Now on to a magazine where the TOC largely doesn't matter as much, given the ranking for
Shingeki no Kyojin: Bessatsu Shonen Magazine! As a whole, it was an alright year for the magazine.
Real Account returned from whence it came after vacationing near the bottom quarter of Weekly Shonen Magazine for awhile. Only 7 new series debuted during 2018, but 9 series concluded during the 2018 magazine run including 2 of my favorites:
Aho Girl and the tragic axing of
Kumanishi Bijutsubu Rough Sketch-senpai. Although that's a net loss for the year, the magazine overall still seems to be pretty healthy, as long as Attack on Titan is around.
Let's get to the stats! The most color pages given to a series in 2018 was 4 and that was given to
Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai, which seems like it has been gaining in popularity lately. This was able to beat out
100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru and lovable comedy
Boku no Kanojo wa Saikou desu!, which both had 3 color pages each. The series currently running in BSM must be suck-ups to the editors since 15 managed to have perfect attendance this year!:
Shingeki no Kyojin,
Arslan Senki,
UQ Holder! -Mahou Sensei Negima! 2,
Shougi no Watanabe-kun,
Tomodachi Game,
Happiness,
29-sai Dokushin Chuuken Boukensha no Nichijou,
100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru,
Shourai-teki ni Shindekure,
Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai,
Boku no Kanojo wa Saikou desu!,
Fate/Grand Order: Turas Réalta,
Alicia-san no Diet Quest,
Tenju no Kuni, and
Akamatsu. *takes deep breath* The lowest standard deviation (lower = position in TOC changes less each issue; higher = position in TOC changes more each issue) goes to
Tenju no Kuni in a positive way and
Katsute Kami Datta Kemono-tachi e in a negative way. But considering how well-established series tend to rank low in BSM, I'd say consistently ranking low in this magazine doesn't really mean anything bad. The highest standard deviation goes to gag comedy
Tanzawa Sudachi ga Koko ni Iru.
Looking ahead to 2019, I have heard that the ending for
Shingeki no Kyojin has already been decided! I don't follow the series, but losing this will be a massive blow to BSM, being the equivalent of WSJ losing One Piece but not having anything nearly as successful to replace it with. I'm not sure how far off the ending is, but once it ends, things will be rough. We'll probably lose some of the smaller gag series that run in here, such as Tanzawa, but they will inevitably be replaced with another series of a similar genre and artistic quality. Besides that, perhaps some of the older series may be getting closer to winding down, but that's purely speculation on my part. I'm personally hoping that some of my favorite series continue to grow, especially
Tenju no Kuni,
Boku no Kanojo wa Saikou desu!,
Shourai-teki ni Shindekure,
Alicia-san no Diet Quest, and
Akazukin no Ookami Deshi. I was pretty shocked to see
Araburu Kisetsu no Otomedomo yo receiving an anime adaptation, but that's a pleasant surprise. Hopefully we'll see a
Flying Witch season 2 in our near future, but again, that's just my hopes and dreams talking. Overall, I'm feeling optimistic for BSM's future in 2019 (Attack on Titan's continuing future aside!).
