A Saunter through Weekly Shonen Jump (March 5, 2018)

Hey friends! While Crunchyroll, Funimation, and our other sources of feeding our addiction slaking our thirst when it comes to anime, I don’t see as much discussion of the pushers outlets of manga. And yet, where would I be without my Monday afternoon fix shot dose installment of graphical goodness, thanks to Weekly Shonen Jump‘s English language edition and Viz Media’s making it available for dirt cheap?*

Just as many of us would advocate for paying for the aforementioned anime services, not only for premium access to shows, but also to support anime outside of Japan and Japanese, so subscribing to WSJ helps encourage manga. (And did I mention it’s comparatively cheap?) I don’t draw a hard line and say that you should never read manga on, um, unofficial websites (that’s a conversation for another day!), just that it’s good to support the legal outlets when possible.

It’s also neat to be a part of the group that has an influence on which manga makes it in the English market. After every edition of WSJ is released, readers have the opportunity to vote for their favorite series online. I remember a couple of years ago when the Promised Neverland jump start debuted in WSJ and blew me away. Needless to say, I and many readers like me hurried to signal our support for the new series. Guess which manga’s second volume was just released in US bookstores? And if Promised Neverland receives an anime adaptation which it absolutely deserves and will get if there is any justice in the cosmos it’ll feel great to know that I had a hand, however slight, in bringing it to fruition.

So without further ado, let’s crack** open this week’s WSJ and see what waits in store for us—good, bad, and ugly!

Jujutsu Kaisen (Jump Start!)

JK is a new jump start! Let’s see what it’s like: Jump starts are hit and miss. For every Promised Neverland there’s half a dozen cliched series that never make it out the gate (and shouldn’t). These are my reactions, in real time, as I read through Chapter 1.

1. A guy looking for a cursed object at a high school. Sounds pretty cliche—not a promising start.
2. Now we’re at a meeting of first- and second-year students in the “Occult Research Club.” They’re goofing off asking ridiculous questions of a Ouji board. Still not enough to grab me.
3. Someone (student council president, maybe?) bursts in the door. Turns out the club is about to lose their clubroom because they didn’t turn in some paperwork. But the club members maintain that they have something really impressive in store that will justify the club’s existence. — Are we seriously talking about paperwork here??? Great Odin, I’m going back to my office if I want paperwork!
4. The club thinks they’ve figured out there’s a body buried under the rugby field. A businessman went missing after defaulting on loans — Gah! More paperwork!
5. Now the club is in danger of being shut down because it doesn’t meet the minimum three-person membership rule. One of the members, it turns out, belongs to the track and field club instead. He protests, “But I wrote ‘occult research team’ on the application.” “I rewrote it.” — What the f@#$#@ are we still talking about paperwork?!?!?!
6. So the T&F coach wants this guy on his team, so he changed his application. But he’ll change it back if the kid can beat him at some unspecified competition. The kid agrees. Did I mention the competition was unspecified? — Count the cliches: Club under threat from school authorities abusing their power? Check. Club’s future hangs on blatantly, poorly contrived contest? Check. Are we still talking about paperwork? GREAT BIG F@#$@#%ING CHECK!!!
7. There’s a giant four-eyed chameleon bug thing impaling itself on a rugby goalpost. It’s grotesque and well-drawn. For a moment, the chapter gains my attention and potential respect. Which it immediately dashes when a club member observing it calls it “second-class level”. Isn’t it possible to have a paranormal/fantastic story any more without bringing numerical levels into it? Even calling it, I don’t know, “wombat level” would pique my interest just a bit more.
8. So the wombat-level bug thing is apparently connected to the cursed object the guy in #1 is looking for, and at the same time he notices that the competition between the coach and the student is going on. — Ok, timeline doesn’t add up, but I don’t care enough to spell it out. And nevermind that the coach is competing against a student himself, which is all kinds of makes no sense. And the competition is a shotput contest, the coach is a shotput champion, and the student is a sprinter??? I mean, we know the kid’s gonna win in the end (and possibly get unfairly overruled anyway), but this blatant unfairness is luring my disbelief into new worlds. Did I mention that the kid doesn’t even know how to throw the shotput and throws it incorrectly?
9. Kid wins. Called it.
10. Oh, the shotput goes super far, so I figured the kid had some supernatural energy that helped him. Nope! Turns out that was just natural strength. Yes, a scrawny high school sprinter threw a shotput like a baseball (they actually say this!) into the post of a rugby goal 30 meters away and bent the post without any supernatural help. You know those shows which are so bad that, at some point, they flip over into almost good? And you stare, unable to tear your eyes away, because you think it can’t possibly slide any further into the Valley of Artistic Desolation, and then it does? Again and again and again? At a certain point, rubbish becomes so bad that it could only be wrought by careful, intentional design, and thus paradoxically achieves a kind of artistic excellence that you can’t help but gaze upon, horror and admiration mixed in equal measure. I call this the “Darling in the Franxx Zone”. Anyway, this chapter is dipping its toes into the shark-infested undercurrents and daring Nature to rip it away into the Zone.
11. Oh, I was wrong. The guy who’s been searching for the cursed object is not part of the club. Thanks for making that clear. And he senses the cursed object on the student who just… you know. So it was by supernatural power, after all. The story’s grade gets changed from “so-bad-it’s-good” to just “bad.” Which… is an improvement? I guess?
12. A bit of creative levity actually kind of works in the next scene. Grandpa on his deathbed(!) keeps trying to impart some important information to the student, and the kid doesn’t want to hear it. It’s played for laughs, as is the next scene when, Grandpa having passed away, the kid remarks, “My grandpa would be mad if I just moped around. I’ll have to laugh while I burn him up.” Morbid humor is still humor, and the only things worth joking about are serious ones, so… Jujutsu Kaisen gets a pass on this one.
13. A shadowy figure appears! Dun dun dun! It’s the guy looking for the cursed object! The effect of this moment of drama (including a “there is no time” cliche) is wasted on a two-and-a-half page infodump. Which, tbh, makes only marginal sense.
14. Well, whadyaknow? The cursed object isn’t there, it’s just the box the object used to be kept in. Where’s the object (which we still haven’t learned the nature of)? The kid’s fellow clubmates have it and have decided to unwrap the object alone at midnight on the school grounds. Don’t these people ever see horror films??? Scratch that—what about common sense?
15. They unwrap the object—no need to say what it is, but what the heck, it’s a mummified human finger—and a horde of demons is loosed into the school. One is badly in need of a clock (I am not making this up), another possesses one of the club members, a third stands in the hallway making slurping noises.
16. The kid and the cursed object seeker hurry into the school. The seeker sees the slurpymon and makes a Naruto-like hand seal except it’s a shadow puppet of a dog that summons a dog. Well, kudos for being original in that respect, at least.
17. Naruto The seeker blasts his way through demons until he finds Jabba the Hut slowly absorbing one of the club members—the token girl student, spread-eagle. Hentai ftw!
18. The kid kicks the demon. The girl is saved. Everything is fine and dandy, except… remember the chameleon thing? It drops through the ceiling and grabs the seeker, who tries to make a swan shadow puppet. (I am not making this up!)
19. Demon throws seeker through school wall. Seeker, surprisingly, survives. Kid punches demon. Demon, not surprisingly, survives.
20. Seeker tells kid that the only way to exorcise the demon is “with another curse.” Kid does the only logical thing and eats the cursed finger.
21. Kid beats up demon, then gets possessed by another demon connected to the finger. Finger demon wants to go on rampage and slaughter women and children. Kid suppresses demon by sheer willpower (cliche!) and gains cool tattoos. Seeker declares him “no longer human” and prepares to “exorcise” him. To be continued, unfortunately.

