Isekai and How Did It Hijack Manga and Anime.

Isekai Quartet

 Isekai, Isekai , isekai isekai , isekai and more isekai and more isekai. 

Why are there so many ISEKAI?! 

I am sure is a question a lot anime fans have asked themselves after seeing isekai series continue to come year after year. 

I will tell you why!

 

Shousetsuka ni Narou - 'Lets Become a Novelist'

To start of the majority of these isekai series started of as webnovels in the website Shousetsuka ni Narou. This website Narou for short is important because it created a platform for anyone to share their works easily and for free without the supervision of editors or publishers. However, how did isekai come to dominate the website? 

But first lets talk about the aspects most isekai share. In these stories the main character usually has a cheat ability of some kind that they gain through reincarnation or trasmigration, both very common plot devices. The origins of these devices came from fan fictions where it was used as way for authors to insert themselves into the world of their favourite stories. Shousetsuka ni Narou was known for its fan fiction stories in its early years and most of these isekai continue to have this 'fan fiction' touch.

Even after the shift to more original works the devices such reincarnation from fan fictions continued to be used. However, whilst shift to original original works meant the 'fan' element from these stories were technically 'taken' out, series from narou  continued to use a lot of familiar elements such as ones from Japanese role playing games like Dragon Quest. In a sense, these stories are still 'fan fiction' in that they still borrow heavily from many other things like games, manga and light novels, that makes them feel familiar to any reader and authors recognise this and make fun of it through meta references. 

However,  whilst this might explain the familiar fantasy setting and the isekai element, it does not explain why most of these stories have a powerful main character, a harem amongst other things. The reason for this also goes back to fan fiction. The series with fan fictions in Narou that made the most success were Negima, Zero no Tsukaima and visual novels or eroge. These series all have harem elements and somewhat powerful male main characters. The popularity of these series within the audience of Narou meant many elements from them, of course came to shape the sort of original series that would gain popularity in Narou. Hence, 'cheat' main characters and the presence of many female characters interested in the main character in a sense is something isekai inherited. So fan fiction culture has played a large part in creating the isekai, we know today. However why did a relatively sub culture grow into a mainstream trend? 

One big reason for this spread of isekai culture was the popularity boost of the Narou received at the star of the decade through the emerging market of smart phones  and similar tech items. These items gave people a way to easily and quickly read novels while, for example in the train to work and back. These novels were perfect things to read for these short commuting journeys since they are free and chapters are usually short and easily digestible since they are quite simple to read for the most part. This greatly boosted the readership of Narou works and in essence this is where the takeover of isekai began. 

Publishers of course started to take notice of how much of an audience these works from Narou had and they wanted to have their own piece of the pie. Therefore, around the turn of the last decade many Narou series started to be edited and packed into volumes and turned into official light novels published for sale.  It was a slow movement to begin with only a few select titles being picked up. However, the success of the anime of Log Horizon and The Irregular at the Magic High School both Narou titles, as well as Sword Art Online meant many publishers started to pick up Narou novels more frequently.  Many found reasonable success, especially the ones that were already popular in Narou. 

Of course, this initial success of series from Narou most of which were isekai meant many other publishers jumped into the Narou bandwagon. The widespread success of these series meant in general series from Narou grew an image of their own and came to be called Narou-kei and whilst it might be associated strongly with isekai not all of them are isekai. 

Series like Redo of healer and Hidden Dungeon Only I can Enter that aired last season are Narou series but they are not isekai. Of course, all the other isekai currently airing are as you might have guessed Narou series. 

Hidden Dungeon I Can Enter 

The success of Narou stories in the light novel market led to publishers of the light novels to also try to take a chance in manga adaptation to tap into into the bigger manga market. Like the success they found as web novels and then light novels, many were also successful as manga. The Time When I was Reincarnated as a Slime for instance became one of the best selling manga in Japan and has over 25 million copies in print. Its massive success  has even led isekai series with slimes to receive anime like the  'By the Grace of The Gods' from last fall in an attempt to catch some of its audience.  This level of popularity from Narou works as manga has meant original manga and light novel series not originally from Narou have attempted to explore the market for series like it as well, which has led it to become an even bigger phenomenon than ever before. 

The Time When I was Reincarnated as a Slime - An incredibly successful Narou series

So far we have talked about the origins of isekai as a sub culture and how it spread into both light novels and manga. So what does this all mean for anime?  What's the next step for Isekai after conquering light novels and manga?  

Web novel > Light Novel > Manga > ? 

The success of narou works in light novels and manga meant they naturally would be lined up for  anime. After all anime for the most part are adaptation of light novels and manga for various reasons which i might explore in a different article. 

