I never understood the idea that if a small indie artist - in any field - music, manga, etc - get discovered and go big, they are suddenly somehow a traitor and selling out and now crap..?
I know she didnt think that far, but it was along those lines - like going big was bad somehow?
Two reasons- the first is based on actual concerns about Big Corporate, in that if an independent artist gets scouted by a big company, they'll have to rake in huge profits to justify their recruitment. This would require them to create content that is mandated 'safer' by their producers and companies, which many original fans interpret as a loss of the originality that made them fall in love with an indie artist in the first place. That's not to mention the pressures of AAA development in any kind of field, since corporations tend to overwork the hell out of artists and rarely give them the space they need to come up with inspiration and work at their own pace. So a fanartist who made uniquely aesthetic portraits or wrote thought-provoking doujins about the characters of a popular manga would, upon being recruited to do an adaptation, have to cut down on some of the flourishes they developed and stick more to 'canon' designs in order to not disappoint the wider fanbase, on top of having to slog through serialization and defer to editorial standards and the creator's demands. Some might say it's a part and parcel of moving up in the world, but if you value expression as an artist, it can be quite humiliating, both for the creator and the fans. The number of celebrity suicides of musicians who felt like they couldn't deal with constant live concerts and producer demands attests pretty clearly to this.
Reason two is personal- finding a good indie creator, particularly an obscure one, feels like you've stumbled upon a treasure- not one served up by algorithms or recommended by popular opinion, but as a reward of your engagement with the medium and the time you've put into exploring the niches. Artists at this level are much closer to fans, much more honest and available, and nurturing them feels less like paying money to a faceless conglomerate and more like direct patronage. Seeing those artists, who showed up at small jamming sessions (or obscure doujin events in this case) moving away can feel like you're losing a good friend, as they either go private and don't socialize thanks to work schedules, or put on a public persona to market themselves as a brand. As someone who's seen small series I loved become 'mainstream' and lose their individuality to turn pandering and dull, I can attest that it feels like a personal betrayal, even if you're happy that the creator got recognition.
Framing these complicated feelings through the lens of a couple that might need to compromise on their relationship thanks to one person getting a new, more demanding job is pretty clever, and I completely get why Aizawa would have mixed feelings about the whole thing- as the chapter title so succinctly puts it, her god is drifting away, leaving her world far emptier than it was before. Even though she respects Misumi, she considers her to be someone that belongs to 'her', closer to the 'fan' side than the 'production' side, and now that she's skipping to the other bank, she's obviously going to feel lonelier. I'm pretty excited for this development, especially if they focus more on how Misumi's new work schedules will clash with their growing intimacy and desire to be together.
