Weekly Shounen Sunday #36 (2018)


Geh, guess I should start calling this the "Sunday on Wednesday or later" blog, huh. As much as I hate to admit it, my one man show is catching up to me. Though I assure you Sunday hopefuls that I will keep this going as long as possible, even if I'm releasing Sundays on Sundays! Anywho, it's late but still very much present and ready for duty. Here we go with our first August edition of Sundays on...a day!


This week features the stylings of one Minami Hamabe, Zero, Komi, Raimu and Megumi with a little Saike on the side, which kind of represents just how unique the lineup of the magazine is right now. Not one of these series share a genre (Okay, okay, technically Megumi and Komi sorta do, sorta.) And their artwork is all pretty unique so that there's no confusing who was drawn by whom. It's part of why I like this little magazine so much!

 

The TOC is around already, but it just doesn't feel right to not have it up here as well.

switch by Atsushi Namikiri (Lead color page/Chapter 16)
Sokyuu no Ariadne by Norihiro Yagi (Chapter 32)
Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time: Supervised by Gosho Aoyama/Art by Takahiro Arai (Chapter 12)
Komi-san wa komyushou desu by Tomohito Oda (Chapter 154/155)
Amano Megumi wa suki darake! by Nekoguchi (Chapter 133)
Tantei Xeno To Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu: Story by Kyouichi Nanatsuki/art by Teppei Sugiyama (Chapter 33)
Memesis by Takuya Yagyuu (Chapter 22)
Hoankan Evans No Uso: Dead or Love by Mizuki Kuriyama (Chapter 65)
Major 2nd by Takuya Mitsuda (Chapter 148)
Marry Grave by Hidenori Yamaji (Chapter 31)
Saike Matashitemo by Tsubasa Fukuchi (Center Color/Chapter 122)
Maojo de Oyasumi by Kagiji Kumanomata (Chapter 111)
Be Blues! by Motoyuki Tanaka (Chapter 342)
Soboutei Kowasubeshi by Kazuhiro Fujita (Chapter 112)
Tonikaku Kawaii by Kenjiro Hata (Chapter 24)
Aozakura Boei Daigakkou Monogatari by Hikaru Nikaido (Chapter 98)
Gopun Go no Sekai by Hiroshi Fukuda (Chapter 14)
Kimi wa 008 by Syun Matsuena (Chapter 23)
Shinobi no by Rokurou Ogaki (Chapter 51)
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san by Aiko Koyama (Chapter 78)
Hatsukoi Zombie by Ryou Minenami (Chapter 136)
Zettai Karen Children by Takashi Shiina (Chapter 512)
K.O.I King of Idol by Tamaki Wakaki (Chapter 54)
Youkai Giga by Satsuki Satou (Kuro 31)
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Noen by Yuuji Yokoyama (Chapter 33)

Not in this issue are the following:

Detective Conan
RYOKO
Chrono Magia
Daiku no Hatou

Hm, an interesting lineup for a few reasons.  One being of course that this is the highest Ariadne has been since it started. I've noted that the series is a lot more compelling when it's not in the middle of a fight, and I have to wonder if perhaps readers in Japan agree with me? Of course this might just be blip --as are many things here, so I hesitate to really get too comfortable with this. It's also worth nothing that Gopun is at it's lowest as well as 008. While Saike having a color page (and thus confirming it's heading right into the next volume without a break in turn (probably) confirming that this is the last arc...*sob*) might have swung around a few ratings I doubt it did anything this crazy. Though switch having lead color probably helped this odd game of topsy-turvey really kick into high drive. Aside from that, it's just safe to say that the magazine is quite strong lineup-wise, and the competition is fierce. Also, sad news comes in the form of Chrono Magia in that Fujiko Dousei has confirmed via twitter that she is ill and has to put the series on hiatus to recover. Oddly the notice didn't come from Shogakukan itself (Unlike in the case of RYOKO) which doesn't bode well for their faith in the series performance, unfortunately. Regardless as to whether I enjoyed the series or not, Dousei's artwork is cute and I'm going to miss it. I hope she takes her time to recover and returns fully ready to cute up our lives with her work soon.



