Weekly Shounen Sunday #51 (2018) Features section


And now for what you've been waiting for, mid-week Sunday! This issue has a whole lot going on in it, which means as usual I have my work cut out for me. Though isn't this how things always are? Hm.


On the cover this week is Maoujo, Be Blues, and two works new to sunday. One of which was advertised last week, the other of which (on Miss. Kinoshita's shoulder) wasn't from what I recall, but my thought is this was brought in to make up for the lack of Conan in this issue. (Been a while since we've had zero and I don't mean Amuro.


Okachi's got one end, and I've got the other: This week's question comes from Tokyo and asks "What's one word you'll absolutely never believe?" 

Naisho no Kyoko-neesan (Nao Kasai): It's my first time being serialized in the main magazine! A pleasure to meet everyone!
Maoujo de Oyasumi (Kagiji Kumanomata): I'm far more interested in remaining pure..
Kimi wa 008 (Syun Matsuena): I don't believe in words --rather I make judgement based on my instincts.
Amano Megumi ha Suki Darake! (Nekoguchi): I don't trust people who believe that "Drawing manga is fun!"
switch (Atsushi Namikiri): "Everyone's doing it so you'll be fine."
Gopun go no sekai (Hiroshi Fukuda): The word "absolutely".
Memesis (Takuya Yagyuu): Youtube videos with titles like "Absolutely hilarious." 
Komi-san ha Komyusho desu (Tomohito Oda): I don't much believe in the recommendations others give me.
Hoanakn Evans no Uso ~Dead or Love~ (Mizuki Kuriyama): Drunk people insisting they're not drunk.
Be Blues (Motoyuki Tanaka): "You gotta believe me!"
Maiko-san chi no Makanai-san (Aiko Koyama): I don't have any.
Daiku no Hato (Michiteru Kusaba): "Absolutely."
Sokyuu no Ariadne (Norhiro Yagi): "I'm definitely raking in the cash!"
Hamuhamu-kun (Ugebeso Hatsumaru): I'm Ugebeso. I'm overjoyed I got to be in the main magazine!
Souboutei Kowasubeshi (Kazuhiro Fujita): "If you believe in your dreams they'll definitely come true!" Not if you just sit around believing and don't take action!
Edelweiss and Dialog (Masaya Jiki): Thanks for reading all the way till the end!
Tonikaku Cawaii (Kenjiro Hata): My husband killed a giant ant eater a year ago.
Chrono Magia Infinity Gear (Takeshi Azuma): Believers can be saved.
Tantei Xeno to Nanatsu Satsujin Misshitsu (Kyoichi Nanatsuki): I'm pretty shrewd when it comes to most things.
Marry Grave (Hidenori Yamaji): I can't really think of anything fitting.
Zettai Karen Children (Takashi Shiina): "There's an error in your system, please install the software indicated below."
Aaozakura Bouei daigakkou monogatari (Hikaru Nikaido): Me, me. (TN- Nikaido is probably referring to a phone scam where a stranger calls in claiming "it's me!" to people to come off as familiar and thus get money from unsuspecting callers.)
Hatsukoi Zombie (Ryou Minenami): When I tell myself "I can't drink anymore."
Saike Matashitemo (Tsubasa Fukuchi): I don't believe the words of people who I don't believe in. (Lol)
Youkai Giga (Satsuki Satou): I don't believe in words themselves.
Tokaichi Hitoribocchi Nouen (Yuuji Yokoyama): The phrase "something or other" comes off as shady to me.

A lot of these are pretty straightforward in all honesty. Yagyuu's is probably the most relatable to me, as is Shiina's. Minenami continues to concern me slightly, hah. I mean they're handing in manuscripts okay, but why does it feel like something else is lurking under that surface....


This week's Sunday gal Ayane Kinoshita, who according to the description on these pages was recently scouted so could we be witnessing the very start of a new career? Ms. Kinoshita was born Feburary 2nd 2000 in Tokyo, and her hobbies include Balloon art, swimming and Yoga. She's going to be in an "Ultraman" series soon so look out for her!


