Scenario: You're a manga author, and you killed off the MC of your work.

Your work is in a weekly Shonen-type magazine.

The main character has been around for years, but your plan was always to eventually kill them off and let their progeny carry the torch as the story continued from there. Once you reached the point where you feel that you've taken the MC as far as you could, you go through with your plan, to the shock of your readers and editor.

However, the MC was very popular, and months later, your manga is now suffering a gradual decline in popularity. Your editor is practically begging you to find some way to bring the original MC back; as of now, your work does not include a mechanism to revive the dead.

Would you acquiesce with your editor's--and the fans'--wishes and find some way to bring back the original main character? Or would you continue on with your original plan for the story, despite your work's longevity being a sinking ship?

That death was a masterpiece. I will not cheapen it by acquiescing to the demands of the unwashed masses.

Time to break out the Mega Ultra Dragon Balls.

I gotta eat.

Could always do a flashback

Or go full troll and bring back the MC but make him a loser and constantly humiliate/degrade him

I'd have sense to kill the MC and end the series instead of dragging it out afterward.

Bring them back? I already had them appear in the clouds and wave goodbye!

LepartialJury posted...

That said, this sounds like Jojo and the succeeding parts were received much better than the 1st one lol

It's inspired by what happened with Dragon Ball/Z after Cell. Not al complete 100% match, but still.

my MC never truly died, he was isekaied to the harem beach-episode world

Maze_ posted...

Could always do a flashback

yea, I'd probably do a flashback arc...

...which would be used to foreshadow the lead coming back as the main bad guy.

sucks to be you, fans!

If this was my first work and I got famous because of it, yeah, Id bring them back if thats what the fans want.

So basically, what happened with Dragonball Z?

Would start a new series in the mc past and not ruin the current series.

Unless the series gets cancelled, then the readers will have to get used to my character's offspring and their development. The previous protagonist was killed for a reason.

The idea of bringing them back and making them a total loser or the next main antagonist like others have said is kind of ingenious and funny though.

pinky0926 posted...

So basically, what happened with Dragonball Z?

Not quite, that was just Toriyama realizing he didn't like writing protag Gohan. The Buu saga was basically unedited, unrestricted Toriyama (can't blame him after having to switch main villains like 3 times during the Cell saga due to his ex editor telling him the other villains were lame). He wasn't really led by popularity or even editor demands by then

Have the new protagonist walk into the shower only to find the original protagonist ahowering already in all his highly detailed muscular glory with minimal censorship for the magazine.
It will turn out that the last several volumes were actually a coma arc.