Ponderings on Manga Series I would like to see Animated

Boku no Kokoro no Yabai Yatsu

I enjoy this series because of two things primarily, the characters and their relationship. I think these two things are the core of the series and why I believe the series works.

The manga might seem very simplistic but there is  significant layer of complexity specially in the characters most notably Ichikawa's character. Initially, I believe a lot of people misunderstood ichikawa as some sort of psychopath but his delusions build for me a loner character that struggled to make friends. It also clearly shows from the small glimpses of his experience in elementary school  that he was not always like this.  Of course, we have not really being shown why he became like this in middle school. However, the fact he was not always like this actually explains the initial 'killer' delusion of the start of the series. After all, Ichikawa seems to be easily influenced by what he reads, recent chapter expresses this further. The fact, he reads gore killer stories probably developed this persona and it felt more like a coping mechanism to deal with his loneliness and his low self-esteem that developed from that. The phasing out of this illustrates this character development because as his developing relationship with Yamada evolved and he gradually comes to enjoy school more and more because of this the 'killer' delusion completely dissipates. It is precisely because its a subtle development that it feels natural and makes the series feel simpler than it actually is and digestible for a wider audience.

A very important thing for this to work is the fact the story is only told from Ichikawa point of view. We have to see his biases and insecurities whilst we have no clue on how Yamada sees everything apart from her actions. This is relevant because this series is a much as a story of youth and school
as one of romance. After all, Ichikawa character is the way it is because of his loner status in the school setting. Of course through his encounters with Yamada his character gradually changes but it never feels abrupt because he still struggles with his inner doubts and in the way the reader can relate as we are equally anxious to know if Yamada feels the same way and we can only know from her increasingly assertive actions.

The growth of Ichikawa's character is enthralling and it explores many different themes but the series focus and its sweetness comes from the relationship between Ichikawa and Yamada. Unlike, Takagi for example, the relationship between Ichikawa and Yamada starts of from the basically zero a key part of the series is how it develops as they gradually converse and accompany each other in the library for the most part. I will not spoil the actual build up but it feels rather sweet because once again it is subtle which makes it feel natural and its precisely because of that its hard to pinpoint any exact part of the series in which the relationship changed. The relationship feels more natural as a result because it develops gradually since the characters do not fall for each other instantly.

Another part of this is also the fact that It was Ichikawa interest in Yamada  and his clumsy attempts to grab her attention initially that led her become interested in him. Occasionally in romcoms, interest is usually stroked by plot devices but in this case it was caused by Ichikawa peculiarity and his attempts to get close to Yamada. Yamada's responds to this and also strives to also know more about him by giving many subtle signs which he does not always perceive because of his strong low self esteem. This shapes the growth of the relationship as Yamada becomes more assertive and Ichikawa struggles to respond to it and the development of their relationship and his character are innately tied as a result.


As an anime

 The series is very likely to receive an anime in the future. It might be thin in content at the moment for one full season but it could easily be padded out with the many twitter extras drawn by Sakurai Norio herself.

The series does not have anything that would seem hard to adapt, it is not action packed and series of similarly genre like Takagi-san have received anime recently. In terms of animation, it would also not need anything high profile but competent voice actors would probably be plus since there are various different scenarios which would need varying tones. However, the quality of voice actors in anime tend to be decent at the very least so in this regard there is no problem at all.

Neko Musume Michikusa Nikki

This is a very interesting series that has been ongoing for a long time. Its premise and goal is significantly different from Boku Yaba. In fact, this series is mainly a comedy slice of life series with no real overarching plot. It is a story focusing on neko youkai that lives with an elderly couple as their cat. However, it drifts off and encounters many other youkai and sometimes humans. The story is precisely about these encounters and ensuing hijinks these youkai get up to that involve not only themselves but also other humans.

This series is a window on Japanese folklore and it showcases many different youkai and it shows them as beings that live in our world but not as evil creatures but just as an odd group of neighbours that tend to stay away from humans.

This is not a series with complex ideas or themes, but it often deeps into waters exploring the different between youkais and humans and how they can coexist but in their own separate worlds. However, of course the main character blurs this tacit understanding and the series sometimes wonder if it is possible for them to interact in their own different ways. Of course, this can be interpreted in many ways such as the conflict between modernity and tradition or even coexistence between humans and the environment or even humans. One can take of this what they perceive.

In addition to that you will get to meet many youkai and get to know more about these creatures that are often featured in manga series because of their large cultural influence in Japan.

As an anime, this series would simply be one the best iyashikei healing and slice of life genre. Not only, because its a rather comfortable series that rarely dips in darker stories, in fact most stories are either fun or upbringing. So of course, because of that music would be a very important aspect for this series to work as an anime.

The animation would have to be of a good standard because it would need to animate the youkai and their many escapades unlike something like Boku Yaba it has way more action, not in battle but in terms of things moving. Consequently, there would be a greater need for the animation to be good.

I do think this series takes way more effort to make a good anime adaptation of than something like Boku Yaba. It also perhaps might never even get an anime, it has been ongoing for a long time and its publisher Tokuma Shoten is on the smaller end, so it has less financial muscle to market and look for investor for an anime.  However, I do have a linger of hope to see this series animated.

MANGA CROSS and Other Digital Platforms

Manga Cross is Akita Shoten's new platform and I wanted to talk to it in more detail in its own separate post after the last post. I also want to explore other more successful digital platforms by bigger publishers to expand this post into a wider exploration of the rise of manga published in digital platforms.

 The rise of digital platforms started relatively recently with Jump +, Magazine Pocket and publishers have put more effort into pushing them by publishing more and more series but also creating a great platform for reading in mobile and other platforms.

