The Chosen One - Rokudou no Onnatachi

Rokudou no Onnatachi is coming to conclusion with in a few days, It went through many stages during its run that started back in 2016. I hope to highlight here the start of its journey in Champion and hiccups and problems it faced.

Rokudou no Onnatachi began in issue 30 of 2016. It raised eyebrows with its quite quirky setting that involved delinquent girls falling in love with the Rokudou, a weak and bullied boy. This is caused by a strange onmyodo technique that Rokudou and his friends stumble onto in an attempt to relieve themselves of the bullying they suffer at school. This quirky mix of elements of romance comedy featuring intimidating girls was an interesting proposition for Champion readers at the time. 

Rokudou no Onnatachi 1 - Akita Shoten

One of the key aspects that caught the attention of audiences was the main character Rokudou. He starts as previously mentioned as a weakling that goes to a bad school filled with delinquents. Hence, he finds himself preyed upon alongside his friends by these same delinquents. To begin with Rokudou does not sound like a particular interesting character but it does not take long for him to show growth, after he stands up to his bully and whilst he is beaten up, it strengthens his resolve to change his status at school. His newly found willingness to standup against his enemies even if with only resolve and no strength starts of Rokudou path to development. Technically, he has the strength in the form of the girls delinquent that are hopelessly in love with but at the same time he does want to exploit the girls because their love is only due to his ability. Rokudou's initial charm comes from this resemblance with classic shounen main characters because of his strong personality and the will to do things even if it involves many struggles. 

Journey on the Champion Road!  

The journey of Rokudou in the magazine started with a rapid rise. It received an opening colour page on its 8th chapter and it was not willing to leave the upper placements of the table of contents after that. It had captivated the readers of Weekly Shonen Champion. This initial popularity of the series in the magazine excited the editorial department, which for the release of its first volume release gave it cover and opening colour page to celebrate. In addition the sales department also arranged a signing event.

Rokudou on the Cover of WSC - Akita Shoten

Rokudou no Onnatachi seemed to have met the sales expectations and it received reprints and showed sales growth.  The big editorial push for the series continued for the first few volumes and this include gravure idol collab and a second cover all before it even reached its first anniversary. However, this push gradually faded. The popularity of the series seemed to have peaked and it struggled to raise sales past this initial peak. After that the series established itself in the middle pack of the magazine and it continued receiving attention but it was never to the same extent of the past. It reached a great number of 2.1 million copies in print with its latest volume, however, the editorial department might have felt it could have reached more. 

Rokudou Second and Last time on the cover of WSC.

The story itself continued to be consistently good. Rokudou specifically grew significantly as a character becoming much stronger and earning the respects of people that previously bullied him. The girls which are the other main attraction of the series also had their own time to show off alongside Rokudou, especially the latter ones that were given larger arcs to show of their story. 

The build up of the cast in these more longer arcs later on was quite interesting because they were more embedded into a wider narrative since each had their own purpose for the story to move forward, which the initial first one did not necessarily have. Nakamura was slowly building his manga brick by brick through these arcs by developing characters and moving the story forward. Another part that showcases this construction was his use of flower to reflect the main female characters characteristics was a great backdrop. In contrast to to that he also made references to buddhism through his villains which served the same purpose as the flowers to highlight personality traits. The series had a strong base and the building on top of it is good but it felt like it was building to something more and thats probably why its sudden ending feels like a let down. 

BEASTARS X Rokudou. Rokudou failed to achieve the same level of popularity as BEASTARS.

Why Did it fail to Struck Gold? 

In the interview between the Weekly Shonen Champion head editor Takekawa and Weekly Shonen Magazine Kurita. Rokudou no Onnatachi was brought up. Both talked about how Nakamura was able to create as previously highlighted a main character that draws the audience into to supporting him through his sheer will to move forward with his ideals. Takekawa agreed that this was an aspect that drew audiences in Champion to the manga and Kurita praised Nakamura for being able to create a main character with these characteristics. 

