First Date: Cross Manage

Shonen isn't just a boys club. The girls know how to play, too.

The First Date was a concept once used on Anime Vice to discuss a brand new series. I originally thought it was sort of a silly name, but I finally understood it when I wrote an introduction on Anime Vice for the TRIAGE X series. It just seemed to fit. Like a first date, you're feeling each other out and getting to know the other person. I originally purchased my subscription to the digital English edition of WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP to follow series such as ONE PIECE. Along with this series came several others. One that has caught me completely by surprised is CROSS MANAGE created by KAITO.

I'd never so much as heard of it before, but it's really won a place in my heart.

" Talented but aimless Sakurai just can't find a place to belong. After trying - and failing at - one extracurricular activity after another, his life changes thanks to a chance encounter with lacrosse fanatic Toyoguchi, who thinks Sakurai has just what it takes to propel her girls' lacrosse team to victory! "

- VIZ Media

Most people seem to think shonen manga is little more than a boy's power trip fantasy, ala DRAGON BALL Z. However. last year SHONEN JUMP , the highest selling shonen magazine, released information that their readership is 50% male and 50% female. That seems to have effected the sort of series they publish. In fact, CROSS MANAGE only began in Japan back in September of 2012, and I came in at chapter fifteen. The cast is primarily all girls since the story is about a girl's lacrosse team. This isn't a romantic-comedy or filled with fan service. This is straight up a sports drama with some honestly funny comedy mixed in.

Basically, Sakurai was a young soccer prodigy who got injured, and even with surgery would never be back to the way he was. He gave up on the sport that he loved and seemed to lack a direction in his life. One day, he spotted Misora practicing lacrosse under a bridge and found himself offering her a tip that helped her improve. Since then, she was intent on getting Sakurai to be the manager/coach of the team she founded for school. Long story short, he kind of gets tricked into the job and discovers he enjoys it.

The girls of the Fujioka Lacrosse Team aren't what you'd call your average athletes. They're an assortment of all kinds, but what they have in common is a love of the sport and playing with their friends. They each bring some unique talent to the team. Misora is incredibly agile and full of energy, Nachi has strength and endurance, Junko is level headed and excels at making snap decisions, and Yurika is great at reading people's movements like a book. They're hardly the best, but Misora has the goal of winning the high school lacrosse tournament and defeat the Choran Girls' Lacrosse Team, who have held the title for the past ten years.

This is an inspired goal, but not hardly seems plausible. Currently, Choran has Namine Chihara on the team. She's the most skilled player in the nation and even earned a spot on Japan's national team. She has never lost a single game she's played in. The girls of Fujioka are really aiming for the top.

CROSS MANAGE has quickly become a favorite to read each week for me. It can be really entertaining to watch the friendship of the characters as they interact on and off the field. One of the best things about the series is that you don't need to know anything about lacrosse. The way the series is structured, the author slowly spoon feeds the audience the positions, rules, and tactics as they're needed. I sometimes wonder if these manga authors who make these sports series are already fans of the game, or do they just do an insane amount of research before beginning.

I really believe female comic readers who are tired of how women are treated in comics would find this refreshing. It's not about their dating life, and ever girl doesn't have the looks of a super model. It's about their bond as a team and supporting one another to try and do something big. Also, the only spiked heels you'll find in this series are on the cleats. A sports series about a girl's lacrosse team is something you'd never see get so much as a chance in a Western comic series.

Unfortunately, the only way you can currently read this series legally outside of Japan is on the subscription to WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP. A $26.00 subscription gets you a year of this weekly series translated into English. You can find more details and even read a free sample of this and many other at www.shonenjump.com. CROSS MANAGE is currently among the series that are being published same day digital with Japan.

If you're curious, you can still learn about the cast. I've been building up the cast in the wiki database on both Comic Vine and Anime Vice. You can't even find this level of information on Wikipedia. I hope you've enjoyed this first date with a brand new manga series that is well worth your attention.

UPDATE: Volume 1 of CROSS MANAGE is now available for digital download in English through VIZ for $4.99. You can download the first chapter for free or read it online HERE.

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ FoxxFireArt

Well, I've been adding quite a few series to the Comic Vine wiki these past few months. I've added in casts from smaller series. They're easier to get done and over with. You feel a sense of accomplishment in filling out a whole cast. Call me crazy, but I've finally started in on one of the largest and expanding series in manga. Eiichiro Oda's ONE PIECE.ONE PIECE is one of the the highest selling series currently running. It doesn't just outsell other manga. Nothing is even close to it's numbers. Last year, NARUTO, ONE PIECE's closest competitor, released four volumes that sold 6.5 million units. ONE PIECE sold 23.5 million.units.

