Following the success of last week's preview entry, I've got a lot of stuff for Sunday (despite not having the entire issue yet!) So let's just jump right in!
First up is the cover of the magazine which celebrates Rumiko Takahashi's series reaching the 200 million seller milestone. It looks like every single one of her series is represented on this cover too! I kind of want a physical one collection purposes.
Since this is the preview I can spend time on things I wouldn't in the normal articles, so for the first time ever, I will translate/post the entire TOC!
Sennen no Mushin (Thousand years of innocence?) By Rumiko Takahashi One shot pt1 34 pages.
Detective Conan by Gosho Aoyama
Souboutei Kowasubeshi by Kazuhiro Fujita
Major 2nd by Takuya Mitsuda
Maou-jou de Oyasumi by Kagiji Kumanomata
Hatsukoi Zombie by Ryou Minenami (Color pages)
Magi by Shinobu Ohtaka
Amano Megumi ha Suki darake! by Nekoguchi
Dagashikashi by KOTOYAMA
Komi-san wa Komiyushou desu by Tomohito Oda
Be Blues! Ao ni nare by Motoyuki Tanaka
Tokiwa Kitari!! by Shun Matsuena
RYOKO by Kaitou Mitsuhashi
Tenshi to Akuto by Aya Hirakawa
Hayate no Gotoku! by Kenjirou Hata
Aozakura bouedai gakkou mongatari by Hikaru Nikadou
Zettai Karen Children by Takashi Shiina
Maiko-sanchi no Maknai san by Aiko Koyama
Jojuu senin!! Mushibugyo by Hiroshi Fukuda
Saike matashitemo by Tsubasa Fukuchi
DameTerasu-sama by Shun Fujiki
Denpa Kyoushi by Takeshi Azuma
Keijo!!!!! by Daichi Sorayomi
Sunday Higaku kenkujyou by Yuuji Yokoyama
Whew, that was a lot of hard work. In any case as one can see, Takahashi's oneshot is two parts and leads the issue with color pages (I assume.) As such, it's not surprising that Rinne is off for two weeks. Conan's back and riding high, but Hiiragi is off. Saike is..low, but I'm beginning to think that this is more due to it's weird status in the magazine of running once in a while and then going on hiatus than any actual popularity. I mean Sunday is even doing a thing for it! (More on that later.) The reason why I mentioned a color page for Hatsukoi is because this means it's "unranked". Brief detour time --the TOC generally determines how successful a series is in the magazine --the higher up one is the better they're doing overall. Color pages are sort of seen as "rewards" for success or releases of new volumes. As such they're exempt from being counted in the TOC ranking. It's why Hatsukoi which is normally lower is really high up this week, and not necessarily because it suddenly had a popularity spike. Consider this your shounen magazine education crash course!
Next up is the celebratory art from other authors of Takahashi's characters. Sadly this is the best quality I have for the time being, but it looks like we have (in order) Sakurai (Yuugami) Kotoyama (Dagashi) Oda (Not that one, the Komi-san one) Arakawa (FMA/Silver Spoon) Azuma (Denpa) Shiina (Zettai) Koyama (Maiko-san) Kumanomata (Maojo) Ohtaka (Magi) Adachi (Touch/Cross game) And Aoyama (Conan)
Next is Fujiki (DameTerasu) Fukuda (Mushibugyo) Hata (Hayate) Nishimori (Hiiragi) Tanabe (Birdmen/Kekkaishi) Sorayomi (Keijo!!!) Fujita (Ushio to Tora/Souboutei) Fukuchi (Ueki/Saike) Hirakawa (Tenshi to Akuto) Nekoguchi (Amano Megumi) Nikado (Aozakura) Tanaka (Be Blues).
Last is Yokoyama (Sunday Higaku) Mitsuhashi (RYOKO) Matsuena (Kenichi/Tokiwa) Watase (Fushigi Yugi/ Arata) Minenami (Hatsukoi) and Mitsuda (Major/Major 2nd).
Next is Fujiki (DameTerasu) Fukuda (Mushibugyo) Hata (Hayate) Nishimori (Hiiragi) Tanabe (Birdmen/Kekkaishi) Sorayomi (Keijo!!!) Fujita (Ushio to Tora/Souboutei) Fukuchi (Ueki/Saike) Hirakawa (Tenshi to Akuto) Nekoguchi (Amano Megumi) Nikado (Aozakura) Tanaka (Be Blues).
Last is Yokoyama (Sunday Higaku) Mitsuhashi (RYOKO) Matsuena (Kenichi/Tokiwa) Watase (Fushigi Yugi/ Arata) Minenami (Hatsukoi) and Mitsuda (Major/Major 2nd).
And now the next set of new series! Starting with issue 19 we'll have six new series running in Shounen Sunday!
19 (Out April 5th) Tenshou no Quadruple by Takahiro Arai (Arago/Darren Shan both in WSS)
20 (Out April 12th) Hoankan Evans no uso ~Dead or Love~ by Mizuki Kuriyama (Newbie)
21 (Out April 19th) Daiku no Hatou by Michiteru Kusaba (Fantasista/Fantasista Stella both in WSS).
