Tonari no Young Jump series "Choujin X" vol. 3 is on sale starting today, May 18th (Wed)...!

The yellowish cover stands out. Please carry it around with you whenever your lucky color of the day is yellow!

(Choujin X / Higashi Azuma)

Chapter 2 of "Choujin X" is out!

It was hard trying to draw all these things by myself, but it'll be worth it if you read it...! I hope you like it!!

#ChoujinX

I went to the Ishida Sui exhibition since today was the last day. It's been a long time since I've thought back to those days.

To my days of serialization.

I wrote in the afterword of the final volume about how difficult of a time I had, But well, although that must have been true...

As I gazed upon the countless number of illustrations on display, a thought suddenly crossed my mind. "Oh, I was having fun back then."

#FukuokaAsianArtMuseum

I've stated before how "I've always thought about quitting," but I don't think there's ever been a time where I've thought, "I don't want to draw."

It's a subtle difference in nuance, but it makes me wonder.

Perhaps it wasn't the act of drawing manga that I hated, but rather being a mangaka that I detested.

I believed that the quintessential mangaka I created in my mind was someone who has to constantly work as a mangaka all the time or do stuff they don't really like as an adult, and so I did things that didn't suit myself at all.

That might have been what I had a hard time struggling with.

But I'm certain that drawing (...usually I'd dismiss my own art) was able to provide comfort to me at the time.

When I entered the admission area and saw the montage video, I felt overwhelmed, engrossed by the sight of my own art play across the screen. The vividly-coloured art that took painstaking effort for me to paint.

It made me think that at the time I was painting it, I must have been having fun.

This is really embarrassing for me to admit, but back when the exhibition was being planned,

I was so overwhelmed by the colossal amount of work I had to do, and coupled with the fact that I wasn't able to have an objective view of Tokyo Ghoul at the time, I was so lost in thought during the meetings that I felt very bad for the organizers involved in the project.

Once I've composed myself enough, I'd like to apologize to them for being so rude. Thank you so much for organizing this wonderful exhibition.

• Ishida first approached Towada about Jack Jeanne long before its name was confirmed. But at the time, he was asking her for advice since she likes adventure and simulation games (before she was asked to join as a writer). At the time, Ishida was fascinated with the idea of multiple endings in a game since he’s depicting all kinds human relationships in his works.
• Script production process: Towada and Ishida have meetings to faithfully reproduce Ishida’s world he dreamt up ⟶ Towada incorporates the details discussed during the meetings into the plot ⟶ Ishida checks and confirms ⟶ Towada writes script ⟶ Ishida makes corrections and Towada adjusts the text ⟶ Towada and a professional proofreader make final corrections
• Since Ishida was responsible for so many tasks (overseeing the script, drawing the illustrations, three-view drawings, writing the lyrics, etc.), he would create a personality that best suited each task, from a cheerful music producer to an enlightened monk while working on the three-view drawings.
• Jack Jeanne is the largest project Towada has ever worked on, with 20 volumes worth of text in one work. She was able to get support from JUMP j BOOKS (a subsidiary of Jump that provides novelized stories for manga). She got a professional proofreader; Nanao who wrote the novels for “The Promised Neverland” to write the sub-scenarios; and her former colleagues to gather materials and manage the script. A team effort.
• When writing the characters and how they act, Towada had to think about the worries and suffering each character carries. Why does each character feel they way they do, how can their issues be resolved, and what is needed to resolve it?
• Ishida asked Towada to avoid coming up with choices that could be considered objectively right or wrong, but to come up with interesting options whichever option the player chose instead, which she found difficult to do. Towada back then thought of JJ as a story about young male revues, but her perspective changed to that of a coming-of-age story.
• If Towada had to recommend a route: all of them, but to pay attention to Kisa (the MC)’s route in particular since it’s the core of JJ. The main writer for that route was Ishida.
• What to pay attention to in the demo version: everything (script, illustrations, music, dance, cast performances) as they are combined to create the world of Jack Jeanne. The rookie performance as well.
• Some of her final words: Jack Jeanne is a story in which each person seeks salvation by performing in a world where it’s difficult to be rewarded.