Currently Running Manga Discussion

[LumRanmaYasha]

That's fair. I think it comes down to different preferences in what we wanted out of the arc. While I like MHA's ensemble cast, I generally prefer a tighter focus on a small group of characters, especially early on in a story, so the way the arc explored and progressed it's central characters and how the fights fit into that worked for me, and I appreciated how tight and purposeful the focus was. As far as personal biases go, I also admit that I'm not as interested in Kaminari compared to some others in MHA's supporting cast, so his fight being glossed over wasn't problematic for me, personally. Though he is indeed one of the characters Horikoshi could really stand to do more with, lest he ends up being the series' Tenten.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #25 (May 23rd, 2016):

My Hero Academia (Cover, Lead CP)
One Piece (not ranked, was absent in ranked issue)
1 - Food Wars
Dragon Quest: Souten no Soura (CP, Special Chapter)
2 - Black Clover
3 - Kimetsu no Yaiba
Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary (CP)
4 - Haikyuu
5 - Samon the Summoner
6 - Gintama
7 - Hinomaru Zumou
8 - Yuna of Yuragi Manor
Hunter x Hunter (not ranked)
9 - The Disaster of PSI Kusuo Saiki
Chronicle of Isobe: Life is Hard (CP)
10 - World Trigger
11 - Toriko
12 - Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
13 - Kochikame
14 - Bleach
15 - Mononofu
16 - Nisekoi

Looks like Kimetsu's firmly hooked an audience, but this was a bad week for Mononofu and Straighten Up!. Hopefully they bounce back soon. In other news, World Trigger will finally be getting the cover again in issue #26. It's been a year since it's last had one, so it's been long overdue.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Wow, KnY at #3! That's higher than Samon or Yuna ever got. I hope this gives it a chance to be picked up by Viz when Nisekoi ends.

Unfortunate for Mononofu, but this is probably a one chapter fluke. It's usually around the middle to the upper-middle. Straighten Up might be a bit worrying since it's been floating around #10-#12 for some time now.

And, finally for World Trigger! It's been about due for some color pages and the cover. I hope the rankings continue to hold and it is able to keep up its pace.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The cover for this issue was awesome. Really dig that style.

Speaking of which, My Hero Academia was the best chapter again this week. It was one heck of a free for all, but it's next week I'm eager to see. All Might's at his limit and All For One doesn't seem to be done for the count just yet.

World Trigger focused on a flashback for Katori, but what it actually did was make me like Hana more. She made a tough decision and lost her family for it (though they were probably dead anyway) and appears to be a more thoughtful person than Katori. Katori just seems to have gotten more selfish over time and her team getting wiped out here proves she is taking this too lightly. Osamu and Kuga are not.

Of course Food Wars is still setting up the next arc, but it's been quite well done so far. I get the feeling this going to be a pretty big deal for the series. I also had fun with Black Clover.

So, yeah, my rankings are so obvious I shouldn't even list them. But Takuan & Batsu's second chapter was pretty bad. The author keeps focusing on the wrong aspects of this series. I don't think it's going to last very long.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yoshitoki Oima will be debuting her next manga this fall. According to the article "the currently unnamed series promises a heart wrenching perspective on "gentleness" and "serverity." Here's the teaser image:



The description is vague, so I'm not sure what it'll really be about, though I can make a few educated guesses based on this teaser. Regardless, A Silent Voice is one of my all time favorite manga and one of the best written stories I've ever read, so I'm confident that Oima will create another series that I'll really enjoy. Eagerly anticipating this.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'm really looking forward to this as well. I'd read just about anything that she writes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #26 (May 30th, 2016):

World Trigger (Cover, Lead CP)
1. One Piece
2. Black Clover
Gintama (CP)
3. My Hero Academia
4. Haikyuu!!
Food Wars (CP)
Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary (Not Ranked)
5. Hinomaru Zumou
6. The Disaster of Kusuo Saiki
7. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
Samon the Summoner (CP)
8. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
Hunter x Hunter (Not Ranked)
9. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
10. Mononofu
11. Kochikame
12. Bleach
13. Nisekoi
14. Toriko
Chronicle of Isobe -Life is Hard-

Better ranking for just about everyone in the bottom half this week. Straighten Up and Mononofu are going to have to come back a little harder, though.

