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Eiji Niizuma (新妻 えいじ, Niizuma Eiji) is a high school genius mangaka who has been drawing manga ever since he was little. From Aomori, he moved to Tokyo for the serialization of his manga Yellow Hit on the condition that if he becomes Jump's best mangaka he will be given the right to end one series in Jump that he hates. Niizuma also has a great love for manga, loving manga more than Ashirogi Muto and his opinions are valued by everyone at Jump. He also is able to give pretty spot-on analysis to other manga, as when he predicted the results in the Golden Future Cup. His rival is Ashirogi Muto, though he is also a fan of their manga.

Appearance[]

Eiji has short brown/red hair with the exception of his bangs (his hair has gotten longer over time). He has brown eyes which are sometimes considered purple. In all of his appearances, he wears the same purple clothing which consists of a long sleeved black t-shirt and matching jogging. He is rarely seen wearing shoes but can sometimes be seen wearing sandals. On occasion, Eiji wears a plaid, haori-type jacket. When he was writing Crow, he had feathers stuffed in his outfit, which was until late in the 140 chapters, after which he switched to having random props that made him look injured as he writes Zombie Gun. However, the feathers do return in later chapters, possibly because he grew accustomed to having them in his clothes. In the early chapters of the manga, Eiji looks darker and more antagonistic, but later looks friendlier and sillier, likely due to changes in Obata's art style. It might also be because of the years of experience Eiji has gained from his job as a mangaka.

Personality[]

Despite being considered a genius, Eiji remains humble, even claiming to not be "good enough of a mangaka to be judging other people's work" when asked by his editor to judge for Jump's monthly award. (He judges anyway, but is not very helpful, only expressing his interest in Ashirogi and Ryu Shizuka). Niizuma shows great respect for his fellow authors, calling them sensei regardless of age. He loves manga, considering his job fun and reading every comic in Jump. He despises sleeping but does so when needed. However, with how long he can stay awake, he will be out for a long time. His earliest assistant, Nakai, said Niizuma usually slept for 20 hours (which is practically a coma).

He tends to make noises and sound effects when drawing or writing his manga. At times, he is often seen making weird poses or doing things bizarrely, such as drinking four glasses of soda at the same time. Eiji is constantly chastised by his editor. On the outside, he seems to be rather oblivious towards his rivals' feelings towards him, even expressing great excitement when he meets Ashirogi Muto and saying he is their fan. He is a great lover of manga and his opinions are valued by everyone at Jump, including his rivals. He refers to himself as an "Eternal Boy" and that it is why he writes shounen manga.

He only has had a crush on one girl, back in elementary school, which paired with his naivety most likely explains his lack of success in the Super Leaders' Love Fest. However, paradoxically, there are points when we can wonder about whether or not Eiji is really oblivious to the matter; Such as when he tells Aiko it's dangerous for a woman to be alone in a man's apartment at night, or when he's very good at noticing the obvious, as he knew immediately that Miho was Moritaka's girlfriend instead of Akito's based on the heroine of Detective Trap being modeled on her. Sometimes, Yujiro wonders if Eiji is psychic as he always seems to know what's going on; he even knew of Nanamine's secondary plot to make manga, giving a vague explanation that Ashirogi later revealed in detail.

Though it is worried a public appearance of Niizuma would fail, he's actualy clever enough to know what not to say and do on public television when he was invited on Have a Laugh. However, he didn't think he needed to tidy up his appearance, keeping the feathers in his outfit. Also, he maintained his bizarre behavior of jumping around and posing.

Despite good qualities, Niizuma hasn't grown out of his poor table manners; eating large amounts of food loudly and talking with his mouth full. Seen at Takagi's wedding and the Two Awards party where he was being asked about Zombie Gun getting animated.

Summary[]

Prior to his appearance, Niizuma states in an interview that he placed so high because everybody else was "wasting their time playing video games". This infuriates Mashiro because he used to play video games all the time before deciding to pair up with Takagi to write manga. When Mashiro tells Takagi this, they both decide to aim to surpass Niizuma as mangaka.

