Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump [2019] - Discussion and TOC Talk

[MangAniMY]

In 2000, Nobuhiko Horie left Shueisha and together with financial investments from Hara, Hojo, and Shinchosha, founded Coamix, and worked towards the creation of Weekly Comic Bunch.

Their vision was essentially to create a magazine that's not defined by reader questionnaires. They weren't happy with Jump's policy of leaving the authors at the mercy of readers, and wanted to bring back the practice of older times (basically the days of FotNS, City Hunter) when mangaka and editor had a much closer partnership in the creative process.
On top of that, most of its authors were former (axed) mangaka from Jump, targeting the old Jump readers seeking nostalgia of the 70s and 80s. They even held interviews of popular old Jump mangaka such as Inoue, asking how it felt to see their first series get axed.

They guaranteed a minimum of 20K yen per page for all their serializations, which was a pretty high baseline, and took on the responsibility of providing assistants themselves. They tried recruiting new authors through their New Comer awards with a prize pool of 100 million yen (50M for 1st place), which was far beyond any other manga awards to this day. (1st place for Tezuka award is currently 2M)

Launching a manga magazine at this point in time was pretty much unheard of, let alone a weekly magazine, when the whole magazine business was in free fall and other magazines were closing down left and right.

Yet, they went on an launched Weekly Comic Bunch in 2011 with plenty of anticipation, hoping for their radical(?) approach to shake things up.
Their launch lineup consisted of:

• Angel Heart - spinoff/sequel of City Hunter
• First of Blue Sky - sequel to FotNS
• Nemuri Kyoushiro - adaption of popular novel by Yanagawa Yoshihiro who had two axed series in Jump (Vice, Diamond)
• ReplayJ - based off of Ken Grimwood's novel of the same name by Imaizumi Shinji (Sora no Canvas, Kami-sama wa Southpaw)
• Restore Garage 241 - Tsugihara Ryuji (6 Jump axes)
• Kabushikigaisha Taro-kun - sequel to Jump's Kenritsu Taro-kun by Koseki Kouji
• Turkey Jumkie - Niwano Makoto (THE MOMOTAROH, Bomber Girl series)
• Ruler of the Land - Japanese release of Korea's most popular manhwa, which ended up being the first one to get canned after less than 15 chaps.

Unfortunately, history wasn't too kind to the ambitious magazine. It's hard to even say they managed to stick to their original vision. While it started strong with 500K print in its first year, that number was halved by 2005, and in 2010 the magazine was put to rest at 140K print. (some say it was kept alive thanks to First of North Star's pachinko money).

Its remains were split into Monthly Comic Bunch and Monthly Comic Zenon,

someone brought up coamix...


so, obligatory mention of SMA

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also related

tsukasa hojo is directing a movie

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that is all i wanted to say

 

[Konja9]

Huh, this is honestly really interesting stuff.

Seems Horie, Hara and Hojo's disillusionment with Jump hasn't stopped. Just a few years ago Horie was openly complaining about editorial being too strict with handling of survey's still.

I don't exactly understand what they expect the Jump to do.

The method of the Jump seems to have been successful for the magazine.

 

[Rain Spectre]

So, went and did a very rough summary of the new TPN interview. There's probably some errrors, but it gets across the point more or less.

Spoiler

The interview begins with youth analyst Yohei Harada (the interviewer) explaining that series editor Sugaru Sugita has been a student of his for over a decade, so already we have a sense of familiarity here. Sugita joined Shueisha as an editor shortly after graduating university.

After Sugita gives a recap of the series premise and where it's at, he explains the details of how the series got greenlit. This is largely identical to the MangaPlus interview. Sugita does reinforce though that Jump focuses heavily on new creators over established talent, which is often credited as why the magazine has been able to stay ahead of the game so much.

Now, this is where things get interesting.

Harada and Sugita begin discussing how Neverland's popularity heavily derives from being so "different" to majority of Jump's current roster. It is noted that much of Jump's modern successes are stuff which goes against the public mainstream at the time.

