Manga Mavericks

[VLordGTZ]

Episode 2 of Movie Mavericks is now out!  In this episode, LumRanmaYasha, Colton, and I talk about the recent US screening of One Piece Film: Gold.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I just saw the recent episode.

What do you mean we hate everything? No, we hate you!

But seriously, I have a friend who likes Beelzebub, but I really don't. It's always been a divisive series. There's something about the way Tamura writes action that completely falls flat for me, and his comedy doesn't even make me crack a smile. Even the one shot his new series is based on really did nothing for me. The new series might surprise me (and it's almost certainly getting added to NA Jump) but I'm not anticipating it all that much.

Your assessment of Food Wars is pretty dead on. Not much actually happened last year outside of Erina's development and Soma's match with Hayama. But the problem with the latter was the fact that most people thought it was much too obvious what the result would be from the get go. Thankfully, ever since the end of the match the series has been back doing what it does best. The rankings shooting back up apparently reflect that.

Of the newest licenses, I'm most eager for Dragon Half. I never thought that would ever get licensed. Seven Seas doesn't usually license anything I care about, but they knocked it out of the park this time. I was very impressed. Hopefully they get more old Dragon Magazine stuff in the future.

Now for the discussion:

As for the future of Jump, that comparison of Bleach to Kimetsu no Yaiba feels like backhanded compliment until you think about it for a bit. Bleach didn't really start off with a bang in popularity, it slowly grew from the quality of the early stories and snowballed into being a huge deal around the time Soul Society hit. Kimetsu no Yaiba started slow with only a few (like me) really enjoying it until around the time the Drum House arc hit. It's been getting a lot of attention on social media recently, too. We're lucky it started when it did, since it might not have gotten the push had it been serialized in more competitive years than 2016 when everything was ending.

While Jump's 2016 could be considered a letdown, we did get Promised Neverland and Kimetsu no Yaiba out of it, which are two of the best series in the magazine. And Yuna is a high seller, too. Compare this to 2013, where the only series that lasted was World Trigger (which is on hiatus) and it seems far better in retrospect.

The six new series is indicative of one of two things. Either they are disappointed with what has been running recently, or they really believe in these new series. Now, the latter doesn't mean much when stuff like Lady Justice and Erobot get put out there, but the fact that three are from established talent of high selling properties Jump has had in the past probably leans more to the former. I'm sure its about sales primarily.

Straighten Up ended primarily because the sales were stagnant. Every time a new volume came out it sold about 17,000-18,000 and didn't budge. It wasn't growing despite Jump giving it many chances, and there's no anime for it. So they probably told the author and he planned his ending out already.

Hinomaru Zumou is almost certainly ending this year for the same reason. Sales have been flat, despite it being really well liked, and it doesn't look like it'll get an anime either. The story has apparently been heading to an obvious conclusion for a while, so I doubt anyone will be upset when it ends. It's been running about as long as MHA, too: almost three years. That's about average for a successful series.

Gintama is almost done, and I'm fairly certain Samon will not live out this year. As for the new series, I don't know what will live, but I'm fairly confident the three new series by the vets will last through the year if only for Jump hoping for lightning to strike.

To be honest, Samon is the series I get the least. It sells barely any better than Straighten Up, its ranks have been rather middling for a long time, and its been given a lot of chances. There's no buzz around it, and the initial pop it got from fans has faded away. I'm sort of surprised Straighten Up ended first since at least that would have the whole dance trend thing to get popularity off of. All Samon has is one throwaway comment from back when it started that the director of School Rumble, Gintama, and Sakamoto, wanted to make an anime of it. If that's all that's keeping it alive, well, that's pretty silly.

The other bottom four: Amalgam of Distortion, Spring Weapon No. 1, Ole Golazo, and Demon's Plan, if they're not canceled here will not live out the year. I only feel sorry for Golazo. It really doesn't deserve the Buddy Strike and Tokyo Wonder Boys treatment like this. If anything, they could move it to Jump+ and give it a shot. Word of mouth has been good, and it would be a shame to lose out on a series that never had a chance to do anything to improve.

Nothing else I see being canceled unless there's a sudden dip in quality or popularity.

