Currently Running Manga Discussion

[LumRanmaYasha]

That's true, but when I think about it from Viz's perspective, it seems to me that it'd be easier for them to take a chance on one of the most recent Jump Starts then jump into the middle of a series that has been going on for a while that they don't know if they want to commit to licensing in the future. Compared to MHA, it's not like KnY does more than okay in sales and rankings, so there's not as much push to put it in and capitalize on "the next big thing" like there was for MHA.

There are people who hate on BC for anything that happens in it. It's pretty clear that the Witch queen will want something in return for healing Asta's arms after all this is over, so they aren't getting out of this consequence free. Though, I would have liked it if Tabata had waited a little longer before Asta arms were healed. I think he missed an opportunity to have it being done during the heat of the battle when things seem the most desperate, rather than doing it before it's begun.

[VLordGTZ]

Personally, I'm fine with Viz continuing to cycle in Jump Starts as full series since it helps bring in a larger variety of series to the magazine, and some of them may end up being big hits like Promised Neverland.  That being said, I think it would be nice if Kimetsu no Yaiba joined the lineup or (at the very least) if Viz picked it up for volume releases.

[Markness]

Dark Horse is finally publishing volumes 4 and 5 of Drifters

Ok, Dark Horse, do the same for Blood Blockade Battlefront and Eden It's An Endless World! next. And while you're at it, license All Rounder Meguru and Soft Metal Vampire or give them to Kodansha USA.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That reveal in MHA was pretty insane. Does this mean Toga took the place of that girl, or was she always her in the first place? Now that she has Midoriya's blood, what does that mean? Only Todoroki and Bakugo failed their exams of the group too. I have to admit, I thought there were three rounds, but I guess I'm glad there are only two since this means the story can continue.

World Trigger has been on a roll recently so I'm glad the next chapter starts the next Rank War battle. I also hope Osamu's bad feeling doesn't extend to the next round. They need to win this round or they're out, and they still need one more round after it. We need to get to the next arc!

I'm also really digging these reveals in Promised Neverland since they really bring Ray out into the open. They've been really good at fleshing out the three main characters at such an early stage in the manga. Now I'm really eager to see them escape just so I can get a grasp onto where the story is heading. It's really a mystery right now and I think that's why it's doing so well in the rankings. Well, that and it is pretty good.

On the other hand, Food Wars and Black Clover were both transitional chapters. It appears we gotta wait a bit longer to understand where the story is planning on going next. Food Wars is pretty obvious on Soma's side, but what they're going to do with Hayama is important since not everyone is going to survive the transition to the second year.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #50 (November 14th, 2016):
Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma (Cover/Lead CP, 4th Anniversary)
1. My Hero Academia
2. Haikyuu!!
Hinomaru Zumou (CP)
3. Samon the Summoner
Amalgam of Distortion (Not ranked)
Toriko (31p)
Yuuna of Yuragi Manor (CP)
4. Black Clover
5. Gintama
6. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
Spring Weapon #1 (Not Ranked)
Himitsu Kessha D Tai Phantom Sentouin Entarou (CP, One Shot by Monri Kei)
7. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
8. The Promised Neverland
9. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
Oneshot (to make up for World Trigger missing)
10. Red Sprite
11. Love Rush (END)
Isobe Isobee Monogatari

Toriko ends next week and Love Rush already wrapped up. So those are the two series to end this round. Can't say much for these rankings except that they're all over the place. Both World Trigger and One Piece are missing this week so it's even screwier. I just hope this isn't a sign for KnY and Promised Neverland.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I'm just hoping it's an off week for TPW since it's been ranking well consistently before now. Surprised LR is ending the same week as Toriko. I'd guess Red Sprite's not going to be far behind either.

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, Toriko won't be ending next week but the week after. LR ending next issue makes more sense to me now than if both were ending in the same issue.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Welp, looks like not everyone is going to pass in Food Wars! after all! I admit I don't care that much about Nikumi or Takumi's brother, but Arato losing was a real shock, not just because she's one of my favorite characters, but because she's been a genuinely important one, and between any of the characters, her expulsion hurts Erina and the resistance effort the most. Really wondering how Erina is going to react to this, and who else among the resisters might've been expelled. Though I'm going to go out on a limb and say that at least Megumi and Takumi are safe, not only because I think Rindo would probably go easy on them because it would be more fun for her if they were to move on in the test, but also because the latest color page spread showed them with Soma and Erina, which to me implies that they're basically now considered the series "main four" so to speak. I'm definitely expecting some revenge matches against the E10 in the future too, with either Soma or Megumi facing off against Momo, Takumi against Somei, and Erina against Nene.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #51 (November 21st, 2016):
Demon's Plan (Cover, Lead CP, New Series by Yoshimichi Okamoto)
1. One Piece
2. Black Clover
Toriko (CP, END)
Amalgam of Distortion (Not Ranked)
3. Haikyu!!
The Promised Neverland (CP)
4. Samon the Summoner
5. My Hero Academia
6. Gintama
7. Hinomaru Zumou
Boruto (CP)
Spring Weapon No.1 (Not Ranked)
8. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
9. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
10. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
11. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Oneshot (World Trigger Absence Filler)
12. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
13. Red Sprite
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

World Trigger is now on hiatus. I hope Ashihara is okay. Next week Samon and KnY are getting color pages. It looks like there's only two new series this time so only Toriko and Love Rush are ending. I would bet the next round will be Gintama and Red Sprite, unless the latter drastically improves in rankings or something drops lower.

