Shounen Double Arts by Komi Naoshi

[shinigamikender]

Hm, there are so many main characters who are perv-ish. What made Kiri outstanding was exactly that he wasn't this kind of person but literally a 'Mr. Nice Guy' but yet very talented and sympathetic.

Maybe younger teen boys (which is the WSJ audience in Japan) can't stand such characters. Most DArts fans here at MH are older. But any spicing up would have left a whole less impression on me. He was perfect like Komi designed him, simple not suited for the average WSJ audience.

That's actually a good point. There was something in Bakuman just recently about how they focus on votes from younger boys most in the main rankings. So, the fact that DA appealed to an older audience might have been what killed it.

I mean, can you imagine the younger male readers of Jump really digging a series like this? Maybe if it had a more comical aspect to it, but it just doesn't seem like it ever tried to target them.

(And, yes, I for one am totally glad Kiri wasn't a perv. I probably wouldn't have read it if he was.)

 

[segua]

So DA was targeting the wrong audience? Couldn't they have just transferred it to a magazine that had targeted the proper demographics?

 

[Dark Lord Zenigame]

Last title that was moved over to another magazine was Steel Ball Run, and that wasn't for sales reasons. :/

At any rate, I find it harder and harder keeping faith in Jump... they constantly canced stuff that would pretty much be guaranteed to last a full run in any other magazine, all in hopes of "the next big hit"... which has yet to come.

Maybe you could count Toriko, but... blah. Not worth Double Arts getting cancelled. -_-

 

[haya5h1]

Maybe younger teen boys (which is the WSJ audience in Japan) can't stand such characters. Most DArts fans here at MH are older. But any spicing up would have left a whole less impression on me. He was perfect like Komi designed him, simple not suited for the average WSJ audience.

I might get shot for this but I also wonder if lack of appeal to the yaoi fans might have also played a part. Lately I noticed that pretty much all the top Jump series (off the top of my head - Naruto, Bleach, Reborn, Eyeshield, Gintama, OP, D-Gray) have slashable all/mostly male casts and have VERY enthusiastic yaoi fan followers. Add to that the longest-lived 2008-debuted series are Nurarihyon no Mago and Psyren. Nurihyon has already garnered a fairly healthy BL fan following. I haven't seen any for Psyren, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Bringing this back on topic, Double Arts had one unmistakably het and set couple, and another potentially on the way. Hence, no love from the yaoi fans = DOOM.
*GETS SHOT*

 

[eni]

As a yaoi fangirl I can assure you that DArts had much potential

It had already three slashable bishies and more to come. I mean, come one - the bishie bad guy and the smexy teacher was already a given from the first time they showed up


http://xxsaru.deviantart.com/art/Double-Arts-Roxas-and-Axel-93799086



As for Nurari... hm... I can picture some but not really motivating. Psyren? No thanks >.>
Though, it's kinda weird but you could indeed list the WSJ series in nearly the same order when you go by the amount of yaoi doujinshi as well as when you go by the official ranking. Toriko is such a huge exception on this, that I assume editor fingers in the ranks >.>

 

[Imitorar]

One Piece has more yaoi then D. Gray-man? Unless you go with a deliberately reversed interpretation of Sanji and Zoro's rivalry, D. Gray-man totally wins in that department. Though there is apparently a doujinshi series that reinterprets the whole series from a gay Sanji and Zoro perspective, or something like that, but I can't remember the title. I always thought that One Piece had a very low bishie count, due to Oda's drawing style I guess. The closest you get is Ace, and he's a bit old and muscular to be a bishie.

Besides, yaoi fangirls rankings don't matter as much as the rankings of 9-14 year old boys. That's Weekly Jump's primary demographic, as it is the primary demographic of nearly every other shonen magazine, and it's their votes that get the most wait, not that of horny fangirls in their 20's. No offense to anyone in particular... I think Bakuman dealt with that back during the Akamaru Jump arc.

Oh, and about Toriko yaoi... If I EVER see ANYBODY shipping Toriko X Komatsu (or even Toriko X Coco, which makes more sense in the context of the story, not that yaoi fangirls tend to care much about that) I am going to have to kill something. That "80's action manga" art style just doesn't give itself over to yaoi. Not to mention the murder of character...

 

[eni]

Uhm, that goes offtopic now but Imi... believe me, One Piece is one of the shounen with the biggest yaoi fanbase despite the original drawing style (the fangirls draw better anways >.>). I don't even read One Piece but my doujinshi folder for this series is as big as the one for Naruto and DGM.

Here's a One Piece yaoi doujin cover as example:

Spoiler: no worries, it's just sanji

Besides, yaoi fangirls rankings don't matter as much as the rankings of 9-14 year old boys. That's Weekly Jump's primary demographic, as it is the primary demographic of nearly every other shonen magazine, and it's their votes that get the most wait, not that of horny fangirls in their 20's.

Ehm, while you're technically right - it's neither forbidden nor uncommon for girls to buy the WSJ magazine or series tanks. I never looked at the voting cards, so currently I don't know whether there's a field for telling your age and gender but I highly doubt that the WSJ guys make two mountains of cards when they sort them out: Teenie boys to the left, older women to the right?