Kimetsu no Yaiba survived as long as it has based on good rankings, but the sales for the first volume were really low. It was around the time of volume 3 that it started to turn around with even higher rankings and second printings on the first two volumes. Now its being talked about by Yoshihiro Togashi and the creator of Takagi (that prank series) and being spread about more. I see 2017 as Kimetsu's blow up year. It's only a shame Viz didn't jump in.

Promised Neverland had a pretty good debut and good rankings. The first volume did about the same as Kimetsu is currently doing, but volume 2 launched to even better sales. Like Kimetsu, I expect 2017 to be the year it reaches critical mass.

Yuna still gets surprisingly good sales and ranks decently. Unless either drop off, I expect this to remain the principle romance manga in Jump. There's always one and, unfortunately for We Never Learn, will probably remain that way.

Now for more established series:

One Piece will be canceled due to lack of sales and Oda giving up. Right. He already has 2017 planned out as going through about three different arcs. It's not going anywhere. Business as usual.

Haikyu is on fire right now. I expect season 4 of the anime by year's end. It's not going anywhere. Like One Piece I expect it to do business as usual.

My Hero Academia should have a big boost from the anime (even more if its split cour) and the OVAs its currently getting. It's also really popular overseas. If anything, especially entering a new arc, I expect it to climb higher.

Food Wars has been bouncing back. 2016 saw a bit of a dip in sales and popularity, but its been reversing that trend since 2017 started. I'm still under the impression that the series only has about two big arcs left (I still consider the current team battle part of the current arc) but I do think it will continue into 2018. Its also Jump's fourth highest consistent seller. Unless it continues falling, I expect it to stay.

World Trigger is a hard one to pin down. You could use the hiatus against it, but that wouldn't wash as it has been on hiatus before. Before it went on hiatus its last chapter ranking was at #1 (for the first time ever) and it's one of the few series where sales increased after the anime ended. It will certainly go on, but will it change magazines to a more monthly schedule? That's the question. I honestly don't know.

Black Clover is in its make or break year. It's getting an anime from Pierrot which will probably have tons of filler and run 50 episodes at the least, which will give it a lot of momentum. Tabata needs to take advantage and make this the best year of the manga so far. If he doesn't then the anime can only go so far. And when it ends, so might Black Clover. We'll see, but I think 2017 will be its most important year so far.

Saiki K. is in an interesting position. It has a second season coming (probably when the Gintama anime ends) which means it is safe for a while, but the anime really raised awareness of the series worldwide. Sales have been steady, but they are poised to break out again if the second season is even better. This is why I'm kind of hoping the second season moves away from shorts (given that I don't think there are enough chapters) and tries to thread them together like older comedy anime did. It could be the kick in the pants it needs to really hit critical mass popularity. And I also want to say that I'm utterly surprised Funimation not only licensed this, but dubbed it as well. That really helped give it attention in NA. Also, Jerry Jewell is Saiki and Chuck Huber is his dad. How can you not enjoy that?

So yeah, Jump is in an interesting spot for 2017. I can't wait to see exactly what will happen with each of these series.

Oh, and not related to Jump, I hope this is the year Souboutei Must Be Destroyed beaks out. It's selling really well, but absolutely no one is talking about it. Even it can keep up its quality and score some attention somehow, that can only improve its chances to get licensed and hopefully get an anime. Fujita deserves at least that much.

Good podcast again. Can't wait to hear you guys talk survey results!

[VLordGTZ]

Saiki K. is in an interesting position. It has a second season coming (probably when the Gintama anime ends) which means it is safe for a while, but the anime really raised awareness of the series worldwide. Sales have been steady, but they are poised to break out again if the second season is even better. This is why I'm kind of hoping the second season moves away from shorts (given that I don't think there are enough chapters) and tries to thread them together like older comedy anime did. It could be the kick in the pants it needs to really hit critical mass popularity. And I also want to say that I'm utterly surprised Funimation not only licensed this, but dubbed it as well. That really helped give it attention in NA. Also, Jerry Jewell is Saiki and Chuck Huber is his dad. How can you not enjoy that?

Season 1 adapted up to around chapter 123, though they skipped a few chapters and had some filler shorts.  The manga currently has 230 chapters, so there should be enough material by the time the anime comes out.  While it would be interesting to see J.C Staff/EGG Firm attempt a threaded narrative, I doubt it will happen since Season 2 will probably have the same release format as the previous season (shorts on weekday mornings with the compilation eps in a late-night slot each week). 

