piece,' he had to suspend publication several times due to emergency hospitalization.
According to schedules later revealed through Jump-ryū, Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of 'Naruto,' lived much the same way.
Those creators of blockbuster manga were actually among the fortunate ones.
The truly tragic cases were the countless unknown manga artists who worked even harder than they did, only to receive absolutely nothing in return.
Whenever Kamiyā Yuu thought of manga artists, he inevitably remembered the inspirational anime 'Bakuman.'
Created by the famous mangaka Takeshi Obata—the artist behind classics such as 'Death Note' and 'Hikaru no Go'—'Bakuman' itself was adapted from a manga and followed two boys striving toward their dream of becoming manga artists.
Although it was an inspirational story, it also vividly portrayed just how difficult life as a mangaka truly was.
The two protagonists devoted nearly all of their time to creating manga. They experienced success, failure, setbacks, and eventually achieved their dream of receiving an anime adaptation.
Even then, however, the hardships depicted were still a romanticized version of reality.
The three manga artists selected by Morishita Aoi were all respected figures within the industry.
Unfortunately, for various reasons, none of their careers had been going particularly smoothly.
At a time like this, the olive branch extended by Yosuganosora Animation Studio was nothing short of a lifeline.
Unlike a handful of major publishers, most Japanese manga companies did not sign artists to exclusive contracts.
To make ends meet, manga artists often serialized different works in different magazines simultaneously.
If they ever failed to properly balance their schedules, the consequences could be disastrous.
To avoid hiatuses and delays, they frequently sacrificed their sleep and quite literally burned away their own health.
Hiromu Arakawa—the female creator of 'Fullmetal Alchemist'—had, when she first moved to Tokyo, drawn her own manga while simultaneously working as an assistant to other manga artists and holding a part-time job just to support herself.
Fortunately, among these three artists, only Matsumoto Kura was currently serializing another work.
The other two were between serializations, so there was little risk of scheduling conflicts.
Well-known manga artists were practically all workaholics.
With one notable exception.
The man who loved playing mahjong—Yoshihiro Togashi.
As the creator of classics such as 'Yu Yu Hakusho,' 'Level E,' and 'Hunter × Hunter,' Togashi possessed talent far beyond that of ordinary manga artists.
He could genuinely be called a once-in-a-generation genius within Japan's manga industry.
All three series had been adapted into anime.
'Hunter × Hunter' had even received a complete remake.
It also resulted in the rather absurd situation where the remake eventually caught up to—and was forced to stop because of—the manga's serialization pace.
'Yu Yu Hakusho' was old enough to set aside.
'Hunter × Hunter' was undeniably a masterpiece.
Even so, Kamiyā Yuu believed 'Level E' was the work that truly showcased Togashi's genius.
Unfortunately, despite being incredibly entertaining, the anime consisted of only thirteen episodes.
Kamiyā Yuu still remembered watching it after someone recommended it as an old classic.
He had gone in simply wanting to give it a try.
Instead, the protagonist—the "Idiot Prince"—had made him laugh so hard his stomach hurt.
He could barely breathe, yet he simply couldn't stop laughing.
At the time, he was still living in a student dormitory.
He struggled desperately to suppress his laughter, causing his entire bed frame to shake violently.
His roommates looked at him with increasingly strange expressions, apparently convinced he was doing something that absolutely wasn't suitable for children.
Togashi's fame throughout the ACG community owed as much to his endless hiatuses as it did to his works.
His earliest lengthy hiatus lasted from February 2006 until October 2007—a total of one year and eight months.
After that came what fans jokingly referred to as an "indefinite hiatus."
By 2015, his annual hiatus rate had surpassed one hundred percent, breaking his previous record of ninety-five percent set in 2013.
Before that, there had also been his ninety-one percent hiatus rate in 2006.
Manga artists publishing in Weekly Shōnen magazines were, in principle, expected to serialize one chapter every week.
Very few were ever allowed to rest.
Yet, for reasons known only to the editors, Togashi was permitted to publish only once a month.
Even that wouldn't have made readers particularly angry.
After all, many fans were perfectly willing to accept rough drafts resembling the original webcomic version of 'One-Punch Man.'
The real issue was his limitless hiatuses.
As a result, both Chinese and Japanese fans affectionately dubbed him "Old Thief Togashi."
His wife also deserved a brief mention.
She was perhaps the greatest reason behind all of Togashi's hiatuses.
That wasn't meant as criticism.
Rather, it perfectly illustrated the hopeless extent of Togashi's laziness and chronic procrastination.
Photos had even circulated online showing him living amid what looked like a mountain of garbage.
Naoko Takeuchi was another legendary manga artist from Kamiyā Yuu's previous world.
Her most famous work was, of course, 'Sailor Moon.'
In a sense, Takeuchi was actually an even more successful manga artist than Togashi.
The money earned from 'Sailor Moon' alone was enough to fund Togashi's mahjong hobby for the rest of his life.
Whether a manga was profitable wasn't determined solely by popularity.
The commercial value generated by a children's franchise like 'Sailor Moon' simply couldn't be compared to that of a shōnen series like 'Hunter × Hunter.'
Before earning the nickname "Old Thief Togashi," everyone knew just how hardworking he had been.
But after marrying Naoko Takeuchi, with her becoming the family's primary breadwinner, his financial pressure was greatly reduced.
Otherwise, if Togashi had run out of money to play mahjong...
He probably would have obediently gone back to drawing manga.
Pressure was, after all, the best cure for laziness and procrastination.