Manga Mavericks

[Avaitor]

So I'm only really familiar with the franchise through its Toonami run, which means this may be an out of step question, but I do wonder how you feel about the school's outlandish, one mistake and you're out mentality. Does that seem closer to the Japanese experience, or is it an element that raises questionability about the series?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Just my personal take on your question, Avaitor:

I wouldn't read too much into it. SnS clearly takes place in a fairly exaggerated version of reality, so it purposely makes the school setting super high-stakes to elevate dramatic tension. I'd argue this can backfire at times when you consider the obvious plot armor of some characters, but either way I don't see it as a strict reflection of actual Japanese school life.

[Avaitor]

Fair. It's pretty clearly not a reflection of any kind of reality, lol

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, Manga Mavericks is approaching it's 5th anniversary this month! I can't believe I've been doing this podcast for 5 years - my life has changed considerably in the past half-decade but this has been the one constant, that has opened so many doors and helped me meet so many people, many of whom I'm now honored to call friends.

We're also approaching our 150th episode, so we're commemorating both occasions together! Per our annual tradition, we're doing another podcast survey, but this one encompasses the show's entire history from our beginning to the present! So if you want to let us know what your favorite episodes, guests, and moments have been on the show, sharing your thoughts in the survey would be a great way to help us celebrate it! We're also running a giveaway in which all survey-takers will be entered for a chance to win a free manga volume of their choosing from our catalog, which includes newer titles like Hi Score Girl to classics like Video Girl Ai! The survey runs through the 24th, so there's plenty of time to enter in for a chance to win!

And seriously, thank you all for listening to, supporting, and engaging with our show over the past half-decade. It's been a great joy to hear people respond positively to it and see it grow in the way it is, and I'm really excited about its future and the years ahead. 

Here are a few podcast highlights I want to share since I posted here last that may interest folks here if they've missed them:

MM127: Cross Manage - Discussion of the short-lived but fondly remembered Shonen Jump lacrosse manga by KAITO, Cross Manage.

MM128: Blue Flag - Discussion of KAITO's more successful follow-up, Blue Flag, a romantic drama that questions and criticizes gendered stereotypes, romcom tropes, and explores the struggle of understanding yourself and being seen for who you are.

MM131: Kaiju No. 8 and the Simulpub Process - Interview with the localization team simulpubbing the new Jump+ megahit Kaiju No. 8 and the teamwork and turnaround time that goes into simulpubs.

MM137: Mujirushi - Discussion of Naoki Urasawa's Louvre collaboration manga starting Osomatsu-san's Iyami.

MM145: Burn the Witch - Discussion of Tite Kubo's new series Burn the Witch with its official localization team.


The Food Wars podcasts we recorded are slated to come out in March because of our backlog, but thank you guys again for your questions! We got a lot of great conversation out of them and think you'll really enjoy the podcasts when they're out! We've got a lot of plans to cover a lot of great topics and series this year, and I'm really excited for them!   

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, I doubt that this will get answered since Lum rarely ever comes on here anymore, but I was wondering if you guys were planning to do a KnY episode now that the series has officially wrapped up. I'd consider it to be a personal favorite of mine from the past few years of WSJ, and probably one of the most popular series to have come out from the 2010's as far as any Shonen series goes. I would definitely like to hear what you guys' think about it in general.

The time has come!   

We're recording our Demon Slayer manga retrospective this Sunday at 11:00am CT! We'll be recording with our good friends, the hosts of the Demon Slayer Podcast, which includes our very own VLordGTZ as well as our good friends Sakaki and Marion! We'll be discussing our thoughts on the manga after rereading it in its entirety nearly a year after it finished, with my cohost Colton having read the series for the first time for the show!

If you guys have any Demon Slayer questions or topics you'd like us to discuss, feel free to post them here or e-mail us at mangamavericks@gmail.com and we'll be happy to answer them! 

[Daikun]

So, YouTube's algorithm recommended me a video from The Omnibus Collector who poses an interesting question about Shonen Jump. I think it could make an interesting topic for a future episode of your podcast.

