At first Enix started simple by publishing books about Dragon Quest, most notably strategy guides, while also continuing its relationship with Shueisha to launch Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai in late 1989, which was an original series by Riku Sanjo (story) & Koji Inada (art), with Yuji Horii supervising it. However, Enix knew that for it to truly succeed in book publishing it needed to have a manga magazine of its own, & while it did initially publish a series of four-panel manga based on Dragon Quest in 1990 (that'd later become its own, multi-game series of works), it was on March 12, 1991 that Enix truly got into the manga business with the release of the very first (April) issue of Monthly Shonen Gangan; the magazine would always release on the 12th of every month. The name of the magazine was said to be a reference to the command "Gangan Ikouze" first seen in 1990's Dragon Quest IV, which has your party automatically use their most powerful abilities on the enemy, regardless of MP cost; eventually the command would be localized into English as "Show No Mercy!". Over the course of the next 35 years Monthly Shonen Gangan would become a home for a variety of manga, some of which have gone on to become iconic works, others simply the starting points for mangaka who'd become more well known later on, & even a number of manga that were based on various pre-existing IP, whether that be anime, video games, & whatnot.
The history of Shonen Gangan, however, also has its own ups & downs, as a major exodus from within Enix's publishing division in 2001 would result in the creation of rival publishers & magazines, the size of Monthly Gangan itself would notoriously exceed over 1,000 pages at points (with Enix even jokingly advertising not to drop an issue on someone), Enix would later merge with Square to form Square-Enix, and it's a history that admittedly isn't as well known in English, especially when compared to the likes of its most well known rivals, i.e. Jump, Magazine, Sunday, or even Champion. So, to celebrate the 35th Anniversary of Monthly Shonen Gangan's debut, I'm dusting off the ol' Ages of Jump format as we go over the history of Shonen Gangan by way of what (I can tell) look to be its most iconic/notable manga. This will be a six-part series comprised of three "eras" that I've (admittedly) determined primarily based on the life of arguably Gangan's most iconic manga around the world, but it still results in a roughly even spread where each "era" takes up ~10-11 years, as this series technically will only cover up to 2022.
So, without further ado, it's time for us to "Show No Mercy" as we start with the first half of Monthly Shonen Gangan's "Original [United] Era". Gangan Ikouze!
Naturally, the only place to start is with the debut issue of Monthly Shonen Gangan, the April 1991 issue, which claimed to be "Japan's #1 Manga Magazine for Energetic Boys!!"... though it didn't take long for high school & even college students to actually become Gangan's more notable demographic. Anyway, alongside heavy promotion for Dragon Quest V, which was originally planned for release that same year but would go through many delays after the main programmer switched over to being independent (& some of the staff also left Enix to form Climax Entertainment), there were 11 manga that debuted in this issue. However, not simply content with having a still-running & popular Dragon Quest manga over in Jump, Gangan would debut with a DQ manga of its very own, one that took the cover of the very first issue. However, unlike the wholly original Adventure of Dai, Dragon Quest Retsuden: Roto no Monsho/Emblem of Roto by Chiaki Kawamata (concept), Junji Koyanagi (story), & Kamui Fujiwara (art) actually slotted itself into the storyline of DQ's original "Roto Trilogy" & took place in the time between DQIII (which happened first, chronologically) & the original DQ. The manga starred Prince Arus of Carmen, a descendant of the Hero from DQIII (named here as "Arel"), who had been raised in secret for the past decade after the Demon King Imajin took control of the kingdom, but now Arus is ready to stand tall against Imajin, as well as the neighboring Kingdom of Loran (which has teamed with the demons) & bring peace back to the land.
Emblem of Roto would be seen as Shonen Gangan's flagship manga during its run, which would last until Issue #8 of 1997 (there was a point where they used numbers, instead of months, which I'll get to later), totaling 86 chapters across 21 volumes; heads up, but monthly manga can sometimes have chapter counts that don't correspond to works of similar or even less volume count. While Fujiwara had been making manga ever since 1983, this was the series that really put him on the map, and while he'd also work with other publishers he'd continue to work with Enix & Gangan to this very day, & we'll see him again next time with another DQ manga. As for Emblem of Roto, it'd receive a "comic CD" adaptation in 1994, while on April 20, 1996 a 45-minute anime film adaptation would run in theaters as part of the Golden Week Anime Festival '96, alongside anime film adaptations of Violinist of Hameln & Magical Circle Guru Guru (both of which we'll get to in a moment). Then, following a three-chapter revival in 2004, Fujiwara would return to his first true hit manga in the pages of Young Gangan with Dragon Quest Retsuden: Emblem of Roto - Those Who Inherit the Emblem, a next-gen sequel that took place 25 years later & saw Prince Aros (who's not the son of Arus, to be clear) look to discover what truly happened on "The Lost Day" five years prior, where not only magic disappeared from the world but all of the denizens of Radatome Castle also disappeared, alongside Aros' own memories; Those Who Inherit the Emblem would run from late 2004 to early 2020, totaling 324 chapters across 34 volumes. Finally, Square-Enix Manga would announce an official English release for the original Emblem of Roto in October 2024, though now renamed Dragon Quest: The Mark of Erdrick (to match a name change dating all the way back to the original Dragon Warrior localization from 1989), & as of this piece the release is still ongoing.
