Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Spark Of Spirit]

I don't know about One Piece because I don't really have the time to sit down and read as much manga in a row these days. But, on the other hand, maybe I could make due with the anime? By that I mean that I usually visit a friend on the weekend and we engage in different activities from playing games to watching some episodes of anime and discussing it. We did it with MHA and Saiki when they were running. Maybe we could try the One Piece anime (he stopped around the same place I did) from a bit further in the story. I know the One Piece anime isn't ideal, but maybe it would be easier to get through the story that way. I dunno, you guys are more familiar with the anime than I am.

MHA is definitely about to blow up soon. The era is over, the villains are growing and making their move, and Midoriya is in the midst of it all. We're about to hit an arc that might surpass Field Training and Summer Training/Hideout Raid as the best in the series. I only hope he never does a time skip. MHA works so well because we see every moment of growth of the characters. If we skipped a bunch of it I'd be pretty upset.

If we're speaking moments of change, I'd say the end of the Sports Festival when Todoroki takes on Bakugo is about the moment I knew it would be something really special. And it hasn't let me down yet.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I don't know about One Piece because I don't really have the time to sit down and read as much manga in a row these days. But, on the other hand, maybe I could make due with the anime? By that I mean that I usually visit a friend on the weekend and we engage in different activities from playing games to watching some episodes of anime and discussing it. We did it with MHA and Saiki when they were running. Maybe we could try the One Piece anime (he stopped around the same place I did) from a bit further in the story. I know the One Piece anime isn't ideal, but maybe it would be easier to get through the story that way. I dunno, you guys are more familiar with the anime than I am.

I really wouldn't recommend it. You stopped around Skypeia, so you'd have to watch over 500+ episodes to catch up, and that's after skipping the sparse filler episodes there are. The anime's poor pacing and animation just can't compare to Oda's, especially from Water 7 onwards. Not to mention that the poor pacing and animation flat out ruins two of the best arcs in the series, Impel Down and Marineford, making them nearly unwatchable. While I definitely agree it's easier to get through something when you have someone to do it with, it's way more of a time investment to watch 500+ anime episodes than to read 50+ manga volumes and the quality of anime just makes watching through it less than ideal. Granted, there are plenty of OP fans who like the anime who'd disagree, and marathoning certain stretches with friends can be fun, but I really think you'd enjoy the series more overall by reading rather than watching it.

Even though you have a lot to catch up with, you'd don't have to binge read the entire thing. You can take your time reading through it. 50 volumes sounds like a lot but even if you were only to read one volume a day you would catch up in less than two months. So it's not as daunting an ordeal once you actually start.

I'll do my rankings of the Jump series I'm reading after I get a chance to catch back up on KnY and Gintama, though I think my Top 5 would be somewhat similar to Spark's except with OP placed higher.

And I'd definitely be up for making a list of the most game-changing moments in long-running shonen series. That honestly could be a cool follow up to our story arcs list from years back. I agree with Dr. E-K on AnJ and DB's for sure.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, but reading a volume of OP could be replaced with reading something else (which I'm usually doing already), and I'm well aware that the anime has its problems, but I'm not rushing to catch up. I also stopped at the arc after Skypeia due to my interest running out, but like Gintama I'm perfectly find with jumping ahead and coming back to fill in the gaps later if need be. I'm already spoiled on a lot that happens as it is.

Anyway, even if I did it it's not something I would be doing for a long time. Just spit-balling.

And Dr. Stone is easily the best of the new Jump Starts. I'm betting that one sticks around for a while.

MHA hasn't missed a step even with a week off. This was a great chapter and easily the best this week. Really can't wait to see where this arc goes next.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, but reading a volume of OP could be replaced with reading something else (which I'm usually doing already), and I'm well aware that the anime has its problems, but I'm not rushing to catch up. I also stopped at the arc after Skypeia due to my interest running out, but like Gintama I'm perfectly find with jumping ahead and coming back to fill in the gaps later if need be. I'm already spoiled on a lot that happens as it is.

