Currently Running Manga Discussion

[VLordGTZ]

As expected, Food Wars has been confirmed for a second season!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Awesome!

Here's hoping they learned their lesson with the over the top ecchi in the early episodes and continue to go without it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I recently caught up with Food Wars (the manga, I haven't seen the anime yet).

You know, for how much praise I've seen this series get from WSJ fans, I kind of just feel that it's decent but not great. I mean, everything up until the end of the Fall Election arc was pretty standard competition-based manga stuff. It had the usual tropes and mostly expected outcomes. I mean, it did all of that well enough to keep me interested in continuing, but not enough to give me any strong connection or emotional attachment to the characters.

Then we had the Stagiaire and Food Festival arcs, which to the series credit were a refreshing change of pace and a promising upturn in quality from the more formulaic fair of the first 100 or so chapters. I was starting to get on board at that point, but then we had a major twist come out of left field and I shit you not, I immediately got reminded of Histroy's Strongest Disciple Kenichi...

Spoiler

Seriously, the whole idea of Erina having a powerful grandfather who's her legal guardian and having an estranged father who is the bad guy and left several years ago, and then having the grandfather confide in the main character to help her on her way since he observes that she responds to him quite strongly in one way or another is literally the same plot that happens in HSDK, except with cooking instead of martial arts.

[close]

To be fair, HSDK became a piece of garbage, whereas this manga was always much better than that. Still, even considering the more cartoony and over-the-top nature of this series (which really reminds me of Eyeshield 21, which is a good thing), that whole plot-line feels rather cheesy, to be honest. Of course, on the other hand, I can't say that I'm disinterested in seeing where the story goes from here. I'm still entertained by the manga on a base level, so in that regard it's fine. But I suppose that after hearing all of the hype and praise surrounding this manga, I find the story and characters to be rather lacking in substance compared to some of the other competition-based series that I'm a big fan of.

Spoiler

Like, for example, Soma is currently in the middle of a challenge with one of the Elite Ten, who have literally been built up since the beginning. This is the first time in the entire series that he's faced off against one of them, and it comes not too long after a period of growth that he just experienced after losing in the finals of the Fall Election. Also, a lot of stuff is on the line, here. I SHOULD feel a ton of weight to this scenario and be tensed up as to what the outcome will be. But, really, I'm somewhat intrigued by the scenario, but don't have any strong feelings one way or the other as to whether I want to see Soma overcome this or not. It all just somehow felt way too abrupt, and if he loses I won't get the sense of devastation that should come with a loss this big, while if he wins it'll feel a bit too easy for how skilled the Elite Ten are said to be given how Soma never even came close to losing his cool, so far, despite all of the odds being stacked against him, including the judges being dirty in the first place. It all just feels....fine. But not spectacular.

[close]

Anyways, that's just my opinion on the series. I know that I'm in the minority, which is fine because everyone is entitled to their opinions, but basically this series comes off to me as mostly fun for what it is, but not memorable.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Haha, I knew if you read it you would have picked up on that similarity to HSDK. Thankfully that is all they have in common.

I'm glad you enjoy the series, though I also agree that it is not the best thing currently running in Jump. Why I like it is that it is very consistent and enjoyable to read week after week with good writing and very enjoyable art and characters that don't make me want to break my head through a wall. I also like the fact that there are no power levels that prevent characters from being useful at certain times. Every week its a treat to read.

When I first starting watching/reading it I didn't expect it would consistently rank in my top 4 every week, but it continually manages it. I wouldn't consider it a favorite (yet) like My Hero Academia or World Trigger, though it never fails to entertain me with every new chapter.

I'm sure CX will go into a more in depth analysis of your impressions when he has time, but at least it's good to see you like it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Like I said, my issues with it are just my minority opinion.

But yes, I do enjoy it, even with some of the cheese-factor. As I stated, I'm still interested to see where the story goes. I just found the huge turn in the plot to be really bizarre, even for this series. It could turn into something really interesting, but I must admit that I was actually really good with where the series was during the previous two arcs. Those were the biggest step in the right direction, IMO.

