4 for you. That is, we're up to the fourth new serialization in Weekly Shonen Sunday. This one doesn't stray too far from Hello Work Monsters in that it is another fantasy series, but its execution is worlds different. This series also upholds the tradition for this serialization round of having artists that have already seen the pages of Weekly Shonen Sunday. It is unique however in that it's the first (and only) in this round that has an author and an artist for us to dive into.
The Author
Akihisa Maki
Having an author/artist team is hardly an unusual scenario in the manga world. Where it seems obvious that one person illustrates the manga while the other writes. Maybe because they don't believe their art is up to the story they want to tell, or the editors feel there's an artist who would bring out the best in a writer's story. However, it's much more often that the writer is often an accomplished artist in their own right, and provides storyboards for the artist to interpret in their way. I've been using the word “writer” but a more apt term is “original draft” since again it's likely they're doing much more than writing an idea for someone else to draw. I bring all of this up to say that Akihisa Maki-sensei has an extensive oneshot collection of their own, despite not being credited as artist on Kaiten no Albus. In fact, there's so much here that I'll once again refrain from entire summaries and just briefly touch upon these stories.
(Left: Heel no Susume Right: Gaze Hounds: Miatari Sousakan)
(Left: Isekai de Yuusha tuber yatte mita Right: Stray Cats)
Shiawase Shachiku no Nekoya-san
Three Throw.
No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, there are indeed six oneshots up there. I know what you're probably thinking, as I have the same thought --if they're this prolific, then why not draw the series themselves? No idea, myself, frankly. Especially since Maki-sensei has such a varied pool of work to draw from. From the top, there's Heel no Susume which follows the unlikely pairing of a meek boy and a girl who is practicing to be a wrestling “heel” or play the bad guy role in matches. (Maki-sensei has it on their profile that they love pro wrestling, so this oneshot plays to their interests.)
Then there's Gaze Hounds: Miatari Sousakan which follows a hot-blooded female inspector being transferred to work with a deceivingly laid back partner to cool her head after her exploits in unnecessary roughness go too far. (Note the word “Miatari” means “to seek” so the title would be something like Gaze Hounds: Seeking Investigators.
Gaze Hounds: Miatari Sousakan
Shiawase shachiku no Nekoya-san
Then there's Shiawase shachiku no nekoya-san or “Happy Company Drone Nekoya-san.” Which follows the titular Nekoya a cat sent to a company worker to bring him happiness --except Nekoya's got so many problems that it's his client who's cheering him up. Last but not least is Three Throw, a Basketball one shot that we covered on our twitter where Maki only served as the artist (the shoe is on the other foot) with Number 8 as the person who came up with the original draft. Number 8 has hung around with Shogakukan, writing several works such as Abura and oneshots such as Kairiki which ran in Sunday and even served as writer for the Blue Giant anime film.
All this is to say that Maki-sensei is no one-trick pony, and really could have drawn this series on their own if they wanted to. There isn't a unifying theme in their works --they just go with the flow and write what comes to them, with only Heel no Susume being clearly inspired by their influences. Their artwork is solid, if not almost a throwback to older shonen series, with flashy scenes illustrated in my beloved two-page spreads, and exaggerated character expressions. Truly, I would have loved to see more of their solo work, but that's not to say that Yatsubo-sensei isn't a talented artist in their own right.
The Artist
Miki Yatsubo
Once again, I'm blessed(?) with an artist that has a huge pool of work to sift through. They, too, have mostly contributed to Shogakukan works, though I did manage to root out a contribution to the Boys Love magazine Ikinari Climax! (Sudden Climax) back in 2021.
Ikinari Climax!
They have fewer oneshots at five, so let's look through those as well:
(Left to right: Ryuu to nie no ko & Koroshi no shindou)
(Left to right: Warau kado da yo Fukune-san & Genrui no doukeshi)
Kenka suru hodo tsukisusumu
Taking it from the top, there's Ryuu to Nie no Ko about a young lad who was meant to be sacrificed to a dragon just to end up befriending it. Ultimately, going off on a journey with his new-found family., Koroshi no Shindou on the other hand is a short oneshot about an assassin who assists a family in faking their deaths so they can leave a heartless organization. It's oddly wholesome despite it being about assassins.
Koroshiya no Shindou
Warau kado da yo Fukune-san is a cute story about Ema Fukune who's a girl with a very distinct laugh who can't help but find everything hilarious. Her friend Rei makes it her mission to literally protect her friend's smile.
No matter how embarrassing the situation she finds herself in. This, my dear reader is true friendship.
Next is Genrui no doukeshi which is Yatsubo-sensei's most dire short story in which a young prince asks a clown with fortune-telling abilities to look into his future and tell him what kind of king he'll be. The clown...doesn't have good news, and despite the boy's efforts, the king, and his kingdom still fall into ruin, and the clown continues their existence, a sad specter who loses everyone that they get close to. Last is Kenka Suru hodo tsukisusumu about a pair of friendly rivals who due to their closeness (or despite it) end up fighting over everything, but are deep down good friends.
Pinpointing Yatsubo-sensei's sensibilities is a little easier, as the unifying premise in their works is gorgeous boys in harrowing situations, save for Fukune which is about two girls and Kenka suru which has the pretty boy element, but is a SOL story. Though, due to that, their artwork is splendid. Since many of their works are very short stories, There's a lack of time to really get a handle on their story writing capabilities, which is a shame. Of course, due to the unique relationship of original draft and artist in manga where both can contribute as much or as little as they want, there's a good chance perhaps some decisions in Kaiten no Albus are their own.
