With the October 2024 issue of Corocoro Comic magazine an interesting set of 2 new manga chapters premiered in the magazine; both of them are called “Shadow” in the title! One is a brand new oneshot story, while the other is the first chapter of a new serialization. Let’s do a bit of a comparison between these double Shadows from this issue!
Title
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
The full title of the series in Japanese is “漆黒のハリネズミ シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ”, which roughly translates to Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog. For the videogame franchise which this is based on, it typically is referred to as just “Shadow The Hedgehog” (シャドウ・ザ・ヘッジホッグ). The addition of the “Jet Black Hedgehog” is used to help separate this adaptation from the other games and stories in the Sonic franchise.
SHADOW
The title is uniquely in complete English, but on the title page includes it in Japanese, “シャドウ.”
Cover Page
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
The logo used is based on the similar design started with the Shadow The Hedgehog videogame from 2005 on the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox.
SHADOW
Author
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
The manga is drawn by Yuki Imada (今田ユウキ) who has previously had 2 separate serializations with Corocoro adapting other creators works. The first was MINI4KING, which Hiroyuki Takei, of Shaman King fame, was listed as the “Director” and provided some of the original concepts and character designs. However Yuki Imada still had a significant influence and creative direction with the series.
He later worked on Bikkuri-Men Private Maiden Girl’s Academy (ビックリメン 私立メイドン女学院) which launched directly onto Corocoro’s free manga reading service. This was a spin-off from the Bikkuri-Men anime franchise. Hiroyuki Takei, was also the original character designer for the connected anime series. This manga series uses some of the character concepts, but is a standalone series and isn’t canon or connected to the anime series or the other manga series that ran in parallel with this.
Yuki Imada in his spare time is an avid gamer. Most recently playing the new Astro Bot game as well as a long time fan of the Gravity Rush videogame. He will sometimes draw fanart of characters from games he is playing which is posted on social media and will occasionally stream on Twitch.
SHADOW
The manga oneshot is created by Naoto Katsumi (勝見直人). They are a seasoned Corocoro mangaka who has many series for Shogakukan over the years. Some of their titles include:
- Treasure Ghost: History’s Strongest Hunter Duo!! (トレジャーガウスト 史上最強のハンターコンビ!!) (2006)
- Do-Do-Do-Dodge! (ドドドドドッジ!) (2009)
- Kiwamero! Pokémon B·W (究めろ！！ ポケモンB・W) (2011)
- Cross Fight B-Daman: Legendary Phoenix (クロスファイトビーダマン フェニックス伝説) (2012)
- Double Deka – Seigi to Toki (ダブルデカ 正義と時) (2015)
In 2021 they were also included in the “Miracoro Grand Prix Summer” which included a series of oneshots to discover a new hit serialization. They entered with the oneshot Super Manga Artist Drawing God Shippitsu! (超漫画家 描神シッピツ！).
In the Spring 2024 “Miracoro” issue, he also included the first version of this “Shadow” story which released on May 15th with the June issue of Corocoro Comics magazine special edition. The story included in this October 2024 issue is an alternate version of that story featuring similar characters and concepts.
Story
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
Based on the origin story from the Sonic Adventure 2 videogame where Shadow was first introduced, this manga adaptation fairly closely follows this story for the first chapter. While familiarity with the Sonic characters and universe may be helpful, the story in the first chapter doesn’t require any previous knowledge.
Starting on the secret space research colony ARK, one of the lab animals has broken free. However the “Ultimate Lifeform” Shadow the Hedgehog is able to quickly put it to a stop. Even though he can easily fight, he still isn’t able to help the illness of Maria, the young girl also aboard this space colony. While she has grown weak from her illness, she enjoys spending time with Shadow and wants to find the reason she was born into this world. However some ships begin to approach the space colony which changes the course for both Shadow and Maria’s lives…
This series will continue its serialization in the next issue of Corocoro Comics magazine.
SHADOW
Rumors of a mysterious hero only going by the name of “Shadow” have been circulating around town. The 5th grader Riko Wakaba is not convinced this person is a real hero and hits her fellow classmate, Haru Kagei for sneaking up behind her. A local police officer warns them that it is still dangerous, especially for Riko who is the daughter of a wealthy family, as suspicious people wearing skull masks have been seen around town…
Who is the identity of this mysterious “Shadow” and are they a friend or foe if these local school kids run into trouble?
