Weekly Shounen Sunday #45




It's Tuesday which means it's time for Sunday! I write and write but it never seems to end does it? Don't get me wrong, I love this blog and all of you who read it, but who would have thought I'd be on track with things this long? It's really quite amazing...anyway we're not here to be wistful, we're here to read manga, so let me get this Sunday on the road.


On this week's cover is Maria Makino from Morning Musume '17, and those unfamiliar faces at the bottom are of Ashibi Fukui's oneshot "Ace to 4th." which I will cover this week! There's not much to say about this cover aside from Maria really looks good in a Kimono, and it's nice to see Conan back again --even if he was only gone a week.


Issue #45's TOC is as follows!

Amano Megumi Suki Darake! By Nekoguchi (Lead color)
Be Blues by Motoyuki Tanaka
Komi-san wa komyu shou desu by Tomohito Oda
Detective Conan by Gosho Aoyama
Dagashikashi by KOTOYAMA
Tenshi and Akuto!! by Aya Hirakawa
Hatsukoi Zombie by Ryou Minenami
Shinobi no by Rokurou Ohgaki
Kyoukai no RINNE by Rumiko Takahashi
Maou jou de Oyasumi by Kagiji Kumanomata
Major 2nd by Mitsuya Takeda
K.O.I King of Idol by Tamaki Wakaki
Zettai Karen Children by Takashi Shiina
Maiko-san chi no Makanai san by Aiko Koyama
Souboutei Kowasubeshi by Kazuhiro Fujita
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ by Mizuki Kuriyama
Ace to 4th by Ashibi Fukui
Magi by Shinobu Ohtaka
Meteor Girl by Reach Ishiyama
Tenshou no Quadrable by Takahiro Arai
Daiku no Hatou by Michiteru Kusaba
Youkai Giga by Satsuki Satou
Sunday Higaku Kenkyujou by Yuuji Yokoyama (Final chapter)

Not in the TOC this week is:

RYOKO
Aozakura Bouei Daigakkou Monogatari
Hiiragi-sama jibun wo sagashiteru

This is...huh. I'm at a loss for commentary here. In some ways this is a typical run-of-the-mill TOC, with Tenshou back to the bottom (though man it's even below MG this week which is saddening) Conan being high up and Ryoko not being present at all. Man do I hate getting used to that. But what the heck is Evans doing down there?? My thought is this is a temporary blip, but again just enough is normal where it feels like maybe this is a telling sign of the future? Magi being low seems to indicate this as it feels like the closer a series is to ending, the lower it is on the TOC. I suppose the reason for this is for promoting series that are still going to be around, but it's odd to see Magi in the basement like it is. At least Shinobi no has rebounded....oh and the Laboratory closing up it's doors for good? Say it ain't so! Welll...it seems to be, at least....for now.



Meet Miss. Marina Makino! (The "M's are for marvelous!) Born Feburary 2nd 2001 in Aichi, her interests are mostly baseball. No, I'm not being lazy, it literally lists baseball as her favorite thing, baseball themes as her favorite music and Major/Major 2nd as her favorite manga(s). As mentioned on the cover page, she's a member of Morning Musume '17 of which you can find out more information here, A girl who loves sports is every shounen manga fan's dream come true, no?



Getting closer to it's 100th chapter is Amano Megumi Suki Darake! This color page might be for that purpose, though I think it's probably for the newest volume due out October 18th. Megumi is one of Shounen Sunday's stars so it makes sense she gets big name treatment. On her mind this chapter is "White Day" which is coming up soon You can get an explanation of what White Day is here but to sum things up quickly, Valentines Day in Japan is where girls give guys they like hand made treats, and White Day is where guys are supposed to return the favor with gifts of their own. Sadly I'm the type who would neither give or receive because I'm not that well known/liked. Though I do like the idea of it being a reciprocal type of thing! I say this but there are "obligatory" chocolates which can end up hurting more than getting nothing at all. Megumi wonders if Ma-kun will notice it's White Day and give her anything but I think she's asking for way too much. Ma-kun doesn't seem like the type to remember much of anything unless prompted.


