For some, it starts once something is gained.
For others, it starts once something is tossed.
But, well, once it happens, you'll know.
If someone were to ask me when my life truly started...
I'd probably tell them...
DRAW! -KOICHI
it was that day.
Koichi...
Thank you.
Sakuma-san. I'm pleased to be working with you today.
Huh? Huh?
Um, I'm the art director, Koichi Asa—
Oh, yeah, yeah. Nice workin' with ya.
Ujita. The thing.
Oh, of course.
All right.
Here.
Huh?
OFFER THYSELF AND SLAY THE GOD
The pressure...
Pay it no mind.
I, the art director, am the one in charge of this shoot.
My last job. I'm going to make sure I ace it.
Hmm...
Akari-san, have you lost weight?
No, my weight hasn't changed...
Oh, maybe it's the toning I did for that action movie.
The line of the sleeves is bothering me. They're flaring out too much.
But her arms won't show in the shot, will they?
That's not the problem.
It's about dressing the model in the best clothes.
The model's mood will show in the shot.
I'll fix it a little. Pop back into your clothes for a sec.
Okay.
Is this part of the routine too?
Yes.
Supporting a genius is, surprisingly, a lot like coddling a child.
You've got a point there.
Akari, have you changed?
Waiting on Hikaru's clothes.
What about your makeup?
I'll take it off myself—
Huh? You're not keeping this makeup?
Sakuma-san!
Didn't I emphasize on the phone that it's the natural look for today's shoot?
I forgot.
We're aiming for empathy.
Ah, shut up. I like this makeup.
You should wear this outfit too.
He's in work mode...
We must respect the client's wishes.
We'll have the makeup and lighting all intense!
It'll be like voom!
With a massive beam of light shining down from heaven!
The clothes all black!
A black background too!
Full Akari!
What?
Yeah, like, all Akari! A hundred percent Akari!
Sakuma-san!
All right! I'll show you!
Hey!
Kill that and that!
Y-Yes, sir!
Raise it by half a step!
Another half a step!
All right, stand there!
There!
Whaddya think?!
Oh, um...
This is wonderful too, but it's the opposite of our draft.
This isn't wonderful "too."
You meant to say this is the good stuff, didn't ya?
Rukawa-san...
Asakura-san...
Oh, man!
Akari, a top-tier model, and Sakuma, a top-tier photographer...
I've been in the biz 35 years now, but...
Ato-san, here you go.
This is the first time I've worked on a project of this scale.
Oh, thank you.
Hmm?
Sonomiya-san?!
All right, call in Akari!
Sakuma-san, I can't have you contacting the client directly—
But you guys weren't there.
That's because...
Hey! Don't you dare move that!
Sakuma-san!
Must be an easy job, working at an ad agency.
How much more ya getting paid than the studio staff, who're putting in the sweat?
Keeping the client happy,
bringing out the tea, and sayin' stuff like, "Please check this."
That may be how it appears.
However, we put in work of our own.
You gotta be kiddin' me!
Don't get emotional.
That said, if the client's given the okay, there's...
Where is Sonomiya-san?!
Wait. Let's talk this out ourselves first.
There's still time to regroup.
Regroup, my ass! We're just letting them walk all over us!
Same at the audition! Same with the photographer!
All of it! What the heck are we even doing?!
Asakura, listen...
Asakura-san, what are you doing?!
Kubozuka-san, please—
Why did they start the shoot?!
What?!
Asakura, listen to me!
Be the adult!
Asakura!
Hold it!
This is my job!
My job!
Mine!
Why...
Why can't you just be an adult?
Is that really being an adult?
Is stopping yourself from getting angry or crying about your work...
truly what it means to be an adult, Rukawa-san?!
I've said before that talent is the quality of one's concentration, haven't I?
So you could say the ability to concentrate
is a matter of how we use our time, how we use our lives,
and how we use our very existence.
Akari, if it's your destiny to draw your last breath at 27,
no one can stand in the way of that.
It's not enough...
It's not reaching at all.
You guys are doing something far more amazing than you realize,
yet you don't even see it.
I will surely vanish without ever being truly understood by anyone.
But if I'm captured in a drawing or a photograph, it'll get through someday.
Ten years from now, a hundred years from now...
