Ya'll are living in 2018 while Sunday is in 2019. This isn't just a meme, it's the truth! Welcome to the very first issue of Weekly Shounen Sunday 2019! I could meme some more, but there's a whooole lot that this issue has in store that's far more interesting.
On the cover is the second half of what started last year! No lie I phrased it that way specifically because it's funnier. We've got a lot of Conan news among other things (if the unfamiliar series at the bottom didn't make that clear). It's always nice to see Aoyama's charming artwork in color too. Shame we don't get too much of that in the series nowadays but I'll take what I can get.
And for the curious --here are both covers combined in their full glory! Thanks to ShroomMeister on twitter for combining these. Give him a follow on twitter here for other Conan related tweets (he does some awesome edits.)
As you can see the TOC has gone through a bit of an update, and I kind of like how sleek it looks now. I've already mostly forgotten what the old one looked like, but honestly that's not saying much as I have an awful memory. Anyway, what's the first question that our favorite artists will have to field of the 2019 Shounen Sunday year? It's actually kind of appropriate. From Tokyo we get the question "What kinds of things were written in the first fan letter you received"?
Detective Conan (Gosho Aoyama): Girls hold pens the opposite way (lol).
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norihiro Yagi): I don't really remember. I feel like I've always been getting fan letters.
Marry Grave (Hidenori Yamaji): They were words to provide strength. Thanks so much!!
Komi-san ha Komyusho Desu (Tomohito Oda): It was from someone overseas but they wrote in Japanese. I still remember how happy I was.
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): I feel like they were words that were a waste on me.
Tonikaku Cawaii (Kenjiro Hata): Stuff like "Congrats" and "Good luck." Which by the way I thought this would be a tiring job but these are good supplements....
Aozakura Bouei daigakkou monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): It was a drawing of the heroine.
Maoujo de Oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata):It was a dubious set of documents that detailed a little brother (in his twenties) as a young child.
Amano Megumi wa Suki darake! (Nekoguchi): The fan talked about their expectations and favorite scenes and so on. I was so happy that I replied back.
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): Rather than the subject of the letter it was more the back and forth between us that went on a bit long...
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san (Aiko Koyama): "I read it every morning before going to work".
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu (Teppei Sugiyama):A mysterious New Years greeting saying "Thanks for taking care of me last year".
Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita): Renrakusen Kidan was really cool! Super interesting! I was so happy. (TN- This is one of Fujita's earliest oneshots.)
Hatsukoi Zombie (Ryou Minenami): Umm...well I don't think it was "Good luck" (sweats) They probably professed their love!
Be Blues (Motoyuki Tanaka): Please keep on drawing.
Daiku No Hatou (Michiteru Kusaba): "I've got big expectations for you." That was 20 years ago...I wonder if if I've met those expectations?
Gopun go no Sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): That's for me to know and you not to. (Blush).
switch (Atsushi Namikiri): That Badminton is popular in the local area.
Chrono Magia: Infinity Gear (Takeshi Azuma): Something like "Thank you for drawing the manga I enjoy reading."
Memesis (Takuya Yagyuu): It just was a straight "This was cool" letter. I was so happy!
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina) "Sensei's "Ushio and Tora" Is the coolest.
Saike Matashitemo (Tsubasa Fukuchi): Someone wrote to me that they wanted to become someone like Ueki and I started crying.
Youkai Giga (Satsuki Satou): I think I'll be able to tell when someone writes a fan letter.
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): Enclosed was a picture of the writer eating with a gathering.
Sunday authors are a pretty humble bunch which is cool. I wish I could send Satou something...I feel like this is tongue in cheek of course, but even if it is that's kind of sad to read. Fukuchi's had to be my favorite of the week though simply because I can imagine how he must have felt reading that letter. I have to wonder if Oda (not that one)'s first letter was for Komi since that series was far more popular than his first --Dezicon. I figure that rather than being his first fan letter it was the one that left the biggest impression on him, but who knows really....Kusaba's also has a wistfulness that I enjoy. I'm sure whomever wrote that letter 20 years ago is still with you now Kusaba-sensei!
What we have here is a list of the currently running Shounen Sunday series, including the ones currently on hiatus like RYOKO, Major 2nd and Silver Spoon (among others). Not much to say here really if you've been reading the blog (even if it's only for the TOC.) since most of the series are listed there and you'd be able to recognize these series by sight alone. It's good for those who might be wondering what's in and out of Sunday nowadays.
Continuing on with that concept, we've got this next page with all of the new faces we can expect to see in WSS over the next year! Considering Sunday now has a new "program" of sorts where they run short serials along with oneshots, it's no wonder they've got enough room for such a huge breadth of series! I feel like I've seen a few of these names in Gessan before, but many more have drawn oneshots in Weekly Shounen Sunday like Chihiro Kurachi, Wakabi Asayama, and of course Masaya Jiki who just finished "Edelweiss and Dialog." There are also a few artists from Sunday Webry too! Shougakukan is pulling out all of the stops to bring new blood into the weekly mag and if these varied character designs are any indication we've got a heck of a year ahead of us!
