It's that time again, Sunday fans! We're somehow shambling close to the finishing line of another wond, splen, uh, year. Yeah, another year and you know what that means --it's time to look back at Sunday and marvel at (or in some cases lament) the year in passing. Joking aside, it's been an interesting one for WSS. As usual this shouldn't be taken as an exhaustive look at the magazine in 2022, just some of the highlights I found interesting.
2021 saw the last year of editor Ichihara at the helm and a change over to Ooshima. I've already spoken about this at length (and translated a few interviews) so you can check those out for more info. There were some jokes about the uptick in anime and series after Ichihara stepped down, though it was less that people were disappointed with his performance and more that editors just change up every few years to keep things fresh. Still the jokes do have some merit as WSS saw a lot more going on this year than last. Let's start with new serializations:
Serializations starting in the Spring With issue 20
First off we had a spring serialization round which started with Tsubasa Fukuchi's "GOLDEN SPIRAL" in issue 20. In fairness, a few series started in the 2022 fiscal year but the issues actually came out in 2021. (Looking at you Shiroyama, Mikadono, RedBlue, Typhoon Relief, and Last Karte) GOLDEN SPIRAL, Volley Volley, Kono Manga no Heroine wa Morisaki Amane desu, and RomCom Quest all began the 2022 charge proper, and as of now only two remain which are not surprisingly the two by veteran Sunday mangaka --Tsubasa Fukuchi and Nekoguchi. RomCom Quest and Volley Volley ended relatively quickly, with the former finishing up it's run with two volumes, and the latter with three, but the writing was on the wall relatively early for both.
Oneshots on the left, new serializations on the right, starting with issue #43.
Only about 20 issues later around the fall news of five new serials hit the magazine starting with issue #43's Akatsuki Jihen by Chigusa Ichihara (no relation to the editor....I think? What a story it'd be if they were related...) Besides the odd connection these series have with three of them being Chinese themed they represented different genres as far as things go. This is basically the same with the above serializations too --Sunday doesn't pigeonhole itself into one genre, with the above spring serials being action, sports, a RomCom and Amane which is Nekoguchi doing what he does best. Akatsuki Jihen, Vigness Type-3, Souei Sousho, Kowloon jo de mou ichigo, and Kimi to Warui koto ga shitai made their debuts from issue 43-47 and as of this writing all of them are still in the magazine with their first volumes due out in January, so it's hard to tell who'll stick around into 2023 and beyond. So in short if we count the new series that started in 2021 (in 2022 numbered issues) we'd have 15 new series in total. Way up from 2021! Though Sunday's main prerogative has been running oneshots and as seen above that hasn't changed with many new artists hitting the magazine along with fan favorites like Takahiro Arai who's oneshot Juudaime Jounuki Ryoutaro no Kakusei ran in issue #36/37. The note at the end of the oneshot said that he's hard at work on a new serial which hopefully we'll hear more about soon. Though overall? It's nice to see Sunday serializing new works again.
Celebratory Art from Wakabi Asayama (left) and Aya Hirakawa (right)
Shiroyama to Mita-san volume #4 with a TsugiManga ranking (#10) and reccomendation from Akira Kawashima, a Japanese comedian.
Asayama's Last Karte and Hirakawa's Mikadono San shimai wa angai, choroi have been succeeding in their own right, though the latter is moving up the ranks more briskly than the former with 200,000 copies in print. That's not to say that Last Karte is on it's last legs, as while it's not selling as quickly as Mikadono, it's getting steady reprints and some critical acclaim. Megahits like Demon Slayer, One Piece or Jujutsu Kaisen from Jump can skew expectations in what is a hit in the manga world, but one needs to remember they are anomalies, and many manga do not reach those lofty highs. It's much more reasonable to expect little and be pleasntly surprised. Worth noting too is Yuuhei Kusakabe's Shiroyama to Mita-san is also getting steady reprints and reccomendations from famous Japanese comedians. I'm not sure how that's translating to sales, but reprints are a good sign, and crossover with the entertainment world is great press as well.
What comes up must come down, however. A bunch of new series means several met their end. Thus is the cutthroat nature of serializations in weekly (or well, any manga magazine.)
As mentioned earlier, Yomogi Mogi's Typhoon Relief ended, as well as WakabaTao's Volley Volley. More of a landmark however is Motoyuki Tanaka's long-running and well regarded Be Blues also ended this year after 11 years. Be Blues in particular saw many breaks and hiatuses in the transition over to remote work due to COVID so part of me wonders if Tanaka-sensei decided to just cut his losses and end the series since it was a struggle to draw it? I purchased the final volume to see if there was any insight from him on the matter and there wasn't. I wouldn't spoil the ending for fans but it does feel like the kind of conclusion that could be picked up again sometime soon. Though yeah, sports series had it tough with losing so many of them almost back to back. Beyond that Okiraku Boy's Hajime RomCom Ogabebe also ended nearly a year into it's run along with Kakeau Tsukihi by Sei Fukui, Bilocators by Kyousuke Tanabe and of course RomCom Quest by mmk. Eesh, romcoms also had it kinda tough too, huh. Not quite the landmark year of endings as 2021 as most of these were by newer artists and sales never quite picked up to justify their continued serialization ---I say while Daiku no Hato still comfortably remains in the magazine.
