Currently Running Manga Discussion

[VLordGTZ]

Well, I finally caught up with Hinomaru Zumou's scans, and I realized my mistake in starting a series that has virtually no chance of being licensed over here and which is infrequently being fan translated. This is going to be another Baby Steps situation for me.

At any rate, it's a really good sports manga, arguably the best currently running in WSJ (and the best of the last few years, at that) and it's nice that the group working on it at least had the good grace to leave off at the end of the High School portion of the manga as opposed to the middle of an arc.

Yeah, Fallen Angels releases the scans for it in chunks, though they usually try to stay within 20 chapters of Japanese release (they are 16 chapters behind right now).  It's not ideal, but they release it regularly enough that it's not too much trouble, though I usually just go ahead and look at the raws since I'm impatient. 

I'm surprised that Hinomaru still hasn't gotten an anime.  While sumo as a sport has declined in popularity in Japan and Hinomaru's volume sales are only average, the manga still has done very well in the magazine itself.  You'd think Shueisha would want to capitalize on that to some extent.  From what I've seen, the hardest part of getting people into Hinomaru is just the sport itself.  Once they actually start reading it, most people tend to love it.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I was waiting for this turn in MHA. Shigaraki has been turning himself around really well recently and now he looks like he's about to hit the next level.

Now where is Gran Torino? It's time for him to show up and finally make his entrance and bring this arc to a close.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #51 (November 14th, 2017):
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Lead CP)
1. We Never Learn
2. Haikyu!!
3. Dr. Stone
4. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
5. Black Clover
6. Hinomaru Zumou
7. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
The Promised Neverland (CP)
8. My Hero Academia
Golem Hearts (Not Ranked)
Tomatoy Lycopene (Not Ranked)
Boruto (Cover, CP)
Full Drive (Not Ranked)
Shudan! (CP)
9. Robot×Laserbeam
10. Gintama
11. Cross Account
12. Spring Weapon Number One
13. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma
Tomatoy Lycopene


Odd structure for the series this week, but it looks like We Never Learn hit #1! Food Wars is last, but since it's all over the place it doesn't matter so much. The cluster of non-ranked series in the middle is a bit strange considering the remainder of the list below it is what you would otherwise expect. Next week One Piece gets the cover and Hinomaru and RobotxLaserbeam get color pages.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #52 (November 21st, 2017):
One Piece (Cover, Lead CP)
1. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
2. Dr. Stone
3. The Promised Neverland
4. Black Clover
5. Gintama
6. We Never Learn
7. My Hero Academia
Golem Hearts (Not Ranked)
Hinomaru Zumou (CP)
Full Drive (Not Ranked)
Kikou Shounen Aegis (One Shot)
8. Tomatoy Lycopene
Robot×Laserbeam (CP)
9. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
10. Haikyu!!
11. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
12. Cross Account
13. Spring Weapon Number One
14. Shudan!
Tomatoy Lycopene


Saiki is absent this week. Next week Haikyu gets the cover, and We Never Learn and Yuuna both get color pages as well as a collaboration poster. Dr. Stone also gets a color page. I'm not sure what's going on with Shudan, but at this point I'm expecting it to change magazines. Cross Account is apparently wrapping up, but Shudan is showing no signs of the end despite its lack of popularity and sales and the lack of other series to end. Also, the creator of Samon has a new one shot next issue and MHA season 3 is confirmed for Spring 2018 just like season 2 was for this year. That cluster of unranked series again makes it hard to determine what Jump is doing, but I suspect they're just trying to push newer series harder since they don't have quite so many hits these days like they used to.


