Division Chief Shima Kōsaku - Vol. 13 Ch. 163 - Till the End of Time

[MangaDex]

 

[Late_Komei]

Congratulations in finishing this project! I haven't read this manga but I can see it's part of a long running series. Is it better to read this series chronologically from where the main person was a college student or is it better to read it by their release dates?

 

[77BLc9JwJGpLVARkamJx]

>manga editor calling in for shima

Fucking lold . Good stuff, love how we get every kind of industriesin this. Thanks for blasting this out by the volume(s), I usually groan when getting too much chapters for a series but for this, its really a nice experience, trying to guess whats gonna happen next and finding out theres a twist or not. Thank you Hi Wa Mata Noboru for the scanlation.

 

[Kewl0210]

Congratulations in finishing this project! I haven't read this manga but I can see it's part of a long running series. Is it better to read this series chronologically from where the main person was a college student or is it better to read it by their release dates?

I think the author kinda thinks you can read it however you want. I'm not planning to work on any of the "Young Shima Kousaku" prequel things right now (That ran in Evening until 2018). I'm gonna just try to keep going with the main series that runs in Morning. If like years from now I feel like doing the Young series I might start on that and I'd do it in release order (The first part that came out were of him starting at Hatsushiba, then Hirokane-sensei did EARLIER stuff of him as a college student). But it's not like "necessary" to read. You're not gonna like, be missing stuff. It's kind of like the Star Wars prequels (Those are Hirokane's words, not mine).

The first part of the prequels, Young Shima Kousaku, came out in 2003-2006. So it started during the Managing Director arc which is what we're doing next.

 

[Suben]

Congratulations in finishing this project! I haven't read this manga but I can see it's part of a long running series. Is it better to read this series chronologically from where the main person was a college student or is it better to read it by their release dates?

I'd definitely say release date, especially since I think outside of half of Young Shima Kosaku most of it isn't translated. It's sort of like any prequel where it's likely better to go back to it once you've got a better understading of the stuff that was released first. None of it is really necessary though and I think the most significant thing that comes from it is that you actually see the full relationship with the ex-girlfriend who died of cancer back in Section Chief.

 

[Late_Komei]

@Suben and @Kewl0210, thank you for the insight. Two more questions.

1. Is there any recurring tropes that's noticeable if you read throughout entire series?

2. Is there like a general consensus amongst the fanbase on which manga is the best, worst or most controversial? I know for Detective Conan, most Western fans I know considered the Vermouth arc to be the best in the series so I'm curious about the opinions for this series.

Thank you both in advance.

 

[NaturalChemical]

Kanpai!

I wonder if we will see Shima overcome his weaknesses in the next arc.

 

[Suben]

@Suben and @Kewl0210, thank you for the insight. Two more questions.

1. Is there any recurring tropes that's noticeable if you read throughout entire series?

2. Is there like a general consensus amongst the fanbase on which manga is the best, worst or most controversial? I know for Detective Conan, most Western fans I know considered the Vermouth arc to be the best in the series so I'm curious about the opinions for this series.

Thank you both in advance.

I can't say anything for Japanese/Asian fans of the series but at least among the coterie of English fans I would bet the Philippines arc from Section Chief would rank pretty highly up there as I think it includes a lot of what makes the series memorable: business manuevering, soap opera dramatics, dealing with very real world issues, memorable supporting characters and beautiful women.

Personally I really like the Sunlight Records arc from this series a lot as well and the Nancy portion of it specifically since I liked how something that could have easily just been a little throwaway thing from the beginning of the Section Chief wound up coming back in a big way. Plus it was nice seeing Nami have a large role in a major story. I'd also say I like the New York arc from Section Chief since it was neat seeing how America was portrayed, was really memorable the whole way and introduced two of my favorite characters in Oizumi and Noriko (and man, Oizumi is looking rough; it's gonna be sad whenever he goes).

As far as tropes... what this series has taught me is that if a man in a suit calls you into his office and casually asks how life is treating you then you are about to get fucked. Especially if his back is turned to you while asking it.

