New Serialisation Round

 

A new serialisation round is starting in WSC and it is really the first real round under the new editor in chief Matsuyama.  There have been new series before this one namely the V tuber collab project called 'Shiranai Kenykuubu' or Shiraken for short and 'They want to Fill in the Holes' that began in issue 6 and 13 respectively, with the former seeing what seems to be a good levels of sales whilst the latter has not had a volume released yet.

Shiraken was likely planned before the editorial shakeup at the end of last year, so the first series of this new editorial makeup most likely was the romance comedy title 'They Want to Fill in the Holes.' The series seems quite to lean heavily on ecchi that seems a bit out of touch with what romcom audiences seem to favour at the moment, and even thought the art especially coloured does have a nice touch to it in my eyes, the series overall is quite bland.

Moving on to the actual topic of discussion, we have the upcoming new series round and the first one under the new editorial department. 

The first one is 'Mamori Kyoudai no Sahanji' by Kuranto Yukiaki and Itonoko already started and it is based on a oneshot of the same name that was published only a few months ago in issue 16. The fast turnaround to serialisation likely means it was a popular one-shot with readers. It is a comedy series focusing on three brothers with a focus on the youngest brother that is an ordinary high schooler whilst his older brothers, one is a popular comedian and the other a super idol. It does feel like it a series aimed at a female audience, in a way it reminds me of Tanaka is Always Listless. I expect this series to be successful due to the one-shot success. 

The second 'Davul no Oukan' by Todoroki Akira begins in Issue 31 and it is not based on any previously published one-shot. The description seems to suggest it is focused on the life of the strongest former assassin and it will be an violent action series. From the author side not much can be drawn from either, Todoroki Akira is not someone that has published before in the magazine before or won any rookie awards but the possibility exists that they could have changed their penname. Overall, its a wait and see.

The third series is 'Kimi wa Yotsuba no Clover by Koushi' and it begins in Issue 33. Koushi is an author that has already published series previously including for Akita Shoten in Manga Cross (now Champion Cross) named Isekai Saikyou, Nihon de JK to Konkatsu suru' that ended with three volumes last year. They had another series in 2022 that ended with three volumes with only digital release. The things to take from the previous titles they published was that they were both isekai stories largely focused on comedy with a romantic edge. In this new series the motif is the four leaf clover, and the description talks about fortune and destiny and dubs the series a 'love suspense'. It would be move away from their previous works that were comedy focused series. 

The last series is Mogaku by Gumi and Maru and it begins in issue 34. Gumi and Maru is now an artist and author separate but they won the 16th Next Champion Award as Gumimaru under one name as a duo. The one-shot that won the award 'Sekitoba' that was published in issue 10 this year. The fact the series is inspired by a one-shot, suggest it was quite popular. In fact its the first Next Champion winning one-shot to become a series. Going back to the authors, the two are actually childhood friends who wanted to become manga author, well they got published... not it is whether it succeeds.

The series is a track cycling racing (Keirin) series where the main character is betting his life for his family. In the one-shot the main character's father was a cyclist but he passed away and because it seems he was the main earner, it left the family on hard times and it becomes even worse after his mother has an accident. So as the eldest brother, he has to take up the burden of breadwinner and through Keirin to be able to support his family. It is an interesting setting, economic difficulties is not an usual motivation in sports manga nowadays, but it can act as a real rather than a bland motivator that underpins the main character personality. 

Well that is the round.. 

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

Thoughts on Past Cancelled Manga from Champion

Looking past at these series and trying to make comments on why they failed was not as easy as I thought. Some of these series performed reasonably whilst other faired quite poorly, but I though some that did really poorly were not as bad after looking at them again. Perhaps, the timing was a problem after all some of these series released a few years back and whilst that might not seem like a lot of time champion has changed a lot. Series like Iruma kun became successful as well as more recently Tougen Anki and many others that are not very 'champion-esque.' It also picked up series from twitter which in themselves was new but one specifically has yuri vibes and a clear slice of life focus which are quite a new thing for the magazine. I dragged this on but for me it seems like some of these series might have succeeded if only they were released now, so just keep that in mind as I try to give my thoughts on why they were cancelled. 