I've maintained the cast on Anime Vice for a long time, but I felt I should also add them to Comic Vine. I'm going through them alphabetically as to not miss anyone. The problem is that this cast is gigantic. I did the math earlier today. This series has over 420 characters. I think I've added up to 30-40 characters to the CV database today, and I'm not even through the Bs yet.

There are quite a few characters on the Comic Vine database, but many, many more aren't. Just to give you the briefest idea of just how expansive this cast is. Just look to the image below drawn by Oda. Almost every single character you see in this picture is a named character in ONE PIECE, and they are mostly just from the series' Navy.

I may be insane taking on this task, but better to start now. It also gives me a good excuse to really help stress test the new database for the site to find bugs. I recently reached over 1 Million wiki points on Anime Vice. Odds are that by the time I'm done with this project. I may be half way there on Comic Vine.

My plan is to first go through the characters before I start filling out their appearances in the actual volumes. After that, I'll then look to the teams or locations from this series. I'm already adding new characters as they appear in the series. I have my digital WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP membership that helps me get some nice images.

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/ @ FoxxFireArt

To start things off. This is in no way an article about if ONE PIECE's Trafalgar Law could defeat X-MEN's Wolverine. While I feel he's completely capable of defeating the X-Man. I'm here to talk more about the physics through science of Law's ability to slice through Adamantium. The fictional adamantium metal has been built up as the most indestructible substance in fiction. Though, why can't it be damaged?

To discuss the science of the matter we first need to understand a basic understanding the molecular structure. Substances such as wood have a weak molecular structure. It's porous to allow air and water through. Metals, on the other hand, have an extremely tight bond of the molecules. This also explains the differences in weight. A six-inch block of wood wont weigh nearly as much as a six-inch block of iron or steel.

The basic idea is that the stronger the metal. The tighter the bonds of it's structure. With that understanding, it would reason that the refined adamantium, that has had many of its flaws removed, is so strong becasue the bond between the molecules is extremely tight. That's why adamantium can cut through steel. It's the equivalent of a steel axe cutting through wood.

Now, we come to the meat of the issue. All of Wolverine's protections depends upon physics. The problem here is that Trafalgar Law's powers defy the laws of physics. Law ate the Op-Op devil fruit. This made him a modification man. He can create a semi-circle around himself, and anything in his "room" is under his control. You're basically a patient on his operating table. His sword doesn't even need to touch the object he's cutting. It just needs to be in the path of his swing, and he'll slice right through bodies, stone, and metal.

The only object Law could theoretically not cut through is called Sea Prism Stone. This is a rare natural-metal found in the world of ONE PIECE. It actually contains minerals of the sea inside of it. Since sea water is a weakness that all devil fruit users share, sea prism stone is used by the Navy in shackles to cancel a devil fruit users powers. Physical contact with this metal will weaken and and prevent them from using their powers. The metal is said to be indestructible. However, the only reason Law couldn't cut it is becasue it has sea minerals in it.

There is one more force that could potentially stop Trafalgar from cutting it. In ONE PIECE there is an ability called Haki. There are several kinds of Haki, and one creates an invisible armor around the user's body. They can strike out with this Armament Haki that cancels out any devil fruit power. High level armament haki users can do something called "armament hardening". This causes the body to turn black and stronger. This makes attacks have a far more impact. Think of it like putting on a glove covered in metal before you punch. The thing is that even devil fruit users can use haki. The strength of haki is based on the strength of the will of the user.

In the recent Punk Hazard Arc, Trafalgar went up against Vergo, an armament haki master. Law faced him years ago and lost. When they faced each other this time, Law didn't just slice Vergo in half. In the following panels it was revealed he had cut through the facility and the very mountain they were inside at the time.

I hope you enjoyed this look into a blending of worlds between ONE PIECE and Marvel. I thought it would make for a fun exercise, and possibly introduce you to a cool character. If you'd like to see Law's powers in practice. You could either watch ONE PIECE Ep. 585-588 for free on Hulu, or go to You Tube and search for "Trafalgar Law Vs Smoker".

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/ @ FoxxFireArt

I knew that title would get your attention.

