Champion Cross - The future of Champion

Champion Cross is the new digital manga publication website of Akita Shoten that replaces Manga Cross. It is not only a replacement however, it is acts as a comprehensive digital platform that looks more like a version of Piccoma for Akita Shoten series. It demonstrates an ambitious and calculated action by Akita Shoten to expand its digital efforts. 

What is Piccoma?

Piccoma is a digital platform that has found massive success in Japan, especially due to Korean series. The platform acts as digital storefront with many offerings from Japanese series to Korean ones. However, its main success originates from its monetisation system. In the Piccoma system, chapters are published weekly but whilst people can read the first three or so chapter for free, after that there is a limit on chapters that can be read for free. However, the limit can be bypassed by waiting, if you can not wait, then you can simply pay. It is referred to the free if you wait monetisation model. It is a simple monetisation method but one that had proven successful in Korea where Kakao the organisation behind Piccoma made large profits  (Yecies and Shim, 2021).

The main benefits of the free if you wait monetisation model is that lowers the barrier for reading for people that are unsure if they want to pay and it gives the option to wait to continue reading. By giving the chance for people to read for free, readers can free trial a series and if they eventually are hooked and can not wait to read the next development they are likely to pay. It does mean that every user is not equal, because it allows for whaling as some people are likely to spend a lot if they have the disposable income to avoid waiting to read. On the other hand, some without the same amount of money to spend might wait and read the same chapters someone else paid to read for free. 

Champion Cross uses the same free if you wait monetisation model and the fact you can technically read everything for free is one of the main slogan used to promote the platform. To make it easier lets compare it to Manga Cross, in MC every series had its first three chapters available to read for free as well as the latest three or so chapters. The chapters in between the first few and the latest released chapters were not available to read on the website. Hence, a series like The Dangers in My Heart with over 100 chapters published had only six chapters available to read on the platform whilst the chapters in-between that a lot of chapters were inaccessible. Any new users that were interested in reading the series on the website would find that they could not read it there, instead they had to turn to the collected volumes either digitally or physical to continue reading. Moving users from MC to a platform to purchase a volume only serves to reduce the potential of that users making a purchase as they are likely to not bother doing it later. So as a result many potential people that would continue reading if those chapters were available read the free chapters but left it at that. 

In Champion Cross this issue was addressed by turning to a Piccoma inspired system. The first few chapters are free to read with the others being also free if you wait a day, if not you can use a ticket or pay for it. Immediately it addresses the question of middle chapters in Manga Cross that effectively forced people to turn to volumes, now they can stay in Champion Cross and read the whole series 'for free.' It takes away the likely failed incentive for users to buy volumes, and it monetises the series to create a new revenue stream for the digital platform. The potential revenue from the free if you wait system is likely to outweigh the amount from volume sales in the long run anyway, so even if it costs volume sales in the short term it is likely not going to impact the financials of the company substantially. 

What are these tickets that I keep mentioning? They are tickets that allow you to skip the wait, and they are not for sale but they can be earned through missions. Missions are like actions that if you complete, you gain a ticket, and they can include reading a chapter everyday, reading a series and leaving a like. It works as a interesting loop where people engaging with series in the platform are rewarded for continuing to do so. 

Missions

Another interesting feature that work to drive engagement is a daily gacha where a ticket can be gained, and two if you share it on X. It works to add an element of gamifying that platform, and these game like features are not by chance, they have a proven track record in marketing research for driving up engagement(itrián and Catalán, 2021). In engaging with the platform and reading titles, inevitably despite users being able to read for free, research on monetisation systems on users waiting does suggest many will spend to forego waiting (Raman and Leyton-Brown, 2024).

The daily gacha

Of course to engage users, it has to first have users. So what does it do to make join the platform? A newly registered users receives 10 tickets of the get go, and they can gain more tickets through completing tutorial missions that introduce them to the system and rewarded them for liking and sharing series. So, if a new users is hooked on as series they like with the tickets available to them they can read quite a few chapters. However, after they are hooked they are likely to fall into the gacha and mission loop and continue to engage with the platform. So the tutorial and initial user awards work alongside the mission system alongside the tickets to get people engaging with the platform with the ultimate goal of leading users to spending. It seems promising, and I believe it will be successful. 

