Sunday serializations hit like a summer storm, being hard, fast, and unpredictable. I say that, but the formula somehow works out that a new round (or series) is announced just as I finish writing the entry for the last one. Maybe I am the Sunday that I want to see.
We've got another return customer to Sunday this time around with Yutaka! They tick two boxes in being an artist that 1) had a previous series in Weekly Shonen Sunday and 2) had said series licensed in English by Viz Media. Though before we get to that work, we've got a road paved with one-shots and a short serialization to walk through. So lace up your best walking shoes and follow me down the path to Shippo to Gekirin.
The Author
Yutaka
Yutaka-sensei is another of those that (as far as I can tell) was born and raised in the pages of Weekly Shonen Sunday. I dug up their rookie one-shot, which was judged by the likes of Rumiko Takahashi, Mitsuru Adachi, Gosho Aoyama, and Kenjiro Hata as part of the 86th Rookie Awards. Their work entitled Ore ga Hanabi ni kateru toshitara (If I beat those fireworks...) was selected as a representative of the shonen category, and at the time they were 26 years old (the 86th Rookie Awards were held in June 2020, so that'd make them 32 years old now.) from Kanagawa. Let's take a look at the one-shot ourselves before seeing what the masters had to say.
The one-shot has very similar vibes to Futari Bus in that it's about a teenage pair who are clearly into each other, but the walls of pride, awkwardness, and that fear of rejection keep them from being honest, despite subtle (and not so subtle) efforts to the contrary. In this case, however, there's a third party whom the girl, Hana, has feelings for. So the one-shot juggles these very delicate feelings of the protagonist, Asashi; the girl he likes, Hana; and Daichi, the boy she might like just a little bit more. It's undeniable that Asahi and Hana do have feelings for each other, but Asashi quickly figures out that where Hana's heart is, and in the end he encourages her to go after the boy she has a crush on.
Yutaka's pacing and storytelling are the highlight—I feel like these characters (aside from Daichi) are fully realized with relatable thoughts and feelings that are easy to follow (and, for Asahi's case, sympathize with) all within twenty pages. Admittedly, Yutaka's artwork is no frills and straightforward, the kind of artwork you'd see in any shonen magazine (though it does have a mid-2000s vibe), and it doesn't stand out on its own, but I think the story and characters do enough of the heavy lifting that it mitigates the nice but standard artwork and page composition, and still, for a rookie, the presentation is polished and easy to follow.
So what do the vets think? All three praised the artwork and pacing (so I have the same thoughts as manga royalty? Sweet.) Though Adachi said that Daichi was underdeveloped and that he personally wished the story had more of a twist. Takahashi said she enjoyed seeing Asahi's missteps and Hana's feelings, praising that Yutaka builds a great relationship with the reader and has a strong objective sense of their work. Aoyama says the oneshot was basically perfect except he thinks the pacing after it was revealed Hana loves Daichi had been a little snappier. Meanwhile, Hata comments the only thing he'd recommend is Yutaka develop a more distinctive and unique style in both storytelling and artwork. He does add that Yutaka's entry is far past a rookie's, and he looks forward to what they do next.
So, high marks overall. Bodes well for Yutaka's future works!
Left: Yanki Joshi Wa otaku ni Naritai Right: Ame to Koi to Muchi
Yutaka then went on to pen two more one-shots in 2021 (according to the post date on Webry) entitled Yanki Joshi wa otaku ni naritai (The delinquent girl who wants to be an otaku) and Ame to Koi to Muchi (Sweets, Love, and Whips), both of which are rom-coms about a mismatched couple and two people who have more in common than they think. Their art has mostly remained the same (as well as their storytelling), but hey, that just means more of a good thing, right? The first one-shot is, as the title implies, a girl who's a delinquent and meets a boy who's into all things nerdy.
Himeko is a delinquent with a heart of gold, as she's making an attempt to connect with her sister-in-law from her parents' recent remarriage. Said sister is into anime and manga, and she wants to learn more about the culture so that they have things to talk about. So she makes a connection with the nerdiest boy in class and finds she actually enjoys his company. The one-shot has a brisk pacing similar to the aforementioned one, so while Himeko is fleshed out, her male friend isn't so much, and this comes off as the beginning of a longer series rather than a standalone story, but it has its charm. In addition, while the ending isn't the huge twist Adachi might have wanted, I like that it doesn't leap forward to a confession or the two going out right away. These things require time, after all.
