It's been a long time coming, but we're at last at the final entry for the Weekly Shonen Sunday January serializations. This round saw the return of celebrities, with Tsubasa Fukuchi and Syun Matsuena. So lucky number three is....a newbie? And they're only 20?? (Feel old yet?) Mitsutani is an author to keep an eye on (as several other Shonen Sunday veterans have said.), and it gives me great pleasure to trace their path from one shot to serial.
The Author
Mitsutani
One element that the editors at Shonen Sunday emphasized with this new serial is the age of it's author. Almost every advert for the series proudly proclaimed that Mitsutani is the future of manga, making their first serialization effort at the tender age of 20. Fukuchi and Matsuena both made their professional debuts via oneshots at around the same age, but they didn't make the leap into proper serializations until they were somewhat older than Mitsutani. So I get it, I really do (even if I am a little jealous.) but Mitsutani's path to Sunday started when they were even younger.
Top: Page from Chapter one of Land of Monsters with Mitsutani's age written on the left. Bottom: Preview from issue #10 of Weekly Shonen Sunday advertising Land of Monsters, with Mitsutani's age displayed on the right.
The first oneshot I was able to find from Mitsutani was an entry in the 88th annual Sunday Rookie competition that took place in June 2021. If my math holds up, that would have made the aspiring mangaka 16 years old. (It helps that their age is listed on the page, too.) 16 is just an insane number to conceptualize, despite it not even being the youngest to grace the pages of Sunday. (I've mentioned Saba no Neko before who was 13 years old when their first oneshot ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday) That being said, I couldn't find the oneshot itself, but I did manage to dig up an entry they drew when they were 14. While they didn't win the prize either time, they managed to get a honorable mention, as well as superstars Mitsuru Adachi, Rumiko Takahashi, Gosho Aoyama and Kenjiro Hata read their work and gave feedback.
Weekly Shonen Sunday advertising the 14-year-old Mitsutani's oneshot Ayashii no Tenshu or “The Mysterious Shop keep.”
As a side note, I tweeted about a 14-year-old artist who inquired the Shogakukan editorial about using a cooking sheet to draw their manga on since they lacked pro tools, and their answer “whatever you can get your hands on to use to illustrate works for us.” I don't know for sure if this was Mitsutani, but wouldn't it be wild if it were….?
The oneshot itself entitled Shojo Jihen or “Girl's Incident” is about monsters who have reduced mankind to living in a post apocalyptic wasteland. A boy survives an attack and tries to make the best of his life. But an encounter with a monster who has taken the shape of a young human girl has him confront the true nature of the world he lives in.
From Shojo Jihen.
You're thinking it just as much as I am...this art is remarkably similar to Tatsuki Look Back Fujimoto. I've seen more than a few mangaka even in Sunday mention him as an influence, and while Mitsutani hasn't said as much, I'd wager it's more likely than not that Mitsutani has taken some cues from Fujimoto-sensei. That aside, the artwork is remarkably similar to what we see in Land of Monsters. Wide eyes, rough textures, and a sense of scale --each panel looks like a microcosmos. It feels like a scale too grand for the pages of a weekly periodical, so I can't help but worry about their long term prospects, but I'd be lying if it wasn't grand to behold. The oneshot ends with a cliffhanger, which is…a choice, but I admire Mitsutani for merely implying that they have a grander tale to tell this early on.
Now for the feedback this received. The common consensus was at the time that Mitsutani is a diamond in the rough. Emphasis on the rough. Adachi mentions specifically that Mitsutani is still rough around the edges, but considering their age at the time, he can't wait to see what they'll do in the future. Takahashi, Aoyama and Hata were more critical with the first complimenting their impactful artwork, but the need to study drawing from different angles and making it clear what they want the audience to see. Aoyama on the other hand says the story and setting are unique, but following events was difficult for him. He goes further to say that no matter how great the artwork is, if there isn't time taken to describe the where as much as the how and who. Then the story won't be as easy to remember for readers. Hata being the manga frea--scholar that he is has the most criticism and flat out states that the story, illustrations, and characters are hard to follow. However, the amount of youthful energy exuding from the page drew him in. I think for the most part I agree with this feedback, especially when weighed against the age of the artist.