Edit: And here's a list of the average rankings for Jump's 2017 series:

1. One Piece 1.708333333
2. Hero Academia 3.5
3. Neverland 3.59375
4. Black Clover 3.810810811
5. Dr. Stone 3.833333333
-------------------------------------------
6. Kimetsu 3.944444444
7. Haikyu 4.717948718
8. Straighten Up! 6.714285714
9. FoodWars 6.783783784
10. Hinomaru 7.473684211
-------------------------------------------
11. WeNeverLearn 7.538461538
12. Saiki 7.56097561
13. Yuuna 7.769230769
14. Lycopene 8.0
15. Robot 8.272727273
16. Gintama 8.756097561
17. Samon 9.4
18. HunterXHunter 9.666666667
19. Spring Weapon 9.674418605
20. Amalgam 12.22222222
21. Ole Golazo 12.4
22. Shudan 12.46666667
23. Poro 13.3
24. Marie 13.33333333
25. Cross Account 13.4375
26. Demon's Plan 13.6
27. U19 13.9

[gunswordfist]

YES!!! I'd like to think that My Hero Academia is always confirmed for a new season but you never know these days. I probably should start reading.

[Spark Of Spirit]

The two new series by Norihiro Yagi (Claymore) and Kyoichi Nanatsuki (Project ARMS) have been revealed.

Yagi's is called Soukyou no Ariadne (Ariadne of the Azure Sky) and is about a boy meeting a girl. Nanatsuki's is called Tantei Zeno to Nanatsu no Satsujin Misshitsu (Detective Zeno and the Seven Closed Room Murders) and is about a detective who solves murders.

The descriptions are not all that engaging, but these authors are known to write interesting material, so we'll see how it goes. I'm expecting something worth reading, at least.

Here's the visual. Yagi's is in the center and Nanatsuki's is on the right.



Here's hoping this works out for Sunday. They've really been pushing hard these last two years to get quality in their pages.

[gunswordfist]

I bought the post anime manga volume(s) of My Hero Academia and Hunter X Hunter and also Trigun Omnibus 1. Literally the first comics I've ever bought!

[Spark Of Spirit]

Rinne is ending in three chapters.

[VLordGTZ]

Rinne ending is definitely surprising, but it's probably for the best.  While I enjoy the series, it's definitely the weakest among Takahashi's major works and the series hasn't been successful outside of anime TV ratings.  I'm curious what Takahashi plans to do next.  I wouldn't be opposed to her returning to Sunday with a new rom-com, but it would be interesting to see her do a seinen manga like Maison Ikkoku again or a horror series.

[Spark Of Spirit]

With 2017 nearing the end, I thought I would share my opinions on the three series I enjoy reading most in Jump right now. I severely doubt my opinions will change over the next few weeks, so here's what I thought.

I was surprised with this chapter of MHA. I was honestly expecting All Might to be the first character to die, and didn't think this would happen. It's also interesting that this is the first arc where Midoriya directly takes on a villain and isn't left a mess by the end, and it's one where the villain's actually profited quite a bit more than the heroes did by the end. There's still a bit more wrap up to go, but I have to say I really enjoyed this arc. I reread through it last week and it works far better without having to wait a week (or two) for the next chapter and flows really well. I'm going to guess the next arc will be more lighthearted than this one was, and shorter, because this arc was surprisingly heavy and dark. It was risky to spend a whole year on one arc like this, but I think it was worth it, and I think a lot of people will turn around on it when it becomes the entire fourth season of the anime in two years. That said, I'm glad we are moving on soon.

Kimetsu no Yaiba always seems like it's just on the verge of being a breakout hit, and this year was such a strong year for the series. I'm a bit disappointed that there hasn't been any anime announced for it yet, because a single 24 episode season that covers up to the end of Spider Mountain is such an obvious place to end it, and it was where the series really became popular. Well, here's hoping 2018 is even stronger, and finally allows it that push into the mainstream that it deserves.

I'm also surprised with Promised Neverland. I was worried that it would start to dip after they escaped from the orphanage, but it has managed to maintain its quality without any problem. In fact, I'd say 2017 was a big step up for the series as a whole. Eager to see where it'll go next. I almost want to say it'll get an anime before KnY, but I really think it would do well enough with a simple 12/13 episode series by Wit or something just covering the first arc. It's already popular, but it's also on the verge of hitting it big.

And those would be my favorite SJ reads for 2017.

Now for something different.