Some new VA's and somewhat familiar faces are going to be in the Karakuri Circus anime soon! Wow, I sort of remember these characters from my manga read and if they're advertising them now the anime is really speeding through things....in any case, Minsha Ri-yan will be voiced b Yoshino Nanjo, Chan fon Ri-yan will be voiced by Katsuhisa Houki, Bai Jin will be voiced by Toshio Furukawa, and Bai In by Tomokazu Seki. Admittedly I've fallen behind on Karakuri Circus because it's hard for me to remember it streaming on Amazon. Hopefully I can fix this soon...



In this season of new anime announcements, I guess a small vain part of me hoped that it would be Sunday's turn for big news, but but sadly this is just a spread for Maoujo's 9th volume hitting stores November 16th. It's a cute color page that I like quite a bit, and it's not really Sunday's fault we're not getting anime announcements, but it still feels bad man. Ah, but lets not focus on what could have been when there's something right here to enjoy. 



In short this entire chapter was a thinly veiled "Zero's tea time" parody, and I have to wonder if Kumanomata simply has really good timing or if they discussed this with the Shogakukan editorial department since this came at an issue where there was no Conan at all. Either way it's great seeing a Maoujo version of Zero, even if he's not nearly as capable as the guy he's supposed to be parodying, hah. Basically this Zero is trying to assassinate the Demon King a mission that seems to be jeopardized when the Princess catches on to him. Except he's just being overly paranoid and she doesn't really know anything --it just comes off that way with her actions. Eventually Not! Zero convinces himself that the Princess is actually on his side and calls off the hit --for now. Nice to know that even this many chapters in Maoujo still knows how to be hilarious in new ways.  




The action doesn't let up in this week's chapter of 5 minutes! Fukuda's kind of settled into this groove of punctuating action scenes with bits of intrigue and tragedy, and the series is better for it. This time around the idea that the Buddha's simply chose today to attack is dispelled, and it's suggested they've been around for more than 100 years. Though of course leads to several more questions --where did they come from, why are they attacking, why now --etc. Though the drama comes from Kadzuki (above) stating her opposition to Yamato's choice to protect the lab until the analysis of the Buddha remains is done. She doesn't think he can change the future anyway. It's implied by their conversation --when Yamato asks if she doesn't want to return to their peaceful days before this tragedy that there's something in her past she's not interested in seeing again as she says she's been happy now of all times. She's decided to leave their happy party behind and go with her son, and now the mission is to protect the lab at all costs for 3 hours. If Fukuda is choosing to focus on this story line I'm assuming a big shake up is coming --it'd make sense at this juncture too as the series is now reaching half a year of serialization. (Time really flies doesn't it?) 



I'm split on my feelings for this week's chapter of Komi, on one hand Oda (not that one)'s art was probably the best it's ever been....I've always been one to say that a good way to judge an artist's ability is how well they draw their characters crying, and Oda (not that one) has really shown he's got the chops for that (as seen below.) And the chapter is as Komi usually happens to be --very cute and moving, but I feel like keeping us in the dark for so long and then seemingly resolving it so quickly may have been a misstep. Still, Najimi somehow gathering everyone to track down Rei and bring her back to Komi safe and sound was pretty dang impressive and hilarious to boot. Though yes, Rei's reluctance to get close to anyone comes from her moving around so much that by the time she's able to form bonds with anyone she's on the move again. This is why she was so resistant to feeling close to Komi or anyone. Though she's resolved this, what the heart wants and what it needs are often two different things, no? All it takes is Komi asking if she's ever hated any of the people she's met to get the waterworks going and...


As I said above the artistry on that page is downright incredible. I dunno what it is but I always feel like the ability to emote is easy to fake and hard to master. It comes off (at least to me) that some artists are afraid of dirtying up their characters so the emotions come off as somewhat sterilized to keep that from happening. Yet when we cry we look terrible, even if it's happy tears. Being able to convey that in a drawing without being overwrought is a talent not many have and I'm glad to say Oda (not that one) has it. Again, I do feel like things were resolved a little too quickly (one more chapter would have been good, but from the preview at the end of this installment it sounds like this particular story-line is over.)  As we were in the dark for a while without indication of anything, but it's a minor quibble in the scheme of things. Otherwise this was a great chapter and part of the reason why Komi is such a big part of this magazine. 




