Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump [2011] - Discussion and TOC Talk - Part 1

[BBB Banana]

I can't belive such a cool gintama cover

I as a gintama fan am always unsatisfacted with its covers but this one is pretty awesom

 

[Zeltrax]

2 new series at once is never a good thing imo.
Its either one of them getting butcher or both.
I hope that at least it lasts long.

 

[raDar]

That's what now, the 6th and 7th new series this year?

 

[Jaymie]

WSJ's strategy is to keep flinging new series at the wall until they stick. Enigma and Magico stuck, but everything else fell to the floor, so they're just going to keep trying again. I don't think they care if new series end up cannibalizing each other. WSJ is sort of a survival of the fittest type of magazine.

Two new series means that another series is a goner. Most likely Grimm. And there's a reeeeally good chance that one of those new series is a soccer manga (which would be... the fifth one in a row?).

 

[Negative Syndicate]

2 new series at once is never a good thing imo.
Its either one of them getting butcher or both.
I hope that at least it lasts long.

I think this is good strategies; it is good to keep mangakas in survival.

Magazine and Sunday have too many ongoing series and they just keep adding more new series without ending anything. It is not good just giving chance to mangakas.

Two new series means that another series is a goner. Most likely Grimm. And there's a reeeeally good chance that one of those new series is a soccer manga (which would be... the fifth one in a row?).

I also think Hokenshitsu has a chance to end because based on recent chapter, it looks like the author is trying to wrap up the story. It is good to add new sport series; but this time, I hope they put different sport genre (other than soccer).

 

[ZayCon]

I'll go into hibernation for 15-17 weeks (the time it usually takes for a new manga to end) if one of the new series is a soccer manga. We've had enough of it. Soccer in manga isn't as interesting as other sports, because it's so damn normal. Would be cool to have a really good soccer manga though, but evidently nobody manages to make one.

End of "soccer-manga-rage".

Gintama cover was really cool. I don't really look forward to the new series anymore. It's been so many bad ones, and they're all ended before reaching 20 chapters. With Enigma and Magico as exceptions for now of course.

The worst with series ending this early is that the Edited Manga/translation is never finished, so I end up with an unfinished manga (which I really hate).

 

[susanoo13]

About WSM I can certainly see your point as the magazine has about 32 mangas right now which is rather insane although the prints per magazine is about half as that of WSJ which kinda leads to the question where does the budget to pay the mangaka and all other things comes from?

About WSS to say that they have to many mangas I wouldn't be so sure - right now they stand on 25 IIRC and one is always absent or at least it has been so in the last 10 issues and they did end series as same as the new 4 series that got there in this year plus they just ended Defense Devil which makes room for another manga, in relation to circulation which is about 80% of that of WSM the amount of series is about similar, but here the one which make less sense as possible is WSJ which has more circulation than both magazines combined yet fewer series than both which makes a bit of questions come to mind.

It's understandable that in order to consume as little resources as possible even if the circulation is growing very fast there shouldn't be more series since that would consume instead of a little more paper - a lot more paper since every series is printed the number of times the magazine is printed which is extra money that might not be a good investment in the short run if the series is not a hit and there is extra wage to mangaka but I think that's probably their chump change.

It seems as though we can compare the state in WSJ somewhat to the capitalistic method that you are free to succeed and free to fall as high or as low as possible it seems and although I have no basis whatsoever to that I would guess that WSM is somewhat like a cooperative which divides is money more equally or else I don't see how does magazine or even company (Kodansha which has many magazines) sustains itself.

How do you think it would affect WSJ if it increased it's series number to 25 instead of 21 and what do you think it would indicate?

 

[Kaiten]

Yeah,i know it's been for long,it started somewhere after the Kakuzu/Hidan arc.He cut the pagenumber down to 17 for some reason and now he's having trouble managing even that.It's just that it geels rather odd.

You are partially right.I remember reading somewhere,maybe even in Bakuman,that you have to somehow manage this and that it's one of the challenges of being a weekly manga-ka.But i also remember that once,Kishimoto extended the amount of chapters in volume 43 from 11 to 13,because he felt that it had a better conclusion this way.It ended up costing more and he even apologized,but it was still possible.So i guess,if you are as influential as Kishimoto,Oda or Togashi,you will be allowed to do stuff like that.I don't know for sure either...

