Transversing the laws of time and space is Weekly Shounen Sunday! How can a year with 52 weeks be almost over in November? It's Shounen Sunday! (And a couple of double issues helps.) Sunday is winding down but not out as the good times roll. What's on this week's menu? Just scroll down to find out~
Komi's on the cover which isn't surprising since that was advertised, as is Evans and Hasukoi --also not surprising, as is Zero and 008. All in all it's a cover that is as it was advertised, though that doesn't stop it from looking really nice. Although many manga look nice in color --thus facilitating the need and inherient reward of having Color pages, Oda (not that one)'s work with Komi looks especially good. If only Shougakukan were more generous with art books...
Okachi has you covered with the stats, and I with the fun. This week's question comes from Kanagawa and asks Where are you usually when you think "This place is Heaven"?
Hoankan Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): A room completely cooled by AC in the middle of summer is my Heaven.
Komi-san wa Komyusho desu (Tomohito Oda): Kyoto is a lot of fun! I love the temples.
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): Parks that are only open a limited time during certain seasons --The breezes blowing, the flower petals dancing...
Maoujo de Oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata): The first time I went to Yellow Submarine.
Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita): Taketomi Island in Okinawa and the Flower Fields of Kakegawa --really any place where the flowers dance and fly.
Gopungo no Sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): The public baths! I get to visit Heaven every week! (Lol)!
Detective Conan: Zero's Tea Time (Takahiro Arai): Staying up all night in the bath and sleeping in my futon.
Tonikaku Cawaii (Kenjiro Hata): There's no other heaven aside from the Maldives.
Hatsukoi Zombie (Ryou Minenami): Any time or place where my cats gives me a rare show of affection becomes Heaven to me.
Be Blues (Motoyuki Tanaka): The Yusawaya in Kichijouji, there are art books, plastic models, and RC circuit..I always can't help shaking whenever I go. (In the past.)
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san. (Aiko Koyama) Tomizawa Shop.
Aozakura Bouei Daigakkou Monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): In my bed.
Marry Grave (Hidenori Yamaji): Bed.
Edelweiss and Dialog (Masaya Jiki): DGS Venues.
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu (Teppei Sugiyama) Ahead of my second assistant. (Lol).
Chrono Magia Infinity Gear (Takeshi Azuma): The first time I went to Stamina Taro. (TN- This is a BBQ restaurant.)
Amano Megumi wa Suki Darake! (Nekoguchi): A few days ago I went on a trip to Okinawa and visited Nagannu island....that place was Heaven.
Memesis (Takuya Yagyuu): I was really hyped up when Universal Studios Japan Opened up sales for the Spiderman exhibit!
switch (Atsushi Namikiri): In my mind.
Daiku no Hato (Michiteru Kusaba): Winter --under a kotatsu with some beer.
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina) A long time ago when I went to a party held by K corporation and there were lots of bikini clad babes there.
Saike Matashitemo (Tsubasa Fukuchi): I was on Cloud nine when I got to hang out at Rumiko Takahashi-sensei's house!
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norihiro Yagi): The Cathedrals in France. The stained glass windows are beautiful.
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): I wander in search of Heaven.
Lotta interesting answers here for the most part. I really feel like I need to hit up Okinawa one day if I should ever be able to return to Japan. Fukuchi hanging out with Takahashi like the unabashed fanboy he is brings a smile to my face, and the answers that were essentially "bed" are a super mood to me.
I typically try to keep the blog as SFW as possible but my other rule of "all color pages all of the time" pretty much kicked that to the side. I should have figured eventually Matsuena would make this decision for me, so here we are. To those concerned, I'm sorry. To everyone else, you're welcome.
This chapter is basically the epitome of "Boys will be boys". I'm just the messenger here (so don't shoot me, okay?!) So I won't tell anyone how to feel about that, but what you see (guys trying to peek on girls in the shower) is what you get this week, and your enjoyment of the chapter will basically depend on how you feel about that premise and Matsuena's artwork which as seen on the page on the left is in rare form in all honesty whether you like fanservice or not. Though yeah, it's still rather iffy you're not into it and in concept. A chapter like this (with lead color pages no less) means that at the very least 008 is doing well enough for Shougakukan to promote it so fans of the series shouldn't have anything to worry about, I think. Admittedly it's doing way better than the mess that was Tokiwa in the storytelling department so that's a leg up it has.