Harada states that, as people age, they become more desensitized to change and tend to prefer some kind of stability, but young people have a keener sense for new things. Sugita proceeds to reveal that, while he was One Piece's editor, Oda revealed that One Piece was something of a deliberate subversion of Dragon Ball through having a vastly more complex story and characters, while Dragon Ball is a manga infamous for its simplicity.

Continuing this train of thought, Sugita says that TPN very specifically choose to focus on the plot more than the characters in order to show itself as unique. Yes, the series character writing was always intentional.

Sugita continues making the OP comparison points by saying that Oda's legendary tendency to seed plot developments in through minor details was an influence on keeping the manga interesting, as was making sure the manga had consistent cliffhangers throughout.

I'm going to transcribe the last part to the best of my ability.

It is normal to bring women to the front.

H: "Overcoming adversity" is important to youth.

S: I do notice a lot of that in old Shonen Manga. But I'm not sure if it's in Modern Jump much. "Adversity" is a relic of the past to modern readers, even though it's not the case outside of manga. "Shitamachi Rocket", for example, or the popular overseas drama "Prison Break".

People can get behind those kind of stories because they want to see people struggle to find hope. I'm also a fan of those works, so seeing The Promised Neverland made me really excited.

H: Stories about "adversity" are declining because young people have easier lives now. Corporeal punishment from teachers is no longer a thing, and parents and adults are less forceful with their expectations. As a result, writers struggle to create those stories in reality.

Thus, the only way to tell adversity now is in a fantasy world where it can be artificially created. I think The Promised Neverland's approach was brilliant in that regard.

S: Yeah, adversity is gone. In today's society, we have a tendency to paper over the uglier parts of humanity for our own benefit. I think this is reflected in what's being published. When Harada and I were young, there was more opportunities to draw the more absurd and negative aspects of people I think.

That's gone now, and in its place young people only see a beautiful world from childhood. Thing is, though, the dark side of society will always be unveiled when you peel the cover away. Young people know this better than anyone. Consequently, the idea of "being betrayed by adults and society" is something which is neatly metaphorized by the series, where a group of young children are betrayed by their mother and the world. That might be the driving motive of the young generation.

H: Likewise, given that this is a Shonen magazine, having a female protagonist who is active and strong feels very modern.

S: Thing is though the protagonist is a girl, having her be someone who is able to take the reigns so effectively is a very masculine kind of ideal. This is something which people over 30 might be resistant to, but the current generation is one more willing to accept a girl having such abilities.

In that sense as well, weak boys are now common, as are girls who cut their hair to help their friends. The lack of machizumo (male dominance) is characteristic of today's young people, who sympathize with unisex and sexual minorities (LGBT). I think it's very different from the previous generation, "Men are Manly" isn't really a thing to them.

In the US, the movie "Wonder Woman" was a big hit, and it's natural that women turned up to see it. Changing gender perceptions are likewise important to Japanese youth marketing.

H: The series is also distinguished by it's other characters besides its protagonist. Young people appreciate that the main hero isn't the absolute focus of the story, there's other perspectives as well. I think that's a trend in the industry now.

S: That's SMAP's "One Flower in the World" perspective. The idea is that young people accept things more when everyone has a meaningful role and perspective. You can see that both with manga and Idol groups like AKB48, which are designed often to be hits with young people.

H: I wonder, is a hero with an overwhelming presence in the story going to be the next trend?

S: (Some stuff about a recent film and his desires regarding his career, not relevant) I'd like to continue providing youth with manga they'd never seen before.

That's the whole thing! Feel free to correct any mistakes I made, I'm pretty certain I made some.

TLDR: Sugita accidentally buried Shimabukuro. (PS, that's a joke)

I don't exactly understand what they expect the Jump to do.

The method of the Jump seems to have been successful for the magazine.

I think Horie's memory is a tad-short-sighted, given that many of those cancelled authors were ones he cancelled himself.

 

[Nemesis]

For a solid second, I thought this was the One Piece forum section with all the Wano arc talk.



It depends on the studio. Pierrot would DEFINITELY milk it especially if the manga is of decent popularity.

