State of the magazine

Champion has been hit a stride recently with popular and series with good sales emerging and establishing themselves in recent years. I want to sketch in this post how I imagine the current situation of the magazine regarding the new hits and its position for the future.

First of I would like to base this analysis through series, so it will be separated in segments.

The Vampire Dies in No Time

Vampire Dies in No Time had an anime announcement not long ago, it also has been a established series in the magazine for close to 5th years already. It has always received support and cooperated with other popular series in the magazine namely Jitsu wa Watashi wa and more recently Mairimashita! Iruma-kun. In terms of its place and how it plays in for the magazine current situation it is a series with promise and the anime could give the magazine another hit if it fulfils its promising status.

Mairimashita Iruma-kun

There is not much to say about Iruma, after its initial years it great to be an astounding success with the help of a stellar anime adaptation. It has become the best selling series in the magazine and its spin off is also one of the best selling series in the magazine. It really is a big hit and one of the pillars of the magazine at the moment and for the future as it looks like it could last a long while, in a sense its success serves to overshadow and pivot the magazine to the future as it looks past its older hits like Baki and Super Radical Family.

Koe ga Dasenai Shoujo wa [Kanojo ga Yasashisugiru] to Omotteiru

A new series but one that represents a different way to look for series. Koe is a series that found its popularity first online as it was shared online via twitter by its author. I highlight this because in essence this series is a safer bet to serialise as its has a degree of popularity but it also might bring people not familiar with champion to the magazine. I do think this something that will continue happening and probably expand if Koe finds success. In fact, however, Koe is not unique in this aspect Meika and Sachio had a similar route and occasionally artists are scouted via twitter by editors nowadays and it will only expand in the future. Hence, whilst this series is in itself not important at moment it signals a new sort of serialisation in Champion and magazines in general. However, at the same time it also highlights a potential gloomy aspect which I will highlight further on.

Yowamushi Pedal

Yowamushi Pedal is a very successful series and it still holds a great deal of importance to the magazine. It has however declined in sales and that was to be expected from its peak a few years ago now especially as there is no news of a new anime. It has a live action film set for this year and whilst it might renovate interest in the series and increase sales again, I can not say I am confident. Regardless of that Pedal is not going anywhere any time soon, its position in the magazine is still firmly of a central pillar even after over 10 years and I do not see this changing in the near future.

Worst Gaiden Guriko

A spin off of a popular series, for the future this series shows together with Makai a future that I am not particularly excited for, a magazine with spin off of popular series. I prefer this series to be in side magazines as well but their sales and popularity have propped up the magazine and its probably going to continue being a trend.

Appare! Urayasu Tekkin Kazoku

A big hit series, but one that has lost a that status in the magazine in recent years. The recent drama brought a new highlight but I expect the series to continue to be a mid level series in the magazine which will end when Hamaoka decides its time.

BEASTARS

Like Iruma-kun, one of the newest biggest hits in the magazine, however, unlike Iruma its close to its ending so its place in the future of the magazine depends heavily on the following work of Itagaki Paru and whether it will be in Champion or not. However, at the moment it is one of the biggest hits of the magazine and a sustaining pillar of the magazine but probably not for much longer.

Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyuubu

Masahiro Anbe's latest hit that started in the same new series round. It is a successful series but one which has potential if given an anime, but at the moment its firmly a secure series in the middle of the magazine. It can continue for much longer, so it probably still has a long way to go for any ending.

Harigane Service Ace

The sequel to the popular series Harigane Service, at this point the series sales have declined significantly from its past glory but it will continue to run in the magazine for the coming future or at least one to two years. I however, only see it as a middle pack series which is past its best especially if it is not given any anime adaptation or similar.

SHY

A new series that might eventually become a standout series but at the moment its struggling to establish a clear position in the magazine, part of this originates from its lack of substantial growth in sales according to shoseki. Its future is up in the air and I am not personally confident in saying this will be a new standout hit but a middle pack series.