Ashirogi Muto's Mainstream Meeting[]

During the meeting, where Takagi and Mashiro tell Hattori they want to do a mainstream manga, Niizuma comes in. Yujiro is mad about Niizuma doing Crow instead of Yellow Hit. While Yujiro is talking to the chief editor, Niizuma talks to Takagi and Mashiro. He tells them he thought Money and Intelligence was the best and that he wants to be friends with both of them. Takagi and Mashiro are shocked by this, at first thinking he's mocking them, but they soon realize he is serious. Niizuma later shows them how he draws, and Hattori hopes they won't want to do mainstream after seeing him. After Niizuma finishes, Yujiro rushes him out so he can draw chapters two and three.

While Mashiro works as assistant to learn from Eiji, Eiji reveals that he had thought up Crow when he was a child. He also explains that since his family was very poor, he wasn't able to afford video games like his classmates and instead simply drew manga for entertainment, which was what he wanted to do anyway. This explains Eiji's jab at video gamers at the start of the series.

Golden Future Cup[]

Niizuma's new assisants

Niizuma's new assistants.

Eiji does not actually participate in the Golden Future Cup, but he does participate in the meeting Fukuda holds with Takagi, Mashiro, Aoki Ko, and Nakai. The meeting is held because of Koogy's announcement about his manga. Niizuma reads their manuscripts and says who will get first, second, and third: two will tie for first and one will be third, referring to Kiyoshi Knight and Detective Trap for first and Hideout Door for third, which was reflected in the actual results.

New Years Party[]

Eiji hung around Hiramaru Kazuya before the party started but couldn't continue because Yoshida takes Hiramaru away to talk about chapter three of Otter #11. He then hangs out with Mashiro and Takagi. Later, he meets up with Hiramaru after Takagi wins a TV. After the New Years Party, he is seen when Nakai arrives late because he was talking with Aoki. Nakai leaves the day's work there and leaves. Fukuda then wonders what he is thinking, to which Eiji responds "probably about Manga". When the news of Kiyoshi Knight's and Hideout Door's serializations arrived, Eiji rejoiced with Nakai and Fukuda but remarked that he is sad that they won't be working together anymore. He later says that Jump is more fun now with Nakai and Fukuda writing for Jump as well.

Hiramaru's Visit[]

EijiCrow

Eiji dressed as Crow.

Hiramaru Kazuya visits Eiji's apartment to try and hide so he wouldn't have to work. Eiji's assistants wonder what the author of Otters 11 are doing there. Hiramaru tells Eiji about how he hates being a mangaka and how his office job was better. One of Eiji's assistants called Yoshida because they couldn't get any work done, and Yoshida takes Hiramaru away to draw his manga series. Eiji then hears that Detective Trap and Crow tied for third place. He remarks that he is happy but doesn't want to lose.

Creators' Strike[]

When Mashiro is hospitalized, Eiji visits him and notices that Mashiro is working on his colour pages for Trap. The both look at each other determinedly, and then Eiji decides to leave, being no longer worried about Ashirogi Muto. His editor Yujiro thinks that Miho Azuki is Tagaki's girlfriend because she was helping with the manga, but Eiji calls him stupid and says that she looks exactly like Ami-chan from Trap.

When Fukuda tells Eiji about Trap having to go on hiatus for a year and suggests a boycott with a few mangakas, Eiji is immediately on board with the idea. They gather Nakai, Aoki and Hiramaru and go down to Jump. Eiji threatens that's if their decision is not overturned that he will draw for another magazine until Ashirogi Muto can work again; he threatens to return his contract money and pay for the others to move to another magazine, too. When Mashiro tells them they should stop the boycott, he says he will do it, but it would be better to see Mashiro drawing again. He is happy when the hiatus is over.

Later, Fukuda calls Eiji and tells him that Nakai and Ashirogi are in trouble, and wonders if there is anything he can do for them. However, Eiji tells him that unlike the unfair hospital hiatus there is nothing they can do for them, and that they will have to make it on their own.

Judging Treasure[]

CrowSketch

Eiji drawing Crow

Yujiro approached him about judging Treasure, but he initially declined saying "he wasn't good enough to judge others work" However, he then accepted when he heard Muto Ashirogi submitted something. After reading the stories, he only said Future Watch (Muto Ashirogi's story) and True Human (Ryu Shizuka's story) were interesting.