I'm honestly just hoping Ashihara is okay, and this hiatus doesn't affect him too badly.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I hope Ashihara is able to rest and recover his health without incident. Luckily Jump has been really supportive of him and WT, but it's a shame he needs to go on hiatus right when it started to really hit it's stride in the rankings. At least it hasn't gone on hiatus in the middle of a match so he can resume the series without it being too jarring to readers when it comes back.

FW's low rankings continue to be worrying. Gintama ending and the inevitable cancellation of Red Sprite should give it a buffer, but I'm still concerned it could fall on the chopping block before too long if it continues to flounder. Hopefully the most recent developments pique readers' interest again and help it to climb back to a healthier position in the magazine.

Apparently Amalgam has been well- received by young readers in Japan, so it'll be interesting to see how the first chapter fairs in the rankings.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

To be honest, I can't really disagree with the rankings for Food Wars lately. Don't get me wrong, I hope that it gets better, but as you all know a lot of readers have had problems with the storytelling in this arc, and I'm among those people in this particular case. I still feel that a lot of this stems from my fundamental problems with Azami as a villain and Central as a concept, but even so there have been good aspects to this arc like Erina's character development and other characters getting time to shine instead of the whole manga just being "Soma-time." That said, it's really telling that the much awaited rematch between Soma and Hayama was as underwhelming as it was. Yes, I know that the mangaka tried to explain it away on twitter, but the fact is that even if he has some interesting plans for later down the line, weak story-telling is weak story-telling, and the most recent arc was pretty lopsided in quality. If it gets better soon, then that's great, but that won't make me or other readers turn a blind eye to what came before it.

In that regard, that's the same way in which I have viewed One Piece for a long time. I'm honestly loving the current arc and it has done a lot to restore my interest and faith in the series, and for the first time in a long time I'm eagerly anticipating each future installment of the series. By no means, though, does that indicate that my opinion on what came before it has changed at all. I still feel that Oda had stagnated his storytelling and characterization for several years leading up to this point, and has now finally managed to hit his groove again. Essentially, I feel largely the same away about Food Wars, especially in this arc.

[Spark Of Spirit]

On the other hand, MHA looks like it's readying a big arc coming up. Setting up the villains and their motivations, a clue to what All For One is up to, a hint at Stain returning, Bakugo confronting Midoriya about One For All, and the license exam done. It doesn't look like the status quo is going to hold much longer at this rate. Things are going to turn south soon.

Promised Neverland really likes to keep you on edge, doesn't it? I have a feeling that what Don and Gilda do is going to cause a lot of problems for the main three. And it might cause extra friction between Ray and Norman if the former has to choose sides. I have to admit when it started I wasn't sure it had a clear goal, but every chapter continues to convince me that I was wrong. At this rate it is shaping up to be quite unique. But my judgement will definitely have to wait to see what happens after they escape. That will be the test to see where this is all heading.

Food Wars moving onto Soma's group becoming council of ten members definitely has much potential. It would be interesting to see what it takes to become one and how they go about doing it. I gotta say that Kurokiba and Alice failing was still a bit of a surprise considering how good they are.

Good issue this week. I hope Ashihara feels better soon and can draw again. His missing touch is felt this week.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Finally, some MHA haters poke their heads out.

And they're Naruto and Bleach fans at that.

As soon as I saw all the (Correct) criticism for Boku no hero I knew that Naruto was going to be mentioned. Naruto has nothing to prove its a classic you guys just come off as salty when you try to deflect criticism from Boku no hero by bringing up Naruto. (Put some Respek on it)

Face it Boku no hero while it is enjoyable it's also unoriginal and at times bland, if the author doesn't step up his game its currently popular might just be its peak.

There's that "bland" criticism again. From people who enjoy a series about kid ninjas apparently superheroes is considered unoriginal. Fact is, Naruto is holier than a pair of socks and has many valid flaws to bring up that MHA doesn't.

If you think the asspull about Stain's abilities being weak against Deku's type of blood, something that wasn't mentioned before is anything other than poor writing then I don't know what to tell you.

If you think that's a "smart" battle then...

