So last week saw some major developments in our collection of various shonen series, but as I jumped into this edition of Jump, I found myself being bombarded with even more epic chapters.
True, we had a couple of speed bumps along the way to deal with, and I’m not just talking about the passable comedy of Protect Me, Shugomaru! this time. The biggest blow might be coming from the recent developments in Earthchild, as I felt like my interest in the story has started to diminish. While the series has established the importance of saving Kareri, on more than one occasion, the recent revelations in this chapter feel rushed and very odd. That is saying something in a manga about a lineage of psychic children with a deep connection to the Earth, but even the idea of a medically inflicted timeskip is insane.
Also MASHLE still feels off to me, but it is slowly making an upturn in the right direction with an introduction of a master for Mash. She uses a magic healing chainsaw and sends people flying across the room who try to harass her, so I kind of love her character already. I think in time we could see Hajime Komoto’s action comedy rise in the ranks, but it does have some stiff competition.
A couple series on the rise for me personally come from Doron Dororon and Akane-banashi, as they are presenting some of the strongest material in this early stage of their runs. Gen Oosuka is starting to show what Dora, Kusanagi, and the rest of the samurai are truly capable of in this world. Heisuke is especially effective in showing the heights humans can reach in against Mononoke, with some spectacular curb stomping action. As for Akane’s rakugo saga, while it's still too early to tell if it will be successful, the writing and characters continue to charm me. It's kind of amazing that as they progress, Earthchild and Akane-banashi are going through opposite trajectories of enjoyment from when I first started reading them.
There was so much good in this week's chapters that I honestly feel I could do a full breakdown of all of them if it weren’t for personal time constraints. I say this because, in order to decide my top five, I had to read and re-read some chapters multiple times to decide. I have to let myself sleep some time, but it’s not easy with such great material to keep you thinking, or when they get you laughing your butt off.
5. Witch Watch Welcoming Shenanigans of Kanshi’s Career Diaries
(Witch Watch Ch. 57)
That was the case with this weeks edition of everyone’s favorite familiars and the witch who helps and terrorizes them at the same time. We find the penniless tengu Kanshi as our focus as he is put under a spell that reverses all of his senses, both emotional and physical, such as thinking ice cream is hot and spicy.
It’s a premise that is ridiculously simple, but these scenarios can also be the most effective for comedy, especially with this series. Nico has been touted as the most powerful witch of her age, being able to cast thousands of spells, albeit with less than desirable results. It has been a great source of the manga’s comedy, and is often a well of ideas for all of the best story ideas for Kenta Shinohara. From turning the boys into Minecraft characters to making the crew fall in love, at least romantically, with the sweet and sour pork she made using magic powder. It’s one of the many reasons why the series stands out with other comedic manga in the magazine.
Now aside from Moi, or just the group as a whole, Kanshi tends to get the shortest end of the stick with Nico's spells. Alongside the other magic that have hit the group, he’s had his perception of time altered to super speed, which made for one of the most memorable chapters in the series run. Throw in the return to his part-time job antics, which also produced great material, and you have the ingredients for another hilarious chapter.
Seeing Kanshi go from being a masochist when his female coworker belittles him to serving customers ice cream sundaes and calling it Korean hot pot makes for some great laughs. The chapter has such a masterful focus on the formula, that you forget that the rest of the crew barely play a role, with exception being Nico and Moi. This is the kind of material that makes Witch Watch such a fun read and a major reason why I picked the series up. If Shinohara presents this kind of material more consistently, then I could see the series' popularity continue to grow.
4. Undead Unluck Unleashes an Insane Level of Hype (Undead Unluck Ch. 106)
Following the insanity that has been the last few chapters of Tozuka’s twisting battle against God has been awesome for me to read on a weekly basis. It’s found a way in my top five for a reason, and now we see the results of Andy and Lucy’s escape from Seal’s soul and now our favorite Undead warrior is finally face to face with Ruin (erroneously referred to as UnRuin by me, sorry).