Rokudou no Onnatachi - Nakamura Yuuji

In the same conversation, Kurita also bought up a interesting topic regarding Nakamura's art, he pointed out that he might have had Nakamura only write the story and pass the artist duties to someone else. He  felt like Nakamura was an author better fit for writing instead of drawing, and that his art was not quite right for the series. This was interesting because the art style of Rokudou has been described as perhaps a bit more aged and not quite appealing for modern audience and most japanese readers seem to point it out as the cause for the manga not breaking out into a hit. Nakamura does have a more rougher and old looking style but his art is not poor, in fact for me it makes him stand out. Though at the same time, a more polished and clean art style which seems to be the more modern option might have made the series more appealing to anyone on the fence about reading it. 

Whatever Nakamura works on next, hopefully he can improve from his first work faults by reflecting on its fault and working on improving himself. He does not far to go and I believe he will excel with whatever he does next since he seems to be perfectly in tune with champion's audience. 

Links - 

WSC Takekawa x WSM Kurita

https://natalie.mu/comic/pp/weeklychamp02

The Problem With Shonen Manga

I have been reading manga for over 10 years. I obviously enjoy shonen manga and this was even why I created this blog to talk about manga to begin with. However, all this time reading shonen manga has made me well aware of its own flaws. One of these flaws that particularly stand out for me is with the how the narrative is delivered to the reader. I hope to highlight this issue through a few examples and hopefully you will understand what I mean after that.

In SHY, we have a scene in one of the chapters when one the characters describes her experience of being under the influence of what seems to be the main antagonist of the series. Through two chapters she details her experience and what she could draw from it in regards to the antagonist's intention. This is done by the author to pass information to the reader of the villain through this relatively minor character who re-appeared precisely to fulfil this narrative role. This is problematic because this is is a form of passive narrative that infantilises the reader and in practice it simply means the author is spoon feeding information. Part of the problem of this form of narrative is that it is ineffective because it does not actively engage the reader, it leaves no room for the reader to actively be shown the story instead of simply being told. 

SHY - Miki Bukimi

Alternatively, these very scenes of experience under the villain influence could have been showed in the actual moment she was under his influenced and subsequently she could have been brought to reflect on  the experiment. With only this minor change in the delivery of the narrative, it would have felt more natural because it would not feel like a sudden pop up for a explanation of the villain and more like a piece of a wider narrative.  At the same time it would be more engaging since a gap of time through her experience and her reflection would allow the readers to reflect on the imagery themselves as well. In this it would have been a more active narrative which is what the manga medium should be used for. 

Gon - Masashi Tanaka

One manga that does exactly the opposite of shonen manga is Gon. In part this works because the series is simple. Gon focuses on the adventure of a small dinosaur Gon as he fights, helps and anything between the two with other animals. The series is completely episodic and every chapters focuses on a different biome and subsequently animals. It is a simple story with fantastic art and it is incredibly fascinating.

However, most importantly is how the author Tanaka Masashi took active story telling to the fullest extent by making Gon have no speech or sound effects. Consequently, the author had to compensate this limitation through his art which led him to portray every action and movement with more detail. These greater focus on the art means the reader is shown the story and has from the art read the expressions and imagine the sounds, the reader is actively reading the series not being infantilised and fed the story. 

Example of Clean Art with speech or SFX from Gon

Gon is great example here because it uses the tools of that the medium of manga provides. It relies on its great visuals to show the story in a way that a novel could never replicate. An animation likewise would ruin it and it eventually did when it was animated over ten years ago. 

One might say but this works because Gon is rather simple. However, a manga could still hold a more complex story but use its art more affectively to actively 'show' the story without having to rely on passive story telling told through speeches that feel out of place. Others might say but Gon is not a shonen and I am aware of that but that does not change the issue. In addition, I believe the stagnation of shonen sport series that I have explored is part of a wider problem with the narrative used in shonen manga. 

I believe authors should experiment more with series like Gon. The Silent Manga Award is one example of what I feel manga editors should use to allow authors to develop their narrative skills with manga. It would allow authors to develop their art and panelling to naturally make them easier to follow without relying on speech or narration. Many newbies are unable to do this effectively, so I believe this would allow newbies to improve exponentially. However, the industry seems so conservative that any change feels like it would take too long but hopefully it eventually comes.

Silent Manga Award  - A manga award that truly speaks the international language of manga. 