Combined issues 22/23 (Out April 26th) Youkai Giga (Temp title) By Satsuki Satou (Newbie)
24 (Out May 10th) K.O.I. by Tamiki Wakaki (Albatross/TWOK both in WSS)
25 (Out May 17th) Inseki Shoujo ~Meteor Girl~ by Riichi Ishiyama (Newbie)
A few of these people (Ishiyama, Satou, and Kuriyama) have done various oneshots, but this will be their first serializations. As I've noted in the writeup above, a few authors have already had series in WSS, the most popular of which is probably Wakaki who's series --The world only God knows even got a few anime. With six new series on the way and only three ending soon, it means something will have to give way. From this illustration, what excites you all? Youkai Giga has my interest for sure!
Meanwhile, WSS is doing a thing for Saike's 8th volume which is...a collaboration/crossover with Fukuchi's first series --The law of Ueki! among other things! I'm not sure why Shogakukan suddenly wants to give it this kind of attention eight volumes in, but I'm not complaining. The Saike/Ueki crossover is a seven page oneshot where characters from both series do battle in a thoroughly hilarious way. Shogakukan is also offering crossover art of the characters hanging out, as well as the entirety of Saike volume one online for free, and last but not least the combination art for volume seven and eight as a wallpaper for computers. I intend to translate the seven page crossover soon, but if you can't wait check it out here. To see the details of the celebration, go here.
Wow, with all of this writing, I kind of wonder if there's anything to talk about come Tuesday. Eh, I'm sure I'll find a thing or three. Till then!
Interesting that Takahashi's one-shot will be in two-parts. I don't remember if she's done a two-part one-shot before, but that's pretty cool.
ReplyDeleteLove all the Takahashi tribute art!! As expected, Lum, InuYasha, Ranma, and Kyoko were popular choices, but there was even some love thrown in for Mermaid Saga and one-shots too!
I really like Kotoyama's image of the two Ranma's dueling, and Oda's art of Kyoko is super adorable. Arakawa drawing Mr. Fujinami is possibly the most odd-ball choice of the bunch, because I'd never expect that character to get fanart (certainly not over his daughter), but it's a really fun image. Shiina's drawing of the MC of Takahashi's major series is a really cool composition, and both Azuma and Ohtaka's Ranmas have lots of personality. I believe Adachi drew the female lead of Touch alongside Lum, which is a neat tribute to Takahashi and Adachi's friendship over the past 30 years. Aoyama's drawing of Kyoko hugging Soichiro while remembering Godai's confession is super sweet and sentimental. Tanabe's Mermaid Saga tribute is really cool and Sorayomi's InuYasha drawing is pretty awesome. Love Fujita's tribute to Takahashi's horror work, and Fukuchi's Shampoo is insanely adorable. Really love Hirakawa's group shot of the InuYasha gang and Nikado's drawing of the Ranmas as well. Yokoyama's drawing of Rinne trapped with the most obnoxious Takahashi characters is hillarious, Mitsuhashi's drawing of InuYasha is an awesome composition, and Watase's tribute to Mermaid Saga is really lovely. Everyone else I haven't mentioned specifically that drew Lum, Ranma, and Kyoko were of course awesome, but I wanted to really highlight the ones that stood out to me. I love all of these tribute pieces and hope to see bigger images of them start circulating the internet sometime.
And wow! Looks like Sunday's going to Jump route and debuting six series in a row! Awesome! Don't know what to expect but from first impressions I really like the character designs for Tenshou no Quadruple and K.O.I. and Youkai Giga looks unique! Can't wait to hear how these turn out when you cover them on the blog!
I love crossovers so it's cool to see Saike and Ueki had one. Look forward to reading it after you translate it!
As I said on twitter, you know your stuff when it comes to Takahashi. I really only know her longer, more popular series --Ranma, Lum, Inuyasha and Rinne --so I didn't know Arakawa's subject or Aoyama's. I thought Tanabe did Kikyo, tbh, lol, and as someone who just finished touch, that is indeed Minami and Lum together.
DeleteFujita's was another I didn't know but that's so him --dedicated to the horror/yokai genre to the end. Agreed on Fukuchi's Shampoo, but the fanart he does of any manga ends up being about 1000% more adorable. It's hard to believe he's a guy and draws such adorable things.
Mitsuhashi and Sorayomi's Inuyasha pieces were pretty incredible, and probably my favorites. Hirakawa's piece is the best composed --imo, and Minenami's female Ranma is as cute as the girls (she?) draws in Hatsukoi.
I guess it makes sense that it's two parts what with them announcing two weeks of oneshots. Two separate ones would have been nice, but kind of odd.
And yeah, it really seems like the new editor is taking a lot of cues with how Jump does things. I'm looking forward to Youkai Giga the most, but I hope one of these series manages to last a bit in the magazine.
Thanks! I'll probably get to it (The UekixSaike crossover) this week or next week. It's really quite hilarious.
As always, thanks for reading!