WSC decade

At the turn of the last decade, WSC had just commemorated its 40th anniversary with various projects and had found what would be its biggest hit of the century - Yowamushi Pedal. It was a decent end to the last decade which put the hurdle at a rather high level for the start of the following decade.

In highschools there was the football in Angel Voice, Samejima in his path to the world of sumo in Bachi Bachi as well as the heated road racing in Yowamushi Pedal. At the same time in Clover, it was time for fishing and punching, Nanba DeadEnd was equally about punching but also gags. In Mitsudomoe, the three sisters were at heart of crazy middle school hijinks and Squid Girl attempt to take over the world went less than smoothly. In 2010, there would be more fighting added to the magazine with Sugarless but also the guardian of hell Cerberis would make an appearance.

In 2011, it was the time for jail time with Prisoner Riku, Soon, the one dose of Saint Seiya was not enough and the arrival of The Lost Canvas would cover the frequent absent of Next Dimension. 2011 would also be the end of Nanba's fight. And the sky went grey with Sora ga Haiiro Daikara as Cerberis was also put to bed.

Zombies would awaken in 2012 in Bio Hazard manga adaption. Dokaben and Bachi Bachi said goodbye and left and but returned before they were missed with Dokaben Dream Tournament and Bachi Bachi Burst respectively. Versus Earth brought aliens and a fight for survival whilst Meitantei Mani bought about various different eccentric cases.

Lies and cute supernatural monsters showed up in Jitsu wa Watashi wa in 2013. In Shin Garouden, there was martial arts galore in contrast to the show of stupidity in Ikkinkonbo Z The weather went mad in Utten Kekkou and the artists of tinplate showed up to play baseball.

Baki decided to take a path his own in Baki Dou, at the same moment Utten Kekkou fizzled out   whilst volley balls were pumped in Harigane Service but the ones in Angel Voice were put back in the closet. Instead of fists it was time for swords to be lifted in Kurotora as Shin Garouden was put to rest. Bachi Bachi Burst rebranded to Samejima, Saigo no Juugonichi in its last instalment whilst Meitantei Mani retired. However, a new group of girls detective emerged to replaced her in Kyodai - Shoujo Tantei to Yuurei Keikan no Kaiki Jikenbo, whilst the stupidity in Ikkinbonzo Z migrated to Gmen.

The judo club was shut down in Uchikomi because the zombies had returned in Bio Hazard.  The swords returned to the sheaths in Kurotora and instead the racket was picked up by the boys over at Shonen Racket. The vampire appeared but died in no time, and the robots and humans met in AI no Idenshi to sort out their problems.

The bad girls were let out in Rokudou no Onnatachi, and the animals became humans in Beastars. In addition the mystery club avoided disbandment in Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyuubu.

In Biohazard, the zombie apocalypse had ended as well as the trouble of AI and humans in Ai no Idenshi. The boys gathered the balls ands put down the racket down in Shonen Racket. In Himawari the delinquents became idols and the girls become magical girls in Magical Girl Site.

He had a dream to become a mangaka in Weekly Shonen Hachi. Finally, Prisoner Riku was no longer a prisoner. Urayasu became quieter with the end of Maido! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku but there was not enough time to rest as Kotetsu and his troupe returned in Appare! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku. The ball and boots were let out and the swords were unsheathed in Junior and Akatora. Baki Dou cahnged to Baki Dou and the girls revived the Judo club in 'Ippon' Again.  The Serve in Harigane Service was not enough and it returned with an Ace in Harigane Service Ace. The ink ran out for Hachi and the dream was over in 2018.

It was Ashigei that took one step to start  of the 50th anniversary celebration. Guriko did his worst in Worst Gaiden Guriko by fighting and Junior retired early and Akatora lost its edge.  Dragon, fox and many other goddesses of all types as well as tits showed up in Dorakon, whilst the criminal was let loose in Toubousha Elio. It was up to Shy to capture and fight the criminals as well as the heart.

Thoughts on Mairimashita! Iruma-kun Anime

There has been news about Iruma-kun's anime. In a incredibly shock, it will actually air in NHK-E. NHK-E is sister channel of NHK General TV and obviously both are operated by public company NHK - E which stands for education. It is a channel aimed at the younger audience. A key point of NHK-E is that it is a nation wide open terrestrial channel for everyone since its a public TV station but of course the viewer has to have paid the TV license fee. Other channel do not necessarily have the same broad reach NHK has, so obviously this will provide Iruma with nation wide exposure.

Iruma-kun will be the first Weekly Shonen Champion to air in NHK-E. It will also be only the first tv series by champion to air in daytime since Black Jack and prior to that was Gaki Deka.

NHK-E, or E tele, has a long past of airing animated works not only Japanese but also foreign works.  Recent anime adaptation that aired in the last few years were Log Horizon, Kyokai no Rinne, Classicaloid, Major 2nd, Radiant all these within the Saturday 17:35 TV Slot.