Though, I agree with you that they're a minority when it comes to this way of voting but that's because I don't think that many older girls would vote per card (I wouldn't bother to do that every week). They're in any case counted in for the tank selling stats and would surely not counted out in the card voting. In the end, the publisher takes what sells and they care very less to whom as long as the money comes in. Both, the mangaka and the publishers are well aware of the 'female fanbase' which doesn't even need to be yaoi. The fanservice they give frequently only proofs that. I like the cannon hetero pairings too, of course.

About Toriko - there's Digimon and Dragonball yaoi so I wouldn't bet too much on it. But yeah, the general characters are (unlike One Piece) not really appealing to girls. At least *I* wouldn't read it unless the doujinshika does a really good job with a different art style.

But... that really is offtopic here ._.

 

[haya5h1]

Totally off topic but to answer the question (and hey it has Double Arts on it) Here's a scan of a weekly "anket" card that I had lying around. It's from the 37-38 issue in which Bakuman premiered.

Spoiler

(translation by me)
They do ask for the gender and age, but people can always lie.

and this is the other side if anyone was interested.

seems to be some kind of Bakuman poll... I don't know if they do this for every new series. I wish I'd saved the one from the Double Arts premiere issue but I didn't think it was important.
(I need to get back to reading Bakuman again, obviously...I wonder if they're doing so well because of the "inside look" they're giving to the mysterious inner workings of Jump.)

As a yaoi fangirl I can assure you that DArts had much potential

It had already three slashable bishies and more to come.

<link cut but duly looked at> THAT'S JUST WRONG.

That "80's action manga" art style just doesn't give itself over to yaoi. Not to mention the murder of character...

LOL the fangirls eat that stuff up. I've seen entire shelves of Hokuto no Ken yaoi in Mandarake.

But back on-topic...whether it was tweenyboys or OLs or jaded salarymen voting, the fact remains that DA vol 1 sold VERY well for a debut series by a first-time mangaka. While at the same time it was down at the back in the weekly magazine. So the question now is whether it was voted there... or whether it was put there.

 

[haya5h1]

Forgot to post these here... *IS SHOT AGAIN*
I scanned the vol 3 "Rough Sketch Collection" at the wrong settings (Komi-sensei's precious handwritten notes got leveled out) I don't have time to re-scan them properly atm but in the meantime, here they are for viewing.

Spoiler

Discarded concepts for Elle's new outfit! She looks like she's 10 years old!

 

[Neji2112]

that's awesome! thanks, haya5h1!

 

[Kioras]

It is kinda weird, i guess the tanks have been pretty well sellers, but the series was sitting in the bottom of the magazine. Probably had to do with demographics. The demographics that liked it didn't bother voting, which is probably older people, but would buy tanks, but the younger teens would less likely buy tanks and more likely to vote in general.

 

[Neji2112]

i just got DA 1-2 for Christmas and i'll probably get volume 3 around march for my birthday. they're freeking awesome! to say the least...lol i love the book covers and the
images underneath the outer covers..lol

 

[Christina Sierra]

Thank you for the sketches, Haya! *--*

Neji, you received a great gift,indeed! ^__^

 

[hlx42s]

I think it's just like Bakuman said
Naruto, One Piece, Bleach and EyeSheild 21 are already a given main stream battle/action-wise manga that appeal to the 51% of the SJ-reader, which happens to be 12-14(?) young boys of Japan.

At the same time, DA is aiming for a cult of 2/10 voters, which in 1000 random votes should be around 200 people selecting DA as one of their top 3 choices...
however, for it be able to run for 6 months straight, means that the cult IS established, but the voting constantly meets a short fall..say 170-180 devoted voters..
and with this kind of grade, SJ decided to cut it off
curse you! lazy japanese cult voters, whom decided that it's too troublesome after few months of voting

DA should've aim for a different publisher
I'd really like it though...maybe some anime studio can adopt it and continue to expand it

 

[segua]

DA should've aim for a different publisher
I'd really like it though...maybe some anime studio can adopt it and continue to expand it

Damn right it should've. Then again, I don't know how that process work. If they do make an anime of DA, I hope that it is appealing that there would be a few seasons. It does have the potential because it ended early just when the plot was going to be deepened, the shroud of mystery around troi and the origins of Gazelle was going to be explored. Also, DA ended right when "Double Arts" was first used! It's so excruciating because I'm sure everyone wanted to see how DA stacked up agaisnt the foe that were to present themselves before Kiri and Elle. Not only that but I'm sure along the way, Fallan's history will be looked at. I wanted to know why he can't protect anyone. Interesting fellow no?

 

[haya5h1]

I'm curious if there were any DA doujinshi at Winter Comiket this year...

 

[njt]

Re: Komi Naoshi Oneshots (latest: Apple WSJ #04-05)

Would anyone be interested in help typesetting Double Arts to release an HQ release from Tank scans?

 

[haya5h1]

Re: Komi Naoshi Oneshots (latest: Apple WSJ #04-05)

Would anyone be interested in help typesetting Double Arts to release an HQ release from Tank scans?

I'd be interested. Got scans?:3

 

[njt]

Re: Komi Naoshi Oneshots (latest: Apple WSJ #04-05)

I'd be interested. Got scans?:3

Indeed :3

Also the new translation to be used too :33

 

[haya5h1]

Awesome. PM me the details. I've already got the omake pages for vols 1-3 done, so that saves some work...

...um, Kiri's not swearing like a sailor in your new translation, is he?=.=;