Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The whole point of Bakugo's actions was to lighten up the mood of his classmates since everyone was so down after the events of the previous arc. It's yet again even more brilliant stuff from Horikoshi as a writer. It shows us just how far Bakugo's character has come since the beginning. He may have that combination of a somewhat angry and somewhat mopey demeanor like he has always had, but the old Bakugo never would have gone out of his way to get his friends (who he wouldn't even consider as friends earlier on) back to a positive state of mind. As his development is progressing, he's slowly but gradually working his way up to being one of my favorite characters of the series at this point.

It's also nice to have a little break from all of the intensity and drama that took place in the previous few arcs, so while I'm usually not a fan of filler-ish chapters, it has come at the perfect time over here because both the group of UA students as well as us as the audience really do need a little detour before jumping back into the more heavy-handed stuff again. While the manga had its pacing issues in the beginning (which the anime really did an excellent job of ironing out), Horikoshi has managed to pretty much perfect it by this point.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Oh, he grabbed Kaminari on purpose because he knew they would react to Kaminari's goofy expression! And he used it as a cover to give Kirishima money for the camera they broke trying to save him while they were focused on the goofiness.

Now I get it! Can't believe I missed that.

Bakugo is definitely one of the best characters in MHA.

I'm glad they're slowing down a bit here. We just had one really intense arc that pretty much changed the whole game. We could use a bit of a breather.

[VLordGTZ]

When I first glanced at the page, I thought Bakugo stole Kaminari's money and then gave it to Kirishima.   

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly and Monthly Shonen Sunday now have digital versions.

Would be nice if NA could get some of that.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #33 (July 18th, 2016):
One Piece (Cover, Lead CP)
1. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
2. Black Clover
Hinomaru Zumou (CP)
3. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
4. My Hero Academia
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma (CP)
5. Haikyuu!!
6. Gintama
Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club (CP)
7. Samon the Summoner
8. Toriko
9. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
10. Nisekoi
Flying Darwin (One Shot)
11. Bleach
12. Kochikame
13. Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary
14. Mononofu
Chronice of Isobe -Life is Hard-


WOW. That's a big pile of upsets! Mononofu is basically done at this point, and I don't think Takuan & Batsu have much further to go. They're very lucky Nisekoi and Bleach are ending soon. Hopefully Mononofu kicks it into high gear. It's going to need to if it's going to survive.

Aside from that: Yuna is in first for the first time ever, and MHA is out of the top 3 for the first time in a long time. Can't say I'm particularly thrilled with either development, but it is nice to see KnY still ranking high, even outranking MHA: it gives me more hope that Viz will pick it up for digital Jump when Bleach and Niseoki end.

Surprising issue this time. I will definitely be interested in seeing next week.

[VLordGTZ]

I'm sad to see that Mononofu is probably on its way out since I've really enjoyed what I've read of it.  It's nice that Kimetsu no Yaiba is ranking high, though.  I'd say it and Haikyu are the series most likely to replace Bleach and Nisekoi in Viz's Jump.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Bleach is ending in less than 10 weeks.

So Nisekoi will probably be done at the same time.

[Spark Of Spirit]

My Hero Academia spin-off announced for Giga Jump!

It's going to be called "Vigilante - My Hero Academia Illegals" which actually sounds like a good idea. It is being done by BETTEN Court and Hideyuki Furuhashi.

The only problem, to me, is going to be the series living up to the main one in quality. Unlicensed heroes fighting crime is a good counter-point idea to the main universe. As long as they don't try to ruin the tone of the original by making it grimdark. The writer is known for Harukaze Bitter Bop, which I've never read, but looks to be close in tone to what this could be.

Either way, it's interesting to see them try something like this.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

While I'm not typically a fan of these spin-off manga since they usually lack the heart and soul of what makes the main series so appealing in the first place, this conceptually sounds like an actual great idea. What will determine whether it works or not is how well it manages to complement the main series by both feeling like a part of its world and also expanding on its world. It also has to invest us in its main characters and their struggles to the point that when we're reading it, we are engaged in their personal conflicts and our minds don't wander to the cast of the main series.