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Three Newbies Authors to Look Out For

 Hamayan 

He has a published a total of three works. His first two works both one-shot did not stand out but it did show off his particular quirks of more subdued story telling with a focus on reflective themes. However, his artwork still needed work especially his backgrounds but most importantly his art style had an identity of its own. 

His short series ' The Human' would show great improvement over his previous two one-shots. It did not take too long as it came only around half a year after but his art had taken a step up but it still had its own distinct style.

THE HUMAN by Hamayan

The storytelling most importantly had also improved to match the art. Hamayan's two previous work had simple stories, one featuring a boy who does not realise his talent for long jump and the other featuring a bullied boy who tries to awaken the inner potation of the mind. 'The Human' is a blend of the two in many ways but with a more refined story and a set theme. To highlight it without spoilers, the story explores issues such as surrounding sportsmanship but it is about the humanity of the athletes in a world where the olympics has allowed performance enhancement drugs and body modification. I believe his ability to write a smooth and reflective narrative whilst subverting expectations perhaps,  might mean he is wasted in shonen magazines. 

Arai Shuntarou 

Another author who emerged from Next Champion. However, Arai Shuntarou is a lot more experimental with his works. He has published many one-shots and had two short series in champion. In all cases they were vastly different in setting, theme and mood. This great range in story telling is one of his greatest assets.

One thing that all one-shots had was a high shock factor. His sketch- like art is great for shaping at shaping the mood and all his one-shots were incredibly immersive, it drew you in with the magnetism that the blend of his art and storytelling have. 

Ishumeriumu by Arai Shuntarou

That leads me of into the next topic nicely. His storytelling is rather smooth and in all his works there is little direct narrative to guide the reader. This might leave readers confused especially in shonen magazine but he can successfully through his presentation and script direct the story effectively. However, this is probably one of the reasons i see his future in seinen magazine and not in shonen ones. 

Sacco

Unna Bohan by Sacco

There is less information on Sacco out there and unlike the previous two his debut was only last year by winning Shogakukan newbie award. His one-shot was published in  Big Comics Superior and then online for people to read. So unlike, the previous two whose works are not available outside of their magazines, you can freely read his one-shot which I highly recommend. 

The one-shot has a very clear direction and theme it explores. The story has a clever initial set up but it then it goes of to a fantastical place where pre birth babies are left at the care of young angels. These angels take care of the children until they are taken to be born but they are warned against getting too attached. The main character in this story does not heed this warning and grows attached to the baby he is caring for. This gives rise to many anxieties and worries for the angel over the fate of the baby when it inevitably is born, in regards to whether its family will be loving or if it will not be loved. Through this set up it explores many questions on regards to why we are born in the place we are born with a touch of christianity. 

The art has this christian artistic style that goes along with the religious yet fantastical setting. In addition, the art is also naturally rather expressive with the worries darkening the usual brightness of the world, it actively reflects the the mood of the story as it progresses. Sacco is one author to look out for in seinen magazines. 

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Four Interesting Currently Ongoing Manga!

 AI no Idenshi Blue Age - Yamada Kyuri

AI no Idenshi Blue Age - Akita Shoten

A continuation of a classic series that has received widespread praise and the first shounen manga to land an award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. The Blue Age series is a return to the episodic story telling of the first series. This turn to the first series story telling is very much a return to what the series defined itself as to begin. The more story centered series in the form of Red Planet was effective but the world Yamada Kyuri created just has way more stories to tell into these shorter self contained stories. 

This series still explores humanity and artificial intelligence with the same effect as the previous series. It raises many debates over what humanity can look like in a future where artificial intelligence exists. These debates and the questions it raises are dealt so naturally that it has earned the praise of Hideaki Anno and Mamoru Oshii but also experts in the field of AI alike. In part this is because of Yamada Kyuri's knowledge that comes from background as a social studies graduate and person who worked as a reporter for IT news, a news site that focuses on news on technology. He clearly has a personal interest in technology and humans relationship with them which has been a big part of all his manga so far. His knowledge and his subtle story telling allows him to create clear focused stories and explore rather important themes to consider for the future. 