Rokudou no Onnatachi

Rokudou is by all means a middle tier success in the magazine and it is undoubtably quite far into its story, so it should head towards end in the near future. So in short it a sales that sustain the magazine in the middle tier but one which will probably never become big enough to be a pillar of the magazine.


Overall -

The magazine features all these series with varying degrees of importance and potential for the future. However, Champion is probably in a rather decent spot at the moment, the recent hits of beastars, and iruma-kun have given the magazine new big hits that it had not had in a while. However, it also has shifted to relying on series from the internet and spin offs for what i assume is safer bets for success and whilst former is not technically and issue i do find an issue with the latter.

Champion currently has two novel spins offs and two manga spin off, whilst the novel are harmless because they occupy only a couple of pages the series take a slot that could be given to a original work, potentially a successful one. It is a fall back measure for safety and I can understand in this difficult period for magazines that they seek safety instead of taking more risks. its normal and common in fact other shounen magazines tend to serialise things that they have found success with before. However, obviously this is only a problem because of the limited size of the magazine and you might know what I am trying to hint at here. I believe digital platforms for manga will only grow bigger, not only because they have no clear demographic so they can appeal to wider audiences and are in fact more convenient.

Akita Shoten has dipped in to the water with Manga Cross but it does not reach the level of other platform like Jump+ and the likes. It has various series of various genres that target differences audiences and it also has a re-serialisation of Ika Musume, Crows and AI no Idenshi for people that register in the platform.  I do think they should expand and republish their older series this way. They also occasionally have series from WSC feature at least some chapters for a limited period of time and I think they should do this from the onset as the series begins it serialises up to 1 or two volumes of chapter so it could give these titles more chance of exposure from the onset. 

This in fact makes me wonder to the digitally dominated comics market in Japan asian neighbours which instead of offering free to read with limitations to coerce people into buying the physical volumes, in these places there is less of an emphasis on this. In fact, they instead focus on monetising chapters after a certain threshold with usually cost small amounts of money but with the amount of readers it is worth it. I do know these webtoons can and are occasionally released physically but it is often a second thought and not all series receive this. Of course, the predominance of digital allows publishers and authors to cut out the manufactures and vendors and keep a large part of the profit for themselves. In addition, it also makes second hand sales impossible which is an annoyance for the publishers in Japan.

I do not think the Japanese market will transition to something resembling its neighbour but I do believe digital platforms will become bigger and not smaller, so Manga Cross has probably a more promising future than the WSC itself. However, I do feel like the magazine is in a good spot at the moment but I am not optimistic about the future and I see a shift towards a digital platform as the future for smaller publishers. 

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.

Dissecting the Magazine - Harigane Service - High Expectations?

Information on the series

Harigane Service was a volleyball series written and drawn by Ara Tatsuya. It was his first serialised work and it was based on his previously published one-shot named Pinch Server. Harigane Service began in the 26th issue in 2014 in late May, around one year after the Pinch Server was published. It has since received a direct continuation named Harigane Service Ace.

2014 and The Beginning - Burnt Start?

The series by all means started off well and was popular within the readers of the magazine. It was placed high by the editorial department in the table of contents and also received a Lead CP at chapter 12. This highlights the early popularity but also the support from the editorial department which wanted to capitalise on this early popularity. Eventually, it stabilised in the middle of the magazine through out 2014 and some of the steam it seemed it had slowly disappeared.

This continued in 2015 with placements in the beginning of the year being within the middle tier and at moments it even in rather low placements within the bottom tier of the magazine. Things would change as it neared its 50 chapters with two Lead CPs coming in issue 19th and 25th respectively and it placements rose to top tier again. This increase in popularity in the magazine was highlighted in increasing volume sales and the editorial department probably wanted to capitalise on this moment to market the series. Of course, this moment was also tied to the content of the series which was reaching a match and climatic point with the MC finally playing in a match.

