Time Paradox Ghostwriter continues to be an enjoyable introspective read. I love the characters in this manga. Kenji Ichima has done an excellent job immersing the reader in this mystery surrounding the death of Itsuki Aino. The reader gets the feeling that we are just scratching the surface of what Time Paradox Ghostwriter has to offer us. Needless to say, I am looking forward to Time Paradox Ghostwriter Chapter 11. Let’s hit this review.
Words: Kenji Ichima
Art: Tsunehiro Date
Story Rating: 7 Night Girls out of 10
Art Rating: 9 Night Girls out of 10
Overall Rating: 7.5 Night Girls out of 10
Cast:
Teppei Sasaki: Teppei is an aspiring mangaka. Unfortunately, he has no original or unique ideas for a manga. So, Teppei is constantly rejected by his publisher as not being creative enough. However, one day there is an electrical accident in Teppei’s apartment that causes his microwave to turn into a time machine. Once a week, Teppei’s time machine microwave delivers him an issue of Shonen Jump from ten years in the future! Teppei is blown away by a hot new manga called White Knight. To make his dreams come true, Teppei plagiarizes the future stories of White Knight and achieves great success in the present.
Itsuki Aino: Itsuki is an incredibly talented mangaka who publishes White Knight ten years in the future. Upon seeing Teppei’s White Knight manga she realizes that it is much better than the current White Knight manga that she had been creating. Itsuki decides to become an artist on Teppei’s staff to learn from him and then create a manga even better than Teppei’s White Knight.
Genki Akaishi: Genki is brash and loud. He is also one of Teppei’s artist assistants. Genki is ambitious and wants to become a great mangaka.
Jiro Yamane: Jiro is an experienced editor who joins Teppei’s team. Jiro is a calming and wise influence on Teppei’s team.
Hajime Igarashi: Hajime is a stoic artist assistant on Teppei’s team. Hajime credits Teppei’s White Night with inspiring him to continue in his quest to become a successful mangaka.
Synopsis: We begin with Teppei furiously working on his latest chapter of White Knight. Despite Teppei’s best efforts, White Knight has dropped in the reader surveys from #1 for Chapter 45 to #2 for Chapters 46-47 to #3 for Chapter 48.
Itsuki’s manga entitled Anima arrives and immediately shot to #1 in the reader survey. White Knight got #2 in the survey. Teppei gets this news and immediately stresses that he failed to beat Itsuki. That the future where Itsuki dies has now set in.
Teppei then rallies and says that it is not over yet. That losing a survey on a single chapter cannot mean the difference between life and death for Itsuki. Teppei begins drawing his next chapter of White Knight. Teppei thinks that he will not give up and will do whatever it takes to change the future.
We shift to Teppei meeting with his editor. His editor exclaims that the first draft of this latest chapter is way better than the last few chapters. That this could be key to getting the #1 spot in the survey and beating Anima.
Teppei asks the editor how Itsuki is doing these days. The editor reveals that Itsuki is drawing everything herself and is no longer taking meetings. That Itsuki also stopped taking the editor’s calls. Itsuki eventually asked to be assigned a new editor. The editor says that maybe he should have just trusted Itsuki to do her work, but that he was concerned for her well-being.
We zip to Teppei back at his apartment. Teppei calls Itsuki and asks if she is feeling okay. Itsuki laughs off the question and says that everything is great. Itsuki says that she is much more efficient now that she has no staff and does not conduct meetings anymore. She says that her first drafts are always accepted without comment, anyway.
Teppei tells Itsuki not to push herself too hard. Itsuki says that Teppei is saying that because he wants her to ease up, so he can beat her in the surveys. Teppei exclaims that he is just worried about her. Itsuki says that she was just kidding and thanks Teppei for his concern.
They say goodbye and end the conversation. Teppei thinks how Itsuki sounded like her normal self. Teppei does not know who him beating her in the surveys is supposed to stop her from dying from exhaustion.
Teppei sits back down and resumes drawing his manga. Teppei thinks that all he can do is make White Knight the best it can be. That all that matters is him drawing and winning.
We shift to later that night. Teppei then gets a phone call from Mr. Muneoka. Teppei answers the phone and listens to the voice on the other side. Teppei says nothing and just stares ahead as he drops the cell phone to the floor.
Teppei stands in front of the melted microwave time machine and yells that this is not funny. Teppei yells that why didn’t they just tell him that Itsuki was going to die of exhaustion. That if they had told him that then there would have been a number of ways to stop it from happening. Teppei says that it makes no sense to tell him that the only way to stop Itsuki from dying was by drawing and winning with White Knight.