Image taken from tutorial page that explains how the site works

So lets move on to the lineup since if the series are not good the readers will not bother. 

The main change of Champion Cross from Manga Cross is that it is no longer simply a digital platform for publishing series. It now includes all series currently published by Akita Shoten as well as some older titles. I had in a previous post mentioned the need for more resources and more series to be available in the digital platform and this is the best answer possible. Instead of pushing out a whole bunch of new series in a revamp, Akita Shoten made the best move possible which was to add series from many of its magazines as well as completed titles. So Manga Cross that had one or two series per day, now as Champion Cross has many series releasing new chapters everyday. In addition, there are many completed titles that can be fully read like the Baki prequels, Shuujin Riku, Beastars, Bachi Bachi and many others. It now has a lot to offer and many series for people to check out that makes it alongside all the features does make me confident that this is inevitably going to replace the manga magazines as it starts to bring more profits and the magazines less. 

You might have noticed that I did not say series from all their magazines and that is because series from Young Champion did not come to Champion Cross. It went instead to a platform that is exactly the same as Champion Cross but is called Young Champion Web. It is a peculiar move but is likely driven by the sexual nature of the content of most of the Young Champion series. Some Young Champion series that are more palpable for all ages are in Champion Cross, so I definitely believe that the adult content was the reason behind the split. 

There are other questions over the platform that I hope to explore in other posts. If you have any suggestions of things to talk about place them down in the comments down below

Reference - 

Bitrián, P., Buil, I. and Catalán, S., 2021. Enhancing user engagement: The role of gamification in mobile apps. Journal of Business Research, 132, pp.170-185.

Lundy, T., Raman, N., Fu, H. and Leyton-Brown, K., 2024, "Pay to (Not) Play: Monetizing Impatience in Mobile Games." Proceedings of the AAAI Conference on Artificial Intelligence 38(9), pp.9856-9864.

Yecies, B. and Shim, A.G., 2021. South Korea's webtooniverse and the digital comic revolution. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

Saint Seiya Next Dimension Ends after 18 years. New Heaven Arc Series Expected?

Anime and new series can be expected? 

Kurumada is finally finishing 'Saint Seiya Next Dimension' that began back in 2006 when the series first begun in Weekly Shonen Champion. After 18 years and 118 chapters, the sequel to the classic shonen series from the 80s will end. Lets go over its journey to Champion from Jump and a few interesting tidbits.

The original series 'Saint Seiya' was not published in Weekly Shonen Champion, it was instead serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1985 to 1990. It was not Kurumada's first work, he was a known property for his previous work 'Ring ni Kakero'  at the time but it eventually became his most known work.

 The series itself is focused on knights (saints) that receives armors (called cloths) and that represent all sorts of constellation. The main cast are all bronze knights that fight for Athena, with Seiya the titular character having the Pegasus cloth. The first arc usually called the Galaxian Wars arc sets up the main cast and introduces the main tenets of the series. However, what everyone might know about the series likely comes from the second main arc the Sanctuary arc that was focuses on the Bronze knights having to overcome the Gold knights, that each represent a sign of the zodiac, within quite a limited timeframe. Considering that the Gold knights are supposed to be the strongest knights of Athena, you can see the challenge of the task and the stakes are high as well. 

The original anime series that aired through the late 80s, after the Sanctuary arc added an Asgard anime only arc then it covered the Poseidon arc, but it did not cover the Hades arc that wrapped up the original series. The Hades arc was later animated in the 2000s in a new anime series that finally saw that the entire original Saint Seiya series was completely animated. Later arcs did not seem to reach the same status as the Sanctuary arc which was so iconic that many casual fans believe it to be the end of the series.

