Chapter 123
This Oda Nobuo has the style of Showa!
Chapter 123 This Oda Nobuo has the style of Showa!
As the official propaganda time approached, more and more people gathered in the small square.
"Thank you for purchasing One Punch Man. Thank you for your care." Oda Shingo greeted his comic fans with a smile on his face.
The fan handed over the comic book for autograph and said, "Ah, Mr. Oda, I didn't expect you to be so young."
However, a line had already started forming in front of Kousuke Watsuki's autograph booth next door.
In front of Oda Shingo's autograph booth, there were obviously fewer fans than Watsuki Kousuke, with only two or three people at a time.
Oda Shingo was not in a hurry, chatting with the fans who bought the comic books one by one, and he was not in a hurry at all. He also wrote slowly while signing, and it seemed that he wrote a lot more.
The effect of such a signing session is that there is always someone in front of the stage and the audience does not get bored.
Sometimes, he even wrote down the fans' suggestions in a small notebook, which made the fans whose opinions were recorded very happy.
Kousuke Watsuki has been secretly keeping an eye on Shingo Oda.
The two platforms were only two or three steps apart, separated by two ropes.
Kousuke Watsuki simply took the time to speak: "Oda-kun, how is the book signing going?"
Anyone who is not blind can see the situation of the autographing. Moreover, his words have a strange rhythm, and his voice is not only proud, but also full of provocation.
"Oh, I can't compare with my senior." Oda Shingo was very polite and low-key.
Compared to the innocent youth of Kousuke Watsuki, Shingo Oda is a veteran in the anime workplace. In public, he is very clear about what attitude he should maintain.
Kousuke Watsuki continued in a sarcastic tone, "Haha, if you hadn't hired two such beautiful female assistants, maybe your readers would be lined up with people."
"..." Oda Shingo's face suddenly darkened, and he spoke word by word, "My two assistants are indispensable. Without them, there would be no smooth serialization of "One Punch Man"!"
Kousuke Watsuki was stunned by how serious he was.
Looking behind him, the murderous aura seemed to exist as a entity.
The long-legged female assistant stared at him sinisterly, as if she would cut his neck with a blade at any time.
The female assistant with a plump upper body was pressing her fingers with a clicking sound, as if she would blow someone to the sky at any time.
Kousuke Watsuki was also a man who knew when to advance and when to retreat. He immediately turned his head away and kept silent.
He thought to himself: Wait until the sales of the single volume come out tomorrow, and then we’ll see who has the last laugh!
The signing continued on site, and the number of people in front of Oda Shingo's stage increased slightly, but still could not make up for the number of people next to him.
"Oda Shingo is a very popular manga author." The older bookstore owner stood by and watched for a long time. Suddenly he said with emotion, "It's been many years since I've seen a manga author who is so close to his fans."
A young man in charge of security nearby responded, "Oh? For a long time?"
The bookstore owner seemed to have opened up and kept talking about the beauty of the comics market in the Showa era.
"Yes, those are memories from the Showa era. The works back then were not just chasing the market like they are now."
"Manga fans back then were not as picky as they are now." "They were willing to accept different types of comics and would look for the bright spots in comics. In the Showa era, they focused on the wonderfulness of comics, instead of just finding faults and shortcomings like they do now."
"The cartoonists back then didn't just cater to the readers like they do now."
"During the book signings during the Showa era, manga artists sincerely communicated with readers when selling books. They were happy to hear readers' voices and expectations, and they would also carefully write down readers' thoughts and opinions."
The young security guard was a little envious: "That must have been a time when the comics atmosphere was great."
"Yes, this Oda Shingo has the style of Showa!" The bookstore owner sighed, took out his mobile phone to take some pictures and posted them online.
The young security guard also followed suit and recorded the scene where Shingo Oda patiently communicated with the readers in the form of a short video, and sent it to several internet celebrities he followed on YouTube.
After recalling the good old days of comics in the Showa era, the old shop owner murmured, "Unfortunately, everything started to change when the Heisei era began in 1989. People became impatient and began to like all kinds of comics that were devoid of substance and only sought excitement. It's hard to find comics that people can savor for a long time after reading them."
“What about the Reiwa era that started in 2019?”
"This is the most abominable thing! Capital has taken over the market, and all kinds of shady manipulations have made the entire comics market a mess. It's getting harder and harder to find a good comic!" The old shop owner said excitedly, even with a hint of anger. "Capital only wants to make money, and the top management of the company likes to arrange promotion by their own people, which makes it difficult for cartoonists who focus on drawing good comics to gain a foothold!"
"Yes, usually cartoonists who concentrate on drawing comics are not very popular with capitalists, and may even be retaliated against." The young security guard sighed.
"Hey, just like this Oda Shingo, his comics are good and he's a good person, but he was badly betrayed by the higher-ups!"
"Ok?"
The old shop owner looked at the few fans of Oda Shingo and sighed, "You don't know this, right? Just look at the third page of the Mainichi Shimbun..."
The security guard looked around and seemed to have a chance to take a break, so he followed the old shop owner's instructions and looked at the newspaper.
"…Damn it! Is that how it is? Hayato Hyakki of the main publication department of Qun-eisha is trying to trip up new authors?" The security guard was outraged after seeing this.
The old store manager nodded vigorously. "Yes, this newspaper was delivered before midnight last night. What it reported was like a prophecy. The One Punch Man volume was indeed delivered late! It really missed the deadline for it to be put on the shelves!"
After all, he is old, and he said these things just to eat melons and use his gossip-spreading ability. But the security guard is also a comics fan. Although he has not read "One Punch Man", he couldn't help but hear the truth.
He immediately sent the electronic version of the newspaper to several internet celebrities.
In fact, it's not just him, similar things have happened in many places.
There are fans of "One Punch Man" in thousands of bookstores. After noticing the shady dealings, they immediately spread the news to their friends and bloggers.
As time went by, even Kousuke Watsuki's intuition became a little sensitive.
He noticed that Minister Hyakki was not there.
Not to mention phone calls, not even a Line message came in. This is a bit wrong.
At around 1 p.m., Oda Shingo took out his cell phone and sent a line message to his landlord, Mrs. Yukino Fuyuki: [The action can begin!]
The release of single-volume books is quietly bringing about changes.
The reply to Mrs. Yukino Shindong's line message came quickly:
[Let's show the ghosts our punch!]
(End of this chapter)