Two TV Anime for the 50th Celebration

In the recent issue 10 of Weekly Shonen Champion, there were announcements for TV anime adaptations for Mairimashita Iruma-kun and Beastars. These are announced as projects of the 50th anniversary, so is that a reason to believe they are both airing this year?  Regardless of this, a Beastars did not come as a surprise but Iruma was one. I firmly believed that The Vampire Dies in No Time would be the next series to get an anime but it seems i was mistaken, though i still believe it will get one eventually.

Beastars's animation will be handled by Studio Orange. Beastars will be just the second TV series it will be in charge of, 'Houseki no Kuni' was the first in 2017. Prior to Beastars, it also was in charge of animating the film 'Monster Strike the Movie : Sora no Kanata' in 2018. However, the studio has done subcontracted work in various other series in CGI.

A visual and teaser have been released, but it is too little to pass any judgement on quality. Nevertheless,  Orange seems like a reputable studio even though it is relatively unexperienced in heading projects.

I believe the content being adapted is of quality and the studio will know that and expectations will be high due to the renown Beastars got with the awards. The beginning of the manga is very strong in leaving a lasting impression especially by showcasing Legosi inner conflict and reflecting the unspoken tension between the carnivores and herbivores as a result of the murder. The first three volumes in particular for me are the best part of the series as of yet : and It is also the reason it got the acclaim it currently has.

Animation is held to be of great importance by the viewing public and 3D CGI animation still hold a lack of appeal for the core western anime fanbase, excluding fans of animation in general which probably enjoy CGI or other forms of animation made by many film animation studios. However, successes by CGI anime in Japan shows that this stigma is not present or at least not as strong in the Japanese audience.

In contrast to these people, I sincerely do not think the animation will be the biggest hurdle in the making of the Beastars TV anime, after all Beastars is not an action series but a human (animals in this case) drama series. The animation will have to be designed and worked to fit certain scenes that together with other equally, or more, important aspects such as sound and directing will play a uge part in the response of the audience to a scene. A lot of work will be needed to paint the right ambience and this is where the mixture of music, visual effects come into play as an anime can appeal to senses that manga simply cannot. How these will be used not only to replicate the feel of the manga but also add an extra layer to it, specially in the scenes of Legosi's inner conflict, the play arc or the visit to the back market arc, is a question will only answered when the series inevitably debuts in the near future.

Mairimashita! Iruma-kun

Iruma-kun has being seeing an increase in popularity recently and this stabilised its position in the magazine which had been shaky for a long time. The increase in popularity could be partially due to its increased exposure online. The series has become available to read online on Line, Piccoma and others online manga sharing platforms that allow manga to be read for free with some restrictions. This is not unheard of, Harigane Service also gained a lot of popularity in the same way.

The school fantasy setting of the manga allows the manga to flirt with a lot of genre. One is comedy which is the main one, however, there are drops of romance, action and slice of life. So, this broadness in appeal gives it leaway to play on different themes like friendship, coming of age and family which are a corner stone of shonen manga.

Iruma, I believe will need good animation for the TV anime adaption to be successful. Iruma is more action driven so the animation holds more value. Specially since Iruma is comedy series based in characters actions and the wacky developments.  Scenes are composed significantly differently as a result, the pacing has to be controlled to balance out the series with comedy and its other aspects. The voice acting plays a much bigger part with punchlines having to be done in a certain way to enhance the comedic effect.

The pacing will be important in making sure things are progressing smoothly and giving time for the scenes to have their effect. In a 13/12 episode seasonal anime format which is the main format for anime series at the moment. Using a simple division, 3 chapters per episode would be needed for the anime to cover till chapter 38, which is the epilogue of the first arc in the series and seems to be the most appropriate ending place for the the anime. Dividing the chapters by the number of episodes is obviously a simplistic way of looking at it, since action oriented episodes can cover many chapters.

Example -
Episode 1 - 1+2
Episode 2 - 3+4
Episode 3 - 5-8
Episode 4 -  9-13
Episode 5 - 14-16
Episode 6 - 17-19
Episode 7 - 20-21
Episode 8 - 22-25
Episode 9 - 26-28
Episode 10 - 29-33
Episode 11 - 34-35
Episode 12 - 36-38

Whatever happens, I believe Iruma will probably be linked with Narou series. The trend these series have set might benefit Iruma when it airs. However, without any news of the studio or any visual teaser, there is really nothing to pass judgment on at the moment.

Weekly Champion 50th Anniversary

WSC 2019/1 Cover

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

Gyakushuu Inferno - First Impressions

The series started in Issue 2018 - 7 of Weekly Shonen Champion. It is the first series of many that should come this year.

It had been put out as a Hell survival series. From seeing the author's name and knowing Shigemoto Hajime's past works which were all in a battle special power genre, I came into this manga with certain expectations. Weekly Shonen Champion doesn't really have anything in this genre right now apart from possibly Prisoner Riku which is heading towards a conclusion in the next few weeks so it shouldn't have any competition apart from itself obviously.

The manga's art has a strong shonen feel. The artstyle is quite old fashioned which some people might pick on as a weakness but it should not be a significant issue in Weekly Shonen Champion.
Overall the art throughout the first chapter is generally good an improvement from his previous work.
The key panels looked were ascetically pleasing. There are some area in a couple of panels in the background which have weaker art but this is common in manga. Chapter 1 in this aspect did not do anything wrong, of course this could be reworded to it did everything right.

