Friday, 16 July 2021

One More Anime for Champion and Paru's Sanda.

"Ippon" Again! Muraoka Yuu / Akita Shoten

"Ippon" Again! Anime Announcement

So with the recent announcement that "Ippon" Again! will be getting animated, now it is time for me to explore the possibilities that can result from this anime. One interesting tidbit from the author's twitter was that the negotiations for the anime had begun just a little under 2 years ago which means probably when it had around 30 or 40 chapters. What is interesting is that he also mentions that it eventually materialised meaning it was not cancelled thanks to the continued support of the readers. Fear of cancellation was a thing for it because it had been at the bottom of the table of content for a long while but the author also said he had been told the surveys have been good. Its sales however showed no real growth and it has kind of stagnated since its earlier volumes but hopefully an anime changes that. 

The series is not a top seller in Shonen Champion which immediately leads me to think it is a NHK project since it has the financial muscle and ability to select tiles that could be of public interest to be made into anime even if financially not necessarily promising. In this case Judo is a sport that has not had many anime, the last one was Yawara almost 30 years ago, there is also the fact it is a national martial arts and something Japan excels at. There is public interest in making promotional and educational material for young audiences and more casual audiences for Judo and the likes, and 'Ippon' Again fits quite well in this case because I feel like it really exudes the love of Judo that the author has.  It shows off the various facets of practicing Judo and what it can represent to differing people and the way each can learn and adapt at different paces. The main character is not a genius but someone with mediocre talent and its not about becoming the best but about growing stronger which makes it less heavy competition and more light hearted which fits it, and in general makes it a more family friendly series but it could pivot to more hardcore audiences as well such as otaku with more moe like character designs. There are various possibilities. Hopefully more news on the anime comes soon. 

Itagaki Paru's New Series - SANDA. 

Sanda - Itagaki Paru / Akita Shoten

Itagaki Paru is already back with another title starting next week. The setting is a world in the near future with a heavily declined fertility rate and it vaguely describes itself as a story between adults and youths. Declining fertility rates is a particular worry in Japan because it has continued to sustain population decline as a result of it. This issue is something that has grown in the Japanese imagination with many references to it popular culture such as manga and anime that are a result of the popular debate over the issue. It is not an exclusive Japanese issue but a worldwide one. 

Population decline as a result of low fertility rate is a new phenomenon in our world and it's still hard to gauge the results. At the moment it seems to be seen with doom and gloom especially as the adult and middle class population in many countries that came from baby booms post world war 2 and the expansion of the world economy that massively boosted the population. These people will see when they get old a much smaller workforce to support the welfare benefits of the previous generation, which will pressure governments and states to find alternatives or cut these benefits. However, if work productivity increases with technological development, robotisation and the likes, population decline could become an asset if workers become more valued and assured more rights... I am a bit cynical but it is not known exactly how things will look like since there is no real previous example to draw from.

So I wonder if Sanda might draw out all of that and base itself from our world and make educated assumptions over the consequences of prolonged fertility rates in the fictional world Sanda is set in. Of course, I wonder if it might also address alternatives to addressing population decline and low fertility rates such as immigration.

There is a lot she could draw out if she has done her research, there are many examples from around the world of governments debating, making proposals some more reasonable than others and enacting laws to promote marriage and child rearing through benefits, one off cash payments, tax breaks, etc. Aside from the government's view there is also media perception and rhetoric over the issue which in one way or another shapes the public opinion and in Japan and South Korea this can sometimes be expressed through a sharper rhetoric against LGBT groups and single men and women that decide not to marry for various reasons. 

I have my doubts if it will be well researched but I will give it a go.


Follow me at @shonen_mania



Tuesday, 18 May 2021

Prisoner Riku - One of Champion's Masterpieces.

I have been re-reading Prisoner Riku for these past few days and I had some thoughts that I wanted to share about it.

Shuujin Riku - @ Shinobu Seguchi / Akita Shoten

First to give some context of the series, the story is set in a Tokyo that has been  partially destroyed after the fall of a meteor. The destroyed part became known as the slums of Tokyo where the poor gathered and with no interest in rebuilding it the investments all focused on the intact part of Tokyo. This heavy focus of the state on the prosperous area meant soon the slums became an area of perceived degradation and lawlessness. 

This lawlessness was directly caused by the retreat of the government interest in the area which left it open to many criminal gangs to take over. Of course, this image of lawlessness created fear within areas outside of slums and a wall was created to segregate it from the outside world, and policing of these areas was reinforced with the use of violence. 

