2021 is starting in a few days but for Weekly Shonen Champion and other magazines it has already begun but its never too late to do predictions for how the coming year will unveil. There are a few things already confirmed for 2021 and those are the second season for Mairumashita! Iruma-kun and the anime adaptation of the Vampire Dies in No Time. For the former, we know it will be airing in spring and for the latter we have yet to receive any indication of when it air in 2021.
How will these anime play out for Champion?
Mairimashita! Iruma-kun will pick of straight from where it ended last this year where it ended with a tease of the start of the new arc. I do not expect the series to receive another boost in sales but it might be possible since it will cover the content of the manga that really took the series to a wider audience. It is some of the most comedy and slice of life content of the series by development Iruma-kun relationship with other characters but also at same time it gives hints of various future developments. I believe the content covered in this second season is more interesting than the first season and it would be great to see it do well again, in order for it to receive more seasons in the future.
 |
| The Vampire Dies in No Time by Bonnoki Itaru |
The Vampire Dies in No Time anime adaptation comes late as the series will probably be by then six years old thought its better late than never. I have already made a post referring to what I think about the studio and the main staff including some of the cast. I also included it as one of the top comedy series to look forward to in a list in my anime blog. Perhaps that gives away quite a bit of how I believe this series will perform.
I think The Vampire Dies in No Time is a not only a rather good comedy series but I also believe anime adaptations of series like it have not been exactly prominent. There are many comedy series, do not get me wrong but not many gag centric series especially in its style, perhaps the closest being Osomatsu-san in recent times. I do not want to rehash why I think this is a series to look out for in 2021, so I will talk about my expectations for the waves it will cause.
The Vampire Dies in No Time has a strong loyal following even if its sales do not seem too impressive at the moment, it has many goods and it was absurdly quick to meet its funding goal in the 50th anniversary crowdfunding project. The fact it was chosen to receive a project like that alongside Yowamushi Pedal and Baki already say a lot about the series, but the fact it achieved its goal within hours and it managed to double its goal by the end vastly outdoing the other two massively popular series. This illustrates how loyal and perhaps even fanatic some of its fanbase is and the great aspect that I think will be the pillar of its success will be its appeal to hardcore audiences such as fujoshi. The series, I would say already has a fujoshi audience since its fanbase seems to be largely female. The anime can be a way to expand this audience whilst netting other audiences as well which could mean a decent boost for the series. Whether this happens, we will see but it will be interesting to see how this develops in 2021 either way.
In regards to new series -
Now for the first time we delve into unknown territory for the first time. Firstly, we know Itagaki Paru is returning with BEAST COMPLEX in the first issue to go on sale in 2021. It is a short series, however, so it probably will only be around for a a couple of issues in order to gather enough chapters for another volume release. Perhaps the question here is whether this will be a door for her return for a full series within 2021. I am not confident this will happen since she also is starting a short series in Manga Goraku and she could easily start a series there instead. In the end of the day, Itagaki Paru probably will not sit out for long but whether she will return to champion is a toss up, it might possibly depend on what she can draw about.
Referring more generally about new series is much harder since not many series are based of previously published one-shot most of the time at least. In regards to me some one-shot stood out, one of these was the Seishun Shout which returned as Heartbeat Shoot, the latest short series that ended in the latest issue. It obviously did not become an official series but I am confident it has the potential to in the near future.
 |
| Kingmaker by Noda |
Another one-shot that came a bit later than Seishun Shout is Kingmaker by Noda. Seishun Shout focused on Javelin throwing whilst King Maker is focused on Speed Skating, both unconventional sports. Kingmaker also like Shout comes from one of Champion manga awards but it does not come from Next Champion but from Monthly Fresh, an overall lower scale award that has not produced many one-shots for the magazine in recent times. Kingmaker stands out in this regard and it was quite polished and the story somewhat refreshing since t focused on two main characters one of which is the Kingmaker, who therefore has a supportive role and of course the king. It is an interesting idea and the overall polish in terms of art and story is why I think this or another work by the author will probably be serialised in this coming year.