[Spark Of Spirit]

This week's Jump rankings:

Shokugeki no Soma (Cover and Lead Color)
1 - My Hero Academia
2 - Black Clover
Hinomaru Zumou (CP)
3 - Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
4 - Assassination Classroom
Koroshiya Domino (One Shot, CP, 45p by Dainenpyou )
5 - World Trigger
6 - Haikyu!
7 - Samon the Summoner
8 - Mononofu
9 - The Disaster of PSI Kusuo Saiki
Buddy Strike (not ranked)
10 - Kochikame
11 - Gintama
12 - Nisekoi
13 - Bleach
14 - Toriko
Isobe Isobee


Wow, at that World Trigger jump. Also nice seeing Mononofu and Straighten Up back up again. Ouch for Gintama, Nisekoi, Bleach, and Toriko, though. I'm hoping something ends naturally soon because right now a long runner is going to get cut off before reaching its end when the next batch of new series comes out.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Out of curiosity, for those of you who subscribe to VIZ's online WSJ, on what day of each week is new content usually released, and how much does it cost?

[Spark Of Spirit]

It comes out around noon on Mondays give or take a few hours. It costs $0.99 for an issue, or $25 for a year subscription of 52 issues. You can also buy back issues for $0.99 if you feel like it. The content is an online magazine format just like the normal magazine where series are arranged fairly randomly and, unlike the volume releases, the color pages are kept.

So far they've been very good about translation and scan quality and are very quick to correct any errors when learning of the problem. I'm glad I signed up for it as the content to expense ratio is really high.

I do wish they would add a couple more series like a sports manga or two, but right now the series selection is pretty solid.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That sounds like a pretty good deal. I'll definitely look into it.

[VLordGTZ]

Yeah,  the content provided by a WSJ subscription is definitely worth the cost, and despite not being caught on everything in the magazine, I certainly enjoy it.  Like Spark said, it would be cool if Viz would add some other series like Assasination Classroom, Buddy Strike, or Mononofu but the current selection is pretty good (with the obvious exceptions of Bleach and Seraph of the End).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just read the most recent chapter of Food Wars. This pretty much proves my point about the current scenario:

Spoiler

This outcome was utter bull-shit. There's no way that Souma should have won a match against an E10 member with a RIGGED judging panel on top of that, and not only did he do just that, but he did it way too easily. If he had some smart plan to sway the judges outside of just cooking a better dish, it might have worked, but as it stands it just feels like convenient writing for the sake of moving the story in a certain direction without taking the time to do it the right way. There was absolutely no investment to be had in this match because we all knew that one way or the other, Souma was not going to be permanently expelled even if he lost since obviously they'd find some loophole so that the story could continue. Him winning against Eizan isn't a bad writing decision in and of itself, but rather it's bad in the way that it was handled. This should feel like a huge achievement. This should be the equivalent of how you feel in Hajime no Ippo when Takamura defeats Bryan Hawk, or in Slam Dunk when Shouhoku finally makes it to the nationals. Souma just defeated a member of an elite organization that has been built up since the beginning, and it somehow comes off feeling like the easiest match that he's ever had in the series.

[close]

I don't want to make it sound like I hate this series, because I don't. I like the first 100 chapters alright, and really enjoyed the last two arcs. But (and I can't believe that I'm sayings this because I usually tend to have the opposite problem with most other shonen series) this arc feels way too rushed, and could actually benefit from slowing it's pace down.

What worries me is that I've seen certain other Shonen series adopt this frantic nature out of nowhere to try and haphazardly speed up the plot, and not only is the writing weaker for it, but usually they lead to an abrupt and unsatisfying ending that is a letdown after all of the good build up from better previous arcs. I wouldn't want this series to end so soon since there's still a lot of potential good story-threads to follow, and ending it all of a sudden would really be a bummer after the quality was really starting the pick up in the last two arcs (IMO, at least). I know that the series is, if anything, more popular than ever, and with a second season confirmed its sales and ratings should only continue to increase, so it doesn't make any business sense to end it faster. However, the whole rushed nature of this arc just makes me feel like the author is trying to speed through the story at the expense of good character arcs and actually giving us time to invest in outcomes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I always thought Eizan was more talk than walk (like Soma did chapters ago) even though the other characters insisted he wasn't. But he was. He spent so much time mastering the business side that there is probably a giant gulf between him and everyone else on the council. Honestly, most everyone at the dorm, Hisako, the Aldini Bros. and many other characters are all probably leagues ahead of him in talent. If there is one fault with the recent arc it is that I never actually considered Eizan a threat in any way other than bureaucracy, and given how this arc ended I was only proven right. His business sense is the only thing he's exceptional at.