Komi takes an interesting and sudden turn this week as far as Rei is concerned. Oda (not that one) has the description of a "Communication sickness" at the start of the chapter, much like he's done before to illustrate an important part of the chapter. Usually it's done for humor's sake, but something about how it's phrased this time seems to suggest something a lot more serious --and that's what we get. Though the "why" isn't quite as prominent as the "what right now....Komi's mom steps out for a bit leaving the girls to fend for themselves. What starts off as a pretty fun time with shopping and Rei finally opening up ends with a sudden change of mood that's shocking as it is immediate. The end of chapter text suggests that there's something keeping Rei from opening up to Komi or anyone else (and the girl says as such in the chapter itself), and it hinges on her inability to call Komi by the familiar "Big Sis" title. As soon as she hears a well meaning bystander say it --mistaking the two for sisters, her mood completely changes and she runs off. Of course that's the hook --and it's got me where it wants me. I've been wondering where the Rei story was heading and it seems now it's ready to open up, even if the character in question isn't. Oda (not that one)'s art was also in rare form this week --there's a lot of emotional fidelity going on with Rei that he nails perfectly. Still with little to go on until next week, this plot point is mysterious which makes it enticing.
You know how it goes --Evans will get a proper writeup in the editorial section later this week, but gaze upon the color page. It's pretty straightforward --and so is the chapter, but that's part of Evans' charm. Hard to believe that Evans is not too far away from year two --especially with it's dubious beginnings but hey, I'm willing to celebrate the Cowpoke's fortunes even if they're not the sort he wants, hah.
I guess I can say this much for Zero --it's easy to write about. Like 008 above, this again is a chapter that even without the ability to read it, the pictures alone are pretty satisfactory. Rather, the more interesting thing here is Zero's going on break starting with the next issue --but Conan isn't back until issue 52, leaving us one issue without any Detective Conan at all. My thought on that is due to the editorial staff running a guest manga next week in it's place, but it's still pretty odd timing. Though to be fair, they've been working Arai pretty hard with double chapters so I could imagine that this is for him to rest after successfully clearing the "enough chapters for volume two" hurdle. Zero's not going to be back until January --issue 7, so with Conan out next week to return the week after, that means it has a little more than a month unless things change and both series run simultaneously again which seems kind of unlikely. Though that does get me thinking --if Aoyama can resume a normal schedule again at some point then will Zero disappear? Nah, if anything this is an impetus to keep the mainline Conan the way it is since Zero sells really well. I could be wrong but the hallmarks of this being the plan in place are there. In any case, no Conan at all next week, sorry to say!
Hatsukoi also got a color page this week, and while I'm definitely not keeping up with the series enough to tell you what's going on, I can read the flavor text above and for some reason our leads are playing a newlywed couple?? I like how the artwork conveys this with the positioning of the characters and the overhead composition of the page. Honestly this would make for a great volume cover if Minenami so wanted it to be.
Only one more chapter left for Edelweiss and Dialog, but it feels like a proper part of the magazine to me, really. If this was a means to test the waters for a future serialization (maybe not of this story in particular, but for Jiki) then I'm convinced in their potential. The artwork is still a little bit on the rough side, but composition and intuitive use of POV makes up for that. Not to mention the story itself has been engaging, due to the pacing being just right. I do have a minor concern --unless the final chapter has extra pages (which it probably might since otherwise it wouldn't fill a volume like this, and I assume Shougakukan intends to compile this.) that it might feel a little rushed. This week Aika prepares to perform before others for the first time, and while it's arguably a good idea in general to get back up on the stage and conquer her stage fright, she's mostly doing it for Natsuki to join the club --something he calls her out on and says is useless since he's not the guy she once knew. Though she points out that other than being a boy who's a bit cheeky and likes dogs she doesn't know anything about him. That exchange alone gives this chapter a strength that I find fascinating --is it more important to do something for the sake of someone else or yourself? I don't know if Jiki is asking that question, but I think it's important to consider when reading this work. By the end Aika is ready to go on stage, the Molotov cocktail of her emotions --both of anticipation and fear shake inside of her. The ending has a lot to do to "land" for me, but I'm certain even if it slightly misses the mark that it has enough leg room to make the decent and walk away for another --another serialization for Jiki that is!