 

[Late_Komei]

I can't say anything for Japanese/Asian fans of the series but at least among the coterie of English fans I would bet the Philippines arc from Section Chief would rank pretty highly up there as I think it includes a lot of what makes the series memorable: business manuevering, soap opera dramatics, dealing with very real world issues, memorable supporting characters and beautiful women.

Personally I really like the Sunlight Records arc from this series a lot as well and the Nancy portion of it specifically since I liked how something that could have easily just been a little throwaway thing from the beginning of the Section Chief wound up coming back in a big way. Plus it was nice seeing Nami have a large role in a major story. I'd also say I like the New York arc from Section Chief since it was neat seeing how America was portrayed, was really memorable the whole way and introduced two of my favorite characters in Oizumi and Noriko (and man, Oizumi is looking rough; it's gonna be sad whenever he goes).

As far as tropes... what this series has taught me is that if a man in a suit calls you into his office and casually asks how life is treating you then you are about to get fucked. Especially if his back is turned to you while asking it.

It's funny you mentioned that because I jumped to chapter 100 to see what the manga is like and part of that chapter has exactly what you described as a recurring trope, haha.

But yes, thank you for taking your time to answer my questions. It always nice to talk to a fan of a long running series. I am planning to read the author's other work ' Kaji Ryuusuke's Agenda ' but I may check out his flagship series as well in the future.

 

[HCO]

Thank you so much for translating this. I love both the characters and the insights into the world! The series is really unlike any other I've read. I'm really glad you're continuing with it, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

Every time I read this I'm honestly blown away at how talented the author is. It's one thing to be good enough at corporate work to understand it and the mindset so thoroughly, it's another thing entirely to be so good at writing manga, and it's again an entirely unique skillset to blend them in a manner that makes it enjoyable to read. He must be a hell of a guy (makes sense, with the Waseda thing)...

 

[Draugadrottinn]

I think the author kinda thinks you can read it however you want. I'm not planning to work on any of the "Young Shima Kousaku" prequel things right now (That ran in Evening until 2018). I'm gonna just try to keep going with the main series that runs in Morning.

@Kewl0210 Thanks a lot for your work! I'm happy to see that you're going forward with the managing director arc. I read the first few chapters of the manga some years ago and put it aside as every chapter was just Shima out hunting for married women and not much more. A couple years ago I noticed how insanely long the series had been published so I decided to see if there was any more to it than that. It turned out that office politics was more entertaining than I thought, so I'm in it for the long haul.

It was a nice surprise that Hirokane ended this arc by breaking the fourth wall. Only a tiny bit disappointed that the chapter after "East of the Sun" wasn't named "West of the Moon".

 

[Suben]

Thank you so much for translating this. I love both the characters and the insights into the world! The series is really unlike any other I've read. I'm really glad you're continuing with it, and I'm looking forward to reading more.

The thing I've thought is that it's a very adult series and I don't mean because of the sexual stuff. It covers subject matter that in general a lot of people aren't going to grasp or might be a hard sell for people who largely get into manga to read "hype" stuff. Not even just the business or economic stuff but the driving theme of the Fukuoka arc is the anxieties of Shima and his generation as they enter middle age and have to wonder just what they're going to do with the back halves of their lives. The kind of stuff that even manga with adult characters doesn't really focus on in any significant way since those characters are still usually fairly young.

Maybe it's because I'm starting to get older myself (still a fair ways off from Shima and crew though) but I find a lot of that stuff more gripping now than reading about powerlevels and guys throwing lasers at each other. That stuff is fun but it doesn't hit the same way that something like this or Hirayasumi do.

 

[HCO]

@Kewl0210 I read the first few chapters of the manga some years ago and put it aside as every chapter was just Shima out hunting for married women and not much more.

Ah ha ha ha, I just went back to the Section Chief manga, the prequel, and found I had read the first 4 chapters years ago and dropped it for the exact same reason. I think I thought it was "Salaryman Fantasy" instead of what it ended up being. The author himself comments on it at the end of the first volume.

 

[Kewl0210]

@Suben and @Kewl0210, thank you for the insight. Two more questions.