And you keep mocking Naruto but Hero Academia outright rips off Naruto several times, hell the author jerks himself off thinking about Naruto and Kishimoto, he's made it clear a lot of times in interviews or when talking about Naruto.

Naruto fan complains the Stain fight was an "asspull" and that MHA rips off Naruto by . . . being inspired by it.

Right.

I agree that it's not horrible by any means but if you've been reading battle shonen for a while manga like Hero Academia become just... boring. I wish the author would do SOMETHING original, anything at all.

Not to mention the main character reeks of self insert and it's easily the worst part of the series barring some good scenes, every character in the cast feels the need to jerk him off and the plot always bends his way too.

Character who breaks his bones constantly, has only ever beaten one villain on his own, and is still constantly making mistakes and learning is a self-insert.

You can't make this up.

But here's my favorite criticism:

Talking is not the problem, manga like HxH or World Trigger have a lot of talking but they use that talking for interesting things for the most part, of course not everything is super serious or talks about strategies and stuff like that in fact they have a lot of goofy moments that are used to develop characters or simply "useless" talk that give you the feeling these characters are alive, but my point is that they have good and well thought dialogue.

Academia doesn't, and the fights are boring because they're not even remotely smart. It was great when Ring ni Kakero did it in the 70's or Hokuto no Ken taking it as inspiration in early 80's but we're in 2016, these mangaka don't even try to put a spin on things people did decades ago.

The fights aren't even remotely smart? I don't have to bring up Naruto or Bleach here, but the fights are organic to the story. Every single move a character does to win an encounter is something they are already capable of doing.

But that's not the weird part of that post.

Read that second part again:

It was great when Ring ni Kakero did it in the 70's or Hokuto no Ken taking it as inspiration in early 80's but we're in 2016, these mangaka don't even try to put a spin on things people did decades ago.

Oh no! MHA is on par with two classics of the genre! It creates situations based on characters and how they naturally react to them! What a bland series that clearly doesn't deserve the attention it gets!

Okay, I won't say MHA is perfect. Sometimes the pace is too fast when I'd like to see the story linger on a plot point or scene, until recently we rarely spent time with characters other than the usual characters (Yaoyarozu, Kirishima, and Kaminari, in particular were great to learn more about), the beginning chapters whipped through introductions really fast, and All Might and Aizawa are still really the only adult heroes we know much about. It's not a perfect series, but its flaws are not as deep as "classics" like Naruto and Bleach.

I would welcome actual criticism of this series, but right now a lot of it is from Naruto and Bleach fans that are upset people seen to like MHA more, and have reasons for preferring it to their favorites. Fact is, a lot of older fans (like those of Ring ni Kakero and Fist of the North Star) like this series a lot in a way they didn't like Naruto and its general age of battle shonen series. If you want us older fans to rethink our opinions on the series with the best writing in Jump right now then you might want to give a solid reason as to how its worse than we give it credit for.

It might just be me, but I've seen way too much propping up of Naruto, Bleach, and battle series of that age, by people who have told me that Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, Saint Seiya, JoJo, City Hunter, and others, are simply outdated and no longer what people want. So when people start buying a series modeled off those old shonen (though inspired by Naruto, too) instead of following the tropes from the era of Hitman Reborn and Bleach, thereby proving their assertions wrong, I can't help but shake my head. The fact is that those series are considered classics for a reason and people obviously want more like them.

I'm not going to say these people are wrong for disliking MHA. I just wish they would put some thought into their criticisms.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Anime News Network, let alone its forum, isn't particularly ripe for constructive criticism.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #52 (November 28th, 2016):
Ole Golazo (Cover, Lead CP, New Series by Takamasa Moue)
1. One Piece
2. The Promised Neverland
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction (CP)
3. Haikyu!!
4. My Hero Academia
Demon's Plan (CP)
5. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma
6. Black Clover
Samon the Summoner (CP)
7. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
8. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
9. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
10. Gintama
11. Hinomaru Zumou
12. Amalgam of Distortion
Tera-chan (Oneshot)
Spring Weapon No.1 (Not Ranked)
13. Red Sprite (END)
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

Red Sprite has also ended. It looks like there's an additional open slot in Jump now. It's not looking good for Amalgam either.

I heard a criticism that the new battle manga series are simply not very creative, and I think that is valid. They haven't really offered anything new something in Jump wasn't already offering. For instance Demon's Plan was unfocused when its best trait was the Getbackers-like bro relationship between the main characters. Everything around it was nothing I haven't seen a hundred times before. The last really creative battle manga was Kimetsu no Yaiba by focusing on an almost early-80s style of art and direction which gave it a fresh execution. The fact is that Jump might want to lay off on the new battle manga for now. The line up is currently as good as its going to get and should instead have some muscle put behind promoting them. Instead they might want to focus on more unique series like Promised Neverland, or Food Wars. That new sports manga might do the trick.

Oh, and good to see Promised Neverland so high. It's definitely getting better and better.