Be Blues knows exactly what it wants and goes for it with a goal kick right down the middle! This game has been going on for a little while in the story, but even if you're just jumping in for a quick glance Like me. There's still a lot for the eyes to feast on in the above pages. Tanaka's got an eye for composition that most brings out what the focal point is in a page without slowing down the pacing of a match or cluttering a page mostly with SFX placement and angled perception that portrays movement. Doubling up on a character like seen above is a great way to really demonstrate this, as well as Tanaka's gusto in drawing every body in action with startling detail. Pages aren't cluttered but they aren't threadbare either which is really what a good sports manga should strive for. 



Daiku no Hato proves it's perseverance --the little series which has sunk it's fish hooks into Sunday and won't let go despite sales dictating it should seems to have picked up a second wind with this week's events. For one thing I'm glad to see Nagiko back in the story again, though it's a bit of a shame that she's been regaled to off screen development, but to be fair this has always been Minato's story, even if Kusaba has had a weird way of showing that. She's out at sea while he's in Tokyo visiting his mother as the two reminisce over the father/husband who's no longer with them. Although Minato only went into seafaring to be with the girl he fell in love with, the fact that he's in essence doing what his father did until he died isn't lost on him. 


He makes a decision to join a fishery course, and seems pretty determined about it, but in the end he's hesitant, even as the cut off for deciding what he wants to do has come. It feels akin to the existence of this manga in the magazine in a small way --where I'm not sure if it'll be around from one day to the next simply because of it's sales (or lack thereof). For now at least it does feel like Kusaba has been granted a reprieve, but for how long?



Coming fresh from Webry is Nao Kasai's manga "Naisho no Kyoko-neesan" or "Big Sis Kyoko's secret". According to the color page above it's a big deal on the site, so that's why it's appearing in the main mag. Though you might be more interested in knowing "what is this manga about" and "why should I read it?" I actually did read this a while before it was announced to run in the main magazine so I have a pretty good grip on what it's about and it can be summed up like this. Kyoko Shinonome is a "sukeban" which typically a female leader of a gang of girls, so you'd expect her to be tough as nails and she is! Except when her little brother Ayumu is involved --see she becomes a bowl of pudding whenever he's around and it's because she can't help but get sucked up by his adorableness. To her credit, Ayumu is seriously adorable. He's innocent, clumsy, and most of all totally thinks his sister is the coolest. In another manga the roles (and genders) would be reversed and this wouldn't really stand out at all, but I think it works well here because Kyoko isn't accidentally a sukeban, --she really really wants to be seen as a tough customer and is good at it as long as one doesn't bring up Ayumu.



It helps too that in her own way she's adorable in how far she goes to protect and support her brother. Granted it does somewhat play into a double standard --this probably wouldn't be nearly as endearing if it were a guy being this fervent for a girl, but again I think Kasai does a good job of keeping things light hearted mainly because Ayumu isn't put off by his sister's antics too much --in fact he wants to get strong enough to protect her. Really the fact that they're both sort of idiots keeps this from veering off into a too strange direction, hah. Kyoko does want to tell him off for even dreaming of being stronger than her after she chases off some bullies as seen above (she even gets stronger watching her brother flail about adorably.) but he's just so earnest that she ends up cheering him on instead much to her chagrin. 


Naisho no Kyoko-neesan isn't going to revolutionize anything and that's fine. The artwork is serviceable for what it's doing, and the premise isn't unique but does something new with a an old concept that makes it worth reading. It's up on Webry if you wanna give it a read (in Japanese of course, sadly.) But I think Kyoko's expressions of pure delight are worth a few chapters (for free!)