This week's Sunday Gal is Minami Hamabe born August 29th 2000. (Which is to say she'll be celebrating her 18th birthday this month, lucky lady!) She was born in Ishikawa prefecture, and her hobby is reading. She's more a voice actress/actress than an idol as she's started in a few movies "I want to eat your pancreas (I'm not making that up, and no I'm not hungry). "Ajin" "The Monster next door" among others. She's got quite a bit of cred behind her name despite being so young! I'm really impressed! Happy early birthday Miss. Hamabe, and here's to many more.


Ahh being late means everyone already knows this, but Sunday is Sunday for me which means I talk about everything, even if everyone's past it already! Karakuri Circus now has an air month --October, and voice actors for the lead characters! Now if you remember, Masaru Saiga's Va was still being cast when the anime was announced months ago, so this is (the blog's) first look at who's behind his voice. Chihiro Ueda is the lady of the hour, and from what I can see she's fairly new to voice acting. What's probably less surprising is two alums from the last Fujita anime will be returning! Tora's VA from Ushio and Tora Rikiya Koyama is playing Narumi Katou, and the Hyakumen no Mono's VA Megumi Hayashibara will be playing Shirogane Saiga. The sunday tailspins continue when you consider that both of these VA's play prominent roles on Detective Conan as well! I guess it's all in the family, hah. Meanwhile Takahiro Sakurai and Nozomu Sasaki will also have roles in the anime which will be directed by Satoshi Nishimura, jointly written by Toshiki Inoue and Fujita himself, and Yuuki Hayashi will be in charge of the music. The anime itself will be animated by Studio VOLIN, and a month ahead of airing, the "complete" editions of the manga will go on sale. Not only that but there will be more info next issue! This is for sure one of my hotly anticipated shows for October as a Sunday fan, a Fujita fan and an anime fan. The fall can't come soon enough!



switch on! Get it? Because the series title is...ah, sorry. What are we looking at here? switch's first lead color page since it's inception sixteen weeks ago, and it's looking as stylish as ever! Sports aren't a slam dunk with me (okay I'm really sorry this time.), but I can admire awesome art when I see it, and this is as awesome as it gets. I love how varied the character designs are here, along with the illusion of movement that Namikiri has created with the one character spinning on his finger. We've also got what seems to be the team heading into the future(?) on this page, showing that Namikiri is certainly not leaning back on his laurels and hoping popularity will come to him. If anything the pacing of this series seems to suggest that he's doing his best to propel this series to greater heights. 



Is what I'd like to say, but I actually had the opportunity to translate a bit of an interview with Namikiri that you can read here (in Japanese of course) and it reveals a little bit about Namikiri including his reasons for choosing Basketball over any other sport (in short, Basketball was the one sport he was any good at in school.) what he finds challenging about drawing the manga (basically drawing scenes with a crowd of people), and his plans for switch (Not a whole lot, actually --he's simply taking things as they come.) He also revealed he was the assistant for the authors of two rather sizable sports hit in Shounen Jump --Kuroko's Basket, and Haikyuu! So he comes by his sports pedigree rather naturally, it seems. I'd say I'll translate more of the interview at some point, but considering how I'm running late as is, it may not be advisable for me to promise more things I probably can't deliver on right now. As for the chapter itself, well, art talks, and Namikiri's art has a whole lot to say, especially that last page I have linked above. Never has a pass looked more dynamic in the pages of weekly shounen sunday than it does here. Raimu's confidence is also something to behold as he challenges the regulars to a match to show they have the same skills. To lose means becoming nothing more than the slaves of the winners, so there's a lot at stake! I admit though, with the speed that Raimu is back in the game it does feel almost as if the tragedy of losing his brother feels...inconsequential. I'm torn, as it's not really like I wanted to see the guy sulk more, and I'm definitely enjoying the turn of events, but I can't help but wonder if perhaps the series couldn't have just started this way or something? Just an idle thought --it's probably unnecessary to worry about how we got here at this point as long as where we're going is interesting, and so far switch even with an unknown road ahead of it is pretty entertaining, and has some of the best artwork in the magazine from a composition point of view. 