Starting now, pre-orders can be made for a set of three bust figures of three of ladies from the record-shattering manga series ONE PIECE. These figures are of the Straw Hat's navigator Nami, the Navy's determined lady-swordfighter Captain Tashigi, and mysteriously alluring Monet. These three figures are based from the Punk Hazard arc that recently closed in the manga. In this arc, many of the cast had their minds and bodies switched temporarily by the powers of Trafalgar Law. Nami had been switched with Sanji, and Tashigi was switched with Vice-Admiral Smoker.

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This set of three is part of the fifth run of Bandai's popular "Mask Collection", and they're being sold exclusively by Premium Bandai online through their website. These three figures are 85 and 100 mm. tall (3 1/3 and 4 inches). The total cost of these three figures is ¥3,780 ($39.83 USD). However, this offer is only available for a limited time. Pre-orders are being accepted online until May 15, 2013 at 3 PM (JPN). All oders will be shipped in August 2013.

Pre-Order Site: HERE

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/ @ FoxxFireArt

Porn Stars Can Be Geeks Too!!

What you do in your occupation should never reflect on your entire quality as a person. You can have a depth to your personal interests that far exceeds what you do in your work. There is always the stereotype that people in the porn industry are just going around from job to job having increasingly wild sex then partying to all hours. That they are not too different that what you may see on JERSEY SHORE. Nothing could be further from the truth. Especially in the case of two adult models. One a childhood friend of mine, and another woman I follow on Twitter.

To start matters off. I have a friend who I've known since the fourth grade. She's always been fun to be around, and we used to tease each other almost constantly. When she turned 18 she started working at a strip club. She then went into nude modeling, and has gone on to make quite a name for herself. Though she runs her own career in the adult entertainment industry. She is also an avid mountain climber. She's traveled to world to climb. Just last month she went to South America and Antarctica.

However, I'm getting a bit off track. I'm not here to talk about my friend. She's not big on geek culture. She thinks games are boring, and I doubt she cares much about comics. I'm here to talk about an adult model that I actually follow on Twitter. I don't follow her becasue she's a porn star. I follow her becasue she's an honest to goodness geek, apparently rather proud of it, and an overall cool person. She's a huge fan of DOCTOR WHO, BACK TO THE FUTURE, STAR WARS, and she loves TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES so much she gave herself the stage name April O'Neil. Her Twitter name "@undeux".

From the best information that I could find, April has been working in the industry since around 2009, and she's currently about 25 years-old. If you've ever seen Twitters for many adult entertainers. They are little more than promoting their stage shows, appearances, or DVDs. One of the things I like about following April O'Neil on Twitter is that she's more likely to post just some random pictures of having fun with her friends, eating a giant pizza, her new game merchandise, or DOCTOR WHO memorabilia. The pictures are mainly hosted on her site, "HeyItsApril.com", which is more of a photo blog of what she's up to. Fair warning. It's still a site only those over 18 should visit. Some pictures are NSFW with graphic nudity, but just as many SFW images..

April O'Neil was at Emerald City ComicCon this year. Not as some promotion for something she was working on. She went to have fun as a fan. She even cosplayed in a Michelangelo Ninja Turtle dress and as a female Marty McFly (colorblind version). These are a small assortment of what you can often see her posting on her website. Some taken at the Emerald City ComicCon.

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I've never met the woman, but she seems like a cool person you could talk to about all things geek. I bet she could even teach me a thing of three about DOCTOR WHO. The point I'm trying to make is that geek doesn't just come in one flavor or brand name. Your occupation, where you live, or your age can't predict what you can do or your personal interest.

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/ @ FoxxFireArt

I've been writing reviews for the Shonen Trilogy (ONE PIECE/NARUTO/BLEACH) published in Shueisha's WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP on Anime Vice for a few months now. It's not really a paying gig. it keeps me busy, and I feel helps me improve my writing. I thought it would be nice to occasionally share my work with the Comic Vine community, I also felt for a long time that this community could use some manga reviews. I even wrote a blog dedicated to that idea. - Could Comic Vine Use a Staff Manga Reviewer?

These are my reviews for the WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP issue that was released on 3/4/13. I do not use pirated scans for these reviews. I use my official SHONEN JUMP online subscription. Back in January they went on same day release with Japan and it has full English translation. It's a major innovation in manga distribution.

NARUTO Ch. 622 Review

Is this conflict more Montegue vs. Capulet or Sharks vs. Jets?

Hashirama or the Senju and Madara of the Uchiha hold the fate of this tragic war on their young shoulders.