Heterogenia Linguistico - Seno Salt

Heterogenia Linguistico - Kadokawa

Heterogenia Lingistico is set in a fantasy world where humans and monsters reside. Humans live in their own segmented world distant from the world of the monsters. This setting and the use of the world monsters might suggest that this has some sort of battle component between humans and the monsters but thats not what this series is all about. In fact, the word monster might not be quite accurate, a better word would be different species. This is a distinction that is relevant because the story is about studying the lives these species lead and of course their language. 

The story begins when the professor in charge of the research at an university hurts his back and is unable to continue his travels to study in the monsters world. Hence, its he has to entrust his research to one of his students. Our main character Hakaga is the one given this burden by the professor, so he has to go out for the first time to actually see and study the species living in the monster world in person.
The author of this work clearly shows his linguistics knowledge. Not only can he can come up with the various different ways creatures communicate via sounds but also corporally. These are all experience by the main character and he has to try his best to communicate to them by mimesis. 

This is not a trip that last a week or a month, it lasts instead an entire year. The Professor knowing Hakaga had no experience of the monster world gave him a diary of his research and arranged a guide to help with his research that he has to meet in the werewolves village.  This set up is rather interesting because it clearly resembles basically a PHD student in social sciences possibly anthropology to carry out a research project into a particular aspect of the society, and for that they need to live in that society learn the language and experience it with the help of a local.

However, what Hakaga soon learns is that being a student is one thing and part of the story is also how  he realises how complex is gathering data in practice is. His knowledge of different species languages is not directly translated into practice, so he struggles with communicating and adapting to the different cultural and linguistics trait of different creatures and this creates a wonderful atmosphere of adventure. 

An important aspect that is drawn of this is the reflexive nature of the Hakaga and the work more generally, Hakaga meets many different situations many of which are unusual for his own cultural background but he does his best to go along with them. I find this valuable because it naturalises the differences between cultures and how there can be an exchange between them even if they can be very distinct from each other. It is has a valuable theme of understanding cultural differences that it explores through its ethnographic cross cultural outlook and portrayal of linguistics and cultural differences. But if you do not care about anything I just said them there is at least furry loli to keep you interested.  

Hakumei to Mikochi - Kashiki Takuto

Hakumei to Mikochi - Yen Press

An iyashikei blessing, the little life in the forest of Hakumei and Mikochi is one of the most comfortable series to read that are currently ongoing. The setting helps in this as it creates a minuscule fantasy world replicating our own. Hakumei and Mikochi live out their lives in this world and we explore this small society through their eyes. 

Hakumei to Mikochi taps into the iyashikei aspect with precision through its well crafted art and its sweet story telling that is for the most part episodic in nature. It has as a result of that no plot or climax to speak of. It is really just a story about the daily life of Hakumei to Mikochi in this small yet really interesting world. An iyashikei blessing, the little life in the forest of Hakumei and Mikochi is one of the most comfortable series to read that are currently ongoing. The setting helps in this as it creates a minuscule fantasy world replicating our own. Hakumei and Mikochi live out their lives in this world and we explore this small society through their eyes. 

Even if The World is Over, It Is Fun To Live - Tottori Sakyuu

Even if The World is Over, Its Fun To Live - Overlap

A series I stumbled onto recently from Comic Gardo. It is a survival series in a post apocalyptic world in which the world has is covered by a strange mist from time to time, and from that mist emerges monster like creatures seemingly mutated versions of normal animals. In a sense, it is clear this is our world but completely destroyed and devoid of any human life. However, there human like creatures such as the main character who resembles a human but with a miniature size. 

She is trying to survive in this dangerous world swirling with monstrous creatures alongside er friend which resembles a mutated ferret It would be more wise of her to find a place to live distant from the fog however, there are reasons for her travelling and putting herself in danger. One of the reason she is travelling is to fulfil a mission left by her father for her and for that she has to bypass many monsters which requires many battles wit and resilience. 