Mitsutani would then go to illustrate seven one-shots after this --and while I'd love to pick each one of them apart, I'll instead focus on one of them, the one which lead to Land of Monsters. I'll leave a link to the others here for those who want to see Mitsutani's growth, which is more than worth it even with the language barrier.
From Saika and Majo wa Ima both created when Mitsutani was 17 years old. We discussed the latter on X (formerly known as Twitter) here.
The oneshot Mamono no Shiro or Castle of Monsters has a similar name to Misutani's current Shonen Sunday series, but is much closer to Cinderella in execution than the grand tale of monsters and humans that Land of Monsters is. Though I can see where this idea may have been the impetus to go with the narrative they did for serialization.
In the work, a girl: Chloe lives in a luxurious castle and could have everything a person could want...except freedom. She has one bad leg that keeps her from going outside, and while she's taken care of, she has no friends except for one mouse, Rikke. Rikke can see she's a soul suffering in isolation, and makes a deal with a devil and sacrifices himself so Chloe may be free.
The dreamlike fairy tale artwork, the narrative revolving around sacrifice, and the purity of the soul...and of course Mitsutani's rough but evocative artwork. This oneshot was firing on all thrusters to deliver a bittersweet story about how one act of kindness leads into both tragedy and ultimately more kindness. I wish this oneshot were available in English (Viz, pssst) as I think it offers the best insight into Mitsutani as a writer, and why Shogakukan has been their home for so long. But we've got more monsters to unleash, so let's hop right into...
The Serial
Land of Monsters
Starting in issue #10 (2025) of Weekly Shonen Sunday is Mitsutani's first serial Land of Monsters. The series is described as a story of a mother and child.
The Premise:
First the customary shout out to VizMedia, who picked up this series even before Parashoppers despite the latter being serialized first in Japan. Due to this I thought the latter was going to be skipped over, but they fixed that in post, so to speak. But yes, readers can enjoy Land of Monsters weekly in English.
In the series, monsters live alongside humans. Rabi is a boy who is born to a mother who loves them and a father who hates them to the point that he applauds his son for choosing to hunt beasts over his studies. However, unbeknownst to his father, he's nurturing a small beast that he found injured with plans of letting it free once it's recovered. Rabi's caught between these two ideologies --but leaning toward the latter due to his mother disappearing one day leaving him in his father's care. Strikingly, she left because his father built a country (or land) without monsters. Rabi's memories of his mother are punctuated by tales of 8 great beasts that she views as friends. Rabi's schism seems as if it'll continue unending until the appearance of a young girl changes his life. (Sound familiar?)
The girl looks human, but looks are deceiving --she's a beast who was mentioned in the legend of the 8, and Rabi's mom's stories are true --she was friends with them. Alfur --the girl has come to take her friend Oki's--His mom's body, and there's not a thing Rabi can do about it.
This transformation and the realization that he actually doesn't know anything about his mother or the stories she told him as a child inspire Rabi to go out into the world. He wants to discover what exactly his mother was to the beasts, and himself.
Shogakukan's editorial was tight-lipped on what the series would be about right up until it began in the magazine, and while they weren't lying, their description undersells what the series is about. What occurs from here is a grand journey to find the 8 and eventually Alfur who has his mother's body. I personally like stories where we find out more about a character and their meaning to the internal working of the story's structure posthumously, and that's in play here. Oki has such a deep bond with the monsters, and even taught some of them to talk. Being able to communicate in turn taught them feelings, and they're having a tough time dealing with a very specific emotion: grief.
