I could start this section by remarking on how the Shogakukan powers that be have got to be monitoring my blog to seemingly know exactly when I'm about to finish the new serialization write-ups to announce several more, as the evidence supports my claim. Though it's also just as likely that there's a less tin-hat theory in that these rounds move in patterns and I'm always caught in the middle of them. Either way, it's more for me to do and you to read.
This is another case of a rookie that's been hanging out in the hallways of Shogakukan for a long while before finally getting a shot in the main magazine. Was their premiere worth the wait or still half-baked? Let's take a look.
The Author
UFO Nomura
Their pen name aside --I'm assuming it's a pen name unless their parents are aliens with a weird sense of humor; there's not much known about Nomura-sensei. The first work I found was via the Shogakukan rookies competition (the 86th to be exact), held in 2020. Nomura-sensei was 25 years old at the time, which would make them around 30 now. As is usual with these competitions, a panel of veteran mangaka rated their entry. For the 86th contest, it was Mitsuru Adachi, Rumiko Takahashi, Gosho Aoyama, and Kenjiro Hata. So, the usual group. As an aside, they'll advertise other veterans acting as judges, but I rarely see them actually show up on sites. Granted, the aforementioned names are titans to the point that having them as judges is prestige enough, but I'd love commentary from other veterans. Though, in fairness, they do have them separated by demographic, and judges for Seinen works are top names such as Inio Asano, Kengo Hanazawa, and Shinichi Ishizuka.
So, before we see what the vets say, let's take a look at the one-shot ourselves. The title is Akairo Utsuri, or "Red-Colored Transferrence," the meaning of which will become clear as we proceed. Also worth noting is that this 86th contest had honorable mentions from other WSS artists such as Yuzuo Batou (Rock A Rock) and Chigusa Ichihara (Shite no Hana) as well. It was quite the bumper crop!
From UFO Nomura's work, which received an honorable mention.
The frontispiece makes it clear how clean UFO Nomura's artwork is. Perhaps because they are a little older, they've been drawing for much longer and thus have a better understanding of what they're seeking in their artwork, but from this one-shot alone it's clear they're already on the precipice of being ready for serialization.
Those familiar with Yuuki Domoto's I Want to End this Love Game will find a lot of similarities in this one-shot. The protagonist is the sort of guy who doesn't emote much, which ostracizes him from his friends. He's settled into the idea of being alone; however, a girl, Ayumi makes it her mission to get him to show a little emotion by bothering him constantly and turning it into a game, where she wins if she can get him to feel things. She does so by tickling him or acting out cheesy lines from a TV show, both of which don't work. It's only when she shows embarrassment after trying so hard that he starts to respond with a red blush of his own (hence the transference of the red color, get it?) The only thing is Ayumi doesn't understand that it's the cuteness of her trying so hard that's working rather than what she's doing.
Eventually she gets him invited to lunch with other kids. While they remark that his lack of emotion makes it hard to understand what he's thinking, Ayumi quickly stands up for him and says she completely understands him, which gets him choked up to a point that he laughs to keep from crying. The one-shot then ends with Ayumi requesting that he doesn't show this side of himself to anyone but her, and they both blush.
Akairo Utsuri isn't setting out to reinvent the wheel or do anything innovative. No, it's just cute, and in its seventeen-page run, it creates a charming scenario out of its two characters. I'm a big proponent of getting in and out as effectively as one can with one-shots, and this one does that wonderfully. Nomura's clean artwork helps seal the deal in its emotiveness. It's cute when it needs to be and straightforward otherwise. The other judges agreed in their assessment as well, in fact, Adachi said it might have been too straightforward and that he would have liked a twist or two in the storytelling. In fact, you could sum up the critique as "Good, but needed a little more meat on its bones." Takahashi remarked that the storytelling was a bit heavy-handed, but Ayumi clicks as a protagonist. Aoyama echoed this in saying that he enjoyed the rom-com elements, but the story went by too fast, so he wasn't able to absorb it. Though he liked the ending where the protagonist "complains" about how he isn't sure how to make his expressions go back to normal. Hata concluded by echoing that he liked the romantic aspect, but Nomura showed their hand too soon by having the protagonist blush so early in the one-shot, and that it was clear they wanted to highlight other things in the story, so the balance got tossed around.
I personally think the straightforwardness of the one-shot is a strength, but yeah, a few more pages of exposition and maybe keeping the protagonist's feelings under wraps until the end might have left more of an impression. After that, Nomura would participate in the Sunday Battle 8 campaign in which artists draw an eight-page story based on a theme (for their entry, the theme was "Hero or brave") in 2021 with a one-shot entitled Maou Taiji, Shitenai hou "Those who have not defeated the demon king". About a cowardly hero and a mage who gets off on heroism.
Fro Maou Taiji, Shitenai Hou
Their next one-shot, Komainu Komako no Okinawa kenshuu, actually ran in the main Shonen Sunday magazine in issue #51 back in 2021. We covered it in our thread here. A quick overview for those who haven't read the thread it's about a protective deity named Komako who kind of sucks at her job of protecting people in sunny Okinawa but does her best regardless. Personally speaking? I would have loved to see this get a serialization, as I thought it had a lot going for itself (Nomura's artwork really lends itself well to exorcism manga, as we'll see in Musai no Shoukanshi) and the character interactions were fun too. Alas.
