It's that time of week again --Sunday time! It's an interesting issue with somethings in and some things out, (as per the usual, honestly) but that doesn't change my solemn mission to you. Let's get started.
By now you've probably gotten used to seeing him on the cover, even when it isn't his "turn" per se, so there's not much more I can say. If I am to be frank, it is getting a little bit tiring to see Zero on here, but lets be for real --he's really the most popular thing in the magazine right now, and Shougakukan knows it. Like him or not, he's here to stay, and all we can do is hope that eventually a new challenger will come to take the top billing. It is odd we haven't gotten any whispers of a new serialization round as of yet, but the magazine is in an interesting place where the currently running series are all a neat fit for each other. (In my humble opinion, of course!)
Okachi for the stats, me for the translations: This week's question comes from Saitama and asks "What's something you'd want people to check out immediately"?
Nishida Kebu wa Dorobou ga Suki (Mayuko Kanba)
Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time (Takahiro Arai): The cuteness of the pets we raised in Elementary school.
Edelweiss and Dialog (Masaya Jiki): Please read this short serial till the end!
Komi-san wa Komysho Desu (Tomohito Oda): Dagashikashi!
Gopun go no Sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): "Amano Megumi Suki darake!!" Nekoguchi-sensei's sexiness is second to none.
Amano Megumi wa Suki darake! (Nekoguchi): I've loved "Komi-san" since it was a short series of oneshots.
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): I--I ain't got nothin' hear? I still have yet to find something decent to put into a hot pot...
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norihiro Yagi): A long time before I was sort of a HR/HM kinda guy but lately not so much.
Tonikaku Kawaii (Kenjiro Hata): The Youtuber Kasoutsuuka.
Major 2nd (Takuya Mitsuda): I felt like I was in a class of my own when I first watched Gundam air.
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san (Aiko Koyama): I'm generally late to most things.
Be Blues (Motoyuki Tanaka): I can't even begin to realistically visualize Yariyan-san's antics on "Rokemitsu"!
Meikyuu Iri Tantei (Mayuko Kanba): A Killer is no good, a thief is no good, and even a makeshift criminal is no good! Please look into the manga for more details.
Daiku no Hatou (Michiteru Kusaba): I'm usually chasing after most trends.
Memesis (Takuya Yagyuu): I've been chasing after Horikoshi-sensei since he made it big with "MHA"!
switch (Atsushi Namikiri): I've been into "Gacha Force" for the Gamecube even though it never caught on..
Aozakura Daigakkou monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): I'm not one who chases after trends.
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin misshitsu (Kyouichi Nanatsuki): Clay figures from the Jomon period.
Maoujo de oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata): So there's this manga called "Maoujo de Oyasumi".....
Saike Matashitemo (Tsubasa Fukuchi): You should pay close attention to me, because when push comes to shove I'm a guy who pulls through!
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): I've been really into "Don't stop your camera!" Since it opened. (TN- This is a movie that recently opened in theaters.)
Hatsukoi Zombie (Ryou Minenami): Nothing.
Marry Grave (Hidenori Yamaji): Tokido-san. (TN- A famous pro Fighting game player.)
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina): I live my life always gazing at what is brillant.
Youkai Giga (Satsuki Satou): I'd warn others to watch out for the pollen from last year first and foremost.
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): Clash Royale.
I love to see mangaka sticking up for one another as the few on top did. I see Oda (not that one) still misses Dagashikashi, while the other two are enjoying what's still in the magazine. Otherwise this is a lot of stuff I don't know anything about...though I'm not surprised at Nanatsuki's eclectic tastes, hah. It's almost perfect for someone writing a mystery manga. Also Yagyuu name dropping a rival...!! Though if you follow Fukuchi on twitter he's drawn Jump manga characters too so I suppose there's nothing stopping them from reading and enjoying the rival lineup.
I've probably mentioned it a few times as is but a full color page pretty much demands I say it again here --October 18th is Conan day (unofficially.) With Hanzawa, Zero and the main man himself all dropping new volumes on the same day! You can also take a gander at those numbers above to tell that Zero has already overtaken Hanzawa in sales despite being a volume lighter. It's kind of great to consider both spinoffs doing so well in the absence of the main cannon --scary well in fact. Having spinoffs is nothing new in the world of manga but have they ever been in a situation like this where the main series doesn't run much so they're more like replacements than spinoffs proper? Well, there's lots of Conan coming out in a few days so pick up two (or all three if you're feeling adventurous!)