I had been wondering if we'd get a crossover with Conan's main canon, and it seems Aoyama/Arai were listening...kind of. Andre Camel from the FBI is now a part of the Zero universe. I hesitate to say that this will take the series in a direction of any kind, but it certainly feels like there's something more to look forward to now that we know the door is open for Conan cameos. Especially since it's heavily implied that this takes place after Amuro and Andre had their run-in during one of the main manga's serious arcs. Amuro seems quite snappy with his guest, as Camel is bewildered as to why he's in the cafe to begin with. Admittedly their exchange as awkward and slightly boiled (opposed to heated) as it is does actually get me piqued as to what future events it'll lead to. Camel ends up leaving, and Amuro's ire toward him is never really explained, but this crossing of streams is exactly what I wanted out of the series and it's had the effect I was hoping --now I'm actually kind of interested in seeing what'll happen next. 


Oda (not that one) seems to make it easy for me to break my promises of only one short series per blogpost, but when Komi is this adorable, I'd do it gladly. It's a simple enough premise, perhaps too much so, but like switch above, where a premise ends, it's the art's job to bridge the gap. 



And frankly, Oda dedicating not one, not two, but three whole pages to Komi playing in the rain is all I needed this week to be convinced that this chapter needed to go into the blog despite there not being a whole lot to talk about from a blogging POV. Sadly the blog's set up makes it difficult for me to really show this off (do yourself a favor and buy the issue and then flip through those three pages really quickly --it's adorable, I tell ya!) But ahh Komi you're like a spring sprite in the balmy days of summer and I love it. Basically Tadano compliments Komi's umbrella, and without thinking (or perhaps thinking too much), she gives him a better look at it by spinning around before realizing how embarrassing that is and darting off. It says a lot that I can talk about the premise of a chapter in a sentence and the art in a paragraph, but here we are --and I'm certainly not complaining! 



The second chapter of two this week suggests that Tadano might have another admirer in Rumiko Manbagi as he lends her his umbrella, and if her expression in the last page suggests anything, it might be that while she sees Komi as the only reason to be around him for the time being, that feelings are certainly developing. Especially when Tadano lies and says he has a second umbrella, but she spies him borrowing one from classmates. Tadano, way to go proving that nice guys can actually finish in this rat race. 




Anyone expecting big developments in this weeks chapter of Megumi might be a tad disappointed, but the color page is super cute (and just passably lewd.) This one sees a return to the series roots of Ma-kun and Megumi being awkward around each other (moreso now that they've held hands in public.) and some fanservice that's just right. The friends of the titular character are still trying to push the two together, so there's a bit of that too, (apparently they aren't aware that the aquarium push actually somewhat succeeded.) In fact really, their plans have had some measures of success, just not quite on the level they're expecting since when Megumi shows Ma-kun her swimsuit, he gives her a slight compliment (it's pretty) and asks her to tone it down --because other guys might be looking. Looks like she has managed to get his attention at least! The summer vacation arc is continuing again next week, so perhaps the bigger developments will happen down the line, but I feel like Nekoguchi is fine being a tease for right now. 


I definitely get the sense from Xeno that it's getting more comfortable in the face of it's success, (though I use that term with a bit of irony) as this story gets more ambitious by the week. Though this really is the condition of weekly serialized manga --you can't assume your audience will take to the characters and world right away (or well you can but it's a huge gamble.) So early stories end up being a lot more simple and don't delve too much into anything too heady. Sales-wise, Xeno hasn't been anything remarkable, but in a magazine that's unfortunately full of unremarkable works from a financial perspective, you gotta take what you can get. Enough real life doom and gloom though. There's plenty to be had in the series itself so let's get to it. Our criminal to be has roped in her now accomplice to help her with a plan to get back at the Kuga clan, and she's not taking no for an answer. 


Xeno's most interesting cases seem to come from when he already knows who the culprit is and thus has to confront them. Compared to Conan where these confrontations tend to be essentially data dumps where the culprit's motivation, alibi and history is unpacked through a stream of text, there's an actual sense of "pursuit" in Xeno cases that I appreciate. I think a lot of it comes from how merciless he is due to not being as emotionally available. Once he's on the case, then he'll absolutely get his person. It also makes him distinct from Ayla who does serve as the emotional core of these mysteries. The two kids behind this case are surrounded and he's not taking any prisoners. 


I also like Manami more or less owning up to her family's less than sterling reputation. She really doesn't have the reason to since the atrocities committed by the elders of the clan are those she had nothing to do with, but I like her stepping up and saying she's tired of everything that's happened. I think that's actually a message that's more important than the resolution of the case, really. Hina's whole reason to do this was to have her voice be heard, and to finally have gotten her wish granted is enough to bring her to tears as seen on the page on the left. 


