While I still am not fully swayed, I will say this episode did help allow me to sympathize with Abiko’s situation a little more. It definitely makes sense why she couldn’t really carve out time to meet with GOA because she literally DOESN’T have any time. Due to her manga being super popular, she’s got so many different projects stacked on top of her weekly manga. You can tell that she is extremely overwhelmed and overworked, getting only 2 hours of sleep each day. And while she does have my sympathies for this hellish work schedule, her stubbornness still has me frustrated. Especially when that stubbornness put her in such an unsustainable lifestyle.
As an artist, I can totally understand why Abiko wants perfection for her series and just overall a high quality for her craft. No one wants to see their characters be butchered or end up OOC. However, the fact that she doesn’t believe anyone can reach her standards and “lightly berates” them because of it, is an issue. Especially because she refuses to put the time in to actually train up an assistant or try and communicate with them, put her in such a terrible state emotionally and physically. And I’m glad that Yoriko voiced the issues. And while it can be a bit demeaning having someone scold you like a child, it definitely didn’t excuse Abiko’s exhausted induced retaliation by claiming that Yoriko wouldn’t know how it feels to be a more “accomplished” like she is who has to keep up with the grind of a weekly updated series.
With all the horrible things she yelled at Yoriko, I honestly expected Yoriko to just walk out be done with her. However, I was pleasantly surprised and amused by her actually fighting back and didn’t fold under Abiko’s words. Despite being someone who didn’t want to rock the boat for her drama series, she does know when to speak up for herself. They’re back and forth was honestly hilarious to watch and it definitely shows how deep their bond actually is. Yoriko even brings it up herself that if Abiko talked that way to anyone else, they would have immediately cut ties with her. However, Yoriko stayed as she understands Abiko better than anyone and it was honestly heartwarming to see how close they are and how much respect they hold for the other. Almost like a mother and daughter type of bond with how she instantly forgives Abiko when she apologizes for lashing out at her. I do think it’s important to bring up her age as well because Abiko is YOUNG. And having so many different things revolving around her work be put on her all at once must be extremely overwhelming especially for someone who hasn’t been in the industry for that long. It definitely makes sense why she’d be so arrogant and stubborn about her work but also why if she definitely needed a reality check to be brought down a peg or two. As we’ve already seen from Kana and Melt’s first appearances and how their arrogant and stubborn selves got them into a lot of trouble with industry relations.
While I’m still a bit iffy towards Abiko, I do feel like my respect for Yoriko has risen even more than it already was. Even though she’s got to stop treating Melt badly lol. I can totally relate to Yoriko’s complicated feelings towards Abiko. Especially since Abiko started out as her assistant, only to suddenly move up faster than she did and create a manga that was more mainstream popular. I can understand that Yoriko most likely felt jealous at how successful Abiko got in such a short amount of time. However, despite that, she still supports her and willingly stays on her side as she probably feels like if she doesn’t stand beside Abiko, no one will given her personality. Even going as far as to not help Aqua and the others trying to bring GOA back onto the project. Which I am still not over. Though Yoriko is on Abiko’s side, she still isn’t afraid to voice her thoughts when Abiko is being unreasonable. And even though Abiko is more accomplished as a mangaka, Yoriko definitely holds a lot more knowledge by being in the industry longer. Especially in the sense that you have to meet people halfway and you can’t always have your way even if you think it’s best. Yoriko isn’t perfect as she has her resentments, but is still professional and know when to hold her tongue or speak up for herself.
I think it’s also important to bring up how a lot of people seem to romanticize being a mangaka. While I do think that a lot of people also know how grueling it can be, I feel like this paints us a clearer picture of how unreasonable the job can be. Not only does your audience hold extremely high expectations for their work, but the physicality of having to think up a story and then draw out a chapter every week for the weekly updates just feels incredibly insane. And even if you want to stop, the editor or company might not even let them. It sounds like such a fast pace and demanding environment where it definitely takes a certain type of person to be able to keep up with it all. And even if they are that kind of person, the workload just seems almost impossible to keep up with for a long period of time that I don’t know how mangas that have run on for hundreds of chapters do it. cough cough one piece cough
I’m hoping that Abiko will realize the wrong she did against GOA, especially once she sees the stage play that he wrote the script for. I was a bit annoyed that we didn’t really get to see the stage play when Aqua and Akane went to go see it, but they could just be holding off so we can watch it through Abiko’s point of view and possibly show us just how her perspective changes from watching it. Which would definitely make more of an impact narrative-wise. Abiko has a lot of room to grow, so I do hope that she will get the growth she needs as both a character and also as a mangaka. Since I feel like you can only go so far if you have bad relationships with everyone within the field. She definitely needs to learn to meet others halfway as Yoriko said and in doing so, can learn to properly communicate with others better and be a little more open to suggestions rather than just doing things her way. Not to mention the symbolism of Abiko constantly being shown in the shadows until finally walking out into the light after Yoriko had helped shed a little light onto her.
Raida is also a character I’m surprised to have gained a certain amount of respect for. Despite his rather wacky and obnoxious personality on the surface, he is a passionate individual who wants to put out a good show for everyone. He also cares a lot for the people around him, especially the people he has a lot of respect for. He holds so much respect for GOA and seemed distraught over the fact he had to let him go from the project. He’s desperately trying to make the best of the situation, but it’s obvious he doesn’t like how everything went down. I do wonder what he plans to do in regards to Abiko and GOA and if there is a chance that GOA can actually return as at least a supervisor or advisor of some sort for the script. Since I do believe that if GOA and Abiko wrote the script together, it would probably make a really good stage play.
This episode absolutely shined during the part where it focused on Abiko and Yoriko. I honestly didn’t think we’d see Yoriko again, much less get more into her as a character and not just a one-off so it was nice to see more of her. I’m so curious as to how everything is going to pan out as I didn’t expect so much focus to be on the mangaka’s during this arc. But I appreciate it because it gives us a glimpse of just how overworked mangakas are and how stubbornness in one’s craft can lead to eventual ruin as it seemed like Abiko was running herself into the ground. If Yoriko hadn’t intervened when she did, Abiko could have destroyed herself in more ways than one.
