A job post in Ganmo spoiled the news of an upcoming romcom harem new series will soon be within the pages of Weekly Shounen Champion.
The author of the series is likely to be Shokubai Hiroomi, a newcomer which won the NEXT CHAMPION Grand Prize in 2017, his winning one-shot 'Hugo' was a sci-fi adventure. I believe his art is in rather advanced stage with a polished analog artstyle. More recently, he has posted sketches of female characters possibly characters in the new series and these all look good.
There are series in the magazine at the moment which one could argue are harem romcom, most notably Rokudou no Onnatachi. However, Rokudou has little to no focus on romance even if it is a series with a harem and comedy. Therefore, I feel like it is inappropriate to call Rokudou no Onnatachi a harem romcom. Rokudou at its heart uses the love and friendship theme simply as a driving factor to the action and coming of age developments of the characters, which the series is all about. It is not about harem romcom antics.
Hence the magazine has no harem romcom. Romance and comedy are both genres that are a staple in the manga industry and the mix of these genre is common specially in Shonen series. The aspect of harem became a popular addition to this duo and there are many successful shounen harem romcom series.
Romcom Boom?
There have been many romcom successes in recent times, in the other shounen magazines recently, most specifically, Gotoubon has been a big success. The anime for it was incredibly well received and its sales rose significantly. This together with Bokuben which shares a rather similar plot whilst it sells less also sells well. There are also many other works such as Kaguya and Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu which has garnered a lot of traction over the past few months and shot up in popularity. There are many others in other magazines but I just wanted to highlight a few that I know are within the romcom genre and are relatively successful.
Romcom series in Champion - A look at the past
Looking at the past of Shounen Champion, harem romcoms or other type of romance series have not had a lot of success. Looking only at the past decade, the standout harem romcom hit was Jitsu wa Watashi wa but unlike Gotoubon or Bokuben it was significantly more comedy orientated. There other romcom most notably was Nikoben, a romcom with a main character that liked making cute bento. A nice gimmick but it was not very popular and ended in 5 volumes of which only 2 were released physically. Likewise Tsujiura-san Chupacabra another romcom which was more quirky and gag like also failed to achieve any success however it had all its volumes released physically unlike Nikoben. There were others romcom series like Hanekoi Lion, a sports romcom, but with very little success.
In fact, prior to Jitsu wa Watashi, the other big harem romcom hit would probably be Eiken. Eiken received anime adaptions in the form of OVAs but its main gimmick was the ecchi aspect with main female characters having rather large bust size. If one goes back further in the mid 90s, the romcom hit was Oyama! Kikunosuke. Once again, this series was very high in ecchi material. This in fact was the trend with romcom series in Champion until Jitsu wa.
However, whilst looking at the past successes might highlight the general trend of the magazine over the years, things are not static and change over time and Jitsu wa Watashi wa success highlights this. Hence, reading into the past has its limits when it comes to seeing what kind of new series this new harem romcom will be.
Expectations
I have delved too much on past series and successes and failures but of course does this say anything about the new series? Yes, because whilst past successes do dictate what the editorial department pursues in newer series and this is specially strong in a industry that values safety which results in creativity being hampered.
I suspect as a result of this, this new series is quite likely to be in a contemporary school setting. In addition, like many other romcom, I do not expect it to use this setting in any creative way apart from simply being the place the main character can meet the female characters. It could easily be a swapped for any setting that could do the same function like for example a workplace setting. This does not usually happen in a shounen magazine because readers tend to be school age, high school to be more precise.
Hence the magazine has no harem romcom. Romance and comedy are both genres that are a staple in the manga industry and the mix of these genre is common specially in Shonen series. The aspect of harem became a popular addition to this duo and there are many successful shounen harem romcom series.
Romcom Boom?
There have been many romcom successes in recent times, in the other shounen magazines recently, most specifically, Gotoubon has been a big success. The anime for it was incredibly well received and its sales rose significantly. This together with Bokuben which shares a rather similar plot whilst it sells less also sells well. There are also many other works such as Kaguya and Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu which has garnered a lot of traction over the past few months and shot up in popularity. There are many others in other magazines but I just wanted to highlight a few that I know are within the romcom genre and are relatively successful.
Romcom series in Champion - A look at the past
Looking at the past of Shounen Champion, harem romcoms or other type of romance series have not had a lot of success. Looking only at the past decade, the standout harem romcom hit was Jitsu wa Watashi wa but unlike Gotoubon or Bokuben it was significantly more comedy orientated. There other romcom most notably was Nikoben, a romcom with a main character that liked making cute bento. A nice gimmick but it was not very popular and ended in 5 volumes of which only 2 were released physically. Likewise Tsujiura-san Chupacabra another romcom which was more quirky and gag like also failed to achieve any success however it had all its volumes released physically unlike Nikoben. There were others romcom series like Hanekoi Lion, a sports romcom, but with very little success.
In fact, prior to Jitsu wa Watashi, the other big harem romcom hit would probably be Eiken. Eiken received anime adaptions in the form of OVAs but its main gimmick was the ecchi aspect with main female characters having rather large bust size. If one goes back further in the mid 90s, the romcom hit was Oyama! Kikunosuke. Once again, this series was very high in ecchi material. This in fact was the trend with romcom series in Champion until Jitsu wa.
However, whilst looking at the past successes might highlight the general trend of the magazine over the years, things are not static and change over time and Jitsu wa Watashi wa success highlights this. Hence, reading into the past has its limits when it comes to seeing what kind of new series this new harem romcom will be.
Expectations
I have delved too much on past series and successes and failures but of course does this say anything about the new series? Yes, because whilst past successes do dictate what the editorial department pursues in newer series and this is specially strong in a industry that values safety which results in creativity being hampered.
I suspect as a result of this, this new series is quite likely to be in a contemporary school setting. In addition, like many other romcom, I do not expect it to use this setting in any creative way apart from simply being the place the main character can meet the female characters. It could easily be a swapped for any setting that could do the same function like for example a workplace setting. This does not usually happen in a shounen magazine because readers tend to be school age, high school to be more precise.
Without any synopsis or image of the new series, this is mostly speculation but I do not expect it to drift away from the common stereotypical format that surrounds this genre. Whether this will better or worsen its chance of surviving, I doubt it since after all harem romcom series are all about cute girls and usually happy romance and comedy and light in drama. They are not renowned for social critiques, well crafted stories or in-depth characterisation. However, this is not exclusive to romcom series and is absent in most shounen and even seinen manga.
If the series in not in a school or contemporary setting. i will be surprised but at the same time it will probably catch my interest more that way but of course things do not work that way.
If the series in not in a school or contemporary setting. i will be surprised but at the same time it will probably catch my interest more that way but of course things do not work that way.
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