Sure, but you could also be watching something else instead of the OP anime, and that's a significantly longer time investment. And unlike the Gintama anime, the material is very rarely enhanced and arguably suffers greatly in adaptation. If you're interested in catching up with the series, I think the manga is the best experience and the way to go, but I suppose it's really going to depend on what you're interested in. You certainly could read it out of order - after all, I did that myself - but part of me has always wished that I could've experienced the series linearly so that certain things would've had more impact if I didn't know they were coming so it's a decision I would think about, especially since OP has a less fragmented and more linear story than Gintama does.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #16 (March 20th, 2017):
Robot x Laserbeam (Cover, Lead CP, New Series by Tadatoshi Fujimaki)
1. One Piece
Dr. Stone (Not Ranked)
Black Clover (CP)
2. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
3. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (CP)
4. Hinomaru Zumou
5. My Hero Academia
Haikyu!! (CP)
We Never Learn (Not Ranked)
6. The Promised Neverland
Yuna of Yuragi Manor (CP)
U19 (Not Ranked)
7. Spring Weapon No. 1
Hungry Marie (Not Ranked)
Demon Prince Poro's Diaries (Not Ranked)
8. Samon the Summoner
9. Gintama
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

Great ranking for KnY. Next week MHA gets the cover, and I believe it will be the first ranking for We Never Learn. If Samon hopes to survive then some of these new series have to bomb pretty hard first. Just like Hungry Marie, Dr. Stone got a very high placement for an unranked series. I think that will bode well for it. Anyway, the big news is the new series by Fujimaki. I'm very eager to see what he'll put out this time.


EDIT: Some people are posting the TOC for the other magazines, so I think I'll do it too. Keep in mind: these aren't ranked other than that series regularly near the bottom are not doing well.


Weekly Shonen Sunday Issue #16:
Komi-san wa, Commu-shou Desu (Cover, Lead CP)
Souboutei Must Be Destroyed
Dagashi Kashi
Amano Megumi wa Suki Darake!
Major 2nd
Aozakura
Hayate the Combat Butler
Maiko-san Chi no Makanaisan
Saike Once Again (CP, Part 9)
Tenshi to Akuto!!
Magi
Baka to Tensai (One Shot)
Ryoko
Maou-jou de Oyasumi
Tokiwa Kitareri!!
Hatsukoi Zombie
Be Blues!
Hiiragi-sama wa Jibun wo Sagashiteiru?
Mushibugyo
Dameterasu-sama
Denpa Kyoushi
Keijo!!!!!!!!
Sunday Hikagaku Kenkyuujo

Zettai Karen Children (Psychic Squad), Rinne (Absent)


Weekly Shonen Magazine Issue #16:
Ahiru no Sora (Lead CP)
Seven Deadly Sins
Ace of Diamond
8th August Outlaw
Hoshino, Me wo Tsubutte
Hajime no Ippo
To You, the Immortal
Domestic na Kanojo
Tokyo Revengers
Mahou Sensei Negima! (Special Chapter)
School Rumble (Special Chapter)
Senryuu Shoujo
Seitokai Yakuindomo
Fuuka (Cover, CP)
Fairy Tail
Rankers High
Vector Ball
Baby Steps
Real Account
Days
Fire Force
Knight in the Area
Kindaichi Case Files R
6cm no Kizuna
Tsurezure Children

[LumRanmaYasha]

Nice to see Dr. Stone placed so high even though it's not ranked yet. A good sign. On the flip, doesn't seem like Hungry Marie and Poro are doing so hot being placed so low in the TOC so early on. But HM was pretty high last week so maybe this time's just a flux. But the new series might all still have more time to establish themselves if they finally decide to can Samon and Gintama ends around the time of the next serialization round.

Seeing Souboutei and Dagashi Kashi near the top in Sunday's TOC makes me smile. And I guess Hayate is going out on a relatively strong note considering it's placed pretty high this week.

