Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Spark Of Spirit]

KnY really came into its own when those two showed up for the Drum House arc. Before that it was enjoyable, but they add a lot of dynamics to the cast. Tanjiro is the good guy who confuses Inosuke and emboldens Zenitsu; Inosuke is the fearless warrior who inspires Tanjiro and frightens Zenitsu; Zenitsu is the coward who enrages Inosuke and completely mystifies Tanjiro... Then there's Nezuko who confuses things among the three even further. Gotouge has really sprouted as a writer since that dynamic hit. It's no wonder that the series has shot up in popularity since they joined up.

Demon's Plan had all the hallmarks of an amateur series. The first chapter was overly cluttered, the character writing was muddled and one-note, and there didn't feel like there was a real focus on anything substantial. I think the writer has potential, but he has a lot more work to do if he wants a series to last longer in the future.

On the other hand, Ole Golazo feels like a sports title from the early 00s. It's very low key and reserved, and relies on the sport to pull everything together. The characters are pleasant and fun to be around too. It's really a shame that it's going to get canceled because it is really enjoyable with no real overt flaws to hold it back. Banba is also a bit of a different protagonist for the sort of sports series Jump runs. Off all the recent new series getting canceled, I still think this is the biggest shame.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Fairy Tail is currently in its last arc right now.

Took long enough. Yikes.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #13 (February 27th, 2017):
Hungry Marie (Cover, Lead CP, New Series)
1. Black Clover
2. My Hero Academia
Boruto (CP)
3. The Promised Neverland
Demon Prince Poro's Diaries (CP)
4. Haikyu!!
5. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
Samon the Summoner (CP)
6. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
U19 (Not Ranked)
7. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
We Never Learn (Not Ranked)
8. Spring Weapon No. 1
9. Hinomaru Zumou
10. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
11. Gintama
Ole Golazo (END)
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

Sigh. Poor Ole Golazo. It never even got a chance. But well, that should be it for this round of cancellations. No surprising ranks this go, but it should be interesting to see how Hungry Marie turns out. I'm cautious, but hopeful. Samon is getting a second color page next week. Not sure what that's about, but Jump sure is giving it a lot of chances it frankly doesn't deserve.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Fairy Tail is currently in its last arc right now.

Took long enough. Yikes.

It's pretty much been in it's final arc for the past two years. A relief to get an official confirmation that it is actually going to end sometime though. It would be exhausting/infuriating if it kept dragging itself out with some other big bad after Zeref and Acnologia.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Fairy Tail is currently in its last arc right now.

Took long enough. Yikes.

It's pretty much been in it's final arc for the past two years. A relief to get an official confirmation that it is actually going to end sometime though. It would be exhausting/infuriating if it kept dragging itself out with some other big bad after Zeref and Acnologia.

Bleach's final arc lasted 4 years, and was still rushed.

So who really knows?

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, at this point I'm just going to put Tamura's works in the same pile as Amano. It really does nothing for me at all. I'm certain Viz will run this series, but I really couldn't care less. This isn't my thing at all. Though I will say I enjoyed it much more than U19 at the very least.

I heard the rumor that Horikoshi was hospitalized while working on this chapter. It shows in a few places, but I'm more concerned with his health. It does show his dedication that it still looks pretty good for the most part and not quite on the level of some of Togashi's worst scribbles. Here's hoping it's nothing serious. But that was a pretty intense ending to the chapter. Midoriya is definitely not ready for Overhaul.

Good issue this week. Next week for Promised Neverland should be something else, especially since Norman found the pen Sister Krone left for them. Can't wait to see where it goes.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I found Hungry Marie pretty enjoyable. I've never read Beelzebub so I don't have a negative predisposition to Tamura's works. Plus, I'm always a little intrigued by gender-bender stories, and with threads of romance, martial-arts, and the supernatural involved I can imagine a lot of fun shenanigans that could make for a good action-comedy.

The rough art in the MHA chapter was a little concerning, but luckily Horikoshi only left smaller, less important moments in that rough style and the most important moments were still properly rendered. Hopefully Horikoshi will be feeling healthy again soon, but if he needs to take a short break than I wouldn't mind because he's a hard worker and the art of each chapter of MHA is so consistently high-quality that I can easily imagine him needing a rest every now and again.

PN's ending was rather ominous. The cliffhangers always leave you guessing. I wonder what secret Norman might have discovered in Sister Krone's pen, and where he's hiding out now.

My favorite moment in Jump this week had to be Erina finally standing up to Azami and defying him as her own person. A character arc that has been two years in the making and I'm very happy to finally see it reach this point. I'm really hoping they take it a step further and have Erina defeat Azami in a shokugeki, or at least through her own cooking make him acknowledge and accept her as her own person that he can't control. Erina's character arc is pretty easily the most compelling aspect of Food Wars! right now.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I haven't read Hungry Marie yet, but I'm also not a fan of Beelzebub. As a comedy it had some potential early on, but that was quickly squandered by a series of the most predictable gags and shenanigans that you could possibly think of, without any real shred of originality to any of the humor, while the battle shonen aspects of the series were just flat-out boring, IMO. It's a shame considering that Tamura was a former assistant and protégée of Toshiaki Iwashiro, leading me to believe that he may have had some talent, but aside from his art-style (which is admittedly very similar to Iwashiro's), I can't really see any influence of Iwashiro's writing sensibilities on Tamura's work in Beelzebub.