Next we have Aoyama's hand(?) drawn poster for the newest Conan movie set to hit theaters next April! We've got Sonoko, Makoto, and the return of Kaito Kid to the silver screen, as well as a new locale for Conan and friends in Singapore. It's got all the hallmarks of being a great film, but what is it about exactly?
Well if you thought I had the answer to that then you've definitely overestimated me. The poster above basically goes over the points you'd need to know to enjoy this movie --Makoto is a young martial arts prodigy, his girlfriend is one Sonoko Suzuki, and he's having a rematch against Kaito Kid --something that did happen in the series proper at one point. It feels like this is a movie about Kid and Makoto that happens to have Conan in it, though the catch phrase of the movie --"Never let you go" seems to imply Kid's really going to go after Ran this time --but we know Conan can't have that. I'm sure more details will trickle down as the movie's open date creeps closer --it's actually not that far away when you think about it....but yeah you can be sure any details Sunday shares I will report here!
And now since we've discussed newbies and oldies, let's discuss more...uh, newbies. Except this time the newbies have definite start dates in the magazines and are more traditional serializations/one shots! Starting with issue 2/3 (so the very next one!) we'll have a whole crop of new series in the magazine! In issue 2/3 the first series we'll have is Imouto Rireki by Kei Nishimura about a boy who's little sister suddenly stops talking and the discovery he makes on his home PC in regard to her sudden turn for the taciturn. It's advertised as a short comedy series, so I assume it's in the vein of Maoujo or Komi. The next series sees the return of Aya (Tenshi and Akuto) Hirakawa with "Fire Rabbit" which follows the story of a boy who's a programmer but has dreams of being a fire fighter! The series is advertised as a "Burning hot" comedy. This one will start in issues 4/5. The next one is Ano Natsu 1959 which is about a boy and the promise he made to his grandfather to go to the Koshen, and how this promise connects he and his grandfather through the annals of time. This one is by Ashibi Fukui (who has had series run in Gessan) and is obviously going to be a baseball series. In issue 7 Shinya Misu's series "Undine wa Kyou mo Koi wo suru ka" follows a girl who sets out to save a dried up world that has long since lost rain, but an odd accident changes everything...!? This one is described as a pure love story.
Aside from this we have an update on Takahashi's new series --this is due out in Spring of 2019. There's no date or title, but we're assured she's hard at work on it. Meanwhile we have the return of KOTOYAMA with Itookashi, which takes place 8 months after Dagashikashi and features "that girl" as the protagonist, Rokurou Ogaki returning with a manga adaption of the popular Touken Ranbu franchise (specifically the movie) which will run for three issues (6-7-8), and the one that excites me the most --the return of RYOKO!! That's right, Kaito Mitsuhashi is ready to return with one of the wildest series I've seen in Sunday for a while in issue 8! There's a whole lot to look forward to in the upcoming issues and it's pretty obvious as to what I wanna see, but no, in all seriousness aside from RYOKO's glorious return, I admit Undine and Fire Rabbit have caught my interest. What about you? Feel free to let me know in the comments~
I felt like this report deserved a mention since it's not often Sunday talks about eSports, and this is even more significant as it's a lady who participated in evo. Meet Yuuko Momochi who goes by Choco Blanka. She is currently with the pro gaming group "Shinobism"Though she started playing Street Fighter IV in 2008, but moved from there in 2011 to become a pro in the games she loves. This is an interview about the behind the scenes of being a pro gamer as well as what it takes to last --I'd really like to translate all of this but you know how it goes with time....there's never enough. I just felt like at the very least I should mention this for the interested!
I know a lot of people are hungry for Lum in that way, but if you're just regular hungry and like Lum, this Urusei Yatsura Cafe might be right up your alley! This is also my chance to show off the new Sunday news section which has a great new modern look. The cafe will run all around Japan from December to March and features all kinds of different foods inspired by the manga itself! I...really need to watch or read this soon, in all honesty. Maybe I'll have a chance before Takahashi's new work hits the magazine...
After all that typing I'm only now getting to the manga part of this entry. Needless to say that manga pickings are going to be a bit slim this week, but I couldn't and wouldn't dare skip over Mr. Shounen Sunday himself. This week's chapter is pretty much per the course as far as Conan investigation chapters go, though it'd be disingenuous to say nothing happened as there's a heavy implication there's going to be another death pretty soon --one of the suspects is texting the culprit that he knows their identity. Though the real topic of interest is Sera goading Ran along at the end of the chapter --reminding her that it's whenever Conan's not around that Shinichi is. What could her aim possibly be? Of course I'm sure we probably won't know until the end of the case itself, but Aoyama's got me interested at least.
