It's that time again --Time for the weekly Shounen Sunday goodness! We've got a lot to go through this week thanks to all of the artists really bringing their A game to their series and I'm feeling ready to talk. Let's go!!
Komi takes the cover this week! Oda (not that one)'s color artwork is slightly different than usual though I can't quite place my finger on how. It just seems very....subtle. Most times with these covers the artwork stands out in some way but here Komi just blends right into her surroundings. Not that there's anything wrong with this as it looks sublime. Evans, Hatsukoi, Conan and 5 minutes are also all here and ready to rock as well though they stand out more on the cover than the actual subject at hand, don't they?
Okachi has you covered if you want a TL of the TOC! If you want to know what all your favorite artists had to say, read on below!
The TOC question this week is from PONDS from Saitama and it's pretty straightforward --Who would you be if you could be anyone else for a day?
EDIT: Thanks to Your anime guy on twitter (you can find him here) I now have the TOC comments right on the page for easy viewing! Just in case you can't see them too well, I'll keep the text version below, but this might be much easier to read!
Mizuki (Evans) Kuriyama: Shigefuji-kun the comedian. Just being able to be on the radio for one day would be all I need.
Tomohito (Komi) Oda: I'd want to be a male high school student from the city who switches places with a high school girl from the country!
Ryou (Hatsukoi) Minenami: If I could travel through the ages, I'd want to be Mozart. However I dread the day where I'd have to write p**p letters...
Atsushi (Switch) Namikiri: Suzu Hirose (A famous model/actress.)
Kyouichi (Xeno) Nanatsuki: I had a week to think about this and can't come up with a single person..
Aiko (Maiko-san) Koyama: I'd like to become someone athletic.
Gosho (Detective Conan) Aoyama: Brad Pitt, I mean we are the same age. (Lol).
Syun (008) Matsuena: I'm fine being me.
Kazuhiro (Souboutei) Fujita: I want to draw a manga about someone nervously being someone else without being caught!! Maybe it'd be a girl...
Motoyuki (Be Blues) Tanaka: I'd love to have a view of Iniesta's pitch from above. (Possibly referring to Andres Iniesta the soccer player.)
Nekoguchi (Megumi): I'd like to have Christiano Ronaldo's muscles so I'll be popular with the ladies. (SIXPAD)
Hikaru (Aozakura) Nikaido: My Head Editor.
Tamaki (K.O.I) Wakaki: Hayao Miyazaki
Takuya (Memesis) Yagyuu: Just a normal guy who's handsome and and pick up girls.
Hiroshi (5 minutes) Fukuda: I wanna be Nanao. (A Japanese model/actress.)
Kenjiro (Tonikaku) Hata: Warren Buffet.
Tsubasa (Saike) Fukuchi: One of my cats. I'd like to know what it's like body aches, but I dunno if I'd be able to take it even if I found out.
Kagiji (Maoujo) Kumanomata: My little brother.
Michiteru (Daiku) Kusaba: Cristiano Ronaldo.
Takashi (ZKC) Shiina: An oil magnate with daily money transfers right into my account.
Rokuro (Shinobi no) Ogaki: Jinsaburo Sawamura --my first weekly serialization ends this week! I'm so happy I got to write "Shinobi no"!!
Hidenori (Marry Grave) Yamaji: Sou Takei (A former Japanese decathlon champion.)
Satsuki (Youkai Giga) Satou: A Scorpio woman.
Yuuji (Hitoribocchi) Yokoyama: The American President.
A lot of these are pretty normal-ish but it feels like the further down I got the more weird they became. Also Aoyama stop, you can't be Brad Pitt no matter how much you want to.
Well, I can't argue that Shougakukan doesn't have faith in it's manga! Switch has an advertisement with NBA 2K19, which I know absolutely nothing about, hah. Though I dig the artwork of Raimu and Riku with the basketball players, and I might be wrong but it does look like Namikiri did artwork for this advert rather than throwing together a few photo-shopped image. Though yes, to be included in the "Hobby Heaven" section of Sunday is usually a pretty good sign that the editorial staff has pretty high hopes for a series. Oddly enough switch still doesn't have a first volume date. Maybe October sometime? Though it feels like the October slate has already been mostly decided too...