On that note Ma-kun's teacher shows some concern for his student, admitting he was worried for his prospects of friendship due to his nose always being in the books. "When it's time to study, study. When it's time to play, play!" Is his advice to his aspiring honor student. He also suggests that he thank Megumi in some way for being the one to bring him out of his shell and being there for him as a friend. Teachers like this are really the best kind aren't they? 


Megumi on the other hand is doing some intensive training for sports, and her friend Mami who could give male perversion a run for it's money pushes Megumi to exceed her limits for her own lewd ends. Interesting that there's a female equivalent to that old male standby in Megumi, while from as far as I can tell (with my admittedly limited interaction with the series) other than Ma-kun's somewhat understandable fantasies when Megumi is in compromising positions, there isn't a male equivalent to Mami. I wouldn't say that Nekoguchi is necessarily being progressive, but it's interesting to note that he doesn't rely on that trope in the same way other mangaka do. 


Mami's exercises tire poor Megumi out, but no need to worry, the teacher then asks the former to do eeeeeverything she had the latter do. If I'm to express my extremely unprofessional opinion, I think this part of the chapter could have been left out, honestly. I get that this series is about its fanservice, but Nekoguchi is usually pretty good at making it related to the situation at hand while here it feels shoehorned in. The main plot of the chapter is Megumi hoping Ma-kun will realize White Day is coming and act accordingly, which could have been done without the fanservice. Anyway, Megumi has the classic cartoon standby when her "bad" side says she should demand some White Day lovin', while her Good side suggests that she sort of "imply" what she wants instead, letting Ma-kun come to the conclusion on his own. 


I didn't mention it before, but the name of the chapter is simply "Oh". Which is Ma-kun's reaction at the end when he realizes that it is not in fact "The release date for the 2nd year Chemistry book" which is what he guesses when Megumi goes with her good side and tries to secretly suggest to Ma-kun what she's asking for. Megumi gives up, but when he gets home and his mother flips the calendar, it all comes to Ma-kun in a single utterance. "Oh". Will he be able to save face? Find out next issue --if I have the chance to cover it! 



Tanaka sensei is back on his stuff again with some incredible art for this week's Be Blues chapter where Ryuu shows his upperclassmen teammates that he's nobody to sleep on. I think what I like most about his artwork is this sense of movement on the page --as well as the painstaking time he (must) dedicate on the expressions of the characters. Look at Ryuu on the left panel! So much grit, so much determination! He says he wants to demonstrate his "worth" to his team, and no one is gonna stop him! 



 

The Goalie known as a protective God "Taiki Ueda" also shows his stuff here as well. Admittedly I'm not really keeping up with this series as sports isn't my thing, but I enjoy that Tanaka is giving every named character time to shine, as well as fairly distinct designs. I'm not sure how Tanaka works this magic of making manga come alive, but I hope like Ryuu he never stops moving. 


First Conan and now Komi. Seems school trips to Kyoto are quite the thing in high school, huh? Though that only takes up a part of this week's Komi-san. Rather, I was so surprised by how Oda (not that one) approached the series' core theme of social anxiety that I included this chapter despite planning to skip Komi this week for other series. (A little behind the scenes info for you there!) In the first set of pages, everyone's excited about Kyoto, but Najimi says rather than "where one is going", the important thing here is "who are you going with?" 


In class, Komi (communicating via notebook) seems okay with the trip, and after she leaves Tadano after walking home, things seem okay enough, but then mere moments later, Komi calls the latter back with an important message. 


To my (and Tadano's) surprise Komi becomes quite talkative --as she explains a time in middle school where there was a school trip, and Komi being too shy to speak up for herself ended up joining a remaining group, despite not being able to talk to them do to nervousness. She was disappointed in herself and the perceived feelings of the others. Maybe they had wished someone more fun had come with them rather than Komi? She's too shy to say anything, to shy to have said how she really felt --that she didn't feel comfortable with going, and as such the trip was a disaster for her. That lingering feeling of disappointment even now bothers her, and truth be told she doesn't want to go on the trip to Kyoto. There's a palatable sense of loneliness and disappointment in Komi's words --although it's not said if the others really felt this way about her, the fact that she feels this way about herself is saddening. Who knows how long she went without talking to anyone since then? Especially since this is High school now, and Tadano along with the other classmates are apparently her first friends?


