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 (1999 Issue 10) can be found here.

Selected news from this issue:

SHONEN SUNDAY begins its fortieth birthday celebrations with a full-color promo "giveaway" of everything from a portable DVD player, to iMacs, to MEITANTEI CONAN mousepads. Congratulations to SHONEN SUNDAY.
That section is followed by a "Tokyo Visit" pictorial on YuriMari, the popular Osaka duo. Highlights: both girls, Yuri and Mari, were born in 1982, met in fifth grade, and debuted as singers in 1998; their first album, "love love dreamer," is currently on sale now. Fans of YuriMari shouldn't miss this issue, especially for its snippets of Osaka-ben.

Selected Brief Updates:

INUYASHA
by Takahashi Rumiko

Overview: Kagome is a modern student teamed up with the strange boy Inuyasha in 15th or 16th century Japan, seeking to retrieve the fragments of the magical Shikon No Tama, and trying to stay one step ahead of the evil Naraku.
This issue: Sango's two-tailed pet Kirara is suffering from Naraku's poison. Leaving Miroku and Shippou to watch Sango and Kirara, Inuyasha and Kagome go off in search of the antidote plant. Along the way, they run into villagers who have found a dead body, the latest of a series whose innards have been eaten. Inuyasha and Kagome are directed to the field where the antidote plant is grown, and encounter a cowardly half-human, half-monster (like Inuyasha) young man who has been blamed for all the deaths....

ME GUMI NO DAIGO
by 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: Gomi's firefighting team has arrived in Sumatra. Meanwhile, Daigo is trying to get Ochiai and himself out of the smoldering forests. A despairing Ochiai finds a beloved insect (she's a biologist, after all) and regains some of her passion to live—she has memorized all the "hot spot" locations and doesn't want to die without conveying that vital information. Daigo finally hatches a plan for how to get through the fiery forest: he's found an old abandoned car....

JAJAUMA GROOMING UP!
by 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: Shunpei and Hibiki have had a major argument, all seemingly due to his tardiness after buying a special gift for her.... Shunpei talks it over with Ume, and Ume realizes it's not the tardiness that has angered Hibiki—but he won't tell Shunpei what it is. Later, Shunpei searches for the gift, discovers it's gone, and goes to the straw dump and there finds Hibiki, who had been searching for hours and who had finally found it. But she still won't accept the gift until Shunpei figures out why she's so angry.