Pierrot don't exactly milk those series, they receive a contract and if accepted, they will do it. The series being long-running or not is already decided before they are even on contract by the committee. Like Black Clover which is on its timeslot and is long-running due to Shueisha seeing it as similar to Naruto so the format is similar.

The fact that Pierrot and Toei are mostly on those is because they're one of the few which are able to sustain the model. Toei less in the last years (and they rarely do seasonals) but Pierrot still is out there picking up offers be it for seasonal or long-running.

 

[Rain Spectre]

Pierrot don't exactly milk those series, they receive a contract and if accepted, they will do it. The series being long-running or not is already decided before they are even on contract by the committee. Like Black Clover which is on its timeslot and is long-running due to Shueisha seeing it as similar to Naruto so the format is similar.

The fact that Pierrot and Toei are mostly on those is because they're one of the few which are able to sustain the model. Toei less in the last years (and they rarely do seasonals) but Pierrot still is out there picking up offers be it for seasonal or long-running.

The interesting takeaway from that is that MHA was never considered for the format then, in spite of being hailed from the start of its run as one of the new faces of Jump. I wonder what seemed to push Shueisha in that direction?

 

[Nemesis]

The interesting takeaway from that is that MHA was never considered for the format then, in spite of being hailed from the start of its run as one of the new faces of Jump. I wonder what seemed to push Shueisha in that direction?

With MHA I think its just the case that it hadn't a series that it was similar in the past so there wasn't an example there already.

 

[Newkerzy]

The interesting takeaway from that is that MHA was never considered for the format then, in spite of being hailed from the start of its run as one of the new faces of Jump. I wonder what seemed to push Shueisha in that direction?

I think that decision was mostly Bones,' if I recall. I think Wakana (Bones exec. producer) mentioned that they wanted to do seasonals so they could maintain a consistent quality.

 

[Paze]

Lately, it seems that late-night anime studios like Bones and CloverWorks have been getting involved in making Jump adaptations. You're still continuing your relationship with Pierrot and Toei, so why are late-night anime studios also getting involved?
At Shueisha, we have discussions about which manga would best suit which studios. Some studios reach out to us asking to adapt a particular manga, and we have turned them some of them down before. We decide it case by case.
But it's true that Jump is involved with a lot of companies, and we've changed as the years have gone by. It's also true that the landscape has changed a lot as well. These days, it's no longer as feasible for anime to keep running for years, while on the other hand it's more common to create a shorter-length anime to air late at night. There's also the matter of online streaming and split cours.
Because anime broadcasting has changed so much, those are factors that we consider when deciding which manga to adapt and on what terms. I think that's the reason why we've become involved with more anime companies than we used to.
So what was the case with My Hero Academia?
In My Hero Academia's case, it was the anime side that wanted to do it. We decided that Bones would make an incredible version of My Hero Academia, so we went with them.

From https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/in...-jump-editor-in-chief-hiroyuki-nakano/.143096

 

[animeexpert]

I doubt they're doing Jujutsu. Nakano in an interview with ANN said that Black Clover was made constantly airing because its relatively lighter content was suited for younger audiences, while a darker series like TPN had to have a late-night time slot. Jujutsu is tonally very mature with complex battles, brutal violence and even some body horror, something would most likely necessitate it being in a later time slot.

Interview, for reference: https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/in...-jump-editor-in-chief-hiroyuki-nakano/.143096

same did bleach, but it worked cuz they censored these parts

 

[Mankichi Togawa]

Coamix isn't only City Hunter and Hokuto no Ken btw


Yoroshiku Mechadoc is also here. It was a 1983 Jump manga. Plot is literally Initial D. 12 years before Initial D was born.