I was surprised when Funimation announced that they were going to dub Saiki, but I'm really glad that they did.  The show really benefits from a dub due to the how fast-paced the dialogue is, and I love Jerry Jewell's performance as Saiki.  I'm happy that the series has been so well received over here.  I remember when the anime initially came out, a lot of people were very lukewarm to it but then it gained a large audience over time.  On MAL alone, it shot up from a 6.0 to an 8.5 in average rating.  I really wish Viz would release the manga (at least digitally) over here, but considering the track record for gag manga in the US, I doubt it will happen. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Looks like they put up their survey results podcast.

I think most of my votes were the majority but it's hard to remember. Wow, you totally got me. The gerbil comment was me. 

Josh was a good guest even if I disagreed with him a bunch. Disagreement is good since it allows you to reflect on your opinions. I look forward to him returning.

Love Rush was alright. I wasn't a fan of the harem elements, and I thought the side characters were boring, but when they focused on the main three characters it was enjoyable. To address the elephant in the room, I'm pretty sure Yuna is the reason it didn't make it since it siphoned off many of the votes it would have gotten. I'm pretty sure that's why We Never Learn won't make it.

But I see you guys are going to be doing an episode on Weekly Shonen Sunday soon. There's a lot of stuff to cover. There are the works of Rumiko Takahashi, Kazuhiro Fujita, Mitsuru Adachi, Gosho Aoyama, Hiroyuki Nishimori, Takashi Shiina, Takuya Mitsuda, Nobuyuki Anzai, and Yellow Tanabe, and bigger series like Magi, Cyborg 009, or Silver Spoon. Then there are other weird stories like Zatch Bell, Arata, Yakitate Japan's general oddness, and the fact that the official Patlabor manga ran in it.

Also an interesting topic could be why Sunday has dropped so many reader compared to Jump and Shonen Magazine over the years. Looking at the talent above makes it hard to understand why.

And I guess you can tackle why Keijo!!! is even a thing, why it got an anime, and how it has managed to avoid cancellation for so long despite having absolutely no success. That should be an odd conversation.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Randomly stopping back into the forums to unwind. Thanks for the comments on our recent episodes!

I just saw the recent episode.

What do you mean we hate everything? No, we hate you!

As for the future of Jump, that comparison of Bleach to Kimetsu no Yaiba feels like backhanded compliment until you think about it for a bit. Bleach didn't really start off with a bang in popularity, it slowly grew from the quality of the early stories and snowballed into being a huge deal around the time Soul Society hit. Kimetsu no Yaiba started slow with only a few (like me) really enjoying it until around the time the Drum House arc hit. It's been getting a lot of attention on social media recently, too. We're lucky it started when it did, since it might not have gotten the push had it been serialized in more competitive years than 2016 when everything was ending.

Yeah in retrospect it was good that KnY came out so early last year than towards the end where there would've been more new series to compete with. Only downside was that it meant we didn't have a chance to get it added to the NA Jump, but hopefully that will change as it grows in popularity.

While Jump's 2016 could be considered a letdown, we did get Promised Neverland and Kimetsu no Yaiba out of it, which are two of the best series in the magazine. And Yuna is a high seller, too. Compare this to 2013, where the only series that lasted was World Trigger (which is on hiatus) and it seems far better in retrospect.

The six new series is indicative of one of two things. Either they are disappointed with what has been running recently, or they really believe in these new series. Now, the latter doesn't mean much when stuff like Lady Justice and Erobot get put out there, but the fact that three are from established talent of high selling properties Jump has had in the past probably leans more to the former. I'm sure its about sales primarily.

It really is quite remarkable to get three fairly successful series out of a year, considering Jump didn't really have any to come out of 2015. It seems like they're throwing a lot of variety into this current batch of new series, and they're all so different enough from both each other and the rest of the current lineup that it'll be curious to see what sticks.

Hinomaru Zumou is almost certainly ending this year for the same reason. Sales have been flat, despite it being really well liked, and it doesn't look like it'll get an anime either. The story has apparently been heading to an obvious conclusion for a while, so I doubt anyone will be upset when it ends. It's been running about as long as MHA, too: almost three years. That's about average for a successful series.

