Currently Running Manga Discussion

[VLordGTZ]

I really need to check out more of Hinomaru Sumo at some point.  It seems much more up my alley than Haikyuu or Kuroko's Basketball.

I'd say that Bleach's final arc is far worse than Naruto's (though both are still very bad).  Honestly, if Bleach's chapters weren't so quick to read, I would have dropped it ages ago.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I read the first four chapters of Hinomaru Sumo, just to get a taste for it. Man, that is the manliest thing I've read in a while. It's got elements of sports, fighting, and delinquent manga, going for it and the first few chapters established two of the main characters really well. The first chapter isn't very original, but it does hit all the right marks. I can easily see why readers of Jump attached themselves to it. Shame it doesn't sell that great, though.

I hope this gets an anime so the manga can get an NA release some day.

I've said it before, but Hinomaru Zumo really is a great and seriously underrated sports series, the best Jump's run in a while. It really needs an anime to boost it's popularity, because in an ideal world it'd be getting as much or more love than Haikyuu does.

Bleach may have an inevitably rushed conclusion, but it'll be nowhere near as stupid, pretentious, and nonsensical and Naruto's final arc and ending.

And that'll be the one thing most crappy shounen can take solace in.

Yes, but at least Naruto's final arc was unintentionally hilarious, which made it strangely entertaining for all of the wrong reasons. Bleach has had its moments of being so stupid that it's funny, but its mostly just stupid to the point that it was a pain to even keep up with on a weekly basis.

Essentially, both series are garbage, but it's at least more fun to rip apart Kishimoto's shitty writing than it is for Kubo's.

If the rumors about the next chapter are true, Kubo might have just slid into Kishimoto tier.

Idk, I think structurally and cohesively the Thousand Year Blood War is a much worse arc than the Shinobi War as a whole, even when factoring in the Kaguya twist. Though there's not much point in comparing the two, since they're both ridiculously bad.

Azami as a character fundamentally doesn't make any sense. His goal at first seemed to be to convince everyone that his way of cooking was the only one definitive way of cooking. It's overly simplistic and unrealistic, sure, but it fits the tone of this series well enough and I could buy that on its own.

However, why then do the Elite Ten support him? Isn't the whole point of being in the Elite Ten to possess a huge level of authority, power, and resources despite being a student? It's specifically stated that the E10 members are given nearly unlimited funding to conduct their research and develop their cooking formulas and techniques. Those are things that mean experimentation and generally follows the concept that nothing is ever perfect and you can always come up with new foods and improve other dishes. Apparently only three (or I guess four, now) members of the E10 actually even remember that, since the rest unquestionably support Azami. However, if they support him that means that they must follow his ideals, and following his ideals SHOULD essentially mean that they are abandoning their own individual, unique ways of cooking by blindly following in his footsteps. Yet none of this is ever touched upon, and I believe the reason for that is because Saeki Shun knows that it doesn't really make any sense if you think about it too much.

That's a bit of an over simplification. Azami's motives were explained during Eishii and Soma's shokugeki a while back. Azami doesn't simply believe "his way of cooking is the only way of cooking;" his goal is to foster what he consider to be true gourmet cuisine in Japan created by the elite catered for the elite. He took over Totsuki to indoctrinate it's student population in his philosophy, as Totsuki's graduates will eventually form the backbone of Japan's culinary culture. As more students practicing his philosophy of gourmet cooking graduate, his influence over japanese culinary society as a whole will grow, allowing him the connections and authority to shut down what he considers to be "inferior restaurants" - basically, any restaurant that caters quality food to the masses like Yukihira's shop. Azami wants chefs to cater to a very specific audience and so-called refined tastes. He isn't limiting students' creativity because he thinks only one way of cooking is right, but because he believes there's only one purpose in cooking; the artistic evolution of the craft. He means to indoctrinate students in this personal philosophy of "by the elite, for the elite" by forcing all students to learn and practice gourmet cooking, making it impossible to survive in the culinary world and become a chef in Japan without adhering to his values. The council of ten are loyal to Azami because they believe in his "by the elite, for the elite" philosophy and Azami recognizes their skills and specialties as valuable, ensuring them a place in his new culinary order. And while Azami is ostensibly their leader, they're really more of a collective who all share the same goal of elevating Japan's culinary quality and their own cooking to a higher level by serving and refining only their variations of gourmet style cooking and disposing of those who would serve so-called inferior dishes to so-called inferior customers.