The final 2017 total rankings for SJ's 2017:



Not many surprises here. I am wondering how long it is going to take Gintama to end since at this time last year everyone was expecting it to end within a few months. The anime is also promising to cover the final arc, so it must be nearing the conclusion. Other than that, I don't expect Shudan or Cross Account to last, at least in Jump.

[VLordGTZ]

Cross Account's days are definitely numbered at this point.  Shudan, on the other hand, just had a time-skip to Soushi and Nanase's high school years, and it seems to be starting a new arc.  I think this may be Jump and Yokota's final push to see if they can make the series successful, so it's probably safe for a little longer.

My favorite manga in Jump right now are probably MHA, The Promised Neverland, and Robot x Laserbeam.  Kimetsu no Yaiba will most certainly usurp at least TPN and RxL for me, but I still need to fully catch up with it.  Really though, Jump is solid right now overall.  Among the mainstay series, there aren't any that I dislike, and all of them are enjoyable to a degree.  It really is a good time for the magazine.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #1 (November 28th, 2017):
Haikyu!! (Cover/Lead CP)
1. The Promised Neverland
2. One Piece
3. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
Dr. Stone (CP)
4. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K
5. Black Clover
Golem Hearts (Not Ranked)
6. My Hero Academia
We Never Learn (CP)
7. Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma
Full Drive (Not Ranked)
Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs (CP)
8. Gintama
9. Hinomaru Zumou
10. Robot x Laserbeam
11. Cross Account
12. Spring Weapon No 1
13. Shudan!
Tomatoy Lycopene (Starting in Issue #2/3 there will be only 1 chapter per issue)


Lot of new announcements. For one, next week MHA gets the cover, RxL and Promised Neverland gets the color pages. Nothing about these rankings are unexpected, so let's get to it. This would be Lycopene's first proper ranking, but since it's getting put to the back it is clearly the Isobe replacement so I won't bother ranking it. Next week is Full Drive's first ranking.

There's a bit of miscellaneous news. Hunter X Hunter is returning in issue #9, and the voice actor for Josuke in JoJo will be playing Kogarashi in the Yuuna anime.

Two new series are starting in January:

#7 - Boze Beats - Ryouji Heino (Boze oneshot)
#8 - Actage - Tsuya Matsukita (Writer) + Shiro Usajizaki (Art) (Asagaya Geijutsu Koukou Eizou-ka e Youkoso oneshot)

There are also a bunch of oneshots coming from well known creators:

- Tite Kubo (Bleach)
- Naoshi Komi (Nisekoi)
- Kyosuke Usuta (Pyu to Fuku! Jaguar, Food Fighter Tabelu)
- Hiroshi Shiibashi (Nurarihyon no Mago)
- Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro (Toriko)
- Ryuhei Tamura (Beelzebub, Hungry Marie)
- Nisio Isin (Medaka Box, Monogatari, etc)
- Mizuki Kawashita (Ane Doki, Ichigo 100%, etc)

They are also replicating the covers of the first issues of Jump on the back of all their 2018 issues. There will also be other events later in the year to celebrate Jump's 50th anniversary.

[VLordGTZ]

That's one impressive lineup of one-shots. 

With the new series coming in soon, I am curious what will be cancelled.  Cross Account is a definite, but that still leaves two slots.  From what I hear, Gintama's final battle is nearing its end so maybe that's it? Neither Golem Hearts or Full Drive seem to be getting particularly great reception, so it could be one of them too. 

[Spark Of Spirit]

There's also the possibility that Shudan will be moved to another magazine. I'm not sure if they'll cancel one of the newer ones this early in Buddy Strike fashion.

I hope there's word on Ashihara and World Trigger soon. It's been over a year and we still don't even know how he's doing. The series still sells well, so I don't think the hiatus will particularly hurt it.

[VLordGTZ]

So did anyone else hear about what happened in the recent chapter of Hajime no Ippo?  I am far from being caught up on the manga, but it seems like Ippo's character is going to be heading in a similar direction to Joe Yabuki's from Ashita no Joe.  I guess Morikawa is finally planning an endgame for the series.