is a Japanese manga 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 Comic ...

. It depicts the growth and career of a fictional

salaryman In Japan, a is a salaried worker. In Japanese popular culture, this is embodied by a white-collar worker who shows overriding loyalty and commitment to the corporation where he works. Salarymen are expected to work long hours, to put in addit ...

named Kōsaku Shima. It has been serialized in Kodansha's ''

Morning Morning is the period from sunrise to noon. There are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and night) because it can vary according to one's lifestyle and the hours of daylight at each time of year. However, morning s ...

'', 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 state-controlled public broadcaster NHK. Its services are aimed at the overseas market, similar to those offered by other national public-ser ...

, ''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'' (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 formerly between 1935 and 2008 and the first incarnation of between 2008 and 2022, is a major Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation, headquartered in Kadoma, Osaka. It was founded by Kōnosuke Matsushita in 1918 as a lightbulb ...

, 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: 1 volume

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

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime , also known as ''Regarding Reincarnated to Slime'' and short name , is a Japanese fantasy light novel series written by , and illustrated by Mitz Vah. The story is about a salaryman who is murdered and reincarnates in a sword and ...

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

Video games

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

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a Fourth generation of video game consoles, 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South ...

) 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 Japanese gambling comparable to that of the slot machine in the West as a form of low-stakes, low-st ...

) 2006 (published by Newgin) *''Kachō Shima Kōsaku DS: Dekiru Otoko no Love & Success'' ( Nintendo DS) 2008 (published by

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

)

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.

References

External links

*
A question of character
', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Eco ...

'', 7 August 2008 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kacho Kosaku Shima 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)