I really like that this page depicts the two as not actually moving anywhere despite the long conversation over the last few pages. It's like a visual metaphor for how Tadano is always there for Komi --even when he was planing the trip he assured her that they'd be together and do whatever she felt comfortable with. In any case, Tadano acknowledges her feelings and offers this --"We could both take a break from the trip." What will Komi's response be to Tadano who is willing to give up this trip he's clearly excited for? We'll have to wait until next week, but this chapter truly was Oda (not that one) at his strongest, and while it means more writing for me, I'm glad I was able to bring it to you.



Mr. Shounen Sunday is back again just to leave us for three weeks? My feeling is that they want Conan to be in the magazine for the end of the year festivities. Otherwise it's rather strange for them to bring the series back for one issue, start a case, and then disappear for three weeks. Though, let's be real, Aoyama's series is probably the closest thing to immune from cancellation that the magazine has, so they can afford to not have it run for a while if need be. To my surprise, this case does indeed seem to pick up immediately from where the last one left off --thanks to an intrepid Kudo family fan, Shinichi's actions in Kyoto are now viral, and his identity is in danger of being exposed to the Black Organization who thinks he's dead. Meanwhile, the kids are sent to a classmate's house to find out why she isn't in school, instead finding a treasure hunt of sorts, and the first part ends with a note leaving someone in charge of cleanliness. We'll have three weeks to make theories and assumptions, as Conan won't be back until issue #49. Will the children be able to do it without him, as he's got his own issues to worry about? 



Dagashi's back on the blog and it's best girl In my opinion Hajime's chapter to shine, or well have a slight complex toward her young boss Koko. Although she likes being in the Shikada household, she's basically second place in everything going on --as the second page on the right says --he even cooks better than she does. Though aside from her ponytail uh-oh I think I might have revealed my true intentions of uploading this.  I really enjoyed that this week's chapter managed to provide a bit of character development for Hajime in the few pages Dagashikashi gets per week. She goes from having a complex about her place in the household to realizing she's a part of it and that's good enough. KOTOYAMA's series might seem like all sweets and no substance, but time and time again he demonstrates an understanding of and respect for his characters that really makes this series work aside from his endearing art. 



Tenshi and Akuto was another series I wasn't going to cover this week, but with the events that occurred, I'd be remiss not to. Akuto is reveling in his new quasi celebrity status, where he's offered a guest spot on an anime called "Black Judgement" which is gasp the anime that Nari is in! Now I've made no effort to hide my interest in seeing what happened to the titular "Tenshi" in "Tenshi and Akuto" So this was exactly the kind of development I wanted --and it explains why she hasn't been around for a while. Thank goodness she's okay, since I was thinking something horrible had happened. In any case, Akuto shows up to the recording session ready to belittle the "bug" as he has fondly taken to calling her, but time has a way of changing people in subtle and not so subtle ways. In the right page Akuto is insulting her femininity as she's small and has no assets to speak of, but he has to put his foot all the way in his mouth when she shows up for recording...



And looks like this. Nice Shoujo filter there Hirakawa. She's now slightly more grown up and quite pretty to boot. For the first time ever Akuto is speechless, and with a color page dropping next week (The series seems to be getting a lot of those, but I wonder how it's doing in sales?) You can be sure I will be covering the reunion between Tenshi and Akuto. 


Shinobi no is higher up and full of action this week as Pops tries to wrap his head around why Yoshida would want to start a war with America, while the man himself says he wants to change Japan. I'm not sure when they showed up, but Yoshida's also got a gang of warrior monks to serve him and his agenda which continues to remind me of Gintama's current situation if I'm to be quite honest. Though yes, Yoshida Shoin has a bid for what he thinks Japan should be and will mow down anyone who opposes him. As I mentioned last week, Pops seems at least glancingly familiar with him, so I have to wonder what their relationship is. 


Although his actions are almost a declaration of war, Yoshida says that is not his intention. He's only got the prosperity of Japan in mind, which means going to Commodore Perry and "convincing" him of something himself. I guess in one way you could say that his and Pops' goals are the same but Yoshida is vague so it's hard to tell. Meanwhile Todou Heisuke is having a merry time killing sailors until Miranda (who apparently isn't American, but British?) and her gun, a Henry Bessemer creation that fires shots automatically. For more on Bessemer, head to wikipedia here. Miranda's still very drunk, but doesn't mind making an appearance if she gets to mow down some Japanese monkeys. 


Miranda and Todou's expressions show off Ohgaki's lighter side as one admires the giant gun, and the other uses it, heh. Though the lightheartedness doesn't end there, as Pops employs a secret shinobi technique for calming one's nerves....biting their thumbs in sheer frustration as their finely tuned plan falls apart at the seams. Pops is able to calm down long enough to reassess things and comes to an important conclusion...


That if things are going to hell anyway, might as well run wild. He encounters a group of Yoshida's men and comments on how the Shinobi's job is to protect Japan in the shadows, so he's not doing his job if he allows them to put the country in harm's way with their attack on Perry. This leads to another one of Pops' important conclusions...


Execution to all those who would dare endanger Japan. The text below indicates that Perry is goign to get involved with the plot next week, and I really can't wait to see how. Everyone's moving all at once, and it's really exciting stuff! 



Misunderstanding is part of  comedic identity and there's plenty of that and more in this week's chapter of Sleepy Princess in Demon King's castle. Wait, where did that title come from you might be asking? Well as of this writing, the series has been officially licensed by Viz Media in an announcement made here, and the title (while a little clunky, it is an almost exact translation but they could have jazzed it up a little...) will be what I just quoted. Now I'm no company shill or sellout since I do this blog for free every week --buying the issues of Sunday myself without asking for donations, but if you can support Viz and let them know we want more Sunday series, by all means do so. In any case, the chapter itself has the Demon King's adviser stepping into the Pajama party for his bashful lord. The misunderstandings run abound as the princess very heavily implies they might be a couple when she's able to remark on the smell of his pillow and gets completely swept up in her talk of first loves and such. In the end she lays down that monster comment about how good his pillow smells and then goes to sleep as if it's not her problem, haha. I guess the demon king was right to sit this one out! I'll still probably cover the series occasionally as the first volume of doesn't come out until next year and the US releases will be understandably behind, but I do still ask that my audience buy the series when it's out! 


Souboutei gets colorful all without actually using colors this week in it's 73rd installment. When we left Sakamaki and Takoha, the former was explaining his reasoning for being in the horror house to the latter. In the basement of the Souboutei is a mysterious black liquid, and while the page isn't linked, Takoha exclaims that while the liquid is black he can still see right through it! Sakamaki fades to black in a flashback where he samples the water himself and realizes that it changes into the colors he's thinking when he makes contact with it! It's an incredible tincture that's exactly what Sakamaki's art block needs for a boost! 


With his newfound color theory, Sakamaki sets out to paint something near and dear to his heart --his older sister, and with a smile like the one she has I can understand why he remembers her so fondly. She's a kind young lady who really cares for her brother as if he's her own child. 


Wait a second --the girl he ended up painting looks very familiar doesn't she? It's what his older sister looks like in his mind, represented by the colors of the liquid he found in the basement. However just using those without really knowing their nature might just be a bad move....


It wouldn't be Fujita without dual page spreads that inspire horror and intensity in equal amounts. Sakamaki finishes his painting and it reaches out to touch him. A monster in the form of his older sister reaches out to him from the painting and attacks! 


You know about my contractual commitment to bringing you all the finest in dual page spreads, and Fujita doesn't disappoint. I think what's most striking here aside from the amount of shading and the position of the panel here where the monster retreats into the painting is how unaffected by everything Sakamaki is. It's like he sees this sort of thing every day. Though I guess that's a little unfair as he does comment that he could only voicelessly regard what he just saw, and he looks a little disturbed on the left. 


But the biggest surprise of the chapter has to be the implication that Sakamaki is a victim of the house's wiles as well. Up until now Fujita has painted pun fully intended the guy as the final boss of sorts, but as we see here, it was his painting that dragged him into the terrible world of Souboutei. Could he too be just a victim of circumstance? Right now we only have his word to go by so I'm not sure yet if we should believe him, but Fujita is taking us for a wild ride as more and more is revealed in the series. 


Evans is next, and with it a bit of errata from last week's chapter. I read the preview text as Evans going to look for "sweets" when it is in fact that he's looking for "suits". They both look somewhat similar in Japanese at first glance or when someone like me is writing/reading too fast and I apologize for the mix up. In any case, Evans wants to look good so he decides to go shopping. 


Pheebs is nearby and Evans asks her to help Ted out with looking after the place in his absence. When she finds out that Evans is going s hopping for suits, she can't help be interested in how dapper he'd look done up and decides to tag along to provide her expert opinion --all without saying this outright. Evans is mostly dismissive, but hey he'll take anything that seems like a date, and offhandedly tells Pheebs to do what she wants. She does so and while Evans appreciates date-like mood, he's also very aware of the sense of style(?) she has after the whole birthday snafu. At the same time, he can't possibly afford some of the things he's seeing but what kind of man would purposely ask for cheap outfits?! One who doesn't want to be popular with the ladies obviously. 


I linked the second page because the comedic timing --something that would work better animated, but Kuriyama manages to actually pull off quite well in manga format. Evans is completely overwhelmed by his fashionable choices when Pheebs asks him to come over so she can see how he looks in certain outfit combinations. Evans decides to turn this moment into one where he can look cool by striding over as if he's completely uninterested and is only waiting for Pheebs to pick something out for him, but due to the size of the store it's more like an awkward slide as depicted on the right. Like I could imagine an anime version of this scene with a jazz number playing as Evan prepares to walk over, just for it to awkwardly fade as he turns around is already there. I appreciate Kuriyama for attempting this joke and mostly succeeding! 


Evans seems to dislike everything Pheebs picks out for him, and tries to incline himself closer to the bargain bin, but Pheebs argues back that he'd look nicer in better clothes with implies that she wants to see him in nicer clothes --but that whole exchange comes to a halt when bad guys appear in town and the gunman and bounty hunter have to go and take out the trash --though they both completely forget that they were here to buy a suit and...didn't. A great text gag by the editorial department on the side is the typical "this-series-was-cancelled" tagline which is in shounen magazines a variant of "The battle continues from here, or "We look to tomorrow!" (In this case it's "Turn to tomorrow and shoot!"). This text is usually accompanied by "Look forward to this artist's next work!" which is there as well, but written in parenthesis next to this is (No, actually the serialization is going to continue.) Little 4th wall gags like these are among my favorites and I'm glad the editorial department is having as much fun with Evans as I am. 


Batter's up on Ashibi Fukui's oneshot "Ace to 4th". Fukui has normally stayed in the sister magazine to Weekly Sunday --Gessan or Monthly Sunday, but they've seen fit to scoot over to the "main (of sorts) magazine for a baseball story! Apparently according to the page on the left, Fukui has been away from WSS for 11 years, so it's a homecoming slightly over a decade in the making. Admittedly I know next to nothing about baseball so I'll examine this from an art perspective while describing the plot, so let's take a swing. 


Overall in the oneshot, Fukui's expression game is one of the most marvelous I've ever seen. The main character --Ohba has many facets to his face and it's fun to see them. He's both the hot blooded sports enthusiast as well as the upperclassman type as he chides another teammate for making plays that stand out. (He claims to hate guys who go for the dive.) Hasegawa (the blond(?) kid) seems to be hurt from his dive bomb but wants to walk it off --though before this conversation can go further, it's time to shift spots, and it's the mound that Ohba wants a piece of. 


The panel work here sets up the important details of the current situation that would have been difficult for words to describe. Ohba is up on the mound and it's his chance to strike out the opposing batter. We get stationary set up, a pan over the field and action all over two pages, which is great space economy for a 40 page oneshot. 


Ohba takes his #1 number quite seriously. After all he's #1 because he's the best pitcher on the team. His fellow team mates aren't too thrilled with his arrogance, but hey when you get results like him, is there really a place to complain? Again, an effective use of a dual page spread which shows Fukui has some confidence in the deftness of their storyboarding. 


They've reached the 9th inning with two outs and the pressure is building. Ohba is looking for a win, and we flashback to his past where we see why. He got his number one jersey from his mother who is unfortunately too sickly to go to his games with him, but he points to the TV and tells her how in the Koushien the camera is always focused on the guy with the #1. As such he wants to be in that spot so that his mom can always have an eye on him even if she's only able to watch on television. 


Ohba's confidence is shaken after the ball --which he proclaimed no one could hit is knocked straight out of the park, reversing the standings and edging victory slightly out of their grasps. They're still in it but it's going to be that much harder to prevail. It's then that Hasegawa who we saw earlier strides over and asks from the ball from Ohba who sees this as a slight to his abilities --to him


I can't say if this is the "theme" of this work, but I do like the parallel Fukui is giving us here --by doing something you're passionate for --for any reason, you are bound to inspire others. While Ohba was practicing his hardest so his mother could see his number one on TV, Hasegawa was watching him and become inspired to play baseball --though now he admits this whole time he's been simply relying on him to get where he is --where they are now. Still, he thanks Ohba...


And proclaims he'll take down the next batter, as long as Ohba promises to take them through the 9th inning, as Ohba the man who wears the #1 on his back and has brought them to the koushien. 



Piggybacking to the "theme" I was talking about, when we do something that we're passionate about this inspires others to change and maybe become something more than what they are now. Of course this isn't limited to the inspired, but the one who is the inspiration. Knowing how that he is not alone on the field, Ohba who started off the oneshot declaring his hatred of those who dive for the ball shifts gears and dives himself, saving the match and clinching the game in their favor. Admittedly there wasn't much weight to this oneshot in the sense of leaving a real impression, but for what it was, it did a good job of bringing readers into it's world and for a brief time into the heads of it's characters, and for a mere 40 pages you really can't ask for more. If Fukui is winding up for a weekly serial, I hope it'll be this caliber or greater. 


Running not to bases loaded but away from menacing MG's is a crowd of people in this week's Meteor Girl. All hell is breaking loose in this seemingly fast paced development --I mean let's consider what we've got here. Chihiro is ostensibly the final boss, Tetto is here on the last level, and the events haven't quite yet passed a point of no return, but they certainly are getting there, and of course while i'm not fond of bringing up sales numbers in every post and yet I still do it.  MG is not doing so hot in any sense of the word. Still, I've stuck with this series so far, so I think I will a little longer in hopes I'm wrong. 


Tetto is your typical shounen hero --even when faced with one of the girls who tried to kill him, he can't leave a damsel in distress alone, even if she isn't actually in distress. That being said, she openly admits she's a meteor girl when Tetto dives in for the save, and doesn't seem too interested in learning much more than that in the situation they're in. 


She seemingly wants to keep him from meeting Chihiro but in the end points Tetto in the right direction, with the caveat (that she says to herself) that he must stop her. I'm interested at this point in knowing just what is Chihiro's master plan? I know that's part of the intrigue at this point, but it's clear that the biggest moving parts in this series is her actions and the reason behind them, as well as this interesting turn of events where it's one of her own partners in mayhem that wishes to see this come to an end. 


Tetto reaches Chihiro and it's now that the true horror of what she's involved in becomes clear to him. I really wonder just what kind of standards the Shougakukan Sunday editorial department has in regard to the depiction of violence? That not-meteor-girl person on the left is looking pretty grim, as well as the mountain of corpses that Chihiro sits upon. I'd assume there is a standard they go with, but it seems to vary by series? Getting back on topic, man Chihiro has a stone cold look in her eyes as she comments that the moon is coming out. 


The chapter also ends in an odd place --though we get more of those stone cold eyes from Chihiro as she prepares to "punish" a hapless person who got her dress dirty. Feels like this isn't quite the place to have a stinger like this? Though Tetto's increasing sense of horror as depicted on the left is well done. I don't think we've really seen the kid emote like this through the series' run, which makes the horror all that much more palatable. What really makes it terrifying is Chihiro's blase attitude toward what she's doing as if she doesn't get how horrible it is. Tetto's screaming his head off and she just looks back at him and asks "what's wrong" as if he stubbed his toe or something. For this week this is the end, but I'm sure the horror is only ramping up for Tetto.


