Hey all! I hope you've been minding your budget as it's time for you to put your money where your mouth is with all the Shounen Sunday releases of the month! Saleswise I don't have anything spectacular to say as most things are per the usual --Komi debuted at number on on it's release day, 5 minutes at 87th, Saike at 37th, Souboutei at 3, Maiko in the top 50 at least, and Evans at 20th. I still haven't learned the fine art of how these translate into actual volumes sold but after monitoring things a bit, Saike dropped to 78th after a second day and after looking at it this morning it seems to be at around 286th now, with 5 minutes at 256. Not sure if this is good or better for these series (I think it's slightly better for Saike, maybe) but there's a bit of a sales situation for the interested. I'm still trying to find a means to have this be a more frequent part of the blog, but sadly I'm terrible at numbers and finding people who have enough interest (and Japanese knowledge) is tough, but I'll keep trying!
Making a rare appearance (due to its low page counts) is Satsuki Satou's Youkai Giga! I wasn't even aware until this morning when I went to fetch the volume cover that the Mizuki Productions group recommends this manga. That's pretty high praise as this is the same group that holds the rights to Kitaro which can be called the forefront of youkai manga. I dunno how well this sells (and since it wasn't on the charts at any time I checked it's likely it doesn't sell well at all, unfortunately) but receiving praise like that is definitely nothing to sneeze at. As for the cover itself, it's pretty much what I've come to expect from Youkai Giga which makes me kind of want to have these physically on a shelf since the uniformity is kind of comforting.
Speaking of Uniformity, Birdmen keeps doin what it does best with this release's cover as well. I don't remember what it's initial release ranking was, but it's currently sitting at a pretty 70th which despite how it looks is pretty good for a series with no anime for now? I'm not too sure how I feel about the cover color though. I don't dislike it, but it's oddly....plain. Or well, not really even that, just not exactly eye catching in my humble opinion. Still Maraika is pretty cute so I can't complain.
Saike on the other hand always does something a little different and I appreciate it, even if this cover isn't quite as visually interesting as some of the others. To be fair, this volume in particular was mostly about revelations than anything action packed and since Fukuchi is wedded to drawing what actually occurred on them for each one, it probably left him little choice but to go with this. Still I like that the Akashic Records is an alien red color in comparison to the very green everything else, and it's big enough to be eye catching to those who are reading the series by volume or haven't at all yet.
Hatsukoi Zombie is another that has a formula it's familiar with and thus sticks to, even if I wish it wouldn't. The artwork is so good for these, and since Shougakukan for whatever reason doesn't release art books of their serialized artists (though I don't know how much of this is the artist wanting to do an art book and how much it is the company seeing the worth of doing one --since Fujita and Aoyama get them) these covers are often the rare times we get pretty colorized artwork. Thankfully due to social media we do sometimes get graced by the author with covers without text, which is all I can hope for here --everything is far too big and obscures the artwork to a degree that's disappointing. It's Hatsukoi's trademark at this point, but it does sadden me....
Meanwhile Souboutei has a trademark and really makes it work for itself! Though ironically my praise is how it actually varied things up this volume and went for something a bit less dreary --the pink font for the logo, and Takoha/Seiichi's green coloration really goes super well together, and the touch of the Souboutei's sign being right behind them is excellent too. It was so close to being cover of the month, but that award goes to...
What can I say, I'm a sucker for the arts. This cover isn't just pretty, it's downright magical. The one downside is I do feel like the center image should have been a little bigger if only because when I post this around it's hard to see at first glance, and the borders are almost distracting next to the beauty that is the center image. Still, the use of color and light/dark is so powerful that I think it'll be okay. Not only that but the font choice for Koyama's name and the logo are in tune with the entire cover without being overwhelmed! Definitely deserving of this month's praise.
Aozakura is an example of a formula that works really well despite me not actually reading the series. I like that everything is always centered giving great focus to Nikaido's excellent character artwork, and the BG uses lighter colors but the fade helps keep them from being plain. Oh, and the cherry blossoms in the background are a nice touch as well as they provide some character to the image without taking away from the girl in the center. It's a cover of balance and poise both of which Nikaido knocks out of the park.
I always dig how Komi (and Meugmi) volumes illustrate a scene between characters rather than being a compilation of events in a volume if that makes sense. Yes this is something that happens in the chapters included in the book, but it looks like it tells a story on it's own which makes for a way more enticing cover, I think. Plus the use of font, logo, and composition compliments itself well here as nothing trips up anything else and there's a weight to all of the elements that ensures that all of these get equal focus. Komi's really got these covers down to a science, and I'm glad to say volume ten continues a proud tradition.
Honestly if I weren't trying to be impartial here, Evans would take the cover of the month every month it appears. I'm not at all sure how Kuriyama manages to make every cover better than the last, especially considering the subject matter, hah. It almost feels like the lie of sheriff Evans is that his covers look way cooler than the actual manga is! Also Kurt looking smooth as he puffs on his pipe and Abby's earnest expression just make this cover even greater and somehow more hilarious. It makes sense too as this duo is the one who leads the way in this volume.
Ah seeing this just reminds me of the sad tale that was Chrono Magia and how this single volume is all we'll be seeing of Dousei's great artwork for a while. The artwork aside, I like the logo for the series, and seeing Dousei's name written in such an elegant way. Sadly but understandably there's not much going on with this cover since not much happened in the story before it came out, and even if the series hadn't been unceremoniously cancelled, this is still but the first release. Basically the whole thing screams "potential". A potential that'll never be realized, sadly. I hope your next work manages to reach those lofty heights I know you're capable of, Dousei-sensei!
Last but not least is Hiroshi Fukuda's newest series "The world After the five minutes" or as he's called it "After the five minutes". I like that he's stated the title several different times here, and the font used for both his name (in English) and the series title. I would have preferred the cover BG to be something other than red, since it clashes with the city scene he's drawn, but I can understand why he'd opt for this color as well. That being said, I like the three leads being right in the middle of things, as Fukuda's character artwork is really unique. It also helps that the cover itself doesn't give away anything much like the title was obscured before the serialization. Fukuda is great at drawing in this very "pop-art" ish style and that comes through here --this would make great advertising as much as it does a manga volume cover.
And that's it for the month! Signal boost your favorite volumes in the comments and I'll see you again in October with more sales and Shounen Sunday volume info!
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