Now it's time to discuss Bessatsu Shonen Magazine, in my opinion, it may actually be harder to survive long-term than either Weekly Shonen Jump or Weekly Young Jump. As you can see by Shingeki no Kyojin's positioning, it becomes pretty apparent that BSM's TOCs aren't necessarily an indication of a series popularity. When trying to analyze BSM's 2019 performance, I will at the very least give the editors some credit in that they are certainly not afraid to try shaking things up in pretty radical ways surprisingly frequently. Unless your name is Shingeki no Kyojin, you could pretty much be axed at any random point in time. There were several series that concluded this year that I was originally feeling pretty confident would last at least another year, and I was particularly shocked that Shourai-teki ni Shindekure and Tenju no Kuni didn't end up with some form of anime. Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo both getting a shockingly high quality anime adaptation and hen subsequently ending also caught me a bit off-guard, but mainly by the fact that its anime was usually pretty excellently done.
During 2019, BSM started a whopping 11 new series, and since there were also 2 series that had started in 2018's issue 12, there was certainly never a shortage of young blood in the magazine. However, one of those series was unlucky enough to have been axed right before it could live to see the light of 2020: Toukyou Youhei Kabushikigaisha. Even more surprisingly, there were 12 series that concluded their runs during 2019, plus an additional series that was transferred elsewhere to continue its tale: Akazukin no Ookami Deshi (another one that I thought would've done better than it did). Issues 2, 11 and 12 were the only issues during 2019 that didn't start any new series, while issues 3 and 7 were the only ones where nothing either ended or transferred elsewhere. Maybe it's more common in other magazines that I didn't analyze, but only having 1 issue where something didn't either start or end is pretty crazy to me.
Despite the fact that axes were flying left and right this year, there were still 11 series that managed to score perfect attendance for 2019: Shingeki no Kyojin, Arslan Senki, UQ Holder! -Mahou Sensei Negima! 2, Shougi no Watanabe-kun, Real Account, 29-sai Dokushin Chuuken Boukensha no Nichijou, 100-man no Inochi no Ue ni Ore wa Tatteiru, Sekai ka Kanojo ka Erabenai, Fate/Grand Order: Turas Réalta, Mizu wa Umi ni Mukatte Nagareru, and Aka no Grimoire. It's interesting to note that the majority of these series are at least several years old. As for the winner of the most color pages contest, that honor actually gets split five-ways for the following series which each received 3 color pages during the year: Tomodachi Game, Real Account, Shourai-teki ni Shindekure, Fate/Grand Order: Turas Réalta, and surprisingly Maoh's Unannounced Inspection of the Dungeon. I'm curious to see who'll get this honor next year since 2 of these series are already concluded, and if early volume performance has anything to say about it, I'd be shocked if Maoh lasts another year.
Looking forward into 2020, I am certainly expecting to see just about as many axes hitting the proverbial chopping block as the majority of the new series being released are running into immediate sales troubles. Surprisingly, the majority of series that started their serializations this past year either just barely made it onto the weekly top 500 chart or just completely failed to show up. Several failed to even make it on the daily top 500 list on their first day of sale! As a result, most of the newest series will probably won't make it to the end of the tunnel to see the bright light of 2021. I honestly can't wait to see what's going to happen to BSM once Shingki no Kyojin ends fairly soon. It's going to be a substantially massive hit to the magazine, but I have faith that it'll be able to pull through somehow. I'm not sure how it'll do it, but before BSM finds its next ultra-hit, it first has to find something that can be called a moderate success. Fingers crossed that BSM can finally get some stability in 2020!