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Also seen in Shonen Gangan's debut issue was the debut work for Natsuki Matsuzawa, Totsugeki! Pappara-tai/Charge! Pappara Squad. This manga starred Izumi Mizushima, a lieutenant in the Sutton Republic Army nicknamed the "God of Death" due to his seemingly impervious body that allows him to survive things like gunshots & even being hit by a tank. Because of this insane level of resilience Mizushima is moved over to the Pappara Squad, nicknamed "The Strongest Squad in Hell" that operates on "the front lines at the end of the world"... but in reality it's the Okiraku Squad, which is filled with soldiers who take nothing seriously & only want to have fun. Yes, Totsugeki! Pappara-tai was in fact a wartime gag manga where Mizushima's generally serious demeanor would often find him being poked at by his Pappara Squad mates, though it still had a general overarching story that was split across four arcs: "Part 1" (yes, that's the official name for it), the Schwarz Land Arc, the Pappara Academy Arc, & the Future Arc. Still, it was a manga that seemingly delighted in excess, whether it was all manner of gun fights, a running gag where each volume would try to calculate the total amount of damage the Pappara Squad did previously (only for the terrain to constantly change, because they were THAT destructive), or having bizarre characters like a squad captain who actually just wanted to be a shojo mangaka, a character literally named しっとマスク/Shit Mask, & even Matsuzawa himself making recurring appearances as a watermelon-headed curry lover. Totsugeki! Pappara-tai would run until August 2000 for 144 chapters across 18 volumes, & from late 1998 to early 1999 a 25-episode TV anime adaptation by Magic Bus aired on TV Aichi on Saturday mornings; understandably, some of the more extreme humor was toned down or removed due to the time slot.
Following the previously mentioned mass exodus in 2001, Matsuzawa would leave Enix & join up primarily with Ichijinsha, one of the publishers that formed from the exodus. In mid-2006 he launched a sequel to his debut work, Gyakushu! Pappara-tai/Counterattack! Pappara Squad, that took place roughly 200 years later (but still featured some returning characters, like Shit Mask) & ran in Monthly Comic REX until early 2011, adding an additional eight volumes to the overall series.
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Of the 11 manga that appeared in Gangan's debut issue, some of the mangaka behind those titles came from the Enix Fantasy Comic Awards, similar to the Enix Game Hobby Program Contest from a decade prior. One of the winners of the comic-themed contest was Ami Shibata, who initially got her start contributing to the Dragon Quest four-panel manga series before making her serialized debut here with Nangoku Shonen/Tropical Boy Papuwa-kun. The series told the story of Shintaro, a man who stole the cherished Blue Stone from the Gamma Gang & tried to escape capture, only to find himself on a mysterious island named Papuwa, home of a young boy named Papuwa-kun & strange animals (that can speak like humans) called Namamono. Initially the manga was a mostly episodic one where Shintaro would often be led astray by Papuwa-kun & the two would find themselves in some sort of trouble, usually involving the Namamono. Over time, though, the manga transitioned into more of a "traditional" shonen manga, where Shintaro & Papuwa-kun would find themselves needing to fight off the Gamma Gang, who want their Blue Stone back as legend has it that whoever has both the Red & Blue Stones can rule the world. Originally intended to only run for six chapters, Shibata actually tried to make Papuwa-kun while still working her day job as an ad artist for a subsidiary of the company Recruit, but quickly found it too much (& she realized that Enix had no intention of letting her manga end so soon), so she left her day job to work full-time as a mangaka; however, her day job apparently said that they'd gladly welcome her back if things didn't work out. The manga was also notable for having only one female character throughout its entire run, which resulted in a lot of homosexual humor but almost none of it was dirty humor. Nangoku Shonen Papuwa-kun would run until June 1995 for 56 chapters across seven volumes, & from 1992 to 1993 a 42-episode TV anime adaptation by Nippon Animation aired in prime time on TV Asashi, plus a one-off OVA that came out in 1994; the show that'd replace Papuwa-kun in late 1993 would actually be Slam Dunk.
To English-speaking anime fans of a certain vintage the name Papuwa may be familiar to them, but that's NOT from this series. Instead, that's from the sequel that Shibata would debut in 2002, and we'll go over that series (& Shibata's larger legacy) in the second era of Monthly Shonen Gangan.
Another Enix Fantasy Comic Award winner that made his serialized debut in Gangan's debut issue was Michiaki Watanabe (not to be confused with the late music composer, who also went by Chumei Watanabe) with Hameln no Violin-hiki/The Violinist of Hameln, the story of Hamel, a greedy & egotistical "hero" who fights against the forces of Demon Lord Chestra using "magic music" that he plays via his massive violin. Alongside Hamel's talking crow Oboe there's also Flute, an orphan girl with a secret past who accompanies Hamel on his journey to Hameln, the Northern capital, with Hamel having a secret past of his own. Watanabe's manga was a mix of zany gag manga, usually in relation to Hamel's selfish behavior often requiring Flute (& friends they make along the way) to "entice" Hamel to do something heroic via violence, & high fantasy adventure manga. Also, if you couldn't tell already, much of the cast & locales had names based on various musical instruments (Flute, Oboe, [synthe]Sizer, [or]Chestra, Trom Bone, Lute, Bass, etc.), musical terminology (Dal Segno, Sforzando, etc.), and so on. The manga would wind up being a massive success for Shonen Gangan, running for nearly an entire decade before ending in February 2001 after 37 volumes, a length that wouldn't be beaten in Shonen Gangan until only just a few years ago, when Nagasarete Airantou would finally surpass it (& is still running, to this day). The Violinist of Hameln would also receive two different anime adaptations, the first being that 30-minute film from early 1996 I mentioned earlier, followed by a 25-episode TV anime adaptation that ran from late 1996 to early 1997. What's notable about these two anime is that while the film was fully accurate to the manga's mix of gag & fantasy adventure, the TV anime (which was solely written by the legendary Yasuhiro Imagawa, in his debut as head writer for an anime) went in a completely different direction by being an immensely serious & dark opera, though still technically adapting the story of the manga (to a point, of course). The TV anime was also notorious for its extreme reliance on limited animation, & in particular Osamu Dezaki-style "Postcard Memories", only utilizing "proper" animation in key moments, which director Junji Nishimura admitted was inspired by Neon Genesis Evangelion; in some fan circles the TV anime would receive the nickname "The Slideshow of Hameln" because of this. However, the musical score comprised of arrangements of many iconic pieces of classical music was highly praised.