Komi goes to the beach in this week's chapter as the off season summer vacation continues. A few friends were hoping with all of this attention Komi got (cover and color pages?? It's also not as if this is a commemorative chapter either so...) that we'd get an announcement of an animated variety, but it just isn't so. It does get me wondering when exactly Komi will get that anime since apparently it has a site registered for one, but no announcement has been forthcoming. It certainly sells enough and has the popularity so what gives? My thought is there's a snag somewhere in the production process since even the site wasn't well known. In any case, for the chapter itself I like how much more attention Rumiko is getting this week and perhaps through this arc. The subject matter itself is pretty straightforward --the kids are looking for ways to entertain themselves on their way to the beach, and once there Tadano comments on how great Rumiko is to which Komi agrees. She really is a great addition to the cast as while Tadano is a bit more outgoing than Komi, he's still pretty reserved. Rumiko adds a bit of spice to the manga though I'm wondering what Oda (not that one) will do with this possible love triangle he's developing. It's not remarked on too much this week but I'm concerned he's biting off more than he can chew even if it does make sense. Still this week was great if only because Rumiko just makes anything she's involved in that much more fun. She's the extroverted friend we all know and in some cases want to be.
Hatsukoi Zombie has a pretty color page this week, though since I'm only sort of following it by virtue of it being in Sunday I don't know much of what's going on. This color page is featured due to the series's 13th volume being released, and wait is that the cross-dressing heroine there? Wow, what a difference a dress and wig does huh? I barely even recognized her! Also the series is heading steadily toward it's third year in the magazine....does anyone reading it know it's possible longevity? I'm not in a hurry to see it go or anything, but the three year mark is usually when a series shows it's hand and it gets clear whether it'll be a long runner or is starting to head to it's exit.
Mr. Shounen Sunday ---hmm, considering how much he's not in the magazine lately I might have to consider giving him a new nickname. Yup, Conan is going to be out of the magazine for two months --until Issue #53 which comes out in November. I'm sure by now everyone has figured out that Zero's Tea Time's existence is basically to give folks some Conan over no Conan, but for the few doubters out there, I think this basically confirms it. I'm not sure if Aoyama's ability to draw has been diminished to a point that these long breaks are necessary, or if this is Shougakukan protecting it's breadwinner, but it looks like this is how the schedule is going to be for the future. It gets me wondering how the anime will proceed too, though really fans in Japan like the anime original episodes more than the ones based on manga content so I think it'll be fine. For the chapter itself, it's an interesting solution to the case if only because rather than the showdown VS Kid, the thief more or less takes his bounty and runs off without incident only because he takes the Fairy's Lip to it's true owner --a girl who's grandfather gifted it to her grandmother who recently passed, so he's playing Robin Hood. Actually the chapter itself is pretty fast paced considering we get three different story-lines --Heiji's Kid's and Koumei's in one sixteen page installment. Sadly none of them are actually resolved --Heiji's still not any closer to Kazuha, Kid isn't caught and while Koumei's connection to Zero (his deceased little brother is his friend) is revealed it's hard to tell where this is going. The irony that even the main series is going Zero crazy even with a spinoff that sells amazingly isn't lost on me though --if it ain't broke, don't fix it! See you in November, Conan Edogawa.
Evans will have more coverage in the "Editorial" edition which will be out later, but I gotta admit he looks pretty dapper in this outfit that he dons to distinguish himself from his doppelganger. This color page commemorates the release of volume five and chapter two of the new arc. It's a very functional color page since it not only looks good but also gives a recap on the events so far. If you're interested in knowing what I thought of the chapter, tune in to the editorial.
K.O.I Ends with the next issue, so with Shinobi no's final chapter being this week that's two series in a row ending in the magazine. With Chrono Magia also ending it's safe to assume new series will be on their way before the end of the year (or close to it.) I'll save my personal feelings for the series next week as you know I'll cover the finale for any series even if I didn't personally read it week to week. As I figured, Wakaki isn't going to change the stereotypes of Idol cultures with this series but I'm glad to see he's at least going out on a cute note. I hope this isn't the last we'll hear of him even after K.O.I ends, as I still love his darling artwork.
Only one word sums up 5 minutes this week --friggin' intense. Okay that's two words, but I had to break the rules to make my point --that's how awesome this chapter was. That being said, this battle is going a bit long, even if it is awesome to see. It gets me wondering just what the end goal --or well, the immediate goal of things. Fukuda is playing his cards extremely close to the vest which I respect. That being said, I do think the "suspense" part of the series is a bit more intriguing than the straight up action parts even if it's clear what Fukuda's prerogative is. (To be fair to him his art really does lend itself better to action manga.) Yamato is also as shounen protagonist as one can get --he'd do better to run away and save his ability to change the future later, but he can't walk away and watch others get hurt for his sake, even if it means he's going to possibly doom them in the process. It's idiocy, but I'd be a liar if I said it isn't extremely endearing stupidity.
And that's it for the features section of issue #43! Next week we get a cover, color, and double chapters of Zero's Tea Time, the final chapter of K.O.I, and a center color page for Birdmen. Thanks for reading the features, and please stay tuned for the editorial!
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