Weird seeing Fairy Tail placed so low in the TOC since it's usually near the top but then again it's behind Fuuka which has center color so maybe that's not a bad spot after all.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Sunday's got six new series lined up starting with Issue 19!:

19 (Out April 5th) Tenshou no Quadruple by Takahiro Arai (Arago/Darren Shan both in WSS)
20 (Out April 12th) Hoankan Evans no uso ~Dead or Love~ by Mizuki Kuriyama (Newbie)
21 (Out April 19th) Daiku no Hatou by Michiteru Kusaba (Fantasista/Fantasista Stella both in WSS).
Combined issues 22/23 (Out April 26th) Youkai Giga (Temp title) By Satsuki Satou (Newbie)
24 (Out May 10th) K.O.I. by Tamiki Wakaki (Albatross/TWOK both in WSS)
25 (Out May 17th) Inseki Shoujo ~Meteor Girl~ by Riichi Ishiyama (Newbie)

Not much to go on yet, but Youkai Giga looks unique and K.O.I. has potential being from the creator of The World Only God Knows. Looking forward to seeing what comes of these new series!

Also, here are the tribute artwork done by various Shonen Sunday mangaka to commemorate Takahashi selling over 200 million copies of her manga!

(in order)  Sakurai (Yuugami) Kotoyama (Dagashi) Oda (Not that one, the Komi-san one) Arakawa (FMA/Silver Spoon) Azuma (Denpa) Shiina (Zettai) Koyama (Maiko-san) Kumanomata (Maojo) Ohtaka (Magi) Adachi (Touch/Cross game) And Aoyama (Conan)

Next is Fujiki (DameTerasu) Fukuda (Mushibugyo) Hata (Hayate) Nishimori (Hiiragi) Tanabe (Birdmen/Kekkaishi) Sorayomi (Keijo!!!) Fujita (Ushio to Tora/Souboutei) Fukuchi (Ueki/Saike) Hirakawa (Tenshi to Akuto) Nekoguchi (Amano Megumi) Nikado (Aozakura) Tanaka (Be Blues).

Last is Yokoyama (Sunday Higaku) Mitsuhashi (RYOKO) Matsuena (Kenichi/Tokiwa) Watase (Fushigi Yugi/ Arata) Minenami (Hatsukoi) and Mitsuda (Major/Major 2nd).

Lots of Lum, Kyoko, Ranma, and InuYasha art! But there's a lot of love thrown towards Mermaid Saga and even Takahashi's one-shots too. My favorite pieces have to be Oda, Hirakawa, Shiina, Aoyama, Tanabe, Sorayomi, Fukuchi, Yokoyama, Mitsuhashi, and Watase's, but they're all really lovely. Hopefully we'll see larger versions of them start circulating soon!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Six new series. The new editor really is going all out. I guess this is why those series have been ending recently, including Hayate in a few weeks and hopefully Keijo as well. I don't know anything about the new series, but the spread in art styles is definitely nice. So many manga today rely on that generic moe style. These actually look like you'd expect Sunday series should.

They also seem to be really pushing Saike. Without even an anime, this is quite a solid push to get it into people's hands. Though I do think an anime ASAP would be a smart idea. Pretty sure it would grab a lot of attention for that.

Nice art based on Takahashi's series. Big fan of Fujita's art as usual. I sure would like to see her try something like Mermaid Saga again.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Volume 8 of Blood Blockade Battlefront is scheduled for November and 9 and 10 are also on the way.

Back 2 Back will require a separate license, so here's hoping they jump on that.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Awesome! Glad to see they'll finish it after all. Hopefully sales will be good enough to continue them to pick up B2B too.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This is kind of out of off topic and out-of-nowhere, but after having played a bunch of Nioh, I'd love to see a video game adaptation of Kimetsu no Yaiba (if it ever got popukar enough for that sort of treatment) directed by Team Ninja. The creative Oni designs and emphasis on combat with swords and different elemental-based styles would translate really well into that sort of gameplay, and evey time I play Nioh I'm reminded of KnY, and vice-versa, especially with the latter's setting being heavily inspired by the Sengoku-period architecture and layout of Japanese society, the same era that Nioh's setting is based in.