After finishing The Violinist of Hameln, Michiaki Watanabe would move on to other work, before eventually returning to the world of his smash hit in 2007 with a new one-shot in Young Gangan, followed by the debut of The Violinist of Hameln: Shchelkunchik in 2008, a next-gen sequel starring the children of the OG cast, which ran in Young Gangan until mid-2011 across eight volumes. Then in 2013 Watanabe debuted Zoku The Violinist of Hameln: The Bolero of Love, a midquel to the prior two series that starred Hamel & Co. once again and was self-published on Watanabe's website, with a physical release by Cocokara Comics, running until 2025 for an additional 22 volumes. Without a doubt, The Violinist of Hameln is one of the most important manga in the history of Monthly Shonen Gangan & was a key pillar of the magazine's first era of existence.
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Finally, we end our initial focus on Shonen Gangan's debut with the last long-runner that appeared in that first ever issue, Kiryu Senki/Shining Dragon War Demon Nargas by Haruhiko Masuda. The manga starred Ryuki Kiriyama, a high school student who discovers that he's actually half-demon, with his deceased mother Esreen being the granddaughter of Rajas, the Dragon King who ruled the Demon Realm for 500 years before he was ousted & killed by Vagura, a Beel Diva (the manga's general term for demons) of the Fire Realm. As per a prophecy given by Rajas before he died, inside of Ryuki is Nargas, the "Grandson of Flame" that will destroy Vagura & bring peace back to the Demon Realm. Unlike some of the other mangaka previously covered, Haruhiko Masuda had been making manga for a bit prior to Nargas, having first gotten his start during his time at Ibaraki University's doujinshi magazine Agnum before doing some serializations in both Weekly Shonen Takarajima & Monthly Shonen Captain; one of his early works, Saga of Dragon, even got acknowledged in Nargas' plot as an old legend. However, Nargas would be the first manga by Masuda to actually reach some sort of proper conclusion, ending in October 1994 after nine volumes, making it his longest work ever; there is word that the final portion was still rushed a bit, though, leaving some mysteries unanswered. After Nargas Masuda would make a number of other manga for Enix, but all of them wound up being cancelled early, and he's since moved over to making mostly adult manga under the pen name Kiseichu, i.e. "Parasite".
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Even though we're finally done with Shonen Gangan's debut issue, we only have to move one issue over for our next long-runner, as the May 1991 issue saw the debut of Z-Man by Hideaki Nishikawa. A "science fantasy battle manga", Z-Man took place in a future where humanity discovered a new form of life force energy named Abas, and with it started creating artificial life known as Ideas that were managed by a giant, sentient computer called Mother. Naturally, Mother eventually went mad with power & turned all Ideas into human-killing rogues. The manga starred Nanashi, a young man with amnesia 1,000 years after a final confrontation with Mother resulted in planetary devastation . In reality, though, Nanashi is actually Z Eraser Zain, the anti-Idea unit that was created to stop Mother, with their encounter being the cause of the now post-apocalyptic world; now he has to take on the Hexagram Holy Gods who rule over the world. In a way Z-Man kind of sounded like a darker take on Mega Man, only with Nanashi having a love interest in his common companion Yatima, and today it's generally seen as the origin of Nishikawa's penchant for stories that showcase "the relentless & insidious portrayal of the darkness of the heart". Still, with its "high-tension" action & storytelling, Z-Man would be a popular early work for Shonen Gangan, running until November 1995 across 11 volumes, and in the same year it ended it also received a drama CD adaptation that covered the first volume.
As for Nishikawa, he'd later make a short sequel to Z-Man titled Zeno ~To the Homeland Where Souls Descend~ in Monthly Gangan Wing (the collected release of which also included the original Z-Man one-shot that led to its serialization), and would make a few other manga for Enix before he debuted his next big work for Shonen Gangan in 1997, which we'll get to next time.
