is a Japanese
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
of
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
written and illustrated by
Hiro Mashima
is a Japanese manga artist. He gained success with his first serial ''Rave Master'', published in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1999 to 2005. His best-selling work, ''Fairy Tail'', published in the same magazine from 2006 to 2017, ...
. It collects eight
one-shots originally published in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Magazine
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high ...
'' between 1998 and 2003. The anthology was released as two volumes in Japan in December 2003, and as one volume in North America in 2018.
Overview
;''Magician''
:Published in 1998's 51st issue of
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Magazine
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high ...
''.
In order to save the school's Magician's Club, Aoi and his friends are tasked with rescuing the principle's dog.
:Written while he worked part-time at an arcade, ''Magician'' won Mashima ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''s Rookie Prize and around $7,000. He said the "seed" for the story came from thinking how silly it would be if a hero saved himself by using
sleight of hand
Sleight of hand (also known as prestidigitation or ''legerdemain'' ()) refers to fine motor skills when used by performing artists in different art forms to entertain or manipulate. It is closely associated with close-up magic, card magic, card ...
. It also marks the debut of his character
Plue. The author called ''Magician'' the worst story included in the first volume of ''Hiro Mashima's Playground'', and questioned how it ever won a prize.
;''Fairy Tale''
:Published in the extra ''Fresh'' issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' on September 3, 2002.
In order to prove to his dad that he is an adult now, Silva, prince of the Fire Tribe, teams up with El, princess of the Water Tribe, to recover a stolen national treasure.
:Mashima described ''Fairy Tale'' as a well-done story and relatively polished due to it originally being conceived as a serial he could start following completion of his then-ongoing ''
Rave Master
''Rave Master'', titled just ''Rave'' and, alternatively, ''The Groove Adventure Rave'' in Japan, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. The series follows Haru Glory, a teenager on a quest to find the five frag ...
''. But when the short story he previously submitted to his editors was rejected, he decided to turn ''Fairy Tale'' into a short story since he only had two days before the deadline.
;''Cocona''
:Published in 2003's 29th issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''.
Cocona, princess of Devils, wants to become human so she can be with the man she loves.
:Planning to make a romantic comedy, Mashima's first two drafts of ''Cocona'' were rejected. He felt the first, a "giant-robot fantasy" about a beautiful princess and her fighting robot, could potentially become a serial. The second rejected idea was about a beautiful princess and a gallant knight who travel through time. He then came up with the devil princess who falls in love story, and wanted to include a cat because his previous two manga had dogs even though he prefers to draw cats.
;''Plue's Adventure II''
:Published in 2002's 6th issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''.
A
gamebook
A gamebook is a work of printed fiction that allows the reader to participate in the story by making choices. The narrative branches along various paths, typically through the use of numbered paragraphs or pages. Each narrative typically does not ...
, where
Plue and
Griffon Kato
The ''Rave Master'' manga and anime series features an extensive cast of characters created by Hiro Mashima. The series takes place in a fictional universe that exists as a parallel world where vast numbers of humans, as well as species known ...
set out to recover the stolen Candy Orb.
:Mashima described ''Plue's Adventure II'' as more of a "bonus piece" than a short story. ''Plue's Adventure I'' was included in volume 16 of ''Rave Master'' and was surprising well-received, so he made another. He acknowledged the second would have been better in a ''Rave Master'' collection, but said it just did not work out that way.
;''Bad Boys Song''
:Published in August 1998's 31st issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'', also known as ''Magazine Fresh''.
With three months until graduation, a group of delinquents want to leave their mark on high school.
:Mashima said ''Bad Boys Song'' was a story he hesitated to include in ''Hiro Mashima's Playground''. He wrote it while waiting for the results of the Rookie Prize that ''Magician'' would eventually win, but it was actually published first, so the author said he does not know which of the two manga is actually his debut work. He drew inspiration from his own high school days, and took its title from Hiroshi Tanaka's story ''Bad Boys''.
;''MP (Magic Party)''
:Published in September 2000's 4th issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'', also known as ''Magazine Fresh''.
In order to become a professional wizard, Elena is tasked with finding a spell book.