Manga Cross is obviously a lot newer, it's only now nearing its second anniversary and I do think it has found a great amount of success for the fact its from a smaller publisher. In addition, digital platforms do not seem to be as attractive to the big authors and new authors as being published in magazines possibly because of pay? I imagine digital offers a lower base pay rate and so it relies more on physical tankoubon sales for money. And of course being serialised usually means you will get a certain level of visibility targeted towards a certain demographic already whilst in digital a good series might be lost in the midst of other series. However, digital gives a more flexible schedule for release and debatably more creative freedom.

What I seek to lead this to was the fact that Manga Cross and these platforms usually tend to be filled with newbies or veteran authors that want a more flexible schedule. In Manga Cross's case, it has a couple of veteran but also newbies alongside authors that first started off publishing their works on social media and the likes.

The Dangers in My Heart

The Dangers in My Heart Cover 3 - Akita Shoten, Sakurai Norio.

One of the few series in Manga Cross by a notable author and one that has had a past struggle with health issues during Mitsudomoe serialisation. Boku Yaba did start in WSC and was planned to moved to Manga Cross after its first five chapters whilst Rororro! continued there, Boku Yaba would be a monthly series with around eight to 10 pages. This allowed her to write this series alongside Rororro! and eventually when Rororro! it ended it became a biweekly series.

Boku Yaba is definitely the pillar of Manga Cross, it has been the most accessed series for the last few months and I believe its success shows a great deal of how digital platforms are more accessible because of the lack of a paywall to read. In addition, the lack of cost means it's usually more accessible for mobile users to just drop in to read a chapter or two. In addition these platforms can have significantly more series than a normal magazine as well as a bigger variation in genre, demographic and the likes. So digital platforms not only link naturally to social media and new forms of reading manga on mobiles and the likes and I believe these platforms will only expand more in the future and will become more attractive for new authors and veterans.

Creature Girl: A Hand's on Field Journal in Another World

Volume 3 Cover (Published by Seven Seas)

Part of this attraction will be because of how they will no doubt provide more chances for authors to write many different series. I touched this before when I talked about variety but here I seek to highlight and showcase this.

Monster Diary is an adult series with sex scenes between the main character and different monster girls. In addition, it also features blood and gore content. In short its the complete opposite to the sort of series Boku Yaba, a cute romcom between two innocent middle schoolers. In clear demographic terms Monster Girl would be in a seinen but one that would feature most likely in more ero leaning magazines like Young Champion and Young Magazine for example. In contrast Boku Yaba would feature in a shonen or possibly a seinen magazine with an older audience but one that favours more fluff series like Comic Alive and so on. However, digital platforms allow these vastly different series to be serialised in the same place and appeal to audiences with vastly different tastes.

This is something magazines can simply not replicate, and to highlight that even more i want to showcase a different series.

My New Boss is Goofy

Volume 2 Cover

My Boss is weird is a very popular series that was serialised on Manga Cross after seeing success on twitter. Its sales are close to Boku Yaba and it matches as one of the most successful series on the platform. However, in contrast to them it is a series for a female audience. In fact, Manga Cross categorises series for Otona (adult), shoujo and shounen so these platforms can catch more audiences then any single magazine could ever do as they can appeal to various different tastes. It can have any genre and even appeal to a niche.

This is where I want to compare it to Webtoon, the Korean platform  and ACQQ, U17 and other Chinese platforms. These platforms like i previously mentioned monetise their series and physical releases are not a regular thing. However, what i want to continue to highlight is how diverse these platforms are. This ability to be more diverse and because of the free to read for limited time business model which naturally lends well into getting people to buy the volume in case they miss chapters. But most importantly, this low barrier of entry is naturally well fit for mobile phone readers and it also gets people directly to what they want to read instead of buying a magazine with another number of series one might not be interested in at all.

In other words, I believe Akita  Shoten and other publishers should invest more in their digital platforms by boosting the amount of series and variety which will obviously mean an expansion in budget for servers and editors. WSC and other manga magazines have definitely seen an increasing decline in sales and even digital seems not to compensate for it as their price has risen substantially. In just recent years WSC, WSS and WSM and even WSJ have had price hikes. WSC specifically went from 280yen to 300yen to the current 320 with a space of three years. Tankoubons have likewise seen price hikes going from 440 to 499 in the same time frame. This is a bigger issue with shonen magazines since seinen magazines have not seen such drops and they are also pricier and not only the magazine but also the volumes.

I imagine this hike in price is a way in which profit can still be made from these magazines as they probably have a rather low profit margin for each magazine. However, the decrease in circulation makes it so the price of the magazine has to follow for a profit margin to even exist. It probably is the same for volumes. Investing in digital platforms will not solve this but it will provide an alternative platform that is bigger and more diverse, so it therefore could appeal to a bigger group of people than Weekly Shonen Champion could ever dream of. In fact, this is probably already the case in the current Manga Cross that has in two years given more hits for Akita Shoten than Weekly Shonen Champion. It is a tricky bet but publishers will have to adapt to a new age and there is no better time than now for Akita Shoten to divert its resources to continue building Manga Cross in a good platform for manga readers of all ages and tastes.

With the latest announcement of 4 new series for this July, three of which are weekly, Manga Cross will finally have an original series updating every weekday. Original series were previously only updated on Tuesday and Thursday. This is a big move because it should expand the number of original series running on platform by a lot. These new series are the only ones releasing on Monday, Wednesday or Friday,  yet, so there is still a lot of new series coming in the future to boast these new days it wants to have original series releasing. It is a show of intent that Manga Cross will be a bigger focus and the names of the authors appearing also show that the platform is more attractive to authors.