Kurotora Vol 1

Kurotora by Suzuki Kai 

An action series in historical setting with supernatural elements, this was not exactly a very champion series even though now it feels like it would feel more at place. in 2015, this series just seems to me failed to grab the attention of enough people to survive, it is not exactly terrible. I do feel like a series like this would be better received in current champion and this is the case for most of these series to be honest. 

Magicalo Magical vol 1

Magicalo Magical by Donsoku Mainichi

A series with polished art but it had a hectic first chapter, I think the author probably needed to be a bit more careful at organising his story to be a bit simpler. It still had a lot of promise for an ecchi fantasy series and I hope the author found success somewhere. Magicalo Magical had all its volume published and its first volume sales were good compared to most other cancelled manga but they dropped rapidly. 

Sumeragi Dressers Vol 1

Sumeragi Dressers by Matsumoto Yutaka 

This series has an interesting setting in a it resembles SHY in that it has a female main character that gets involved into being something of a hero. It is however more focused on the ecchi and comedy and it was not bad but Matsumoto's sensei art was not polished enough and it could have been more organised. His latest one-shots had much better art and both had female main characters which are not as unusual in champion anymore. A part of me wished he had a chance to reform this series and have it serialised again. 

Nikoben Vol 1

Nikoben by Hikari Sumi 

A romcom with perhaps a strange gimmick. The main character loves to make cute bentos but he is admonished for it by his father because it is seen as a girly thing. He gets involved with a cold girl from his class who eats a hinomaru bento and thats how the romcom ball gets rolling. The gimmick is not bad but it does not stick out since it does not fell gourmet so it kind of falls flat. First chapter moved a bit too fast and I am sure that affected the pacing of the story. In terms of art, Hikari Sumi style whilst not unique is polished but with two series axed, he seems to struggle with managing the story of his manga even if the ideas of both seemed good. He continues to work as Itagaki Paru's assistant and maybe he can learn from it.

BADBROS Vol 1

BADBROS by Satou Shuuichirou

The underground not quite death game but prison baseball setting was a nice spin on the sport genre. The first chapter does not feel fast or slow but decently paced, the art is also not bad. I am not exactly sure why this performed so poorly but Blue Lock from Magazine shows that there is market for this sort of sport manga. The head editor could try putting a series like this again especially with Riku gone as well. Though the illustrator and author went their own separate way.

Seigi no Satsujinki Vol 1

Seigi no Satsujinki by Suzuki Yuuta

A somewhat confusing start did not help it and it took a while to clear up which also did not help. Suzuki Yuuta ability with one-shot is unquestionable, his one-shots all were eery but incredibly creative.

The series however was a bit unclear and probably left readers behind. Perhaps he should do something with a more episodic edge than slowly unveils into a larger story.  

Maruyuu Kunoshima-san Vol 1

Maruyuu Kunoshima-san by Kisanuki Tani 

Another work with an interesting setting, a girl inspired by a hero (in a more fantasy jp sense than the SHY sense) in her childhood aspires her to become part of the HSC - Hero Support Company. The start seemed well paced even if it possibly contained a bit too much exposition. The art could be better as well but I feel like this sort of story could be more successful in current champion.

Utsurou Kimi To 1

Utsurou Kimi To by Shirato Yuusuke & Hajime Furukawa -

Another work that was rather polished but that performed poorly. One of the reasons for that I believe was the slow passing, the story was incredibly slow to get going and for the sort of series it was, a supernatural battle series, that was probably a mistake. The author and illustrators went their separate ways,  so any new stuff by them would be different. 

Amayama Maya -  

Chikakarachika and Otae-san Kyou mo Tabetai Vol 1

 Otae-san Kyou mo Tabetai by Amayama Maya.

Both work had very peculiar setting. Otae-san had cannibalism as one of its themes but in a sense the issue with these stories for me were how they were rather messy, in the sense that the story was a bit all over the place. The author has interesting ideas but how he manages them is a bit underwhelming.