To be fair to Tamura, though, I've learned that you can't just outright judge the mangaka for everything wrong with their series, as the editorial department can and has hindered talented creators before. That said, even in other weaker manga series with good mangaka (such as Watsuki's post-Kensin work), I can at least usually see some shreds of their true talent strewn about throughout their work. I was really hard-pressed to identify anything of that sort with Tamura when it comes to Beelzebub. But, then again, I know a lot of people who genuinely like that series, so for what it's worth Spark and myself are probably in the minority in our opinions regarding it.

At any rate, whether I care for the mangaka's work or not, I do wish all of them good luck on these new endeavors, Tamura included, as on top of really just wanting to read more good shonen series, I really know how hard it is to make it in this business, and mangaka like these really need all the support that they can get in order to make a living following their passion.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #14 (March 6th, 2017):
Dr. Stone (Cover, Lead CP, New Series)
1. One Piece
2. Gintama
Hungry Marie (CP)
3. Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction
Samon the Summoner (CP)
4. Haikyu!!
Demon Prince Poro's Diaries (Not Ranked)
5. Black Clover
6. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
7. The Promised Neverland
We Never Learn (Not Ranked)
8. Hinomaru Zumou
U19 (Not Ranked)
9. Spring Weapon No. 1
10. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~ (CP)
11. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma

It looks like that rumor about Horikoshi is true. This is the first week he's ever missed a chapter since the series started. I'm hoping he's okay. And Food Wars in last? Man, this series really never has consistent rankings. Next week Kimetsu no Yaiba, Hinomaru, and Dr. Stone all get color pages. I wonder which series will sink to the bottom or float to the top since all the cancellations. I'm wondering if Gintama and Hinomaru are nearing their ends sooner than previously thought.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Horikoshi deserves a break. I only hope his condition isn't so bad that he'll be on hiatus for an indefinite period of time like Ashihara. We're past the third month of the World Trigger hiatus and we still don't know when it's coming back...

Gintama is probably not going to end anytime in the next couple of weeks based on recent events in the series. If anything, I think it'll end around the time the movie comes out. Dunno about Hinomaru since I haven't caught up with it in a while and I think the scans are still behind where the series is actually at in Japan.

[Spark Of Spirit]

There was an odd reveal in volume 7 of MHA, by the way.

Horikoshi states in one of his extra pages that he doesn't want to explain the villains or their background in order to keep their mystique, but he did say something interesting.

For a hint as to what the Nomus really are, he posted a picture of a kid with devil wings. This was the same kid that hung out with Bakugo and Midoriya when they were small. Or if it's not him, it looks really close.

I'm not really sure what it means, but it was interesting to say the least.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Dr. Stone is easily the best of the new series. I'm really eager to see where it goes from now. You can easily tell these two are veterans well aware of what works and what doesn't. Above all, this series simply must remain in NA Jump.

But the best chapter this week was the Promised Neverland. I swear, if Norman dies...

[Spark Of Spirit]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #15 (March 13th, 2017):
One Piece (Cover, Lead CP)
1. Haikyu!!
Hungry Marie (Not Ranked)
Dr. Stone (CP)
2. The Promised Neverland
3. My Hero Academia
Gekkou no Arcadia (CP, One Shot)
4. Spring Weapon No. 1
Hinomaru Zumou (CP)
We Never Learn (Not Ranked)
5. Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Souma
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Blade of Demon Destruction (CP)
Demon Prince Poro's Diaries (Not Ranked)
6. Black Clover
U19 (Not Ranked)
7. The Disastrous Life of Saiki K.
8. Yuna of Yuragi Manor
9. Samon the Summoner
Chronicle of Isobe ~Life is Hard~

So I think it's safe to say that early reaction to Hungry Marie and Dr. Stone have been good. Not even ranked and they're already near the front of the magazine. Glad to see MHA back and I hope Horikoshi is okay. This is Promised Neverland's highest ranking ever, I believe. Also, yes, Gintama is off this week. Samon and Yuna are at the bottom again though it doesn't mean anything until we see where these new series rank. Judging from this early placement, I'm guessing Hungry Marie and Dr. Stone will be sticking around. That's the best early placement in the magazine I've seen for new series in years. Next week Fujimaki's golf manga begins. Should be interesting to see how that goes.

In other news, it looks like Kaito's Ao no Flag series in Jump+ is doing really well. It looks like his third series might finally be the one to make it, just like with Horikoshi. Good for him.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Finally got the chance to read Dr. Stone, and yeah, it's pretty great. The hype was well-deserved. Love the leads and the potential of the premise, and the art is fantastic. Really hoping it sticks around.

Cool that Hungry Marie, Dr. Stone, and We Never Learn look to have pretty good early results so far. It'd be great if they could all stick around. Interesting that Spring Weapon is doing so well now too. Guess it found it's audience/niche. As for Samon...we've been thinking it's on the outs for a long time now, but it still sticks around, so who knows when they'll decide to end it.

I'm very happy Kaito's newest series has been so well received and seems to be doing well. It'd be a great addition to the free section of the Shonen Jump website so I hope Viz decides to add it sometime soon.

[VLordGTZ]

Shonen Sunday is going to have an important announcement for Rumiko Takahashi fans on March 22nd.

I doubt it's anime related since Rin-ne Season 3 is already coming out next month.  Maybe Takahashi is ending Rin-ne and starting a new series in Sunday?