The anime adaptation of the series made its way around the globe especially with dubbed versions. In my home country it was a popular show in the 90s and it is one of the few anime that my parents can recognise. It established strong multimedia presence especially internationally in Spanish speaking areas and in China as well that has meant that despite times of sparse animation projects, it has continued receiving games, figurines and other merchandise products.

After the original anime from the 80s and the manga series ended, the series entered a period of slumber in terms of new content. The slumber came to an end in the 2002 with the start of the anime series covering the Hades Arc, and the start of an all new manga series called 'Saint Seiya Episode G' however this time Kuramada was only overseeing it, handling the series was Megumu Okada in the magazine Champion Red. The series was a spin off series that acted as a prequel to the original series that focused on the gold knights. It was the first time Saint Seiya as a series was published in a magazine other than Jump and by a publisher other than Shueisha. The main driver behind the new series was Sawa the head editor in charge of the creation of Champion Red in 2002 that was familiar with Kurumada, who still had many ideas for Saint Seiya and was convinced to launch a spin off series in the magazine as one of the series for its starting lineup. 

Sawa eventually became the head editor of Weekly Shonen Champion in 2005 and not long after he took over the magazine together with Kurumada a sequel of the original Saint Seiya manga that had ended in 1990 that as we know is 'Saint Seiya Next Dimension Meio Shinwa' was launched. The series act as continuation of the Hades arc that ended in a cliffhanger per say. However, soon after its debut the series became a irregular series that was published chapters in batches that were referred as seasons. With the latest season, the manga officially ends with chapter 118 in a few days. 

118 chapters in 18 years is quite a slow pace, however this is likely due to Kuramada's other projects and many spin offs  that he at the very least act as overseer as the author of the original work. This include the continuation of 'Saint Seiya Episode G' that is currently on its second sequel with the title 'Saint Seiya Episode G Requiem'. Another series notable spin off series was 'Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas' that ran in Weekly Shonen Champion from 2006 to 2011. Shiori Teshirogi drew the series, and it was the only spin off series to be animated until' Saint Seiya Santia Sho' by Chimaki Kuori was in 2018. 

Two other spin offs started in recent years one is Saint Seiya Dark Wing by Kenji Sato and Shinshu Ueda that explores the isekai trend using Saint Seiya. The other is Rerise of Poseidon by Suda Tsunagami which mimics closely Kuramada artstyle, both are interesting projects for fans of the series. 

Champion spin offs of Saint Seiya

Saint Seiya Episode G Saga - 2002 - ongoing

Saint Seiya The Lost Canvas - 2006 - 2011

Saint Seiya Santia Sho - 2013 - 2021

Saint Seiya Dark Wing - 2020 - ongoing

Saint Seiya Rerise of Poseidon - 2022 - ongoing

Does the end of Saint Seiya Next Dimension spell the end of the series? 

The end of the Saint Seiya Next Dimension was expected so there was no surprise that this was the last season, but with the end many news are expected as anticipated by comments from Kuramada earlier in the year in a comment in Champion Red. It is his 50th anniversary as a manga author after all, so I do not believe anticipating announcements from his biggest ongoing project is too much . One such announcement is likely to be a new featuring the Heaven arc that involves the Gods in the Olympus against Athena. Notably the preview of the issue whilst it does say Saint Seiya Next Dimensino will be in the cover for its last chapter does not state anything about announcements, but we can only wait and see.  

Many rumours and insiders in the Saint Seiya community expect an announcement of an animation for Next Dimension to happen as well not necessarily in the upcoming issue but by the end of the year, and it would make a lot of sense alongside the release of a final edition which is marketed as the best edition with revision on cloth designs and text by Kuramada himself and to my knowledge it is the first time the original series was published by Akita Shoten. For potential new fans it is readily available for readers to read back to prepare for the animation of the direct sequel. 

An animation for Next Dimension by Toei has always been a question. It should not be forgotten that the series is a multimedia success that is featured prominently in their financial statements. It has been a series with great returns for Toei especially internationally despite the absence of many animation projects. The slow pace of release of the series might have been an impediment to an interest in animating it by the studio but with its completion the series can be animated without worry of running short on content due to releases. 

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.. 

