Draw This, Then Die!

Episode 9

Draw This, Then Die! has been hitting me on different levels as a creative, even though I am not an artist or manga writer. However, I relate to this episode the most given all of the work I do as an online entertainer and as someone who is constantly micromanaging numbers on social media. Most of this episode focuses on Yasumi. While I do think the flashbacks with Miss Teshima have been powerful, I was a little worried that Yasumi would not get any meaningful development for the rest of the season. While Teshima does still get some degree of focus towards the latter third of the episode, it all acts as a mirror to what Yasumi is currently going through. Thematically, everything still ties together, and the episode managed to end on a very wholesome note, even if it was slightly predictable with Teshima being Yasumi's number one supporter online.

We currently live in a world where blowing up online is a possible career path, even if it is incredibly unpredictable. There is a good chance that your favorite anime is based on a manga or light novel that started as an independent web series or just a series of chapters that an artist independently posted on their Twitter account. When it comes to creating for an online audience that can leave direct feedback on your work in the form of likes or views, a lot of artists hit that crossroads Hikaru highlights here. Are you more interested in creating something for yourself or an audience? While it would've been very easy for the show to shame anybody who chases viewership for the sake of success, I really appreciate that this show puts drawing for yourself and drawing for an audience on equal footing, especially if you want to pursue art as a business. Sometimes you do need to think about the audience since their direct feedback directly pays your bills.

Yasumi writes more chapters aligning with the posts that got the most traction when they set up their social media, but she loses her own individual voice as a result. There is a strong likelihood that if Yasumi continues posting those types of chapters, she could blow up faster online, but she takes the route that prioritizes her own personal style. She is just a kid who is still figuring out how to develop her skills; there's no rush for her to turn this into a career or hope for any significant blowup. Now don't get me wrong, the dopamine of seeing those likes on a post can definitely get addicting, as I speak from personal experience. But Yasumi is really in no rush. Interestingly, this is the first episode where Yasumi really starts to focus on Teshima's insistence that they are just drawing manga as a hobby. I'm not sure if that's foreshadowing a major conversation down the road about Yasumi wanting to pursue manga more professionally, but for now it doesn't seem like anything needs to be talked about.

Speaking of Teshima, this whole dilemma of deciding who you're writing for does tie into why she left her original editor, and interestingly enough, that decision might've been what led to her getting published. This episode highlights that sometimes what a creator wants to do and the platform that they want to do it on are just not compatible. If Yasumi wants to make manga more for herself, she doesn't need to obsess over social media posts. Similarly, Teshima reached a breaking point at her old publisher when she wrote something she was passionate about that not only got that lava in her stomach flowing, but also allowed her to finally synergize with her editor. None of that matters if the higher-ups don't think it will sell well or connect with a large enough audience. Profit is still the name of the game. It can be hard to try a different path, but I'm glad that Teshima ended up going to a different publisher that seemed more compatible with her art style. These flashbacks still haven't quite highlighted what contributed to Teshima quitting manga altogether, and I'm realizing now that the series seems to be okay with showing these flashbacks out of order. But as long as those flashbacks properly reflect the specific lesson that the girls are going through, I'm fine with a little non-linear storytelling. It still leads to some incredibly relatable and heartfelt moments that remind me why I continue to do what I do.

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Draw This, Then Die! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.