Shonen Sunday Weekly, 1998 Issue 8

Shonen Sunday Weekly, 1998 Issue 8
(Shogakukan)
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.

(Last issue's SHONEN SUNDAY update)

Selected Overview

Karakuri Circus
Fujita Kazuhiro

Overview: From its introduction last year, KARAKURI CIRCUS (by the author of USHIO TO TORA) has kept up a non-stop, almost frenetic, action-packed pace. The three main characters are still Katou Narumi, the kempo fighter; Shirogane, an acrobat and puppeteer; and Masaru, a young boy who is the heir to a powerful company. The three, most notably Masaru, have been relentlessly pursued by Masaru's relatives, who seek to control or kill him in order to gain the inheritance. Bloody battles, usually involving large puppets, dominate the action sequences.
Recently, Shirogane and Katou have been stymied in their fight to free Masaru from a booby-trapped mansion, and it is young Masaru who is beginning to shine more and more. Not only does Masaru buy out the loyalty of one of the groups out to kill him, but he also takes over control of Shirogane's puppet Arurukan when she is injured. And in the meantime, Shirogane, long emotionally distant, at last learns how to open up to others; and Katou himself is now able to generate his own internal laughter when the laughter of those around him fails.
This issue: the vast mansion is in its death throes, wracked by explosions and structural collapse. The injured Shirogane is taken to safety with her puppet; Katou remains behind to help Masaru. Masaru himself is busy trying to rescue the very man who had kidnapped him in the first place. But when they come to a dead end, it is Katou who comes to help them. And when the mansion collapses around them, Katou acts as a shield to protect Masaru. As the walls collapse, Katou tells the boy that sometimes one needs to cry or grit one's teeth, but that at all other times it is best to laugh. "When you've realized it's time to laugh, you shouldn't cry," he says at the end. Finally, when at last the dust has settled and the destruction is complete, Masaru discovers that he is clutching Katou's arm—without Katou attached.
Masaru's reflections follow, on choices made, on the gaining of many things, and on the eternal loss of Katou. And somewhere, Masaru notes, the curtain-rise bell is ringing for him.
Thus, ends episode 26, and this chapter of KARAKURI CIRCUS. As noted before, this chapter is characterized by intense, unceasing action. While the relentlessness actually seems to detract from the story, the strength of the characters and their experiences help compensate, by deepening and mellowing the plot. What is next in store in KARAKURI CIRCUS? Only future issues will tell.

Selected Brief Updates

Inuyasha
Takahashi Rumiko

Overview: Kagome is a modern student teamed up with the strange boy Inuyasha in fifteenth or sixteenth century Japan, seeking to retrieve the fragments of the magical Shikon no Tama.
This issue: Kagome and Inuyasha recently encountered their rival but current ally Miroku. He is a young man hunting a shapeshifter who, it seems, was responsible for killing Kikyou fifty years before. Currently, our three heroes are hunting down a killer artist who is using Shikon no Tama-tainted ink to magically create demons. With the help of Miroku's magically cursed hand, Inuyasha makes it far enough to corner the mad artist.

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: Daigo's company is called out to the hospital where his grandmother was staying; she had, in fact, called them. But when they arrive, they find no obvious fire. Daigo, though, embarrassed by her action, is struck by her words that the best fire calls are those that turn out to have been useless. Later, though, the firefighters are shown a suspiciously warm wall, from which strange fumes seem to be coming. Though Daigo is held back from breaking it open on the grounds that it is private property, the more he looks at it the more he is tempted to just hack it open.

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: Recently, Love's secret, that she is a thirteen year old girl among high school boys, was revealed to her teammates. But after a brief period of anger on the boys' part, they realized that Love might one day be a world-class women's tennis player, and they began seeing it as their great duty to help her reach the tennis match she has fought so long for. Now, with renewed enthusiasm, they face their current opponent: Okinawa's Deigo High School, a tennis powerhouse. But Youhei, Love's old tennis rival, is still floundering in his own matches.

Jya Jya Uma de 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 also has taken to Watarai Hibiki, one of the Watarai daughters.
This issue: This issue could be called "Shunpei gets dumped on." Shunpei gets to spend some time with the Watarai family, and finds that Tazuna's efforts to capture him are putting pressure on not only himself, but on Hibiki — in such a way that Hibiki is being pushed to be hooked up with Daigo Satoru. In addition, Shunpei, through a verbal blunder, winds up angering Mr. Watarai and casting Satoru in a better light. Hibiki, caught in the war, is growing increasingly irritated.

Ghost Sweeper Mikami Gokuraku Daisakusen!!
Shiina Takashi

Overview: Mikami Reiko is a money-hungry, gorgeous female ghost buster, aided by her sex-starved and underpaid male assistant Yokoshima Tadao, as well as kind and gentle female ex-ghost O-kinu.
This issue: This issue: The battle against Mikami's nemesis Ashtaroth continues. Mikami's mother has been felled by a poisonous attack that will have killed her years before (when she returns to the past); the antidote to the poison is used as a lure to bring Mikami to Ashtaroth, who appears to be near the South Pole. Yokoshima, now apparently more powerful than Mikami, is still secretly in love with Luciola. Mikami herself is marked for assassination by the worldwide ghost sweepers' association if it becomes clear that she might fall into Ashtaroth's hands. But, all of Mikami's ghost sweeper friends are now teaming up to help fight on Mikami's behalf (Emi with the intention of becoming the new main character of the series). They have also left Mikami behind in Japan, chained and locked up so she cannot follow them. Now, on the way to Antarctica, they face the wrath of the worldwide ghost sweeper organization. The mess continues.

Major
Mitsuda Takuya

Overview: It has been four years since Honda Goro put together the Mifune Little League. Now, in junior high school, he is reunited with his old friends and is faced with a new baseball crisis.
This issue: Honda's team is up against the team of Satou Toshiya, Honda's old friend and now merciless rival. Satou is deliberately angering Honda, gradually ruining his pitching and making him more and more belligerent. Honda's attention solely focuses on Satou's distractions, instead of anything else. The high school recruiters are disappointed. However, Komori, the small Mifune catcher, at last loses his temper at Honda's behavior; he even goes so far as to hit Honda with a ball, and lecture him soundly. Honda thereafter seems to remember what is important, and regains his cool.