Shonen Sunday Weekly, 1996 Issue 1

-- Update by Eri Izawa

Selected Brief Updates: Series: Me Gumi no Daigo Author: Masahito Soda Daigo, the young fireman with a nose for people in trouble, discovers the man who jumped into the flooded river to save a kid is, in fact, his arch-rival Amakazu. Amakazu had been distraught over a death at a previous fire. Daigo himself gets caught up in the desire to never see anyone die. When Amakazu pushes the child off a side stream and is swept down the raging main river, Daigo leaps in after him. Series: Love Author: Osamu Ishiwata Love, the girl-posing-as-a-boy-tennis-player, finds that her new tennis racket may be just exactly what she needs to win against the powerful Rappa. Getting used to the new spring in the gut strings takes some doing, though. Series: Grooming Up! Author: Masami Yuki Shunpei gets a package from home. Inside, along with textbooks, is a scarf woven by a girl who'd had a crush on him way back when. Shunpei, who is vaguely in love with Hibiki but who also needs a scarf to survive his stable chores, wears it but doesn't say where it came from. Hibiki accidentally damages the scarf and is hideously ribbed by her sisters as she tries to fix it. (The author did say winter was a slow time for horse breeders...). Series: Ghost Sweeper Mikami Author: Takashi Shiina Yokoshima, knocked out by his psychic training, dreams that Mikami confesses her love for him. Of course, he wakes up and tries to express his overblown lust and is promptly beaten down by an irate Mikami. Meanwhile, the demon assassin makes short work of one of the demon "marines" protecting Mikami. Mikami, inside the training area, demands extra training so that she can protect herself, and also so that her apprentice Yokoshima doesn't outstrip her. Though warned that she's already at her full potential, hard-headed Mikami blackmails her way into getting a session. To protect her, Yokoshima and company go outside to face the powerful assassin.... Series: Ushio to Tora Author: Kazuhiro Fujita Asako, with the help of the HAMMR scientists, rushes off to warn Ushio that his upcoming psychic battle will probably result in his soul being irrevocably absorbed by the Beast Spear (she still doesn't remember who he really is). While Tora battles a treacherous ex-friend, Ushio tries to convince the military that the message to torpedo a certain island is a dangerous lie that will kill Ushio's mother and hence free the evil Hakumen from its psychic prison. Unexpectedly, key people are willing to help, and volunteer to act as his so-called "hostages." Ushio is almost to the point of getting a small experimental submarine for himself, when Asako arrives in an unexpected way.... Author: Takuya Mitsuda Series: Major Goro Honda discovers the girl he met that morning is trying out to be a pitcher for Yokohama Little League. Turns out she has just come to Japan from America. More than that, she throws just like Gibson, the player who accidentally killed Honda's dad. Worse than that, our hero is already half in love with her and doesn't realize it.

In-depth Update! Series: Ranma 1/2 Author: Rumiko Takahashi Episode: "Akane Escapes" Ranma background: This comedy-action series by famed mangaka Rumiko Takahashi centers around Ranma Saotome, a 16-year old martial-artist boy who fell into the magic Jyusenkyou springs in China. The result: he turns into a girl when doused with cold water, and returns to a boy with hot water. Not the only victim of the springs, he is also friends (enemies?) with other victims, most of whom turn into various animals with exposure to cold water. Our hero (heroine?) also happens to be betrothed (by parental arrangement) to Akane Tendou, a feisty girl who has no patience for Ranma's ego. Though normally his pride conflicts with hers, over the course of thirty-some books, they start developing (hidden) fondness for each other.... The current story seems like it may well be the final Ranma story. Warning! Spoilers follow. The current story thus far, short version: Mysterious winged bird people who are masters of the Jyusenkyou springs have decided to drain the water for some not-well-explained reason. They arrive in Japan in pursuit of Plum, the young daughter of the Jyusenkyou guide, for the Jyusenkyou map she carries. After the usual initial fights between the Jyusenkyou victims and the new aggressors, Shampoo is unexpectedly brainwashed by Kiima, one of the bird people's ranking officers. With Shampoo and the map in their control, the bird people go back to China. The Jyusenkyou Five (actually four without Shampoo) follow. They meet and battle the bird people in China. Unfortunately, though Ranma captures the prince bird-person's powerful magic sceptre, the prince (Saffron) finds out that Akane is Ranma's weakness. So the bird people kidnap Akane from Japan and drop her into what turns out to be a blank Jyusenkyou spring. Kiima then uses the new Akane spring to make herself look like Akane, thus tricking Ranma into (1) admitting he cares about Akane and (2) losing his guard, enabling Kiima to steal back the magic sceptre and escape. The real Akane, meanwhile, is fuming inside a prison cell near the springs. Kiima and her soldiers head for the Jyusenkyou caves, within which is the mythical source of the Jyusenkyou waters. Within, they commence draining the Jyusenkyou springs. Plum, as daughter of the guide, is able to show Ranma and friends the best way into the caves -- the employee entrance. But as they enter, the group is doused with cold water, effectively eliminating Mousse and Ryoga. They find themselves facing a cold-eyed Shampoo. This issue: Ranma tries to subdue Shampoo and make her remember their friendship, but Shampoo instead succeeds in catching Genma in the same spell she'd been caught in. As Ranma faces a hostile Genma and Shampoo, Plum comes to the rescue and pushes a secret switch that whisks them to a different part of the caverns. Akane, meanwhile, accidentally breaks her cell lock and escapes. Plum is leading Ranma, Ryoga and Mousse to a door that theoretically should take them to hot water, where the the others can return to male human form. The door opens into a vast, deep pit, through which run criss-crossing bridges. Ranma, hanging from the doorknob, spies Akane below -- fleeing arrow-shooting bird people. Ranma, with Mousse's help, manages to grab Akane and swing her into a cave entrance in the side of the pit, but splats himself and the others into the wall. Ranma, Mousse, Ryoga and Plum go hurtling down the pit and fall into water. Up in the cave, Akane shouts down the pit for Ranma, but someone clamps a hand over her mouth....