It is in this realistic world that Riku, a thirteen year old orphan from the slums is arrested for killing a cop, who was a father figure for him. Of course, it was not him who killed the police officer but the Police Force's Superintendent General, Kidoin. The police officer was investigating him but was found out and killed for it. Kidoin stands on his tough stance against the slums but within the slums with his own loyal force, he commits various crimes such as smuggling and organ trafficking. 

Riku is then sent off to a maximum security jail. In this Jail, Riku with his naivety and his willingness to help people and his optimism but also his toughness makes him gather respect from his fellow prisoners. One notable one being Renoma, the other protagonist. If Riku is the shonen heart of the series as the kind hearted, naive kid living in a cruel world then Renoma is the more adult centred main character. Renoma unlike Riku, Renoma was beaten down by the cruel world and this shaped who he is. in his youth was betrayed by the person he trusted most and after that in order to survive in the slums, he stole, killed, threatened and beat anyone in his way until he formed his own gang.  

Renoma is one of many other prisoners that are captivated by Riku's kindness and his stubbornness to do what he thinks is the right thing.  This is partly why I called him the shonen heart of the series because this influences the others and drives some of them to try to escape prison. I can not help but wonder since overall the rest of the series aside from Riku is grim and violent, if you take him out of the series and have Renoma as the single main character, the series would have a very different mood. 

However, RIku is an endearing underdog character, who is against all odds not backing down from going up against tough prisoners or guards. It would be easy for him to be engulfed and beaten down by the cruel world he lives in but he is never willing to give up. This does not mean he gets stronger, Riku is not a fighter, he is only tough and his personality gives hope for many downtrodden cynical prisoners. 

I do not want to spoil it but every character has their own troubled past as a result of the state of slums. These characters are all entertaining in their own way and they have their own reasons for being arrested and wanting to escape. So they scheme, fight and suffer together with Riku all in order to escape the prison but also attempt to change the fate of slums by bringing down Kidoin.

The world of Riku is one that I can recognise and relate to in many ways because of its reflections in real life especially in certain places. I feel like Shinobu Seguchi makes these links purposefully because he knows these are real things that exist, and he adds Riku, the hopeful downtrodden kid who gets beaten time and time again, but who dares to challenge the injustices of his world to pass a hopeful message that change is not impossible.

Prisoner Riku has a lot of charm and I applaud Shinobu Seguchi for sticking even after many years trying to write this wonderful shonen work which is heavily under-read in the west but for anyone in the fence, this is a real fun work. It was a not a massive hit but it deserves a spot in Champion's history and I am happy it was acknowledged in the 50th year anniversary.


Monday, 10 May 2021

The Last Decade of New Series in Champion.

A round up of the new series round of the past decade in Champion. I am missing two rounds from 2010, One in 2011, one in 2012 and two in 2014. In addition series that begun alone can not be included.  If you have the missing ones just message me at @shonen_mania.

2010 New series Round issue 2+3 to 10.

2011 New Series Round - Issue 9 -12

2011 New Series Round - Issue 39 - 42.


2011 New Series Round - Issue 49 - 51.

2012 New Series Round - issue 13 - 20.


2012 New Series Round - Issue 34 - 38.

2013 New Series Round - Issue 9-12.

2013 New Series Round - Issue 24 - 28. 

New Series Round - Issue 39-41.


2014 New Series Round Issue - 26-30.


2014 New Series Round - Issue 47-52.

2015 New Series Round - Issue - 26-30.

2015 New Series Round - Issue 48-51.

2016 New Series Round - 16-20.

2016 New Series Round - Issue 26-30.

2016 New Series Round - 41- 44.

2017 New Series Round - Issue 9-11.

2017 New Series Round - 13-14.


End of New Series in Sawa period as EiC of WSC. 
To Be Continued -

Monday, 12 April 2021

What I Want from Weekly Shonen Champion

I noticed that over the years of keeping this blog I had never written I piece on what sort of stuff I want from Weekly Shonen Champion. I realise that a magazine will never really appease me fully but over the years I have grown to hope for changes in Champion especially as my magazine losses appeal to me rapidly over the last few years. So I will indulge myself a bit in this piece. 


