Shonen Sunday Briefs

1996 Issue 39
Update by Eri Izawa

Selected news from this issue

Using the same splashy full color that marked the end of IKE!! NANKOKU ICE HOCKEY BU, this week's issue contains the beginning of a new work by ICE HOCKEY author Kumeta Kouji. The new series is TAIYOU NO SENSHI POKAPOKA , perhaps better translated as SUN WARRIOR POKA POKA. Not much can yet be gleaned of the plot, though the main characters seem to be a junior high school boy named Riku, who has an odd penchant for digging holes, a schoolmate and old friend named Rin, a beautiful new transfer student with a strange necklace, and a prehistoric boy who wears a distinctive bracelet, who thinks nothing of beating up sabre-toothed tigers. The week's episode closes with Riku unexpectedly turning into the prehistoric boy after he finds the boy's long-buried bracelet while digging in the school yard.

Selected Overview:
Nagisa "Me" Kou Nin
Kitazaki Taku

The series "Nagisa" started fairly recently; this week's issues contains episode 22. The main character and heroine is a high school girl named Konno Nagisa, a recent transfer student and a talented long-distance runner. Almost always cheerful and just a little flaky, Nagisa is sometimes compared to a cute and enthusiastic pet dog. The hero, meanwhile, is Fujii Masato, a short-distance runner of considerable undeveloped potential. Masato's older brother, also a runner, had passed away recently, leaving Masato feeling overshadowed by his legacy. Moreover, Masato has fallen in love with his brother's girlfriend Yukiko, who unfortunately for Masato had just decided that she couldn't love him in return, because she realized she loved the shadow of his brother, not Masato himself. Of course, Nagisa is also in love with Masato. Interwoven with all the romance plots, however, the competitive running aspect remains. Will Masato continue his improvement, and represent his school successfully at the upcoming competitions? Will Nagisa do the same? As usual, this remains to be seen.

Selected Brief Updates:
Me Gumi no Daigo
Soda Masahito

Daigo has slipped away from his firefighter company to check a crane high atop a building overlooking a snarled mass of cars on a raised highway. There, he single-handedly battles to keep the crane and its load from falling onto an oil tanker. The Rescue Team helicopter, redirected to the building by Gomi, watches helplessly as the crane tilts dangerously....

Love
Ishiwata Osamu

Love faces "Destruction King" Hyuu's legendary "super-flats." On his first serve, Hyuu seems to tower like a skyscraper above Love. The ball, as Hyuu promised, seems to explode on the racket's surface. Love is unable to return the first serve, and wonders how she's going to fight Hyuu's overwhelming energy.

Grooming Up!
Yuki Masami

Shunpei, inspired by his growing savings and Minato's photography, splurges and buys an expensive camera. Seeking to make his first photo a significant one, he takes a picture of Hibiki. From then on, the other Watarai farm sisters manage to take up (read: waste) the rest of his roll of film....

Ghost Sweeper Mikami
Shiina Takashi

Yokoshima rents a dirty video, only to discover that it's a device that allows Jeek, Shouryuuki, Hyakume, and Warukyuuru (various beings from the demonic and divine worlds) to contact him. They have an urgent task for Mikami, and have the money to make her willing. Mikami, as a neutral agent for the gods and demons, is to go to the moon and stop a servant of Ashtaroth from stealing the moon's power. Though money has convinced Mikami to go, it takes the beauty of the moon's queen to convince Yokoshima to risk their cheap rocket ride. (The queen, by the way, is based upon a figure from Japanese legend, and is drawn in a style suspiciously similar to Matsumoto Leiji's style from the "Yamato" series.)

Ushio to Tora
Fujita Kazuhiro

Mayuko has brought Tora back to consciousness. Now, with the "Azafuse" armor upon him, Tora rushes back to the battle against the Hakumen. Meanwhile, Ushio and Tora's old demon and spirit friends find themselves trying to convince the human military forces to team up with them, despite the humans' previous bad experience with a treacherous agent sent by the Hakumen. Back at the main battle, Ushio is finally reunited with Tora. After trading cheerful insults, they fly off together to face the Hakumen.

Major
Mitsuda Takuya

Goro's team is fighting the Yokohama Little League, and has so far fared badly. But with a burst of effort, they bring the score to 9 to 4. In the middle of their recovery, however, the Yokohama team switches pitchers to a boy who looks far older than the fifth grader he is. Shimizu, up to bat, reaches two strikes before hitting a foul, impressing her teammates for having even hit the ball at all. Finally, she hits a ball that goes straight to second base. But the Yokohama Little League is still stunned by their opponents' tenacity.