That being said, there's no happy endings when it comes to enacting crimes of revenge, as much as popular media would like us to believe that. There's a punishment to a crime, and it comes sooner or later....except in Hina's case it's sooner from the looks of things above. Xeno says he'll take on her request, but she's attacked and apparently killed not too long after this meeting of the minds. This case rages on, and I'm kind of impressed that Nanatsuki's managed to keep it gripping so far! I get that Aoyama's "shtick" is typically three chapters for a Conan mystery, and that it's probably my own fault for not getting into more series like this that have longer cases, but I find the length to be interesting in it's own right. Especially since we're still in the midst of a case that's seemingly unrelated to the one that brought Xeno to the island in the first place --learning more about Kai's murder rooms/doors. As I said when this opened up however --Xeno seems much more comfortable really getting into characterization now that it's seemingly been given permission to keep existing, and that is not a bad thing in the least. 



Memesis is carrying on in it's longest arc to date, and I do think that perhaps Yagyuu might have bitten off a smidgen more than he could handle. The artwork is still incredible --maybe even moreso than it has been in the series to date, but the pace has slowed down to a crawl and not because we're getting a whole lot of world building or anything substantiate. Rather it's playing into some of the same gags it's been doing since the series began. I admire Yagyuu's dedication to his shtick, but there needs to  be a bit more to offer than that at this point in the series. I admit maybe I'm being a bit too hard on the series as it is primarily a comedy series with action being it's secondary "type" but it is tough to see this artwork being...not wasted, but sort of if that makes sense. More the thing is for me that it's clear that Yagyuu is more padding along to bide time for something than he is taking a measured approach to tease out details since basically nothing happens this week aside from the characters being attacked by demons that bring out their inner greed and desires. Normally Yagyuu makes pretty effective use of his page count, but I feel like a few more pages might have been more inviting for this week's chapter. No lie though, Kayoko looks really cute as a demon. 


Meanwhile Rose's bizarre transformation is pretty hilarious though it does simply lean into an aspect of her character that was charming at first but now has gotten just a smidgen old --wanting to fondle women's breasts. I sorta feel like Yagyuu probably thinks he can keep this up because she's a girl and double standards make it a little less creepy for her, but we don't know enough about her character for this to keep sliding as it does. At least there is a hook this week --Ash and Kijira are also infected by the devil virus, and considering how virtuous they've been up until this point, I'm curious as to what their darker sides could possibly be like. Also, Debitch is back, and she's always been hilarious to behold for her overblown expressions alone. Although she's got a pretty satisfied smirk right now, something tells me that'll be wiped clean off her face next week when she sees what Ash and Kijira end up transforming into. 


Now here's something I hadn't considered...a chapter of Evans without Evans in it! (For the most part.) This one is about Pheebs and the former vigilante Matthew James! Pheebs has history with this guy, and remembers he has a bounty on his head --so she's come to collect! Or so she thinks as when she shows up, he's surrounded by a bevy of ladies. 



I'm actually really impressed with how well this set up works without Evans being there until the final pages of the chapter, and even then he doesn't interfere here. Most of the humor comes from the ladies being overly clingy to Matt, and Pheebs wondering what the heck they could possibly see in him. Apparently this is his fanclub, and they think Pheebs wants in on it when she couldn't be less interested. Still she can get wanting to support a guy one likes, even if he couldn't be further from her type of guy. Still, Pheebs has her pride and goads Matt into accepting a duel with her! Matt asks why she'd go so far, and essentially she talks Evans up saying that Evans doesn't think much of him, and thus she decided to take him on herself. The fanclub won't stand for this and talks trash about Evans, until Matt himself calls for it to stop --he won't allow them to belittle Evans! It's around then that the man himself happens by and overhears everyone talking about him fondly. It's a chapter that's pretty great as it shows Pheebs on her own in a flattering way --and her own flawed pride that's not too unlike the man she likes, hah. It also sets up Matt as something more than a pretty distraction, even if his fondness of Evans is based on a few misunderstandings --the series lifeblood, heh. All in all I quite enjoyed it, and hope that perhaps Kuriyama will feel brave enough to do more like it in the future.



