Kosaku Shima


Kosaku Shima is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kenshi Hirokane. It depicts the growth and career of a fictional salaryman named Kōsaku Shima. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Morning, 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 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, 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 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 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, or Matsushita Electric, where Hirokane worked before and is highly accurate in its portrayal of Japanese corporate culture.

Series

  • Kachō Shima Kōsaku, 1983–1992: 17 volumes
  • Buchō Shima Kōsaku, 1992–2002: 13 volumes
  • Torishimariyaku Shima Kōsaku, 2002–2005: 8 volumes
  • Jōmu Shima Kōsaku, 2005–2006: 6 volumes
  • Senmu Shima Kōsaku, 2006–2008: 5 volumes
  • Shachō Shima Kōsaku, 2008–2013: 16 volumes
  • Kaichō Shima Kōsaku, 2013–2019: 13 volumes
  • Sōdan'yaku Shima Kōsaku, 2019–2022: 6 volumes
  • Shagai Torishimariyaku Shima Kōsaku, 2022–present: 7 volumes

Spin-offs

  • Young Shima Kōsaku, 2001–2006, Evening: 4 volumes
  • *Young Shima Kōsaku Shunin-hen, 2006–2010, Evening: 4 volumes
  • Kakarichō Shima Kōsaku, 2010–2013, Evening: 4 volumes
  • Gakusei Shima Kōsaku, 2014–2017, Evening: 6 volumes
  • *Gakusei Shima Kōsaku: Shūkatsu-hen, 2017–2018, Evening: 3 volumes
  • Shima Kōsaku no Jikenbo, 2017, Morning: 1 volume
  • Tensei shitara Shima Kōsaku datta Ken, 2019
, Evening: 1 volume

Video games

  • Kachō Kōsaku Shima: Super Business Adventure 1993
  • CR Kachō Kōsaku Shima 2006
  • Kachō Shima Kōsaku DS: Dekiru Otoko no Love & Success 2008

Reception

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