Contest Manga Progress Log (3rd Try: Awaiting Results, 4th Try: WIP)

Tenko & Rhyme page
Currently making original comics and joining contests to become a professional mangaka in Japan. (It’s a job hunt!)
If I win, I get to be officially published as a professional artist. If I lose, I just repeat the cycle of joining contests till I win.
Aiming for Weekly Shonen Jump, so I’ll probably fail a lot before I win, but let’s keep trying.

【Weekly Shonen Jump】
Weekly Shonen Jump is Japan’s biggest and most famous manga magazine where One Piece, Sakamoto Days and Kagurabachi are currently being serialized. (Other big titles in the past: Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia, Naruto, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Dragon Ball.) High standards and lots of competition, so getting in will be HARD!! I’ve failed the the newcomer contest multiple times before, but at least I have an editor there now. Will keep pushing since this is my life’s dream. Hoping I can win eventually and debut quickly. Will do my best!

【4th Try】 Lionheart (Project codename) [WIP] (Deadline: 31 Mar 2026)
– 47 pages (10 Nov – )
– Storyboard check by the editor takes 3-4 days, so I’m making this alongside Zweihänder (3rd Try) to increase the speed of my production cycle. (Using the check waiting time to draw Zweihänder’s final comic so my hands are never left empty).
– 10 Nov 2025: Wrote the plot and the script.
– 14 Nov – 10 Dec: Wrote the storyboard alongside working on Zweihänder’s final comic. Reached the 3rd storyboard, but my editor got busy and couldn’t check it in December. While waiting, I started seeing things that are lacking, so I cancelled the storyboard by myself.
– 1 Jan 2026 – : Pausing this project to level up. I found good tutorial vids on YouTube by a professional shonen mangaka, so I’m currently grinding and learning from them. There are 128 vids in total and I have 80 left to watch. Will redraw my entire storyboard after I finish watching everything. (5 Jan)

【3rd Try】 Zweihänder (Project codename) [Awaiting Results] (Finalists announcement: late Jan 2026)
– 47 pages (30 Sep – 31 Dec)
– Working with my editor this time. Hope I can improve lots and make something awesome!
– 30 Sep – 21 Oct: Made the storyboard and got an OK from my editor at the 4th version. (Warning that even if the editor OK-ed it, it’s because it’s the best I can do right now. It does NOT guarantee winning the contest, so let’s keep doing our best till the end!)
– 21 Oct: Finished character designs.
– 22 Oct – 6 Nov: Took a break to finish some unfinished business.
– 7-10 Nov: Studied the structure and opening of 10 movies to see if I can improve my storytelling skills.
– 14-18 Nov: Used the things I learned from the movies to fix the draft again and make the opening scenes easier to understand. My editor said I improved a lot. Yay!
– 18 Nov – 31 Dec: Drew the final comic. Watched tutorials by professional mangaka on YouTube along the way and fixed my paneling as much as I could accordingly.
– 31 Dec: Sent the comic to Weekly Shonen Jump’s 105th monthly newcomer contest. Waiting for the finalists announcement in late Jan 2026.

【2nd Try】 Motorcyle (Project codename) [FAILED]
– 31 pages (8 Jul – 31 Aug)
– 8 Jul: Finished the plot.
– 9 Jul: Finished the script.
– 10-14 Jul: Finished the storyboard.
– 14-19 Jul: Studied how to draw mecha and motorcycles. This story has a futuristic setting, but I’ve never drawn futuristic stuff before, so I’m really going out of my comfort zone!
– 20-26 Jul: Finished all character, weapon and motorcycle designs.
– 27 Jul – 31 Aug: Made the final comic. Planning to go to Russia in September to study the Russian language and culture out of curiosity, so I was also self-studying Russian on and off to prepare for the trip. Also caught a cold during the last week, so it was chaos!
– 19 Aug: Phoned Weekly Shonen Jump’s editorial department to set up a date to show them my comic (持ち込み). We’ll meet up on 17 Sep after I return from Russia.
– 31 Aug-14 Sep: Went to Russia to study in a language school and returned to Tokyo.
– 17 Sep: Went to Shueisha’s office building to meet Jump’s editor. I brought Balalaika (1st Try) and Motorcyle (this comic), and the storyboard of my next comic. The editor said that he quite liked my work, so we’ll be working together to win contests from now on!
(The editor said that Motorcycle was nice and I improved a lot after Balalaika. The new storyboard got rejected though, so I’ll make another one from scratch.)
– 29 Sep: Sent this comic to Weekly Shonen Jump’s 110th Tezuka Award.
– Results: Failed, but this manga got me my editor in Shonen Jump, so I’ll count it as a win! Hope I can improve quickly and win the newcomer contest soon!
My editor also gave me an illustration job for Jump GIGA, so I got to appear in the magazine a bit. Let’s keep going!

【1st Try】 Balalaika (Project codename) [FAILED]
– 55 pages (25 Feb 2025 – 31 May 2025)
– 25 Feb: Finished the plot.
– 26 Feb – 2 Mar: Finished the script.
– 3 Mar: Finished the character designs.
– 4 Mar – 31 May: Made the storyboard and final comic. Since this comic’s based on Russian mythology and musical instruments, I did lots of research about Russian culture!
– 31 May: Sent the comic to Weekly Shonen Jump’s 98th monthly newcomer contest.
– Results: Failed. My first original comic again after a long hiatus, so I was slow since I needed to do a lot of trial and error, but it was good to help me get back in shape. Also analyzed the winners’ comics to see what I was lacking.