Following Z-Man's debut Shonen Gangan would see another six manga debut over the course of the next year, but none of them would last longer than just over a year or so, so instead we jump forward all the way to the August 1992 issue for our next major debut... and it's a big one. Hiroyuki Eto first made his start in manga back in 1985 with some award-winning one-shots, but actually decided to leave the business after those to instead work as a clerk for a boutique store & import record store. He would work as a writer & illustrator for some magazines come 1988, but it wasn't until 1990 that he truly returned to manga when he was recruited to be a part of the Dragon Quest four-panel gag series, like many others, & he parlayed that into making his serialized debut in 1992 with Fantasy CPU Pico Pico... which died after only four chapters due to the closure of the magazine it ran in. Eto, though, also debuted another serialization (this time in Shonen Gangan) while also making Pico Pico, which would be the manga that made him a legend, Mahoujin/Magical Circle Guru Guru. A whimsical & parodic take on an fantasy RPGs, the manga starred a young boy named Nike who sets off to defeat the Demon King Giri & save the day... simply because his father Bado wants (in essence) to achieve his dream of being a hero vicariously through his son. Accompanying Nike on his adventure is Kukuri, a young witch's apprentice who can use the mythical magic known as Guru Guru, which is performed by drawing circles on the ground. As mentioned, Magical Circle Guru Guru was parody of RPGs of the time, in particular Dragon Quest (DQ-style text boxes were also used as for comedic narration), so Nike & Kukuri would find themselves on various "side-quests" while making their way to where Demon King Giri was located, with Eto also tossing in references to some of his favorite things, like DJ-ing, techno music, video games, fairy tales, etc. As the story went on Eto also put more focus towards explaining the lore of the Migu Migu tribe (which Kukuri is a part of) & the truth behind Guru Guru, which likely allowed the manga to still feel like a proper adventure story that developed over time, instead of simply being a whimsical comedy.
Similar to The Violinist of Hameln, Magical Circle Guru Guru would be an iconic long-running manga for Shonen Gangan, running until September 2003 for 158 chapters across 16 volumes. It also received a number of TV anime adaptations, the first running from 1994 to 1995 for 45 episodes (& a short film in 1996, as mentioned before), followed by a 38-episode sequel series in 2000, both of which were produced by Nippon Animation. Then, in 2017, Production I.G. made a full-on remake TV anime that ran for 24 episodes & would be the first time the franchise ever saw an official English release, by way of a simulcast by Crunchyroll. Finally, in late 2012 Hiroyuki Eto returned to his big hit with Magical Circle Guru Guru 2, which ran digitally in Gangan Online & was a sequel that took place literally just two weeks after the original series ended and saw Nike & Kukuri go on a new adventure; it would end in mid-2025 after an additional 149 chapters across 21 volumes.
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We now jump over to the October 1992 issue with our next notable Shonen Gangan work. Toshiya Iwamura got his start in manga in the mid-80s after getting an honorable mention in one of the Weekly Shonen Sunday's Newcomer Awards, followed by getting a couple of one-shots published in Monthly Shonen Captain in 1985 & 1986. He'd then see his serialized debut in 1987 over at Shonen Sunday Special Edition (now Weekly Shonen Sunday S) with the short-lived Let's Gyohei, & he also wound up making a handful of Gundam-related one-shots starting with 1991's The Ghost of Neo Zeon, before finally seeing notable success in Shonen Gangan with Dengeki Dr. Moai-kun. This was a gag manga starring Hiroto Moai, a gay elementary school student who's generally rather dumb except for when it comes to medicine, which he's a genius at. Being a gag manga there wasn't really any overarching story to Dengeki Dr. Moai-kun, instead focusing more on simply telling silly tales revolving around Moai's knack for medicine (which he learned from a medical book that he mistook for pornography, since Moai's also rather perverted), as well as various jokes & references that Iwamura made regarding various anime, manga, & movies, even if said jokes & references likely went over the heads of the young readers of Shonen Gangan. Moai being gay also resulted in a recurring gag of him repeatedly trying to hit on his friend Daisuke Umiga, only for Umiga to never notice Moai's advances & instead was in love with their classmate Nako Suteki. Dengeki Dr. Moai-kun would run all the way until Issue #6 of 1996 for 49 chapters across five volumes & today is generally seen as Toshiya Iwamura's most iconic work; he's done other manga since, but none have ever lasted long. While Iwamura has considered maybe making a sequel one day the manga has at least been available in Japan digitally via Manga Library Z, allowing children of later generations to experience the zany gags & antics of Hiroto Moai & his friends, as Iwamura really wanted most.
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As indicated, a number of Shonen Gangan's early talent first made their mark with Enix by way of the Dragon Quest four-panel gag strips, and the same is true of our next mangaka, Sachi Oshimizu. She would then parlay those strips into a one-shot that won Enix' first ever Big Rookie Award in 1991 before getting another one-shot published in Fresh Gangan that wound up being very well liked by readers. Oshimizu would then turn that one-shot into a serialized work that debuted in December 1992, Twin Signal. The manga starred Signal, a "Human Form Robot" (i.e. an android) who's programmed to act as an older brother figure to Nobuhiko Otoi, the grandson of Signal's creator Dr. Shinnosuke Otoi. However, an accident during initial start-up results in Signal's malleable body to swap between his usual grown form & a "Chibi" form whenever Nobuhiko sneezes, and this led to the early part of Twin Signal being more of an episodic comedy manga revolving around the antics & adventures Nobuhiko & Signal find themselves on with their friends. However, soon enough the manga would transition into a more serious-minded series once more about Signal & other HFRs like him (collectively called the "A-Numbers") was revealed, leading into a conflict with an organization known as Think Tank At-Random led by the cold-hearted Dr. Quasar. Twin Signal would wind up being split across five story arcs (the Tokkari Town Arc, the Lyceum Arc, the Oracle Arc, the Think Tank At-Random Arc, & the A-Numbers Elimination Plan Arc), all the while eventually examining the concept of humanoid robots & where they'd theoretically fit within human society. In late 2000 the manga would leave Shonen Gangan & move over to sister magazine Monthly G Fantasy for its final story arc, where it ran alongside titles like Saiyuki, E's, Hatenkou Yugi/Dazzle, & Tactics, before finally coming to an end in December 2001 after 19 volumes. In 2007 Media Blasters would give the manga an English release (based on Asahi Sonorama's later 11-volume edition), due to the 1996 OVA adaptation performing well for them, but MB only managed to release a single book before dropping it. Because of this, most English-speaking fans likely don't even know that the manga actually becomes more serious later on.
