Law of Ueki Plus 5 of 5, Hayate no Gotoku 6, Jungle Boy 2: Elex Media 2 July 2008 manga and manhwa releases

By post popularity
My quick non-accredited count shows the sixth volume of Hata Kenjiro-sensei's Hayate The Combat Butler in the Get lead for Elex manga streeting this coming 2 July 2008. Dogging Hayate is the final tankōbon of Fukuchi Tsubasa-sensei's The Law of Ueki Plus. Both shōnen titles originally appeared in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday mangazine. The next most popular Gets apparently are two second volumes: Rough by Adachi Mitsuru-sensei and Jungle Boy (Shogakukan Shonen Sunday and Akita Shoten Mystery Bonita series respectively). Elex Media publishing J-Boy flopped hasn't seemed to have hurt sales of Nakamura Rie-sensei's BL series any.

Depending on how many more thread posters weigh in, the above rankings may go through some jockeying for position adjustments, though I doubt Hayate or Ueki Plus would be dislodged.

Elex Media manga and manhwa (2008.07.02)

Toggle release links for details and cover scans

1. Bobobo-bo bo-bobo 12 of 21 by Sawai Yoshio

Bobobo-bo bo-bobo 「 ボボボーボ・ボーボボ 」 by Sawai Yoshio Shueisha Weekly Shonen Jump, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2004.03 Has a sequel, Shinsetsu Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo (seven volumes, complete)

2. Change Guy 20 of 31 by Son EunHo, Choi MyungSu

Change Guy 「 체인지가이 」 by Son EunHo, Choi MyungSu Daiwon CI, sonyun This volume first published in Korea 2002.11 ADV released this manhwa as Quantum Mistake (status: discontinued)

3. [NEW] Cinderella Time by Fumizuki Kyoko
4. Comic Bomber (Hoero Pen) 6 of 13 by Shimamoto Kazuhiko

Hoero Pen 「 吼えろペン 」 by Shimamoto Kazuhiko Shogakukan Sunday Gene-X, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2002.12

5. Croket! 12 of 15 by Kashimoto Manavu

Croket! 「 コロッケ！ 」 by Kashimoto Manavu Shogakukan CoroCoro Comic, kodomo This volume first published in Japan 2005.11

6. Cute Children (Zettai Karen Children) 11 of 13+ by Shiina Takashi

Zettai Karen Children 「 絶対可憐チルドレン 」 by Shiina Takashi Shogakukan Shonen Sunday, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2007.11 Adapted into anime by SynergySP and began airing on TV Tokyo 6 April 2008.

7. [Premiere] Dangun (Onsoku Buster Dangun Dan) 1 of 8 by Teshirogi Takashi

Onsoku Buster Dangun Dan 「 音速バスターＤＡＮＧＵＮ弾 」 by Teshirogi Takashi Shogakukan CoroCoro Comic, kodomo This volume first published in Japan 2000.10

8. Dewi Karin Chu (Kamichama Karin Chu) 2 of 7 by Koge-Donbo

Kamichama Karin Chu 「 かみちゃまかりんｃｈｕ 」 by Koge-Donbo Sequel to Kamichama Karin Kodansha Nakayoshi, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2006.12 This manga also serialized in the Indonesian Nakayoshi

9. Doraemon Movie 2: The Records of Nobita Spaceblazer (LAST) by Fujiko F. Fujio [Finale]
10. First Boyfriend (Hatsukare) 4 of 10 by Tomori Miyoshi

Hatsukare 「 ハツカレ 」 by Tomori Miyoshi Shueisha Margaret, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2005.01

11. Hayate the Combat Butler (Hayate no Gotoku) 6 of 16+ by Hata Kenjiro

Hayate no Gotoku 「 ハヤテのごとく！ 」 by Hata Kenjiro Shogakukan Shonen Sunday, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2006.03

12. Jungle Boy 2 of 8 by Nakamura Rie

Jungle Boy 「 ＪＵＮＧＬＥ　ＢＯＹ 」 by Nakamura Rie
Akita Shoten Mystery Bonita, BL
This volume first published in Japan 1994.06
Indonesian version published in a left-to-right format

13. Law of Ueki Plus, The (Ueki no Housoku Plus) 5 of 5 by Fukuchi Tsubasa [Finale]

Ueki no Housoku Plus 「 うえきの法則プラス 」 by Fukuchi Tsubasa Sequel to Ueki no Housoku Shogakukan Shonen Sunday, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 2007.09

14. Rough 2 of 12 by Adachi Mitsuru

Rough 「 ラフ 」 by Adachi Mitsuru Shogakukan Shonen Sunday, shōnen This volume first published in Japan 1987.11 This series is also translated into French by Glenat.