The Good

Sure, as I was working on this review. I could have gone less classic with the Sharks vs. Jets comparison. The state of conflict may have been more appropriate, but I wanted to go a tad more obscure. It was also the touch of how in this past you couldn't even share your clan name with strangers. Don't think that I missed that the river where Madara and Hashirama met would be the ultimate location of their final battle.

For as critical as I've been on these past few chapters. I actually really enjoyed this week's edition of NARUTO. The look into the world before the united nations of shinobi were formed was enlightening. The lesson is solid, and it calls to mind the turmoil we've seen in areas such as the Middle East or even Ireland. It's the idea that combat must continue if only for the sake of those fallen. Even if that means sacrificing the children. Poeple have been harsh about Tobirama's attitude, but his cold pragmatism makes sense when you see the environment he grew up in.

The Bad

Something that lacks is a stated goal of this era of war. I have no doubt the goal is unreasonable, but it would give some sense of direction. So far, it just seems that the target is to wipe everyone out. That's a bit too cliche. Even if those are the real motives. In the real world, people make up something else as their justification.

If the sharingan becomes activated when one suffers loss. I take it Madara didn't care much for his lost brothers. He hardly even seems bothered. Though, when you're that young, and you're expected to fight in war. I imagine that must harden one. Madara must have been especially close to his remaining brother for him to be the cause of he Uchiha angst curse. Not sure I want to know too many details there.

Verdict 4/5

My criticism still stands that this side story suffers from extremely poor placement in the plot. This is still a good lesson for the shonen audience that the dead bare no grudges. It should be more imperative to build the future than constantly avenge the past. Kishimoto even balances the drama well with his touch of Oda-esque humor. I just wonder how this will play out when these two have their ultimate fall out?

ONE PIECE Ch. 700 Review

The destination is set, and I dub thee the Dressrosa Arc!

The plan is in motion, and the crew are set to make their move on Dressrosa. However, Doflamingo has something special in his clutches that could endanger this pirate alliance.

The Good

I have to say that I was pretty shocked that Law and Luffy intend to honor their deal with Doflamingo to hand over Caesar. It does play into Law's plan as a distraction. Caesar's super positive attitude makes me sure that things wont go well for the gaseous scientist when Doflamingo arrives.

Oda is really mixing up the formula in these past few arcs. Not only is this one of the few times the crew has ever headed to an island looking to cause trouble, but they're using strategy to actually try and avoid all out war. Though, I'm under no misconception that things aren't going to go exactly as planned. What fun would that be to read? Doflamingo certainly has an interesting wildcard up his sleeve to get Luffy's attention.

One of the better laughs I got out of this week's chapter was when Law caught himself being drawn into happy-go-lucky atmosphere that is the Straw Hats. One moment he's intensely serious, then he's distracted by lunch orders. Even he's shocked by his own reaction. I'm also loving that Oda is making a runner out of Nico Robin's imagination bubbles.

The Bad

All the reactions to Doflamingo's dropping his name from the warlords wasn't really necessary, but it does give the reader an impression as to just how ingrained he is to the dealings of the world. I was just more interested in learning how the news of these alliances was leaked by this mystery reporter, and how Jewelry Bonney escaped capture.

Verdict 4/5

Well, ONE PIECE has finally reached the 700 chapter mark. This becomes even more impressive when you realize that the entire run of Toriyama's DRAGON BALL ran for a little over 500. It was a fun chapter with some good laughs, and it gives us more direction for what's on the horizon. Looks like the adventure really begins next week.

BLEACH Ch. 528 Review

How many hero origin stories begin with "How I met your mother."?

Ichigo has been cast out to the rain. Too ashamed to return home. He finds a warm place and some comforting words with a big sister type.

The Good

Previously, I had discussed how I believed that Kubo had designed Unohana to always be the woman Kenpachi admired. This week, I wondered just when he designed the character of Ikumi Unagiya. She didn't appear until the post time skip era, but I have to imagine that Kubo would have wanted her earlier in the story if he had thought her up way back when. (I can't believe I just referred to the early 2000s as 'way back when'.)

Ikumi really is the perfect role for a surrogate mother for Ichigo. She has an aggressive personality, but she also has a maturity and tenderness to her that honestly makes you warm up to her. You really believe that she cares for his well being. It's just too bad that in BLEACH it can take forever to see the characters you like. Think about the last time Tatsuki appeared.

The Bad

Kubo seriously dropped the ball in this arc by literally spoiling what could have been a shocking reveal in this chapter. No one would have ever guessed that Ichigo's mother had been a Quincy if that Vandenreich leader, Juha Bach, hadn't said something before he disappeared. The creator seriously undercut himself there. I also hope that Isshin has a good reason why this fact has been hidden from the protagonist for so long.