Suddenly, the refrigerator door under the microwave opens up, and we see swirling energy inside it. Teppei stands there and looks at it. Suddenly, Teppei teleports away from the scene and the refrigerator door closes. End of chapter.
The Good: Time Paradox Ghostwriter Chapter 11 is another quality read. Kenji Ichima knows how to crank up the tension in the reader as we helplessly watch Teppei desperately try to save Itsuki only to fail in the end. The overall sense of dread as we head to the inevitable result of Itsuki’s death penetrates every page.
Ichima has demonstrated that he is the master of setting a mood for his story. From the overcast weather outside of Tappei’s apartment to Tappei’s impending sense of doom. The mood on Time Paradox Ghostwriter has been dark and tense since the beginning. This continues in Chapter 11 as we head to the climactic hook ending.
I continue to be impressed with Ichima’s character work. Chapter 11 focuses the lens back on Tappei after spotlighting Itsuki in Chapter 10. I love how Ichima is showing a more ambitious and determined nature to Tappei’s personality. This continues with Chapter 11. The biggest flaw of Tappei’s character is that he lacked the proper motivation to create truly unique and interesting manga. It is fascinating to watch how saving Itsuki’s life has provided Tappei with the motivation allowing him to far exceed his potential. This type of inhuman drive elevates Tappei from a mangaka who was unremarkable to a mangaka capable of cranking out truly impressive manga.
I dig this growth in Teppei’s character as well as his talents. It is a cool message that Ichima is sending to the reader. That people are far more talented and capable than they think they are. What is often lacking is the proper incentive to bring out their inner fire that can push them to new heights.
Ichima ends Time Paradox Ghostwriter Chapter 11 with a phenomenal hook ending. The final six pages in Chapter 11 are breathtaking. Ichima loads up the intensity as Teppei unleashes his impotent rage at the time machine. Then Ichima delivers a massive hook ending with the stunning surprise of Teppei being transported away by the time machine.
Talk about a wild final scene! I am excited to see where Ichima takes the story from here. Until now, the time machine has simply been delivering issues of Shonen Jump from the future. Now, Ichima cranks up the intensity by having the time machine transport Teppei away from the present.
It should be interesting to learn more about who or what is behind the mysterious time machine in Teppei’s kitchen. I am also curious to learn more about how Teppei writing White Knight is supposed to save Itsuki’s life. I have a feeling that Ichima is about to kick this manga into a completely different level. Ichima has spent enough time laying the foundation for this story. It is critical that Ichima start to expand and grow the story into something even larger.
Now, as much as I am enjoying Ichima’s writing, the real star of Time Paradox Ghostwriter Chapter 11 is Tsunehiro Date’s powerful artwork. Date just crushed it out of the ballpark with Chapter 11. The art is gorgeous and detailed. Date continues to do an excellent job with the characters’ facial expressions. Date also packs so much energy into his art.
was particularly blown away with Date’s art during three points of Chapter 11. The first is the gorgeous one-page splash shot of Teppei starting to draw his manga. It is a bad-ass shot that effectively conveys Teppei’s passion and drive. The smoke coming from Teppei’s pen is the icing on the cake.
The second point is during the final six pages. Date carries the phone call where Teppei learns of Itsuki’s death. There is no dialogue. The art only effectively carries the moment. Then Date unleashes some blazing intensity with the as Teppei screams at the microwave time machine. The energy lines in those panels cranked up the intensity a few notches.
Third, during those final six pages, we also get a fantastic one-page splash shot of the time machine opening the refrigerator door. Until now, we had only seen issues of Shonen Jump from the future appear in the microwave. So, this big reveal on this page of a time warp inside the fridge under the microwave was a huge reveal.
The Bad: Time Paradox Ghostwriter does suffer from plotting and pacing issues. Ichima seems to have lost his focus a bit and the story is getting slightly bogged down. Chapter 11 feels repetitious. We have already gotten all of this information in Chapter 11 in the previous chapters. The only new real content is the final two pages. The rest is nothing more than recycled material.
Ichima takes a cue from some American comic book writers in delivering an issue that gives very little in actual new content before ending the issue with a stunning hook ending designed to make the reader forget that not much happened during the issue. The reader feels that Ichima is purposely dragging his feet at this point in the story. Hopefully, Ichima will regain his focus and crank up the plotting and pacing a bit going forward.
Overall: Time Paradox Ghostwriter Chapter 11 is another good read. Ichima may have a few hiccups with the story in terms of plotting and pacing. But, overall, Time Paradox Ghostwriter Chapter 11 is an immersive read that entertains the reader. I think that Ichima is just heating up and that we are in store for something exciting moving forward. Time Paradox Ghostwriter is definitely a unique manga that is worth giving a try.
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