News

Gonjiro, Pikachin-Kit Manga End in Coro Coro Comics Magazine; Minecraft Manga Launches

This year's April issue of Shogakukan's Monthly Coro Coro Comics magazine published the final chapter on Saturday of Yū Ogōshi's Pikachin-Kit manga, and Yasunari Nagatoshi's Kedama no Gonjiro manga. The magazine also announced that it will launch a Minecraft manga (pictured below) titled Minecraft: Sekai no Hate no Tabi (A Journey to the End of the World) in the magazine's May issue on April 15. Kazuyoshi Seto is drawing the manga.

The April issue on Saturday also published a 1-shot for the Animal Crossing franchise titled Atsumare: Dōbutsu no Mori (Animal Crossing: New Horizons). Kokonasu Runpa drew the manga. Nintendo will release its Animal Crossing: New Horizons game on March 20. The game is also inspiring a separate manga series in Shogakukan's Ciao magazine that launched in December.

Additionally, the magazine announced that Kōtarō Yamauchi's Ninja Box manga ended its serialization in Monthly Coro Coro Comics, and will move to Shogakukan's Bessatsu Coro Coro Comics Special magazine instead starting with the magazine's June issue. The manga is part of a multimedia project that includes a web anime that premiered on August 8 and a Nintendo Switch game that launched on September 26.

Nagatoshi launched the Kedama no Gonjiro manga in the magazine in September 2018. Shogakukan published the manga's second volume on November 28.

Sony revealed the mascot character at a press conference in September 2017. The character is a collaboration between Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Aniplex, and Shogakukan.

The character inspired an ongoing television anime series that premiered in April 2019. A Kedama no Gonjiro: Fit and Run smartphone game also launched in April 2019.

Shogakukan announced the Pochitto Hatsumei: Pikachin-Kit multimedia project in October 2017, with plans for toys, anime, manga, a YouTube video series, and a variety program. The manga launched in November 2017, and Shogakukan published the second volume on January 17.

In the franchise, the word "Pikachin" means the flash of inspiration or insight one gets about a new project, similar to the visual of a lightbulb turning on above one's head when someone has an idea. The concept of the franchise is "invention is 99% plastic models, 1% inspiration."

The television anime premiered in Japan in January 2018. FuRyu released a Pikachin-Kit Game de Pirameki Daisakusen! (Pikachin-Kit Great Insight Strategy in a Game) Nintendo Switch game in November 2018.

Source: Monthly Coro Coro Comics April issue and magazine's website