I believe volume 43 had extra chapters so the entire Sasuke/Itachi fight would fit, for continuities sake.

2 new series at once is never a good thing imo.
Its either one of them getting butcher or both.
I hope that at least it lasts long.

New series are usually added in consecutive issues. Every once in a while they only add one series but it is usually done in consecutive issues. With the new volumes coming out, I suspect Hunter x Hunter will be added in issue 32.

That's what now, the 6th and 7th new series this year?

There are typically three new series per quarter. Sometimes two, sometimes four, but typically three. Jump normally adds twelve series a year, on average.

 

[Kubukurin]

Last year, 8 series started, only one sourvive (Enigma).
Two years ago, 14 series started. Only 4 survived (Kuroko, Beelze, Medaka, Shinigami).
Tree years ago, 13 series started, 5 series surived (Psyren, Mago, Toriko, Bakuman, Inumaru).

 

[juUnior]

I'm too lazy to go and figure out when exactly he went from 19 to 17, but it seems he's been enjoying this 'privilege' (or not, idk) for a long time. Maybe he's just more comfortable with that format.

Yeah,i know it's been for long,it started somewhere after the Kakuzu/Hidan arc.He cut the pagenumber down to 17 for some reason and now he's having trouble managing even that.It's just that it geels rather odd.

Its chapter 286, I won't forget that number never ever!!!!!! I mean, around that time I was the only one on pl board who commented on this.. back in the day I was really mad at Kishi that he pull 2 pages down count, wrrr

 

[BBB Banana]

About WSM I can certainly see your point as the magazine has about 32 mangas right now which is rather insane although the prints per magazine is about half as that of WSJ which kinda leads to the question where does the budget to pay the mangaka and all other things comes from?

About WSS to say that they have to many mangas I wouldn't be so sure - right now they stand on 25 IIRC and one is always absent or at least it has been so in the last 10 issues and they did end series as same as the new 4 series that got there in this year plus they just ended Defense Devil which makes room for another manga, in relation to circulation which is about 80% of that of WSM the amount of series is about similar, but here the one which make less sense as possible is WSJ which has more circulation than both magazines combined yet fewer series than both which makes a bit of questions come to mind.

It's understandable that in order to consume as little resources as possible even if the circulation is growing very fast there shouldn't be more series since that would consume instead of a little more paper - a lot more paper since every series is printed the number of times the magazine is printed which is extra money that might not be a good investment in the short run if the series is not a hit and there is extra wage to mangaka but I think that's probably their chump change.

It seems as though we can compare the state in WSJ somewhat to the capitalistic method that you are free to succeed and free to fall as high or as low as possible it seems and although I have no basis whatsoever to that I would guess that WSM is somewhat like a cooperative which divides is money more equally or else I don't see how does magazine or even company (Kodansha which has many magazines) sustains itself.

How do you think it would affect WSJ if it increased it's series number to 25 instead of 21 and what do you think it would indicate?

WSJ's golden age already passed so that probably makes them more greedy and scared than other magazines... they must be afraid o losing even more buyers.

 

[xi0]

I wouldn't mind a Baseball manga. When was the last one? Over Time? I can't recall any other ones in WSJ. I agree on having something other than Soccer though.

Full disclosure, I'm not really a big sports manga fan anyways, but it's obvious that a really good sports series has a better chance to survive in this magazine than yet ANOTHER battle or adventure series.

 

[Kaiten]

WSJ's golden age already passed so that probably makes them more greedy and scared than other magazines... they must be afraid o losing even more buyers.

Not quite. WSJ maintains a more ruthless business model than the competition, closer to how a European or American conglomerate is run. Jumps model is an assembly line: series are given at least a quarter to preform, if they do not poll well they are canceled, and a new series is always ready to replace it. Tankobon sales can not save new series, as evidenced by all of the series canceled after a year (Samurai Usagi, Yushagaki, etc) as the first two volumes of a series rarely sell enough to justify ignoring the polls. Adding more pages per anthology would not change their business model.