The other one-shot that stood out for me was Madoromi by Hamayan, the grand prize winner of the 9th edition of Next Champion. It was a rather peculiar but incredibly special one-shot, the main character of the story is a about a bullied boy within his dream a creature shows up and it trains him on how to use telepathic powers, with his newly gained powers he seeks to fight against his bully. I will not spoil further since it actually is not as predicable as this set up might suggest. However, what i really liked about the story is its peculiar art style and panelling which gave it a certain unique feel which I value a lot in an artist. I can see this story serving as a serialised version but I am not sure it would have the same impact, so I am not as confident in it being serialised in 2021 but I can see the author returning with something more fit for a serialisation. All together these are three series that I can see being serialised in this coming year.
 |
| Madoromi by Hamayan |
Series that will be ending -
Rokudou no Onnatachi is definitely a series that is lined up to end in 2021. It has reached a climatic point in its story and whilst it could go on for much longer it seems to be treading towards a conclusion instead. It should end late next year to be more specific and it will be a rather disappointing end to a series that the editorial department probably feels like could have achieved a lot more. On the other hand, Nakamura will be free to explore other ideas for series and I am sure he has many just going by his past one-shots.
Anime predictions -
 |
| Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyuubu by Masahiro Anbe |
I do not actually have a lot of hopes for anime announcement but I want to relish at the possibility of two series receiving anime adaptations. One of these is Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyubu, a series that is reasonably popular and Masahiro Anbe previous work Squid Girl received an anime which was reasonably popular. Atsumare! is not really like Squid Girl but it is a comedy ecchi series with romance and harem sub-tones and it generally feels like a stable series for anime since it is a common anime genre. I am sure it is the series most apt for an anime in the current lineup of Champion.
 |
| 'Ippon' Again by Muraoka Yuu |
The other is 'Ippon' Again which is a pipe dream of mine to be honest. It is a series that would work well as an anime by in sense appealing to the crowd that enjoys slice of life series with girls which are a large audience. The series however is not popular enough but it has continued its run in Champion against all odds and to my happiness. It is a great sport series that breaks the mold of other shounen sports that are usually about winning and growing stronger, 'Ippon' Again is about friendship and enjoying doing judo together not really about rivalries and beating everyone to be the best. In a sense it touches a different side of sport that involves leisure instead of the usual competitive aspect that invovles beating down rivals to get stronger, this does not mean it is not about getting stronger, because it is actually but in comparison to oneself whilst enjoying it. I am not the first to draw this comparison but it resembles series like Yawara and Judobu Monogatari both seinen sports series that similarly to 'Ippon' Again do not necessarily focus solely on the competitive aspect of the sport. They instead relish on exploring the actual daily routine of the group members practicing not necessarily because they are ambitious at being the best but because they enjoy it. In sense this shows to the reader how much the author loves Judo. I would love to see an anime of this gem.
What will definitely get an anime announcement -
 |
| The Dangers in My Heart by Sakurai Norio |
The Dangers in My Heart by Sakurai Norio will definitely have an anime announced in 2021. It has continued to grow and for the happiness of many readers it has become a bi weekly series cutting by half the wait between chapters. I am not here just to remind why this manga is an enjoyable read but its rapid rise in popularity and its shift in schedule to pump out chapters and subsequently volumes with more frequency which resulted even in the end of Rororro! her other work is probably a sign. It might be a bit too much to see in these events a push for the series to get content out more quickly for a anime adaptation to be possibly but it seems exactly like that even the volume releases are becoming more frequent. For these reasons alongside how popular this series is and how much eyes it has on it at the moment, an anime is almost inevitable at this point. It is not technically a series from Champion but it began it did begin in the magazine and it broke off to become the pillar of Manga Cross.
Series that might take off in 2021 -
 |
| Yankee JK Kuzuhana-chan by Toshinori Sogabe |
Yankee JK Kuzuhana-chan is my biggest bet to grow and become an important series for the magazine. It is a stable harem romance series and whilst that might be a genre that people look down upon it is one that attract many readers and usually have good sales as a result. Kuzuhana-chan has found this through its good sales so far, and reprints are a good sign for the future since it is actively growing in popularity. This is a promising title for champion because just like I mentioned with Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyuubu harem ecchi series like this are a common feature for the anime market so naturally it continues growing into an anime is a decent possibility. It is a potential star for the future if it can keep growing.
A long post but if you have reached this point congratulations and happy holidays.
No comments:
Post a Comment