Nomura would go back to the 8-page battle tournaments with their next work Kettou Gohan (Battle Meal), which is about a lonely girl with an intense aura and her caretaker, who finds that the girl like most kids, is just a picky eater (as in, she wants five-star meals).
In 2022, Nomura would return to beast girlfaiures with Ookami shisho no deshi hanare (The Wolf Master separates from her student). This one combines slight rom-com bits with a supernatural bent as the wolf master doesn't want her student to leave (even if that would be the best for him) due to her crush on him so she puts him through a test, hoping he'll fail. He passes because she really is just that good a teacher, ironically, leaving her to realize he's as bad at love as she is when he doesn't at all pick up on her feelings.
From Buddy Dilemma (left) and Hito no Ane wo Osu na (right)
This feels like the point where Nomura figured out they have something with their romance angle, as they started including it in all of their one-shots from this point forward. Both of their follow-ups in 2022, Buddy Dilemma and Hito no Ane o Osu na (Don't Stan Someone's Sister), feature it extensively as the first is about a female hitman who realizes she has the hots for her co-worker, and the other (another Sunday Battle 8 candidate) is about a well-to-do lady who thinks her butler would be better off supporting her sister and feels she's mature enough to handle him leaving, but the truth is she's still a kid with a crush and would hate to see him leave. These one-shots all have a very obvious connective sinew, so the more interesting thing here is Nomura's artwork and how it has evolved, becoming cuter and bolder at the same time as they attempt more two-page spreads and dynamic lighting as well as angling. Don't get me wrong, none of these reinvent the wheel, but it's intriguing to see their slow build over five years through taking on shorts and one-shots opposed to jumping in on a serial and seeing where that goes instead. I wouldn't be surprised if holding off on a series was due to editorial influence as well, but I think it's interesting to note that it took five years to go from one end to the other. Nomura's last Sunday Battle 8 entry was Deshi no hitotsu oboe (The one thing a disciple must remember) in 2023, which circles back to exorcism and is light on the romance between a newbie exorcist and a battle-hardened veteran. While it's very different from what Musai no Shoukanshi would end up being, it does have some similarities in execution and characters that probably went into its creation. Though it did lead into a later one-shot which ran in Weekly Shonen Sunday #45 in 2023, entitled "Kaijoya-san no Migidonari" which had a bit more romance in it.
From Deshi no Hitotsu oboe
From Kaijoya-san no Migidonari
Yet again, this is a one-shot I would have liked to see a serialization of. While Nomura's preference is romance, and I think overall they're decent at including them in their overall series narratives, I feel like their best work is in their battle manga, and I swear that's not just because I prefer that genre. Perhaps it's because battle manga require a certain amount of flair that Nomura gets more mileage per flight when they do them. Throughout this write-up, it's been clear to see that their color work and battle manga have so much more of a vibe than their straightforward romance one-shots.
But enough preamble; we're here to summon a serialization. Let's dig in.
The Serial
Musai no Shoukanshi
Starting in issue #31 of Weekly Shonen Sunday is UFO Nomura's first long-term serial, Musai no Shoukanshi (The Talentless Summoner). The blurb on the introductory page is "He who cannot summon summons the strongest."
The Premise
The setting is a world where people who use rings to summon creatures to fight alongside them are the norm. Yukimi Touno is the daughter of a fire summoner family who can summon many beasts at once, and with her fire powers, she's no slouch herself. Meanwhile, Minato Minase is physically powerful as he puts himself through strenuous training, but when it comes to summoning, well...he sucks. He can't even take down a slime.
Despite that he's ridiculously optimistic and strives to be a top summoner despite being from an ordinary family and having zero talent for summoning. Even his master, who saved him after phantom beasts killed his family, while believing he has talent for the sword, thinks he should give up on being a summoner. Yikes. Still Minato's optimism doesn't bend and even after wrecking the sword his master gave him as a gift, his first thought is to give it a proper sendoff rather than give up on summoning. Though it's in the remains of that sword he finds a strange ring-like object and upon putting it on finds he's summoned trouble...
That ring he found? Was the sleeping place for an ancient (possibly) evil spirit named Azami, who's been watching him from inside the ring within the sword and tells him the truth he likely doesn't want to hear --he's hit his peak physically. Any more training will be fruitless as far as becoming a summoner like Yukimi. Azami instead proposes a contract, she'll give him power if he gives her his heart. Minato's not about that of course and figures he can think of a loophole around his limitations, but soon he and Yukimi find themselves in a do-or-die situation with a phantom beast, and to save his childhood friend's life, Minato has no choice but to take Azami up on her offer.
Azami hijacks his body and easily destroys the phantom beast, but then comes the little matter of her payment. Minato's fully prepared to give her his heart, but little does he know she didn't mean that in the literal sense; it's more like, vibes, man. Rather, she meant it in the sense of owning his romantic life?
