Whether I'm Here or Not - Vol. 2 Ch. 5
- Thread starter MangaDex
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Fed-Kun's army
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Another re-read for another of my favorite Ikuemi's (full) fan translated series.
Manga made about mangaka and making manga! And I always still find myself remembering the first and last few pages of this chapter about Maki in her computer...
I feel like there's, at least, a part of this whole thing lifted up from IRL experience (the psychological side, the economic side, the social side). Maybe not from Ikuemi, but her contemporaries and/or friends that also started as young as her (as an actual high schooler, in the late 70s), and I guess there's a certain pressure you feel over your shoulders if you are still young and you suddenly become a popular author from one day to another (the neverending story, honestly, but I think it got worse with the internet and social media, as it's much more in the public eye).
So, it's obvious that Maki is feeling a big pressure in delivering "quality" in her popular series, and she being 19 years old, and an adaptation (to the big screen, even!) is not making her any kind of favor - many judge a whole work with whatever you have on screen, being an anime or a live action adaptation. Not to mention that, despite the quality of the adaptation... the original is still her baby, so to speak.
And, I mean... you look at Maki and she is not fine. Hiyama tells it to you full-front, she doesn't have friends, either. She puts an upfront, but... she is lost within the popularity of her series. It's not her that is popular, it's her shoujo romance series.
She is another one that is lost in the whole "whether I'm here or not", because, at the end of the day, as a creator... sometimes you lose yourself within your own creations - you don't just put your ideas... but also life on them... and I feel like, a 19-year-old woman as Maki... it's like all critics about your work... pour onto you as well, the critics aren't about your work... but also yourself. And, well, self-loathing can be one hell of a drug.
Manga made about mangaka and making manga! And I always still find myself remembering the first and last few pages of this chapter about Maki in her computer...
I feel like there's, at least, a part of this whole thing lifted up from IRL experience (the psychological side, the economic side, the social side). Maybe not from Ikuemi, but her contemporaries and/or friends that also started as young as her (as an actual high schooler, in the late 70s), and I guess there's a certain pressure you feel over your shoulders if you are still young and you suddenly become a popular author from one day to another (the neverending story, honestly, but I think it got worse with the internet and social media, as it's much more in the public eye).
So, it's obvious that Maki is feeling a big pressure in delivering "quality" in her popular series, and she being 19 years old, and an adaptation (to the big screen, even!) is not making her any kind of favor - many judge a whole work with whatever you have on screen, being an anime or a live action adaptation. Not to mention that, despite the quality of the adaptation... the original is still her baby, so to speak.
And, I mean... you look at Maki and she is not fine. Hiyama tells it to you full-front, she doesn't have friends, either. She puts an upfront, but... she is lost within the popularity of her series. It's not her that is popular, it's her shoujo romance series.
She is another one that is lost in the whole "whether I'm here or not", because, at the end of the day, as a creator... sometimes you lose yourself within your own creations - you don't just put your ideas... but also life on them... and I feel like, a 19-year-old woman as Maki... it's like all critics about your work... pour onto you as well, the critics aren't about your work... but also yourself. And, well, self-loathing can be one hell of a drug.
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