It's a shame, but at least like SU it seems like it'll reach a natural conclusion that will feel satisfying. A three-year run is quite respectable, I can't complain too much.

To be honest, Samon is the series I get the least. It sells barely any better than Straighten Up, its ranks have been rather middling for a long time, and its been given a lot of chances. There's no buzz around it, and the initial pop it got from fans has faded away. I'm sort of surprised Straighten Up ended first since at least that would have the whole dance trend thing to get popularity off of. All Samon has is one throwaway comment from back when it started that the director of School Rumble, Gintama, and Sakamoto, wanted to make an anime of it. If that's all that's keeping it alive, well, that's pretty silly.

Jump is generally pretty lenient with comedy series when it comes to rankings and sales. I can totally see just the prospect and interest of a potential anime being just enough for them to want to keep it around until it happens unless they have no other choice but to can it.

The other bottom four: Amalgam of Distortion, Spring Weapon No. 1, Ole Golazo, and Demon's Plan, if they're not canceled here will not live out the year. I only feel sorry for Golazo. It really doesn't deserve the Buddy Strike and Tokyo Wonder Boys treatment like this. If anything, they could move it to Jump+ and give it a shot. Word of mouth has been good, and it would be a shame to lose out on a series that never had a chance to do anything to improve.

Yeah, you've pretty much hit them all out of the park, though SW01 hasn't ended quite yet. Hoping Robot X Laserbeam does well since it would be nice to have another sports manga success in Jump. It's been much too long.

World Trigger is a hard one to pin down. You could use the hiatus against it, but that wouldn't wash as it has been on hiatus before. Before it went on hiatus its last chapter ranking was at #1 (for the first time ever) and it's one of the few series where sales increased after the anime ended. It will certainly go on, but will it change magazines to a more monthly schedule? That's the question. I honestly don't know.

There's been rumors circulating recently that volume 18 is being listed as the "final volume." Hopefully that doesn't prove to be the case, but the longer WT stays on hiatus the more I become concerned about Ashihara's well-being. More than the series itself returning, I hope he's okay. He's a talented mangaka and it would be a shame to see him out of commission when his career was only just really starting to take off.

Black Clover is in its make or break year. It's getting an anime from Pierrot which will probably have tons of filler and run 50 episodes at the least, which will give it a lot of momentum. Tabata needs to take advantage and make this the best year of the manga so far. If he doesn't then the anime can only go so far. And when it ends, so might Black Clover. We'll see, but I think 2017 will be its most important year so far.

I don't imagine the anime turning out well, nor the critical reception being great for it, at least in the western fandom. It'll probably help the series sales a bit over in Japan though, which is really all that matters. I don't think it's in any danger. It's been consistently popular from day one and only seems to be picking up more steam, so I can see it going on for a while yet.

Saiki K. is in an interesting position. It has a second season coming (probably when the Gintama anime ends) which means it is safe for a while, but the anime really raised awareness of the series worldwide. Sales have been steady, but they are poised to break out again if the second season is even better. This is why I'm kind of hoping the second season moves away from shorts (given that I don't think there are enough chapters) and tries to thread them together like older comedy anime did. It could be the kick in the pants it needs to really hit critical mass popularity. And I also want to say that I'm utterly surprised Funimation not only licensed this, but dubbed it as well. That really helped give it attention in NA. Also, Jerry Jewell is Saiki and Chuck Huber is his dad. How can you not enjoy that?

The dub is such a joy. Jerry Jewell is amazing as Saiki and the rest of the cast and script are so on-point. I'm really glad that Funi's simuldubbing system helps shows like Saiki get licensed and dubbed when they might not otherwise. The series' increase in visibility and popularity in the U.S. is very satisfying too. Whether or not the second season is more shorts or 22-minute episodes, getting more Saiki anime can only be a good thing imo.

I think most of my votes were the majority but it's hard to remember. Wow, you totally got me. The gerbil comment was me. 

I knew it was you! You'll be happy to know that I've actually drawn it.



Yes. This is a thing now. He will be appearing in titlecards and thumbnails in the future. Though probably redesigned a fair bit (I want to draw him wearing Gintoki's clothes and a backpack fill of old dilapidated GTO volumes spilling out of it.) 