Also for that matter, isn't having to resort to cheap tricks like rigging judges or purposefully giving any rebels extremely disadvantageous circumstances to work under basically flat-out admitting that Azami's methods are NOT definitive after all? I mean, if they were, then they wouldn't need to do anything and his followers would prove themselves by defeating all rebels on an even playing field. Instead they flat-out resort to tactics that all but outright say "teehee, we're clearly the villains".

While Azami thinks that his way of cooking is inherently superior in purpose and functionality, it's been made clear that he's being so cautionary because he knows it isn't totally infallible. Because of his own experiences as a student and meeting people like Soma's father, he knows there are talented chefs in the world and at Totsuki who don't agree with his philosophy, hence why he's trying to weed them out and prevent people like them from entering the industry entirely. Fixing the shokugekis was intended as a means of demoralizing the student population and discouraging resistance to Central. After that backfired when Soma beat Eizen because the judges found his dish so genuinely better, Azami recognized that Soma and co. could indeed have the skills to undermine him (and stated as much when he visited Polaris, though his other intention was to undermine their confidence), hence why he's put the characters associated with him in disadvantageous circumstances. Remember that we've also seen Azami visibly frustrated by the student resistance, biting his thumb in anger after Alice publicly decried him. It's clear that he's not so overconfident in his cooking philosophy that a potential threat to his plans doesn't concern him, and it's obvious why he would want to nip respected and skilled chefs and dissenters like Soma and Alice in the bud before they inspire more of a following to resist him.

Ultimately, the reason Soma and co. specifically have been singled out is less because Azami thinks their style of cooking isn't good enough, but rather because their backgrounds and philosophies on cooking are in direct conflict with his. Soma, Megumi, and the Takumi Bros. for instance all come from local family shops that believe in serving good food to everyone. If Azami had his way, their restaurants would all be shut down and they would be forced to work in specific institutions with strict menus and specific cuisines catered to the rich and powerful or else not be able to be chefs at all, and the threat of that is what's spurred the characters and Soma and particular into action against him. In addition, from what we've been able to gleam, Azami once respected Soma's father's talents as a chef, but he despises his attitude and beliefs on cooking, considering it a waste of his talents to serve to commoners when he could be creating more artful dishes for refined palettes. This consequently seems to have influenced his hatred of "inferior restaurants" and why he wants to shut them down so badly - even more so then his beliefs, it's to spite Soma's father for "betraying" him.

Though Azami isn't quite yet a fully realized character in of himself, since outside of subtext involving his relationship with Soma's father we don't have enough context to really understand the "why" of who he is and what motivates him, he's nonetheless an incredibly effective and believable threat and presence in the context of the series. Not only does his personal philosophy of "by the elite, for the elite" threaten virtually every one of the protagonists in some way because of their backgrounds and personal experiences, he expedites and finalizes powerful character growth in Erina (who's character arc has really been developing to the point it is now gradually since early on in the series), and creates compelling grudges with both Alice and Soma. He might be better conceptually than in characterization, but the effect he's had on the series and engineering more personal explorations of the characters and themes has benefited it very well and really came at the right time to take it to the next level after the Culture Festival. And I think that's ultimately the difference between an antagonist like Azami and one like Akashi. Though they are both ostensibly cartoonishly evil and over-the-top in their methods, the stakes created in Food Wars! are much clearer, more dire, and more personal with Azami. In KnB, the worst thing Akashi could really do is make them lose a game and prevent the third-years from winning their last high-school basket ball tournament (or try to stab their eyes out with scissors...I still hate that scene). In FW!, Azami's presence and machinations threatens the characters' own livelihoods, their lifelong careers, and their very homes. Even though the character himself might verge on the edge of ridiculousness at points with his "senpai notice me" influenced motives, the fact that he can or could potentially destroy everything on which the characters define themselves, who they are, makes him a potent and credible antagonistic force in the context of the series, at least for me personally.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That's a bit of an over simplification. Azami's motives were explained during Eishii and Soma's shokugeki a while back. Azami doesn't simply believe "his way of cooking is the only way of cooking;" his goal is to foster what he consider to be true gourmet cuisine in Japan created by the elite catered for the elite.