Admittedly I wasn't quite as keen on this chapter of Chrono Magia: Infinity Gear as I was the first for several reasons --but the biggest of them all is perhaps because it turned away from what could have been a promising premise and is playing things straight --as far as I can tell. Of course I might be totally wrong about this and future chapters may hold me to that, but for now ostensibly, that's what appears to be happening. More or less, it's like chapter one didn't really happen and this is the real "beginning" of the series. Which I would have been way less impressed by last week, but it wouldn't feel like a step down like this did --but yes, protagonist Kei as stated last week is a guy who in a world of card games that require "Magia" to be played has no energy in his tank and is thus a second class citizen. We got that story last week, but through a flash back we see that he had so much promise as a student before this information became public knowledge. Now with a vendetta to get back at those who wronged him, he fights fire without fire.
Reika --the girl who he stomped on last time is back for revenge and their match proceeds almost like a mirror to last time --she uses magic, he uses well...trickery to overcome her. It appears as if he's going to beat her with pigs and trap holes --you know, stuff you'd see in a card game manga/anime, but then she shows that magic can overcome all, putting Kei in a precarious situation.
I will say this much, I'm not sure if Azuma is being influenced by the writers of this series (who as I pointed out last week work on the very popular "Kakegurui"), but his expression game has been elevated way above that of Denpa Kyoushi, and it gives this manga a sense of desperation that almost makes the card games easier to legitimize as a real threat. Though yes, Kei's in trouble and despite everything he said in the last chapter, he's forced to admit that maybe he is screwed without any Magia of his own to use. I just sorta feel like while this was bound to come sooner or later, it seems kind of, well, fast for this to occur on chapter two? Unless the serialization was planned to be short from the get go --which may very well be the case, it's a strange choice.
The chapter ends with the smartphone Kei found earlier telling him to "engage" it (though the kanji reads "combine") to save his butt, and with little choice Kei goes for it --and he becomes a she?! As noted last week, this girl has the same motif as Karin did in the last Chrono Magia manga so I assume she's supposed to be the "mascot" of sorts. So yeah it makes sense they'd want to introduce her as soon as possible, but I dunno --I liked the idea of a guy fighting card battles without actually using cards way better than playing the tropes straight as implausible as that may have been from the start. Now this could all be turned on it's head again next week, but what it suggests to me is a bit of early trouble with story focus --which tends to happen to weekly serializations in all honesty, so I can't rag on this one too hard. I guess I am just a smidgen disappointed since I was invested in the first one a lot based on what I thought as opposed to what was there. Whether that's my fault or the story's fault is yet to be seen.
Shinobi no might be gone, but another series has stepped up to carry it's mantle...! Though I don't think you were expecting that series to be Daiku were you? This week Minato is dressed up as one Sakamoto Ryoma, as the series explores a little bit about the villain (in Shinobi no) warrior, and manages to get a little bit of wining and dining in as well. There's a bit too about how young people in Japan are taking to kimonos as a fashion statement which was intriguing to read as well -- at least that part felt like the series trying to put a stake in it's relevancy by discussing current fads. While in many cases this would feel like the final desperate gasp of something on it's way out, I feel like it works in Daiku's favor since the main character has already been established to be the fashionable sort. Not only that but this character --Tsukushi's admiration for Sakamoto's spirit feels in place with this work that celebrates Japan in a way. It's probably for that reason that Daiku often feels pretty genuine in what it's subject matter is without being soulless. It's a great balance (with some good artwork juxtaposed with real images) that shows off the series' good side.
Bringing up the rear (which is a real shame, because look at that artwork..) is Ariadne with a chapter where the main characters don't appear until the final page. It's all about dragons this week, and I appreciate Yagi going out of his way to make these beasts look as cool and fierce as humanly possible. Or well, "dragon-ly" possible? In any case the boy who fights dragons using light --much like Rashil is a part of a group that makes their living putting these creatures down. Most of the chapter is spent discussing that business so not much happens until again, the end where Rashil and his group end up finding a dragon of their own, though the boy is told of Rashil and seems to recognize him from description alone. They don't meet this week but that's probably gonna be in the cards sooner or later. I'm kind of happy with the group as is, but let's see what kind of interactions they have down the line...if there is one. With Ariadne not selling as well as it did on it's debut, and the TOC clearly indicating there's not as much love for the series as before I have to wonder if it's living on borrowed time...
And that's the features section for this week! Next week includes a lead color page for Maoujo de Oyasumi, Color pages for 5 minutes and Be Blues, and the final chapter of Edelweiss and Dialog. There will also be a special appearance of Naisho no Kyoko nee-san by Nao Kasai from Sunday webry..oh and if you've always wanted Conan Sweatpants, apparently that's a thing that's also happening. There will be a lot and then some in the next issue of Sunday and I'm down for it! Until the editorial later on this week, take care!
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