While Jump does not have half the circulation of the golden era, that is because the golden era was actually a bubble. Six million copies a week was illusory, at the height of DBZ they were notorious printed more magazines than they could sell. The competition has too, which is why the market has been correcting itself the last fifteen years. And don't forget that a serious recession began in the late 90's, and Japan has yet to fully recover. Jump's business model has ensured that they are the only major magazine with rising circulation. Despite looking more reasonable, Magazine and Sunday are in free fall. Not only are magazine sales dropping fast, neither has any major hits. They have popular series but with the exception of Conan, nothing that compares to Reborn or Gintama, let alone Bleach. Jump is in the position of power right now, and nothing indicates the other magazines will catch up. Truth be told, the days of magazine anthologies are probably ending. If tradition did not die hard they would end. Tankobon sales are as robust as ever, higher than the supposed golden age of the 90's. Interest in manga remains high, it's the format that fans seem to be abandoning.

 

[Mr. Prince]

I wouldn't mind a Baseball manga. When was the last one? Over Time? I can't recall any other ones in WSJ. I agree on having something other than Soccer though.

Yupp, and that was like... middle of 2006. Same year when Mr. Fullswing ended, which was another great Baseball series. Personally, I'm quite the sucker for Baseball manga and I've been demanding one in JUMP for the last 1.5 years (especially ever since most direct competitors, i.e. MAJOR and Cross Game ended in 2010), so that wish is definitely seconded on my end!

 

[xi0]

Yupp, and that was like... middle of 2006. Same year when Mr. Fullswing ended, which was another great Baseball series. Personally, I'm quite the sucker for Baseball manga and I've been demanding one in JUMP for the last 1.5 years (especially ever since most direct competitors, i.e. MAJOR and Cross Game ended in 2010), so that wish is definitely seconded on my end!

Yeah, I definitely enjoyed Over Time too, much more so than Amano's more recent WSJ effort, Akaboshi, before moving over to SQ. Akaboshi was pretty to look at, but it was nearly impossible to follow and introduced way too many characters way too fast.

 

[k-dom]

Tankobon sales are as robust as ever, higher than the supposed golden age of the 90's. Interest in manga remains high, it's the format that fans seem to be abandoning.

What about the web in all that ? Is there something like korean naver in Japan ?
Even if Sasaki twitts he prefers paper, not everyone can afford 60 volumes series on his bookshelves. I think digital medium can be ideal for manga and comics in general

 

[perroloco]

If they want a soccer manga then just bring back Captain Tsubasa back to WSJ!! Ok, I know that wouldn't work, the style is just too old-school.. Mmmm... Maybe a different artist retelling Captain Tsubasa? Or Takahashi-Sensei (Tsubasa mangaka) as the writer of a new soccer manga with an artist.

 

[Kaiten]

What about the web in all that ? Is there something like korean naver in Japan ?
Even if Sasaki twitts he prefers paper, not everyone can afford 60 volumes series on his bookshelves. I think digital medium can be ideal for manga and comics in general

Depends on the publisher. Jump does not offer much in the way of webservice, from what I have seen. Shogakukan has Web Sunday, Square/Enix has Gangan Online. The model hasn't been fully adopted, not like in Korea.

Remember: publishers do not make much money off magazines. Jump costs less than 250 yen (about $3.00) an issue, with advertising profit built into that price. Costs are cut wherever possible; magazines use newsprint quality paper and ink. The publishers turn a profit off tankobon sales. Tankobon aren't exactly expensive, volumes of Jump Comics cost 410 yen (about $5.00) each. Western editions are more expensive than their Japanese counterpart.

 

[Jaiden82]

Yay! New series in back to back issues. Let's see if they can make it to 100 chapters. wait that's too much let's say 50.

And there's a reeeeally good chance that one of those new series is a soccer manga (which would be... the fifth one in a row?).

God I hope not. If one of the new series is a sports manga I hope its not another soccer manga but another sport.

New series are usually added in consecutive issues. Every once in a while they only add one series but it is usually done in consecutive issues. With the new volumes coming out, I suspect Hunter x Hunter will be added in issue 32.

Let's hope so.

Last year, 8 series started, only one sourvive (Enigma).
Two years ago, 14 series started. Only 4 survived (Kuroko, Beelze, Medaka, Shinigami).
Tree years ago, 13 series started, 5 series surived (Psyren, Mago, Toriko, Bakuman, Inumaru).

Oh Psyren how I miss you.

 

[MattC302]

The next Jump sports manga should be about rock climbing. Like Kokou no Hito except more focused on the sport and not the psychology.