Quadrable starts off with a little bit of humor --turns out Faust's club is a ladies night deal, and Miguel not able to fully trust Shun in being able to handle herself tries to get in with a very "Joseph Joestar"-esque disguise that clearly doesn't work. 


Miguel worries about Shun in his own rash way --as much as he seems to belittle her, she is the little sister of one of his friends. Meanwhile despite everything that has happened, Shun wants to prove herself useful to everyone and takes on the mission with gusto. It's in the carriage that she meets a girl named (and pardon me if I screw this up, romanization is an art, not a science). Gretohun. Shun starts to think about introducing herself as her brother, but remembering what Miguel said last week, she settles on her own name. 


Apparently Faust has been inviting pretty girls to his abode to save them from all their wordily troubles, which if fiction (and real life) has taught us anything is something that usually ends badly. When the girls arrive, they meet Faust who seems to be an elderly old man, and his assistant(?) Mephisto, who looks more not human than...yeah. He's also got quite a few tricks up his sleeve as he introduces himself as a bear, and then reveals himself to be elsewhere. Also worth commenting on is Arai's sense of quasi-European aesthetic as Mephisto takes Shun's carefully hidden weapon and uses it on himself to prove a point --that he is not to be trifled with, and she's got no way out. 


Mephisto seemingly can read into her thoughts as well --suggesting to Shun that she relax and forget things like her mission, or her brother's death. The mystery deepens as it seems Faust himself might be a captive in the crafty something-or-other's plan. Unfortunately other than Shun herself, none of the other girls seem to realize they're in great danger, and Mephisto has taken her one way to communicate with her allies. Shun is really alone in this one, and it'll be interesting to see how this shakes out. So far Arai is making all the right moves in his post timeskip content, and while this position in the magazine is a cause for concern, I'm hoping the quadrable can stay afloat. 



Like Meteor Girl, Daiku no Hatou is in a precarious situation. Neither of it's first two volumes made a splash, and now it's hanging out really close to the chopping block area of the magazine. At the very least we get to see the results of Nagiko and Ena's shopping trip, and Nagiko can be really pretty when she puts her mind to it! Though really she just wants to go home, heh. It's while the ladies are walking the streets of Tokyo that they run into....Minato's mom?! What is this, a crossover chapter? I was thinking the worlds wouldn't converge this early on, but it's happening and I've gotta wonder where Kusaba is taking us. 


...I wasn't expecting an answer to that inquiry so fast, but...Minato's mom takes a picture of Nagiko and Ena --she's a lady with an eye for fashion and lets be real, Nagiko is looking quite good in that dress --and sends it to her son who happens to get the text in the presence of Nagiko's brother. The two men immediately jump to the conclusion that she looks like someone who's either got a boyfriend already or is looking for one, and Minato immdaitely wants to head to Tokyo to find out. Nagiko's bro remains stoic but he immediately agrees to this change of itinerary and the gang is off to Tokyo to the surprise of everyone else on the ship. So we're headed to Tokyo where the two starcrossed almost lovers might meet again? Things are moving fast, but I won't count this squall out quite yet. 



Kuro is working hard too in this chapter where he brings the aforementioned schedule to his master who is oblivious to his efforts. This brings up the question of just how much others can see what Kuro's doing, but that's less relevant. As much as I'd love to provide an in-depth summary of this week's events, it really is what you see is what you get. Kuro tries it's best to give his master what Makoto's paperwork but is completely ignored until the end of the chapter where another co-worker sees it lying open and brings it to his attention. Now that he's noticed, will the stalled love story move again? 