Black Clover vs MHA - Comparison of the First Chapter

My Hero Academia is a popular shounen manga, but I believe its first chapter highlights some of the issues I see in shounen manga. What strikes me at first is how in the initial first page the author feels the need to tell the audience about the setting. It not only tells you about the setting but gives some explanation for it, in this case it says the age of heroes started after the sudden appearance of people with quirks, special abilities people started to be born with.

The problem for me in this instance is that these elements are all simply told to the audience in the first pages of the series, it feels so superficial that it hardly leaves any impression. It is a shoddy and honestly infantilizing way to set up the world within the series.

It also introduces the character poorly, the first look of the main character is him getting bullied by other kids with super abilities because he seems to be standing up for another student even though he is called quirkless. I do not dislike that initial introduction, but within the same chapter it explains what quirks are and why he is quirkless. The fact there is no real mystery about quirks or questions surrounding them quickly makes it feel like just a way to just set up the superhero world. It also doubles as a way to make the main character an underdog since in a world full of heroes, he has no special ability to speak of. It just feels too much like a device and not an element of the story.

However, why does he want to be a superhero? That is not given much thought over, it seems like it comes from what is displayed briefly in panels showing his childhood idolization of superheroes... It is quite a shallow way to build the main character's main motivation that is supposed to move the story forward. Perhaps, it might have been better to actually develop this, because otherwise once again it feels like an element to get the story going. Its basically to do this story, we need the main character to want to be a hero. In addition, his lack of any special ability makes the task to become here a lot tougher but that is the story... until he is given one? The fact he is given one does downplay his underdog status, which seems a bit counterintuitive in my eyes.

For me the problem is that this is such a poor start to the narrative. It is using a 'tell everything' form of storytelling in a visual medium that is awkward but ever present in shounen manga. For instance, why does the series need to explain in the first chapter that quirks started to appear which eventually led to a world of heroes? You can see that its a world full of heroes, you do not need to deliver that sort of information in the first few pages of the series... Exposition has been fed over time otherwise it feels just like simply the author's explanation for why the series has the setting. In general what this means is that in general the world the series takes place lacks any real depth. It seems like a template world of shonen battle manga but with a superhero makeover.

Black Clover has similar problems in its first chapter but let's go through the chapter together. The first chapter of Black Clover starts the story by narrating the defeat of an unknown mage that came to be called the Wizard King. Back in the present we see the celebration of the return of someone that is called the Wizard King. In the following page we see the celebrations from a place outside the city and two men working in fields comment on the rowdiness of the celebrations and say that the kingdom exists due to the generations of Wizard King that have protected them.

Then we are introduced to the main character, Asta, who talks about challenging Yuno, his friend, which serves as an obviously contrived way to tell the audience is not able to use magic. It also showcases that Asta and Yuno were left at the front of a church on the same day. Subsequently, there is an event that comes out of nowhere where 15 year old people receive their grimoires and Yuno receives his and Asta does not. However, after this another strikingly obvious contrived event happens when Yuno is attacked by someone that wants to rob his grimoire to sell it. The idea that there would be a black market of grimoire for the rich is believable, but I doubt the author thought of this as a macro event to hint at the inequality in the world that he could later develop... spoiler he does not.

A despondent Asta sees the attack on Yuno and tries to save him. After getting a beating by the robber he suddenly receives a black grimoire and a large blade that seems to annul magic, so he uses it to fight the man...

The way it starts off with a tale of the past is much more interesting than My Hero Academia. It has this battle which highlights this mage that defeated the demon who became the Wizard King. In the following page the author uses the celebrations and the perhaps awkward exchange between farmers to show the prestige and role of the position. I believe saying the demon was defeated was unnecessary,, it would have made the demon skull page a lot more impactful if that was what told the audience of the result of the battle. However, these first few pages do give a general understanding of what the title wizard king means without spelling it out... It is basically an army general, so not really a king.