Here's why I have a hard time accepting that logic. In his first appearance, during the Food Festival arc where he crashed Erina's set-up, several of the so-called Elites of the cullinary world were there, and he insulted them like trash right to their faces. Whether they are chefs or not, several of those people were highly wealthy and influential people who owned highly esteemed businesses that were associated with Tootsuki. Why exactly would he do that to other elites and then later go on to say that he wanted Japan's general cuisine to be run by only elites? I'm not oversimplifying it either. Wanting to spread one's influence and control over an entire field because of their elitism is a pretty shallow motivation in and of itself.

He isn't limiting students' creativity because he thinks only one way of cooking is right, but because he believes there's only one purpose in cooking; the artistic evolution of the craft. He means to indoctrinate students in this personal philosophy of "by the elite, for the elite" by forcing all students to learn and practice gourmet cooking, making it impossible to survive in the culinary world and become a chef in Japan without adhering to his values.

This would make sense if (ignoring his outburst during his first appearance) his ambitions were to reform Tootsuki's methods of teaching and values in regard to cooking. Changing the culinary world of the elites is one thing. However if his goal is to reform all of cooking in Japan in general, even to the extent that it affects common people, then his plans flat-out make no sense because his cooking involves high-quality, expensive ingredients as a necessity. There's no possible way to make that something that a whole country would have to adhere to. And yes, while this series is clearly not wrapped up in being too realistic, it has established a certain basis in some sort of believable reality to the extent in which a plan like this is far too absurd even by this manga's standards. If Azami's goal was instead to reform just the school itself to only cater to high-class tastes, that would make perfect sense. But when he incorporates everyday people into the mix who have nothing to do with Tootuski and are of a far different financial and social class, it just feels like the villain equivalent of "take over the world" territory, which even for the over-the-top characters in this series is pushing it too much in terms of silliness, IMO.

The council of ten are loyal to Azami because they believe in his "by the elite, for the elite" philosophy and Azami recognizes their skills and specialties as valuable, ensuring them a place in his new culinary order. And while Azami is ostensibly their leader, they're really more of a collective who all share the same goal of elevating Japan's culinary quality and their own cooking to a higher level by serving and refining only their variations of gourmet style cooking and disposing of those who would serve so-called inferior dishes to so-called inferior customers.

I'd be fine with this explanation if it was actually mentioned in the series by one of the elites. Instead the matter is never brought up. It would have been perfect if we got this explanation from someone like Kuuga about why he left since he does clearly like to cater to the masses, but we didn't. It would also work if after Eishi's lecture, Soma brought up the question about why he supports a guy who limits students' creativity and Eishi corrects his line of thinking by saying that Azami at least puts trust in those high-level members of Central who's cooking he deems to be truly gourmet. However, nowhere in the series so far is anything you just said actually mentioned. You have to stretch and make the assumption, and while it's not a bad assumption, it still isn't a reason that Azami himself nor any of his supporters have given.

