It was pretty clear from Yoritomi's interview for the anniversary that he was pretty much just letting Horikoshi do whatever he wanted.
I figure this new one will be the same.
The only question is, can he have the same disposition as Yoritomi to make sure the story stays on track? Horikoshi during Yoritomi’s time was definitely given free reign to try out different things but they were always focused on seeing the bigger picture and made sure to set up all the pieces for one big payoff. If Yoritomi just let Horikoshi go unchecked, the manga’s direction would have been an utter mess, and we wouldn’t be having this great payoff in the current.
My overall assessment of Yoritomi’s tenure is somewhat of a mixed bag. There are some not-so-good arcs on one hand, and impressive arcs on the other. Some of the stuff Horikoshi wrote under his tenure was series-defining, the stuff that makes people remember for what it was, and what made it great in their eyes. Endeavor arcs and MVA come to mind (the former has been largely successful, the latter was a bold and daring direction with mixed results).
But you can't know if Taguchi was just a yes man for Kishimoto without actually being there or having info about it lol. It's just one of multiple possibilities, which is exactly the point, it's all headcanon, perhaps a realistic one, but nothing here is factual. Maybe he was a yes man, or maybe he wasn't. You're just assuming he was and passing it off as the truth.
I was trying to argue by using the same logic as the one you're using here, as in, if you want to judge editors purely by successes and flops, it's not like Horikoshi is moving from a successful editor to an unsuccessful one, they're both unsuccessful editors.
It’s up to people if they want to draw different conclusions or take it as truth. But if I’m going to strongly believe in it, then what’s it to you?
It’s a realistic conclusion, but if that’s something people will agree or disagree with, then that’s on them. I’m fine with whatever people choose to believe and having differing opinions than mine.
Oh cool. Another yearly discussion topic.
Samurai 8 was in the making for like 2+ years before it released. How do YOU know that it wasn't the combined efforts of Kishimoto and multiple editors in WSJ?
WSJ clearly wanted this to be the next big thing. How do you know multiple editors, including the editor-in-chief who publicly stated that he wants Kishimoto to return, were not involved?
On what basis are you making the assumption that Taguchi is the sole editor to blame?
Even for serialization meetings, the panel of editors will review multiple chapters of a series before deciding if it gets serialized or will suggest changes. How do you know THEY weren't the ones responsible for the lack of direction? What if the reason S8 didn't release for so long was BECAUSE of multiple editors suggesting changes?
People really need to stop making assumptions about behind the scenes stuff when no one has any information.
Putting the blame on one rookie editor is such a baseless thing to do for a series like S8, which WSJ clearly had big ambitions for.
It's up to the mangaka if they want to get swayed or not. Biggest example of this is Kubo where he publicly stated he listened to his editor for Zombie powder too much and didn't use his own ideas. Whereas for Bleach, he stuck to his ideas.
Editors can only suggest things. They cannot force you to change your content if you don't want to.
It's up to the mangaka to either take those suggestions into consideration or ignore it.
Right. 2 years.
2 Years.
You would think that in those two years, Taguchi would’ve noticed something wrong with the direction of the first two volumes. I blame both of them really. But Taguchi (and maybe other editors) had the best opportunity to improve on the story’s direction before it went to the presses.
I’ll admit, there may be a whole lot of other things that were out of Taguchi’s hands like Kishimoto developing the story with a different editor beforehand, like the way Koike helped Horikoshi build the concept and skeleton of MHA’s structure and then passed it off to Monji, while Taguchi was just given the job without much briefing. In this case, whoever was involved deserves a lot of the blame as well.
Nakano should also deserve some of the responsibility for the failure as well. Although in practice as the E-i-C he doesn’t do much in the way of an individual’s story, as someone who had a lot at stake in the series, he should’ve been proactive as well if he could.
