@shiftingverses I don't think you're being an asshole. You're just trying to help me by giving your honest opinion. I'm open for feedback like this, however, I still want to give it a shot at Shonen Jump. A fellow artist I know told me about the story having to be Japanese-like, and so I've been digging into what it means for a story to be Japanese.
Of course I am limiting myself by specifically targeting readers, mainly guys, between the ages of 10-18 (i.e. shonen), but it's also an interesting challenge. Amongst all my original ideas, I specifically chose to do something mainstream in order to catch my target group's attention – yet it still has some originality to it once getting deeper into the progression of the story.
I am indeed aiming high, after all, I am planning on submitting this to an editor or at least a contest. The focus is not on the "ancient being trapped in a teenage body" however, it is one aspect of it. But mainly it is "the cold jerk subconsciously caring for another person", though subconsciously. He still is a cold jerk, but for some reason feels to protect a certain person. And also a focus on the two of them doing some heists to gather information about some crystals they have to find throughout the series. You could say the crystals are a main focus as well.
At first I'm just doing a one-shot to kind of set a feeling, I'm confident it'll catch some readers interest at least in the contest. When I've decided whether the artist is a keeper, I'll be doing a few other stories before eventually returning to the one-shot and do a series from it.
I get what you mean about making a name for myself fist, so the artist can see whether I know what I'm doing. But I can't do something half-hearted and create something "not designed for a contest" or "not designed to be really good". I write with a passion and I do what I do whole-hearted. I have come across other writers writing stories without them knowing what they were doing, and I learned how not to write a story. The same goes for artists, some are seeking writers but their art is yet to be improved. I know that some popular manga actually have a not-so-pretty looking art style but the story is good, but I'm seeking a good artist to fit a good story.
As I said, I am fully aware of how tough it is for a foreigner to succeed as a manga author/artist. And as I said, I am very confident in my ability as a story-teller. I know you, among many other people who've been telling me this exact same thing, only mean the best for me. But it is kind of getting to me in the end. I'm trying to do something, and people tell me I can't. Where does that get me? Nowhere.
I am indeed asking someone to believe in my idea as much as I do. If I didn't believe my work would be enormous, then who would? I do have some examples, but I'm also cautious about not spoiling the plot for everyone, risking someone might rip-off. Private messages or mails would be fine to send examples, and I actually do have some novels that I've been working on. So I'm not completely unprepared.