It's Rozalie vs Sergei in Marry Grave this week --is what I'd say but really it's a one sided slaughter in Rozalie's favor as Sergei barely stands a chance. I know I'm whacking a recently reanimated horse by saying this again, but man I wish the series could have been about her because she's been nailing it these last few weeks. Though credit should also go to Yamaji who's really been pouring his soul into the artwork for this arc. The above page is a great example of just what he's capable of, in all of it's bravado. Sergei himself is...hm, he's got a few screws loose, that's abundantly clear from his going into this battle simply because Rozalie remembers his name and his "annihilation" is done in means of thanking her for her "kindness". Granted, this might be a little easier to swallow if he had been shown a bit more in previous scenes or if the church had been better explored before this point. Now it just feels like he's just there to serve as an antagonist for drama's sake, which is kind of sad since I'd probably be more into him if I knew how he ticked. Leaving that aside, he is an actual threat to Rozalie which really does say a lot since she's been pretty much unopposed this entire series.


Dante shows up in this three year timeskip looking...younger somehow? I dunno, he just seems smaller than he did before now to me. Maybe it's just me though? I do like however that Rozalie's "lie" has come back to bite her big time --Sawyer gets worried about her going out alone because he thinks she can't use magic at all and goes looking for her, just to find well...that's not at all true. Rozalie has convinced herself that she belongs here at Cape Side and not with the Church, but Sawyer seeing through her lie now is enough to shake her confidence just enough for Sergei's assertions that she has no other place in the world, and that results in the opening needed to injure the magician. Now, with Yamaji decide to lean in to the drama, or will Rozalie have what it takes to remain standing despite her deception being made plain? 



Simultaneously surprising and not so much is Saike receiving a color page this week. (I've commented on Saike's post time skip look once or twice, but seeing him like this really brings it home that he has grown up even if only slightly.) Surprising as normally Saike only gets the one per serialization, and not so much because it's now official that this arc is going to go for two volumes straight much like the Nepal one before it. I'm also pretty convinced that this is most likely going to lead into the grand finale, but at this point Fukuchi's grand scheme is only known to him and his editors, I assume. When I think this arc has slowed down to a pace that indicates Fukuchi is taking his time, it speeds up to feel like it's all coming to an end like it did this week, and then that ending...man that ending. 


Saike dies. That's really saying a lot, as in shounen series it does feel a lot like while the enemies are aiming to kill the good guys, there's never a sense that they actually would if they succeed, yet Saike just so easily...dies. In fact that's been pretty much everyone's fate in this arc, really. All of the heroes were overwhelmingly defeated without much of a struggle by the villains to a point that it almost feels like their struggle was meaningless. I don't mean that in the sense that there was no point in Saike and the gang fighting back, or being in this fight at all, just that these fights were so fast that it felt like Fukuchi was baiting us on purpose. 


And maybe, just maybe he is. There's so much going on that it can't possibly end this way. Perhaps he laid it on just a bit too thick with this chapter and the ones before it. What with Calim clearly swaying between Hizu's words and his duty to Will, and Hizu's supposed "death" after having the Akashic records inserted straight into his mind....there's no real way that things an end this way. So it's less about the events as we see them now, and more about how they lead into what will happen. 




Now I have my own theories about this, but it wouldn't be much fun for me to spill them all right here, would it? But as of right now, the heroes are all dead, and Will has won. Above this paragraph is a message that reads "From which save point would you like to resume/start over?" Indicating that this is some kind of game? Fukuchi has actually implied a few times that Saike's ability to restart and start things should be treated like a video game, but this is the first time that it's been overtly stated as such. What does it all mean, and where is this option coming from only now? I hesitate to call this a deus ex machina as I do have a theory on how this actually does make sense in context within the series, and it's actually somewhat clever on Fukuchi's part --a rule of omission, really which is totally his style. Though if I am right that has it's own set of puzzling questions and implications. For now at least, it's game over for Saike and the gang, but with another continue loaded and ready to go, they might just be able to keep this game from permanently going to the bad guys. 



