Shonen Sunday Briefs

Shonen Sunday Weekly, 1997 Issue 2-3
Update by Eri Izawa

What is Shonen Sunday? Shonen Sunday is one of the largest weekly manga magazines in Japan. Containing some of the latest and hottest boys' manga series in Japan, Sunday has hosted such notables as "Ranma 1/2" and the currently popular "Meitantei Conan."

Selected Overview:
The Accidents
by Yamada Takatoshi

Manga featuring different occupations are commonplace. However, it's not often that the occupation is something as technical or esoteric as "accident investigator." In this case, Yamada Takatoshi has created a series about a man who does just that; investigate accidents. The title of the series is, naturally enough, "Accidents" in Japanese, or "The Accidents" in English.
Our hero is Kujiragi Yuu, more commonly called "Kujira" ("whale"). With his height and somewhat stocky build, he almost lives up to the name. But Kujira's fame lies in his strong intuition and technical understanding of machines. He has investigated accidents ranging from car crashes, plane crashes, falling bridges, and even a space shuttle mishap. Each time, he uses his knowledge of engineering and science to puzzle together what really happened. In the process he often clears the names of innocent people who had been suspected of incompetence or malice -- and sometimes implicates people in clever crimes. Of course, a fairly serious manga like this needs comic relief. Kujira's technical and comic helper is a little girl named Hiiragi, the orphaned daughter of a good friend of his. She's headstrong, curious, intelligent, and manages to find clues or (rarely) even solve cases on her own.
This series is usually found at the back of Shonen Sunday. Its technical nature and low action content surely won't help push it to the top of any popularity chart; there's usually less violence in one story than in 15 minutes of the technology-emphasizing TV show "McGyver." Occasionally, the reader may also doubt the manga -- if not on technical detail then on the plausibility of the situation. However, The Accidents is a clear indication of two things: the large range of fields that Japanese manga is willing to investigate and explore, and the continuing Japanese fascination with technology. It's hard to imagine a general-audience American comic book regularly discussing the physics of engines and other machines, yet The Accidents does exactly that. Even purely for the variety, it's well worth a read.

Selected Brief Updates: Inuyasha
Takahashi Rumiko

Overview: Kagome is a seemingly normal student who finds herself in fifteenth or sixteenth century Japan, where she meets the strange and power-hungry boy Inuyasha.

This issue: Kagome and Inuyasha are unexpectedly teamed up to chase the monstrous Shibugarasu, a flying crow-like creature that takes over humans it has killed. This Shibugarasu has swallowed the Shikon no Tama, and has begun turning into a more sinister and powerful monster. Kagome misses an opportunity to destroy the creature in order to save a child. Then, using a broken-off piece of the creature to guide an arrow to the fleeing main body, she manages to strike the creature. But a blinding explosion of light heralds a great disaster for Kagome. Her arrow has fractured not only the Shibugarasu, but the Shikon no Tama as well, sending its fragments flying out over the land. Now, she and Inuyasha are told, they must retrieve the tiny pieces so that evil people and creatures cannot use them. Inuyasha doesn't mind, since he is one of those "evil" creatures and hence wants the Shikon no Tama for himself. But Kagome wants to go home to modern day Japan...

Me Gumi no Daigo
Soda Masahito

Overview: Asahina Daigo is a young firefighter with the "Me" Company, who has an unusual ability to find and rescue people in danger.

This issue: The exhausted Daigo, despite having spent the previous night running around in the mountain fire, has "aced" several of the qualifying physical examinations for a coveted spot on the Rescue Team. During lunch break he finds his co-workers asleep nearby, and he too falls asleep with them and has to be woken up by his arch rival. Finally, he enters the afternoon's exams, but has problems with the pull-ups...

Love
Ishiwata Osamu

Overview: Takagi Ai ("Love") is a girl who, in a bid to have a re-match with her old tennis rival, has entered a high school tennis club disguised as a boy.

This issue: Love manages to arrange a "date" between Yuuko and the brusque Sazanami Joutarou (the latter doesn't quite realize that it's meant to be a date). Normally boyish Yuuko wears a miniskirt and fumbles through the social conventions of going to a movie ... even though Love and Hyuu have come with them. But then Sazanami challenges Yuuko to a tennis match, and Yuuko discovers she can't play effectively in her miniskirt. At last, an angry Sazanami demands that Yuuko either quit playing or take off the skirt...

Grooming Up!
Yuki Masami

Overview: Although originally a city boy, young Kuze Shunpei has taken to working as a farm hand at the Watarai racing horse breeding farm. He has also taken to Watarai Hibiki, one of the Watarai daughters.

This issue: New Year's has arrived at the Watarai farm. Much of the staff head off to visit their families. Even the Watarai family has decided to head out to see friends and family in mid-January. On the date of their departure, however, Hibiki comes down with a cold. Shunpei runs into her unexpectedly when he's sent to the office on an errand. He stops to make sure she eats her dinner. She then asks him to stay and chat for a while, and Shunpei is so surprised that he cuts his finger on a knife...

Ghost Sweeper Mikami Gokuraku Daisakusen!!
Shiina Takashi

Overview: Mikami Reiko is a money-hungry, gorgeous female ghost buster. She is aided by her sex-starved and underpaid male assistant, Yokoshima Tadao, as well as a kind and gentle female ex-ghost, O-kinu.

This issue: O-kinu brings her boy-starved classmates Yumi and Ichimonji to meet her male friends for a Christmas party at Megumi's restaurant, which has a window overlooking a snowy parallel dimension. The boys immediately target Yumi while the girls immediately target Pietro ("Pete"), the handsome half-vampire. The other boys become jealous of Pete, and poison him with garlic seasoning. The barely conscious Pete requests snow to eat ... which prompts Ichimonji to jump out the window into the snowy parallel dimension, only to discover it has no snow, and instead contains a large monster. Others jump out to help her. The upshot is that Ichimonji, Yumi, Yokoshima, Tiger, and Yukinojou are all now trapped in that strange world, with no obvious way back...

Major
Mitsuda Takuya

Overview: Honda Goro, the orphaned son of a professional baseball player, has put together the Mifune Little League team. The group of friends struggle to become the best team in Japan...

This issue: Goro, who overused his shoulder against the Yokohama team, is told not to use his shoulder for a month. However, a game is coming up within the week. Goro of course ignores the doctor's orders and uses his shoulders in gym class. Later Shigeno, the professional baseball player who is wooing Goro's adoptive mother, discovers Goro practicing throwing a baseball after school. Shigeno slaps Goro...