Hiroo Terada 'My Manga History' 14) Gakudosha
My goal in coming to Tokyo was, of course, 'Manga Shonen'. I had been a devoted reader and contributor for six years, and it was my dream to draw manga for it.
I tried bringing my manuscripts to Kodansha and Kobunsha just once, but when I realized they wouldn't accept them, I focused entirely on 'Manga Shonen'. It would be more accurate to say I relied on it and clung to it.
He also mentions that 'I brought them to Kodansha but they were no good at all' in another interview from the same year this manuscript was written. In 'Nonki Sensei Manga Note', he also depicts how he brought his work to major publishers in his youth only to be given the cold shoulder.I brought them to Kodansha but they were no good at all is something he also mentions in another interview from the same year this manuscript was written. In 'Nonki Sensei Manga Note', he also depicts how he brought his work to major publishers in his youth only to be given the cold shoulder.
In 'Nonki Sensei Manga Note', he also depicts how he brought his work to major publishers in his youth only to be given the cold shoulder.Nonki Sensei Manga Note also depicts how he brought his work to major publishers in his youth only to be given the cold shoulder.
The 'Manga Shonen' publisher, 'Gakudosha', was located near Iidabashi Station. The entire company consisted of a single room just to the right of the main entrance of an old but large building with a Chinese-style roof called the Manshu Kaikan.
The founder, Kenichi Kato, returned to Kodansha as an advisor in 1952. The staff at the time consisted of five people: Kenzo Sudo (the famous editor-in-chief of 'Shonen Club' before the war), Masaaki Nakano (the son of manga artist Masaharu Nakano and an editor at 'Manga Shonen' from its early days), Hirotatsu Kato (Kenichi's son), and the sales staff, Mr. Nagai and Mr. Nakajima.
There must have been more employees during its peak. There were about ten desks, and I would use an empty one to do urgent work while I was there to drop off manuscripts, or be treated to delivery curry. Since I visited almost every other day, I got to know and became friends with other new manga artists in the same position as me.
There was Takemaru Nagai and Saburo Sakamoto, both true Tokyoites, and the twins Aooni and Akaoni Yamane, who came to Tokyo from Toyama and became disciples of Suiho Tagawa. They were all younger than me, but they were genius boys who had already turned professional a few years prior.
'Manga Shonen' also saw that the five of us got along well and planned a collaborative special manga feature for us. We would take turns working on themes like 'What if...' or 'Fairy Tales: The Aftermath', which was both fun and a great learning experience.
In Takemaru Nagata's 'Record of the Manga Shonen Collaboration' from the COM 'Tokiwaso Story', the scene where these members meet and work on the collaboration is depicted.
Eventually, the Yamane brothers left, saying they were 'too busy with work from other companies' (it seems another reason was that 'Manga Shonen' was slow to pay manuscript fees), and Naoya Moriyasu and Fujiko Fujio joined, leading to the formation of the New Manga Party (first phase).
My first job after coming to Tokyo was for the November 1953 issue of 'Manga Shonen', which included four pages of 'Chakkari-kun', three pages of 'Hontokashira Hakase', two pages of 'School Trip Quiz', and several panel manga. The manuscript fee I received was 5,170 yen. I was so shocked by how low it was and how it fell short of my expectations that everything went dark before my eyes.
I had been earning 7,000 to 8,000 yen in salary in Shibata, and even for contributions, I was getting 1,500 yen per page, so this was serious because it wasn't even enough to cover my 6,000 yen boarding house rent.
I later learned that Gakudosha was in terrible financial trouble.
However, with my skills, I could only work for 'Manga Shonen', and since they were using me favorably, I couldn't make selfish complaints. If the unit price was low, I would make up for it with volume, so I shut myself in my three-mat room and drew as hard as I could.
The December issue paid 6,970 yen, and the 1954 New Year's issue paid 14,195 yen.
Things started to look brighter.