All-rounder Artist

Chapter 363: Chapter 342 – Shadow’s Industry Status _1

Although the filming of the movie had just begun, the entire crew was unanimous in one belief: the dogs in “Hachiko” could very possibly be the most talented ones that Blue Star has ever had in its films. If there were to be an award for the best actor among dogs, Antarctica would undoubtedly win it!

You can imagine.

No matter how this movie performs in the box office and receptions, audiences will surely be amazed by these dogs’ remarkable performances. Any future production requiring dogs might even consider the ones featured in “Hachiko”.

The acting of these dogs is absolutely brilliant!

Of course, the lead actor Zhang Xiuming is also incredibly skilled, yet because he is already known for his award-winning talent, his excellent performance was considered normal, which wasn’t nearly as astonishing as the dogs’.

During a filming break.

The comic “Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma” serialized under the name Shadow by Lin Yuan finally came to its end. Its last episode was published amidst countless comments and expressions of reluctance from countless fans.

“The end of an era.”

Shadow posted this status after getting permission from Lin Yuan. Luo Wei, who actually wrote the post, also took the opportunity to reveal the news of their new comic: “Working on a new original comics. Publication details to be announced separately.”

“Time to celebrate the conclusion!”

“With ‘Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma’ concluding, it’s probably less likely we’ll see another culinary comic. No idea what type of comic Shadow’s new one will be, but we all know you’re not purely a comic artist!”

“Not merely a comic artist.”

“New readers might not know this. Many people thought Shadow was just an illustrator before ‘Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma’ was launched, so this comic was not expected to perform well at first. It ended up becoming a huge success!”

“Xian Yu: Shadow’s a hit?”

“Chu Kuang: Shadow’s a hit?”

“Haha everyone, don’t be too hard on Xian Yu and Chu Kuang by constantly comparing them with Shadow. Are ‘Southern Fish and Northern Madman’ even comparable for ordinary people? Shadow is also famous in the comics industry!”

“…”

The readers are not wrong.

Considering the overall record and impact it has made during its publication period, there’s no doubt that “Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma” is splendid and glorious. Red to the point of being purple seems an apt way to describe it, especially when it quickly became one of the three pillars of the Tribe Comics.

Unfortunately.

Due to the constant emphasis on the “Food Wars” theme and resulting aesthetic fatigue from monotony of content, together with the entrance of Chu Continent, a major reshuffle happened in the comics industry. This led to the downfall of the comic from the pillar status, showing an obvious decline in performance.

But overall, it’s not bad.

This comic is a very commercially successful mainstream comic, and it will soon be adapted into an animation. The production is already underway, and many viewers and fans have high expectations for the animated adaptation of “Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma”.

Is Shadow famous or not?

To the public, the reason why Shadow seems unpopular is merely because he is always compared to Xian Yu and Chu Kuang. Judging by the influence of his individual work in the comic industry, he has already become a successful veteran comic artist. Shadow’s fans even made a special post to explain:

“Shadow is indeed popular.”

“Let’s look at the data. Just as ‘Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma’ is concluding, let’s make a summary. In terms of online subscriptions to this comic, the initial success of this work ranked among the top five on the entire Tribe Comics website. Considering that Tribe Comics is the largest comic website in the industry, the impact of this work by Teacher Shadow is certainly among the top ten in the same period. The reason for the mediocre performance later on was largely due to the incorporation of Chu Continent, which has a massive comic and animation industry with many talents.”

“Not to mention Chu Continent.”

“Let’s take a look at ‘King of the Net’. As Teacher Shadow’s debut as an illustrator, the comic was serialized for free, but as you can see in many popularity rankings of comic characters, the fame of Long Ma and other members of Youth Academy is at the top level!”

“Then let’s talk about the achievements of the animated adaptation.”

“The popularity of the animated version of ‘King of the Net’ has exploded. The voice actor of the main character Long Ma is a rookie who became famous overnight because of this role. Being invited to voice many mainstream animes is sufficient proof.”

“In conclusion.”

“If it had not been for the entry of Chu Continent, Teacher Shadow would have solidly placed among the top ten influential figures in the comic circle. But even with the entrance of Chu Continent, I believe Teacher Shadow is still a big figure not to be ignored in our comic circle. His works can easily rank among the top twenty in terms of sales. Let’s not compare Xian Yu and Chu Kuang to Shadow for fairness. Even though they seem to be good friends, they are not in the same field.”

This post is pretty objective.

Shadow is indeed a top figure in the comic industry. Two of his comic series have achieved success, especially “King of the Net” which became popular due to its animated adaptation; it didn’t lose to Chu Continent’s animated cartoons in any respect.

But it cannot be denied.

After the merger with Chu Continent, significant changes took place in the animation market. A lot of new talents emerged in both the animation production industry and the comic industry. In this context, the weakening of Shadow’s position is a fact, just like Xian Yu and Chu Kuang constantly facing challenges from new continents.

The difference is…

Whether Xian Yu or Chu Kuang, whenever they encounter talents from newly joined continents, they often sweep through them like a crushing force. These talents usually end up being their fans, whereas Shadow hasn’t yet displayed such a sweeping prowess.

The merger will continue.

The merger with Yan Continent will happen after the New Year.

Luo Wei analyzed: “The best-developed industry in Yan Continent is sports, with their athletes being the top level in Blue Star. Aside from the sports industry, their competitiveness in every other industry isn’t bad either, mainly because they excel in competition, which can stimulate industrial progress. Even their literary world likes using literary duels. They are recognized by Blue Star as battle enthusiasts, and this culture has also extended to the comic circle. They too like using battle as a form of expression, so when Yan Continent joins, we might face some combat challenges. Thankfully, ‘Death Note’ is not afraid of challenges.”

“honey badger?”

Lin Yuan thought of an animal.

Luo Wei was confused: “What badger?”

Lin Yuan roughly explained what a honey badger is, which made Luo Wei burst out laughing: “The people of Yan aren’t stupid. Although they like to fight, they usually only choose opponents who are similar in level to them. They wouldn’t dare to challenge those who are exceptionally strong. Not many people in Yan Continent would dare to challenge Xian Yu and Chu Kuang, unless they are top-tier figures of the same level in Yan Continent.”

Lin Yuan: “…”

He had a literary duel with Leng Guang under Chu Kuang’s alias and had a general understanding of the format. Literary duels indeed have the ability to draw attention. What Lin Yuan did not expect was that not only the literary world of Yan is fond of fighting, they all are, in every industry.

No matter.

When ‘Death Note’ is officially released, even though there will still be a gap between Shadow and Xian Yu as well as Chu Kuang, no one will dare to say that Shadow is insignificant. Lin Yuan is quite confident in this respect.