:Mashima noted that ''MP (Magic Party)'' has some similarities to both ''Cocona'' and ''Magician'', since he loves transformations and magic. Originally intended to be a serial where a magic-school dropout grew up over time, after ''
Harry Potter
''Harry Potter'' is a series of seven fantasy literature, fantasy novels written by British author J. K. Rowling. The novels chronicle the lives of a young Magician (fantasy), wizard, Harry Potter (character), Harry Potter, and his friends ...
'' came out, he dropped the wizard-school plot, keep the characters and world and turned it into a short story. Its title comes from the
magical-power metric commonly found in role-playing games.
;''Xmas Hearts''
:Published in 2003's double 2/3 issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''.
Young Santa Claus Strat hates Christmas and plans to blow off his duties, until all the cakes on Earth are stolen.
:After hearing that the magazine issue would be published around Christmas, Mashima decided to do something seasonal. Although he hoped for something "deep and moving," he called Strat his least favorite protagonist. Mashima does like his father though, whom he modeled after actor
Mel Gibson
Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson (born January 3, 1956) is an American actor, film director, and producer. He is best known for his action hero roles, particularly his breakout role as Max Rockatansky in the first three films of the post-apocaly ...
around the time of ''
Ransom
Ransom is the practice of holding a prisoner or item to extort money or property to secure their release, or the sum of money involved in such a practice.
When ransom means "payment", the word comes via Old French ''rançon'' from Latin ''red ...
''.
;''Fighting Force Mixture''
:Published in 2003's 48th issue of Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''.
The three worst-rated Heroes are given one last chance by being paired together and told they must reach a 90% approval rating in one month or they will be fired.
:In reverse to most of the other manga in the collection, ''Fighting Force Mixture'' was conceived to be a short story before Mashima began to think about turning it into a serial as it grew. It was inspired by the ''
sentai
In Japanese, is a military unit and may be literally translated as "squadron", " task force", " division (of ships)", "group" or "wing". The terms "regiment" and "flotilla", while sometimes used as translations of ''sentai'', are also used to ...
'' television series he watched a lot as a kid. Because of all the humor, the author made sure to note that the story is meant as an homage to those shows and is not making fun of them.
Publication
The
anthology
In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs or excerpts by different authors.
In genre fiction, the term ''anthology'' typically categ ...
contains eight
one-shots by
Hiro Mashima
is a Japanese manga artist. He gained success with his first serial ''Rave Master'', published in Kodansha's ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' from 1999 to 2005. His best-selling work, ''Fairy Tail'', published in the same magazine from 2006 to 2017, ...
originally published in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...
's ''
Weekly Shōnen Magazine
is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga anthology published on Wednesdays in Japan by Kodansha, first published on March 17, 1959. The magazine is mainly read by an older audience, with a significant portion of its readership falling under the male high ...
'' between 1998 and 2003. The first volume contains ''Magician'', ''Fairy Tale'', ''Cocona'', and ''Plue's Adventure II; the second contains ''Bad Boys Song'', ''MP (Magic Party)'', ''Xmas Hearts'', and ''Fighting Force Mixture''.
[ Both '']tankōbon
is the Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...
'' volumes were released on December 16, 2003.[
At ]Anime Expo
Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first we ...
2018, Kodansha USA
Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and mang ...
announced they licensed the anthology for English publication. They released both Japanese volumes in one volume on October 30, 2018.
Volume list
Reception
Ian Wolf from Anime UK News praised Mashima's artwork, though also stated that reading all the stories in the anthology at once can make them feel predictable. As part of Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and oth ...
's fall 2018 manga guide, Amy McNulty, Faye Hopper, Rebecca Silverman, and Teresa Navarro reviewed the anthology for the website. McNulty and Silverman praised the artwork and plot of the stories, while Hopper and Navarro were more critical of Mashima's stories. Takato from Manga News concurred with Wolf, McNulty, and Silverman, praising both the plot and artwork of the various one-shots. Nicholas Demay from Planete BD concurred with previous critics, calling the plot of the various stories "very entertaining".
References
External links
*
{{Fairy Tail
Hiro Mashima
Kodansha manga
Manga anthologies
Shōnen manga