Not quite the new serialization round I was hoping for but we are getting a new series in the magazine starting in issue 49, and it's yet again Chrono Magia. I'm still kind of bummed over what happened to the last series since I really like Fujiko Dosei, but this one could be interesting too, maybe. It's called "Chrono Magia: Gears of Infinity" and will feature art by Takeshi Azumi of Denpa Kyoushi fame, and a story written by brothers Homura Kawamoto and Hikaru Muno. The advert above promises battles, a cool story and romance from this new series. The artwork certainly looks impressive, and I look forward to bringing it to you in the features section of issue #49!
Admittedly I enjoyed ZTT this week way more than usual simply because it kept to a pretty straightforward yet effective premise. Kazami is into playing games online when he meets up with what seems to be a female version of Furuya. He's really suspicious of who "she" might be especially when she drops a bunch of hints that sound suspiciously like Tooru, but it turns out "shes" jut an elderly old lady who also has the the name "Rei" (Zero) except hers is "Reiko". In the end Kazami doesn't know that the "Rei" he's playing isn't the same "Rei" he works with, but again it's just such a premise that I couldn't help but give it a small grin. Plus as much as this is hard for me to admit, female "Rei" is kinda cute.
Speaking of "Rei", Komi-san gets in on the action this week with a new character named Rei Natsukido, an elementary school student Komi's mom is looking after. There's no reason given for this in the chapter itself, but that's fine --we don't need it for Rei and Komi to interact. I dig Rei's design as it's probably one of the most unique that we've seen in the series while still remaining close to Oda (not that one)'s aestetic. Like Zero before it, the chapter is pretty straightforward in it's plot and execution --Rei is, well, not stand-offish per se, but she's one who quickly sets herself up as very polite, but self sufficient. She doesn't seem to take to the family badly or particularly well either until the end of the chapter where she and Komi have a run-in at night. Komi worried that the girl might hate her offers hot milk and to share the room where she promptly falls asleep leaving Rei to look after her despite being younger. Cute, no? I can't tell really if this will continue next week but I certainly hope it does since it's implied Rei has more of a story behind that self-efficient demeanor.
Preparing to release it's newest volume is Ariadne with a gallant color page and some pretty impressive page layouts as seen above. Not only that but the struggle for the Luther(Lusa?) kingdom's vestiges has seemingly ended this week with the hook that the king of that proud people was murdered. To me Ariadne is at it's strongest when it's doing exploration/adventure over action, though the last arc has been much better in that regard --the fight as well. I know I haven't been covering it lately --mostly because other things have been more prominent, but I have really been enjoying Ariadne lately --mostly because it does feel like Yagi has a better grip on what he wants the characters to be and where he wants the story to head. Now that this arc has come to an end, the anticipatory wait of what comes next makes Ariadne that much more appealing to keep up with. I hope volume 3's sales show that as well.
I knew of Masaya Jiki's return to Sunday and that it's a limited time series (five chapters in total!) though what does surprise me is that Sunday seems to be perhaps advertising this as a series of sorts? (In the sense that there will be more of these short serials from other authors?) That's an interesting way of handling new serials --rather than throw someone out there and let the wolves have at them --or not if they're successful, putting a cap on serialization to both allow an artist to tell a more complete story that they couldn't in a oneshot, but not getting too invested in a new series outright does allow for different creative options. In any case, Jiki is here with "Edelweiss and Dialog" a series about a school drama club, a girl, a boy, and memories. From the outset I can already see that Jiki is great at composition ---check out the page on the right above and how the boy reaching out is asymmetrically cut between panels between the girl he's holding his hand out to and the group they're in so we get an idea of the entire situation without the need of dialog. It's quite impressive! The girl --Aika is looking for someone as school opens up --most definitely the boy in her memories as seen above.
She does meet up with a new entry to the school and has a pretty bad first impression with the boy who tells her to buzz off when she intervenes with his possible animal bullying. Jiki's still got a ways to go drawing people comfortably but this is still a commendable effort. Still his strength is still much more in the composition of the pages, which do a lot with focal point to keep the eyes interested without overwhelming. Though what you probably want to know is what isn't easily seen --how's the writing?
As of right now we're really still getting to know the characters so I can't say for sure if the writing is solid or not. Aika and the boy are pretty likable right away, I think. Mainly because their expressions are incredibly genuine despite Jiki's limitations (as slight as they are!) The story is pretty straightforward --Aika is in the drama club but with only three (she and two friends), they risk dissolution if they can't find at least two more members to join. Nothing unusual for a slice of manga, heck, even some comedy and action manga have that sorta set up so Jiki's playing it safe in that sense. Still, the ability to unpack this a bit more methodically than he would have in a 60 page oneshot is a blessing. Plus, Aika's smile is adorable on the right. She's looking for the boy from her childhood --Saito, and the story itself isn't shy about how she feels about this guy --he's her first love.
