[Guardian Enzo]

Spoiler for 10:

Miura is doing what weak bosses do – trying to manage from the position he holds rather than from the force of his intelligence and integrity. That childish threat to quit editing was pathetic, a low point even for him. Frankly, I trust Mashiro’s judgment about manga more than Miura’s. Well, I trust most people’s judgment more – certainly Hattori, and Eiji, and probably every other editor on staff. Miura is truly pathetic – not only has his advice proved wrong at almost every turn, but he’s failed as an advocate of Ashirogi’s interests with the magazine and he’s failed even at being a responsible adult when the boys’ impetuousness got the better of them. He’s just as immature as they are, but they have an excuse – they’re boys. He’s supposed to be a man and a professional, but he’s so wracked with insecurity that he’s incapable of inspiring or reassuring and even of making his questionable priorities successful.

That’s why every scene with Hattori is heartbreaking, because it’s so clear that he has a better sense of what sort of writers the boys are and how to manage their energy and passion in a positive direction. Even his simple advice to them – “It’s OK to disagree with your editor” – was the most useful thing anyone at the magazine has told them this season. Frankly, I wish Takagi hadn’t even suggested the dual storyboard idea and simply backed Mashiro to the hilt when he was arguing for a serious manga. But Takagai is a peacemaker at heart, and not the bull-headed idealist that Mashiro is. That has it’s uses but I think it was misplaced here, and it’s ended up with what both he and Mashiro believe is the weaker serialization draft going up for submission.

What I wonder is why Ashirogi don’t consider one other option that’s surely open to them – take their work to another magazine. There are other shounen titles in Japan – Shounen Sunday is almost as popular as Jump – and I’m sure they’d be very interested in teenagers who’d already managed to get a manga into serialization. I’m not sure what their contractual status is, but it seems to me that Ashirogi Muto would be free to shop their work if they haven’t signed a new deal for serialization.