Oddly absent from Sunday Webry's site is the first team up between Maki and Yatsubo-sensei Isekai Watari Shinryoujo. Luckily, we've got you handled with the thread containing the Weekly Shonen Sunday issue it ran in. For the sake of time, I'll direct you there for a rundown of the story, but its setting is an interesting precursor for Kaiten no Albus.
Isekai Watari Shinryoujo.
The Serial
Kaiten no Albus.
Starting in issue #25 of Weekly Shonen Sunday is Akihisa Maki and Miki Yatsubo's first long term serial Kaiten no Albus. The original billing for the series was a "Heretical high speed fantasy manga" about the hero Albus who's in a hurry to defeat the demon king.
The Premise
It's hard to tell what to expect from the opening blurb Shogakukan provided. The first chapter itself seems standard enough --the demon king is defeated, and peace is restored to the world. Everyone's happy about this development, except the titular Albus. He won, but not fast enough for his liking. Luckily he has one thing on his side --time, or to be specific, the ability to try again.
Let's step back (see what I did there) a bit and introduce the heroine Fiona Yumilu who's a mage from the countryside hoping to study under the monks in the big city. She radiates this charmingly awkward energy as she practices what she wants to say to the monks outside the castle, right in front of a guard who wonders why this crazy girl is talking to herself. It's this kind of energy that's necessary when it comes to Albus who's well, off kilter to put it politely.
Fiona doesn't get to meet the monks because Albus shows up, plucks her off the street and asks if she'll join his party. Fiona of course thinks he's either insane or an imposter because why would he want to have a party when there's no enemy to defeat? Albus explains he was granted the proof of a hero when he was six years old, took ten years to train, and then locate and challenge the demon king. Obviously he won and that's how we got here, right?
Well, actually.... they lost. Horribly. Albus even died! Though for some reason perhaps due to the power of the hero, he just ka-poofs back to where his journey started, and he's able to try again, and try again he has --35 times. This would be his 36th go around, and in short Albus is trying to find a means to speedrun the journey to the demon king in order to achieve....
Getting home in time before his beloved dog Lucky dies. Oh, uh, no, not just that but to achieve a perfect future. See, in Albus's several journeys every time he manages to pick up the pace and defeat the demon king a little faster, he's still too late for something else. Be it to save people from being killed by the demon king's soldiers, to the king passing away before he can pass down the crown and yes, his dog dying --he's always just a little too late for something so now his mission in life is to beat the demon king in as little time as possible. Though as Fiona points out, if he already managed to do it once, how does he keep looping back? To put it bluntly? He offs himself when he doesn't like his time, which is terrifying.
A lot of the story revolves around Albus's ridiculously high standards. Dude defeated the demon king once and wants to do it faster? Fiona's along for the ride since in Albus's eyes she's got the most potential to become a powerful mage quickly. As of current writing, their party still consists of just them, but the most recent chapter out promises a new character coming in the following installment. Fiona and Albus play off each other well, with Albus wanting to cut through the continent as quickly as humanly possible and Fiona reminding him that people need help. In many ways Albus is almost like an anti-hero in that as much as he wants to do good, he's still incredibly selfish. Like keep in mind this guy has saved the world several times already but restarts just to get a better time which puts people back in the lurch all for his sake. If it weren't for the fact that Albus wants everyone to live and to get to a point where he's preventing the Demon king's attacks, he could easily be written off as unlikable. He skirts that point numerous times throughout, but his ambitions keep him from being completely irredeemable. His ridiculousness is also played with for humor's sake which takes the edge off of what could be a very heavy story.
Yatsubo's artwork is clean and to the point with their prenchant for very cute/pretty character designs leaving a good impression. Fiona especially is adorable in how emotive she is.
Shogakukan has also been pushing the series, giving it a ton of color pages which also shows off Yatsubo's artwork. They claim it's quite popular, but these advertisements are misnomers, since it's not as if they're going to use them to beg people to support a failing series. Still, that it's getting many more color pages than usual is a pretty decent sign overall.
The most recent chapter even has Albus and Fiona arriving at the Demon King's castle (only 4 chapters in!) so perhaps Albus truly has figured out a means to speed run the journey effectively. Of course, I doubt it'll go quite so easily since again it's just the hero and Fiona the mage, but we'll have to see how Maki and Yatsubo-sensei throw a wrench in the works. Like for example, when does Albus have time to do the time honored tradition of grinding levels if he's speedrunning??
The Verdict
Albus occupies a very intriguing space in a shonen magazine, especially the one that runs the gigahit Frieren: Beyond Journey's End with a similar premise in name, and an execution that feels much more akin to a light novel than a shonen manga, Kaiten no Albus is taking a risk in alienating its audience for the sake of going fast. Yet, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, especially with its rival (again in premise only) Hello Work Monsters going in a very different yet much more manga familiar direction. Albus knows what it wants to be, where it wants to go and how quickly it wants to get there in a premiere and subsequent chapters that ooze confidence. Whether this is an intentionally long ride or a woefully short one is to be seen, but without a doubt it'll be anything but boring. More to the point, it's a take on the fantasy series that I don't think Weekly Shonen Sunday has attempted before, and I believe that makes it a journey worth having.
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