[Spark Of Spirit]

From what I've seen of Nioh that looks like it would be a good fit. For me I'd like to see Black Clover made into a dungeon crawler loot game where you use the different styles of magic with different characters, and a MHA game done like Rival Schools. Pretty unlikely for those too, though.

This week's chapter of MHA was pretty great. I wasn't expecting so much to be dropped at once. Horikoshi's really pushing this arc with its darker feel even to the point where a school scene doesn't feel the same as usual. I'm really wondering at just what Overhaul is at this point and if any of the heroes are really safe. Things are about to go down.

Promised Neverland is just pushing my buttons at this point. How do you end a chapter like that? There's no more stalling for time, so let's go already!

Now the final series of the Jump's six starts has begun. I'm fairly certain where this one will go, so here's my final ranking for the series.


1) Dr. Stone

This was the best new series without question. It was fun, had dynamic characters, and a unique plot setting, and has some top notch art. You can see the two behind this are no newbies, and it shows. the number one complaint for some was that they can't take it seriously . . . but it's fantasy and not everything has been explained yet, so I don't get that. If this series doesn't get added by Viz or gets canceled instead, I will be pretty upset. There's a lot of good here.

2) Demon Prince Poro's Diaries

I couldn't even tell you why I liked this. But I did. Sure it's pretty much the exact same thing as Spring Weapon #1 and sure it probably won't last, but I liked it. This is strange because Golden Cup and Future Cup winners'' first series are usually garbage, but this one shows a level of competency I wasn't expecting. This guy has talent. People are mixed on this and I can't blame them. There's nothing really original here and nothing that helps it stand out. I don't expect Viz to add it, and I don't expect it to do very well, and that's okay. The series was surprisingly enjoyable to me and I didn't even expect to like it when it was first announced. Either way, I just want to see this guy get more work.

3) Robot Laserbeam

So far it's basically Kuroko without the unneeded supernatural elements. Since it's a sports manga, you pretty well know how the first volume is going to play out so I feel comfortable ranking it here. It's solid and has a good foundation, and it will certainly do well. Most complaints center on how boring it is, but I'm assuming it's from people who don't like sports manga anyway, so I'll just forget those grievances. Viz will be adding it either way so I'm fortunate that it's a series that I like.

4) Hungry Marie

Not a fan of Tamura, as I've said. I don't find the comedy very funny (some lines and panels were good, but they are few and far between), his action still feels very weak and half-thought out, and the characters are very bone dry and thin. But a lot of people do like this, Beelzebub was a hit, and Viz will almost certainly be adding it. I haven't seen many complaints, so I'm clearly in the minority here. That said, there was nothing bad about it. Marie is just not my thing.

5) We Never Learn

This was pleasant. That's all I can really say. The problem is whether it will last or not. Romance series, never mind slice of life series, have a hard time in Jump, and usually have a slow start, so it's hard to decide just how good this will be. If I read more it would probably rank higher, but since Jump probably won't add it (and even if they did, who's to say it won't get cut anyway?) I'm not sure if I could rank it higher yet. We'll see, but for now it is where it is.

6) U19

To be frank, I didn't like it. Unmemorable art, bad pacing, overstuffed and in-congruent ideas, and characters as paper thin as the bad guys are shallow, this series was lame. I have a friend who hates it with the passion of a thousand suns, but I just found it a total miss. It just isn't good. There are a pocket of people who want this series added, but I think they're wasting their time. Early placement in the magazine have not been all too promising, and there has been no buzz. Even if it was, I wouldn't want this added over anything else. I don't know about enjoyability, but U19 had by far the most glaring faults of any of the six to the point that was the weakest piece on just an execution level. The editor should have tightened this up a ton more. Of the six, this was by far the weakest.


All that said, Dr Stone, Hungry Marie, and Robot x Laserbeam are all getting added. You know it and I know it. They'll probably still be around a year from now. I'm pretty sure the other three will all be canceled by the time summer rolls around barring a miracle. On the other hand, it was surprising to see Jump add so many series at once like this. They must really be searching for that hit. I'm not sure if any of these six will be huge, but I think they'll do well enough. The veteran series, at the very least, will almost certainly reach a wide audience.

