is a Japanese

manga 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 history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by

Kenshi Hirokane is a Japanese manga artist from Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. He graduated from Waseda University with a degree in law, then worked for Matsushita Electric for four years, before making his manga debut in 1974 with ''Kaze Kaoru''."Manga Snapshot: Big Co ...

. It depicts the growth and career of a fictional

salaryman The term is a Japanese word for salary, salaried workers. In Japanese popular culture, it is portrayed as a white-collar worker who shows unwavering loyalty and commitment to his employer, prioritizing work over anything else, including family. ...

named Kōsaku Shima. It has been serialized in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...

's ''

Morning Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...

'', starting with the first series ''Kachō Shima Kōsaku'' in 1983 and has currently been divided into eight parts. The current part, ''Shagai Torishimariyaku Shima Kōsaku'', began in 2022. The manga has also been published as 7 bilingual volumes (Japanese-English) called ''Division Chief Kosaku Shima'' and ''President Kosaku Shima'', and in French and German. In addition to various manga there has also been one comedic ONA, and two comedic anime adaptations lasting 11 episodes each, a live action film, and a single episode TV drama. The character also acts as the "host" or framing device for a business documentary series on

NHK World NHK World-Japan (formerly and also known simply as NHK World) is the international arm of the Japanese public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-service broadcasters, ...

, ''Shima Kosaku's Asian Entrepreneurs''. As of February 2022, the series had over 47 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series. In 1991, the manga won the 15th

Kodansha Manga Award is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977. Categories The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...

in the General category.

Summary

At the start of the long-running series, Shima Kōsaku is a ''kachō'', or section chief, of a huge conglomerate, Hatsushiba Electric. He is later promoted to ''buchō'' (division chief) and eventually promoted to manager and executive-director, and with each promotion the title of the series changed as well. He was promoted to the president of Hatsushiba Electric, and the title changed to "Shachō" Shima Kōsaku, which means "President Kōsaku Shima". The fictional conglomerate is modeled after

Panasonic is a Japanese multinational electronics manufacturer, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka, Kadoma, Japan. It was founded in 1918 as in Fukushima-ku, Osaka, Fukushima by Kōnosuke Matsushita. The company was incorporated in 1935 and renamed and c ...

, or Matsushita Electric, where Hirokane worked before and is highly accurate in its portrayal of Japanese corporate culture.

Series

*, 1983–1992: 17 volumes *, 1992–2002: 13 volumes *, 2002–2005: 8 volumes *, 2005–2006: 6 volumes *, 2006–2008: 5 volumes *, 2008–2013: 16 volumes *, 2013–2019: 13 volumes *, 2019–2022: 6 volumes *, 2022–present: 5 volumes

Spin-offs

*, 2001–2006, ''Evening'': 4 volumes **, 2006–2010, ''Evening'': 4 volumes *, 2010–2013, ''Evening'': 4 volumes *, 2014–2017, ''Evening'': 6 volumes **, 2017–2018, ''Evening'': 3 volumes *, 2017 (written by

Shin Kibayashi is a Japanese manga storywriter, novelist and screenwriter. Under the name Yuma Ando, he received the 2003 Kodansha Manga Award for '' shōnen'' for writing ''Kunimitsu no Matsuri''. The pen name "Tadashi Agi" (亜樹直) is shared with his si ...

), ''Morning'': 1 volume *, 2019
(crossover with

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime , also known as ''Regarding Reincarnated to Slime'' and by the contraction , is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by , and illustrated by Mitz Vah. The story follows Satoru Mikami, a salaryman who is murdered and th ...

; co-written by Fuse and Taiki Kawakami; character design: Mittsubā), ''Evening'': 1 volume *, 2019–present (illustrated by Fusuke Miyamoto), ''

Monthly Comic Zero Sum is a ''josei'' manga magazine published by Ichijinsha is a Japanese publishing company focused on manga-related publication, including magazines and books. The company was first established in August 1992 as a limited company under the ...

'': 1 volume

Video games

*''Kachō Kōsaku Shima: Super Business Adventure'' (

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System, commonly shortened to Super Nintendo, Super NES or SNES, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan, 1991 in No ...

) 1993 (published by Yutaka) *''CR Kachō Kōsaku Shima'' (

Pachinko is a mechanical game originating in Japan that is used as an arcade game, and much more frequently for gambling. Pachinko fills a niche in Gambling in Japan, Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of l ...

) 2006 (published by Newgin) *''Kachō Shima Kōsaku DS: Dekiru Otoko no Love & Success'' (

Nintendo DS The is a foldable handheld game console produced by Nintendo, released globally across 2004 and 2005. The DS, an initialism for "Developers' System" or "Dual Screen", introduced distinctive new features to handheld games: two LCD screens worki ...

) 2008 (published by

Konami , commonly known as Konami, , is a Japanese multinational entertainment company and video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō, Tokyo. The company also produces and distributes trading card ...

)

Reception

As of February 2022, the series had over 47 million copies in circulation. In 1991, ''Kachō Shima Kōsaku'' won the 15th

in the General category. In 2019, the series also received a Special Award at the 43rd Kodansha Manga Award, commemorating 110 years since Kodansha's founding.

References

External links

*
A question of character
', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'', 7 August 2008 * {{Kodansha Manga Award - General 1992 manga 2001 manga 2002 manga 2005 manga 2006 manga 2008 manga 2010 manga 2013 manga 2014 manga Business in anime and manga Kodansha manga Seinen manga Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (General)