Josh was a good guest even if I disagreed with him a bunch. Disagreement is good since it allows you to reflect on your opinions. I look forward to him returning.

That's good to hear. Cause, Josh Dunham VS. The World, man. I'm going to make that Manga Fight happen this year.   

But I see you guys are going to be doing an episode on Weekly Shonen Sunday soon. There's a lot of stuff to cover. There are the works of Rumiko Takahashi, Kazuhiro Fujita, Mitsuru Adachi, Gosho Aoyama, Hiroyuki Nishimori, Takashi Shiina, Takuya Mitsuda, Nobuyuki Anzai, and Yellow Tanabe, and bigger series like Magi, Cyborg 009, or Silver Spoon. Then there are other weird stories like Zatch Bell, Arata, Yakitate Japan's general oddness, and the fact that the official Patlabor manga ran in it.

Also an interesting topic could be why Sunday has dropped so many reader compared to Jump and Shonen Magazine over the years. Looking at the talent above makes it hard to understand why.

And I guess you can tackle why Keijo!!! is even a thing, why it got an anime, and how it has managed to avoid cancellation for so long despite having absolutely no success. That should be an odd conversation.

Great suggestions! We will be covering as many of those mangaka and series as possible, though the main focus will probably be on modern Shonen Sunday and it's current lineup since that's what Bomber is most familiar with. He definitely has answers for you on the Keijo conundrum, so that'll be a fun conversation for sure. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Colton Jr! I can't believe you actually made that. 

But, yeah, as you can imagine I'm definitely interested in more Shonen Sunday discussion. It has so much potential, so many classics, and yet it is nearly invisible over here and by far the least popular of the big 3 in Japan. I still hold hope that it can regain its footing. Some of the series currently running certainly have the potential for big success.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I found this. Thought you might enjoy it:



EDIT: Bigger version here:

Spoiler

[close]

[LumRanmaYasha]

I've seen that floating around on twitter. It's pretty interesting to see how long most of the Jump series in the last few years have lasted. The only year which didn't produce a single bonafide success since 2010 was 2010 itself, and 2012 was where most of the most successful titles in the last few years and are still running in the magazine came out. Every other year has produced at least one or two successful series, but the takeaway is that it's statistically slim for a new Jump series to actually get off the ground and last more than a year, much less be considered genuinely successful.  It'll be interesting to see which of the recent batch of Jump Starts will have staying power in Jump, if any.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The Shonen Sunday episode ended up being over four hours long and we still didn't get to cover everything we wanted to talk about. Definitely a subject we're going to have to come back to again in the future. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

Imagine if you guys were still doing the NYT top 10.

Can't wait to hear it!

[LumRanmaYasha]

Thanks! In the meantime, the new Movie Mavericks is out! Vlord and I share our thoughts on Sailor Moon: The Promise of the Rose and Yu-Gi-Oh! The Dark Side of Dimensions! Or, as it should've been called Kaiba-Oh! The Daft Seto of Duel-mensions. Because Kaiba is by far the best thing about it. Seriously, watch the movie for his scenes alone.

[LumRanmaYasha]

The next Manga Mavericks should be out on Sunday (which is appropriate, considering), but in the meantime there's another episode of Movie Mavericks to listen to! In which VLord bemoans Zootopia winning the Oscar and rants about why the new GITS movie will be terrible. 

[gunswordfist]

I hope the new Ghost In The Shell is horrible. Fuck that movie.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That was an excellent discussion on Weekly Shonen Sunday! You covered a wide range of subjects.

I liked how all three of you had enthusiasm for Souboutei. It's really good, it's selling really well, and yet no one is translating it. As much as I would appreciate Bomber doing it, it's kind of a shame that he would even have to. Kazuhiro Fujita should be far more well known here and yet he isn't.

But I think that's a case Sunday is suffering from in general. I guess the fact that it doesn't have an identity is part of the problem, but I think you pulled out what its strength is during your discussion. It excels at a slice of life feel and a more lax pace. Even Ushio & Tora back in the day had a lot of slice of life chapters. Flame of Recca had the same. In my opinion, you go to Shonen for action, Magazine for sports, and Sunday for romance (in the other older definition, not necessarily romance series) and Sunday lost a lot of that identity since the 90s. The new editor is doing a great job bringing that feel back judging on the newer series you discussed.