It was a pretty solid round of new series, all thing's considered.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Unrelated, but I recently caught up to the MHA Vigilante spin off.

It's good stuff. I like the nods to the main series blending in to this one as well as the fact that it feels completely organic to Horikoshi's material. The mirror of Knuckleduster being All Might to Koichi's Midoriya while coming to opposite conclusions was a nice touch. It really makes the whole vigilante thing feel almost like a sub-world in the main series (which it is) while keeping the hero life at the forefront as well. I also like the more villain of the week format (though that seems to be leading to something) which differentiates it further from the main series. The writer even knew enough to add little touches like Aizawa not being a well known hero and Tsukauchi actually showing off his policing skills. Really, it feels like any of these characters could pop up in the main series at any time and they would fit just fine.

The only question I have is when this takes place exactly. All Might is still in prime form, and Ingenium is still active, though Mineta made a cameo as did Midoriya's mom, and relative newcomer Kamui Woods is around, which leads me to believe it's probably before the Sports Festival. I'm not sure if it's ever going to tie into the main series at some point, such as Knuckleduster actually discussing his similarities with Midoriya, but it sure is enjoyable and I hope it lasts a good while. The team behind it really do understand the appeal of the main series.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Fair impressions. My preferences for the Jump Starts would be as follows.

1. Dr. Stone - Easily the best. Unique premise, distinct and dynamic lead characters, brilliant art, great sense of humor, clever writing, and the best embodiment of friendship, effort, victory exemplified in new series in a while. I will be surprised if this isn't a hit.

2. We Never Learn - Rooted in very relatable emotions of trying to succeed in an area where your not naturally talented in and being inspired not to give up by someone who genuinely believes you can do it if you try, there's more going on thematically in WNL than most rom-coms at their start and it made a strong first impression on me with what I think was the best first chapter of any of these Jump Starts. I really like the three leads, and the art and character designs are excellent and expressive, and remind me a lot of Komi's art. It probably won't be added to the Viz Jump, but I'm hoping it's a success in Japan all the same.

3. Hungry Marie - Fun sense of humor with some witty dialogue that made me laugh out loud while reading it, especially the first chapter. It's got a nice wacky supernatural kung-fu premise and the unique twist on the body-switching mechanic. I also like gender-benders and this looks to be a fun one. Probably will be added and I'm looking forward to reading more of it.

4. U19 - I think U19 has a neat enough premise, a strong central relationship between the two leads, and having the powersets rely upon their user's teenage libido has a lot of potential. I even liked how it played the long game with the way it presented it's story over the first three chapters. But it's not unique enough as a YA utopian dystopia and fighting manga for me to really want to see it in Jump over most of the other Jump Starts in this set, and I'm only really ranking it over Robot x Laserbeam just because I don't feel I've gotten enough of a feel for the latter to really say I like it more.

5. Robot X Laserbeam - I've been waiting for this ever since Fujimaki said he wanted to do a golfing manga after Kuroko. The first chapter was solid and Robo is a unique sort of protagonist for a sports series. I can't really rank it higher until I see more of it to compare against the other Jump Starts, but considering how passionate Marlene is about it she'll probably manage to convince Alexis to add it to the Viz Jump so I'm looking to reading more.

6. Demon Prince Poro's Diaries - Poro is a cute enough protagonist, but the premise of a demon coming up to visit the human world and learn from humanity is really common and this didn't seem like it was offering much different than any of the others that have been tried in the last few years.

Overall I thought this was a pretty strong round of Jump Starts. It'll be interesting to see which and how many of these lasts through the year and if any of them really hit it big.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Vector Ball is ending, and in the middle of a fight no less. Kodansha is saying it's only the end of "part one," but Raiku claims it's the end of the series. It's been doing well in the Magazine, so there might be something external going on with Raiku himself. I hope he's okay, and can get the chance to finish VB one day.