1. Is there any recurring tropes that's noticeable if you read throughout entire series?

2. Is there like a general consensus amongst the fanbase on which manga is the best, worst or most controversial? I know for Detective Conan, most Western fans I know considered the Vermouth arc to be the best in the series so I'm curious about the opinions for this series.

Thank you both in advance.

I don't really know much about what folks in Japan think of it. From the searches I did it seems to be mainly that people remember the Section Chief arc and you see references to it if they reference the story at all. And less so as it goes on, as probably fewer and fewer people read that far. But it's well known. There's lots of people just making jokes like "[Something] Shima Kousaku". The series is still quite popular though but there doesn't seem to be a "everybody remembers this part" part past the beginning probably.

There's lots of tropes I suppose but the manga as a whole does basically what you've seen thus far but just keeps doing more of it. Business and how they work, stuff about male and female gender roles, sexuality, success and failure, broken marriages/families and getting back together, different types of couples and how their lives change over time, factional battles within businesses, trying to become more well known/liked within a company in order to move up, trying to make the company as a whole grow, trying to make the economy as a whole grow, travel writing and the differences between other places and Japan, what's different about different parts of the company and different offices within Japan, inter-company rivalries, scandals, economics, what success and failure look like and how people deal with them, and various other sorts of interpersonal conflicts like with drugs and interactions with mafia and whatnot.

The series kinda just keeps going. It's like how in the Section Chief arc we got a few chapters about racecar driving and then it ended and you didn't think about racecar driving again. Sometimes old characters come back and sometimes they disappear forever (or well so far, the series isn't done and Hirokane-sensei says he'll keep doing it as long as he's able.) Shima keeps moving to different stages of his life and his perspective and attitude changes SLOWLY but it does change. Shima has sex less as it goes along though there's still stuff involving sex but usually with other characters.

 

[PointRight]

Shit is tight. Keep up the good work.

 

[HCO]

It's like how in the Section Chief arc we got a few chapters about racecar driving and then it ended and you didn't think about racecar driving again.

The Wine Arc Incident

 

[Kewl0210]

The Wine Arc Incident

Yeah but then they keep bringing up wine again every once in a while. I think the author just likes wine a lot.

 

[Late_Komei]

I don't really know much about what folks in Japan think of it. From the searches I did it seems to be mainly that people remember the Section Chief arc and you see references to it if they reference the story at all. And less so as it goes on, as probably fewer and fewer people read that far. But it's well known. There's lots of people just making jokes like "[Something] Shima Kousaku". The series is still quite popular though but there doesn't seem to be a "everybody remembers this part" part past the beginning probably.

There's lots of tropes I suppose but the manga as a whole does basically what you've seen thus far but just keeps doing more of it. Business and how they work, stuff about male and female gender roles, sexuality, success and failure, broken marriages/families and getting back together, different types of couples and how their lives change over time, factional battles within businesses, trying to become more well known/liked within a company in order to move up, trying to make the company as a whole grow, trying to make the economy as a whole grow, travel writing and the differences between other places and Japan, what's different about different parts of the company and different offices within Japan, inter-company rivalries, scandals, economics, what success and failure look like and how people deal with them, and various other sorts of interpersonal conflicts like with drugs and interactions with mafia and whatnot.

The series kinda just keeps going. It's like how in the Section Chief arc we got a few chapters about racecar driving and then it ended and you didn't think about racecar driving again. Sometimes old characters come back and sometimes they disappear forever (or well so far, the series isn't done and Hirokane-sensei says he'll keep doing it as long as he's able.) Shima keeps moving to different stages of his life and his perspective and attitude changes SLOWLY but it does change. Shima has sex less as it goes along though there's still stuff involving sex but usually with other characters.

Appreciate you taking your time to write a detailed response. With those layers of storytelling, no wonder fans find the Shima Kousaku series engaging to read through even after all these years. Like I've mentioned before, I may check the series in the future but I know if I do, I'll be in for a good read.

Thank you again for your time and your translations.

 

[burreato]

Thank you so much for the translation!!!

 

[Lardagus]

Great work once again! I'm excited for the next series as well, it's one of the few series that I avidly read outside of the projects I personally work on. It's just a good drama from start to finish, highs and lows abound.