Uten Kekkou Vol 1 

Gyakushuu Inferno Vol 1

Gyakushuu Inferno by Shigemoto Hajime 

His art improved a lot since his last series. It also feels a lot more organised though it felt like the series just did not grab the attention of the readers. It was slow to get going and overall I think the author had a  interesting idea with this work but I guess he was unable to balance his story in a way that could get people interest. 

Junior Vol 1

Junior by Haitani Otoya 

Of the recently cancelled stuff, Junior is one of the longest at 6 volumes and they all were released in print too. This was a polished work in terms of art and story but it failed in exciting the reader when it came to the actual sport part. His recent short story on boxing was much more interesting in that aspect and it had an much more developed back story as well.

Ashigei Shoujo Komura-san Vol 1

Ashigei Shoujo Komura-san by Haiba Nemumi

There is nothing, I can really say the story was centered on foot fetishism and perhaps it wore itself too thin because of that. As a one-shot it worked but it feels like the series needed to be a bit more. 

Boryaku no Panzer Vol 1

Boryuaku no Panzer by Furuta Tomohiro

This one was quite an absurd like ecchi manga. The problem for me of this manga was that the ecchi did not feel sexy (eechi) and the comedy was almost always based on the ecchi also did not work as a result of that. It is more series specific comment, so it will depend on what the author wants to do in the future.

Dorakon! Vol 1

Dorakon by Shokubai Hiroomi

Dorakon was much better than Panzer with its ecchi. However, the romcom aspect felt very uninspired, It was not too funny and lucky pervert was quite prominent, the story felt rather underwhelming as a result and this was probably the biggest issue for this series. The example of Yankee JK which is not exactly very inspiring but its more down to earth and stable is probably what Dorakon should have been.

The author names without links are the ones I could not find any SNS or website and the likes. If you do know or can find it, please let me know in the comments.

Thoughts on Weekly Shonen Sunday's current line-up

 Weekly Shonen Sunday opens the new decade with a stable lineup. So lets see its current line up.

Sousou no Frieren (Lead Color)
Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time
MAO
Komi-san wa Komyushou Desu
Major 2nd
Yofukashi no Uta
Nokemono-tachi no Yoru (Color)
Ryuu to Ichigo
Maou-jou de Oyasumi
Aozakura Bouei Daigakukou Monogatari
Tonikaku Cawaii
Be Blues! - Ao ni Narei
Ponkotsu-chan Kenshochu
Kimi wa 008
Hoankan Evans no Uso (Color)
Souboutei Kowasu Beshi
Maiko-san Chi no Makanai-san
Alice in Borderland RETRY
Amano Megumi wa Suki Darake!
Switch
Sokyuu no Adriadne
Itoyan goto Naki
Zettai Karen Children
Youkai Giga
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen

ABSENT: Detective Conan, Daiku no Hatou
(Hiatus) Arata Kangatari

Instead of going down through the table of contents, I want to first analyse where the stability of Sunday comes from. As I see it a key component of this stability is obviously the presence of Detective Conan, a series with iconic cultural status which many people tune in on Saturdays evenings to watch its anime. Its incredibly successful anime is a factor in this but the manga also continues to sell well, it is currently Sunday best selling series and it has a towering presence over any other series in the magazine.  

This strong popular magnetism of Detective Conan has meant spin off series have come to appear in the pages of Sunday as well. The most recent ones being Zero Tea's time and Wild Police Force whilst the latter has ended the former appears in the magazine infrequently but they nonetheless show how important Conan is for Sunday.

Komi-san is a strong series in Sunday's line up, sales wise it is still one of the best selling series, even if its sales seems to be in decline at the moment. The editors seem to have stepped back some of the attention they gave it earlier, probably to give space for the much newer series that have not found such levels of popularity. It continues, however ,to be one of the most popular Sunday series and one that many people wish to see animated someday to see it reach new heights but whether that will happen we will just have to wait and see. 

Another series that could be said to be a strong weight lifter in the magazine is Kotoyama latest work 'Yofukashi no Uta.' It is a relatively new series in comparison to Komi but it has become a good stable seller in the magazine and whilst it has not reached the level of popularity that his previous work had in its peak yet, it sells really well in comparison to the rest of the magazine. Perhaps, with an anime in the future it could match or even surpass Dagashi's peak, but that is also something we will have to wait to see. However, neither Komi-san or Yokufashi are the second best selling in the magazine beneath  Conan, after all that title is reserved for Major 2nd at least for the moment. 