The setting is not unique. However, it shapes a vast but eerie world to explore in which the main character is never too far from danger. There is a natural tension as a result because of her miniature size in opposition to the creatures at large. However, those things are not exactly what made it stand out for me. What actually did was how it can shift mood from a more on the edge feel into a more comfortable chill one. One of the ways it can do that is with by slowing down the pace and inserting more daily life scenes that help build the characters and the relationships. In this sense, ot feels like a iyashikei series but at the same time not really because it is building a story slowly through pieces given to the reader and things are not peaceful, instead they are often incredibly dangerous. In a sense this is why i feel this series is captivating since it can subtly control the mood from a iyashikei series to a action more dramatic horror series so easily and effectively. 

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SHY - The Power From The 'Kokoro'

SHY emerged in Weekly Shonen Champion back in 2017 as the winner of the Grand Prize in the 2nd edition of Next Champion. The one-shot was simple but it explored the idea of heroism through the main character who became a hero by accident. The one-shot touched people with its clear presentation and smooth story flow,  alongside a pinpoint focus on the theme of becoming a hero. 

SHY One-shot - Akita Shoten

The one-shot left readers wanting more but they would have to wait for a long time since it was only serialised two years later. When the full series finally came It followed on from the one-shot in many ways in that the presentation became even better whilst the story had to reframed into a wider setting. In this new setting, the world has been expanded to include many countries with each technically having their own representative in the form of a hero. However, it is clear that the series takes place in an age of peace, however, conflicts of a different nature still exist. 

SHY Chapter 1 - Akita Shoten

This new expanded setting goes hand in hand with the theme of the series 'kokoro' which is similar to the ones from the one-shot but it is significantly more detailed. The theme of 'kokoro' emerges first as a social critique, after all the 'kokoro' is not just a word that signifies one thing in japan. It instead has a profound meaning as symbolic word in Japanese culture that refers to the embodied self of oneself both emotionally and physically. The 'age of peace' refers to conflict that are physical in nature such as the the absence of warfare. However, the series makes it clear in the first chapter that emotional conflicts continue to exist and this is how the kokoro is relevant.

These emotional conflicts can be interpreted in a Freudian sense in that they are inner unconscious conflicts held within the kokoro of each individual. The heroes are not immune to these and early on the series establishes this and their inner emotional conflicts drives the story.  The reason for this is that Stigma and his group Amalareiks can take advantage of those unresolved inner conflicts through their power, and this was particularly shown in Koishikawa-san case. Stigma and his groups are the catalyst as they seek to free people from these emotional conflicts but not by solving them but by having people  instead accept the negative feelings emerging out of these conflicts.

SHY - Chapter 3 - Akita Shoten

This stands out in this setting because in a sense there is ambivalence about Stigma and his group. Their group seems to be closely linked to the underlying emotional frailty of the heroes. In a sense they feel like a mirror that reflects the weakness of the heroes themselves. This add a layer of complexity to every conflict between the heroes and stigma since the fight is not just against an enemy but against their own weakness. 

SHY Chapter 24 - Akita Shoten

However, this source of weakness if overcome can be a one for strength instead. The power of the heroes originate from their own kokoro as well. Heroes that unconsciously hold weakness in their kokoro have shown to be powerful but once this weakness is exploited like with Spirits their frailty is exposed, but once the this knot in the kokoro is resolved, the hero becomes stronger. SHY has grown stronger through this way as she has overcome some of her own doubts of herself throughout the series.

SHY Chapter 25 - Akita Shoten

The 'kokoro' of the individual is a theme that allows the series to cleverly explore emotional conflicts and at the same time by solving them it can develop characters and justify strength gains. The strength of SHY appears in these moments because the author Miki Bukimi knows exactly what the series is and the themes and setting all play together in fine tuning because of that. 

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Weekly Shonen Magazine X Weekly Shonen Jump - Part 2

Recent Trends -

There is one clear trend that Magazine is currently following and that is the romance comedy genre. The shift towards this genres has been gradual over the past few years when many romance comedy series in the magazine found significant success. The notable success that seems to have drifted the magazine more firmly towards this trend was 'The Quintessential Quintuplets.' 'The Quintessential Quintuplets' was a harem romance comedy series that began back in 2017, it found a lot of success initially and eventually it received an anime adaptation in 2019. This anime was popular and as a result the series exploded in popularity and it became one of the biggest hits for Magazine. 