Aside from a couple of short side-story manga, Sachi Oshimizu more or less left Twin Signal behind after it ended & continued making other manga, but in 2019 she returned to her most iconic with a sequel, Twin Signal Biennial. However, Biennial is self-published by Oshimizu as a digital-only serialization via Medibang's ARTstreet service & currently only has 10 chapters out, with the last one dating back to April 2021.
While we haven't seen it in a major way via the titles I've covered so far, Monthly Shonen Gangan would eventually be known for a time as the home of manga adaptations of already existing works, though early on it was really only the two Dragon Quest manga (Emblem of Roto & the four-panel comics) that really showcased that. That shift towards more adaptations would quite happen yet come 1993, but at the end of the year the magazine did finally see manga another adaptation of a known property. Debuting back in 1968, Humanoid Monster Bem was a 26-episode TV anime created by Dai-Ichi Douga (what's now ADK Holdings) & told the tale of three yokai (Bem, Bela, & Belo) who helped humans by dealing with other yokai who made trouble, all in the hopes that by doing good deeds they'd turn into humans themselves. The anime would get rebooted a few times, most notably via TV anime in 2006 & 2019, the latter of which received a theatrical film sequel in 2020, but what we'll be focusing on here is Humanoid Monster Bem Returns, which debuted in the December 1993 issue of Shonen Gangan & was made by the duo of Mai Tsurugina [story] & Naoto Tsushima [art]. Despite the "returns" in the title, this looks to have been a complete reimagining of the franchise, with our leads now being artificially-made creations of Dr. Zeus of the Belimeri Republic that were created for military purposes, but Dr. Zeus rebelled against the Republic & before dying freed the trio & gave them free will. The manga also saw the trio take on both "Yoju/Strange Beasts" (a portmanteau of "yokai" & "beast") & even beastmen called Chimera, in place of the standard yokai of old, before switching over to them taking on God Emperor Shiki of the Tachyon Empire. Without a doubt, this was a wildly different take on Bem than anything before or even after it.
Humanoid Monster Bem Returns would run until August 1995 for 20 chapters across five volumes, and you might wonder what was even the point of making a new Bem manga in the 90s, when there wouldn't be another Bem anime until just over a decade later. Turns out that's because Bem Returns is what I would call a "Vestigial Work", i.e. a weird remain that shouldn't really exist; other examples include Dancouga Burn, Shinken Legend Tight Road, Early Reins, & SpyHunter: Nowhere to Run. In this case the plan was for the manga to essentially act as early promotion for a new Bem anime that was eventually planned for a Spring 1997 debut, & even a video game adaptation, but for one reason or another all that ever came to be was the manga; a Bem reboot had previously been planned back in 1982, as well, but also never happened. Still, vestigial works like Bem Returns are always neat, because they show a side of something that, otherwise, would have never actually existed.
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We now jump from the debut issue of Bem Returns to just a few months shy of its finale, as Shonen Gangan's next notable manga wouldn't really appear until the April 1995 issue. However, while the title & (especially) its creator may not be a known name outside of Japan this was actually a somewhat notable grab for Gangan at the time. Debuting back in 1972, Mikio Igarashi wouldn't truly hit it big until 1986 when he debuted the four-panel (though technically it mainly uses eight panels) series Bonobono, which stars the titular sea otter as he lives his life in the forest, a gag manga that mixes in philosophical questions & is still running to this very day, with it currently totaling 49 volumes. In late 1993 Bonobono would receive an anime film adaptation directed by Igarashi himself, & in April 1995 a TV anime adaptation debuted in Japan... right around the same time Igarashi debuted a new manga in Shonen Gangan with Ninpen Manmaru. Unlike Bonobono, Ninpen Manmaru had no real philosophical aspect to its storytelling, instead being a silly & fun series about the titular airheaded penguin who was training to become a ninja alongside his animal friends, though eventually the gang head off the recover their cherished Tenyo Flute after it gets stolen by Gio, the younger brother of Manmaru's master Nenga. Ninpen Manmaru would run a solid four years, ending in April 1999 after 11 volumes, & would even become the first Enix-published manga to ever win a Shogakukan Manga Award, namely the Children's Award in 1997. There was also a short spinoff, Ninpen Manmaru E-Nikki/Picture Diary, that ran in Enix's Monthly Shonen Gag-Oh from September 1997 to May 1998. There would also be a 30-episode TV anime adaptation (made up of 60 stories) that ran from 1997 to 1998, which was notable for its extensive use of on-screen subtitles, similar to what Japanese variety shows do; it did release a VHS release back in the day, & is available via streaming in Japan, but has never received a DVD or BD re-release.
