Shihei Lin: "I'm not thinking about competing with Shueisha"

Shihei Lin has clarified the role MIXGREEN will play in the series he continues to edit for Shonen Jump+. In an interview with French publication L'Internaute, the editor explained that his company will oversee the production of anime adaptations, merchandise, and other projects related to SPY×FAMILY, Dandadan, Centuria, and WITCHRIV.

The move comes after Shueisha ended its outsourced editorial agreement with MIXGREEN and after Lin announced direct contracts with the creators of those four series. Lin himself calls the arrangement "a bit unusual."

An editor who didn't want to step away from mangaka

Lin left Shueisha in 2022, just over a year after becoming deputy editor-in-chief. In the interview, he explains that promotions were pulling him away from the work that interests him: "The higher you climb in the hierarchy, the harder it becomes to keep working directly with creators as their editor in charge."

"What I like about editing is being close to the creators, talking about the stories they develop and the characters they build."

With MIXGREEN, he wants to regain that closeness. The company has plans to become a publisher, launch its own manga app, and develop new series. Lin frames it as a long-term project: "In the next ten or twenty years, I want MIXGREEN to become a place where great works and great creators come from."

The rules for canceling a series

The interview also touches on Weekly Shonen Jump's evaluation system, where a series can end after about ten chapters if it doesn't connect with readers. Lin doesn't reject that model, but he does clarify how he wants to apply it at his company.

"A creator spending years drawing a series that doesn't sell or find an audience is a misfortune for the creator and for the readers," he says. That's why he advocates for setting numbers and rules that both sides agree on. The difference is in the criteria: he doesn't want a work to end because an editor-in-chief "doesn't find it interesting," but because the data shows it hasn't found support among readers.

At first, he admits, canceling series will be difficult because MIXGREEN's catalog won't have enough titles. Once the number of works grows, the decision should rest on numbers and not on emotions.

The case of Yukinobu Tatsu

Lin also responds about Yukinobu Tatsu's history of rejections before Dandadan, including those he suffered during his time at Jump SQ. For him, the problem isn't the size of the publisher, but who makes decisions in each department.

"At least back then there was a difference between that editorial team's approach and my own way of thinking," Lin says. "But when we worked together at Jump+, I didn't feel the same incompatibility."

At MIXGREEN, he wants to avoid repeating decisions he didn't agree with. Even though he's the head of the company, he's willing to give a chance to a project he doesn't like if discussions with younger editors show it's worth trying.

No concrete plans for one-shots

On the possible involvement of creators like Tatsuya Endo or Yukinobu Tatsu in MIXGREEN's launch with one-shots or special projects, Lin is clear: Endo chairs the jury of the company's first manga contest, and the current series by both authors are the priority.

"If they have free time and the capacity to take on other work, they might create something, but there are no concrete plans at this stage," he explains.

The four series will continue to be published in Shonen Jump+. What changes is who handles everything that happens around them.