However unlike previous trends such as magic high school series which were big around a decade ago, Isekai is different because there are an absurd amount of isekai works already published and many more still sprouting every day in Narou. So there is naturally a lot more popular isekai series waiting to receive anime too. Many popular isekai works have been animated, but many other popular ones still have not received anime yet. What this means is that Isekai will continue to be animated in the future. At the moment 'only' 29 Narou series have been animated, the first one being Log Horizon. Another 17 have been announced for the future and many more are to come in the future. It seems everything points to more and more isekai anime coming in the future. 

Why the hell are Narou kei so damn popular?!

One thing that stands out for me is the simplicity of these series. The story are very simple and usually involve the main character adjusting to a new world and sometimes easily becoming the strongest and overcoming any obstacle that appears in their path. 

However, the simplicity feeds into another factor which is important to take into account - why is the isekai setting so appealing. For me this is because it is a perfect setting for an escapism fantasy. 

eg - Isekai

Reincarnation 

Transmigration 

 

With the isekai plot device, the main character is brought to another world, which is usually has a medieval Europe fantasy setting. the main character is not at the same level as any other person in the series but is instead above through their experiences and knowledge from their previous world when it comes to reincarnation, or special status or skill when it comes to  hero setting. This is a set up for a main character that stands above all others like the series highlighted above, they might struggle at first but eventually, the main character can overcome everything and become an unimaginable being. 

This plays well also in the fact that most character that are isekai-ed in these novels are usually 'failures' in the previous world. In the sense in that in Reincarnated as a Slime, the main character was unable to have any meaningful relationship or in I am Spider where the main character had no friends or a caring family, so instead she spent her time mostly playing games alone. In other series like The Man Blessed by The Gods, the main character was overworked in a black company. In another world, their knowledge and skills are worth something in a way that in their previous life in our world simply was not. In addition, they have the chance to live a more fulfilling life in contrast to their past one. This is what I feel is the appeal for isekai, and more generally Narou series, they offer easily digestible stories that can make us feel better about ourselves by highlighting that every experience is worth and that every bad moment in our lives is transitional and temporary. 

In addition,  in these stories usually have the main character grows strong rather fast and they do not struggle a lot in their journey. Part of this is for me because people look for stories that give them positive feelings. Even when they have a darker story  the main character still overcome any challenges with somewhat ease. Hence, the isekai setting provides a connection with the reader but the lack of struggles leave people with positive feelings in a mirroring the iyashikei aspect that is prominent in Japan. After all, everyone dreams of an easier and simpler life.  

There probably is a need for a deeper study into how these novels could touch so many people and turn into such a phenomenon not only in Japan but outside it as well. I want to delve into this topic with a deeper look next time. 

If you liked reading this, please leave a comment and consider following the blog. I would love to hear what you guys think about isekai and if you guys have any topic you want me to write on. 

Links -

Narou no Shousetsuka

https://syosetu.com

Predictions for Weekly Champion in 2021

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. 

 

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. 

DIssecting the Magazine - Mairimashita! Iruma - The Star has arrived.

Mairimashita Iruma-kun began in Issue 14 in 2017 of Champion. Its has had a bumpy ride to its current position as the one of the best selling series in Shonen Champion. Its debut in march in 2017 came as a surprise perhaps because it was a fantasy school life manga, genres that have not traditionally made significant success in Champion.

Start and Limbo

However, Mairimashita! Iruma-kun found an audience and its first few volumes sold relatively well according to data from shoseki. Its placements in the magazine somewhat contrasted this as whilst it initially received a opening colour page for its volume 1 release, it after this initial push by the editorial department it was left often in low placements. It seemed like the series had fallen to back seat and was possibly in even danger of cancellation as it often drifted towards the bottom of the table of contents. It came to end of its first year of existence in this limbo state. It did not seem like it had a significant future in the magazine even if its sales were not poor.

2018 and Reprints -

2018 was a year that led to a completely different scenario for the series, it started in the same trend as 2017 in the bottom of the magazine more often than not and with a complete lack of colour pages. However,  volume 6 release marked a different scenario when all volumes of the series were finally reprinted for the first time. Moving onwards from this it started to find it itself more often in middle of the magazine throughout most of the remainder of 2018 eventually receiving an opening colour page to celebrate the release of volume 7. This did not mean a complete change as it still often featured in the middle and sometimes in the bottom part of the magazine however whilst it did not receive significant attention or promotion yet it continued receiving reprints and growing in sales from volume to volume. 2018 was by all means the year in which Iruma turned its fortune as it started as a cancellation candidate and ended it as a established middle tier series in the magazine. However, 2019 would bring even more surprises for this series.

Becoming an Idol in 2019

The year started hot coming directly of the rise sales of the previous year and the series expanding popularity. It quickly received a opening lead colour page in the first December double issue and it was soon followed by the volume release in February with the anime announcement in another opening colour page. This trend of colour pages would continue throughout the year. In addition to this Iruma-kun placement soon started to be on the higher end spectrum, it still sometimes had middling position but it was now rarely ever in the bottom part.