This series came out of nowhere (I think?) and is as bizarre as it is surprising. Have a gander at Ugebeso Hatsumaru's Hamuhamu-kun! Igai above thinks he's pretty cool, calm and collected so he should totally stand a chance in asking the coolest, calmest and most collected girl in class --Yuhara out on a date, right? Well his friend kind of did the deed for him, and Yuhara asks the dreaded question. "Who's Igai?" shattering his self perception into pieces. (His friend who seems to be a bit of an airhead) tries to cheer him up by stating she didn't know who he was either, and when he asked if she likes him, she replies with a big no, but says she doesn't hate him either.  He then concludes Yuhara isn't interested in men, and Igai's heart is broken twice in two pages. Poor dude. He ends up accessing a sketchy site in desperation, but thinks better of it and forgets about it..



Until a weird guy shows up at his house and offers him a Hamuhamu-kun for free. A Hamuhamu-kun apparently can heal wounded hearts, by absorbing one's emotions and feeling them as well --in the most obnoxious way possible. Hamuhamu feeds off of Igai's feelings and cries about it's own girl troubles which...doesn't help Igai feel any better about his own situation at all, hah. In the end he's the one to cheer up Hamuhamu and even give it some lip balm since it's lips are chapped. The cost of this "service" is so high that Igai is in an entirely different pain than before but hey, he forgot about his love issues didn't he --and he even made a new friend, sorta! Yeah, this was bizarre but admittedly kind of funny, plus it managed to do a bit with a short run-time which is pretty impressive. I can't really get a read on Hatsumaru with it however....maybe another work or will help me figure out whether they're a talent or need a little more time. 



In all honesty, I don't think anyone really expected Edelweiss and Dialog to have a sudden twist ending that no one expected. Natsuki comes to cheer Aika on at the very last minute...by telling her to screw up, and another cast mate to take off his costume so he can take over. As Aika struggles on stage to remember the lines she struggled with for so long Natsuki reflects on how the girl --the Aika he's known was always crying. That's why he tried to cheer her up as a child --and while he got embarrassed in regards to acting as he grew up --she pursued it. It was all meaningless to him so he stopped, yet it meant the world to her. 


So upon finding a letter addressed to him from her a letter where she said she wants to meet him again up on stage, it stirs him to once again take up the past time he had once neglected. I touched upon this a little bit before, but I really do think (and this is an opinion, not a fact), that Jiki is saying not all things that are meaningful have purpose, and not all purposeful things have meaning. Natsuki thinking that acting has no meaning (and in a sense he's right), and thus giving it up for things that have substantive value but deny him a sense of personal fulfillment, while Aika pursues something that doesn't have meaning in hopes of gaining personal fulfillment from it despite her own limitations really drives this point home. On the level of simple character interaction one wouldn't be remiss to think this is because she fell for him at first sight, but I really do think their character arcs are in sync because they are in a broad sense what the other is seeking. (On a side note, I love the quasi fish-eye lens focus Jiki went with above --it almost literally makes the page pop.) 


You'd think that'd be it for this short story, but then Aika  says she wants to take this act on the road with Natsuki. Though even that can be chalked up to creating a sense of comradire between the two which could be left up to our imaginations but Shougakukan suggests you  (or well, the Japanese audience) could make that next story a reality if they vote for it! As I thought when this was announced to be the first of several short serializations, it seems Shougakukan is being inventive and rather than throwing out serials that might fail, or one shots that might not be able to convey enough information, they're using short serials to test the waters and then asking fans to tell them what they would like to see in the magazine afterward. I think it's an interesting idea as it gives an artist experience with serials without investing in too much page space, and a blueprint for audiences who want to know what to expect from a work. It's just a weird idea for this particular series since I really do feel like the ending was fine as is, and I don't see how Jiki could expand on it much more without changing a lot which defeats the purpose of this. Still, Shougakukan paving the way forward is a look I very much agree with. Not to mention I kind of do the same thing on this blog! On that note, let's go to...