The second one-shot is about a student council president, Rio Harimoto, and her vice president, Makoto Tayama, as they run a service to assist students in school. While Rio has her head screwed on straight, Makoto, despite being earnest, makes several rookie mistakes that threaten their reputation. Rio chews him out a bunch, and he asks her to be more stern with him, thinking she's a sadist and he deserves it. The two of them go back and forth about who's a masochist vs sadist to realize that perhaps they've been circling around their true feelings...
Yeah, this one is a little bizarre. Not necessarily in a bad way, but there are some weird logic leaps going on here which stem from the nature of it being a one-shot rather than a longer series, but I also don't know that this could be an entire work on its own. I'm not sure how to feel about it honestly, especially since it sorta just ends rather than the other one-shots that come to organic conclusions. It's the weakest one-shot of the trio we've discussed so far, which I think stems from Yutaka needing a longer format to tell a story. Someone at Shogakukan felt the same way, as their next work was a mini-series rather than a one-shot, which was the perfect length.
Gifu no Prisim (Father-in-law Prisim) was also published in 2021 (Yutaka was really busy that year) and was in three issues of Weekly Shonen Sunday. We reviewed the series on our Twitter account, but the search function is currently broken as of this writing, so to briefly go over this mini-series, the story is about 38-year-old Narihito and his 14-year-old daughter-in-law, Kaname. One of them has dreams of becoming an idol, and it's not who you think! Yes, Narihito, despite his age and being a successful businessman, has dreams of being up on stage, and Kaname is driven to ensure his dreams come true.
The premise is definitely written to be a hook, but it's a great one. It'd have been easy for Yutaka to pen a narrative about how creepy or weird this is, but the idol part of the premise is merely a framing device. Instead, what this mini-series explores is two people who had one person in common (Narihito's wife and Kaname's mother Akari, who passed away) and now are forced to navigate life without them, along with the awkwardness that comes with being in a family of happenstance. Kaname and Narihito are from different generations and worlds connected only by this bizarre, wonderful dream of idoldom, and what comes from this pursuit is a sweet story of a father and daughter bonding. Watching the distance between them close as Narihito navigates the world of idols and Kaname, who at first plays the role of dutiful daughter who's unable to move on past her mother, comes into her own to become fully present in her relationship with her father (she goes from using his name to "dad" by the end of the one-shot even!) is beautifully executed. Yutaka's straightforward artwork and composition come in clutch in that the art doesn't belie the storytelling; rather, it complements it. Having two more chapters to fully explore these characters is exactly what Yutaka needed, as this was their best entry to date and a great transition into their first long-term serial.
Kimi to warui koto ga shitai (I wanna do bad things with you) ran from October 2022 to March 2024 for a total of seven volumes. The story is about a tall but timid girl, Mamori Wataya, and a boy who's the most disliked kid in the school, Soushi Fuji. Fuji is a rule breaker and enlists Wataya in their first prank to drain the school pool, where Mamori, who had been an outcast at school until this point finds that doing bad things is kinda fun and, finding herself drawn to Soushi, continues to do bad as she realizes she's slowly falling in love with him, something Soushi isn't prepared for as he has a complex family life of his own to deal with.
So, let's get this out of the way—the title of the series implies a manga that's far more... "bad" than it actually is. The bad things are mostly harmless pranks. Soushi and Mamori's relationship too isn't toxic or anything salacious; rather, it's the kind of awkward back-and-forth one'd expect from a rom-com manga in the shonen demographic. I don't say this to talk down about the work, just to set up expectations. It is a very cute rom-com, but it harkens back to Adachi's comment regarding Hanabi in that it's very straightforward in every aspect without many twists or detours save for other characters vying for the couple's attention. (There's an implied yuri route, but it's just that, implied.) Yutaka's artwork is constant, and the writing benefits from it having more than a volume to run --I assume it was cancelled rather than ending on Yutaka's terms, but I couldn't say for sure. To sum it up, this series is fine. Nothing's wrong with it overall, but it's easy to read and move on from. Though I'd recommend reading it over on Viz yourself.
So now we've arrived at our destination, Shippo to Gekirin. Let's see what Yutaka's new manga has in store.
The serial
Shippo to Gekirin.
Starting in issue #9 of Weekly Shonen Sunday is Yutaka's second long-term serial Shippo to Gekirin. The title translates to "Tails and Imperial Rage." The blurb describes it as an uneven daily life story between two beastfolk.
The Premise.
Tsukiko is a wolf pup beastfolk whose father recently passed away, leaving her with no guardian. Aki is a dragon beastfolk who was her father's friend in their youth. He's settled into having a fairly normal life among the humans, but now as the only other beastfolk Tsukiko knows, he has reluctantly taken on the responsibility of raising a rambunctious wolf child in a world of humans and all the trials and tribulations that come with it.