As of now there's Zero, Zero in WSS.
On a more surprising note, something Conan related ended! I'll allow you a minute to process this. Done? Okay. I don't think anyone saw the announcement and subsequent conclusion of Zero's Tea Time coming, but it happened and it's hard to tell why. Most sources indicate that this is only the end of part one of the series, but as Arai penned the oneshot mentioned above, I can't help but wonder if maybe he just wanted to write his own stories rather than being Aoyama's quasi-illustrator? I could definitely see Zero's Tea Time return at some point as when the sixth and final(?) volume released there was an initial print of 3.5 million copies in circulation. That's for sure way more than "Zero" and Sunday'd be remiss to leave that spinoff money on the table, especially since it doesn't appear that Aoyama is going to suddenly return to weekly releases of Detective Conan again anytime soon. Though hey, it got an anime on Netflix of all places so perhaps everyone figured it ran its course and decided to let it end with an open-ended "See you soon, maybe" just in case there's a need (or want) to return?
This leads into another more unique category of series that didn't end but moved from Sunday to Shougakukan's (one of many) online magazines Sunday Webry. --Arata Kangatari by Yuu Watase and Soukyuu no Ariadne by Norihiro Yagi. The former of which returned to the magazine after a lengthy hiatus. Sunday, and well, manga magazines in general are no strangers to moving a work to other venues and really I had some inkling that Arata wouldn't stick around in WSS for too long as it always found itself at the back of the magazine and didn't seem to move the needle much in sales, but had a sort of "legacy" status that would keep it from being outright cancelled. Plus, I'd imagine this would allow Watase the schedule they'd need to continue drawing the series. Ariadne on the other hand was a surprise as while there were some signs of issues with the series going on break a little more frequently it didn't seem as if there'd be a reason to move it, especially with Yagi-sensei reportedly moving into the final arc of the story. This leads me to believe that the series was moved mostly to make room for newer serializations than to accommodate a new schedule, but that's a nice fringe benefit too.
Speaking of returning from a lengthy hiatus, Major 2nd returned to the magazine this year after a year or so off. It certainly felt like longer than that, didn't it? Mitsuda-sensei famously said that he didn't expect the hiatus to last too long only to say in his return issue TOC comment that he apologized that it did take a while. The serialization has taken a bi-weekly format, with Shougakukan making it clear there would be breaks to allow Mitsuda-sensei a comfortable schedule. He also revealed that he's more or less drawing the series without assistants and that things would be coming to an end "soon." whether he means the arc or the series isn't entirely clear, though I'd imagine if his medical issues are that extreme that he may want to finish up the series for the fans that have been patient for so long.
So now onto the anime: This year saw a bumper crop of anime adaptations, some we knew going into 2022 and others were the friends we made along the way.
Komi Can't Communicate Season 2 and Call of the Night both aired this year.
Two currently serialized Sunday series that aren't Conan had their anime run and subsequently end this year, and I think both could very well return in the future as their manga both sell well and are highly regarded in the magazine. Call of the Night especially grabbed quite a bit of attention thanks to it's anime, so I can't help but think there will be more as soon as schedules clear up and the dust settles. They also have the advantage of having more than enough material to animate so hopefully we'll hear more soon. Streaming on high profile services like HiDive and Netflix certainly helped as well!
The Conan spinoffs were announced and subsequently aired this year, both opting for short form formats and Netflix exclusivity. Zero's Tea Time is up on the service globally now, with Hanin no Hanzawa-san (or Hanzawa the Criminal) set to make it's worldwide debut February 1, 2023, though it has already completely aired in Japan of this writing. I can't help but think the handling of these series was, well, bizarre. Not only that Detective Conan: Wild Police story also kinda aired too? "Kinda" in the sense that it was interspliced with the TV anime rather than being it's own thing. Which I get, as it was more or less advertising this year's Conan movie: The Bride of Halloween, but I think that having Hanzawa and Zero air in the TV anime's place for a while would have made more sense as the manga is serialized less frequently necessitating the need for anime original material more often anyway. Also opting for short formats for both of these makes them easier to binge but in turn makes them more disposable in my opinion.
