Covering Sunday October edition.



Welcome back to another edition of that which compells us to buy --the Shounen Sunday covers! We've got quite a crop this time around, so I do hope you'll stick around till the very end.


First up is 2nd. Major 2nd that is. My tastes swing wildly from uniform covers with different characters to super different things for each cover so it really comes down to execution which Mitsuda knocks out of the park so to speak. Beyond that, I really just like his character designs --especially the eyes for his characters. They're just personally appealing and this cover with these two ladies is no exception.


Wow, just...wow. I'll admit I've been a little underwhelmed by Souboutei's covers up until this one --not so much because they're bad or anything, but if the art in the weekly chapters is anything to go by, I just felt like Fujita could do better, and it's nice to be proven right with Souboutei #6! This could easily be splash art for a movie based on the series, and I love the use of warm colors and the logo spilling over the side. Can't wait to own this one myself!


Speaking of Six, Komi-san's 6th volume has an interesting layout with Komi doing dishes on top, and Tadano looking nervously over at his male classmates on the bottom. Oda (not that one) has good color artwork and it's a shame we rarely get to see it, but I feel like the layout should have either been split into two covers or left out entirely. It's kind of distracting as is, if I'm to be honest.


Volume 8 of Megumi, and I realize now that quite a few of the series in Sunday are really young --though I feel like my age addled brain probably mentioned that before. I think aside from the old vets and Saike, that now with Magi and Mushibugyo (both coming up soon in this post) that most of the series aren't yet at their tenth volumes. In any case, Megumi looking cute and just a little imposing on this cover works really well for me. I can almost picture Ma-kun chastising her that she shouldn't scare people off from buying the series. 


Maojou's 5th volume has a wispy look to it that I enjoy --especially on the princess as she looks down at her loyal kidnappers/subjects from above. I like the angle that the demons are shown from as well, as it's not quite overhead but not quite straight up and down either? It's also here that I notice that the title of the series is "Sleepy Princess: Maoujou de oyasumi" or "Sleepy Princess: Good night in Demon castle." So maybe Viz isn't too far off with their translation of the title. Speaking of which, English speakers will be able to see this series next year!


On the verge of that 10th release is Hatsukoi Zombie with Mei Ebino gracefully ascending into the spotlight. I wonder if authors other than Fukuchi offer their artwork without the text on twitter or other social media platforms? I'd love this picture without the logo or volume # text --the latter of which is a little too big for my liking. Otherwise it's a good cover, and very fitting for the series.


Mushibugyo's final volume is released with a colorful splash befitting the series's grand farewell. I'll miss Fukuda's in-your-face artwork and vivid character designs....I mean look at Jinbee's sword! It looks like it just reaches right out of the page doesn't it? 


The 12th volume of Tenshi and Akuto has best-ish girl Shikimi and Akuto showing off their particular rivalry. Shikimi's color design is different than I would have imagined, but I think it's fitting for her. Like Hatsukoi before it, I do wish the volume # was a little smaller but I like it's placement a little better than the former's. I also think the two character's expressions do a good job of representing enough intrigue for new people to check it out.


Yuugami plays it straight with his 12th volume, and I have to say it works for the series mainly because Sakurai's color artwork looks completely hand drawn as opposed to done with a computer's assistance. I also like the little "No!" to friends part of the logo design --though that being said, I do wonder what's going on between Chihiro and Yuugami in this picture? He looks confused, and she looks upset. I guess like Akuto above it's enough intrigue to pop it open and read to find out, which is a good thing.


The penultimate(?) volume of Magi is a lot simpler than I would have imagined. Not that this is necessarily bad, just less than I would have thought for a series in the middle (at the time) of it's ultimate battle of ultimate destiny. Also, Ohtaka gets volume # size just right here which makes me wonder if the artists decide that? 


And last but not least is Pops! Admittedly I was a little disappointed that this is essentially the promo art we've seen a few times with small differences, but the lighting in the BG and the font for the logo win me over. Also I guess I should be spelling "Ohgaki" as "Ogaki" according to this, hm. Anyway Pops's daring smile and the detals such as crosshatching on his clothes are amazingly well done here, and while the volume # sizing issue pops up again it doesn't detract from the artwork since Pops is smartly placed on the side of the cover. Almost looks like he's gonna cut that "1" down a bit on my request. Thanks daddy-o!

And that's it for October! Next month we see the likes of Saike, Quadrable and Meteor Girl return with new covers, so it'll be interesting to see how they stack up! Until the next entry, see ya! 


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