I think this lack of focus is distilled in the entire existence of Keijo to begin with. I saw the sales Bomber was talking about. Keijo sells abysmally, it's critically panned, and yet it lasted 15 volumes and got an anime. But then, why didn't Be Blues get an anime or the same push? It has been around longer, has excellent sales (that are hitting a ceiling), and is critically well-liked. And yet at 25 volumes, it has no anime. Then there's the plummeting popularity of Hayate the Combat Butler-- a series that should have wrapped up years ago. Whoever was in charge of Sunday before the current editor clearly missed many opportunities.

I'm glad to see so many of the older series he mentioned are ending. Zettai Karen Children is incredibly long in the tooth for a story that should have wrapped up ages ago and has such a large drop in sales. Mushibugyo was never actually popular and really lasted too long.

Then there were their business practices which chased away Raiku, discouraged Watase, and sent Anzai away from Shonen as a whole for over half a decade. From what you talked about, Adachi might have had the same issues with his last series. They're obviously better now seeing as they courted older talent, and even capitalized on Dagashi Kashi right out of the gate, and finally put out an online edition of their magazine, but they still have a ways to go to regain the ground they've lost since the '90s. But I'm more hopeful, especially hearing about those newer series.

Saike sounds really interesting. Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies and I really enjoy stories like it, but combining it with JoJo style craziness? Now that sounds like something that should be getting more buzz. Especially considering it's by the guy who wrote Law of Ueki. Glad to see that the sale have been wildly improving with each volume. Hopefully it'll get to the point where it gets an anime. This is the type of series that would really benefit from one.

Also, Sunday has always had a strange relationship with anime. It took until 2015 for Kazuhiro Fujita to actually get a series despite having worked with Sunday for 25 years at the point. Flame of Recca's anime was weak and a hatchet job. And as mentioned, Be Blues still not getting one is baffling. Outside of Takahashi, Sunday has dropped the ball on just about all their popular series and authors with anime. I hope with Dagashi Kashi that they've learned to strike while the iron is hot.

Now if Souboutei doesn't get an anime in the future then I'll really wonder if they've learned anything. It's already their sixth best selling series.

As for my favorites, well, it's pretty obvious. But Kyo Kara Ore Wa! (Today it's my Turn!) is pretty hysterical and easily one of their best series. Such a shame it never got a proper anime either, though the OVA is great.

So if the episode was over four hours long what did you cut? I can just imagine.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Thanks! This may have been my favorite episode of ours to date and I'm glad we were able to talk about as many things about Sunday as we did. I really wanted to talk more about some of it's classic series though so hopefully we'll do a follow-up episode one of these days. Certainly there'll be episodes about certain Sunday manga and authors in the future, particularly Fukuchi and Saike Once Again because Bomber is so passionate about it.

I liked how all three of you had enthusiasm for Souboutei. It's really good, it's selling really well, and yet no one is translating it. As much as I would appreciate Bomber doing it, it's kind of a shame that he would even have to. Kazuhiro Fujita should be far more well known here and yet he isn't.

It's criminal a series as interesting and crazy as Soubotei isn't even being scanlated yet, much less not have an official translation. I seriously hope Bomber does it once Gintama is done or Viz finally looks Fujita's way and decides to license it and U&T.

But I think that's a case Sunday is suffering from in general. I guess the fact that it doesn't have an identity is part of the problem, but I think you pulled out what its strength is during your discussion. It excels at a slice of life feel and a more lax pace. Even Ushio & Tora back in the day had a lot of slice of life chapters. Flame of Recca had the same. In my opinion, you go to Shonen for action, Magazine for sports, and Sunday for romance (in the other older definition, not necessarily romance series) and Sunday lost a lot of that identity since the 90s. The new editor is doing a great job bringing that feel back judging on the newer series you discussed.

I think this lack of focus is distilled in the entire existence of Keijo to begin with. I saw the sales Bomber was talking about. Keijo sells abysmally, it's critically panned, and yet it lasted 15 volumes and got an anime. But then, why didn't Be Blues get an anime or the same push? It has been around longer, has excellent sales (that are hitting a ceiling), and is critically well-liked. And yet at 25 volumes, it has no anime. Then there's the plummeting popularity of Hayate the Combat Butler-- a series that should have wrapped up years ago. Whoever was in charge of Sunday before the current editor clearly missed many opportunities.