Is Shonen Jump Cancelling Too Many Manga?

[LumRanmaYasha]

Oh yeah, I check out that video and really appreciated how thorough his research was and his charts! It is interesting that even though the amount of series being canceled per year has been fairly consistent in the past decade or so, the average amount of chapters given to new series before their cancellation has actually increased compared to the magazine's earlier years. Definitely debunks a lot of people's criticisms that Jump is cancelling more series too early these days; for as many series that end only after a dozen or so chapters, there are plenty that almost last a year before they are let go. I'll definitely give the video a shout-out in a future episode and we'll probably have a discussion on the topic on this years Jump retrospective and/or Best of Manga podcast.

[Daikun]

Important update for #LumSquad!

https://twitter.com/sugoilite/status/1476904120858542082

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm really excited about the new UY anime! We've already recorded a special Lum Squad episode discussing our thoughts and reactions to the news that I plan to post next week!

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Was just thinking about this and was kind of curious on what your thoughts were on some of the current Weekly Shonen Jump series. Since the years that some of the big mainstays have ended like Naruto, Bleach, Gintama, and so on, we have essentially entired into a new era of WSJ for the past half-decade or so, and while I'm not nearly knowledgeable about the publication's extensive history to make any real comparisons, I have to say that I have been loving a lot of the diversity that's on offer in the types of series coming out of the magazine. Of course, I have always been a fan of good Shonen series, and I think it always bugged me when people would give various well-written series shit just because they associated anything shonen-related with low quality. It's kind of nice to see that perception in general changing (though that stigma is still very existent) over the past 5+ years with all of the quality series coming out, many of them not even being traditionally battle-oriented. Granted, there were always tons of great non-battle manga in the publication, but the difference is that now we are seeing more getting officially translated into English than we used to, thus giving them more exposure. Even the traditional battle-type manga have come a long way in improving and innovating on the tropes of the genre, though.

There are still quite a few series that I need to catch up with, which is nearly impossible given how busy my current schedule is, but I've loved most of what I've read that's been ongoing. I had a real soft spot for Neru: Way of the Martial Artist even though it wasn't anything too original. It had an old-school sort of martial arts vibe to it that just clicked with me, but from what I can tell most people were lukewarm to it at best and many didn't particularly care for it. I was still a bit bummed to see it go, but I understand that's the nature of the business. Out of the current crop of series, though, the action/comedy hybrids are consistently pretty great for me. I particularly love Mashle, Sakamoto Days, and Spy X Family. I have also been enjoying The Elusive Samurai quite a bit (I'm only 10 chapters in, though), and it makes me want to give Assassination Classroom another try after I catch up with this series.

Also, off-topic but still technically Shonen Jump related. but with more information coming about the new Dragon Ball Super movie and how it is having The Red Ribbon army be the primary antagonists, I was wondering what your thoughts were. To be perfectly honest, I was actually not very interested in this movie at first. I was not and am still not sold on the CG animation style, and I originally was just expecting something kind of standard that felt like a filler plot, but the more that's revealed about the movie, the more intrigued I honestly am. Like, the idea that two of the core villains are not direct fighters but rather act as foils for the heroes by outsmarting them feels much in line with what you would expect from the classic Red Ribbon army story arc (and as you know, it's my all time favorite Dragon Ball arc), and having Gohan essentially be the protagonist of this movie over Goku (if the rumors are to be believed) is also something that I would fully support (as much as I enjoy Goku). Also, the incorporation of many classic non-Dragon Ball Toriyama elements in this movie's general design and approach to humor (based mostly on interviews and behind the scenes rumors and such) is also a plus for me. It helps that I have been reading through Akira Toriyama's Manga Theater and have really been reminded of how much I appreciate his comedic sensibilities outside of Dragon Ball.

Anyways, hope everything is going well with you, Lum, and was just curious to see what your opinions were on some of this stuff since we haven't caught up in a while.

[Daikun]

The trailer for the new UY anime is out.

https://twitter.com/catsuka/status/1527227326433529858