“Tokyo Revengers” is a live-action movie released on July 9, while the TV anime is being broadcast from April 2021. The original “Weekly Shonen Magazine” series of Ken Wakui “Tokyo swastika Revenger’s” at the time of anime aired before the 21 volumes released Comics Although the circulation was around 7 million show rapid growth and currently has approximately 23 million ings.
However, “Higashi Ribe” did not sell suddenly due to the power of anime. So how did it reach today’s explosive popularity? I asked Iku Tsuchiya of the “Weekly Shonen Magazine Editorial Department,” who has been involved as the editor in charge since the working launch.
From seinen manga magazine to shōnen manga magazine
Ken Wakui is known for “Shinjuku Swan” serialized in “Young Magazine.” Still, in 2015 Wakui moved the serialization medium from “Yanmaga” to “Weekly Maga,” that is, from youth magazine to boy magazine. Although the manga artist’s career may shift from boys’ magazines to youth magazines, the opposite is rare. “Tokyo Revengers,” which started in 2017, is the second work after the transfer. “Mr. Wakui had a feeling that he wanted to animate the next work. However, there was almost no animation of outlaw works such as Yankee, so I thought about various things with him. However, at that time, “Re: Life in a Different World from Zero” and “Erased Town” was popular, and “Isn’t it interesting to combine it with time-repeated things?” “I was able to create a novel setting by combining” (Mr. Iku Tsuchiya) “Wakui’s spirit in this work is” I drew a cool and beautiful woman in “Shinjuku Swan” I am enthusiastic about drawing a cute girl like a boy’s magazine. You can see it from the episode “You are here.” “The remodeling of Mr. Wakui’s paintings is fantastic. I’m wondering how to reach a large number of readers. They are drawn separately in youth magazines and boys’ magazines, but since the serialization began.
The design is changing little by little.” Although the reader survey in the series was good from the first episode and the second episode was down, MikeySit on the bank and tell the main character, Martial Arts, that he will “create a bad era.” After getting a good number again in the 5th episode, he won a high ranking in essential times of essential points. After the 5th volume of the comic, the popularity of “Magazine” remains high. “Even so, to be honest, the response was almost calm compared to now. When I went to drink before the animation,” Tokyo Revengers “said 20 million copies. I was telling people around me that I would go 40 million copies! But no one believed me at that time (bitter smile). “
I stopped singing “Yankee Manga.”
The first point of expanding the readership was around the 5th volume I just mentioned. At this time, the comic binding was renewed. “Since the early readers of” Tokyo Revengers “were mainly adult men, I made the cover look like a Yankee manga that would stick to the fans of Yankee manga of yesteryear and Mr. Wakui since” Shinjuku Swan. ” However, from the judgment that it would have reached such readers enough to expand the readership further, I shifted to the cover page that pushes out the time leap part by suppressing the Yankee taste. I see voices like “I want you to read it!”, But before and after the binding change, the word “Yankee” was rarely used in official advertisements. That being said, there are references to “Weekly Maga” senior Yankee manga such as “Shonan Junai Gumi” and “Shippu Densetsu Tokusatsu no Taku.” “Of course, I think that Mr. Wakui is also aware of such a trend. Even if he has a meeting, the Yankees that Mr. Wakui met in reality and the masterpiece Yankee manga such as Ma-bo of” Taku of Tokushu” from the characters’ image, I feel that characters such as Mikey and Draken are born. Outlaw, which is a characteristic of Professor Wakui. It’s a fusion of our charm and the essence of shōnen manga. For example, Mr. Wakui said about Mikey, “Because it is the invincible and coolest guy, I will pay attention to each line,” but we editors requested the character at the meeting of this work. There is almost no such thing. The editorial side also focuses on the complicated settings and development around the time leap, but all the characters are in Mr. Wakui’s head. “
Shibuya Jack is a turning point.
The following significant change was in 2020, “Shibuya Jack.” Three events, an original painting exhibition in Shibuya, a large-scale station advertisement, and a current postcard campaign at SHIBUYA TSUTAYA, will be held in a row for about a month. This led to a further increase in fan enthusiasm and a broader readership. “Originally, there were not a few female readers in” Tokyo Revengers “after adult men.
They repurchased comics for postcards at Shibuya Jack and” Magazine “magazine. I heard that the readers who were following in the app “Magapoke” prepared books, and Shibutsuta-san’s one store sold over 8,000 copies, which was a good number. Many new readers were born, and it was transmitted to other bookstores, and the number of handling increased nationwide.” From the end of 2020 to March 2009, before the anime broadcast, female readers increased further. Male readers have spread to teens. As I wrote at the beginning, 7 million copies had already been sold before the anime aired. TV animation started when the famous VTuber featured in the video and entered the phase of spreading without permission beyond the promotion led by Kodansha.
Interesting episode 1 in front of you
The anime version of “Tokyo Revengers” showed momentum to become No. 1 on the day when the latest story was updated on Netflix’s “Today’s Comprehensive TOP 10 (Japan)”, and Mikey’s speech scene became a meme on TikTok. Countless users post videos. The live-action movie was initially scheduled to be released in the fall of 2020, but it was postponed due to the spread of the new coronavirus and released on July 9. And the stage is scheduled to be performed in 3 cities in August, and the timing is aligned by chance, making it even more popular. It can be said that there is only a sign that the number will grow. “Many people have noticed the unique charm of the character created by Professor Wakui and the strength of the lines. The explosive excitement so far is rare in the history of weekly magazines, and in a sense, it is already ours. I’m away from my hands. I wonder if it’s no longer popular at this level with such a strategy as changing the binding or advertising. So what we can do is to make the serialization weekly and weekly with Dr. Wakui interesting. Let’s go. Rather than thinking about the future, we will face each episode in front of us in the “final chapter” to die. I think that is the most important thing. It’s a work that has a sense of drive, rather than being collected in a stretched manner, so I’d be happy if you could follow the latest story and enjoy it every week. “Story manga has something to do if it continues for a long time. “If the content is interesting, it will sell if you can find it. If it is interesting, the manga will sell properly. I could believe it again.”
The movie “Tokyo Revengers” 2021 Published nationwide on Friday, July 9 Original: Ken Wakui” Tokyo Revengers” (serialized in Kodansha “Weekly Shonen Magazine”) Cast: Takumi Kitamura, Hiroki Yamada, Haruaki Sugino, Mio Imada, Nobuyuki Suzuki, Atsushi Maeda, Hiroya Shimizu, Yuto Isomura, Sho Mamiya Taro, Ryo Yoshizawa Director: Tsutomu Hanabusa Distribution: Warner Brothers Movie