While Azami thinks that his way of cooking is inherently superior in purpose and functionality, it's been made clear that he's being so cautionary because he knows it isn't totally infallible. Because of his own experiences as a student and meeting people like Soma's father, he knows there are talented chefs in the world and at Totsuki who don't agree with his philosophy, hence why he's trying to weed them out and prevent people like them from entering the industry entirely.

Alright, see, that's what I'm talking about. You just said it. He KNOWS that there are other talented chefs out there (as in, people who he himself deems talented, as evidenced by how highly he spoke of Saiba) whose philosophy contrasts his own, and thus it stands to reason that he knows that they could make delicious food while retaining artistic value despite not always relying on gourmet ingredients. This would mean that he is essentially aware that they are living proof that his philosophy is inherently flawed in its logic, as the food that they make has also satisfied several members of the elite culinary society. And the fact that he is supposedly speaking for the elite society, even though a large portion of that society does appreciate high-quality food made with lower-tier ingredients and more unorthodox cooking techniques, really contradicts his goal of catering to the elite. This is especially true when you factor in that Erina as a character was already doing that to begin with before he appeared, as were various other characters who were initially antagonistic towards Soma. He even fought and defeated Nikumi (I'm failing to recall her real name ATM) early on in the series who basically went against him at the same angle of high-quality ingredients versus plebian food. Even if I accept Azami's motivation for what it supposedly is, it's ultimately a redundant one as other characters already fulfilled that role beforehand. The only difference is that Azami is going about it on a much larger scale than any of them had the means or ambition to attempt.

Fixing the shokugekis was intended as a means of demoralizing the student population and discouraging resistance to Central.

I should have been more clear on my point with this one. While I do still feel that Azami, or at least some of his followers, should feel that using such tactics disproves their philosophy and makes them look weak, what I had a bigger problem with is the lack of reaction to this from other students who weren't yet on the side of either Central or the rebels. I mean, yes, people were disheartened by it, naturally, but the sort of reaction that I was talking about is in instigating many more people to go against Azami. If you take a moment to think about how people would normally react to a practice like this, many would call it out for the BS that it was. If Central was relying on rigged matches to put down any resistance, then naturally people would use it as ammo against them to argue that their ideals are fundamentally broken apart if they can't win matches under normal means. When nobody brought this up after that arc had concluded, it made Azami look like he was being an ass for the sake of it (although I suppose you could pin it on Eizen since rigging the judging panel was his idea, though Azami's still the one who OK'ed it), and the people against Central look like idiots for not using that as a strong argument to rally more people against Central.

My ultimate issue with this, though, is that it basically doesn't feel like any of Azami's failed attempts at weeding out the rebels actually have any consequences against him, which ultimately makes him less interesting as a villain. One of the reasons that I've been praising a series like MHA so much lately is because Horikoshi actually goes out of his way to show us how the world which his characters inhabit react to the major events which go down there, either involving the heroes or the villains. This in turn makes both the story and the characters feel all the more fully realized and interesting. Azami and his faction, to me, fundamentally lack that same appeal due to not really having had to suffer any serious consequences for defeat so far.

After that backfired when Soma beat Eizen because the judges found his dish so genuinely better, Azami recognized that Soma and co. could indeed have the skills to undermine him (and stated as much when he visited Polaris, though his other intention was to undermine their confidence), hence why he's put the characters associated with him in disadvantageous circumstances. Remember that we've also seen Azami visibly frustrated by the student resistance, biting his thumb in anger after Alice publicly decried him. It's clear that he's not so overconfident in his cooking philosophy that a potential threat to his plans doesn't concern him, and it's obvious why he would want to nip respected and skilled chefs and dissenters like Soma and Alice in the bud before they inspire more of a following to resist him.

