Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Haikyuu!! Crossing over with Nisekoi is so freaking random. It made sense when it had that crossover one-shot with My Love Story, but Haikyuu!! isn't even in the same genre.

In other news I finally caught up with World Trigger. In short I like most of what comes before and after the Large Scale Invasion arc, with that arc itself being too much of an unfocused mess in my eyes. That said, while I think it's good, there's something about the characters that keeps me from realky getting too invested in any of them, and that's what makes the difference between me finding the series good whereas it could be great. The battles are very tactical and well thought-out, but when I'm not going to feel all that devastated if the protagonists lose, none of these situations ever feel as tense to me as they are clearly meant to be.

Overall, good series, but I just feel like a key piece of something is missing from the equation.

[VLordGTZ]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #8 (January 23rd, 2017):
The Promised Neverland (Cover/Lead CP)
1. My Hero Academia
2. Black Clover
3. Hinomaru Sumo
Haikyuu!! (CP)
4. Kimetsu no Yaiba
5. Shokugeki no Souma
Golem Hearts (CP, One Shot)
6. Gintama
Spring Weapon Number One (CP)
7. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
8. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
Whim (One Shot)
9. Samon the Summoner
Ole Golazo (Not Ranked)
10. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
11. Demon's Plan
12. Amalgam of Distortion
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

One Piece (Absent)

It looks like Demon's Plan had a low first ranking as expected, and it doesn't seem like Ole Golazo will fare much better when it gets ranked next week.  I guess it's a good thing that Viz didn't add them to the magazine. 

[VLordGTZ]

Kodansha USA has licensed Yoshitoki Oima's To Your Eternity and will be simul-publishing the series on Kindle and Comixology for $0.99 per chapter starting on January 24th.

Roughly a dollar per chapter is kind of pricey for a weekly series imo, but at least it has finally been licensed.

Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches will be ending in 5 chapters.

Considering that this will be the second Weekly Shonen Magazine series that has recently ended among Crunchyroll's simul-pub series (the other being As The God's Will: The Second Series), I wonder if they'll pick up some new weekly series to release.  I would love to see To Your Eternity and Vector Ball in their manga catalog.

[VLordGTZ]

Kaito is planning to launch a romance series called Blue Flag in Shonen Jump+ on February 1st.

Hopefully, Kaito's new series will be more successful than Cross Manage and Buddy Strike, though considering that he'll be in Jump+ this time, the likelihood of this series getting quickly cancelled will be much lower.  I also really hope that Viz considers picking up the series for their free Jump chapters section.

[VLordGTZ]

So there was still no announcement of new series additions in this week's issue of english Jump, but Viz is having a live-stream event this Friday to celebrate the magazine's 5th anniversary and they have noted to having some major news to talk about.

Considering that all four of the recent Jump Starts seem to have been unsuccessful in Japan, I think it's safe to assume that Viz will be adding some series that will have more longevity.  Realistically, their options are Kimetsu no Yaiba, Straighten Up, Haikyuu, and Samon the Summoner.  It will be interesting to see what they choose.

[VLordGTZ]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #9 (January 30th, 2017):
Gintama (Cover, Lead CP)
1. One Piece
2. Kimetsu no Yaiba
3. My Hero Academia
4. Haikyuu!!
Boruto (CP)
5. The Promised Neverland
Asagaya Geijutsu Kokou Eizou-ka e Youkoso (CP, One Shot)
6. Black Clover
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma (CP)
7. Samon the Summoner
8. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
9. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
10. Hinomaru Zumou
11. Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san
12. Spring Weapon No. 1
13. Amalgam of Distortion
14. Ole Golazo
15. Demon's Plan
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

I think it's now safe to say that the last four Jump Starts have all bombed, and it seems like Jump thinks the same as well.  Between issues 10-16, Jump will be premiering SIX new series:

Shounen Jump Issue 10:
New Series: Boku-tachi wa Benkyou ga Dekinai (by Tsutsui Taishi (author of Magical Pâtissière Kosaki-chan))

Shounen Jump Issue 11:
New Series: U19 (by Kimura Yuuji (author of 2014 WSJ one-shots GARDEN and Peach Pluck))

Shounen Jump Issue 12
New Series: Poro no Ryuugaku-ki (by Gondaira Hitsuji (Winner of the 2015 Golden Future Cup with one-shot Genjuui Toteku))

Shounen Jump Issue 13:
New Series: Harapeko no Marry (by Tamura Ryuuhei (author of Beelzebub))

Shounen Jump Issue 14:
New Series: Dr. Stone (by Inagaki Riichirou (story; story author of Eyeshield 21) and Boichi (artwork; author of Sun-Ken Rock))

Shounen Jump Issue 16:
New Series: Robot×Laserbeam (by Fujimaki Tadatoshi (author of Kuroko's Basketball))

I'm definitely surprised to see the return of three of successful WSJ mangaka in the latter half.  It will be interesting to see if any of them end up having another hit.  In any case,  Jump is going to be getting a lot of new and old blood in the next few weeks.

[VLordGTZ]

This week's issue of english Jump had promotional image for the upcoming six Jump Starts:



Viz also mentioned on their live-stream last week that they will definitely be adding 2 or 3 of the Jump Starts as full series to the magazine.  My guess is that they'll probably add Hungry Marie, Dr. Stone, and RobotxLaserbeam due to the reputation of their respective mangaka.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #10 (February 6th, 2017):
We Never Learn (Cover, Lead CP, New Series)
1. Haikyu!!
2. One Piece
My Hero Academia (CP)
3. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
4. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
Black Clover (CP)
5. Hinomaru Zumou
6. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
7. Gintama
8. Spring Weapon No. 1
The Promised Neverland (CP)
9. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
10. Samon the Summoner
11. Ole Golazo
12. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~ (CP)
13. Amalgam of Distortion
14. Demon's Plan

Straighten Up is getting an extra page next week. It looks like it's ending soon. Spring Weapon going up likely means it will be sticking around for a little while longer. Ole Golazo is in danger of getting a Buddy Strike style early cancellation even though it isn't ranked last. With six new series and one already open slot it looks like we'll either have five series cancelled unless a series is temporarily taking World Trigger's spot in which case it will only be four. If Straighten Up is ending then it looks like two of them will be Amalgam and Demon's Plan. I hope Ole Golazo doesn't get canned but it isn't looking good for it.