I'm glad to see so many of the older series he mentioned are ending. Zettai Karen Children is incredibly long in the tooth for a story that should have wrapped up ages ago and has such a large drop in sales. Mushibugyo was never actually popular and really lasted too long.

Then there were their business practices which chased away Raiku, discouraged Watase, and sent Anzai away from Shonen as a whole for over half a decade. From what you talked about, Adachi might have had the same issues with his last series. They're obviously better now seeing as they courted older talent, and even capitalized on Dagashi Kashi right out of the gate, and finally put out an online edition of their magazine, but they still have a ways to go to regain the ground they've lost since the '90s. But I'm more hopeful, especially hearing about those newer series.

Sunday's definitely going in a much better direction. There are a lot of series that I'm excited to read about and see recapped in Bomber's blog, and with so many old series ending and new series on the horizon I think the overall lineup of the magazine is only going to get stronger. I'm hoping Sunday is finally going to reinvent itself, and if not reclaim it's identity as the "romantic" Shonen magazine then carve out a new niche for itself so that people will have an idea of what it means to be a Shonen Sunday series like they do with Shonen Jump.

Saike sounds really interesting. Groundhog Day is one of my favorite movies and I really enjoy stories like it, but combining it with JoJo style craziness? Now that sounds like something that should be getting more buzz. Especially considering it's by the guy who wrote Law of Ueki. Glad to see that the sale have been wildly improving with each volume. Hopefully it'll get to the point where it gets an anime. This is the type of series that would really benefit from one.

I really do like what I've read of Saike so far. Groundhog Day is also one of my favorite movies and I really like time-travel/re-set stuff in general, but the execution of Saike feels fresh and personal in a way I haven't seen in a while. The first volume is a great self-contained character piece that does well in exploring the kind of depressed, self-depreciating character Saike is and the idea of what you could do if you had the ability to do something over again. Like I said on the podcast, I'm probably going to catch up with the scanlations soon since I'm so into it, and check out Fukuchi's other works since Bomber praises him so highly and they all sound really up my alley.

Also, Sunday has always had a strange relationship with anime. It took until 2015 for Kazuhiro Fujita to actually get a series despite having worked with Sunday for 25 years at the point. Flame of Recca's anime was weak and a hatchet job. And as mentioned, Be Blues still not getting one is baffling. Outside of Takahashi, Sunday has dropped the ball on just about all their popular series and authors with anime. I hope with Dagashi Kashi that they've learned to strike while the iron is hot.

Now if Souboutei doesn't get an anime in the future then I'll really wonder if they've learned anything. It's already their sixth best selling series.

When you think about it, Sunday has only really put effort into getting Takahashi and Adachi series good long-running anime, especially back in the day when those authors had megahits, and neglected a lot of series that could have been big if they had gotten anime and more exposure. I really want to see a lot of the current lineup animated someday, so I'm hoping they jump on them when they get the chance. And hey, if Days can get an anime after running in Magazine for over 8 years, then Be Blues should still have a chance too if Sunday jumps on the opportunity to give it one.

As for my favorites, well, it's pretty obvious. But Kyo Kara Ore Wa! (Today it's my Turn!) is pretty hysterical and easily one of their best series. Such a shame it never got a proper anime either, though the OVA is great.

I've seen you and Dr. E-K talk about KKOW before and it sounds really up my alley. I hope to give it a read and the OVAs a watch one of these days.

Everyone knows what my favorites are, especially considering my username, which is why I didn't bother talking about them on the podcast, lol. I think the only one that I haven't talked about much that would be in my top 10 is Blazing Transfer Student which is one of the best and most hilarious over-the-top parody of shonen tropes imaginable and I loved it. I really need to read more of Shimamoto's works at some point, especially Blue Blazes.

So if the episode was over four hours long what did you cut? I can just imagine.

I edited this episode, and I actually didn't cut out any of our discussion points! If you can't tell what I edited out then that means I must've done my job well. 

Though, I don't know if you listened past the wrap-up, but at the end of the episode I actually included a five-minute blooper reel of some hilarious comments that were made (mostly by Colton) as the episode became longer and went over the four hour mark. They're pretty funny.