As for the rest of the chapters this week, here are my rankings:

World Trigger
Nisekoi
My Hero Academia
Yu Yu Haksuho

World Trigger brings Ashihara's fighting spirit out in a big way. The next arc has officially begun and the enemies are already ahead of the game. His hospital visit didn't keep him down at all. I hope he manages to fall back into his weekly schedule and is finally all healed up.

Nisekoi had two characters simply engaging in good chemistry and were quite enjoyable to watch. Nothing groundbreaking, but really well done.

This week's MHA let me down a bit by not actually showing anything of the forest. I was hoping there would be something to see to allow some characters to shine or explain why characters like Ida, Sero, Bakugo, Todoroki, or Midoriya, didn't use their skills to race ahead of everyone else. That they all made it to the end at the same time, and incredibly late at that, wasn't really touched on at all. Otherwise it was just a set up chapter to the real test coming next week, though a hint at how other people might not see heroes as great was a neat touch.

Yu Yu Hakusho's second chapter is a bit of a mess, stylistically. It jumps around a lot and, unlike the anime, I forgot that Koenma and Botan didn't tell Yusuke about his egg hatching into a beast if he did bad things. It was a bit of a weird decision, since they tell him when it matters anyway. Nonetheless, was still very enjoyable and clearly one of the best chapters this week.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Not really feeling Platinum End.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Well that's disappointing. So far, PE feels like what Death Note would be if there was no actual entertainment value to be had. There's a good concept somewhere in the premise, but the main character is painfully boring, and the exposition is tedious without actually paying off (once again, Death Note was much better at this).

What the hell are you doing Ohba? You're capable of better than this!

The only thing up to standards so far is Obata's always excellent artwork.

I always thought Eizan was more talk than walk (like Soma did chapters ago) even though the other characters insisted he wasn't. But he was. He spent so much time mastering the business side that there is probably a giant gulf between him and everyone else on the council. Honestly, most everyone at the dorm, Hisako, the Aldini Bros. and many other characters are all probably leagues ahead of him in talent. If there is one fault with the recent arc it is that I never actually considered Eizan a threat in any way other than bureaucracy, and given how this arc ended I was only proven right. His business sense is the only thing he's exceptional at.

See, I have an inherent problem with this reasoning since the manga made it a point to throw it out the window. Rindou flat-out says that Eizan could rise a few ranks in the E10 if he focused a bit more on cooking, but that even as he is now he's more than qualified to hold his seat even with his cooking skills as they are.

Other E10 members also have business sides to them, as Kuga explained, but they have to be top-tier chefs to have those privileges in the first place.

To me it just seems like the author wants to make Soma seem to be on that level already be beating Eizan with ease, but the way that it happens just comes off as lazy writing, IMO.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, I realize my explanation was hand-waved away by what Rindou said, but I still didn't buy it. It's mostly because Eizan has appeared many times before and not once had he ever actually done any cooking. Then he had a Shokugeki where he finally would have to cook and what does he do? Slimes his way out of it and wins by cheating.

I will give you that it's not one of the better parts of the series so far. I liked the fact that it was the dormitory as a whole that came together to win, but Eizan's defeat was pretty flat.

Well that's disappointing. So far, PE feels like what Death Note would be if there was no actual entertainment value to be had. There's a good concept somewhere in the premise, but the main character is painfully boring, and the exposition is tedious without actually paying off (once again, Death Note was much better at this).

What the hell are you doing Ohba? You're capable of better than this!

The only thing up to standards so far is Obata's always excellent artwork.

I actually think I found Light more sympathetic at the beginning of Death Note than any character here. Even if it was for only like half a chapter. But I mean, you were supposed to hate him. Not here. I kind of lost focus when he made his aunt kill herself and the first thing he thought about was how lucky he was that he wasn't the one to die. Like, what? Real relate-able character there, Ohba.

But yes, the art is really good when it isn't hampered by the questionable storytelling. The skyline in chapter 1 when he uses the wings to fly around is gorgeous.

Still, Platinum End is no Death Note or Bakuman. It's a surprising miss from a team that should be so much better and it's hard to believe it took so long to make when I've seen this exact plot done in another manga before. It doesn't even have the original concept of their first two series. This just isn't worth paying the price Viz is asking for.

I hope they pick it up again, but I somehow doubt it. I'm just stunned at how much of a miss this is.