It's hard to believe that Ariadne has been with us for almost an entire year, but here we are. I wish I could say the series is the runaway hit I was hoping it would be when it first started serialization, but I am certainly glad that even without stellar sales that Yagi is still giving the artwork his everything. I mean look at the pages I've pulled out here. Just whoa. The dragon clan arc has been going for a bit of time now, and this week's chapter gives us enemies in the form of the "Dragon Knights". Which in this case really suggests they are dragons who are knights rather than knights who slay dragons. Each one of the knights chooses one of our heroes to fight against, and the chief is up against Rulu who proudly proclaims herself as the great queen of the forests. Splitting the fights up like this implies that we're in for the long haul, however. This leaves me a smidgen concerned as that's typically not Yagi's strong suit, but maybe he's learned a bit in the almost year Ariadne has been serialized so I'm willing to wait and see what he has in store for us.
It's saddening a bit that Marry Grave gets a color page --only to basically reveal that it's concluding. Although the preview image for the last issue mentioned a climax, seeing it boldly featured here really drives the point home that this may really be it for Sawyer and Jean. That being said, it is rather strange that a series like this which doesn't seem to be all that popular and more importantly hasn't run that long to warrant getting fanfare for it's ending gets a color spread commemorating this, but I won't get my hopes up since the word "climax" while not meaning "The End" usually signifies that the end is coming. For more about this week's events, check out the editorial section coming soon.
So a new project begins with this first issue of 2019 called the "Suiyoubi Diary" (Or Wednesday Diary --keep in mind Sunday comes out every Wednesday despite it's name.) Esseintially it's checking in with the artists of the magazine for their opinions of the "current state" of things, along with the editors. This week is Fujita who basically has a comment about everything in the magazine. It's not much but he's impressed with the fanatsy writers in the magazine --Yagyuu (Memesis) Kumanomata (Maoujo) Satou (Giga) Yamaji (Marry Grave) and Yagi (Aridane), and mentions how he always looks forward to whatever Aoyama's cooking up next in Conan, while saying it must be tough for some authors to come up with new material (Specifically switch, Maiko and Aozakura) but lauds the authors of these series for being able to nail it weekly. He also talks about the vets of the magazine and commends them for being able to last so long --a sort of "We've been through a lot together, huh". Like comment. He even throws in a "When are you gonna come back over and hang out again, Fukuda?" (If you didn't know, Fukuda (5 minutes) was once his assistant.) All in all it's a fun little thing, but I dunno if I'd be able to translate it in it's entirety. I will be featuring it here whenever possible though!
Like I promised, this week's manga section was short, but there was more than enough news to make up for it I hope. Next issue brings us the first of the new serials --Imoto Rireki by Kei Nishimura, a color page for everyone's favorite Sheriff Evans, a color page for Komi, and a preview for a battle manga from Webry called Korshiya S no Yuragi. Saike will also have 34 pages as it slides into it's final two chapters, but more about that in the editorial page. I apologize for the lack of manga this time, but the editorial will just have to do the heavy lifting. Until then, thanks for stopping in!
I absolutely love this newbies campaign. There will be a lot to check! There's a lot of talented folks, it's hard for me to pick who's my favorite. I would say that I need to expect more from the guys that started their series in Webry before, especially from Makoto, plus I would add Wakabi and Kurachi to 'high expectation' list.
ReplyDeleteI waited really long for Misu serialization! He's ultra talented but he switched from drama/horror type of style which isn't bad buuut I actually kinda hoped for something like that. Nonetheless I believe it still suits him and could give us meaningful and enjoyable ride.
Aya new series sounds cool and in her style too. Series that kind of explores a 'job' theme from talented newbie side vs experienced one. Hope she hits it now, Izumo was close to be bigger but without any sort of adaptation it didn't fly but I honestly loved it, it was really funny. Akuto was also great, the change in him from the start to the end was great and the actual 'action' was surprisingly good.
I don't know what to expect of Ashibi but this at least sounds original. Sport-time travelling series sounds kinda neat.
Imouto Reiriki sounds kind of bland but I hope it surprises me.
I'm not a fan of the franchise things published in the main mag but if they're short series then that's ok. Magia still kind of irritates me by being here (even though it's not that bad) but I know that they're just doing it for the sake of the whole mag. Moneyyyyy.
Hoping for Kotoyama to announce something after the oneshot! Important part of mag growing is to have this faces that 'grew' here to stay.
Marry Grave color is wo----w. Shame it didn't hit off but as always I'm positive. Cancellation isn't the end of the world, at least for mangaka. Yamaji is too talented to take long break. He will grow with this and I FFF HOPE THEY WILL GIVE HIM 2ND PUSH SOON.
Ryoko come back is also great news. It's kinda hard to believe in some miraculous grow in sales but... geez, let it happen.
Long comment, sorry for that. I love your blog and lurk regularly but new stuff kinda activates me the most lul. We're still waiting really long for anime which is bad. I said it many times but the faster anime comes the better for the manga in question. Komi-san is a matter of time but I hope something unexpected gets it too!
Also on a smaller note what are your bets for axe except for Saike and MG?
Meanwhile Senryuu Shoujo gets an anime. I'm happy but it makes me so mad We're not getting anything.
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