The rest of 2015 continued in the same trend with the series becoming a common feature in the top tier of the magazine in regards to the table of contents. It obviously held editorial support and readership support as its sales continued to grow. It eventually made it to the cover of the magazine in issue 34 and this was the clear sign of the series rising status in the magazine. One was not enough and it was again the cover of the magazine in issue 44, only 10 issues after the last one. The series had exploded and rightfully so as content wise it was at a heated match which volume sales wise marked the series best moment so far at least according to oricon and shoseki. From the rather possibly disappointment to a great rising star, 2016 promised a lot for the series future but did it deliver?

2016 - New face of the Magazine? Optimism and Future.

The year started in the same vibe the last one had finished in. It was highly placed and received Lead CPs and Covers including two in a row in issue 14 and 15, the second one was shared with Yowamushi Pedal, the pilalr of the magazine. At the same time, Harigane Service managed to for the first time appear in the top 50 oricon best selling manga of the week. With all of this came character popularity contest which was started in Issue 8 and its results were revelled in issue 14 with a cover and a Lead CP with it having a Lead CP for the following two issues as well.

*17,648 (6)　Harigane Service Vol.9

*16,138 (5)　Harigane Service Vol.10

*19,834 (7)　Harigane Service Vol.11

Source - Oricon

This was by all means the best moment for Harigane Service in the magazine. Its sales were great and on the rise, within the magazine its treatment was by all means of a star series together with the likes of Baki Dou and Yowamushi Pedal. However, editorial support slowly drifted to new promising series like Rokudou no Onnatachi, and this was clearly expressed by a decrease in the Lead CP and CPs Harigane was given in comparison to the start of the year.

2017 - Current - From Star to Supporting Character.

2016 had already ended in a lower note. This at the start did not mean much as new series with potential had begun and needed to be pushed and favoured by the editorial department. However, whilst it still received high placements through the first half of the year, the drain of editorial push was starting to show with lower placements becoming more recurrent and Lead CPs and CPs coming with less frequency.

In reference to volume sales, they had shown stagnation firstly and gradually a slow decline without oricon sales, as it did appear in the top 50 best sold volumes in release week, these are in reference to shoseki numbers. This decline reflected within the magazine as well where its placements dropped to low level by the end of the year. This was no longer simply because editorial push was drained towards Beastars, Rokudou no Onnatachi and other new series but a signal of the loss or stagnation in popularity.

If 2017 ended at the series lowest point so far, in 2008 it reached a new low. It became throughout the year a common feature in the bottom of the magazine. There were occasional CPs and a Lead CP for the commemoration of its 200th chapter but this did not raise its placements. All evidence expressed the loss of the star status it held briefly for a moment from 2015-16. It all started with the rise of of new promising series taking editorial support but also its sales and popularity degraded in the magazine. In the end, this all culminated in the end of the series in Issue 46.

In issue 50, it reappeared in the magazine as Harigane Service Ace. The series is a direct continuation. Since its return things have not shown much difference from before in that it still lingers at the bottom middle tier of the table of contents. It sales seem to be stable at the moment but it obviously has taken a step back from other big series like Beastars, Iruma-kun that have taken the limelight of the magazine at the moment. In essence, Harigane has degraded from a former star of the magazine to a mid tier important supporting character after all it is participating in the 50th anniversary select manifesto and the charity auction. However, in comparison to other series that are relatively new some of which have anime adaptations coming, it definitely has fallen down the pecking order. It has become a bench warmer a bit too early and the new series that have the limelight have the time to shine which Harigane Service had but lasted for only a short period of time. Sadly, Harigane Service was probably meant to be so much more but in the end it did not meet those high expectations but it is still without a doubt a successful series.

One thing that has impressed in the latest years has been the growth of the series since the sequel started. Its circulation has jumped from 1.5 million when the first series ended to around 4.5 million at the moment. This growth could be explained by its popularity in Piccoma and others online manga reading services where it is available to read. In part this explains the series still rather middling position in the table of contents and the lack of editorial push. However, it also show that the series still has life in it and possibly with a push for a media project it could potentially become the hit it was expected to be.

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.