Reading the Name

During the seven-day National Day holiday, Ren and Jada had a blast in Sakura Country.

They visited Tokyo Skytree, Meiji Shrine, and even Disneyland...

Of course, Ren didn't forget about Yui Setono's manga.

They spent their days out having fun and their nights back at the hotel drawing the manga's name.

The work Ren had drawn in September was Gintama.

Ren initially redeemed this work out of curiosity because it was highly influenced by Japanese culture. He didn't expect that he would get to use it so soon in October.

However, there were many parts of this work that needed to be revised.

It wasn't that the content didn't fit the National Day theme in Sakura Country.

It was just that some of the humor wouldn't resonate with this world's fans.

Gintama was full of random parodies and jokes, which were, after all, its essence! From One Piece to Dragon Ball, Detective Conan, and even Hayao Miyazaki's works, no popular anime was safe from Gintama's parodies.

Fans of this world wouldn't recognize the references to those works, so Ren had to think carefully about what could be replaced, and if something couldn't be replaced, he would need to cut it out entirely.

Fortunately, Gintama was structured like an episodic series, so even cutting some parts wouldn't harm the overall continuity.

Besides the parodies, another issue was the pacing.

To be honest, a lot of anime fans struggled to get through the first two episodes of the Gintama TV series.

Ren still remembered his first time watching Gintama. He watched the first episode with a blank expression, didn't find it engaging, and angrily closed it, thinking all the hype around Gintama was fake. He didn't even bother opening it again for a while.

The whole thing felt random and extremely boring. The world-building hadn't even settled in, characters kept popping up one after another without any emotional buildup, and it all just felt like a bunch of idiots fooling around.

It wasn't until much later, when he had nothing else to watch, that he forced himself to get through the first few episodes. It wasn't until episode 3 that Ren finally started to find it interesting.

In hindsight, only after becoming familiar with Gintama's rhythm could he appreciate the first two episodes.

So, Ren decided to push the first two episodes back, introducing them after the fans had gotten used to the story's pacing. That way, it could attract more fans.

"Phew… Finally finished a part," Ren said, stretching.

"Finished drawing?" Jada, sitting on the bed while gently patting their baby's back, relaxed only after hearing the baby burp.

"Yeah." Ren handed the name he'd drawn to Jada. "Here, take a look."

"Okay."

Jada was quite curious about Ren's samurai manga.

After all, her husband was a proper Tianchao man, so how could he draw a samurai manga from Sakura Country? Especially since the client had also asked him to add humor—what a tough challenge!

Yet, seeing that her husband had somehow managed to draw it, Jada was pleasantly surprised.

"The end of the Edo period, when mysterious alien beings known as the Amanto invaded…"

"Hmm?" Jada paused, confused as she read the opening scene.

Even though she wasn't from Sakura Country, Jada knew a bit about its history. After all, she had learned about it in history class, including the so-called Meiji Restoration.

Wasn't the Meiji Restoration after the Edo period?

So were these aliens supposed to represent the so-called Black Ships from the end of the Edo period?

Her husband started drawing from this point in history?

Curious, Jada continued reading, and before she knew it…

She was hooked.

...

October 7th

Yui Setono, after being dressed and having breakfast with the help of her servant, boarded the car heading to Ren's hotel.

"I wonder what kind of manga it is…"

Samurai and comedy—two seemingly unrelated elements mashed together. What would that even look like?

To be honest, one reason she hired the Porter (Ren's pen name) to draw this manga was because she loved his previous works. She believed the Porter could pull off this type of manga. But there was another reason—she wanted to challenge him.

After all, the Porter had turned her beloved Cautious Hero from a comedy into a tragedy, left Rem's fate ambiguous, and even had a character's head eaten in one of his stories!

Just for these reasons, Yui Setono had asked the Porter to draw this for her.

As she thought about the phone call from the Porter last night, she felt a tinge of anticipation.

Even though she wasn't a fan of his tragic twists, she had to admit that the Porter's creativity and innovation in manga were undeniable.

Half an hour later, the driver parked the car in the hotel's parking lot.

"Nawaki? You're here too?" Yui asked the man standing in the parking lot.

"Of course!" Nawaki nodded. "I'm a big fan of the Porter, and I'm curious to see how he combines samurai and comedy!"

"Well then, let's head up together."

With that, she and her bodyguards took the elevator to Ren's hotel room.

The maid rang the doorbell and knocked softly. "Porter-sensei, are you home?"

After about five seconds, the door opened, revealing Ren's smiling face. "Oh, it's you guys. Come in! Have you had breakfast?"

He stepped aside, letting Yui and the others enter.

"Uncle, good morning, Sis!"

As soon as they walked in, a little girl greeted them in her newly learned Sakura language.

"Good morning!"

Yui, happy to hear herself being called 'sister,' patted the little girl's head.

Nawaki, on the other hand, had a bit of a twitch at the corner of his mouth, but he still greeted the girl politely.

"Good morning, Jada." Both of them greeted Jada as well.

"Sorry I can't properly host you," Jada nodded in acknowledgment, quickly turning her attention back to her crying son.

Following Ren inside, Yui and Nawaki's eyes were immediately drawn to the table.

There was a drawing on the table, featuring a curly-haired man holding a katana.

Instantly, they perked up.

"Ren, is this…" The two of them looked at him expectantly.

"Yes, it's the new manga. But there's only one copy of the name, so you'll have to read it together."

After all, he only had seven days to work on it, and there was no printer available here.

"No problem!"

The two of them said in unison and eagerly took the name from Ren.

The title on the cover read:

Gintama.

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