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Normally with a format like this I try to be very particular when it comes to what I cover, namely in that it had to be a notable manga that ran in the specific magazine that I'm going over. For this next entry I do have to be a little lax in that regard, because this is an example of a manga that Enix published in two different magazines at the same time for a good while, and its co-run in Shonen Gangan lasted for a decent amount of time. With Shonen Gangan being considered a success, Enix would decide to launch sister magazines & one of those was Monthly Shonen Gag-Oh, which launched in May 1994. Unfortunately, Gag-Oh would also be the first of Enix's magazines to die out, only lasting until April 1999, but one of its longest-running titles was Susume!! Dynaman by Takumi Ikeda, the former pen name of Takumi Kawano. Debuting in August 1994, this four-panel manga starred the titular Dynaman, a hero school drop out from the planet Bombom (located in the N64 Nebula) who has come to Earth to fight against evildoers (both from Earth & the planet Jyama) using the one thing he knows: Blowing things up with bombs. Yes, somehow Enix got away with publishing what was essentially a blatant parody of Hudson Soft's iconic Bomberman franchise, and it would run until December 1998 in Shonen Gag-Oh, i.e. it ran for almost as long as the magazine itself did, totaling six volumes. However, Susume!! Dynaman would also run simultaneously in Monthly Shonen Gangan from May 1995 to Combined Issue #5-6 in 1998, i.e. most of its serialization life, so there's no doubt that Enix felt that the manga was such a hit that it needed to reach an audience beyond what Shonen Gag-Oh was reaching. After Dynaman ended Kawano/Ikeda would continue to make gag manga, most notably a pair of Mega Man Battle Network & Mega Man Star Force manga about the game players themselves, before eventually returning to their most iconic work with Susume!! Dynaman 21, which Kawano was posting new strips of on their personal website.
As we enter the exact middle point of the 90s, i.e. June 1995, we start to reach a point where I'll have to start mentioning more often about certain mangaka "jumping ship" from Enix, as it were. This will definitely be something to take into considering next time, & I'll go into much more detail about it at the start of Shonen Gangan's second era, but I bring it up here because up next is the first truly notable mangaka who winds up leaving Enix in the future... but right now we're seeing her at her very beginning, with her first notable work; there was Natsuki Matsuzawa earlier, but I'd argue that this person would be a bigger jump, in hindsight. In 1993 Kozue Amano received both a Honorable Mention & Big Step Award at Enix's 6th Big Rookie Award for her one-shot Earth, and after another one-shot in 1994 she finally made her serialized debut in Shonen Gangan with Roman Club. The series followed the life of Yumegaoka Junior High's titular "Roman Club" as its members investigate the various mysteries & supernatural phenomena that the town they all live in has been notorious for since ancient times. With a general theme of "never-ending afterschool activities", Roman Club became known for its consistent usage of seasonal events & festivals that Japanese schools are still known for to this day, alongside its quirky & friendly cast that made up the Roman Club itself. The manga would run until Issue #3 of 1998 & total six volumes, and while it never received an anime adaptation it did receive a drama CD. While this would be the only manga Kozue Amano would ever make for Shonen Gangan, she did continue to make manga for Enix, with 1997's Crescent Noise (which ran in G Fantasy) even seeing some of the cast of Roman Club make recurring appearances.
In March 2001, following the end of Crescent Noise, Kozue Amano would debut the manga Aqua in Enix's Monthly Stencil, which was a relaxed look at the lives of female gondoliers who worked on a terraformed Mars... but after only nine chapters Amano would be one of the mangaka who left Enix as part of that mass exodus, moving over to the newly established publisher Mag Garden. Aqua continued on in Monthly Comic Blade in 2002 under the new name of Aria, quickly becoming Kozue Amano's most iconic work, with the later anime adaptation that debuted in 2005 continuing to see new productions as recently as 2021. Meanwhile, Mag Garden would re-release Roman Club in 2005 in Japan, though Crescent Noise looks to have been left behind with time, despite its (loose) connection to Roman Club.
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OK, this next pick isn't exactly an "iconic" or "notable" manga in the history of Shonen Gangan, especially since it was really nothing more than a two-issue special feature. However, I'm the one writing this six-part overview of Shonen Gangan's history so I think I can be allowed one extra inclusion that only truly matters to me. Anyway, the February & March issues of 1996 saw Gangan host a two-part manga from Masami Kurumada, who until just a little over a year prior had been a long-standing & iconic mangaka over at Shueisha before leaving the publisher to debut the series B't X alongside Kadokawa Shoten's brand new Monthly Shonen Ace magazine in late 1994. During the serialization of B't X Kurumada would also create the short series Evil Crusher Maya for Enix & Shonen Gangan, which told the story of the titular Maya, a mysterious young man who fights against demonic creatures called "Evils". The manga specifically detailed Maya being hired to save a village from Emiria, a seeming holy man & savior who has since started asking for teenage girls to be brought to his church, upon which they're seen again. The last original short manga Kurumada would make for close to 20 years, breaking the streak in 2015 with his semi-autobiographical fiction manga Ai no Jidai, Evil Crusher Maya broke away from some of Kurumada's usual traditions by starring a mysterious (& tragic) main character who didn't scream at the top of his lungs during battle (& also didn't utilize the character design of Ring ni Kakero's Ryuji Takane, unlike most of his leads), and while there were some visual & stylistic callbacks to his most iconic work in Saint Seiya it was simply a very well told & engaging short manga in its own right, one that honestly still makes for a neat little introduction to Kurumada, in some ways, for newcomers.