After this the introduction of Asta and how we learn of his inability to use magic is mostly comical. However, his inability to use magic is shown to be notable which means magic use is quite widespread. That made me curious about how magic works, but all we are hinted at is that at Asta's age not being able to use is a strange which reinforces that being able to use magic is natural. It also says that grimoires are not necessary to use magic but they strengthen it which is less interesting, but it has its own implications... In a fight it might not be a bad idea to target the grimoire, because if they can be robbed from someone they are not naturally attached or an ethereal thing. I wonder if the author thought about this when he did that... Let's get back on topic.

We are also told Asta wants to become the Wizard King, which explains why the author decided to start with what exactly the title of Wizard King means earlier in the chapter. The audience does not know his motivations since they are not really shown, at least not in any serious way, so are we supposed to fill in his reasons for that? Perhaps, we are supposed to assume that this character from quite low class would idealise an army general figure?

Later we see that Yuno also wants to become the Wizard King, and a flashback acts to show his motivation. In this flashback we see that Yuno's necklace is stolen by someone because it is too nice for an orphan. Asta fights him and gets it back not without getting beaten up badly before though. Both them promise each other to strive to become the Wizard King. What this tells me is that both dream of moving up the social ladder from what seems to be their quite low status, and power is the easiest way. However, in this competition between the two friends, Asta is a clear underdog due to his inability to use magic whilst Yuno is talented in magic.

In comparison with My Hero Academia, Black Clover for me has the better chapter when it comes to narrative quality. However it is weaker when it comes to characters, when it comes to the main characters the author makes Asta too comical to take him seriously, and the spend on Asta's comedic antics means Yuno received zero to no attention. Midoriya and Bakugo leave a greater impression, one for his meekness yet his courage, and the other wants to become a hero yet seems to lack any heroic qualities.

In the character designs and art My Hero Academia also wins for me, it has a more distinct artstyle and the characters have iconic visual characteristics. Overall, whilst Black Clover eventually might be more competent in its first chapter with the narrative, it eventually leans on the major things that define action shounen manga such as characters, emotional and visual impact and My Hero Academia just plays those much better than it.

Thoughts on Ippon Again Anime Staff and PV

The Ippon Again anime project has finally received an update with a lot of information. Now, we know the studio that will handle the animation production and also the people handling the key roles and the voice cast for the main characters. 

So lets have a look at them, since I have had not much to talk about when it comes to champion stuff in recent times. 

Anime Poster    

Cast
Towa Hiura: Chiyuki Miura (Karakuri Circus)
Anna Nagumo: Nene Hieda (Jaku-Chara Tomozaki-kun)
Michi Sonoda: Ayasa Itou (Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight)
Sanae Takigawa: Yukari Anzai (Lapis Re:LiGHTs)

Staff
Director: Takeru Ogiwara (Jouran: The Princess of Snow and Blood episode director)
Series Composition: Aya Satsuki (Ultraman Geed tokusatsu drama)
Character Design, Chief Animation Director: Airi Takegawa (Carole & Tuesday key animation)
Music: Shun Narita (Noblesse)
Sound Production: Pony Canyon
Animation Production: Bakken Record

Music Production - Pony Canyon 

Taken from My Anime List 

If ones looks for Bakken Record, they might seem like a new studio with barely any experience but Bakken Record is just a new label for Tatsunoko Production, an experienced studio. Under the label of Bakken Record, they have released a film called Pandora no Akubi in 2019, and a tv series Joran: The Princess of Snow. The animation in the latter was reasonably well done, its story was not exactly interesting at least for me but it was an original project so that should not be relevant to Ippon Again.

However, instead of just looking at the studio name, we should look at the staff since most animators are hired freelancers because of the precarious state of labour in the animation industry but that is something for another article. The director Takeru Ogiwara has never headed a series before, he has worked as an episode director, and photography director for a number of series before. Aya Satsuki has more experience related to her role in both anime and tv drama series but in those works she was not the sole scriptwriter or the series composer. Consequently, she and Takeru Ogiwara are taking their roles for the first time. 