Basically my response to this would largely consist of what I said above. It's good enough reasoning on its own, but either it doesn't actually come up in the series, or if it does, it's very understated to a fault. Azami being visually frustrated by Alice publicly humiliating him was one of his best character moments. But where were his reactions to stuff like Eizen being defeated despite having a rigged judging panel on his side? And if more people, including some elites which would only be natural, started questioning his logic and if he's fit to lead Tootsuki Academy, and we got to see his reaction to that, it could serve to humanize him a bit and make him a little more nuanced. I find villains, even simplistic ones, are often more interesting when at least some aspect of their character feels at least a little realistic. Even if they are over the top, it still works when characters exhibit some relate-able human traits.

Ultimately, the reason Soma and co. specifically have been singled out is less because Azami thinks their style of cooking isn't good enough, but rather because their backgrounds and philosophies on cooking are in direct conflict with his. Soma, Megumi, and the Takumi Bros. for instance all come from local family shops that believe in serving good food to everyone. If Azami had his way, their restaurants would all be shut down and they would be forced to work in specific institutions with strict menus and specific cuisines catered to the rich and powerful or else not be able to be chefs at all, and the threat of that is what's spurred the characters and Soma and particular into action against him.

This is also an issue because Azami hasn't actually given us any reasons whatsoever as to why he believes that anyone who's not rich doesn't deserve to eat (and that's literally what his plan is, apparently, going by what you yourself just said). That's why I say that my criticism of Azami is absolutely not an oversimplification. What you just said highlights how incredibly shallow and simple-minded his ideals are. But I'm also not sure if what you said is exactly the correct interpretation of his plans, because unless it was a mis-translation, he made it seem like food should be catered to the elites and that commoners should partake in only the foods that the elites approve of; not that commoners should starve to death because he doesn't believe that people with less money don't deserve to be fed. And if that really is what he believes in as you claim, then I ask this: even if it makes his motivation clear, isn't that arguably one of the dumbest, most cartoonishly one-dimensionally evil goals that a character can have? It's not good when your main villain and his supporters have ambitions that lack any sort of common sense.

In addition, from what we've been able to gleam, Azami once respected Soma's father's talents as a chef, but he despises his attitude and beliefs on cooking, considering it a waste of his talents to serve to commoners when he could be creating more artful dishes for refined palettes. This consequently seems to have influenced his hatred of "inferior restaurants" and why he wants to shut them down so badly - even more so then his beliefs, it's to spite Soma's father for "betraying" him.

That's interesting if true, but where did you read that? Maybe I need to go back if I missed it, but I don't ever recall him expressing animosity towards Soma's father or saying that he betrayed him. He said that he respected him in his youth and hinted that he felt that Tootsuki ruined him, but even then he never expressed any direct disrespect towards Soma's father from what I can recall, and I never heard him mention that Saiba's talents were being wasted.

Though Azami isn't quite yet a fully realized character in of himself, since outside of subtext involving his relationship with Soma's father we don't have enough context to really understand the "why" of who he is and what motivates him, he's nonetheless an incredibly effective and believable threat and presence in the context of the series. Not only does his personal philosophy of "by the elite, for the elite" threaten virtually every one of the protagonists in some way because of their backgrounds and personal experiences, he expedites and finalizes powerful character growth in Erina (who's character arc has really been developing to the point it is now gradually since early on in the series), and creates compelling grudges with both Alice and Soma. He might be better conceptually than in characterization, but the effect he's had on the series and engineering more personal explorations of the characters and themes has benefited it very well and really came at the right time to take it to the next level after the Culture Festival. And I think that's ultimately the difference between an antagonist like Azami and one like Akashi. Though they are both ostensibly cartoonishly evil and over-the-top in their methods, the stakes created in Food Wars! are much clearer, more dire, and more personal with Azami. In KnB, the worst thing Akashi could really do is make them lose a game and prevent the third-years from winning their last high-school basket ball tournament (or try to stab their eyes out with scissors...I still hate that scene). In FW!, Azami's presence and machinations threatens the characters' own livelihoods, their lifelong careers, and their very homes. Even though the character himself might verge on the edge of ridiculousness at points with his "senpai notice me" influenced motives, the fact that he can or could potentially destroy everything on which the characters define themselves, who they are, makes him a potent and credible antagonistic force in the context of the series, at least for me personally.