Baby Steps anime aired in 2014 April. It aired in 17:30 on Sunday. Currently, this slot is occupied by Thomas and Friends. There is a possibility of Iruma-kun airing in this time slot, since  the current and latest season Thomas and Friends, will end around September. However,  the chances are low simply because they might simply rebroadcast Thomas in that time slot until the following season has been completed in Britain.

Baby Steps Volume sales -
│*36238 (3)│*67517│------│------│------┃*67,517 (*10)┃2013/02｜ベイビーステップ 25
│*37882 (3)│*67225│------│------│------┃*67,225 (*10)┃2013/05｜ベイビーステップ 26
│*33584 (3)│------│------│------│------┃*33,584 (**3)┃2013/08｜ベイビーステップ 27
│*36225 (3)│*66443│------│------│------┃*66,443 (*10)┃2013/11｜ベイビーステップ 28
│*36507 (3)│*67856│------│------│------┃*67,856 (*10)┃2014/01｜ベイビーステップ 29
│*57463 (7)│------│------│------│------┃*57,463 (**7)┃2014/03｜ベイビーステップ 30
│*72973 (6)│*94711│------│------│------┃*94,711 (*13)┃2014/06｜ベイビーステップ 31
│*28424 (2)│*86105│------│------│------┃*86,105 (**9)┃2014/08｜ベイビーステップ 32
│*86953 (7)│109537│------│------│------┃109,537 (*14)┃2014/11｜ベイビーステップ 33
│*95096 (6)│------│------│------│------┃*95,096 (**6)┃2015/03｜ベイビーステップ 34
│*54626 (3)│104457│123009│------│------┃123,009 (*17)┃2015/05｜ベイビーステップ 35
│111117 (7)│138013│------│------│------┃138,013 (*14)┃2015/08｜ベイビーステップ 36
│*65174 (3)│122267│141377│------│------┃141,377 (*17)┃2015/10｜ベイビーステップ 37

I will not delve on aspects of the series as I have previously done already in previous posts.

Now lets look at the staff, of excellent quality I must add.

Director: Makoto Moriwaki (Pripara.Tantei Opera Milky Holmes)
Series Composition: Kazuyuki Fudeyasu (Pripara, Tantei Opera Milky Holmes, Gochuumon wa Usagi Desu Ka?, Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken)

Firstly, we have Makoto Moriwaki, a experienced director which has handled a lot of long series, popular series in the past. She and Kazuyuki Fudeyasu have worked together in the past. So they have experience and synergy which is very important between director and series compositor. the fact they have in worked together extensively in the past is uplifting for Iruma-kun.

Works like Pripara in which they collaborated were very successful, obviously it was based on a popular arcade game. it was an anime that was aimed at kids, it aired in the afternoon, but it was popular with people in other age groups as well. Iruma is rather different content wise from pripara and obviously its relatively obscure but previous experience by the key staff in handling family/children orientated series is great news.

The strength of Moriwaki lies in the fact her deep experience with popular anime geared at children which is what Iruma-kun will be trying to emulate. Fudeyasu on the other hand, has worked in many anime of different genres and audiences. He has vast experience and for me personally he has worked in many series, I have watched and enjoyed. As the series compositor, he will be handling the pacing amongst other important aspects so he will obviously play a big role on the quality of the series.

Character Design: Toshihiko Sano (Fairy Tail, Heybot)

Toshihiko Sano does not many works under his name, Fairy Tail and Heybot are the only previous character design work he has done. In Heybot he was one of the key staff handling many important tasks. Heybot was artistically pleasing, at least to me, it  had array of character designs. In addition the character designs in key visual look good and more polished but clearly resembled the manga's artwork.

Music: Akimitsu Honma (Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii, Kyokai no Rinne)

Akimitsu Honma is again not someone with a wide list of works under his name, in anime at least. In the music production business he has an wide list of works, it seems to be his main job. There is not much I can say about him but he seems experienced in the music field so he should be able to do a good job.

Studio: Bandai Namco Pictures

Because the main staff are mostly composed of freelancers  there is not much to comment on the studio itself. BN Pictures is the studio tied to Bandai Namco. It was created when they decide to transfer all IP aimed at children and family orientated away from Sunrise. Some works under its name are Aikatsu, Gintama and the previously mentioned Heybot.

Whatever the end product ends up looking like the staff for me personally seems capable of delivering a good product. This is obviously a manga that NHK and other producers see potential in
 in pushing forward. It is a happy fun series that will be aiming directly at younger audiences so if it catches popularity it  could be a big win for Champion but we shall wait till Fall to see what happens.

Weekly Champion 50th Anniversary

WSC 2019/1 Cover

For the full summary of events for the 50th anniversary click here.