Surprise announcements of 2022
The anime above were adaptations that we knew were coming but how about some that were completely out of left field? Ironically right after I completed the roundup for 2021, a new Urusei Yatsura anime was announced! No one can say they saw this one coming and as of writing it's currently airing on Japanese TV and streaming on HiDive. After Yashahime completed airing this year it's onto the next Takahashi thing which gets me wondering if perhaps after Urusei Yatsura completes it's confirmed four cours (Around 48-50 episode) run that we'll start hearing MAO anime rumors coming? It'd make sense to keep the streak going. Aside from that we had another surprise announcement in June that Makoto Hoshino's Tale of the Outcasts would recieve an anime adaption which would later be revealed to air in Winter (January) 2023. So it's not quite upon us yet, but it's weird to think that the series which had a troubled production and was seemingly canceled, well, uh found a way to TV screens. I've always thought that Shougakukan was aggressive in pushing the series but to give it an anime well after it ended wasn't something I saw coming in my wildest dreams. Here's hoping they'll adapt all of it with reasonable pacing and not, y'know try to stuff it into a single cour.
If Conan is King, then Frieren is queen, and the Queen of Sunday will soon be broacast.
In slightly less surprising news, a Frieren: Beyond Journey's End anime was announced this year with an unknown airdate, and as of now no studio attached to it. This was invetible as Frieren came on the scene in 2020 and started taking names almost instantly. Sunday adaptations have a history of being notoriously slow, but you'd have to be crazy to think Shougakukan wouldn't immediately prop up their darling for the world to see. As of this writing all we know is that the anime will air in 2023 but absolutely nothing else. Keep an eye on our twitter for more news as it comes! Aside from Frieren, Tonikaku Cawaii s2 has been confirmed to be airing in 2023 as well as The Duke of Death and His Maid s2. Urusei Yatsura while a split cour production will also likely see it's second half air sometime during the year so it's looking to be a great time to be a Sunday anime fan.
As far as licensing goes, no new series from current WSS got picked up but a few things from other magazines did:
Fan favorite Hidenori Yamaji's current Sunday Super serialization Soara and the House of Monsters got licnesed as well as Kousuke Iijima and Shiori's Cat on the Hero's Lap (Yuusha no Hiza ni wa Neko ga iru) which is a Monthly Shounen Sunday title (better known as Gessan.) were both picked up by Seven Seas Entertainment. The latter has recently ended in Japan, but cat manga are always in vogue, really. Meanwhile having official English language Yamaji is a dream come true. Spriggan is a WSS title that got a Netflix anime this year so seeing the source material being re-released after many years isn't a surprise but welcome either way. Speaking of first timers in English, we also have Arai's adaption of the Les Miserables story which is well, a huge get! The series (which ran in Gessan) has been complete for some time so it's interesting they're getting it just now, but hopefully this will open the door to more Arai work in the future!
But deserving of it's own paragraph is Denpa's get of Mitsuru Adachi's Short Game. My soul left it's body upon hearing this one. Adachi's official English catalog the states is Cross Game and that's it. He's been criminally under appreciated for so long so this was such a delight to see, and I'm buying it come Fall 2023. As it's a short story collection it's a great entryway into Adachi's unique storytelling, and there was some hinting that should it do well perhaps Denpa can get more. Sunday hopefuls, you know what to do, and in case you don't, Get. This. Book.
Last but assuredly not least is of course this. The metaphorical king of things to happen for Shonen Sunday and Jump this year is the legendary interview between Eiichiro Oda and Gosho Aoyama. Aoyama had mentioned some time ago after Detective Conan and One Piece were soon to reach their respective 100th volumes that he'd love to sit down and talk with Oda (yes that one) at some point, and the feeling must have been mutual as it actually happened with tons of advertisements and artwork leading up to the release of this combined covers of legend! It would have been one thing if this were a fluff interview where both authors talked at each other about their works, but the interview went a step further to drop some bombs of it's own; notably that Gosho Aoyama has already drawn the final chapter of Detective Conan and keeps it in his house. It almost feels like it's a "break glass in case of fire" thing, but it makes sense as Aoyama isn't getting any younger and while he enjoys illustrating the pint-sized sleuth's adventures, having an ending prepared will ensure that should he find himself at the wrong side of a culprit's ambition that we're not left hanging. If you want to read the interview, we've got it translated with help from our friends at the WSJ unofficial twitter here and here.
So in ending, 2022 was another great year for WSS and Shougakukan! I thought this would be a pretty simple writeup but it ended up taking about two days to compile and do, haha. My pain is your gain though as the year comes to an end and leaves us in a very good place with a ton of new series, several new anime projects and of course the magazine itself heading into new and exciting territory. We too hope to utilize the blog more in the upcoming year and maybe feature more Sunday manga, so look out for that! What did you think? Give us a shout out here or on the twitter as we love hearing from you. Happy New Year!
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