2020 - Series and Authors to Look Out for 1

I have in this blog mostly on analysed champion stuff but I decided to branch out, after all I do read more manga than just the ones in champion magazines. It was then that i stumbled on the idea of waiting about  authors that still not have a series yet have shown potential in one-shots and the likes.
Perhaps to follow through in this process I will also look at new series that might be worth looking out for in 2020.

I will explore first two promising authors with origin in Champion magazines.

Fukuyama Hana - Sweet and Bitter Drama

After a short serialised of omnibus love stories usually homosexual but not always. They were not sweet love stories either and without spoiling some are rather bleak and saddening. It is not the topic of her work that makes me think of her as a very promising author but also the way it was presented and constructed. Her omnibus stories had a realistic touch because they were not overtly happy but also not overtly dramatic either, it had a balance. It was through this balance that most stories did manage to touch me in a real sense, not as tear jerker or a cute story but as a real human romance drama.

The panelling and perhaps the lack of bold emphasising lines in facial expressions for dramatic purposes made the series seem more easy to read, in a way that it was the reader role to read the characters subtle expressions. Similarly, the story is not told to the reader but are visually presented it, and by doing every chapter is more satisfying and surprising at the end.

From my research on her, she is openly lesbian, it is listed in her twitter profile. In addition, she was an assistant of Shinobu Seguchi towards the end of Shuujin Riku, and Ittan no Ko was her first publication. I believe she has a lot of talent for any genre but in the short term possibly I see her making a very good mature romance manga.


Arai Shuntarou - Subverting Expectations

Arai Shuntarou, first publication was Hoshi no Kyoudai in Bessatsu Shonen Champion, it came when he won the encouragement award of in the 5th edition of Next Champion. Since then he has penned down many one-shots in Bessatsu as well as Weekly Shonen Champion.

He is very creative and can write pretty much anything but his work have his own special vibe which originates from his sketchy style that adds a mysterious touch. In his most recent one-shot Ishumemuri, the mysterious mood the peculiar background creates is incredible.

His creativity is present not only in his art but also on his writing, this was shown in his short series 3, a yankee series.  In it every character had special shadows that stood out behind them which expressed an inner felling of the character. It is one of the uniqueness of his style.

His art has improved over the one-shots and his knack for writing one-shots with punchlines at the end that subvert expectations is incredible. In series this would be more difficult and perhaps a series that would allow him to express all that creativity would be the for the best. This is perhaps why I do not see him sticking to shonen manga specifically but delving in various other demographics and genres.

For today, it is these two but next time I will have more and perhaps a few series as well on top of promising authors.