The final "obligatory" chapter of Chrono Magia: Infinity Gear. The artwork was really grand this week around, and I feel like Azuma has finally gotten a handle on what he's going for in that regard. It felt like he was trying to meld his work on "Denpa Kyoshi" with something closer to what you'd expect from the Kakegurui series, and it's had mixed results in my opinion. This week he just ditches the Denpa and goes straight for Kakegurui and that works a lot better. Though what about the plot? 



So I was right about one thing --it seems the girl "Karin" is the mascot of Chrono Magia since this girl with the same appearance as the one from Dosei's series has the same name, though her personality is a smidgen different. Though the important thing here is when she and Kei combine they don't become Captain Planet, rather Kei is granted the ability to use Magia, and thus is able to participate in the series maguffin at long last! It's with Karin's help he's easily able to defeat his opponent, and the implications of what he can do now really dawn on him. 


See that childlike smile? But no, all joking aside, I'm still kind of disappointed this went from something pretty unique to something pretty....ordinary at least in the scheme of card game media. I guess the gender bendering brings something new to the table, and what Karin gets out of the deal hasn't been explained....I kind of get the idea that she doesn't exist on the same plane as "reality" as indicated by the "aura"' around her in background art like above. So maybe she gets to be on this plane of existence when she combines with him? Hm, I dunno but her deal isn't touched upon much, and I feel like that'll be what makes or breaks this series in the end. I'll be keeping my eye on it, but in the interest of the blog, I'm actually considering breaking away from the idea of "constant coverage", though I'm not quite sure what form that'll take at the moment. In any case Chrono Magia will be around from time to time, so no worries if you are enjoying it. 


And that's it for the features of this week's issue! Next week we've got color pages for not one, not two, but four series! Major 2nd will take the lead color page and cover, Tonikaku Cawaii, Megumi, and switch will all take regular pages, and Birdmen will be around for it's monthly chapter. There's not much time until the number turns and we're in the first issue of 2019, and that's exciting as it means new serializations are likely! Though I'm pretty happy with the current line up so it's definetly a weird place for me to be. As always, I appreciate you all coming to visit! See ya!

Comments

  1. Hello,

    Keen regular follower of the blog (good job by the way, even though I am a fan of sport series... ; )) and the topic on mangahelpers (even though I don't comment and that one would probably be my only one : )).

    I always wanted to ask a question and now that I read the "news" about "Edelweiss an dialogue" being the firt of a series of short manga test-chapters, I can't even less resist to ask that question:

    So, if I'm not wrong, "Komi-san" was part of the competition called "grand prize" (or something like that) in which diverse one-shots weekly "compete" and it became a serie because it won that competition, right? So, if yes, why in hell didn't shogakukan reitarate that experience (maybe I have missed it but I don't think so). I mean, isn't it silly to not repeat what has been able to produce your last commercial hit? I mean, I know that there is no secret formula, but even Jump with the recent failures of the last "golden cup winners" continue to do it. So I really don't understand why would it a problem for Sunday. Or, should we understand that nobody sends their projects to Sunday anymore?

    Sorry for the long question and good job once again man! (sorry for my strange English, but I am far from being a native speaker)

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    Replies
    1. Well...the thing is they *have* been doing that. They don't always publish them in the magazine but they run oneshot contests all of the time. You're kind of forgetting that while Jump does Golden cup, not all of those translate into serializations, and even when they do that doesn't necessarily mean they're successful. Sunday's been running oneshots from authors. Just because they don't have a fancy "golden" name attached to them doesn't mean these oneshots aren't being done --you have to keep in mind as well that Jump just has stronger brand presence so any oneshot run there has higher visibility then that of Sunday. I don't reature those much (but I guess maybe I should?) but Sunday does have advertisements and participants in their own oneshot contests. Comparing it to jump is a misnomer for several reasons, really. In fact they ran a few from their contests, and two didn't take off while one --RYOKO went on extended hiatus. As you said there's no rhyme or reason as to what will be a success --and you also seem to have discounted that Komi's author Tomohito Oda has had a oneshot *and* a series before Komi so people already knew him compared to a new artist which helped a bit.

      Thanks for commenting, and sorry I can't really cover sports series other than once in a while, but I'm glad you came! Hope to see you again!

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