EX Home | Search | FAQ | Email Prev. Page | Contents | Next Page
MANGA REVIEWS

Shonen Sunday Briefs (continued)

DANDOH!!
by Sakata Nobuhiro and Banjou Daichi

Overview: Dandoh is an earnest young boy who has found a calling in golf. With his friend Yuka and Kouhei, he uses sincerity and determination as his guides to becoming a pro-golfer.
  This issue: Dandoh is playing against the great but aged golfer Nicholas, and has deliberately physically handicapped himself to match Nicholas' weakened condition (as Nicholas' young friends find out in this issue). Now, the suffering and exhausted Dandoh faces what looks like an impossible shot, but he sees the light through a tree and knows the "course hasn't yet disowned" him. He sends the ball through the tree branches and gets a miraculous birdie.


TUXEDO GIN
by Matsuura Tokihiko

Overview: Kusanagi Ginji is a young man in love with Sasebo Minako, who also loves him. Due to a fatal motorcycle incident, Ginji is reborn as a penguin and now must live out his natural life as Minako's pet before he can return to his body....
  This issue: Ginji has been (temporarily) returned to his human body, and is now pursuing Minako, who, not realizing Ginji is near, has gone off and become trapped in a snowy mountain cabin. Ginji sees that another man is nearby, and for a while is stuck in frozen disbelief—and then realizes his body is turning back into a penguin. Minako, meanwhile, is thinking of Ginji while she thanks the man for helping her out. She doesn't realize until too late that the man is actually an escaped criminal. Ginji, with the last of his strength, breaks down the door to save Minako from being strangled to death....


ARMS
by Minagawa Ryouji (with help from Nanatsuki Kyouichi)

Overview: Takatsuki Ryou and friends have been infected with strange and powerful metallic lifeforms and are now engaged in a deadly conflict.
  This issue: Ryou has realized that his powers weren't enough to save all the people he was trying to protect. Now, in his grief and rage, he's about to set the "Jabberwock" program on a destructive course ... but the dying Yugo appears in his mind in the form of Katsumi, and leads him out of hatred and back to his desire to protect others. But Yugo is saved, and the poison gas of the area is neutralized, by the last sacrificial action of the sad, lonely, ancient "Azazel," who disintegrates as Ryou reaches out to touch her.


Note about Shonen Sunday 16:
The next issue, SHONEN SUNDAY volume 16, begins a 4-part series looking at the last four decades. This special takes note of historical events (such as JFK's assassination or the popularity of the Beatles) and highlights famous authors of WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY's past (such as Tezuka Osamu, Ishomori Shotaro and Fujiko Fujio). Here's some more trivia: the first WEEKLY SHONEN SUNDAY issue was April 5th, 1959. It cost a whopping 30 Yen, and had 92 pages (compare that to the just over 500 pages of volume 16!). Any readers interested in manga and anime history are encouraged to take a look at Shonen Sunday 16 and other upcoming issues.

Note: Good news! If you've been meaning to buy SHONEN SUNDAY but didn't know where to order it from, you can now order them from the Sasuga Japanese Bookstore, which does both USA and international mail orders.

Shonen Sunday ©1998 Shogakugan, ¥230
Where to buy


EX Home | Search | FAQ | Email Prev. Page | Contents | Next Page