Manga editor Kazuaki Ishibashi complains that there is an increasing lack of real enthusiasm for manga among the young editorial staff. We summarize.
Editors don’t read manga
In a detailed X article, Kazuaki Ishibashi, known for his editorial work on “Mob Psycho 100” and “The World Only God Knows”, commented on the alarming situation in his profession and the entire industry.
He explained that he is often at a loss when it comes to training junior editors in the manga field. Although they have excellent CVs and strong communication skills, they lack the ability to read manga themselves.
That makes him pretty angry, which is why he wonders why someone would even want to become a manga editor under these circumstances.
In his opinion, manga editors should know significantly more works than the mangaka themselves. In the past, they were viewed as true connoisseurs of the medium, whose expertise and ability to judge directly depended on the number of manga they read.
Nowadays, however, the profession has apparently “somehow become a trend” so that the decision to pursue this career path is no longer made – as it used to be – out of the deep conviction that manga means one’s life.
If an editor lacks the necessary experience with the medium, he cannot make important decisions that make him irreplaceable for authors and illustrators. Creative meetings often focus on parallels to older works, failed examples or well-known character types – he is responsible for that.
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© ONE,Shogakukan/MobPsycho100 Project 2016