The spin of Mairimashita! Iruma is also a great sellers for Akita Shoten but its sales are not necessarily moved by its presence in the magazine. The Iruma namesake is just one factor for its popularity, the other and bigger factor is the presence of the Wareware Shuuyaku group. This group of youtubers have a large dedicated fanbase which has even made their own isekai manga reasonably successful.One of the first things that I want to see is a removal of spin off series.  For instance Worst Gaiden Guriko is a spin off Worst a series that originally was serialised in Monthly Shonen Champion. It has filled a space of yankee series in Champion that has been left unfulfilled since Gmen ended and it sales are reasonable. These sales, however, are not moved by the series itself but by its association with Worst and this is shown by how others spin off from Worst in other magazines are able to sell just as well. 

Weekly Shonen Champion - Akita Shoten

Hence, these series could easily be placed elsewhere else and they would still sell well. So, they are simply occupying space that I feel would be better filled by an original series. An important reason for this is because Weekly Shonen Champion is one of the biggest magazine for Akita Shoten and wasting a potential space that could be filled with an original hit is not a good thing in the long run. 

Aside from the spin off works, the magazine has mellowed out a lot over the last few years. By this I mean the magazine has become lighter with more upbeat series especially with the recent addition from webseries such 'A Girl Who Cant Speak...' and 'Meika-san...' which are more simple upbeat series. This became a problem for me because the magazine was never fully dominated by a sort of series, it had yankee, sports, gags and some other genres but that dominance of upbeat series made me miss something with a bit more atmosphere like BEASTARS in its early days. The popularity of BEASTARS did not make them move one inch towards more series like it, in fact they have probably moved to more upbeat works probably due to the influence of Iruma-kun. 

Weekly Shonen Champion - Akita Shoten

I want to see this reversed even if all evidence goes against it, I would like to see unusual series like BEASTARS that do not necessarily have their genre singularly defined. Series like this that stand out from the usual in shonen magazines are in themselves a good thing in minor magazine like champion because their size should give space for experimental series that audiences could not find elsewhere A series like AI no Idenshi or BEASTARS would never be serialised in a shonen magazine but Champion made it work and both were popular works, the latter a lot more. However, one of the problems of this is that there is probably a limited amount of talented authors that can match those two. So, it might not always work as series form the get go and this leads to my next point nicely. 

AI no Idenshi - Yamada Kyuri, Akita Shoten

Short series are a great way to gauge interest of readers in a series and at the same time develop authors. Many hit series from champion originated as short series such as Mitsudomoe, Shinryaku! Ika Musume, Furutto on Thursday and BEASTARS. Part of this originates from how almost all series that are cancelled usually fail to grasp people attention in the first few chapters and it is hard to recover from that. Short series gives the chance to see if a series will work or not by being a test run of the first few chapters the most important for any manga to grab readers. This is exactly what the last head editor Sawa did but I would like to take it up a notch which would mean there would be less new series starting but many more short series with popular ones being made into official serialisation. Short series would became a key part of the magazine way to find new hit. It would be more effective than simply starting a new serialisation, since readers input would have more weight and in the end they are the ones that the magazine is trying to satisfy. 

BEAST COMPLEX- Itagaki Paru, Akita Shoten

In addition, short series of three chapters allow more time for newbies to explore their ideas. short series are a great way for newbies e to test themselves, since they can not necessarily rely on just a simple one off story but instead have to build and pace a wider story, in very few chapters. For instance, Hamayan one-shot Madoromi was a very simple and self contained story that was good, whilst his short series required a lot more of him, since he had to shape a story that was well short but that felt naturally paced and he paced his test with flying colours.We just need more of that and this year Champion has had more short series than it had in its last few years combined. 

To be continued - First I want to talk about Sunday though.

Follow me at - @shonen_mania

Tuesday, 6 April 2021

Manga in Danger - Kurobane Hakusho

Introducing a new segment focusing on seeries in danger - first of we have Kurobane Hakusho by Uchida Kouhei from Weekly Shonen Champion.

Kurobane Hakusho began a few weeks ago and whilst it does not seem to have picked up a lot of steam there is an aspect of the series that appealed to me. 

Copyright - Uchida Kohei and Akita Shoten


First, though let me tell what Kurobane Hakusho is about. The series features Kurobane, the school council president at middle school and he wants to devote himself to resolving any issues student have.  When I first read the synopsis of this series I believed it was going to a school life manga with dramatic elements here and there but it would still be mostly a light hearted story. 