While Evil Crusher Maya was serialized (technically) in Shonen Gangan, though, Enix wouldn't be the publisher for a collected release. Instead, that wouldn't happen until 1998 when Home-Sha (a division of Shueisha, which still re-released Kurumada's old Jump manga) released a collected book for Evil Crusher Maya, followed a bunkoban re-release in 2001 where it was bundled together with 1994's Akane-Iro no Kaze -Shinsengumi Keppu-ki- (the final manga Kurumada did for Shueisha until 2000's Ring ni Kakero 2). The following issue after the March 1996 issue Enix decided to move Shonen Gangan over to a bimonthly pace, i.e. it would come out every two weeks instead of four, with the magazine even losing the "Monthly" part of its title; this is why some issues I've mentioned used numbers instead of months. Considering the varying amounts of chapters that many of the long-running manga have when compared to each other I would imagine that not every manga necessarily appeared in every issue during this bimonthly schedule, & maybe it was an attempt at making the magazine a little more lean by having a sort of revolving line-up that alternated every two weeks; considering its length, though, I imagine The Violinist of Hameln actually upped its serialization pace to match.. The change in release schedule would only last for two years, however, with the magazine returning back to a strictly monthly pace in April of 1998, which it's continued to have ever since.
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Because of the shift in release schedule this does result in 1996 technically having "January", "February," & "March" issues of Shonen Gangan, followed by a reset with the two issues that now came out in April being labeled "#1" & #2" (instead of just calling them "#4" & "#5"), which I'm sure resulted in some confusion from readers at the time. Regardless, Issue #2 of (the now no longer Monthly) Shonen Gangan 1996 saw the debut of Go Go! Purin Teikoku/Go Go! Pudding Empire, which looks to have been the serialized debut of Makoto Kubota, who had previously made one-shots for Kodansha's Morning magazine. The manga was about the evil Pudding Empire from the planet Bavaroa, who plan to invade & conquer Earth due to Bavaroa only having around one year left as a hospitable planet. However, in reality, Go Go! Purin Teikoku was actually a gag parody of tokusatsu shows, with the Pudding Empire & its variety of monsters generally coming off as utterly inept at their attempts at conquering Earth, while some of the monsters were actually pretty nice guys, all things considered. However, when time came for the final chapter in April 2000 (again, the bimonthly releases only lasted two years) Kubota shocked everyone by ending everything with a 100% serious story where the Pudding Empire wound up having to work with humanity to protect Earth from a completely different alien invasion. Go Go! Purin Teikoku would total six volumes in the end, and after its finale Kubota would make manga for other publishers before finally returning to Enix (now Square-Enix) in 2004 when the series Astro Fighter Sunred debuted in Young Gangan. Similar to Kubota's first series, Sunred was a parody of tokusatsu, only now detailing the "battles" between the evil organization Froshiem (which was actually run by really decent & nice villains, though they still wanted world conquest) & the titular hero Sunred (who was actually an absolute jerk who'd rather laze about at home), & it didn't take long for it to be revealed that Sunred took place in the same world as Go Go! Purin Teikoku, with some characters from the (now canon) precursor making guest appearances in Sunred. Astro Fighter Sunred would run until 2015 for 20 volumes, plus a single-volume loose sequel, Astro Fighter Sunred N, coming out digitally in Japan in 2019, with a physical release in 2020.
While Go Go! Purin Teikoku never saw any sort of adaptation back in its day, Astro Fighter Sunred would receive a two-season TV anime adaptation between 2008 & 2010, with Episode 29 actually being partly dedicated to adapting a portion of Go Go! Purin Teikoku, though only two of its characters (Jaba & Belmus) were given voices.
We move only two issues after the debut of Go Go! Purin Teikoku, i.e. one month later, for the next notable Shonen Gangan manga, and while the mangaka of this work would be another one that'd later jump ship from Enix in 2001, this specific work was technically already done in Gangan prior to that happening. Minene Sakura got her start in manga when her one-shot Mother Droll became the runner-up in the 1st ever Enix 21st Century Manga Award (what looked to have replaced the Enix Fantasy Comic Award, & what was later simply known as the [Square-]Enix Manga Award), and from that she was able to make her serialized debut in Shonen Gangan with Mamotte Shugogetten!/The Defending Protector of the Heavenly Moon! in Issue #4 of 1996. The manga was about Tasuke Shichiri, a 14-year old boy who lives by himself & one day receives a gift from his father, who's currently in China, which is an octagonal wheel called the Shitenrin. Due to his pure heart a girl emerges from the Shitenrin who identifies herself as Shaolin, the titular Shugogetten of the Moon, who promises to protect Tasuke from then on out with the help of her Hoshigami assistants... only for Shaolin to, more often than not, create for problems for Tasuke. If this concept sounds familiar then you're probably familiar with Ah!/Oh! My Goddess by Kosuke Fujishima, which had debuted eight years prior & was very similar in concept. In fact, Tasuke later got two more women who join him & Shaolin via Ruan (the Keikounitten of the Sun) & Kiryu (the Bannanchiten of the Earth), very similar to how Keiichi Morisato wound up with Belldandy, Urd, & Skuld. Now, to be fair, there's nothing wrong with Sakurano making her own take on the concept for a completely different magazine, and Mamotte Shugogetten! would be a successful series in its own right, running until March 2000 for 66 chapters across 11 volumes & receiving both a 22-episode TV anime adaptation by Toei from 1998 to 1999, followed by an eight-episode OVA across 2000 & 2001.