All of humanity will be spurting blood from their nose!
If I don't reach the pinnacle, this life is worth nothing...
Huh? Wh-What?
Isn't that Robert Capa?
What?!
You're kidding me, Robert...
Are you seriously saying that?
What? Herb Ritts?
Henri Cartier?
Is this the Jump Festa of the photography world?!
He's in the zone.
What?
His focus is a form of self-absorption, as if he's a manga protagonist.
He's convinced the entire world exists for his sake alone,
and he makes that a reality!
The big blast!
BIG BLAST ECSTASY
All the legends!
They're giving me their blessing...
Thank you!
Thank you for doing this for me!
Now then...
To the summit...
The peak!
Hey!
I let it slip away...
The shot of the century... The shot...
Just now, the peak passed...
From now on, my life...
will gradually...
start to slow down...
Akari...
Akari!
Who the heck are you?
Asakura, the art director.
What the hell have you done?
You think you can do anything because you have talent?
Everyone is just going along with you.
Because they're scared of you.
Even if you're a genius, you're still a commercial creator working for money.
What makes you different from me?
Exactly what the hell is the difference?!
Don't you dare stick your nose in this!
You're an art director?!
The hell if I know!
That's just a position your company made up, isn't it?!
Who the heck are you?!
Hey! Who are you?!
The money!
The women!
The skills!
The fame!
I got it all on my own!
You slacked off!
It's your own damn fault!
It's your damn fault
you never made a name for yourself, isn't it?!
If I don't become something, I'll be too bored to keep living...
What do you mean, "something"?
That would be the me who refuses to lower myself below my own ideals.
The me who doesn't hold back what he wants to say
and doesn't get carried away with the crowd.
The me who doesn't seek help or lean on anyone.
The me who doesn't contradict what he's saying and doing.
The real me, built entirely on my own truth.
You got in the way.
All because of your damn pride!
I see...
I've always wanted to be like this guy.
But I'm sorry.
Because I have no idea why you're even crying.
I once believed that my life would kick off someday.
But I was wrong...
The days the three of us spent time together...
That was when...
Sakuma-san, I'm sorry I got in the way.
This is Radio Yokohama. It is currently 4:40 PM.
Now then, it's almost time.
To all our listeners out there, if you're not driving,
please join us by the window...
I'll find out who painted this...
The Basquiat of Yokohama!
I don't know much about her.
I barely recall speaking to her.
The only thing I did know about her was that...
MICCHAN CREATIVE MITSUHASHI
Where are you right now, Koichi-san?!
Yokohama.
Koichi-san, I'm on your side, so turn yourself in!
Huh?
You're scribbling right now, aren't you?
On the Sunny Try ad?
Yes, this is Meguro Ad Agency.
Regarding that, we are currently investigating.
Sorry, I have no idea what you're talking about.
What? The Sunny Try ads in Yokohama...
You know, there's a buzz on social media about someone scribbling graffiti...
...on the ads with your logo.
You haven't seemed yourself lately, and...
In fact, you looked depressed, so...
Koichi-san?
It wasn't me...
It wasn't me.
I can't paint anything this amazing...
Whoever did it is probably a hundred times better...
...and a southpaw, aren't they?
Tonight is a total lunar eclipse, when the moon and sun align.
His recent work lacks passion. He's really changed...
You really think so?
What?
Your talent is the talent to see things.
And to look is to want to know something.
KOICHI ASAKURA
Don't go making up a world without even taking a look...
Otherwise, you can't start it, can you?
Start what?
The conversation.
YOU SUCK
DRAW! -KOICHI
Eren!
Koichi, just like how you couldn't be a genius...
I couldn't be normal.
You gave it your best,
and you gave it your best...
And after doing all of that,
you can just give up already.
But...
THE BODY, ENERGIZED
If you still have even the tiniest bit left to give...
Do it!
Give it everything you've got, then give up!
It's not about believing your dreams will come true someday!
It's not about basking in the spotlight someday!
It's about believing in doing something you can look back on with pride!
Even if you're not able to become anything special,
take pride in just being who you are!
You're the one who taught me that.
That believing is the light!
That day, your crappy drawing was what lit my way.
DRAW! -KOICHI
So...
Draw!