The Quintessential Quintuplets - Kodansha

'Rent-A-Girlfriend' started not long after 'The Quintessential Quintuplets' and it is also one of the most popular series in the magazine currently. It is likewise a romance comedy series but it has a different edge in that it is more dramatic. After all, Quintuplets is not focused on drama surrounding romantic relationships but on relationship building and the drama mostly originates from who the main character will pick out of the five sisters that grow to like him over the series. This is actually part of the reason this has been a successful trend for Magazine to tap into. 

The romance comedy genre is rather flexible and therefore different series can tap into the audience for them in many ways. For instance, 'Kanojo mo Kanojo' is a romance comedy series in Magazine that has an anime upcoming but it is unlike the previous two I mentioned because it is more comedy centered, even the title itself is a pun on the storyline that focus on the main character that has two girlfriends. Another series with this comedic focus, but in a more gag sense, that at the same time has a touch of harem and romance is 'Seitokai Yakuindomo.' In addition to these there is 'The Cuckoo's Fiancee' that is more focused on the romance and harem aspect rather than the comedy. All these series whilst they are all different from all another, they still appeal to readership that enjoy light romance comedy series even if they can vary significantly in their focus by be it on the romance or in the comedy.

Kanojo mo Kanojo - Kodansha

At the same time there is also more dramatic romance comedy series like 'Rent-A-Girlfriend' and 'Domestic Girlfriend.' 'Domestic Girlfriend' ended last year but it is still a good example here, in that these series take away the comedy for the most part and instead add much more drama. A consequence of this is that they tend to have elements that can be more dramatic like sexual content especially in the case of Domestic Girlfriend. Kouji Seo's series also tend to resemble more this style but the jury is still out on his latest work 'Megami no Cafe Terrace' on whether it will resemble this more dramatic style or skew towards a more light side like The Quintessential Quintuplets.

These are all ways Magazine has dug the romance comedy mine. However, more recently the announcement of the serialisation of 'Amagami-san chi no Enmusubi' highlights a deeper dive into the genre by the magazine. It not a bad decision after all recent successes of lighter romance comedy such as 'The Cuckoo's Fiancee' and 'The Quintessential Quintuplets' explored that genre and found a lot of success. 

'Amagami-chi no Enmusubi' - Kodansha

There are other genres that seem to have become a staple for Magazine in recent times like battle orientated series. Hiro Mashima has been filling the hunger for battle orientated series for the last 20 or so years in the magazine, and this is notable since the genre has not historically been associated with it. However, in recent times it has brought authors such as Suzuki Nakana with 'The Seven Deadly Sins' and 'Fire Force' from Ohkubo Atsushi. Both were big hits for the magazine, especially the former which achieved incredibly high levels of popularity for the magazine and it has a sequel currently ongoing in the magazine. In the same vein 'Orient' by Ohtsuka Shinobu also tried to explore this new space for battle series in Magazine, but it was not as successful and moved to its sister magazine Bessatsu Shonen Magazine recently. Battle oriented series are likely going to continue showing up in Magazine but not quite with the frequency of romance comedy. 

Orient - Kodansha

However, one magazine that has many battle orientated series is Jump which has embraced this type of series and made it part of its core identity. So in regards to current trends, Jump has not really changed itself too much from the past. It continues to focus on stuff that is more battle orientated for the most part and that will likely not change with the massive success of series like 'Demon Slayer' and 'Jujutsu Kaisen.' Not that Jump needed to make any real change in the first place as it continues to be by far the most successful manga magazine in Japan. In that sense it does not need to innovate but only continue to excel at what it does best - creating massively popular shonen series that appeal a broad audience. 

Jujutsu Kaisen - Viz Media

The type of series that hold the most mass appeal is battle orientated series. In essence this might be redundant because this image of battle series grew out of Jump massive success with battle orientated series in contrast to the others magazine. Of course, Jump has changed since back then but its focus on battle series has never changed and thats because they are simply the most popular series but also the ones that can be best built into multimedia franchises. 