Airi Takegawa is the the chief animation director and the one in charge of character design, she worked on Joran but as an assistant animator director role, so like her colleagues in this project, this role is a step up for her. Shun Narita is experienced when it comes to music, but not to a significant extent and I do not see myself as fit to comment on the work he has done because I am not an anime music connoisseur. These comments can also be applied to the presence of Pony Canyon as the group heading music production. 

In regards to the cast, like with music I am not fit to comment on the voice acting skills of the cast. However, voice actors and actress are used as magnets to attract attention of fans to a series but in this case most of the cast seem to be novices or at least not well known voice actresses.  

Things do not look necessarily promising for this series from analyzing the staff and cast but alongside the news, a new design preview view was released. In a short video of thirty seconds, the preview video shows animated shots of the first panels of the first chapter of the series with voice over of the four main character chatting playing on top of it. The voice of the girls sound fine and so does the animation but of course, this is a small video without any character motion. However, I do not expect this series to look any worse than your average anime.

When it comes to boost for the manga sales, it is rather difficult to predict. Ippon Again does not sell a lot and that is why the fact it even received an anime is an incredible feat in itself. Its lack of popularity and visibility might be a upside since it can reach many people that did not know it existed. Recent anime from Champion have managed to give some boost in manga sales, so it will be interesting to see if  Ippon Again can keep up the recent trend though that is naturally tied to the quality of the anime.

Considering the overall package included in this project, I would not expect much from it in the technical department.  What will be essential is how the anime plays the story, if it has a good pace that allows it to blend the slice of life and character interactions with the sport elements in a way that resembles the manga's strongest point, It could possibly attract interest in the manga and lead to a boost in sales. The series is airing in 2023 so we will find out soon enough if the world does not end before then. 

 

Stuff I Have Read Recently

Formless Form by Fongqi Dongman    

This is another manhua that I read recently (well within the last few months) . It is a series focused around daoism, the origin of its title coming from Laozi's 'Dao De Ching' the most important book for daoism. Formless form in particular focuses on the exorcist and magical aspects of it. The main character is a strong master of daoism talisman arts since he is part of the maoshan school / shangqing school - a real daoist school and the name maoshan being the place the school established itself. The author's certain level of knowledge does allow him to build a somewhat consistent worldview at least at the onset of the series.

Moving on to the characters, in this series the main character is the carefree, lax title that likes first and foremost to enjoy himself. He lives nonchalantly and he can live like that because he is absurdly powerful. He is sort of a powerful card that the organization that is tasked with managing supernatural cases turns to when difficult tasks involving strong evil spirits come up. The first arc that is built up from the first chapter involves a difficult case involving a spirit that takes over the body of a dying girl. This arc runs until chapter 20s or so. In a sense,

 
In a clear comparison I believe this series is similar to shounen manga but it has better pacing since it does not have to rush because of poll results. For example, since this first arc builds up a starting point for the series, in a Japanese battle shounen series it would have put those 20 or so chapters into a single long first chapter. So it takes more time to establish the world and the actors involved. But it still is a heavily action focused series, so the narrative is not really anything new and the characters are to a certain extent the generic type. Overall, it's an alright read, it is definitely not any worse than most Japanese battle shounen series.

I have Twin Girlfriends by Tian Kong Shuman Gong Factory     

This series was a surprise for me, it did look like a wish fulfillment series from the title and image. but it was not at least not blatantly so. Of the first 20 or so chapters, I was impressed. The first chapter begins with the main character saying he wants to break up, his puzzled girlfriend dismisses it and leaves for work saying they can talk about things later.

At work, the main character is given a promotion by his boss for his latest successful short film and they hold a celebration for him. However, the main character, a bit depressed, turns to alcohol and after having a few too many drinks cannot make his way home by himself. His boss, who is a friend he knew from university, takes him home. It might sound like this happens in the first chapter but these things actually happen over the first 5 or 6 chapters.

At this point, we are kind of told why the main character is a bit dejected and its because a man that works with his girlfriend tells him that she is not happy with him and that he is holding back her ability to shine. This only exacerbates an inferiority complex of the main character in comparison to how able his girlfriend is. In his drunken state, at home we finally see the twins that live together with him but he obviously does not know that they are twins. The events that unfold after that is as the summary and the title of the series suggests, he finds out his girlfriend (s) are actually twins.