These expectations were betrayed when the series began however instead proved to be focused a lot more on the school drama aspect through exploring many things such as bullying, jealousy, hate on social media and the likes that students face. The main character seeks to resolve these issues in other to guarantee everyone at school is happy. It is not exactly the focus on these aspect that make the series dramatic but how it dramatises them through the art by using a lot of black inking and more impactful panels. These panels good because it allows the artist to show the strength of his art but also its ability to plays well in setting the mood. 

Copyright - Uchida Kohei and Akita Shoten

Another aspect that stands out is his storytelling. The first chapter for instance only teased many aspects of the story such as the main character ability and his past, it did not give away too much information for instance, the main characters ability was shown in use but it was not exactly explained and only certain hints were given. In this sense Kurobane Hakusho has a more active story telling that expects more from the reader, even if the hints and the how the story unfolds can lead to obvious developments. However, I can still appreciate shonen stories that can hold themselves back from simply using passive forms of story telling, and in this case Uchida Kouhei manages to use his art alongside the narrative. 


Copyright - Uchida Kohei and Akita Shoten


I believe that the author missed an opportunity though. This setting is too simplistic and overused and the 'special' touch he added is a weak. No one expect the issues from school life to be exactly new but the way its dealt whilst it is impactful in regards to art, it does not stroke emotions so it feels weak and the pay off is never quite satisfying because the author is not great at portraying lighter moments like something like Mairimashita! Iruma-kun. This comparison is valid because these series in a sense are like polar opposites whilst Iruma-san has a dark set up it is used as gag and it is light hearted series with minor elements of drama whilst Kurobane Hakusho at first seems light hearted but it is a serious series maybe even too serious, it is weak at balancing lighter elements from serious ones. 

This is why I believe this series might struggle to garner anyone attention whilst I recognise his skill at telling the story, the story itself is not strong enough to draw eyes and the art by itself will not carry it. In part because whilst shonen works live of their art most have stylistic appeals and Uchida Kouhei's art whilst good it does not have its own style.

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Friday, 2 April 2021

Heaven's Design Team and How to be Educational and Entertaining.

Heaven's Design Team - Kodansha USA


Heaven's Design Team stands out initially with quirky setting in which god has outsourced the creation of animals to a  group of designers. This setting has many uses but it is perfect because it serves as a means to end for the author to do what he really wants to do with the series and that is explore the intricacies of the natural world. Consequently, every chapter has focus on a few animals, so it has no particular overarching story and the focus is specifically on the particularities of animals. 

The way god gives a certain comment of what he wants from the designers, in this context represents a way the author builds every chapter to have elements of surprise as well as comedy since the vague requests by god are transformed through various experimentation and prototypes until they somehow reach the shape of animals that actually exist. The reader throughout the chapter is kept guessing on what they could possibly be building from their propositions and various ideas until it comes to you. This component makes the series quite engaging as the reader actively follows the narrative and when the conclusion it reached, it is rather satisfying.

Heaven's Design Team - Example of prototype - Heaven's Design Team Anime Commitee


The series because of this exploration of the real natural world has a lot of educational value. In a way it is similar to Cells At Work, another work with an education edge. Heaven's Design Team differs in that it focuses not on the inside workings of the human body but on animals. For people like that have an interest in the natural world there is a lot in this series to enjoy.

The anime managed to capture the original work essence incredibly well. Apart from a few re arrangements in the chronology of the manga chapters, the anime was a 1 to 1 adaptation of the manga. It even added breaks at the middle of the anime to talk more in detail about the animal featured in the episode, a feature the manga also does at the end of every chapter. 

There is not much to complain here. Heaven's Design Team is an entertaining and educational manga which became a likewise a entertaining and educational anime. It is a series I would recommend to anyone even if they do necessarily have any interest in anime as long as they are interested in learning about animals and biomes. 

Sunday, 28 March 2021

The Chosen One - Rokudou no Onnatachi

Rokudou no Onnatachi is coming to conclusion with in a few days, It went through many stages during its run that started back in 2016. I hope to highlight here the start of its journey in Champion and hiccups and problems it faced.

Rokudou no Onnatachi began in issue 30 of 2016. It raised eyebrows with its quite quirky setting that involved delinquent girls falling in love with the Rokudou, a weak and bullied boy. This is caused by a strange onmyodo technique that Rokudou and his friends stumble onto in an attempt to relieve themselves of the bullying they suffer at school. This quirky mix of elements of romance comedy featuring intimidating girls was an interesting proposition for Champion readers at the time. 