You might find word online that Mamotte Shugogetten! was cancelled due to the later mass exodus that'd happen at Enix, but the manga ended a little over a year before that actually happened. The main reason why people would think that was the case, though, would be due to Minene Sakurano being one of the mangaka who would leave Enix in 2001, moving over to Mag Garden where she'd revive her debut serialization in Monthly Comic Blade in 2002 with Mamotte Shugogetten! Retrouvailles, which ran until 2005 for an additional six volumes. Then, a decade later in 2015, Sakura would bring the series back again via Mag Garden with Mamotte Shogugetten! Kaifu no Sho/The Unsealing Chapter, which is still running to this day & currently at 10 volumes. As for English releases, Mamotte Shugogetten! actually had two different attempts, with the first in the early 00s by Gutsoon as a part of (the well ahead of its time) Raijin Comics, where it was titled Guardian Angel Getten (& was apparently based on the original Enix-published edition), though only 40 chapters of it were serialized in English, & only four collected volumes released. Then, in the late 00s, TokyoPop gave the manga a second chance under its original Japanese title (& based on the later Mag Garden release, which included two new chapters), releasing the entire OG series across five double-sized books; the later manga runs & the anime adaptation have yet to see an official English release.
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Finally, we end the first half of Monthly Shonen Gangan's "Original [United] Era" with Issue #11 of 1996, which saw the debut of Toki no Daichi/The Land of Time by Miyuki Yama. Like others previously in this half, Yama initially got her start via the Dragon Quest four-panel gag strips, though instead of making her serialized debut in Shonen Gangan she instead first debuted over in G Fantasy & Shonen Gag-Oh in 1994, where she simultaneously serialized the two manga Revery Earth & Gensou Tairiku/The Fantastical Continent, respectively. Yama not only made those two series at the same time but she also had them act as parallel worlds that connected to each other, and when both ended in 1996 she debuted Toki no Daichi, which starred alternate takes on the characters of Gensou Tairiku (Izayoi, Kai, & Jend) that now live in the world of Revery Earth, Ottsu Kiim, in a story that took place three years after the events of Revery Earth. Namely, Toki no Daichi told the story of Kai & his friends wanting to see if the idea of "humans & monsters coexisting" can truly be a reality in a world known for being threatened by the Evil God Dragon Diabolos, which Kai's friend Zard (the brother of the lead of Revery Earth) had killed once before but eventually returned. The history of Toki no Daichi's serialization would be a very bumpy one, as while it looked to be a popular title in Shonen Gangan, even receiving a three-episode OVA adaptation from 1998 to 1999, it would leave the magazine after the September 2000 issue & move over to G Fantasy, similar to what happened with Twin Signal. However, only two years later, Toki no Daichi would move over to a bimonthly pace ("every two months" in this case, as G Fantasy has never changed its monthly pace) starting in March 2002, but after only five chapters of this new schedule Toki no Daichi would go on a long hiatus due to Yama's health; Volume 10 would come out in 2002, but it did not include the last three chapters (76-78) that were serialized.
In 2005 Miyuki Yama would officially announce that Toki no Daichi would remain unfinished due to her health situation not changing. Nearly a decade would pass until December 14, 2013, when it was announced that a PDF set from Yama would include the incomplete script for Chapter 79, though it was only the dialogue. Then, in August of 2014, Volume 6 of the aizouban edition of Toki no Daichi would finally see Chapters 76 to 78 collected together for the very first time, giving fans the closest thing to a "complete" physical release. Three years later, Japanese crowdfunding site Campfire started a campaign to raise funds for the return of Toki no Daichi, & on October 26, 2017 Miyuki Yama finally published the completed version of Chapter 79 via the MediBang Manga app, the first new chapter in 15 years. Yama would continue this new run, now subtitled Tou no Tatakai Kanketsu-hen/Battle at the Tower - Final Chapter, until January 30, 2019, when Chapter 90 finally brought an end to the story arc; all of the new chapters would receive a physical release later that April. A second crowdfunding campaign would then start for the next story arc, Tenbin no Dairin-hen/The Agent of Balance Chapter, with Yama debuting that via MediBang's ARTstreet in 2020. However, after two more volumes worth of content, Miyuki Yama announced via Twitter in 2024 that a third volume of Toki no Daichi: Tenbin no Dairin-hen was still undecided, while in mid-2025 she confirmed that she now only draws manga "as a hobby", so who knows if Toki no Daichi will ever truly return again. It is also worth noting, though, that fans have questioned Yama's true intentions with the money she's earned via crowdfunding, not to mention her behavior regarding even the slightest criticism made towards her.
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And with that we've made it through the first of what will be a six-part look at the history of Monthly Shonen Gangan via (what I can tell are, to some extent) its most notable works! Already it can be seen that Shonen Gangan really wasn't too much like its contemporaries & rivals in the shonen manga magazine industry, and in many ways that likely is what helped it become a success for Enix, so much so that the company launched sister magazines to expand its manga publishing output & reach. However, as mentioned numerous times already, things will soon change for Gangan come the start of the millennium, and while Part 2 of the "Original [United] Era" won't be covering the exact moment when the mass exodus happens, the direction in concept the magazine would shift towards will be noticeable with a decent number of the works we'll cover next time.
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