Jugo Shishi

Background

Jugo's father loved manga, so when Jugo was in high school, he submitted a manga to Shueisha which won an award and led to his debut. He chose the pen name "Jugo Shishi" after he calculated the wrong answer for his multiplication table, thinking of it as a reminder that life does not go as planned. Instead of 16, he had written 15 (Jugo) as the answer of 4 multiplied by 4 (Shishi).↗

His first manga editor got a promotion so his editor had to be changed. When he met his new editor, he worried that the man was a lot more serious. The new editor gave Jugo an A4 envelope with a list of prohibited terms for manga. Jugo found a word in the list that he wasn't familiar with, " kushagara ". He didn't understand the meaning of the word or why it was prohibited. He tried to investigate but couldn't find anything meaningful in the dictionary or on Google.↗

Kushagara

At Café Deux Magots, Jugo spots Rohan Kishibe sitting alone and goes up to greet him, wanting to talk with him. Jugo starts making small talk with Rohan but Rohan wants to be left alone. Jugo persuades Rohan to sit and talk with him, stating that Rohan's yelling will attract attention so he'll have to sign autographs for kids. He says that he's thinking of writing a horror manga, which surprises Rohan since his other works are classic shonen manga about good and evil.↗

Thus, Jugo starts talking about his new editor. He takes out the list of prohibited terms that he was given and shows it to Rohan. Rohan and Jugo are appalled to see that words like "electrocution", "earthquake", and "tsunami" are banned, thinking that the publishers are cowards. He makes a once-in-a-lifetime request to Rohan: if Rohan ever learns anything about Kushagara, he should share it with him. Jugo thanks him and leaves, leaving Rohan wondering what the word means.↗

About a month later, Jugo and Rohan coincidentally reunite at a used bookstore in town. Rohan witnesses Jugo acting like a thug, angrily demanding for ancient encyclopedias to the confused shopkeeper. Threatening to break his neck, Jugo grabs the shopkeeper by the collar. Rohan grabs Jugo's hand and pulls it away from the shopkeeper, before dragging Jugo out of the store without buying any books.↗

Jugo reveals that even if he tries to forget about "kushagara", he thinks about it so much all the time that he can't even sleep. Rohan gets quiet and Jugo increasingly starts mentioning "kushagara" in all of his sentences. Annoyed with Rohan's silence, Jugo is about to push him but stops when he sees Rohan's frightened expression on his face, which was a look that Rohan wouldn't normally make.↗

As Rohan wonders what he could do, the creature whispers "kushagara" from within the book and the binding suddenly tears open. Rohan tries writing in Jugo's book to forget all about the word "kushagara" but his attempt fails, as the ink would instantly disappear whenever he wrote the word "kushagara". Rohan discerns that it's impossible to find the word in any literature and there's no way to write it either because it's forbidden.↗

Jugo couldn't remember who his new editor was, so he called the editorial department. They lecture Jugo for skipping meetings for a month. His new editor is inexperienced and feels anxious about what to do. Jugo is confused because he doesn't remember meeting his new editor, as if he lost one month of his memories.↗↗

Rock-Paper-Scissors Kid

In the 8th episode of the drama, Kyoka mentions Jugo Shishi, having become his editor as well. Jugo fails to make an appearance, being late to a scheduled meeting with Kyoka at his office.↗

Kyoka Izumi Will Not Be Silenced

On March 21, Kyoka is scheduled to collect Jugo's manuscripts at 12:00 PM from his workplace.↗

Profile details

Status Status based on their final appearance in the part(s) they are featured in: Alive (TSKR)↗