I can agree that the stakes which he threatens the characters with are much greater than that of Akashi, but that doesn't make him a better written character just because his role in the story is more important, so I'm going to have to disagree with you on that point from what we've seen of him so far. Both his personality and motivations are just as shallow and ridiculous as Akashi's. He's an elite who thinks that rich people are better than poor people and that his opinions are objective facts. It's a cliche character type as old as time. That in and of itself isn't inherently good or bad, but little is done to actually make him more interesting than just fitting his own villain archetype. I hate the scene where Akashi tries to stab Kagami with scissors as well. You know what else I hate? The scene where Azami outright verbally insults several elites of the culinary world in public, and then Saeki Shun had to retcon it because he realized how stupid of a scene it was and how he hadn't planned out Azami as a character properly by that point. But even then there are several elites who disagree with his methods, which only further contradicts his ideals since the so-called elites which he claims to be speaking for are not a unified body that all agree with him. And furthermore his ideals make less sense when you say that he wants to basically starve out poor people because if they can't afford what he deems to be high-quality food then they shouldn't eat any food period.

Azami is not interesting to me either as a character or even as a concept. I've seen tons of characters of this nature and very few of them are ever done well. Azami to me is no exception. If you see it differently then that's fine, but we'll just have to agree to disagree on this one for now, then. If Azami gets some much needed development later on, then so be it, but for now I consider him to be the weak link of the series.

[VLordGTZ]

Volume 74 of Bleach has been confirmed to be the final volume.

It looks like Bleach's ending won't be dragged out much longer.  Since there are currently 5 chapters past Volume 72, that means we have about 7 or so weeks until it's gone from Jump for good.

[gunswordfist]

Whoa, I cannot believe Bleach is finally ending. Shit as been running since I was in high school.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Unexpected. I thought Nisekoi would be done first followed by Toriko.

This arc already feels dragged out, yet this announcement means the ending will be rushed. Amazing trick.

Still, end of an era. It's about due.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Am I going to have to rave about MHA again? Sigh, okay. All Might, Midoriya and his mom, they all have come such a ways from when the series started. Midoriya's mom is definitely a great mother with how hard she tried to protect him yet trusts All Might enough to let her son continue attending U.A. All Might is a man's man and lives by his promises. Midoriya, who I'm sure people were expecting to throw a tantrum, did just the opposite. Every week MHA is such a good read.

Oh man, World Trigger keeps teasing that next arc. But we have to get through three more Rank Wars before we can get to it. Still, Hyuse is now officially on the team and it looks like it's going to be tough for Tamakoma-2 to move on. Definitely can't wait to see where this goes. At least we're going straight into the next match next chapter. Hopefully Ashihara gets the ball rolling from now on.

Food Wars once again leaves off on a good cliffhanger. I do wonder how exactly they're going to pull through this. It isn't like the time the judges were bribed, this time they have been gimped from the get-go. Next week should be interesting.

I think this has been the best Black Clover has been so far. This arc has been legitimately enjoyable and full of good character moments. I do hope Asta doesn't take on and beat this guy on his own, though. They really should have everyone take this guy on. They have no chance alone.

Very interesting chapters of HxH and Blue Exorcist. I have to admit, even that reveal in Seraph was pretty good. Still doesn't change the fact that Guren is a far more interesting character than Yu is. Only real weak link this week was Bleach. This arc is so sluggish.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Turns out last week's rankings were a touch off. One Piece was off on the ranked week and Bleach's color announcement wasn't taken into account.