Unfortunately not everything comes easy to our now gray-haired ghoul of a hero, as he’s immediately pinned down and learns that Fuuko and Ghost are not there alongside the nefarious negator. Instead, it seems like the haunted UMA is going to help Ruin in his plans to kill members of the Union by bringing up specters of the past, starting with an old friend (or flame) of Nico’s. I’m personally excited to see this, as the Union’s top scientist hasn’t had any real time to develop, as we don’t even know what his negator powers are yet.
What makes this chapter stand out, however, is once again Lucy and the fear Ruin puts into her. The poor girl just wants to save her mother and this unrelenting agent of God’s will only cares about making sacrifices to his master.
While I’ll admit that Ruin hasn't been the most compelling villain, as I’ve seen secret bosses in video games get more development, his detached view on relationships and humanity make a good foil to Lucy. She has only been able to keep going because she’s had her mother by her side and she doesn’t want to lose her. When Ruin callously sets up for the finishing blow, and the tears flow down her face in horror, it really sells just how desperate the situation is.
Fortunately, a last minute save is made, and I’m so excited with who performed it, that I actually don’t want to spoil who shows up here. Normally this wouldn’t be a problem for me, but when it happened I got so excited that I actually surged up with hype, and I don’t want to ruin the potential of the moment for readers. I will only say that it's a hero moment that was a long time coming for this character, and I cannot wait to see what happens next week if Tozuka immediately follows up on it. I have high expectations for next week, and I can only hope the chapter won't disappoint so that I can talk about it like the fan I am.
3. Blue Box Bounces Back With A Heartfelt Gut Punch (Blue Box Ch. 48)
Here we are back in the love crazed sports Tory that is Blue Box at number three. While the most recent chapters have been strong, the recent competition has been fierce, but I couldn’t resist giving my favorite love triangle fueled story this spot today.
Following their accidental rendezvous, Taiki and Chinatsu seem to be getting along more and more. They never disliked each other, but Miura has made sure to highlight the awkwardness of junior high romance, and made them have a more of a nervous vibe when together. This has been mainly through Taiki’s shoes, although Chi has become more conscious of her own feelings too, making for some great romantic drama.
Now we have them having fun when being together and things almost seem too easy as we head into the school's cultural festival. There is even a really cute scene where the pair imagine what it would be like to be classmates, alongside a beautiful double page spread by Miura. When he puts his all into his artwork he can create these beautiful snapshots into the relationships that are building for his characters.
That said, not everything is going to be easy going further. Hina is putting a brave face on as Taiki grows closer to Chinatsu, but I feel that we could be heading into a major heartbreak moment for the poor girl. I love her personality, and how she confessed to Taiki is making big changes to the narrative, but if the story goes in the direction I expect she could be in for a world of hurt.
The same seems to be the case for Taiki, as he starts questioning if he could have built this newfound connection to Chinatsu had she never moved in. Granted this is due to Taiki's personal anxiety, but it does play into a what-if scenario that could definitely ended the series a lot sooner had it not happened. Then karma comes swinging with Chinatsu’s mom coming home, albeit for a short time, and revealing that Chinatsu will live her while she's in town. The next few chapters should make for some great development for the young athletes, and even better story tension, and I can’t wait to see what comes next.
2. Sakamoto Days Spectacular Showdown of Shin vs. Toramaru (Sakamoto Days Ch. 66)
We reach our penultimate collection of manga pages once again with Sakamoto Days' clash of aspiring contract killers. Having left off with a resolved Shin and an enraged Toramaru, we continue their riverside battle. I have to try to avoid just doing play by play of the fight here, but I’ll admit its hard considering just how action packed the chapter was.
In the short time that she’s been in the series, Toramaru feels like one of the most fleshed out fighters so far. Suzuki has found a way to perfectly capture a character’s personality through their fighting style and the Sakamoto super fan is no different. She combines this immense and savage strength with her agility and unrelenting desire to kill. It ties really well with her personality, a young otaku with obsessive tendencies, creating deceptive and restless monster. She still finds a way to put Shin on the backfoot for a decent amount of page time here, even showing off that her ax can be detached while throwing it like a tomahawk.
Then you’ve got you got our protag's protege, and while Shin can’t hit as hard as the school-girl slasher, he does have his mind as a weapon. This comes both in terms of his ESP abilities allowing him to dodge and his precise strikes that allow him to find small openings in her offense. He clashes with her in every aspect aside from their mutual respect for Sakamoto. The contrasting of cautious precision and rush down tactics make the fight feel exciting, especially with the battle sweeping through the river landscapes, and leading to a full blown waterfall.