Anime[]

Crow managed to get a weekly anime offer. Eventually, Eiji agrees to draw the story for +Natural, and easily gets the story serialized, constantly placing the story in single-digit positions.

Super Leaders' Love Fest[]

Eiji becomes excited at the prospect of drawing a romance for the Super Leaders' Fest and attends the mangaka party with that in mind. When the other Super Leaders all decide on romances as well, Sasaki agrees to make it a Super Leaders' Love Fest. After Eiji draws Love Power A to Z, Yujiro notes that due to the battle scenes, it could become a huge success, but the lack of romantic association with the reader could make it a huge failure. As a result, it places 9th overall and places 5th out of the seven authors, the worst of his works. Eiji is visibly upset by the result, and it is noted that he has only liked one girl in second grade, which likely contributed to his lack of success with romance manga. Eiji is later commemorated for his continuing series Crow and +Natural.

Classroom of Truth[]

Eiji admits that Classroom of Truth's art and the one shot were both good and compares Nanamine to Ashirogi Muto. He notes that while it would be interesting to see Nanamine surpass Ashirogi, he "can't see Nanamine's face at all". This comment, which is similarly noted by Yoshida, is most directly attributed to Nanamine's concentration on his setting as opposed to the characters that make up the setting.

Relationship[]

Yujiro Hattori[]

Eiji's editor for Crow and later Zombie Gun. Eiji is often bewildering Yujiro with his odd behavior and often psychic predictions about Jump, but has a much more relaxed relationship with him compared to Fukuda.

Muto Ashirogi[]

Muto Ashirogi, AKA Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi, whom Eiji is a fan of and considers his rival in Jump. He always addresses them as Ashirogi Sensei when together, or their name plus "sensei" if one of them is missing. As their competitor in Jump, Eiji is always trying to outdo them and encourage them at the same time, maintaining a healthy rivalry with Ashirogi.

Akira Hattori[]

Eiji's editor for +Natural until replaced with Goro Miura. As Hattori was the one who discovered Ashirogi, Eiji respects him and gives advice when his rivals are struggling.

Shinta Fukuda[]

Leader of the mangaka group Team Fukuda. Originally one of Eiji's assistants on Crow, Fukuda got serialized on his own. Fukuda respects Eiji as he always calls him "Master Nizuma" due to his seemingly limitless wisdom of manga.

Aiko Iwase[]

Co-creater of +Natural. Eiji helped turn her manuscript into a manga. He often takes out extra, unnecessary parts and improves it with some of his own ideas. When Aiko was in a slump, Eiji tried his best to cover for her by making the art better. Their relationship although shown to be only professional, remains slightly ambiguous.

Kazuya Hiramaru[]

Eiji finds Hiramaru funny.

Manga[]

Original crow

Niizuma's first design for Crow

Crow[]

Eiji's first serialized manga was Crow. He was supposed to work on a manga called Yellow Hit, but demanded that he be allowed to draw Crow instead. He later ends Crow, wanting to end it on his own terms, acting on his original request to end a manga he hated.

+Natural[]

Eiji is currently working on +Natural with writer Aiko Iwase. When +Natural was first being considered for serialization, there was some debate as to whether Eiji should be allowed to have two stories running in Jump or not.

Large Bander[]

Eiji won second place in the Tezuka Award with this one-shot, getting him noticed in the manga world.

Love Power A to Z[]

The one-shot manga Niizuma created for the Super Readers' Love Fest. While it has solid action scenes, the romance is pretty lacking; pretty much defeating the purpose of the contest. It ranked 9th in poll, making it Niizuma's worst manga.

Yellow Hit[]

Originally another one-shot, Niizuma was meant to draw Yellow Hit for serialization, but submitted Crow instead.

Zombie Gun[]

Eiji's new series that received a record breaking 692 votes on its one-shot and 767 votes on its first chapter. Up through the end of the series, it was competing against Ashirogi Muto's Reversi.

Quotes[]

  • (To Akito and Moritaka) "Ashirogi-sensei!"
  • (To Sasaki) "If I become the most popular author in Jump, please give me the right to end one manga I hate."[1]
  • (To Team Fukuda) "I hate the fact that I can't end my manga when I want to."[2]
  • (To Ashirogi Muto) "People who don't understand battles between men are boring."[3]
  • (To Hattori Yuujirou) "I can't believe you're an editor."[4]
  • (To Aiko Iwase) "You know, it's dangerous for a woman to be alone with a man in his apartment at night."