See, as mentioned earlier, Azami's been watching Minato for ages now, including all of his pathetic attempts to chase after Yukimi. While I think he was more aiming for this from an angle of admiration, Azami's like "Dude, just date already." She notes that as Yukimi became a stronger summoner, the gap between their abilities and emotions grew even wider and now they're at a point where they can't even talk the same way they did as children. So by using her abilities, Azami promises she can put Minato in a better place with her, both emotionally and hopefully romantically (it's a bonus she gets to fool around with a girl as well). Though, see that kiss up there? Azami did that to heal Yukimi's wounds, but she now looks at Minato with disdain and treats him like a pervert. Azami can make him more powerful, but at what price?
Nomura had us all in the first half, not going to lie, and Shogakukan was in on it. No, nowhere in the preliminary press releases was it hinted at all that Musai no Shoukanshi would be a quasi-rom-com. It's only afterward that both Nomura and Shogakukan then added that genre tag to the series description. So if you were reading this real time like I was you'd think it was another exorcism battle manga. Not to say that it isn't of course, but the love triangle being added to the mix right at the end of chapter one was a masterful misdirection for those not familiar with Nomura's game. Does it work in this case? Sort of. Due to the nature of this being a first chapter opposed to a oneshot I tihnk there's enough character development and interactions in the chapter to make the eventual genre reveal work on a narrative level. It helps too that Minato's baseless optimism and Azami's wish not for revenge against those who sealed her away, but to push her OTP (and get a little bit of yuri time on the side) is both ridiculous and kind of relatable. She's also the most interesting character by far in the sense that the audience (and Minato) know nothing about her aside from her purely impure motives and that she's wickedly powerful. So on a conceptual level, Musai no Shoukanshi has a lot going for itself.
Azami admits all she wants is to squee over her OTP.
After the reveal, the series settles into more of a typical shonen exorcism manga vibe where Minato realizes just having power isn't enough if he doesn't know how to use it, and while Azami's motivations seem simple enough, he doesn't actually know anything about her—something that's just as foreboding, if not more so than if she were flat-out evil. There's a reason why she was sealed away, right? Though at least for now, she's more interested in Minato's love life than whatever happened in her past. At this point, the series is around eleven chapters with more characters and scenarios being introduced (including the subplot that Yukimi, despite her standoffishness, might actually like Minato back!). But does she like him, or the thing that's slowly changing him?
It's not what it looks like, I swear.
The Japanese Connection.
There aren't too many Japanese comments for this series, but the comments on webry's site trend positive. Ironically, many people were hesitant to read the series due to the original premise. As in, it sounded like another generic exorcism manga, but upon trying it and finding out that it's much more lighthearted and funny and is essentially a fantasy-action-rom-com, were much more open to the work overall. I personally love the comments that refer to Azami as a "cooler big sister" rather than a love rival, as that's fitting. I still think, and she's more or less said she's down for some action too, but she is ultimately doing this for Minato. There's also a lot more discussion of the series itself than other works where it comes down to usually "I like this and will buy it" or "This sucks, and anyone who reads it probably sucks too." That all said, there are quite a few comments who say they're not fond of the idea of Azami using Minato's body to jumpstart romance even if it's for his own good, and that the series might be better if it took itself a little more seriously. For the former, I can't say it bothers me that much, but I can see how it'd give others the ick, and for the latter...well, I think if it became too serious a manga, it'd lose a bit of that "sundayness." On a more official front, there hasn't been another color page since the second chapter, and the series has been polling quite badly (it's been in the bottom five for the last three or four issues), which doesn't bode well for it despite the positive online reception. As of this writing, volume one's release date hasn't been revealed, but I assume it'll be out in November, as there are more than enough chapters for a volume release, so we'll have to wait until then to see if the positive reception will drum up sales for the series or if it's doomed on arrival.
As an aside, one commenter said the series title isn't very good. I think the name itself was created as part of the surprise reveal at the end of chapter one, but overall? Yeah, now that the plot has revealed itself, it doesn't seem quite as fitting anymore since summoning is taking a backseat to the rom-com antics.
The Verdict
Musai no Shoukanshi wears its Sunday best right out of the gate. In a magazine where series take on multiple genres at once, it fits right in as being a fantasy-action-rom-com. It's a distillation of the path that Nomura-sensei has taken over five years of working on one-shots and short stories to get published, and it's easy to see what their preferences are in storytelling and artwork. It's still very early in its run, and thus it's hard to tell at this moment if it can shoulder its self-imposed burdens while maintaining it's light and fun exterior. I do believe that from what it's shown so far, it's a work worth keeping an eye on for fantasy fans, rom-com fans, and action fans alike, but that's only if it doesn't get too lost in trying to be everything to find what it does well. For now, however, it's undeniable that it's one of the most fun series in the magazine right now, and UFO Nomura is a talent that Weekly Shonen Sunday should be grateful to have in its pages. With artwork that is as stylish as it is cute and very likable characters, I think the series has what it takes to summon an audience that'll hopefully stay long-term as volumes come out.
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