There is actually a reason the twins live the way they do and it can be stupid at surface level but looking introspectively it does raises a few questions. Overall, I like the slower narrative, it could have been a lot faster and stupider but it took over 7 or so chapters to show the twins and a few more for him to find out their secret. So it takes its time and its better for it because it does not rush into dramatic developments, it tries to first show relationships and demonstrate their inner workings. It did stand out in my mind in comparison to other series in this genre, regardless if they are either Chinese or Japanese.

The art is good, and whilst the opening chapter cover is usually fan service-y, the series itself is not as heavy on fanservice. I had very low expectations coming in and it managed to counter them by showing itself to be an alright romance series that tries to be at least more mature. In addition, the slower pace and how smooth it flowed is what kept me reading despite the fact I usually do not read more than one chapter of a series like this. I stopped at 20 because I had to do some other thing and I never returned for no real reason.

Champion in 2021 - A Quiet Year

WSC 2021/27

2021 was a normal year for Champion for the most part with some interesting moments here and there. The main notable moments were the announcements of "Ippon" Again! anime, Grappler Baki 30th Anniversary and the return of Itagaki Paru as well as the sudden appearance of Oshikiri Rensuke.

How has the magazine changed?

The year was rather normal and there was not much change, only one long running series ended excluding Yuuenchi, so the magazine for the most part only changed as far as cancelled series were replaced by other stuff. Some of these replacements like Kurobane Hakusho, Isekai Chef that begun earlier in the year, the former which was already cancelled and the latter is likely heading in the same direction cemented a slow change in the magazine. However that was the first half of the year, in the second half there were 4 new series, Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine S, SANDA, Lupin Sansei Neighbour World Princess and Geniearth. Two are new series by veteran authors, one of which had recently finished her big hit Beastars that ran in Champion, whether they will be successful is up in the air at moment. The other two are manga adaptation of multimedia projects and whilst i doubt these are going to be long term projects, they do shake up the magazine in the short term. 

The biggest shake up to the magazine was probably not caused by a new series however, it was by a series that exploded in popularity and it achieved a whole different status in the magazine. That series was Tougen Anki, the battle urban fantasy series that draws from the Momotarou folkloric story, it exploded in social media and its sales grew to great levels that was topped with it receiving a cover which together with the load of colour pages commissioned has probably drained a lot from the author. who had to take a break for a week during the year. These were the changes in the magazine in the year and it was by all means a rather stale and boring year for the magazine when it comes to any seeing any real big change to the roster.  Hopefully next year, with more things looking like they could wrap up maybe there will further changes.

Anime!

The only anime announcement in the magazine was "Ippon" Again! back in the beginning of July. It was one of the series that I highlighted as possibly receiving an anime in 2021, but it was very much based on its content and of course the biggest hindrance to it was its low sales. It seems the former won out in the end and it will be receiving an anime but we do not know if it will be a TV series or something else yet, so that is still up in the air. 

Opinion

Personally, the year of 2021 was very weak, the new series for the most part are rather boring. The loss of Rokudou was felt even thought the series had lost a lot of luster for me in this run up to the end. Hopefully, Nakamura-sensei returns with something in due time, and given how quick his turnaround from pro debut to series was, I doubt it will take too long. 

I hope if Nakamura-sensei returns that it does not end up like Itagaki sensei's return. What do I mean by that? Sanda embodies the weakness of Beastars which was the convoluted storyline and a whole lot of shock factor. The good parts of Beastars which were the initial parts were abandoned, so its just a boring series.

The other new series for the most part were annoyances. Manga adaptation of multi media projects feel like filler to try and get the fans from those projects to read the magazine, and whilst this is not new it has this time taken up a lot more space than I feel is deserved. 

So overall, 2021 was a slog to go through, one of the worst years in recent years bar 2017 which was partially caused by the shift in the editorial department.