Next week, Kimetsu no Yaiba gets color pages and Hinomaru Zumou gets the cover.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Still hoping to resume After the Jump either this week or next, but I recently reviewed the first chapter of Boruto for All-Comic.com, in case anyone wanted to know my thoughts on that.

[Spark Of Spirit]

You pretty much said what I thought, though I haven't seen the movie.

The art is just off enough for it to be very noticeable that its not Kishimoto doing it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I'd recommend the movie as someone who is not a fan of Naruto. The manga so far is just an inferior version of that, which isn't to say that it's bad, but rather that the film was clearly the intended medium in which to tell this part of the story.

At any rate, Boruto and the Sarada mini-series are far and away the most genuinely interesting things to come out of this franchise in ages, if not since its very inception. There's a lot of potential here, and I'm honestly looking forward to seeing (and hoping for) success from this series in the future.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Had to post this:



MHA's art is so good.

EDIT: Also, since CX wanted to know Mimasaka's voice actor in Food Wars...

[Markness]

Really been loving the latest chapters of Nanatsu no Taizai. We'll be learning some of Meliodas's past in the next chapter.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Damn! This chapter of MHA was great! I just love it when the stakes are high and the feeling of desperation reaches its peak. All Might is on his last legs, but still refuses to give up without a serious fight. And that was a pretty huge reveal. It puts a lot of things into perspective about Tomura's character and the legacy of All For One.

[Spark Of Spirit]

MHA was so good. It's such a shame we have to wait a week between each chapter. All Might is one of my favorite characters in the series, and this chapter really solidified why. I wonder how exactly he's going to beat All For One now. This feels like the final battle for a feud we never got to see for ourselves. I hope at some point we get to see where Toshinori came from.

I'm a little disappointed Mikumo and Chika went down in World Trigger, but, hey, they still won. I was honestly pulling for Katori to get 0 points since they really didn't deserve any, but, oh well. Glad to see this match is over.

That was a cute chapter of Food Wars. It was good to see more of Soma's dad. I've also enjoyed seeing Erina a lot more since she hasn't been nearly as arrogant for a while now. I'm eager to see where the next arc will be going now.

Black Clover remains an enjoyable read. I have to say, Yami never fails to make me laugh. His lines and reactions are always so well-timed. It's still the most pleasant series to read every week, even if it isn't the best.

Great week.


I'm going to say one thing about One Piece. It seems like every chapter has more text than it does panels or events. By that I mean it doesn't let actions or silence speak for the characters: they're always talking all over the place either mouthing exposition or jokes. It's a bit of a chore to read, honestly. I do wish Oda could let it breath a bit.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Another problem that Oda didn't have before the time-skip. On that note, I also feel that his art has gotten way too cluttered. It's overly-detailed to a fault, and a lot of times it's hard to tell what's going on in any given panel, even if it's not an action panel. I prefer the simplistic style that he used during the earlier years of the manga's run.

I still stand by the opinion that from Water Seven to the Whitebeard Saga, One Piece had one of the greatest runs in all of Shonen Jump's history, or at least from what I've read of the publication, and I will continue to stick to that opinion. Post time-skip One Piece honestly just doesn't do it for me, though. It's not bad or unreadable like Naruto and Bleach became, and it has its moments that I enjoy, but on the whole I honestly read it more out of obligation right now than out of genuinely wanting to see more and more like I used to. And I say this as a fan of One Piece. I do genuinely hope that Oda somehow brings this series back to the level of quality that it used to maintain on a weekly basis. And for as much as I bash on the current manga, I do still genuinely have faith in Oda's talent to win me over again. I'm just starting to get slightly impatient about waiting for him to do so.