Notes & Trivia[]

  • He ranked 1st in Weekly Shonen Jump popularity character polls, making him the most popular character in the series.
  • Nizuma is truly a manga-creating genius
    • Crow managed to consistently get single digits in popularity without Eji really trying.
    • When he wanted to end Crow, Eiji put more thought into creating the chapters and took more time to revise them, successfully getting 1st place for fifteen weeks.
  • When Crow ended, and he was offered the chance for Jump to pay for a trip to anywhere in the world to broaden his horizons, Eiji expressed interested in seeing the Aurora Borealis, the pyramids and the Louvre museum. It's unknown if he did go or to which one.
  • Given the large amounts of food he's been seen eating at once, Eiji may either have a hyperactive metabolism (which is when someone's body burns calories faster than normal) or he simply forgets to eat a lot.
  • Eiji seems to be fond of lobsters, as he's always seen eating several of them all at once during various manga award parties.
  • Eiji almost seems psychic, being able to see things ahead of everyone else, often being questioned by Yujiro.
    • Its possible Eiji has sharp intuition and is able to piece together scenarios from simple fragments and clues.
  • Unlike Hiramaru, Eiji doesn't seem to suffer negative effects from not getting enough sleep (he said he hates to sleep); he's always cheerful and happy, while Hiramaru's negativity is only increased.
    Fake Niizuma

    Shinzou dressed as Eiji

  • Eiji makes an appearance in Chapter 72 of Sket Dance where a character named Shinzou dresses up as him.
  • Eiji seems to be more serious than he appears, as whenever his thoughts are shown, his usual goofy smiling is replaced with a serious look.
  • The odd posing seems to be a conscious choice on Eiji's part rather than impulsive behavior. The few times he's shown drawing at night, Eiji is acting calmer and barely gives off sound effects.
  • When Team Fukuda boycotted to get Trap back in Jump, Eiji had 100 million yen saved up as he never spent more than he needed for work and living conditions.
  • When attending Takagi's wedding, Eiji wore a white suit; oddly this is the color Fukuda normally wears, and one of the few times he didn't have feathers in his clothes.
  • In the later half of the series, Eiji usually greets Ashirogi sensei saying "Long time, no Bleach".
  • In Chapter 139, while having an editorial discussion with Yujiro Hattori on a new manga, Eiji considered writing a manga about space cockroaches. Naoko Takeuchi of Sailor Moon fame wrote a manga about space cockroaches that was discontinued after four chapters.
  • Eiji is speculated to be based on Eiichiro Oda, the creator of One Piece. Oda is known to be a genius mangaka who won the 2nd Prize of the Tezuka Award at the age of 17, similar to Eiji's achievement at 15. Oda also mentioned in an interview that his characters move on their own, and Eiji made a similar remark in chapter 19. Oda also seems to be in the habit of wearing sandals everywhere, even to supposedly formal events like award giving ceremonies and parties. This is not unlike Eiji's own habit of wearing his usual pair of sweats everywhere he goes.
  • Eiji's odd behavior and talent are possibly taken from L, a character Takeshi Obata and Tsugumi Ohba previous work Death Note, who is equally skilled and of odd behaviour.
  • His favorite manga is Doraemon.

References[]

  1. Bakuman Chapter 9, Page 19
  2. Bakuman chapter 135 page 12
  3. Bakuman episode 16
  4. Bakuman Season 2 Episode 6

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Moritaka Mashiro + Akito Takagi = Muto Ashirogi | Eiji Niizuma | Yuriko Aoki | Shinta Fukuda | Kazuya Hiramaru | Takuro Nakai | Aiko Iwase | Shoyo Takahama | Shun Shiratori | Toru Nanamine | Koji Makaino | Mikihiko Azuma | Nobuhiro Mashiro | Kisaku Arai | Ryu Shizuka | Hino Kunimi | Ikiki Kajiwara | Kyoichi Murasaki | Kyotaro Hibiki | Shigure Yanagi | Shun Hanshaki

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