Some people might have questioned that after the inability of after 'Bleach' many new hits from Jump to break that barrier into massive success in not only sales but as multi media franchise too. However, the entry of 'My Hero Academia' and most notably 'Demon Slayer' but also 'Jujutsu Kaisen' on the stage proved that assumption to be incorrect. It seems like if these series have charming characters to appeal to audiences of ages they can still be incredibly successful. In essence, Magazine turning to these sort of battle series in its more recent history is an acceptance that this is a type of series that has that power to charm Japanese audiences and the world alike. 

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Thank you very much. 

Weekly Shonen MAGAZINE X Weekly Shonen JUMP - Part 1

Jump X Magazine - Shuesha, Kodansha

Magazine and Jump have been the two top shonen magazines for over the past two decades. This was not always the case but that is a story for another time. Instead of looking at the past here, we will be looking at the moment of each magazine and how they match up against each other in various ways. 

Current Situation

Jump has for the first time since the 70s dipped under 1.5 million copies in circulation every week. This does not necessarily spell a crisis for the magazine but it is more a sign of the changing times for physical magazines overall. The rise of the digital age has inevitably played a part in causing this as the digital version is easily available to buy in all devices at a touch of a hand. This has probably caused physical copies buyers to migrate to digital to a certain extent. However,  the decline in circulation of shonen magazines in general is a trend that comes from before the shift to the digital for most magazines. It was back in the early 2000s that Jump and other shonen magazines started to slowly decline in circulation. In more recent times this decline became stronger as the shift to digital probably only further boosted this already ongoing decline.

The gradual decline of Weekly Shonen Magazines over the years

Magazine also has seen its circulation n hit all time low levels, with its latest number revealed by the Japanese Magazine Publishers Association (JMPA) being just over 500k, a number that is like Jump the lowest for Magazine since the 70s. Therefore, it has had to adapt itself to this new reality but that was not too difficult, after all Magazine has always been a shonen magazine with greater flexibility in its content. In addition, to this flexibility one trait Magazine is a associated with is its use of veterans, more than any other shonen magazine. 

This use of veterans is deeply imbedded into the editorial department corporate line and it has not strayed from away from it in a a long time. Authors like Hiro Mashima, who is writing Eden's Zero which is currently serialised in the magazine has a long history with Wekly Shonen Magazine like many other veterans like Kouji Seo (Megami no Cafe Terrace), Miki Yoshikawa (A Couple of Cuckoo's Fiance) and Tsuyushi Yasuda.  All these authors had hits if not multiple hits in the magazine. Tsuyushi Yasuda bid goodbye to the magazine earlier this year when his hit series 'DAYS' ended after many years. 'DAYS' was his second hit in the magazine after 'Over Drive' and a return in the future is probably not a remote possibility. Kouji Seo and Miki Yoshikawa might more so than Tsuyushi Yasuda be more closely associated with the magazine in a way similar to the level of Hiro Mashima. Of course, thats because these three authors had not only multiple hit series but for the most part of the last two decades they have had ongoing series in the magazine. 

Edens Zero - Hiro Mashima Latest Work

This focus on veterans is a core pillar of Magazine. The origin of this is from how these authors have not changed their art or story style significantly over time, which means they constantly try to hit a similar audience.  One example of this is Miki Yoshikawa, who is writing 'A Couple of Cuckoo's Fiancee', a harem romance comedy series. This is not her first time writing a romance comedy series, in fact she previously also for Magazine penned 'Yankee-kun and Megane-chan' but also 'Yamada and The Seven Witches' which were both romance comedy series themselves. The thirst for romance comedy series exist in basically all shonen magazines over the years and Magazine can fill that with a veteran like Miki Yoshikawa who always manages to garner an audience for her works.  Not all veterans succeed at this, but the ones that do over time hold a level of popularity. This is important because these veterans that succeeded are seen as reliable by the editorial depart since they can always craft a series that will strike the chords of a specific audience. In a sense this shows how both the author and their editors clearly understand the magazine's reader wants. 

Jump on the other hand has never had a large present of veterans in its line up. However, this might be changing somewhat recently with a few veterans returning with new series. Just within the last months the return of Shimabukuro Mitsuhashi (Toriko), Matsui Yusei (Assassination Classroom) and Kenta Shinohara (Sket Dance) showed that Jump is not unwilling to bring veterans back into the magazine. We could draw more from this turn than it probably means in practice. Mitsuhashi and Matsui both had not actively worked in any series since they had ended 'Toriko' and 'Assassination Classroom' respectively. Kenta Shinohara wrote 'Kanata Astra' but since it had ended in 2018, he had not actively published anything. 