You'd think in a castle owned by the Demon King himself that stuff like stalkers wouldn't be a problem, but somehow the sleepy princess has a problem with one, and it's one she's tackling this week with the demon adviser's help, sort of. In a small stoke of luck for the blog (and thus you all at home) I actually did cover the chapter referring to the princess's stalker -- a demon who likes her but can't sum up the courage to confess, and the demon king himself who's stuck acting as an adviser to this demon --so it's like she has two stalkers for the price of one, hah. The misunderstandings in this chapter to could give Evans a run for his money, as the adviser tries to set the two straight, something that gets increasingly harder as he accidentally reveals he had to give the princess medication thus making it sound as if she's hurt and needs extra attention, and it only gets worse when he realizes he's the only one looking after her when she does incredibly crazy/foolish things essentially meaning he's the biggest princess stalker of them all, which leaves them in the awkward situation of having to (not) explain to the princess why she feels like someone's staring at her at all times. As usual this manga really does know how to use it's short run-time to it's advantage, and for that I applaud it. 


Fujita still knows how to keep those twists and turns coming in Souboutei, as Sakamaki's backstory isn't quite as clean cut as we thought, definitely playing into the notion of there needing to be an "antagonist" in a work. Sakamaki plays that role, and for him Yomiza fufilled that duty. Yet now we're left with asking ourselves the question --what happens when there really isn't a villian in a story? Who do we direct feelings of sadness, weakness, and anger? It's a question young Sakamaki has to ask himself when Yomiza turns out to be a pretty decent chap. 


Not only that, he knows all about Sakamaki since Shinobu --his sister talked endlessly about him, and even takes being stabbed in the knee in stride as if he deserved it for what ended up happening to the elder Sakamaki, giving a tearful apology for everything that happened to her. What's a young boy out for revenge for his beloved sister supposed to do when the target of his anger is....genuinely sorry for what happened? He even asks the child to stab him to death if he cannot see Shinobu again as life is no longer worth living for him. 


And with that, unable to forgive anyone but himself, Sakamaki watches Yomiza leave, possibly never to be seen again. I'd assume we're lead to believe this on purpose, but honestly this feels...right. Yomiza came, saw and apologized so there doesn't' feel like much more of a need for him to be in the story. While I typically dislike characters being used simply to move the plot ahead, there's something in the thoughtfulness  of Yomiza's actions that seems very "final" to me, though I do have a niggling issue with him if this is to be his final appearance. Still, I like what he represents in young Sakamaki's development --the notion that not everything is as black and white as it seems to a child. There can be tragedy that just happens to good people for no reason and without anyone to blame. 



One other thing about this chapter of Souboutei --in comparison to the bombastic action of the present where the characters strive to take down an evil house (I actually tried to explain the premise of this series to a co-worker, and it's only then I realized how outlandish it sounds.) Is that this chapter is very quiet, thoughtful in it's approach. Even with Sakamaki's outlandish expressions throughout, there's a creeping, pregnant silence about the entire chapter that lends itself well to the "modern horror" classification Fujita has placed this work into. The whole chapter is silently making it's way to a climax, while showing with no pulled punches just how bad things are. Even above when Shinobu asks her little brother to draw her in the nude, there's nothing sensual about it as her sickness has left her emaciated --and then the hammer that Fujita has been holding over us drops as the chapter closes with Shinobu asking her brother to kill her so that she may be put out of her misery. This chapter is connecting all of the dots and left us with a conclusion that's both unavoidable and unwanted, yet we must persist as this is the story that has already been told, a story that doesn't need a villain but will get one. 



It's been a long time, but 008 is back in the blog for a spot of tea. Of course even if you've only been reading the series as I cover it in the blog, you know that something as simple as tea is anything but with this work. 



I mostly covered this because of the revelations it had (as well as the very notion of having Tea in a room with the Gravity cranked all the way up.) Matsuena (via the characters in the series) seems to very much want us to buy into this notion that Eito's father Akashi Shizuma is dead. Up until now we've been under the impression that he has merely disappeared, but I've seen it said now that he is truly passed away, and at least as far as we go with narrators in this work, it's hard to deny this message when it's said enough and by characters like the teacher here who are authority figures. Though, Eito wouldn't be much of a protagonist if he just swallowed this (and some tea) and accepted it at face value! Not only that but the teacher confirms that he has actually killed students in the midst of his training in the past --despite this Eito still drinks of the tea he offers and pursues the training with gusto. Now it is somewhat implied that teach only said these things to get Eito to quit, which isn't immediately refuted by the end of the chapter, but I personally think these "check in" chapters in works like this --where something or someone ensures that the protagonist is in fact ready to take on a challenge are important as they showcase hesitation and rising stakes in a (admittedly formulaic) but visible way as to keep the audience engaged and the characters a bit more grounded as they strive for their goals. After all, even when we're doing something we really want to, we sometimes wonder if it's worth it, don't we? It helps that Matsuena's trademark ridiculousness is used to great effect here, and as always his art is a treat when it's not focused on T&A. 