This is a stand-alone oneshot story, but the ending chyron hopes that it can be developed into a full series if fans provide their support.
Artstyle & Designs
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
Yuki Imada’s style features thick outlines for characters and a heavy use of speedlines. Using a full page for powerful impacts of both drama as well as for comedy relief is carried over here. Maria’s design is heavily influenced from the characters in his previous work Bikkuri-Men Private Maiden Girl’s Academy. While Maria’s design is more originated with a gag comedy setting, Shadow’s more serious and stoic expression helps set this into a more action/drama series.
SHADOW
Naoto Katsumi’s style has wildly expressive character faces and body proportions. A character’s eyes and mouth typically take up a majority of the face. Extra thick lines are used on the characters faces, especially with their jawlines and eyebrows. This is suited for the gag and comedy style manga Naoto Katsumi has refined over the last 2 decades. Shadow’s designs are blends these character design traits with a heavy use of dark screentones to provide a contrasting character.
Composition
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
With Yuki Imada’s frequent use of speedlines, the action scenes are taking the main focus rather than over large amount of spoken text. Coming from his time working on MINI4KING, there are several unique angles that are drawn to help better show movement of Shadow and his speed.
There is also a frequent use of silent panels to help show the passage of time without needing narration. Use of inner monologue also help keep Shadow as an active character in the story rather than becoming a more stoic character while pushing the story forward without the need for full flashback sequences.
The language is easy to read and doesn’t not having long or wordy speech bubbles. There may be some terminology that may be a bit confusing to non-Sonic fans, but is used sparingly in this first chapter.
SHADOW
As the story is a oneshot with several key characters, the beginning of the story is heavy with text exposition. This is balanced out with many quickly expressive reactions with the characters typical of a gag manga.
When Shadow is shown in the story, the perspective shifts become greatly distorted with the background elements. The story mostly focuses with single panels with one focused character which is the author’s more refined style.
The actions scenes are able to easily show the movement and impact of the characters actions. The use of a double-page is only for major key scenes which show the introduction and action of the main characters.
The amount of text may be a bit off-putting to younger readers. However the overall meaning is able to be grasped fairly easily when paired with the illustrations. The story may feel long due to the large amount of exposition used to build up the story and characters. There are also many aside text which can make the panels feel crowded.
Overall Review
Jet Black Hedgehog: Shadow The Hedgehog
With Shadow being a very popular character in the Sonic franchise and underutilized in manga adaptations, this story is exceeding the expectation for fans. With the dynamic illustrations and a focus on a story with a serious nature it creates an engaging story that can be expanded upon with future chapters.
SHADOW
With Shadow The Hedgehog having more name recognition and an upcoming videogame, this story may be more overshadowed in the magazine. While it completes a story and sets up potential for a longer serialization it is hard to gauge if there will be enough hooks to keep it interesting on a month-to-month basis. With the magazine having many other highly successful stories with “dark” characters, such as Black Channel, it may find additional challenges gaining an audience in this current magazine line-up.
Reading The Stories
Both of these stories are available in print and digital editions of the Corocoro Comics magazine October 2024 issue (コロコロコミック 2024年10月号). This issue went on sale on September 13th, 2024 in Japan. Both are only available in the original Japanese language and have not received an official English translation yet.
The digital issue can be purchased from various online stores such as Bookwalker. Bookwalker does not have any region restrictions for purchasing and the checkout can be completed in English. If you have an English/Global Bookwalker account, you can login with the same account to purchase the issue. The digital issue price is 847yen.
We encourage you to support the artists and purchase the magazine, even if it is not available in your language to read. Many stories in Corocoro, including the ones highlighted in this article, have a very dynamic drawing style and can cross-language barriers with their masterful skills as artists. You can also reach out to companies such as Viz Media to request these titles to get English releases in the future. The Behind The Manga site has a guide on how to make those recommendations for Viz Media who has previously licensed other Corocoro titles.