In essence, if done right it should be the equivalent of what Angel is to Buffy, or The Flash to Arrow: A great stand-alone series that also connects with another great series taking place in the same Universe. Maybe even throw in a cameo or crossover down the line if it gets popular enough.

That said, given the track record of most manga spin-offs handled by different authors from the original work, I'm keeping my expectations considerably low for now.

BTW, I'm also interested in seeing that conversation between Togashi and Kishimoto.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, the interview should be interesting.

I guess why I'm interested in this spin-off more than others is because it literally covers material Horikoshi doesn't have time to cover in the main series. We always knew there would be Batman/The Shadow/Daredevil style vigilante heroes in MHA, just as there are villains like Stain, but introducing them into a story that is ostensibly about a Superman-level conflict of heroes and villains just doesn't quite fit and would probably derail the main story. It was logical to make a series like this.

However, execution is everything. Monthly series are done differently from weekly ones. If this is more Blood Blockade Battlefront with action, comedy, and standalone stories, than it is Seraph of the End's grimdark melodrama, lame MC, and sluggish story, than it can only be a good thing. Either way, I'll be eager to see how it turns out.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The premise does give me the vibe of this being The Defenders of the MHA Universe (street level heroes who operate unsanctioned) while the main cast comparatively feels like The Avengers (professionals backed by a well-financed organization). If it can also have the same relative amount of quality that those Netflix shows do to their movie counterparts, then it could definitely be a worthy expansion to the MHA franchise.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Hopefully Viz'll license it relatively quickly. It'd be a good fit as free content for the new Shonen Jump site.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The shortness of this week's NA Jump makes me hopeful that they announce some new series soon. Imagine if Bleach, Nisekoi, and Toriko had ended. This issue would have been really small.

That said, MHA, Black Clover, and Food Wars were all very enjoyable this week.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #34 (July 25th, 2016):
One Piece (Cover, Lead CP)
1. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
2. Haikyuu!!
My Hero Academia (CP)
3. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
4. Hinomaru Zumou
Black Clover (CP)
5. World Trigger
6. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
Samon the Summoner (CP)
7. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
8. Toriko
9. Kochikame
10. Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary
11. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
12. Nisekoi
13. Gintama
14. Bleach
Mononofu (End)
Chronice of Isobe -Life is Hard-

Yep, Mononofu ended. There are three new series starting, which means Nisekoi and Bleach should also be done very soon. It's too bad for Mononofu, but apparently it had a good ending, so at least it ended well. It's just unfortunate there are three new series it was up against. That's probably also why Bleach is being pushed to end so soon, as well. There are 2 to 3 chapters left of the two series.

These new series are:

Issue #35: Yakusoku Neverland by Posuka Demizu (art) & Kaiu Shiroi (story)
Issue #38: Love Rush by Ryôhei Yamamoto (E-Robot)
Issue #39: Red Sprite by Tomohiro Yagi (Iron Knight)

In Jump related news: Oda now says One Piece is 65% complete.

EDIT: One of the posters does the math for One Piece:

So as Oda states, the manga is at about 65% of its completion, which, if you do the math, means that One Piece will roughly end around Volume 125.

Volume 82 was just published and we're in the middle of Volume 83. 82 divided by 125 is 0.656, i.e. 65.6% completion of the story. This leaves us with 60 volumes for Part 1 and about 65 volumes for Part 2.

We still have a whopping 43 volumes of story left to go in One Piece (give or take).

At a release rate of about four volumes per year, we still have about 9 1/2 years to go of One Piece. There's so many unanswered questions about the story and questions yet to come for this series. Can't wait to see what Oda has in store. Just wanted to see if I can clarify some math here for you guys.

That looks about right.

[VLordGTZ]

It's sad to see Mononofu go, but not surprising considering how competitive the current Jump lineup is.  Hopefully we get something good out of the next batch of Jump Starts.

The first volume of Vector Ball got translated, so I decided to read it.  I definitely got a strong Zatch Bell vibe from it (in a good way) and Raiku's usual humor is also present.  Overall, it looks it could be a promising and fun action series.  Hopefully, Crunchyroll will consider picking it up since it's in WSM. 

Reading this also reminds me that I still need to check out Animal Land at some point since I hear it's amazing.