After the anime announcement came its participation in the masterpiece revival project and a interview with Osamu Nishi in the magazine, both things that highlighted the series had a growing star power in the magazine. In addition to this its first popularity poll had started.

Part of this highlight in the magazine came from its growing sales showcased by the rise of circulation numbers which were at 900k at volume 11 and by volume 13 had reached 1.2m before the anime had aired. This continued by the time of the release of the anime it had reached 1.5 million copies in print, an incredible milestone for a manga that had been previously in limbo in the magazine.

The anime started airing in October and not only had did it air in NHK-E and had a prime time slot at 17:35 something a champion series had not had since Gaki Deka in 1980s. It found significant success and gave a major sales boost to the series.

Achieving the status of a major player in Champion.

The year started with increasing sales with circulation numbers increasing rapidly reaching 2.5m by the end of January. it was given a renewed boost in popularity after reruns in the holidays in the start of the year. Alongside this boost in popularity came its first cover in Champion and another popularity poll and the milestone of 3 million copies in print by the end of the anime, which announced a second season for the following year. A few months after we not only close to the release of volume 17 and the results of the 2nd popularity poll another cover its second in a few months but it also revealed the series reached the 4m copies in circulation milestone, an incredible achievement.

This success made it one of the biggest series in the magazine and it has received a spin off currently running together with the main series in Champion with another one planned for the future. Its was a somewhat arduous path that Iruma since it started off well but dropped off but eventually found it strides from 2018 onwards until this current peak in 2020 which might not be a peak at all yet.

Houkago Teibou Nisshi - Introduction, TV Anime Details and Expectations.

Houkago Teibou Nisshi - Kousaka Yasuyuki
Serialised in Young Champion Retsu
Genre - Slice of Life

Setting and Synopsis -
Houkago Teibou Nisshi starts off with the main character, Tsurigi Hina, who favours indoors activities, she has a love for knitting. Hina and her family move to the small beach town of Ashiya-machi in Fukuoka, Kyushu. She and her family had previously lived in Ashiya-machi as it happens to be the home town of her father. After a meeting with a member of the Teibou club, she gets pressured into joining the club and involved in outdoor activities like fishing.

Story and Comment

There is no story as such in Houkago, after all its a series about a girl coming out of her shell and discovering new things and various different ways to have fun that might have otherwise been difficult if not impossible in Kanto. I do believe there is both a fulfilment and a role in the development of the person in trying different things such as fishing and other activities of leisure but i do feel perhaps a bit irked is that it might be subtly saying indoor activities are not as fun and fulfilling as outdoors. Indoor activities like knitting, playing board games like chess and the likes can not only help with the development of motor skills but also help in the development and maintenance of the brain.  This might perhaps not be the intention of the author at all but It was just something that I felt like highlighting.

In addition, the plot device of that leads to the Hina joining the club seems to me like bullying, it is especially highlighted by the unwillingness of Hina at first to go to the club. Her enjoyment of the activities does eventually mean it is forgotten but it leaves a bitter taste of a poor plot device that is commonly used.

In other aspects like the technical side of fishing, the series seem to be well researched. So it can be something that could get people interested in fishing, in a similar way that Yuru Camp got many people into camping.

TV Anime Staff -

The series will be animated by the studio Doga Kobo. A studio that has a lot of experience with similar series to Hougkago Teibou Nisshi like Yuru Yuri and other series which are primarily slice of life and have no overarching plot.

Ookuma Takaharu will be the director, it will be his first time directing a series. He has previous worked as animation director, assistant director in various series like Sabage-bu, Mitsudomoe and Yuru Yuri. Similarly to the studio, he has vast experience in slice of life series.

In a similar vein comes Shimo Fumihiko with the series composition, she has also worked before in various slice of life series like Stella no Mahou, New Game, Anima Yell and many others.

Next is Kumagai Katsuhiro with the character designs which from visuals seem to replicate the original work's art style perfectly. His backlog of works is thin when compared to the others, but the visuals do look good so far.

It is in safe hands but what can it achieve?

Houkago is in a genre that is kind of a stable nowadays, series with a similar mood are present in almost every anime season with hits like Non Non Biyori, Yuru Camp and Gochuumon Usagi desu ka?  in recent years. Thus it might be a question of whether Hougako Teibou Nisshi provides something that slice of life series that were not too successful did not. It is the fishing element that for me makes Houkago stand out, fishing is not typically the topic of a lot of anime, specifically casual fishing. Houkago represents it as exciting activity in itself but it also shows the aftermath by showing different fishes and ways to prepare, cook and eat them. Fishing is after all a fun activity that can be practiced leisurely and competitively in addition it can be done socially in groups or alone. It is this that can be the standout feature of Houkago Teibou Nisshi, so i do believe it can be successful anime.