Oki's existence as a bridge between beings, between worlds is thrust upon Rabi without him knowing anything, and the people, monsters, and feelings he encounters as he travels in the opening chapters are forcing him to make a choice. If he's a monster he must run from humans, and if he's a human he cannot associate with them. More than that, he's expected to kill them on sight. It's early on in the story, so I can't comment on it too much but Rabi's indecisiveness is both his strongest asset and the litmus test of Land of Monsters as a series. So far he feels a little too passive, and while I get that on a storytelling level, if he leans too much into allowing others to dictate what he should be and should do, then he loses his agency as a main character. Yet, the pacing of the series so far doesn't allow for too much time for him to decide. It's a difficult tightrope that Mitsutani has chosen to navigate for their very first serial.
It does get me wondering what kind of protagonist Oki would have been over her son through the different flashbacks we get from other monsters and characters. That being said, I like the idea of Rabi learning who his mother is throughout his travels and then making the decision to be someone completely different. What that ends up meaning in the long run is still up in the air, but there's a lot of food for thought here. Oh as for the lore? Even barely out of it's first volume there's a lot to chew on, with animal hybrids and beasts that are all just one species being very different in shape and danger level, as well as the mystery of the big 8 that Rabi is pursuing --or to put it another way, are coming for him. In a way the conceit of this series is very similar to the shojo manga powerhouse Natsume's Book of Friends (also availble from Viz from Shojo Beat!) in which the male lead is led along by the actions of a female family member. Except in this case, rather than returning names, Rabi is left with the confusing, often messy feelings his mom left these beasts with. By the end of the most recent arc of the series where Rabi goes to hell (I'm not joking), where the implication that his mom never really died comes into play. It's a series rich with all the things to become a classic, but Mitsutani's got to be careful not to lose themselves in the details.
Before I conclude this section, my appreciation for Viz's work on this series is monstrously deep. (Okay that was a stretch.) The lettering and translation accompany Mitsutani's artwork naturally. In no way an easy task due to how unique the artwork and composition is. Special thanks to Andria McKnight's translation and Annaliese "Ace" Christman's lettering for making Mitsutani's first outing accessible for English readers.
The Japanese Connection
More than one reader has commented that the series has a very Studio Ghibli-esque narrative. I hadn't thought about that, but I think I can see it. Though many more readers have said the artwork is hard to follow and, the dialog comes off as hackneyed on many occasions. (One reader in particular mentions overseas fans might find it problematic for some reason....though I think that may be a joke.) The overall sentiment is very similar to the veterans judgements earlier --the series dialog and artwork is sometimes hard to follow, and there's a sentiment that the series is moving too fast for its own good, and a sense of breathing room would do it good since the narrative has potential. There are also a bunch of uncharitable comparisons to Hajime Saeki's Sternbild's Road. I don't agree with all of these points --I think the series is simple enough to follow. However, I do think that Mitsutani's artwork is an accquired taste and some panels while brilliant do leave a little too much to interpretation. Trace this back to what I said about balance --you want to leave an impression on the readers. That's difficult to do if the author holds their hands too much, but being too obtuse leads into reactions like these. Land of Monsters has an uphill battle for its first volume, and I wish it luck. Interestingly enough, the oneshots have a much better like to dislike ratio.
The Verdict:
The Japanese connection section for the other two series didn't have nearly the spice of this one. Granted, that's because the other two are authors with history behind them so people know what to expect, but it's both an intriguing and worrying sign for the series future. That being said, there's no denying that Mitsutani is a rare talent --who might have needed a little more time to cook. Being in the pages of Sunday means they may be able to get that time and correct course and I hope for Land of Monsters' sake it can. What we can take away from the work right now is that Mitsutani-sensei is like a cannon --when it hits, the results are exciting, direct and most of all explosive. This series has the gunpowder, but what it requires now is a sharpshooter to aim it in just the right direction for it to nail its target head on, and I believe that Shonen Sunday is just the right place to find that essential element. The Weekly Shonen Sunday editorial has boasted that they take good care of their newbies, and Land of Monsters may be the series that puts that statement to the test. No matter how it goes, if Mitsutani-sensei is the one hosting the opening volley of this new age of mangaka artists, the future is bright.
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