15. Sands' Chronicle (Sunadokei) 10 of 10 by Ashihara Hinako [Finale]

Sunadokei 「 砂時計 」 by Ashihara Hinako AKA Sand Chronicles Shogakukan Betsucomi, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2006.08 Released in Germany as Sunadokei - Die Sanduhr by Burkhard HöFLER

16. [Premiere] Sugar - Sugar Rune 1 of 8 by Anno Moyoco

Sugar - Sugar Rune 「 シュガシュガルーン 」 by Anno Moyoco Kodansha Nakayoshi, shōjo This volume first published in Japan 2004.03 Licensed for North American distribution by Del Rey

17. Tail of the Moon (Tsuki no Shippo) 4 of 15 by Ueda Rinko

Tsuki no Shippo 「 月のしっぽ 」 by Ueda Rinko Shueisha Margaret, shōjo Sequel to the one-volume Tsuki no Toiki (月の吐息　愛の傷) which remains unlicensed This volume first published in Japan 2004.03

Source: Elex Media STO 2 Juli 2008
All manga priced at IDR 13,800 each, with the exception of Doraemon Movie 2 - The Records of Nobita Spaceblazer LAST (IDR 20,000)

Release Highlights

By original publisher
Japanese publisher Shogakukan has been in the news much lately, what with Shueisha investing in Shogakukan's licensing and merchandising arm, ShoPro (Shogakukan Productions) to facilitate manga distribution overseas; Konjiki no Gash! manga-ka Raiku Makoto-sensei suing the publisher over missing artwork; and another manga-ka Shinjo Mayu-sensei (Kaikan Phrase) leaving the company over editorial issues.

I thought I'd revisit, given that in my little part of the world, Shogakukan continues to dominate: this 2nd July, over half or nine of 17 titles releasing are Shogakukan assets. Shueisha trails a distant second with only three entries in the manga weekly list. As I see it, this jostling for first place has negligible significance outside of branding and market shares as Shogakukan which founded Shueisha which in turn established Hakusensha reportedly belong to the same group of publishing companies.

By genre
Leaving out Issue 58 of the Indonesian version of the shōjo manga anthology Nakayoshi from the reckoning (it would've skewed the genre breakdown by some 12 titles otherwise), we find that shōjo comprises 35 percent of the total manga releases (the equivalent of six volumes). Shōnen barrels past with an additional six percentage points over shōjo, purely because the former's total includes the sonyun Change Guy manhwa.

By temporal sequence
Debuting series and standalones (Cinderella Time by Fumizuki Kyoko-sensei; Onsoku Buster Dangun Dan by Teshirogi Takashi-sensei; Anno Moyoco-sensei's Sugar Sugar Rune) and series conclusions (the already mentioned Ueki Plus; Doraemon Movie 2: The Records of Nobita Spaceblazer (LAST); Ashihara Hinako-sensei's Sand Chronicles) come to a 3-3 draw this release.

Technorati tags
manga, manhwa, Elex Media, Nakayoshi, kodomo, seinen, shoujo, shounen, Bobobo-bo bo-bobo, Croket!, Doraemon, Hatsukare, Hayate no Gotoku, Hoero Pen, Jungle Boy, Kamichama Karin Chu, Law of Ueki Plus, Onsoku Buster Dangun Dan, Sand Chronicles, Sugar Sugar Rune, Tail of the Moon, Zettai Karen Children, Adachi Mitsuru

UP NEXT (it should've arrived before)
m&c! 30 June 2008 manga and manhwa

~niki DBA huamulan03 (花木蘭03) via Elex Media

Other invaluable resources (click to unhide)

7&Y | Amazon Japan | Ubook | Baka-Updates Manga | manaworld.com | Wikipedia | Japanator | J!-ENT | ANN