#Tetsudo Tenshi

[yunoteru4ever]

Sakae Esuno's "Railway Angel" ( 鉄道天使 )

As previously promised, I've finally scanned in all of Sakae Esuno's "Railway Angel" — his first-ever published manga. Esuno submitted this one-shot story to Kadokawa in 2001 as part of an annual contest. He was awarded the "Ace Next Rookie Mangaka Encouragement Award," and the story was subsequently published in the September 2001 issue of Monthly Ace Next (月刊少年エース).

The story herein is both written and drawn by Esuno, who would of course go on to create Mirai Nikki/"Future Diary," Big Order, and more. And as far as I'm aware, this is the first time this story has ever been made available online. (It's only the Japanese original for now; y'all will have to wait for a scanlation somewhere down the line. Apologies.)

LINK TIME:

[yunoteru4ever]

Where the hell is Sakae Esuno’s “Railway Angel”?

If you look into Sakae Esuno’s bibliography, you’ll see that his first big break came in 2001 when he submitted a one-shot manga to Kadokawa’s annual manga contest that earned him a prize recognizing him as an up-and-coming rookie mangaka to watch.

The manga he submitted was titled 鉄道天使, aka “Tetsudo Tenshi” — or, in English, “Railway Angel.” The award he was given was “エース&ネクスト新人漫画賞奨励賞を”, which translates to something like “Ace & Next Rookie Manga Award Encouragement Award.” (...I realize this reference dates me, but yo dawg I herd you like awards)

The winners of these annual awards are supposed to always be published in one of Kadokawa’s manga magazines that year. Not all at once, mind you — they tend to just put out one winner here and one winner there, all spaced over months throughout the year. And if this one-shot story of his was good enough to get Esuno noticed by Kadokawa and helped earn him the right to pitch “Hanako” a few years later? I’d sure as hell like to see it and read it for myself!

But as you probably figured from the headline up there, THAT’S THE PROBLEM. I can’t seem to find “Railway Angel” anywhere. At all. I’m certainly not seeing online publications or scans or anything. Furthermore, I can’t even figure out WHAT issue of WHICH Kadokawa publication it might be in!! 

ETA: I finally found out that this story dropped in the September 2001 issue of the now-defunct Monthly Ace Next (月刊少年エース).

I understand that I’m sitting here asking to find a single story contained in a single issue of one unknown, Japanese, Kadokawa-published manga magazine from 21 fucking years ago, and that’s kind of a tall order. Especially when you’re not even located in the same hemisphere as the publication’s origin. :P 

But I’d really appreciate any help that ANYONE out there can provide on finding this thing.

[sunniedesi]

Thank you so much for finding this! I never thought I'd see the day where it'd be available online. It's interesting to see how much Esuno's work has evolved throughout the decades (both art and plot-wise). And as for the translation... I did a little something, hehe.

Sakae Esuno's "Railway Angel" ( 鉄道天使 )

As previously promised, I've finally scanned in all of Sakae Esuno's "Railway Angel" — his first-ever published manga. Esuno submitted this one-shot story to Kadokawa in 2001 as part of an annual contest. He was awarded the "Ace Next Rookie Mangaka Encouragement Award," and the story was subsequently published in the September 2001 issue of Monthly Ace Next (月刊少年エース).

The story herein is both written and drawn by Esuno, who would of course go on to create Mirai Nikki/"Future Diary," Big Order, and more. And as far as I'm aware, this is the first time this story has ever been made available online. (It's only the Japanese original for now; y'all will have to wait for a scanlation somewhere down the line. Apologies.)

LINK TIME:

[yunoteru4ever]

THANK YOU!!!

English translation is ^^^ HERE!

Sakae Esuno's "Railway Angel" ( 鉄道天使 )

As previously promised, I've finally scanned in all of Sakae Esuno's "Railway Angel" — his first-ever published manga. Esuno submitted this one-shot story to Kadokawa in 2001 as part of an annual contest. He was awarded the "Ace Next Rookie Mangaka Encouragement Award," and the story was subsequently published in the September 2001 issue of Monthly Ace Next (月刊少年エース).

The story herein is both written and drawn by Esuno, who would of course go on to create Mirai Nikki/"Future Diary," Big Order, and more. And as far as I'm aware, this is the first time this story has ever been made available online. (It's only the Japanese original for now; y'all will have to wait for a scanlation somewhere down the line. Apologies.)

LINK TIME: