Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #35 (July 25th 2018):
My Hero Academia (Cover, Lead CP)
MHA (One Shot)
1. Dr. Stone
2. Jujutsu Kaisen
3. We Never Learn
Haikyu!! (CP)
4. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
5. Act-Age
6. The Promised Neverland
Tanaka Seiji (Not Ranked)
Alice & Taiyou (Not Ranked)
Danny's Radio (One Shot)
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma (CP)
7. Black Clover
8. Gintama
9. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
10. Kimi wo Shinryaku Seyo!
11. Hinomaru Zumou
12. Noah's Notes
13. Momiji no Kisetsu

Not much in the way of surprises this week, but One Piece is off and the bottom series remained unchanged. I'm hearing this might be a double issue so there won't be an issue for two weeks if that's the case. New series will probably start around then.

[VLordGTZ]

Yup, the next issue is the 36/37 double issue. 

#36/37:
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Lead color)
The Promised Neverland (Color)
Hot (Oneshot by Akira Amano) (Color)
Jigokuraku - Special chapter (Color)

There will also be some additional news about Demon Slayer's anime.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That's Cascade from Midori no Makibao.

It's interesting to see both Jujitsu Kaisen and Act-Age creep up into the upper half of the ToC.  I started reading past the initial Jump Start chapters of Act-Age, and I'm really enjoying the Death Island arc so far.  I hope it can keep up the momentum.

Speaking of which, are you reading it on VIZ's website or just reading scans? I ask because I've been wanting to read more of the series after enjoying the first three chapters but I can't find that Viz has uploaded anything past that point. For me personally I like to make sure to support any series that's officially available in English but I'm not against turning to scans if I can't find the series in question from any North American publisher.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Viz hasn't picked any new series up since Dr. Stone, Robot, and We Never Learn first came out. Only Jump Starts. Same as KnY, even though they licensed it the new chapters don't run in the official WSJ here. You have to wait for the volumes.

I'm not sure what they're going to pick to fill the void. I'm guessing they're waiting to see if any of the new series survive so they don't get stuck with a canceled one again.

[VLordGTZ]

Speaking of which, are you reading it on VIZ's website or just reading scans? I ask because I've been wanting to read more of the series after enjoying the first three chapters but I can't find that Viz has uploaded anything past that point. For me personally I like to make sure to support any series that's officially available in English but I'm not against turning to scans if I can't find the series in question from any North American publisher.

For past chapter 3, I've been reading scans (which are behind sadly) and attempting to muddle my way through the raw chapters with my very limited Japanese skills. 

I'd love for Viz to pick it up (or even Jujitsu Kaisen), but I think they're going to hold out for something that's an instant success or by an established mangaka.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Gotcha! Yeah, unfortunately non-battle series tend to be treated with caution by Viz and only really picked up if they can be proven successful years later, usually through an anime. There are some exceptions like Food Wars! and a couple other series in that vain, but otherwise they aren't given much of a chance. I mean, both Kuroko no Basket and Haikyuu! were largely ignored until years later when they had extremely popular anime adaptations proven to be a success in CR. So yeah, I can certainly see why a relatively niche drama about the professional acting industry in Japan would be a hard sell for Viz at this point.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #36/#37 (August 1st/7th 2018):
WSJ Cast (Cover)
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba (Lead CP)
1. One Piece
2. Dr. Stone
The Promised Neverland (CP)
3. Jujutsu Kaisen
4. Haikyu!!
Hot (CP, One Shot)
5. My Hero Academia
6. We Never Learn
Tanaka Seiji (Not Ranked)
Alice & Taiyou (Not Ranked)
Jigoku Raku (CP, Special Chapter)
7. Black Clover
8. Gintama
9. Act-Age
10. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
11. Hinomaru Zumou
12. Kimi wo Shinryaku Seyo!
13. Noah's Notes
14. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
15. Momiji no Kisetsu


Next week Gintama gets the cover and apparently an important announcement. Since it already has the anime running, and has a live action film on the way, I'm not really sure what this could be for except to possibly announce it's ending soon. It's about due, at this point. Yuuna, Boruto, and Kaisen get color pages, too. Everything else is more or less where it has been for some time now.

[VLordGTZ]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #38 (August 21st 2018):
Gintama (Cover, Lead Color Page)
1. Dr. Stone
2. One Piece
Jujutsu Kaisen (Color Page)
3. The Promised Neverland
4. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
5. Black Clover
6. My Hero Academia
Yuuna & The Haunted Hot Springs (Color Page)
7. Act-Age
Alice & Taiyo (Not "Ranked")
8. Hinomaru Zumo
9. We Never Learn
10. Tanaka Seiji
Boruto (Color Page)
11. Haikyu!!
12. Momiji no Kisetsu
13. Shokugeki no Souma
14. Noah's Notes (end)
15. Kimi wo Shinrayuki Seyo!

#39:
We Never Learn (Cover, Lead Color Page + Important Announcement)
Act-Age (Color Page)
Dr. Stone (Color Page)
Hono Mieru Shonen (Color Page, Oneshot)
Alice & Taiyou (First Rank)

Aniplex recently registered the domain "boku-ben.com", so WNL's announcement is most definitely an anime. 

Additionally, Gintama will end in 5 chapters.

Tanaka Seiji's placements more towards the lower end, so I'm not expecting much from it in the coming weeks.  Noah's Notes got cancelled as expected, and it looks like Invade You is next on the chopping block.  Meanwhile Act-Age and Jujitsu Kaisen seem to be going strong.  Hopefully the momentum can keep up for both of them.  I'm curious to see how Alice & Taiyo does next week.  The reception for it seems pretty positive but it seems to be hitting a similar niche as Act-Age, so I'm not sure if the audience for it is there.

[Spark Of Spirit]

With Noah's Notes ending and Invade You almost certainly coming to a close, and Gintama finally wrapping up in five chapters, it looks like we're either getting 3 new series... or possibly two and the return of World Trigger. That might be a pipe dream at this point, but I still hold out hope.

Congrats on WNL getting an anime. This means the next one up to get an anime is Dr. Stone. And I bet this is the one Toei jumps on. It wouldn't surprise me.

It seems to be a rarity now for a Jump series to not have an anime adaption. If only WSM and Sunday could do the same. It really seems to push up the sales and buying base by quite a bit.

[VLordGTZ]

WSM seems to be ramping up adaptions a fair bit.  Boarding School Juliet is getting an anime in October, and next year they have adaptions for Ahiru no Sora, Domestic Girlfriend, and The Quintessential Quintuplets (which only just reached 50 chapters) coming out.  Fire Force and To Your Eternity seem to be the main anomalies, which is strange since they're both series from mangaka with hugely successful works under their belt. 

Sunday though........who knows.  The Komi-san domain they registered a while back still hasn't been used and, besides Detective Conan (which is basically an irregularly released manga now) and Major 2nd (which currently has an anime), none of their other series seem to be getting anime anytime soon.  Maybe things will change next year with the 60th anniversary, but I'm not keeping my hopes up...

[Spark Of Spirit]

It says something that Fujita has to keep going out of his way to get his works adapted. Ushio & Tora and Karakuri Circus should have been anime decades ago. He'll probably have to do the same thing with Moonlight Act and Souboutei Must Be Destroyed, too.

I think this might be why Sunday doesn't have as high a profile as it should. It hasn't taken anime adaptions seriously in a long time. Starting with the bad Flame of Recca anime there have been very few Sunday anime, and even fewer that were done well. They have no presence out there, so it's no wonder that fewer people buy the magazine.

[VLordGTZ]

I finally caught up with To Your Eternity a few days ago, and goddamn it's fantastic!  Oima's talent for storytelling is superb.  Despite being a series riddled with countless deaths, she manages to place impact on each causality and giving it meaning to the larger narrative.  Immo himself is also a fascinating protagonist, and seeing his character progress through the course of the series has been wonderful.  This may very well be one of my favorite ongoing manga now, and I'm looking forward to keeping up with it in the future.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Same. It's easily the most exciting series that I'm currently following, and criminally underrated since it doesn't get nearly as much discussion as it deserves.

[VLordGTZ]

Weekly Shounen Jump Issue #39:
We Never Learn (Cover, Lead CP)
1. The Promised Neverland
2. One Piece
3. Jujutsu Kaisen
4. My Hero Academia
Dr. Stone (CP)
5. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba
6. Haikyu!!
Hono Mieru Shounen (CP, Golden Future Cup Entry #1)
7. Black Clover
Act-Age (CP)
8. Alice & Taiyo
9. Hinomaru Zumou
10. Food WarsL Shokugeki no Soma
11. Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs
12. Gintama
13. Tanaka Seiji
14. Momiji no Kisetsu
15. Kimi wo Shinryaku Seyo!

Weekly Shounen Jump Issue #40:
Cover, Lead CP: One Piece
CP: Haikyu!!, Hinomaru Zumou, Ketsueki Nuru (Golden Future Cup Entry #2 (by Tengan Shintarou))

We Never Learn got confirmed for an anime, as expected.  I wouldn't be surprised if Dr. Stone gets an announcement soon as well.  Jujitsu Kaisen is continuing to do great, and Alice & Taiyo seems to have a decent ToC placement. Besides that, not much to say.  Golden Future Cup Entries will be in issues up through issue #44, so we likely are not going to see any new series debut until those end.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Since the GFC is starting that means the next serialization round isn't until this is over. Some speculation appears to say that there might be another big new round like the one that gave us Dr. Stone and We Never Learn way back when. With Gintama ending, Noah's Notes being canceled, and Invade You, Momiji, and Tanaka Seiji all doing badly, they might be ready to do another clean sweep. Who really knows.

The round after the GFC is usually heavy duty, though.