Back once again is the laboratory for it's final chapter --is what I'd like to say but it's suggested there will be a sequel of sorts starting the first issue of 2018 (Which will probably be out in December rather than the suggested date of January.) The thing is, I'm not sure just how much of this is reall and isn't? Cause if it is real then it seems like Yokoyama might be going into a...uh, "Shounen Sunday gourmet manga"? Specifically Tokachi curry. Of course the Laboratory is a place full of...oddness, so this might be a real thing or something completely unrelated...heck it's not even really specified that Yokoyama will be doing the art? Though as you can see above he's just as confused with these developments as we are, heh. I guess for now we'll just have to wait to see what the editorial staff has up it's sleeve. This also has the effect of making Youkai Giga the final stop of the magazine, which is kind of fitting, I think. 


And that's it for Issue #45! I feel like I covered more than half of the magazine this week as ill advised as that was, and as much as I'd like to rest next week, issue 45 is seemingly going to be a bigger deal with Magi's final chapter! The series will grace the cover and get a lead color page, Tenshi and Akuto will get a color page, Shinobi no will have extra pages, and our time traveling hero in the making --Saike will return once again with a color page of his own. I hope you all will "once again" visit this little corner of the internet where Sunday happens twice when that issue hits! Until then, take care! 

Comments

  1. I think this is the first time I've Komi seen talk that much. I can probably count the times he has talked more than a few words on one hand. The experience she had during her class trip must have hurt and troubled her greatly.

    Kuro-chan, you tried your best and in the end your master found what you wanted to show him. That's what counts.

    More and more series are ending. If it continues like this Sunday will turn from phone book format into something that can be rolled up and put in one's pocket. Could it be the editor's secret evil plan to phase out WSS magazine and move everything online?

    I'm going to miss Magi. I didn't read it, but the art was good. I especially liked the mostly plain black and white style without screentones used during the final battle.

    Shinobi no volume 1 is almost out. Time really flies. I hope it get a color page for the manga release, and I hope said color page gets uploaded as a wallpaper.

    Quadrable: The girl's name is Gretchen. If you feel bored you can read Goethe's "Faust". I think it might be helpful for understanding this arc. Or just read a summary, that should do. I might re-read it as well (if I have absolutely nothing else to do). it's interesting that the author named his Faust after the historical Faust, but Mephisto and Gretchen appear to be based - very loosely of course, on Goethe's work.
    Shun looks so pretty now, maybe a tiny bit like Princess Sapphire from Ribbon no Kishi.
    Miguel forgot to stuff something down his shirt and he didn't bring any alcohol. If he had done that he would have been allowed to come along, I'm sure.
    And this is from last chapter, but I'd translate 黒死病 as "Black Death". I think it is based on the great plague pandemic in Europe which went by the same name, since some of the symptoms are very similar.

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    1. Man you know your stuff when it comes to Quadrable. I almost feel like I should just refer to you to talk about it as people would get more info out you than me, lol. As always, thank you so much!

      I really enjoyed this week's Komi --enough that although I was going to skip it I included it anyway which made this write up take so much longer....I don't think I'll do this much ever again is what I'd like to say, but I know it'll happen again. Probably even next issue with Saike coming back, orz.

      I'm concerned for Sunday but I hope there will be one more serialization round before the end of the year. I think it really needs it. Hopefully Shinobi no can pull them out of this rut a little bit.

      Miguel needs a makeup artist too. The alcohol can only work for so long, hahah.

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  2. oh geez it makes me so happy to hear you saying Arai-sensei is making all the right move, cause I'm not sure about Japanese fandom itself but it makes me feel a little more at ease

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    1. *I* think Arai is doing something interesting, but yeah with the series down in the dumps again I have to wonder how long it'll last. Maybe volume 2 will save it..

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  4. [EDIT] Please cover Amano megumi next issue too if possibe, Finally it looks like things are not moving in usual patterns and its getting quite interesting lately!!

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    1. Ah! I'm sorry! I didn't see your request until I had already typed up issue #46's entry! Orz, I'm glad you commented though, but I really need to find a notification system that *actually* does it's job. If you want I can go back through and give you a summary? Though the series has caught up scanslation wise, hasn't it?

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    2. Thankyou, Yeah new chapters of issue 45 and 46 was actually translated over at 4chan amano megumi thread by some guys few days back, there is still 2 chapters left out to scanlate until they are fully caught up I think.

      Thanks again

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