No lie, I actually completely forgot about this until today....I try to do these after the release of the respective volumes, but then life happens and...eh, you're not interested in all of that are you? Sales-wise, it's not surprising except where it is. See, Shogakukan did a promotion with earlier plot related Conan volumes with the advent of #95 coming out and almost as an testament to how powerful the little sleuth is, some of the previous volumes (Including the first which came out twenty years ago) popped back on the charts. Pair this with Hanzawa and Zero also releasing on the same day and you have the makings of a Conan-apocalypse, which had an effect (for lack of a better term) on everything else released that day --as in they all got moved down slightly except for Marry Grave which rose juuuuust a little bit. Like or love Conan (and Japan really likes him), his effect on Shogakukan's bottom line is pretty evident.
On that note, let's just start from the top. Literally. Feels like it's been a while since I last talked about a Conan volume....maybe almost a year? Or perhaps not that long. Hmm. Anyway there's not much to say about these since they're generally pretty self explanatory. Conan overlaid with a realistic photo of whatever is going on that volume, except here with something pulling on his tie, I have to wonder if the next volume will continue this? I should also add that this is a fairly plot relevant volume itself which Shogakukan has been really leaning hard on. I guess it's no wonder it's selling so well!
Next up is Zero who is also a big deal back home. I like that Arai is following suit with the main canon of which he is drawing for --brick background, and the Conan on the cake looks like one of Aoyama's author avatars. Otherwise this is a pretty unremarkable cover with some pretty nice composition with the logo, number and artists names being unobtrusive.
This is the final volume of K.O.I and at the very least I can say that it stuck to a certain aesthetic all the way through, though as a final volume it's a little disappointing. Like Zero above it, the composition is really great, but the subject matter is unremarkable. Unlike Zero however, this is the last of the series and a cover that looks way less like something you'd see for the premiere would be nice....though there's no faking about it --it's adorable. I hope Wakaki finds better luck with his next work whenever that is.
I confess to having the memory of a dead elephant, but....was this a color page? Not that it's unheard of, and it looks nice so we'll roll with it. The colorization and sense of lighting is pretty crisp, and If it was a color page before, I didn't notice Rulu-chan hanging out back there in the shadows before (unless of course Yagi just added her to this.) which adds another layer of depth to this cover both physically and metaphorically. This month seems to be one of strong compositions too, since I really like what Yagi did for the logo and his own name.
Cawaii covers have been really pretty up until this point and I'm happy to report that volume three keeps up the tradition. I'd say maybe it'd be nice to see the other characters on the cover, but lets be honest, Tsukasa is the focal point of the series so Hata's just leaning into what works. I really dig the warm colors and even the placement of the leaves (a perfect volume for the fall season!) The logo's own design seems to meld into the cover itself so even though it's a little big for my liking, it's not distracting at all. All in all it's a wonderful cover for a cute little series.
Marry Grave Volume three saw a slight bump in it's sales. If you've been reading my entries for the series, you already know how I feel about the slight change in protagonists for the arc pictured inside so I kind of wonder if the audience was responding to that.....anyway, like many Sunday covers, MG's has a formula that it doesn't deviate away from so a lot of what I like about the covers (the fact that it looks like a doorway) and what I don't like (The huuuuuge logo) are present. The trio of protags as children has an interesting juxtaposition of the cover artwork vs what actually happens --it feels like it's a totally different series (hey maybe that's why this one sold more?) which is interesting.
Yuugami does the same thing as Marry Grave with the juxtaposition of what the cover depicts vs what actually happens in the cover, but man this really works for me because of how much effort went into depicting this sea time scene. The different shades of greens, the wispy strokes of the sea floor, Yuugami and Chihiro's expressions, the light filtering down from above, and of course all those fishies! Pretty much the only thing I'd say I'm not a fan of on this cover is that giant "14" on the side, but other than that it's wonderful and as such gets the coveted "Volume of the month" award.
Xeno's third cover is the definition of "Good concept, not so great execution." I like what it was going for here with the unified set of colors and the characters depicted, but the logo being so huge really tripped it up badly, and I'm not sure this works for the kind of series that Xeno is. The other two series that went for that gap did so in a way that it makes the series depicted on the cover seem more interesting than the one inside (deceptive, but effective.) but Xeno sorta does the opposite here. Granted with the logo being as huge as it is there's no mistaking what kind of series you're getting into here. I will say though that Ayla and Umi are really cute, although the former's hair color seems to keep changing for some odd reason. In this case it might just be so she fits in better with the cover scheme, maybe. I guess another thing that bugs me is this might have been way better as a color page but not a cover.
Another series saying farewell is Shinobi no with it's sixth volume. Ogaki definitely went all out in the artwork inside of the book, but I guess maybe that enthusiasm petered out when it came to do the final touches on the cover. I mean, it's not bad by any means, just incredibly ordinary for something that's ending with this volume. Even the color is kind of drab, and the giant red 6 doesn't do it any favors. Still I know how talented Ogaki is and I can only hope he'll be back with another work as soon as possible. From what I've seen on twitter, he does seem raring to go --an excellent sign.
And that's it for this month! These are already out at your favorite sellers of Japanese manga so pick up a few and feel free to tell me (and others) all about them in the comments if you should so feel inclined. Until next month, take care.
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