Is It Okay If I Don't Want to Try Anymore? [8]

Higashino Kanade had decided—he was going to work hard.

And no, it absolutely wasn’t because he just saw some inspirational video online and got fired up.

Absolutely not!

Right now, Kanade was focused, sketching his Name—the rough storyboard layout of his manga.

It was a crucial step in manga creation. Unless you were a straight-up copy-paster, you couldn’t skip it. Those web novel transmigrator types? They didn’t even bother. They were the kind of monsters who could bang out a full chapter in a day without so much as a draft. Not someone like him, a helpless little scrub just trying his best.

Some of those so-called “plagiarist” authors had zero concept of what drawing manga actually involved.

Different manga styles required different levels of detail. The more detailed it was, the more time it took. And having assistants made a huge difference. So did motivation. But even then, drawing a chapter a day was insane. Some novels couldn’t even update daily, and yet those protagonists were out here producing multiple chapters like superhumans.

Do they think manga is easy or something? That manga artists don’t bleed for every page?

A professional mangaka might work overtime just to meet one chapter deadline—losing sleep, burning out, running on fumes. And if they hit writer’s block or ran out of ideas, even a weekly deadline could become impossible.

Take Togashi Yoshihiro, the infamous “old thief” behind Yu Yu Hakusho and Hunter x Hunter. Under normal conditions, it was two days for storyboards, five days for final pages. Under abnormal conditions? One week = 8 hours of sleep.

So how the hell were those triple-serializing web novel protagonists managing weekly releases like they were human printers?
Can’t even call it absurd. It’s absurd’s mom opening the door and inviting in even more absurdity—it’s absurdity incarnate.

“…I’m done. Burned out.”

Ten minutes ago, Kanade had sworn to work hard.

Ten minutes later, he gave up.

“I tried my best today. I’ll pick it back up tomorrow.”

He looked at his progress with satisfaction. Sure, he hadn’t even finished one full Name page—but still, he’d drawn three… well, four… okay, five panels?
Anyway, he drew something. That was enough. Time to rest.

No point pushing himself too hard. You’re supposed to enjoy life, right?

He didn’t waste too much time lazing, though. Lying in bed, he stared at the clock on the wall for almost a full minute.

Time to cook.

It was just him and his little sister at home. Their parents ran a Chinese restaurant—not early risers, but definitely late returners. Back in the day, he and Suzu used to eat at the shop. But eventually, Kanade got sick of the distance and started cooking for himself.

He already knew how to cook before he transmigrated. Learning again after coming here was mostly for show. Once he got the hang of it, he and Suzu stopped going to the restaurant entirely.

Their family was Chinese, so of course their food was legit Chinese cuisine. None of that weird “Chuka Ryori” adapted for Japanese palates—it was the real deal, zhōngguó càidàn. Homestyle. Unfussy. Familiar. Most of their customers were Chinese immigrants.

Tokyo had no shortage of Chinese tourists, students, or immigrants. Business was fine.

Still, he found it weird. Why Japan? Why did he transmigrate here?

Sure, sakura girls in anime were great and all…
But what about China’s two-dimensional waifus?

Kanade froze, gripping his head in both hands.

Wait. What Chinese slice-of-life anime girls even exist?

No one?

Luo Tianyi, Yan He, Yuezheng Ling?

Uh. Anyone else?

…Big-Faced Girl?

Ughhhhh… I can’t think of any! Not a single one!

When it came to costumed mascot types, he could think of plenty. But 2D slice-of-life cuties? Almost none.

Rubbing his temples, Kanade shuffled downstairs to start cooking. He’d stop thinking. There was no point.

While prepping ingredients, he tried to recall Chinese animation with decent female leads.

“Non-Human, Take My Brother Away… and then what?”

His brain stalled again.

How depressing. After all these years, domestic animation still hadn’t produced much in the way of slice-of-life content. Honestly, forget slice-of-life—just saying “Chinese anime” out loud could make people wince. It’s not that there weren’t good ones. There just weren’t enough. Truly excellent works—across visuals, writing, music—were few and far between, in either 2D or 3D.

Chinese animation “rises” every year.
And then it “lies down” again.

“So hard, man…”

He recalled something a classmate once joked after graduation: “The final destination of all art students… is outsourcing.” Not outsourcing work to others—but being the outsourced grunt.

Once dreamed of walking the world with sword in hand… Now I live as a tool behind someone else’s monitor.

Sad, really.

Maybe he should give up on manga and go back to chasing his animation dream?

…That idea barely formed before Kanade crushed it.

Forget it. The grind of animation wasn’t any better than manga. At least with manga, there was a shot at recognition. In animation, even key animators struggled for years without ever catching a break. In-betweeners? They were the construction workers of the anime world.

Better to try manga first.
If that failed? Plagiarize.
If that failed, open a psychic detective agency like Reigen from Mob Psycho 100.

But animation? Not even dogs should be stuck doing that.

Still… if he couldn’t even plagiarize properly, what kind of trash was he?

Kanade opened the fridge, thinking about what to make—and about whether he was just a new breed of useless.

Plagiarizing, seriously, only required hands. Just hands.

Yeah, sure, it wasn’t a pretty truth. But most of those copy-pasters had some kind of cheat—like a memory bank or a library system. You did need to consider if the work fit the current era. But c’mon, with that many masterpieces, something would land.

If Naruto didn’t work, try Reborn.
If Reborn didn’t work, try Hunter x Hunter.
If Hunter x Hunter didn’t work, go for Chainsaw Man.
Still no? Haikyuu!!

Different genres. Different styles. All massively successful.
No way none of them could take off again.

If manga didn’t work, there were light novels.
If light novels didn’t work, do music.
If music didn’t work, become an online content creator.
If that didn’t work, become a VTuber.
Still stuck? Join the animation industry and try adapting that content into something new.
And if that didn’t work—there were always games.

Minecraft. Hollow Knight. This War of Mine.

Kanade refused to believe he could be this down bad after transmigrating.
There had to be a path.

“…Let’s just do tomato-egg stir-fry and shredded pork with potatoes.”

He looked at the tomatoes and potatoes in the fridge. Easy dishes. Delicious, but not too much hassle.

Kanade was a firm believer in energy conservation.
Tasks that cost too much time and effort? Pass.
Save energy for what really matters: games, anime, novels, and, well… oh.
Right. He was too young for that.

Damn it.
All those doujin were lies.
Even My Little Pony x Transformers was a lie.

Better focus on Konata.

…Although, Shouko was really cute too.
And Yuzuru was pretty nice…

Decisions, decisions…

Modern society was just too hard. No more left-arm-a-Shouko, right-arm-a-Yuzuru. No harems. No polygamy.

Maybe I should try hypnosis? Raise them from childhood so that when they grow up—
“What the hell am I even thinking?”

Kanade splashed his face with water after washing the vegetables. The cool droplets helped clear his head.

Don’t lose your mind here. No. Bad. Illegal thoughts—off limits.

The gods are watching. If reincarnation was real, and ghosts existed in this world, then who knew? Maybe hell was too.

Better start racking up virtue now, so he could one day dunk on God’s head in Heaven.

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T/N: name is like drafts for a manga page not an actual series stupid

This is a fan translation of 不想努力可以吗？by 优的布丁 All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!