Verdict 4/5

This score may seen generous, but I love that we're getting to see Ikumi play more of a role. Also, in BLEACH you need to really appreciate when a character you likes appears. You really never know if you'll see them again. The pace was laxed, but you can't really say much of anything was really wrong with this chapter. Now, one has to wonder how long and detailed the literal origin of Ichigo will become.

-Kristoffer Remmell ( FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @AnimeVicers/ @ FoxxFireArt,

The manga market begins to grow with same day releases for the US market in one week.

A lot of online publishers have been trying to crack the online market with the opening of various stores from major publishers to smaller independents. One of the more popular being Comixology. It was considered a huge leap when comics were starting to be offered with same day releases, but they were still asking for full print prices for a digital product that they don't actually own. The rationale behind it is still silly when there is no printing cost for them. I know the reason. I just don't see that as a valid excuse.

The US publisher of various manga series VIZ Media has been making inroads in broadening the base of manga readers. The first step was when a few years ago they increased their publishing of major titles such as NARUTO, ONE PIECE, and BLEACH. All these these titles are now only a few months behind the Japanese editions.

A year ago, VIZ started the online edition of Japan's WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP magazine. It was called WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ALPHA. For a subscription fee, users would get to read some of the latest chapters of some of the biggest series, but with a two week delay. These editions would also eventually expire and no longer be readable.

After a year of testing, this is about to change in one week. Starting on January 21, 2013. The VIZ will be releasing WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP online with full translations with no more delay. It's going to be same day releases with Japan. This is a huge leap in broadening the audience of these manga series. Another improvement in their service is that these magazines will no longer expire. You own it.

I paid a subscription fee of $25.99 USD, and I will get an entire year of this weekly magazine. Every Monday, I will be able to read almost 200 pages of the latest manga chapters on my computer or download to my Kindle Fire (also believable on IOS devices). That is a huge bargain. In Japan, Eiichiro Oda's ONE PIECE sells tens of millions of units ever year (over 23 million in 2012). It's an understatement to say it's breaking sales records. Now, that weekly audience will only be growing.

-Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ FoxxFireArt

My Christmas Tree Filled with Heroes.

In my home we don't decorate the tree with color coordinating glass balls, but a variety of decorations that have a history. Many had names of family members or the year of birth painted upon then of my mother, uncles, cousin, and brother. Nearly every year my among my Christmas gifts my mother has given me a tree ornament. Far more often these involve cartoon, comic, or movie characters. I always love these, and they give the tree so much personality.

This year I decided to take a picture of many of my favorite tree ornaments. My collection contains a majority of Batman and Spider-man ornaments. Many of these have lights and sound, but those don't show up well on camera. It's not that I wouldn't like some manga characters, but I can never find any of those. Which is just strange.

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There was another Batman one not pictures. It was hard to get a good shot of it. It has Batman at the end of a string attached to a ledge. You pull down on the string, release, and he zooms back up to the ledge as if he's using the bat claw.

-Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ FoxxFireArt

If you are a person you enjoy detailed figures. I think you might like this set based on the next ONE PIECE movie.

ONE PIECE FILM Z is the eleventh film (technically twelfth if you count the 3D STRAW HAT CHASE movie), and was was released to theaters on December 15th. This movie is also the second of the series that had series creator, Eiichiro Oda, taking on the role of executive producer. On top of writing and drawing his best selling manga, Oda had a hand in character designs and plotting for this movie. He even illustrated the promotional image of the characters I use at the top of this article. Believe it or not, but 90% of the background characters are named and have appeared in the regular series.

Along with all the other merchandise being released for the movie, there are two sets of figures being released. The figures are based on the clothes the Straw Hats wear in the movies and are Oda's designs. He really played up the swashbuckler theme in the first set. This is probably the skimpiest outfit Oda has ever made for Nico Robin, but I can't say I'm complaining.

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ONE PIECE FILM: Z was a success already in Japan, and it broke the opening day record for the movie franchise. In 300 theaters it earned ¥750 million ($9 million USD) on the first day. Check out the final trailer for the movie.

While it may be years until this movie comes to the US. I have heard word that the tenth film ONE PIECE FILM: STRONG WORLD (the first movie Oda executive produced) will be released to the US in the Summer or Fall of 2013.

-Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ FoxxFireArt

Strap yourself in. I'm about to blow away all your preconception about comic and manga gender demographics. It's actually more interesting than it sounds.