Rokudou no Onnatachi 1 - Akita Shoten


One of the key aspects that caught the attention of audiences was the main character Rokudou. He starts as previously mentioned as a weakling that goes to a bad school filled with delinquents. Hence, he finds himself preyed upon alongside his friends by these same delinquents. To begin with Rokudou does not sound like a particular interesting character but it does not take long for him to show growth, after he stands up to his bully and whilst he is beaten up, it strengthens his resolve to change his status at school. His newly found willingness to standup against his enemies even if with only resolve and no strength starts of Rokudou path to development. Technically, he has the strength in the form of the girls delinquent that are hopelessly in love with but at the same time he does want to exploit the girls because their love is only due to his ability. Rokudou's initial charm comes from this resemblance with classic shounen main characters because of his strong personality and the will to do things even if it involves many struggles. 

Journey on the Champion Road!  

The journey of Rokudou in the magazine started with a rapid rise. It received an opening colour page on its 8th chapter and it was not willing to leave the upper placements of the table of contents after that. It had captivated the readers of Weekly Shonen Champion. This initial popularity of the series in the magazine excited the editorial department, which for the release of its first volume release gave it cover and opening colour page to celebrate. In addition the sales department also arranged a signing event.

Rokudou on the Cover of WSC - Akita Shoten

Rokudou no Onnatachi seemed to have met the sales expectations and it received reprints and showed sales growth.  The big editorial push for the series continued for the first few volumes and this include gravure idol collab and a second cover all before it even reached its first anniversary. However, this push gradually faded. The popularity of the series seemed to have peaked and it struggled to raise sales past this initial peak. After that the series established itself in the middle pack of the magazine and it continued receiving attention but it was never to the same extent of the past. It reached a great number of 2.1 million copies in print with its latest volume, however, the editorial department might have felt it could have reached more. 

Rokudou Second and Last time on the cover of WSC.

The story itself continued to be consistently good. Rokudou specifically grew significantly as a character becoming much stronger and earning the respects of people that previously bullied him. The girls which are the other main attraction of the series also had their own time to show off alongside Rokudou, especially the latter ones that were given larger arcs to show of their story. 

The build up of the cast in these more longer arcs later on was quite interesting because they were more embedded into a wider narrative since each had their own purpose for the story to move forward, which the initial first one did not necessarily have. Nakamura was slowly building his manga brick by brick through these arcs by developing characters and moving the story forward. Another part that showcases this construction was his use of flower to reflect the main female characters characteristics was a great backdrop. In contrast to to that he also made references to buddhism through his villains which served the same purpose as the flowers to highlight personality traits. The series had a strong base and the building on top of it is good but it felt like it was building to something more and thats probably why its sudden ending feels like a let down. 

BEASTARS X Rokudou. Rokudou failed to achieve the same level of popularity as BEASTARS.


Why Did it fail to Struck Gold? 

In the interview between the Weekly Shonen Champion head editor Takekawa and Weekly Shonen Magazine Kurita. Rokudou no Onnatachi was brought up. Both talked about how Nakamura was able to create as previously highlighted a main character that draws the audience into to supporting him through his sheer will to move forward with his ideals. Takekawa agreed that this was an aspect that drew audiences in Champion to the manga and Kurita praised Nakamura for being able to create a main character with these characteristics. 

Rokudou no Onnatachi - Nakamura Yuuji


In the same conversation, Kurita also bought up a interesting topic regarding Nakamura's art, he pointed out that he might have had Nakamura only write the story and pass the artist duties to someone else. He  felt like Nakamura was an author better fit for writing instead of drawing, and that his art was not quite right for the series. This was interesting because the art style of Rokudou has been described as perhaps a bit more aged and not quite appealing for modern audience and most japanese readers seem to point it out as the cause for the manga not breaking out into a hit. Nakamura does have a more rougher and old looking style but his art is not poor, in fact for me it makes him stand out. Though at the same time, a more polished and clean art style which seems to be the more modern option might have made the series more appealing to anyone on the fence about reading it. 

Whatever Nakamura works on next, hopefully he can improve from his first work faults by reflecting on its fault and working on improving himself. He does not far to go and I believe he will excel with whatever he does next since he seems to be perfectly in tune with champion's audience. 

Links - 

WSC Takekawa x WSM Kurita

https://natalie.mu/comic/pp/weeklychamp02


A Brief History of French Animation

France is an interesting country for many reasons but in regards to the one thing we care about: manga and anime it is a particularly a note...