 

[revo68]

Shoseki Rankings 9/9 - 15/9

Weekly Shonen Jump
3 Haikyuu!! #39
40 Dr. Stone #12
43 act-age #08
45 We Never Learn #13

Jump+
49 Jigokuraku #07
101 Darling in the Franxx #06
186 Saotome Shimai wa Manga no Tame nara!? #05
257 It's Time for "Interrogation" Princess #01
321 Mone-san no Majime Sugiru Tsukiaikata #07

Non September 4th Volumes (Top 100)
8 Kimetsu no Yaiba #16
60 SPY×FAMILY #01
78 The Promised Neverland #15
84 One Piece #93
86 My Hero Academia #24

40 Dr. Stone #12
162 Dr. Stone #11
178 Dr. Stone #05
179 Dr. Stone #06
188 Dr. Stone #07
190 Dr. Stone #04
192 Dr. Stone #10
195 Dr. Stone #01
200 Dr. Stone #09
205 Dr. Stone #02
207 Dr. Stone #08
210 Dr. Stone #03

8 Kimetsu no Yaiba #16
20 Kimetsu no Yaiba #07
21 Kimetsu no Yaiba #08
22 Kimetsu no Yaiba #09
23 Kimetsu no Yaiba #15
24 Kimetsu no Yaiba #10
26 Kimetsu no Yaiba #11
27 Kimetsu no Yaiba #12
28 Kimetsu no Yaiba #06
29 Kimetsu no Yaiba #14
30 Kimetsu no Yaiba #13
31 Kimetsu no Yaiba #01
32 Kimetsu no Yaiba #02
34 Kimetsu no Yaiba #03
36 Kimetsu no Yaiba #04
38 Kimetsu no Yaiba #05
74 Kimetsu no Yaiba Fanbook

30位31600/50位21900/100位9500/200位4000/300位2800/400位2100/500位1700

 

[animeexpert]

Actually the JJK Wiki has the complete staff listed!

Fun fact: Yokohama is the same studio that animated...

Spoiler: This

It would be quite interesting if they were in charge of animating Jujutsu Kaisen giving a completely opposite contrast haha

is that official?

 

[101nemesis]

Pierrot don't exactly milk those series, they receive a contract and if accepted, they will do it. The series being long-running or not is already decided before they are even on contract by the committee. Like Black Clover which is on its timeslot and is long-running due to Shueisha seeing it as similar to Naruto so the format is similar.

The fact that Pierrot and Toei are mostly on those is because they're one of the few which are able to sustain the model. Toei less in the last years (and they rarely do seasonals) but Pierrot still is out there picking up offers be it for seasonal or long-running.

Long running contract is different from putting out unnecessary fillers. Their contract states the type of format they go for. The decision to choose to go with fillers or take a break depends on the studio.
Gintama is a long running anime that stopped in between and came back, several times whereas with Bleach/Naruto, they kept at it with fillers and fillers.

So if a studio went with fillers, then yeah they were "milking" it.

 

[James Rye]

SxF still being in the Top100. When is its 2nd volume supposed to come out?

 

[Blue16]

SxF still being in the Top100. When is its 2nd volume supposed to come out?

On October.

 

[Ctkk]

Long running contract is different from putting out unnecessary fillers. Their contract states the type of format they go for. The decision to choose to go with fillers or take a break depends on the studio.
Gintama is a long running anime that stopped in between and came back, several times whereas with Bleach/Naruto, they kept at it with fillers and fillers.

So if a studio went with fillers, then yeah they were "milking" it.

I'm no expert, but I doubt whether to take breaks or not is something studios can decide by themselves. Shueisha and the tv station have to be involved in the decision for sure, since there's timeslots to be worried about and whatnot. .

 

[KennyKuro]

is that official?

I can't assure you 100% but I'm aware that the staff list was posted on the official JJK page and (luckily) the editors of the JJK wiki do an amazing job. A week after the results of the first popularity poll came out, they translated each and every character along with their votes and position! Still it wouldn't hurt if someone did a double check to confirm it completely.

 

[MangAniMY]

unfortunately that page in particular is not directly available anymore

since they replaced it with the current promotion, but here is the original screenshot

though you can access it via web-archive, though the hidden sukuna page is no longer available

 

[animeexpert]

I can't assure you 100% but I'm aware that the staff list was posted on the official JJK page and (luckily) the editors of the JJK wiki do an amazing job. A week after the results of the first popularity poll came out, they translated each and every character along with their votes and position! Still it wouldn't hurt if someone did a double check to confirm it completely.

ooh alright, cuz that staff was for the pv right?

 

[SalesNerd69]

What delusion made Shueisha see BC as the next naruto?