Now that's not to say this is devoid of any unique content --the club is apparently held at an empty pool, and while I couldn't sneak in a page here, there's a character with a plague mask who remains silent the entire time. Plus the fact that "two" more members is explicitly said here leaves just enough mystery to keep things interesting. I won't assume (yet) that this boy will join or not as that's not made clear by the end of the chapter, but Jiki does move into things pretty quickly --Aika recognizes (or so she thinks) the boy and asks for his name as the chapter comes to a close. Heading back to tropes of shounen past --the boy is a new transfer who trouble has followed here. He was involved in a incident where police were called and even before he's had time to establish himself his reputation makes things difficult. It's a classic set-up but I wouldn't say it is wholly without merit. Jiki spends his time well getting things together for the story in this first chapter and I'm glad Shogakukan has seen fit to give this five chapters rather than a one shot. You can be for sure chapter two until the end will be featured here in the features section, so stay tuned.
To celebrate reaching 3rd place in the "Manga Next" competition, Shogakukan has seen fit to publish two of Mayuko Kanba's manga in this issue. If you don't know who Kanba is, you just have to take a gander upward at Hanzawa-san --yup, Kanba is the wicked mind behind the criminal Conan comedy spinoff! It doesn't specifically say if it's Hanzawa who got into third place or Kanba, but I'm assuming it's the latter due to them running other manga rather than more Hanzawa. Kanba has a weird sense of humor, but a lot more of this lands than doesn't. Like the premise for "Nishida Keibu wa Dorobou ga osuki" (Or lit: Officer Nishikata loves thieves) is an inspector who likes thieves --not to capture them, mind you, he's actually in love with a thief "Kaito" Jack! The premise itself is an "arresting love comedy", and it really is as wild as the premise makes it sound. Nishida is purely driven by his schoolgirl crush on the thief and despite being pretty outlandish is quite close to capturing him without even knowing that the boy detective giving him a hand --Anri, is actually Jack in disguise! This is pretty much revealed right away so the whole oneshot/chapter is Anri coming dangerously close to being caught just to swerve out of detection because Nishida is waiting for his crush to show up and too preoccupied to notice.
So when Anri finally quits the act and reveals himself, Nishikata is too overcome with shyness to do his job, haha. It's all just so ridiculous --and no wonder that Kanba was chosen(?) to lead up the Hanzawa-san project under the Conan umbrella. Nishida acting like a girl in love is one thing, but Anri coming back at the end of the chapter as if nothing happened after taking the treasure is the best part. If you liked what I dished out in regard to Kanba, you're in luck as there's one more serving!
Kanba sure has a thing for pointing out how ridiculous mystery series can be when looked at from a certain perspective. The second of two special chapters featured this week is called "Meikyuu Iri Tantei" or "Detective entering a Labyrinth". Where Gou Ikeike the protagonist has just gathered everyone to do his deduction show and reveal the culprit! Except, he's totally bad at this. Well, I should give him some credit that he does in fact finger the right person but actually proving her alibi is a fake is quite difficult for him, lol. He essentially names every murder trope from manipulating rope to twins, to manipulating time --until he out of frustration says she manipulated her alibi! Yeah, guy's just taking shots in the dark but he eventually gets it. As she's carted away (her motive and weapons are waved away as "various reasons" I kid you not.) the best interaction of this shot is laid bare --she asks Ikeike when he figured out she did it --and he says he knew from the start that she'd murder someone, and one of the guests whispers as an aside. "Then why didn't he stop her before the murder?" It's that ruthless lampooning of this genre that makes Kanba and by extension Hanzawa so hilarious. Kanba really does come by it naturally, I''m glad to say.
If you're interested in either one of these works, then you can grab new editions being released on October 18th along with Hanzawa-san! That's a lot of cash I know, but I'd say Kanba truly is a talent in and on their own, so it might be worth it --just don't steal them!
And that's it for this week's "features" section! Next week Saike gets a color page for the beginning of it's "Final" arc, they're taking my boy away.... Tonikaku Kawaii gets a lead color page, and Marry Grave will also recieve a color page. Of course I'll have more to say about Saike in the editorial page so look forward to that! Ah and before I forget, Birdmen will be back for the next issue, and NMB48 will also be featured. Thank you for coming in for this week's features page, and please come back for more Sunday soon!
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