Build King by Shimabukuro Mitsuhashi (Toriko)

One could draw the turn to this authors as a sort of crisis with the end of Demon Slayer at the same time as there was a shift in the magazine base which left it with many new series that have not become exactly big hits on the eyes of Jump such as 'Mission: Yozakura Family' or 'Undead Unluck'. On the other hand, one could also see this as just as natural if these veterans sought to be published in the magazine again and the editorial department liked their proposals more so than other newbies. One could subscribe to one or the other but it is probably a mix of the two. But why is this important to begin with?

Undead Unluck Vol 3

One reason this turn to veterans is relevant is because of how Jump is a massive magnet for upcoming authors. There are many reasons for this, but one reason is because the massively popular works from Jump of the 90s and 2000s are what a lot of promising young manga artist enjoyed in their youth. So, Jump has a massive stream of young authors in its ranks and the editorial department grooms these authors into possible hit writers like Gotouge Kiyoharu (Demon Slayer) and Akutami Gege (Jujutsu Kaisen) but of course not all of them turn out like these two. Most are not successful and one would be probably be safe to say that this turn to veterans is probably because the newbies proposing for serialisation at the moment are not ready or good enough yet.

Magazine is rather different is this aspect in that it resembles Champion, in that whilst it also grooms newbies through its manga awards and the likes, it often serialises author with origins from outside Magazine or even with Kodansha. Cases of this involve Suzuki Nakaba (Seven Deadly Sins) and Atsushi Okubo (Fire Force) and Shinobu Ohtaka (Orient) all reasonably experienced veterans with successes elsewhere that later came to Magazine. The willingness to turn to authors from other magazines and publishers is in part the reason Magazine is more flexible than Sunday and Jump when it comes to its content even though it still clearly has certain popular trends it follow. The most recent of which is harem romance comedy series and this had lead the editorial department to serialise many of them in recent times. 

Shangri-La Frontier in the Cover of Magazine

One clear example of the flexibility of Magazine is how it turned to a series like 'Shangri-La Frontier'. Shangri-La Frontier is an adaptation of a popular novel but it is not a light novel but a webnovel from the popular website 'Narou no Shousetsuka.'In a previous post I explore the website in more detail, however the most important thing to know here is that the series already had a big audience from the novel. In a similar way it resembles the Bakemonogatari manga adaptation by 'Oh Great' currently serialising in the magazine as well. Turning to adaptation of popular works with an established audiences is something many publishers like Kadokawa and many other have done to exploit their focus on light novels and the recent isekai trend. However, this is the first time it is brought big publisher brings a series like this to its main magazine and its not hard to understand why, after all it significantly reduces risk since the series has a established fanbase already and the successes of other novel adaptations are evidence that manga adaptation of novels are a big market.

Brand and Multi Media Success 

One of the things Jump has a leg up over every other shonen magazine is its massive multimedia success and the brand recognition it continues to hold. Of all big shonen multimedia franchises most of them originate from Jump such as Yu-gi-oh, Naruto, One Piece, Dragon Ball and many others. Through the success of its series it managed to cultivate its own brand in both Japan and the world - the Jump brand with its series becoming associated with Jump through games like Jump Force and the likes. 

Jump+ - Jump Digital Platform

With its brand name it has managed to launch its digital platform Jump + to become one of the biggest in the market. Its competitors have also fallen behind in this race as well thanks to its brand name and the sheer availability of keen authors to write series for them that others publishers struggle to match. 

Magazine has not had the same success with multimedia. It could even be said it falls behind Sunday in this regard due to the presence of Conan in that magazine. In contrast to that Magazine has had many successful series throughout its run but none that had the lasting power to become a long standing multimedia success like One Piece or Conan. However, in a sense this adds to how strong Magazine really is as it has manage to succeed and continue this success till now even without having a series that has achieved such cultural iconic status. 

To be Continued... 

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