How did a 245 page long manga get published in Shosetsu Gendai?
A very long 245 page oneshot was published on the December issue of the literary magazine Shosetsu Gendai.
The title of the work is "Artist & AI." It was written and illustrated by Kamba Yuki, author of "Kobito no Shita o Kariguurashi no Mori."
This oneshot was initially published for free on the manga website "Morning Two WEB" as well as on X (formerly twitter), where it garnered over 10 million impressions.
This month, using more than half of the total pages available in Shosetsu Gendai, the same oneshot was published in full. How did such a feat come to be? We talked to Takahashi Masatoshi from the Morning editorial department, as well as Kawakita Sohei, editor-in-chief for Shosetsu Gendai to learn more about it.
"Yuki-san told me there was a topic they really wanted to depict, so I took a look at the draft and was shocked. At first I thought it would be a manga that mixes AI and war, but after I finished reading it I realized I had an incredible story on my hands." said Takahashi, who then continued.
"The story utilizes AI to intertwine these large subjects such as how one should act towards their country being at war, and what human beauty really is. I just knew more people had to read it. The issue then was the large volume of pages."
"There were too many for a typical tankobon release, and even publishing it in a magazine in full would be hard. But it was possible to publish it online, so we first released it on Morning Two Web as well as Yuki-san's X for free to see what the reader response would be."
The response online blew past Takahashi's expectations. The release tweet had over 10 million impressions, and even today we are still receiving comments and thoughts about the story, AI, and the process of creation.
After seeing such a positive response, Takahashi moved onto the next step.
How should we treat our neighbors?
"It's such a waste that this manga is only available digitally. As I pondered how we could go about further exposing it to more people, I had a discussion with the editor-in-chief Kawakita. His opinion regarding it was that, the more people love literature, the more they will accept such a timeless story."
Kawakita explaind his reasoning to us.
"People may be surprised to hear that a full-length manga was published in a literary magazine, but when I read this oneshot I just knew it had to be published in our magazine. The December issue of Shosetsu Gendai was initially going to feature a special article about the 14th Shosetsu Gendai Newcomer Award Winning story "Neighbor X" (written by Pallus Ayako). That work is set in a near future Japan whose government has decided to accept refugees from another planet and depicts the interactions, friction, and anxiety among the population."
"Well "Artist & AI" bears close resemblance to not only ongoing wars in places like Ukraine and Palestine, but also the ongoing uproar between creators caused by generative AI. At its core, I felt that the story was about how we should treat our neighbors."
Although "Neighbor X" and "Artist & AI" are written in different mediums (novel and manga respectively), both works share a common theme about how people should treat each other. When Kawakita said he wanted to bring the attention of new readers who normally don't read manga to this story, the Morning editorial department agreed, saying they would love to publish it in a print magazine, and that they would love to reach an audience beyond their usual one.
"I wanted this story to reach people who aren't manga readers. The subject was so profound that that I believed it deserved to be read by anyone who has a passion for literature, regardless of their medium of choice. I hoped it would pass the eyes of people in their fifties or older, who normally don't touch manga." said Takahashi, whose aim was to expand the manga's readership.
Creation, AI, and the other...
The story starts when Maurice, a young painter living in a small country where war is starting to loom, meets a new type of creature called a gnome.
Maurice is impressed by the gnome's ability to replicate an action as soon as it's taught how to do it. Readers will be quick to realize these gnomes are a metaphor for the real-life generative AI we currently have. Although gnomes do differ from real-world AI in that they have the ability to think for themselves and feel emotions, making them closer to humans. The way the story depicts painters losing their jobs because of the gnomes is also meant to evoke a possible future where real-life artists may experience similar hardships. As the story progressed, the war also begins to escalate and become ever present.
Though the title "Artist & AI" is meant to draw attention to it, the work itself does not question whether AI is right or wrong. Although the story does make the reader ponder over issues involving how creators use AI and how copyright involving AI works.
AI was certainly just one of the motifs for the author in writing this story. As the reader flips through the pages, questions naturally begin to arise not just about AI but creation as a whole, as well as war and how to face one's neighbors. Likely because, even though this story is set in a fictional country with fictional characters, it bears close resemblance to the unstable world we live in today.