After Gifu no Prisim, I think Yutaka's strength is working outside of the rom-com formula. Which is tough for me to say since it's clear they really love creating rom-coms. Yet, from the outset, Shippo to Gekirin shines with something special that their rom-com one-shots and series don't. Tsukiko and Aki are immediately likable, and the setting of the world is intriguing. When I read the initial premise, I figured it'd be a clandestine affair that this sort of series illicit where being discovered to be not-quite-human would become the crux of the story. Though this manga is quick to say that while beast people are rare, they're not totally unheard of, allowing for a breadth of supplementary characters from the beginning. (I personally love Sakurai, a government worker for beastfolk issues, who has an unabashed love for Tsukiko's cuteness despite the latter finding it creepy.) It's a tiny distinction but one that allows for much more interesting character development.
Tsukiko's reaction to Sakurai's love bombing is priceless.
The series begins with what seems to be Tsukiko retelling events from the future as she remarks she was a crybaby both when her father died and when her master (Aki) let her hand go, as well as the first chapter outright saying that Tsukiko is meant to eventually go to school as per her father's wishes so it has both an immediate and far off hook to keep readers engaged. Why do the odd duo split up eventually? How far in the future does this happen? Can a wild wolf be tamed to eventually go to a human school? Aside from being engaging, these central questions provide a sense of grounding to a series that could easily get caught up in a sense of lofty ideas without a sense of direction. In addition, as seen above, Yutaka's artwork is still familiar, as it has been through their other series, but is much more expressive.
There's also a little vibe left over from Gifu no Prism as Aki and Tsukiko are connected by her father, who has passed away, and now have to build a relationship without him. Aki, due to his standoffish nature, has trouble admitting it, but he does miss his friend and, in a way, is jealous of Tsukiko, who wears her emotions on her sleeve, er, fur. In that way, it's easier for her to make friends and gather allies, but from the few chapters that are out of this writing, it's clear Aki has his own network of people even if he has yet to realize it. The most recent chapter has Tsukiko making friends with a high school girl named Touko who is coming into a new life of her own after relying on ballet for her whole life. After an injury takes ballet off the table for her, she realizes she struggles to do things that others take for granted, and through Tsukiko, realizes that doing her best is a lot of work but can be equally as rewarding. It's little relationships like this that make the sinews of a story, parts that can work without one or both of the protagonists.
The Japanese Connection.
Two readers compared this to Yotsuba&! And you know what? I can see it. Most of the other comments praise Aki and Tsukiko's relationship, with many surprised that Aki is a guy. (Not gonna lie I also thought from the promo art and first chapter that he might be a she, but that's not the case.) The praise for the series isn't quite as fervent as, say, Silver Mountain, but it has a small fandom going on, including those who came from I Wanna Do Bad Things with You. One comment mentioned that if Tsukiko were just cute, this'd be an okay series, but it's her earnest and innocent words that resonate with the people around her that will leave positive impressions on readers, along with Aki's gruff, awkward kindness. These are little elements that seem ineffectual at first but grant the series a sense of character that brings people back each week. Some other commentators ask good questions about why the government agency that Sakurai works for hasn't tried to look for Tsukiko's parents, but overall most find the series sweet and hope it becomes an anime at some point. As of writing, Volume One has a scheduled release for July, so hopefully the Japanese fans will turn up and show their support.
The Verdict
Yutaka has had a lightning-fast trajectory in the pages of Sunday, with many of their works coming out in one year. It's only been about two years since their first long-term series ended, and in that time they hadn't drawn any new series, so I wonder if, aside from resting, they were working hard on the premise for Shippo to Gekirin? This is all to say that I think that time away did them a solid, as this manga feels much more polished, more mature than their other series to this point. Shippo to Gekirin is a distillation of all of the great parts of Yutaka's career so far, with strong pacing, endearing characters, and straightforward, easy-to-read panel layouts. Combine that with a sense of awareness and, more importantly, confidence in their storytelling, and you have a series that has taken strong steps toward being a classic Shonen Sunday experience. I do hope Japanese fans show up to support this one, as I too want to see it become an anime and reach a wider audience. Even though we're only at the beginning of this tail, er, tale, the focus on characters who have their struggles but have resigned to do their best despite them while making connections with each other is the kind of story that is not only relatable but also needed in today's modern times, where now more than ever, to struggle is to live.
Comments
Post a Comment