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.

Thoughts on The Vampires Dies In No Time Anime Announcement

The Vampire Dies in No Time had an anime adaption announcement in the latest issue of Weekly Shonen Champion. It is one of the oldest series in the magazine having begun serialisation in 2015, almost 5 years ago. The Vampire Dies in No Time is a gag manga like the title suggest it focuses on a Vampire that dies at the drop of a hat, alongside this rather weak vampire is a wide cast of quirky characters.

The Vampire Dies in No Time had flirted with an anime adaption many times, the first notable time was in its volume 5 dust cover, which included the words 'anime announced' and in much smaller print next to it the words ' fervent hope.' It was an interesting gag in itself and it fooled people both non Japanese speakers and some Japanese speakers. Its next flirtation with an anime came in Anime Japan and its 3rd placement in 2018 the series we want to see animated ranking for that year's event. This was followed by comments jokingly made by the author on twitter on the ease of animating the series, citing its mascot, and modern setting as examples of this.

First, I want to highlight what Vampire has in common with two specific series that they have both been animated as well. Super Radical Gag Family had its anime in the 1990s and its episode were short only 7 minutes which usually adapted a chapter of the manga. It was an adaption very faithful to the manga in aesthetics but it never received more than one season. It was however what I would call a perfect adaption of the manga's art style and comedy and whilst its hard to galge its success since there is not much data, it probably was not a massive success as it never got a second season.

Mitsudomoe in contrast to Radical Family has a gag style focusing more on ecchi and misunderstandings whilst Hamaoka tends to focus gag's on its eccentric characters and their often stupid and absurd hijinks that have equally lead to absurd results. Mitsudomoe style fits well in a romcom gag style manga and whilst The Dangers in My Heart is not gag centered it is a turn to romcom that I though fit Sakurai Norio style, I digress but what I want to highlight is that when Mitsudomoe was adapted into anime in 2010, it in my view was also a very good adaptation of the manga's material and whilst it was not a hit it did lead to a increase in manga sales. 

The Vampire Dies in no Time in comparison to both these series has are more visual like Super Radical Gag Family and Mitsudomoe. Between those two I would say closer to Super Radical Gag Family because its gag often delves into parody about the editorial department and even the publisher of the manga alongside the antics of the large cast of characters which often end up rather unexpectedly in a comedic sense.  However,  its comedy is more similar to series like Gintama, since it has more often than not a slapstick style of comedy, which is similarly featured in Gintama but in a more modern Japanase setting like Osomatsu-san.

If its not obvious enough vampires exist in this setting as well as other supernatural creatures. Vampire do cause trouble and there are as result vampire hunters and a research centers for the troublemakers. The nature of the trouble caused by vampires and others supernatural creatures is a big focus of the comedy in the series because quite often they range from perverts to public nuisances.  It is part of this cast of characters and how opposing groups involve themselves in many different hilarious situation that reminds me of Gintama. 

I will ponder on its potential for success when we receive more information on whether it will be a tv anime or some other form. So I will refrain now from commenting because it would be like putting the cartridge before the horse. 

 

Authors to see in Champion in 2020.

2020 has began and I have written various articles recently, mainly because I really want to write something everyday to practice and improve my writing.

So here is another post going back to champion after leaving it for a few posts.

Haitani Otoya -

Does it make sense for an author with a cancelled series to return within a year? It does, in fact he returned to the magazine in the space of a few weeks with a one-shot and a few weeks later with a short series. It is not too far off to expect him to return in 2020 again with something new.

He is a talented author, through Junior there was improvement in the panelling which made it easier to read and it also took quite a while for an actual match which might have hampered its chances. His other one-shots showcased different ways he could develop in his stories next. His first Ninja one-shot had a darker ambience and a a slight change in style fit well in a story with a dark undertone.

His short story, Jinx, also showed a lot more promise as it again a sport story of martial arts fight but it with a darker story. Not only was the action so much better in terms of panelling but the story just had more to it than Junior but it ended somewhat unsatisfactory because it did feel like it did not close out the whole but a part of it, it was of course tough to do this in just 3 chapters but this might just ambition in the face of the possibility of this becoming a proper series. It is this sign of improvement and his quick return from cancellation that leads to me that it he will appear in the pages of champion sometime in 2020.

Takumi Watanuki -

A two time winner in Next Champion with a clear development in his art being shown in his latest one-shot that won the grand prize this time. Story wise, it is hard to judge since they both had rather basic stories. Basic does not mean bad after all its a one-shot and usually being easy to understand and focusing on a single theme to built on. In series, this is not necessarily always the case but I do think most series that fail in my experience try to do too many things at once and end up doing everything poorly. I do not know if he will get a series in 2020 but I do believe he might pop up with a one-shot or a short series, it is his goal to get a series after the last one-shot and thats what he is gunning for and I wish him good luck.

Isekai effects on the LN market and its spill over into Anime and Manga

Just to clarify by Isekai, i refer to series with any sort of character that is taken to another world be it by dying or being transported or any other method. I do know that other world is not necessarily a new setting as it has featured in classics like Alice in Wonderland but I am referring specifically to the Japanese web novel phenomenon of Isekai. This phenomenon had in particular clear repercussions on the light novels but also the manga and the anime market.

This phenomenon initially started from various small sites like Shousetsuka ni Narou where people published their own stories but soon Isekai stories stood out and became the most read works. More stories in the genre started appearing and they became basically the main genre of the site. Publishers noticed the potential market for this genre and decided to publish in print these once free available web novels, usually the story was had a few changes or another but it was still the same story most of the time.