The demographics between men and women is often a heated discussion when it comes to comics, but it's just so difficult to find any solid numbers. People often feel or reluctantly accept that it's a boy's club. When I hear people in the US talk about manga, they seem to believe that manga are just as large a boy's club as comics if not larger toward a male audience. Well, I have some information that may surprise you.

Back in February of 2011, DC released a survey conducted by the venerable Nielsen Survey Group on the results from The New 52 reboot - - It's a reboot. Deal with it. A lot of articles published about this survey revealed that DC wasn't particularly happy with what they learned, and released the result with a list of bullet points to parse the results. They made a point of saying that this survey only questioned The New 52 buyers, but at the time The New 52 made up the vast majority of what they were publishing. Below is an image of the gender demographic portion.

In stores, DC had a 93% male readership and only 7% women. Online, things were generally better with 77% male and 23% female. I had heard that DC wanted a second Nielsen survey back in June, but I couldn't find the results anywhere. I also couldn't find any research on Marvel's gender gap for readers. Just the gender gap of creators. Most seem to feel it would be either equal to DC or slightly worse. Partly given how many often complain about the lack of female characters leading their own series. Though, some see hope for Marvel NOW to improve things. (see Why Marvel NOW! Is Great For Female Characters)

When many comic readers talk about manga, I often hear them bring up some of the negative stereotypes of fan service or harems. Well, harem series are a niche genre and aren't among the top selling series in Japan, and it's not as if fan service - cheesecake - doesn't exist in all of the top selling comics. Glass houses and all.

The term "shōnen" in Japanese literally means "young boy", but it's also used as a classification for a type of manga series. Classically, these are more oriented toward young men, but the same could be said about the most popular comics in North America. The focus is normally on action, fighting, comedy, or sports. One of the most popular shōnen serialized magazines in the world is Shueisha's WEEKLY SHŌNEN JUMP. This is the magazine that has brought us DRAGON BALL, NARUTO, ONE PIECE, BLEACH and countless other series since 1968.

On top of WEEKLY JUMP celebrating it's 45th anniversary this year, it can also boast that it has a 50/50 male to female readership, making it one of the most gender-neutral manga magazines. Nikkei Shimbun, one of the largest media corporations in Japan that specializes in publishing financial and business news, released in November the results of their look at the women who read WEEKLY JUMP. Here are the results of what Nikkei found.

For the benefit of those who don't read Japanese, I've translated the graph's results in the tables below. Though, big surprise. Pink is for girls, and Blue is for boys.

Popular Women Comics [女子人気の高いコミックス]

Popular Men Comics [男子人気の高いコミックス]

Some of these series popular among women aren't about romance or things many often associate with female readers. HAIKYUU!!, which has a 66.8% majority of women, is about a soccer team. NISEKOI, which has an 83.3% majority of men, is a romantic-comedy. ONE PIECE is my favorite among what is known as the Shōnen Trilogy (ONE PIECE, NARUTO, and BLEACH). I always knew that ONE PIECE had a strong female following, but I was quite surprised to see they're actually the majority.

There is an interesting fact about these numbers that wasn't covered in Nikkei Shimbun's research that I'd like to show you.

The Oricon Group tracks the sales of all media in Japan. This includes manga volumes, and every November they release a top sales chart. It only includes the sales of all new volumes released that year. It doesn't include any back issue volume sales. This chart I'm going to show you is not exclusive to Shueisha produced series. This includes all manga sold in Japan by all publishers between November 2011-November 2012. Shueisha's are just often the most popular, and I'm highlighting these few for a reason.

I wanted to show you this chart of manga sales to make a point. It's not just that the highest selling series have the smaller gender gaps - - though that is worth mentioning. Which makes sense. The more inclusive you are the larger your sales. You're appealing to more people. There is still something else interesting about these numbers.

As you can see, no series is a serious competitor to ONE PIECE, but look at KUROKO NO BASUKE (aka KUROKO'S BASKETBALL). That's the series in the chart above ONE PIECE with the 56.9% female readership. It also had the largest jump from 24th to 2nd. Basically, the top two selling manga series in Japan for 2012 had a majority female readership. When has any comic book ever done that?

You really have to wonder about what it is that these creators and companies do to bring in the balance of readers that they get. What are your thoughts on these facts?

Source: Nikkei Shimbun HERE

-Kristoffer Remmell (FoxxFireArt) is a freelance graphic artist, writer, and over all mystery geek.- Follow for news updates: @ FoxxFireArt