History moves in the right direction(-ish) with this week's installment of Shinobi no, though what it means for the story overall isn't overtly obvious. We knew (or you should know if you've been reading history books properly or following this blog!) That Toudou would eventually join the Shinengumi, since in actual history he was a member. He's done just that, and participates in the Ikedaya raid that took place July 8th 1864. Of course I can't get too into the details here, but for a brief rundown, Kyoto was a gathering place for all sorts of rounin, some of which supported removal of all foreign (western) influences in Japan. This lead to political chaos and assassinations to which the Shinsengumi was formed to deal with. It's actually been about four years since Pops's last exploit, and Toudo has become the leader of the Shinengumi's eighth division. 


The plot is definitely not plodding along as Okita's bout with tuberculosis comes up (although it's not said by name here.) I feel like most people familiar with this period of Japanese history (or have seen more than a handful of anime), know about this so I won't talk too much about it here --just know that Okita died fairly young due to the disease. It already seems he's getting weak to it in the plot of this chapter, leaving Yamanami and Saitou to play babysitters. Yamanami asks a prudent question though --things went well, sure, but if Pops had been in the picture would they have been as successful? More like, would Toudou even be here? Toudou assures him that Pops is out of his life, and his days of being a shinobi are well behind him. I can't say I know where Ogaki is taking this story, but it does seem as if one hurdle to overcome is this one between Pops and Toudou. Even if historically Toudou is in the right place, storywise he and the old shinobi have history, and it'd be a shame for that to fall on the wayside because of a little thing like historical accuracy. 


Meanwhile the "president" has gone and gotten himself a missus. That's right, the young girl sitting in Sakamoto's lap is his wife, and they've been married for no more than a month. She even bears the name of Sakamoto's actual wife "Oryou". Ah I wish I knew more about history to tell where Ogaki is taking us! For now, let's stick with what we're given --Sakamoto has managed to get his hands on a black ship of his own, and intends to "take Japan back", whatever that means. Though in the very same breath, he says he wants to use the ship to "break" Japan --and as it's filled with gunpowder he may very well be able to do just that. He also mentions Saigou (Takamori) and Katsura (Kogoro) as well, indicating his plans are moving along nicely...


And on his birthday is when the plan will go into motion and things will get really interesting. The question has been several times this chapter that while Pops is gone, his presence (or specifically lack thereof) is felt. John notes that Sakamoto has been more restless since he disappeared, and as stated by Yamanami things would be different if he were around. It's good to know that Pops is still very much a needed commodity in the story, but what can he offer in his current state? Looks like Sakamoto is throwing a hell of a birthday party where we'll find out...




Youkai giga is back on that Kuro stuff, and this week's chapter is as straightforward as the series has been since the war effort began. Seiji's been allowed to return for a two days, on permission of his superiors, but this leads Makoto to ask him what happens if he's actually asked to depart for the warfront, meaning he'd be forced to go overseas? Seiji tries to assure his wife he'll be fine with Kuro at his side, but you can see it in her body language that she's not quite so sure. I didn't think we'd get something so...real from a series about youkai, if I'm to be frank. I do like that Satou is taking her time to unfurl this story opposed to rushing through it if only because it means that Youkai giga will be around at least a little longer in the face of it's struggles to find an audience (a real shame.) Though not to be a downer (more than usual anyway), but man if this doesn't scream "death flag". I hope I'm wrong of course, but.....


And that's it for issue #36! Next time we have a double issue which means a week without Sunday the following week!? Oh no! Say it ain't so!! Well at least for the next issue we have Zero on the cover, a color page for two straight weeks for Tonikaku, and more to look forward to in the meantime. I really apologize for being late with this writeup, and while I can't promise it won't happen again, I can at least say I will be talking about Sunday as long as I am physically and mentally able, even if it's not quite the same day as the issue's release in Japan. So please come in to hang out, next and every other week. Until then, please take care.

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