Composition, when talking about the chapters overall is acceptable as the chapter flows reasonably well. Gyakushuu Inferno's story is rather hard to judge from just from the first chapter. The chapter is  used as a set up chapter to introduce the characters and relationships and end with what is meant to hook the readers into continue reading. There is no excessive exposition or introductions ,which in turn allows for a light read, this however might be left to succeeding chapters.

If I were to give a rating to the first chapter. It would be good, therefore it is 6/10

New Series - A look into the Authors

In the issue 7 and 9 Weekly Shonen Champion will be having two new series. The first series will be called Gyakushuu Inferno and will be penned by Shigemoto Hajime followed by a new series by Eiji Masuda titled Shuukan Shonen Hachi.

Profile - Shigemoto Hajime

His works in Weekly Shonen Champion have all been battle orientated. His art is resembling of 90s shonen manga especially manga such as Dragon ball, One Piece. Shigemoto's latest work Uten Kekkou had a creative setting using weather, a rather ordinary thing as a main focus. The MC power  is the ability to make it rain and use that in battle against his enemies. It was eventually cancelled but had all volumes released in print.

He first turned Professional in 2004 when he published a 3 part one-shot in Young Magazine Uppers called Mojya.

Winner of a Good Piece Award in the 73rd Weekly Shonen Champion Newbie Award in 2009.

In 2011 He published a one-shot in Weekly Shonen Champion called Kagami no Kuni Ani.

He published a short series called Oni-san Kochira which concluded in 10 chapters in 2012.

Image of Oni-san Kochira

Following that he finally started a new series in Weekly Shonen Champion in 2013, called Uten Kekkou which ended with 42 chapters and 5 volumes.

Image of Uten Kekkou

After Uten Kekkou ended he design the characters for the Game Corner Page in Weekly Shonen Champion during 2014 and 2015. 

Picture from Uten Kekkou

Profile - Eiji Masuda 

He won a Encouragement Award in 2006 in the 67th Weekly Shonen Champion Newbie Award.

Turned professional when he published a short series in Weekly Shonen Champion called Shiookami Rabbit in 2007 which ran for 3 chapters.

In 2008 He published another short series in Weekly Shonen Champion called Toumei Ningen no Tsukurikata which eneded with a total of 8 chapters. It was bundled into a volume in 2014.

He started a series called Sakura Discord in 2011 which ended with 44 chapters and 5 volumes.

Sakura Discord 5 Cover

In 2013 He started a new series called Jitsu wa Watashi wa. It ran for 4 years and received an anime adaption in 2015 and a stage play in 2016. Jitsu wa Watashi wa ended with a total of 22 volumes and 196 chapters.

Jitsu wa Watashi wa 1 Cover

I do not claim ownership of any of the images used. Credit for the images goes to their respectful owners Akita Shoten, Shigemoto Hajime & Eiji Masuda. 

2017 in Numbers

2017 has been a most interesting year for Weekly Shonen Champion, with a change in head editor and the return of successful veterans.

So let's summarise the year in categories.

New Series - 10
Ended Series - 11
Short Series - 7
Special Short Series - 2
One-shots - 39
Special Chapters - 4

A significant rise of over 100% in the numbers of one-shot from last year.

1 short series was granted official serialisation status. There were many one-shots of which many were by returning authors and only a couple were by newbie authors.

An year with 1 standout success in Mairimashita! Iruma-kun but BEASTARS and Atsumare! Fushigi Kenkyuubu both established themselves this year after proving to be successes last year. Himawari and Rororro! and Mahou Shoujo Site are set for success but whether they will establish themselves will be for us to see in 2018. 

2018 promises to be a year of much change with series like Samejima, Saigo no Juugonichi, Shuujin Riku and Dokaben Dream Tournament all heading towards a finale, 2018 will also set up for the 50th anniversary of WSC in 2019.

Otae-san wa Kyou mo Tabetai - Cannibalism Madness

A minor review on the series.

Click Here to Read

News - Head Editor Change and Others

Head Editor Change after almost 12 years.

Sawa Takafumi left the post of head-editor of Weekly Shonen Champion in the issue 2017-26. He had been the head-editor since 2005. He became the longest standing head editor in the magazine's history and with credit as he drove the magazine into a stable period. During his time in charge many hits such as Mitsudomoe, Shinryaku! Ika Musume, Clover, Jitsu wa Watashi wa, Saint Seiya Next Dimension Meio Shinwa, Furutto on Thursday and Yowamushi Pedal. His successor, Takagawa Shingo, has a tough task ahead of him. He has been in charge for a couple of months now and there is been an rather quick change in the magazine. The swift conclusion of Nekogami Jarashi! and Shonen Racquet showed strong character and then the re-introduction of Hirakawa Tetsuhiro and Sakurai Norio while also bringing Kentarou Satou to reap the benefits of a eventual Magical Girl Site TV anime were all smart moves to grant a sense of stability in a hard time for manga magazines in general. I personally, I am looking forward to see what else will Takagawa will bring to the table.


Otae-san wa Kyou mo Tabetai Volume release confirmed.

This came to a surprise to some, to me it was. It is bad news for the others two series that had no news but for , Amayama Maya, it's great news. The series seems to have settled down recently and it could possibly turn into a success?