The light novel market being essentially being like any other market of entertainment it follows trends. At the time it was the trend for school battle harem series like Infinite Stratos and many series authors and publishers obviously pumped out stories within that genre, bearing in mind that the Light Novel market is not as big as manga or anime but it tends to try an appeal anime otaku. The smaller size means that target audience has to a certain extent similar tastes and at the same time it does not allow for a broad variation of the market in particular niches. In manga, you see various niche apart from the general mainstream in the form of magazines like Comic Beam that deal with subject matter and shows things would not necessarily be in the main stream. I am not saying there are not any niche light novels in the market, there are an Novels 0 a label for more adult centric stories is an expansion of exactly that but it fits the scale of light novel market.

This is important because the light novel version of web novels became hits and other publishers followed along to a level that some of the smaller publisher have under their labels mostly Isekai works. Of course, after it would often have various chapters of the story online already and after the publishing deal was complete, the story would be taken down. But since the story often had large parts of it written already, volumes could be published at a faster pace. So not only was it was showing results in sales but a story that was was a popular web novel was also a lot safer investment because it already had an audience, than an original story, so the publishers drifted to it in droves.

In particular, for me this had downgraded the quality of light novels, after all the large amount of interests drove publishers to get deal even for not the top popular stuff. These web novels can also range from good to very poor and I must say a lot of poor stuff has been published. Good stuff has too but there is only a so much and the problem this caused was that it hampered original novels. This is why I believe the LN market has degraded in quality after all it was not only in past that there many classics light novel series from various genres though similar in visual novel, anime like story but there was more variation in terms of what the story was. Isekai has largely destroyed even if it is a broad enough genre to allow for wriggle room in the way the story goes but in the end, the vast majority develops in similarly.

However, how does all this spills over to manga, well Light novels usually receive manga adaptions, a movement probably started by manga publisher and light novel publishers like Kadokawa. Likewise, the popular isekai novels usually also became popular manga and it spread and even smaller publishers that dealt mainly with Light novels are now publishing manga through online services and release tankoubons. It has not effect negatively the manga scene in particular but it is just really a phenomenon that caught on and spread to other mediums albeit similar, manga adaptations of light novels are not necessarily new after all but they seem to me to have reached a new level. One case in particular is the manga adaptation of That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime which was so successful and with the help of the anime managed to figure in top 10 best selling manga series of 2019. This leads to the repercussion this movement had in the anime industry.

Of course, the popularity of these works led to interests in animating them and in natural course of action many isekai anime started popping up recently and with many more still upcoming. Not all of them are successful but there were big hits like Konosuba, Overlord, That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime and of course this gave a push for other adaptions some of which failed and some that are still yet to air but one thing is for sure the journey these series had from web novels freely available in the internet to light novel, manga and anime is incredible even if it had a negative impact on the light novel industry. 

Favourite Series of 2019 -

I have written about various series here and I will try to avoid listing them again here even if they might be one of my favourites for the year. I thought about only including series that actually began in 2019 but my range of manga reading is only so far and I could not think of many. Therefore, this will include various series that I enjoyed reading in 2019 regardless of the year they began or their status.

Neko ga Nishi Mukya - 

Yuki Urushibara, the mind behind Mushishi, latest work which is currently appearing in the pages of Afternoon. Its manga with all the creative of Mushishi with the comfort of Hitoshi Ashinano works. It is similarly to Mushishi for most of the time episodic but unlike Mushishi it has a goal which is for the main female character to return to normal but that will eventually happen when she feels in herself like it. 

What is mesmerising from this series is the way it makes you feel comfortable in a way that mirrors series from Hitoshi Ashinano like Kotonoba Drive and many others. In a way that is more Urushibara's like there is an episodic story in each chapter that usually does not involve the main characters but they are called in to sort out but at times the solution is reached by themselves in order they are more involved and handle it in various ways. 

I personally enjoy this series because it provides me this comfortable atmosphere as well as episodic stories that deal with real human troubles, like the crossroads we face or how we might feel a pity disguises as arrogance or  how we need to let things ago as everything is transient. These are embedded into the stories not in an obvious way but in a way that the reader can understand without being told and reflect, but this has always been the case for Urushibara works.  She excels at this and I recommend any of her works if this is something you are interested in. 

The series is not officially translated yet, but there are unofficial translations available on mangadex by the group Hi wa Mata Noboru. 

Ao no Shima to Neko Ippiki - 

One of the various fascinating traits of Japan is large array of islands. In this series, the main characters moves to one of those islands outside the main 4 largest islands. It is a slice of life as the mc moves back to this place that he left and it is rather soothing this series. The main character has been hinted to returned possibly to take his mind of some personal issue and the series is most focused on his daily life with the daughter of his senpai, who is absent, and her cat. It is yet another mystery but the series does not delve too much into these but instead gives hints that the reader can build upon on.  The art is not sensational but it beautifully illustrates the landscape of the island whilst the story provides the reader with what life would be like in this island. 

Hakumei to Mikochi - 

The little life in the woods in incredibly fascinating to follow. It is a manga of their daily life obviously displaying exciting events rather than just their day to day life. It is not neccesarily a manga that has a goal or any plot that it is building up. In fact, I would say the story is largely aimless and for me that is fine after all if is a series focused on the life of these two in this tiny world then I could not see anything more aimless then life itself. After all, we just seek self preservation with comfort until death, there is no plot or fantastical story in life. It this why i find this the perfect slice of life series because not only it really shows life but a comfortable yet exciting life in the tiny world of Hakumei and Mikochi that I am always looking to see expanded. 

WSC decade

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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