As for the new series, I'm most eager for Dr. Stone. Being written by the guy behind Eyeshield 21 and the artist behind Sun-Ken-Rock is a very enticing combo. I didn't like Beelzebub or the one-shot his new series is based on, so Hungry Marie isn't that interesting to me. Robot has potential if he either takes out the power aspect all together or goes wacky with it like, oddly enough, Eyeshield 21. The Game and the powers weakened Kuroko as a whole because they were taken much too seriously for a grounded series.

In other news, I'm disappointed Viz didn't pick up Kimetsu no Yaiba. I'd spent some time catching up to it and really grew attached. The Drum House arc was pretty good, and the Spider Mountain arc was great. It's easy to tell why Togashi is a fan. The series is very old school in an endearing way. And, as the rankings and second printings show, it's building a lot of steam in Japan. It's disappointing that Viz is not going to capitalize.

Glad to see your opinion on World Trigger, Herr Doctor. I admit that I didn't read the Invasion arc, but watched it in the anime where it was much slower. Oddly enough I have a friend that much preferred the manga because it was too slow. Very odd. But I would be interested to hear your opinions on Kimetsu no Yaiba, especially considering Togashi is a fan. Something tells me you'll really dig it, especially given how much it improves as it goes along. It's hard to believe it's his first series considering his improvements.

Unrelated to Jump, I saw a description of Souboutei Must Be Destroyed (finally) that looked very enticing. It's apparently about a haunted mansion which has caused havoc in different people's lives for at least half a century and a bunch of people who all want to destroy the place. It's selling really well, which is great to hear, and buzz seems to be good. It's just too bad absolutely no one in NA is interested in giving it attention. Fujita really deserves better.

Anyway, I'm back. What's up?

[gunswordfist]

Welcome back! I, again, need to read Fujita manga.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Heya.

And thanks to VLord for keeping up with what I missed.

[gunswordfist]

How have you been?

[VLordGTZ]

And thanks to VLord for keeping up with what I missed.

No problem, Spark! 

It's a real shame that Straighten Up is ending.  The scans for the series are almost up to date with the Japanese release after a long time, and I was considering finally keeping up with it.  I'm surprised Spring Weapon is actually doing decent now, though I guess that explains why Jump gave it a color page a few weeks ago.  Since Straighten Up is leaving, I guess that means Demon's Plan, Ole Golazo, and Amalgam of Distortion are all going to get axed soon.

Unrelated to Jump, I saw a description of Souboutei Must Be Destroyed (finally) that looked very enticing. It's apparently about a haunted mansion which has caused havoc in different people's lives for at least half a century and a bunch of people who all want to destroy the place. It's selling really well, which is great to hear, and buzz seems to be good. It's just too bad absolutely no one in NA is interested in giving it attention. Fujita really deserves better.

Man, I want to read Souboutei so badly.  Sakaki (aka Bomber D. Rufi) recently started a Shonen Sunday blog where he briefly goes over each week's issue, and the art and action in Souboutei looks amazing! It's a real shame that it's not being given much attention in the US, along with the majority of Shonen Sunday titles for that matter. 

Currently, the only Sunday titles being released in the US right now are:
Itsuwaribito (which ended 4 years ago)
Detective Conan/Case Closed (which will be around for a while)
Magi (ending in Sunday this year)
Hayate the Combat Butler (also ending soon)
Arata: The Legend (an irregular Sunday series that is also nearing its end)
Rin-ne (not ending but is a commercial failure outside of anime TV ratings)

I understand Viz is already busy enough licensing/releasing Shueisha titles and that their catalog takes priority over Shogakukan, but I wish they would at least license some new Sunday titles once in a while.  The fact that Viz didn't use the attention that the Dagashi Kashi and Keijo anime got to license the series, or even license series from mangaka who were previously successful in the US (Hiromu Arakawa's Silver Spoon and Yellow Tanabe's Birdmen) really shows how much Sunday is getting shafted here.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Sunday is underrated as a magazine, but it isn't as if Shogakukan has done it many favors. While Jump has the action market cornered and Magazine is the grab bag, Sunday was the place for adventures and exploration. It had its unique flavor that became dilluted when it became like everyone else. Much like what happened to Dragon Magazine (Seriously, look up Dragon's pedigree, then look up what it's running now *Blargh*) Sunday lost its way for awhile. Magi is often seen as an outlier, but that is actually what Sunday used to specialize in.

Then there was their moronic business moves, their lack of promotion or anime, and their absence in the NA market despite owning Viz. There is no reason they should be as bad off as they are.

I still think if they got their crap together they could be bigger than Jump.

How have you been?

Not bad, not bad. Hoping to see John Wick 2 next week.

[gunswordfist]

Oh man, take me with you!!!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Just heard a rumor that World Trigger might be moving to Jump SQ. I can see that happening, and I wouldn't like it, but if it's better for Ashihara then I can live with it. It would probably help him get through this arc faster too if he can handle one rank battle per monthly chapter.

That said, it's just a rumor. As long as it doesn't get canned, I'm fine with what happens.