Series Axed Behind the Scenes of the Shonen Jumps Golden Age is a rather upfront memoir of the author Kouji Makis experience during one of the most profitable eras of Shonen Jump which started with the introduction of series such as Fist of The North Star Captain Tsubasa Kinnikuman Jojos Bizzare Adventure and many others in the 80s and concluded following the end of both Dragon Balls and Slam Dunks run in the magazine in the mid90s. The very first chapter puts us right at the very moment one of the authors works gets axed by the editorial department and then goes back to the very beginning of his manga career to the time he submitted his very own oneshots for different manga award competitions and how he got invited to work on his first serialized series however life seems to throw him a curveball every time he starts to feel comfortable in the industry. https://i.ur.com/J5J4BMa.png What I appreciate most about this short series is its honesty especially regarding how Makis ideas clashed with Jumps core ideals for what manga serialized in the magazine should be like. Maki was someone who was inspired by seinen manga and Hollywood movies such as Rolling Thunder Taxi Driver and Mad Max 2 and directors like Sam Peckinpah his works usually strayed away from the shonen archetype which represented values such as friendship and hard work as stated by the author. When we think of manga sometimes we forget that the final product had to go through the editors approval and chapters might have undergone serious changes for the better like when Tetsuo Hara redid FotNSs 2nd chapter an occurrence we see in this manga or for the worse like when Maki got an editor who didnt click with him and thus was stuck in storyboarding hell for the remainder of his contract at Jump. It gets to the idea that whichever job you have if it conflicts with your sensibilities you can only suck it up so much before the frustration of doing what you really wanted to do catches up to you its a scary feeling the manga portrays through Makis everwacky reactions to news surrounding his standing in Jump he can go from being at the top of the world and proclaiming himself a genius only for his enthusiasm to drop down tremendously in just a few pages the art capable of showing the wide arrange of emotions through cartoony and exaggerate expressions. It also puts great emphasis on getting the right fit when you work in a team since as youll soon realize while reading Maki goes through a variety of editors in spans shorter than how long his manga pan out to be. Its a very fun short read thatll keep your attention throughout its chapters and has some interesting tidbits of trivia concerning a few popular and successful Shonen Jump authors that make it all the more worthwhile to read especially if you are just curious to know more about them around the time they hit it big in the industry not that it goes very indepth its still a series about Makis body of work but it recounts some very amusing interactions between him and others. It also wont be a recap of the manga hes produced there are references to them but it doesnt require much context other than the one stated in the 7 chapters and epilogue. Ive only heard about Miquiztli in name only but seeing how it was licensed in English Im looking forward to reading it to better understand how it was the manga Maki was aiming to create all along over the series that came before it. Series Axed ends on a rather reflective note that looks at how other Jump authors became part of the bigger cultural conversation and soared high in the air while Maki carved his very own path the way he wanted so in a sense both sides are winners. Check it out https://i.ur.com/AxkpyMZ.png