Also, I love the small bit of character building going on for Kaiji, the third teammate of Shin’s team. He fits into the secretly shy stoic guy trope, which isn’t a bad thing, as it leaves you guessing on what he can actually do. This world has shown us overweight martial arts masters and deadly film directors, so I can only imagine what he can bring to the table. Maybe this personality trait is all he has going for him, but knowing Suzuki, he loves doing a big reveal for characters and their true skill. If it doesn't come pass then he still makes for a fun, if familiar, subversion in this cast of characters. Plus his brief interaction with Mafuyu was hilarious so he gets points for that.
As we head into a new battle and Toramaru and Shin in danger, I can only say that I'm waiting for even more awesome action to come.
1. My Hero Academia Brings the Flashbacks and the Fiery Fury
(My Hero Academia Ch. 350)
We finish with the return of one of Jump's pillars and to say My Hero Academia was incredible would be an understatement. Heading into this new wrinkle of Dabi’s origin, I was wondering what else could be covered in terms of his backstory, and I grossly misjudged the levels of madness Horikoshi could bring out.
We already knew that Toya Todoroki was left for dead by Endeavor, believing his son literally burned out, as it was already revealed in the previous arc. Now we get to see the aftermath, and learn that All For One planned a similar fate for the young boy to the rest of his followers, and possibly to even turn him into a Nomu.
The only problem with this plan is that the boy was already too far gone in his desire to be acknowledged by his father. Think about that. Endeavor did so much debilitating mental damage in outright rejecting his son's ambitions that the actual big bad in the world couldn’t control his rage and lust for vengeance.
It adds such a great layer to the character and another page in the tragic Todoroki family history. Endeavor has been on a significant redemption arc throughout this second half of, but it’s understandable why fans are hard to forgive, especially with his greatest sin burning like a raging inferno. It's to the point that Dabi doesn't acknowledge Endeavor as his father, only seeing as "that thing" that destroyed any sense of his life having value. Everything going forward in this fight is his fault, and I can only imagine what consequences the new number one hero will deal with to atone.
This story is weaved beautifully with the parallel storytellers of Dr. Ujiko and Dabi as they unravel the horrific story. While it doesn’t hit as hard as Shigaraki's origin, it makes for a powerful lead into the brother vs brother clash as Shoto prepares for the fight of his life. Toya has kept himself alive, his body burning away at itself, all for the sake of vengeance for being abandoned and forgotten. As his skin crumbles and burns, making way for the intense flames inside, he is left a savage wraith with a single minded goal of killing his younger brother and everything that their father cares about. I can’t wait to see what Horikoshi brings next, and I hope it can keep this amazing momentum going.
We find ourselves with a really satisfying collection of chapters. I’ll admit that I haven’t been as critical of the chapters lately, but I’m not going to crap on such great material for the sake of forcing negative criticism. It might be fun to rag on the worst of the worst, but I would just be petty if I threw the spectacular efforts these creators are presenting aside. Not every chapter was a five out of five, but all of the series of stories are showing either improvements in their stories, or they are building on consistently good material.
Even if the rankings below show that certain series at the bottom, it’s only because the series above them are just that little bit better. I can say now I am having a great time with my weekly reading and that next week will continue that trend if the current material is any indicator of that.
See you guys next week!
1. My Hero Academia (Ch. 350) | 6. Mission: Yozakura Family (Ch. 125) | 11. Akane-banashi (Ch. 9) |
2. Sakamoto Days (Ch. 66) | 7. PPPPPP (Ch. 28) | 12. MASHLE (Ch. 103) |
3. Blue Box (Ch. 48) | 8. Doron Dororon (Ch. 18) | 13. Earthchild (Ch. 8) |
4. Undead Unluck (Ch. 106) | 9. The Elusive Samurai (Ch. 58) | 14. Protect Me, Shugomaru! (Ch. 19) |
5. Witch Watch (Ch. 57) | 10. Ayashimon Ch. 19 | Unranked: Jujutsu Kaisen (No Chapter) |