Here are the corrected rankings:

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #31 (July 4th, 2016):
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K. (Lead CP)
1- My Hero Academia
One Piece (Not ranked. Was absent in issue #24)
2- Black Clover
3- Hunter x Hunter
Gintama (Cover, Center Color, Live Action Movie Announcement)
4- Haikyu!!
5- Food Wars: Shokugeki no Soma
Koro-Sensei Q! (Special Chapter, Center Color, 8 p., Movie Announcement) (Main series published in Saikyo Jump)
6- Hinomaru Sumo
7- Yuna of Yuragi Manor
8- Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
9- Samon the Summoner
10- Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary
Bleach (Center Color, Ending Countdown Announcement)
11- Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
12- World Trigger
13- Kochikame
14- Mononofu
15- Nisekoi
16- Toriko
Chronicle of Isobe -Life is Hard-

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Black Clover has definitely been improving lately, IMO. As for how the latest chapter wrapped up, I'm really cool with the scenario of Aster and Noelle working as a team. Aster can't actually damage a guy who can use reinforcement magic to make himself at least three times faster and stronger than he is, but he can protect Noelle from any of his projectile or AOE-type attacks. Meanwhile, Noelle is the only Magic Knight on the scene right now who's magic is actually powerful enough to damage this guy. I hope that they end up working together in a dynamic such as this so that Aster can still prove his usefulness, but someone else can actually get the credit for ultimately taking down the villain for a change (and I mean someone other than one of the higher-ranked Magic Knights). This scenario sort of reminds me of Goku and Piccolo's fight with Raditz in Dragonball, where Goku had to distract Raditz long enough for Piccolo to charge up a devastating attack to hit him with.

Of course, the actual battle will most likely play out differently, and I won't be surprised to see Aster go on the offensive again, but I would still be happy if at least some of the battle played out in the fashion that I speculated in my previous paragraph.

[Spark Of Spirit]

For everyone: Jump subscription is currently on sale for $19.99.

If you're not subscribed, you should be. It's a great deal. Especially since Bleach is ending soon so not only can you see its disappointing ending, but see what series replaces it!

[VLordGTZ]

Since the new season of the anime started, I decided to finally catch-up with the Food Wars manga.  I've been really enjoying the Central arc so far and I'm interested to see where it will go from here.

I'm now going to try to catch up with World Trigger since I've been meaning to do so for quite a while.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Gintama has officially entered its final arc. At this rate it might finish before Toriko.

For those wondering, there are FOUR long running series in Shonen Jump reaching their ends.

Those are:

Bleach (ending within five chapters)
Nisekoi (dancing around the last meeting)
Toriko (has been whipping through story like crazy)
Gintama (just entered the last arc)

There's going to be a lot of free space in Jump soon.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #31 (July 11th, 2016):
Haikyuu!! (Lead CP)
1. Black Clover
2. My Hero Academia
Boruto (CP)
3. Samon the Summoner
4. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma (CP)
5. Hinomaru Zumou
6. Straighten Up! Welcome to Shika High's Competitive Dance Club
7. Toriko
Yuna of Yuragi Manor (CP)
8. Gintama
9. World Trigger
10. Kochikame
11. Takuan and Batsu's Daily Demon Diary
12. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
13. Mononofu
14. Bleach
15. Nisekoi
Chronicle of Isobe -Life is Hard-

What a change-up in ranking! Even Toriko got a random jump up and World Trigger and Straighten Up! are back in the top ten. On the other hand, it's easy to see why Bleach and Nisekoi are headed for the end sooner than later. Mononofu is on the way out after them unless it improves, though. This ranking has me hopeful that Viz will add KnY to the NA Jump when one of the three long runners finally ends.

[gunswordfist]

Hopefully some good, creative works take their spots

[Spark Of Spirit]

Really enjoyed the reads this week. Too bad World Trigger is off next week, but it was a good place to leave off. I just hope Ashihara gets better so he can keep a consistent schedule.

I also enjoyed Food Wars and Black Clover a good deal. I sure do like team battles, and both these series had them!

So, I clearly missed something in MHA. What did Bakugo do to Kirishima? I feel like I missed something there.