Even if you can't see the light right now!
Even if you get lost in the dark!
You'll surely reach it someday!
So draw!
Shine the light!
There's something beyond that, right?!
The photoshoot's over!
Thank you all for your hard work!
Thank you for your hard work!
KOICHI ASAKURA
Oh.
Rukawa-san, I'm coming back!
What? But the photoshoot is ov—
Make it happen somehow!
I... I need to come back!
I'm sorry!
You idiot...
Let's go.
Permission to reshoot?!
Rukawa, sales reps don't attend shoots in the pursuit of quality!
However, respecting the opinions of creatives is a part of the sales role.
Which way are you facing?
Face the client!
I'm certain Sonomiya-san will want a reshoot as well!
This is only the first wave, isn't it? Learn and do better next time.
Please, Chief Fuyutsuki, we're begging you.
Oh, we're gonna be stuck here for a while.
Must be a lot of folks wanting to see the total lunar eclipse.
Driver, please let me out here.
But we're still a few kilometers away—
It's fine.
Keep the change.
Huh? But are you sure, sir?
A woman must be involved.
IN FRONT OF THE PREFECTURAL OFFICE
Don't get hung up on this!
Why should sales get riled up over it?
What would I even say to put the client off?
Fuyutsuki-san, I...
I'm sorry!
Wait!
A cake...
What?
Go buy a cake!
Extend the session? Sure. We've got nothing booked after this anyway.
And the cost?
It's fine, it's fine.
Is that because this is Sakuma's shoot?
Nah, it's just so rare to see anyone from an ad agency
remember a studio staffer they haven't seen in years nowadays...
I don't mind if it's for Asakura-san.
AKARI-SAN
So, today really was my destined day...
You're okay with being done?
I'm finished.
Everyone... I am truly sorry!
A retake...
Somehow, if we could just do it again...
A reshoot... Please!
Why should I?!
I shot that one perfectly!
You don't like it 'cause it wasn't done your way?
You worried the product won't sell?
It will!
I'm the one who did it, so the whole world will take notice!
Advertising is all about exposure!
Overwhelming brute force in numbers!
Isn't that the whole advertising game?!
If that's all advertising was,
we wouldn't stake our lives on it!
Weekday products are for everyday use.
That's why it's crucial that customers use them for a long time.
Not as luxury items they admire, but as something unvarnished and practical.
People admire things that are perfect and that move them, but...
Those aren't the expressions that people can resonate with and make their own!
You're wrong! What's not perfect is trash!
It's all or nothing when it comes to expression!
Only perfect prodigies and adaptable businessmen survive.
Small dreams are nothing more than...
That's all there is to it—
That's not true.
Because... we aren't perfect.
Sakuma-san, Akari-san, please, if we could do this shoot again...
Please let us reshoot.
Please, if you'd let us.
The sound of my life burning...
Even if it were my destiny to burn out today, I...
...will not submit to it.
Because I'm the one who gets to decide.
Hikaru, my clothes!
Okay, I'll cast a magic spell!
I wonder how many people can say with pride that they've become
the kind of adult they dreamed of being as a child.
Adults irresponsibly tell you to "dream,"
but before you know it, that gets swapped with "face reality."
A SYNESTHETIC GENIUS IFUU SAKUMA
But where do the feelings that disappear without a fight go?
What excuse can you possibly give to the you of back then?
There are things you must do before you become an adult.
Give it your all.
You do your best, and you do your best...
And after you do all of that,
you can give up.
Then you'll surely be forgiven.
The you from back then will surely forgive you.
Even if your dreams don't come true, you'll surely be proud of yourself.
Let me deliver the words of a friend...
with whom I've exchanged more than anyone in my life...
to you right now...
Draw!
Hey, what are you just standing there for?
You're the one who tells us when to start. Right, Koichi?
Huh?
For some, it starts once something is gained.
For others, it starts once something is tossed...
I'm counting on you guys!
TO ALL THE PEOPLE WHO COULDN'T BECOME GENIUSES
TRANSLATION: YUKARI MURASE-LOUDEN
TIMING: MARIANA MARTINEZ EDITING: RILEY DALTON
QUALITY CONTROL: SMR TRANSLATION CHECK: REI MIYASAKA