Major 2nd is similar in a way to Conan in that it is a very popular series, but unlike it, it is a sequel to the popular 'Major' baseball series that ran on Sunday in the past. Major 2nd following from its prequel was immediately popular since its debut and it continues to be one of the best selling series in Sunday even though it has being ongoing for a a few years already. It has during its current run received two anime seasons but these never boosted its sales to a large extent and the moment its sales seem to be on a downward trend. Despite this it is still a staple in the magazine albeit one that is boosted by its sequel status to an older popular work. 

This brings us to other sports series in the magazine. Be Blues which has been ongoing for a long period, it is similar to Major 2nd in that it is a stable series for the magazine. It does not have the same level of success but it has managed to maintain a decent level of sales but its sales seem to have reached a peak and have since stagnated. It unlike Major 2nd has not had a anime adaptation but it is also by a veteran author with prior successes in Sunday in his curriculum.

Switch on the other hand is one of the younger series in the magazine that has established itself. Unlike Major 2nd or Be Blues, it is from a newbie author. It has nonetheless manage to claw for itself a space in Sunday via growing sales albeit it is still not a big selling series by any stretch of the imagination. It continues to slowly grow but the increase in sales comes in very small chunks and not in leaps which does not paint a picture of a series that will be a star for the magazine in the coming future, unless it of course receives an anime or gets a boost in sales from another source. 

Going from one series that has been making space for itself in the magazine to another, lets move on to Frieren. Frieren has quickly managed to become a title with a lot of promise for Sunday by selling well right from the get go and its second place rank in Kono Manga ga Sugoi is sure to boost it sales further.  Its a golden egg that has a promising future for Sunday. Likewise, Ryuu to Ichigo is also a newer series that started around the same time as Frieren, it has not managed to reach the anywhere the same level of popularity or sales. It has nonetheless established a space for itself in the magazine though it has only a passable level of sales at the moment. Hence, it is likely going to become a middling series in the magazine.

Talking about middling series the likes of Kim wa 008, Tonikaku Kawaii and Sleeping Princess all fit in this category, some are better fit than others however. Both Tonikaku kawaii and Sleeping Princess sell reasonably well, the former sells more but the latter is much further into its run and its sales had stagnated and declined over the last few years. However, both have received anime quite recently and neither has particularly found themselves moving up a tier in sales and Frieren looks set to easily outsell both in no time if it has not already. Kimi wa 008 on the other hand has lower sales than the other two but it has a stable level of sales that should sustain it for a reasonable run in the magazine. An anime for it might not be a remote possibility either even though the anime industry has moved on from such such eechi series in recent times though they still shows up to a certain degree every now and then. 

Alongside these series is of course Ariadne and Maiko-san. Both these series have middling tier status in the magazine, the latter has been on going for longer and its sales are much better but like the others they both are established in the magazine but are not big hits. So they simply do not have the same sort of attention as the more popular stuff. Aozakura also fits alongside these series in the middle tier of the magazine. Likewise this is also the case for Amano Megumi. These series whilst not as big as some of the top selling stuff of the magazine, they form the majority of the magazine and for any magazine to sustain itself it needs to have a strong middle tier alongside the big titles. Sunday's middle tier has average sales for the most part with some highlights here and there, but through them the magazine shows a wide variety of genres that can capture different audiences. 

Daiku no Hatou is a series, I wanted to talk about on its own. It is a series that has established itself in magazine in one way or another but its sales according to shoseki at least are rather poor.  Of course, this does mean its sales are poor everywhere since shoseki does not cover every bookstore in Japan or digital sales at that. Clearly, the editors believe its popularity in magazine and its sales are appropriate enough for it to continue in the magazine till this day. Likewise this is the case with Nokemono-tachi, one of the newer series thats just passed its first anniversary in the magazine but its sales according to shoseki are not good but it continues in the magazine regardless. I do not believe people in the editorial department would keep really unpopular series in the magazine so I am sure these series have a level of popularity thats acceptable regardless of what shoseki might show.

Where are they now - Axed authors from Champion

Suzuki Kai - Author of Kurotora (ended in 2015) 

Kurotora Vol 1

Latest work - 'Bokura no Seishun Mokushirou' one-shot in 2016-15.

Donsoku Mainichi - Author of 'Magicalo Magical' (ended in 2016) - 

Magicalo Magical vol 1

Latest work - he/she has published nothing ever since. (possibly changed pen name?)

Matsumoto Yutaka - Author of Sumeragi Dressers (ended in 2016)

Sumeragi Dressers Vol 1

Latest work - 'Ikoku no Hime no Lupgirl' in 2019-50. Alongside this he also published another one-shot.

Hikari Sumi - Author of Nikoben (ended in 2016) 

Nikoben Vol 1

He was the illustrator for the series 'Last Order' that was published in Heros online manga service. 

Satou Shuuichirou - Illustrator of Badbros (Ended in 2016) 

BADBROS Vol 1

Latest work - 'Kidou Katen Reizoku' one-shot in 2018-09. Alongside this he also published another one-shot in Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

Suzuki Yuuta - Author of Seigi no Satsujinki (ended in 2016)

Seigi no Satsujinki Vol 1

Latest work -'Henryou Mieru Sasa' one-shot in 2018-11 in Bessatsu Shonen Champion. Alongside this he/she published another 5 one-shots and had a short series in WSC from 2017-23 to 2017-24.

Kisanuki Tani - Author of Maruyuu Kunoshima-san (Ended in 2017) 

Maruyuu Kunoshima-san Vol 1

Latest work - 'Classmates' oneshot in 2017-50.

Urata Kazuhiro - Author of JINBA (ended in 2017) 

JINBA Vol 1

Latest work - he/she has not published anything ever since.

Shirato Yuusuke - Illustrator of Utsurou Kimi To (ended in 2017) 
Latest work - illustrator for 'Hibari Blink' oneshot published in 2019-09 Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

Hajime Furukawa - Author of Utsurou Kimi To (Ended in 2017)

Latest work - he/she has not published anything ever since. 

Utsurou Kimi To Vol 1

Amayama Maya - Author of Chikakarachika (ended in 2015) and Otae-san Kyou mo Tabetai (ended in 2018) 

Chikakarachika and Otae-san Kyou mo Tabetai Vol 1

Latest work - he/she has not published nothing ever since. 

Ikada Kai - Author of Great Old (Ended in 2018) 

Great Old Vol 1

Latest work - 'Dosanko Gyaru Namaramenko' serialised in Jump +. 

Shigemoto Hajime - Author of Uten Kekkou (ended n 2015) and Gyakushuu Inferno (Ended in 2018)

Uten Kekkou Vol 1 

Gyakushuu Inferno Vol 1

Latest work - 'Gakkou no Hasegawa-san' oneshot published in 2020-05 Bessatsu Shonen Champion.

Mizumori Takashi - Author of Mount no Taiyou (Ended in 2019) 

Mound no Taiyou Vol 1

Latest work - 'Bocchi wa Ace wo Lead Shitai serialised in Manga One.

Haitani Otoya - Author of Junior (ended in 2019)

Junior Vol 1

Latest work - 'Jinx' short series from 2019-47 to 2019-49.

Saitou Keigo - Author of Akatora (Ended in 2019) 

Akatora Vol 1

Latest work - 'Kizudarake no Piano Sonata' serialised in Jump +.

Haiba Nemumi - Author of Ashigei Shoujo Komura-san

Ashigei Shoujo Komura-san Vol 1

Latest work - he/she has not published anything ever since.

Furuta Tomohiro - Author of Boryaku no Panzer (Ended in 2019) 

Boryaku no Panzer Vol 1

Latest work - he/she has not published anything ever since. 

Shokubai Hiroomi - Author of Dorakon (Ended in 2020) 

Dorakon! Vol 1

Latest work - he/she has not published anything ever since. 

The author names without links are the ones I could not find any SNS or website and the likes. If you do know or can find it, please let me know in the comments.

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.