Ok, for all that, the details on the finger and some of the demons were pretty well done. I’m definitely getting that they’re trying to go for the edgier vibe that Promised Neverland did. But PN has an innovative story with excellent pacing and superb art, while so far this lacks all three. Not putting a lot of hope in this one.

One Piece, Chapter 896

Not being a fan of One Piece, I never read it. So sue me.

Blue Exorcist, Chapter 99

I do read BE since I started subscribing to WSJ, but not being familiar with the earlier chapters I’m not entirely sure what’s going on. So no comments here. Looks like the world is going to Hell in a handbasket, though—Hell literal, handbasket not so much.

Dr. Stone, Chapter 48

Ah! Dr. Stone is a post-apocalyptic story with a veneer of scientific discussion that takes itself just whimsically enough to be enjoyable. Basically, one day all the people on earth are mysteriously (semi-)petrified. But they weren’t necessarily dead. After about 5,000 years, one of them—a science prodigy named Senku—breaks out of his stony state and, with the help of other survivors, sets out to rebuild civilization and technological advancement from pretty much scratch. But a rival sets out to build a nation of force, strength, and fear…

The fun comes from watching Senku, e.g., concocting penicillin from stone-age materials, as well as feeling the series weave carefully between gut-busting humor and melancholy. Our latest chapter opens with a flashback to Senku guiding a super-ripped grandpa through the process of forging katanas. Not only that, but Senku explains the science behind making them and then proposes modifying the process significantly to meet their immediate needs (they’re about to be invaded by spear-wielding enemies). (Ripped Grandpa responds, “Can’t say I follow the science of it, but whatever works. The cutting blade is hard, while the other side stays flexible!” Frequent interjections like this help keep the science grounded for those of us who are less, ahem, scientifically-versed.)

Of course, if it were that simple—if mere technological advancement were all it took to win the day—the series would be little more than a shallow panegyric to scientific progress. But nothing is ever that easy in real life, and it isn’t in Dr. Stone either. After fending off the first line of spear-wielders, a master spearman appears and begins to drive them back, katana or no katana. At the critical moment, as they’re about to take their first casualty, the spear’s tip snaps off. It turns out one of Senku’s allies, a con artist, talked his way into the enemy forces and found an opportunity to weaken the enemy armament. Although it’s a surprise, it was in retrospect sufficiently foreshadowed in previous chapters. The human element, the relationship dynamics, keep the series feeling alive and prevent the sciencey stuff from overloading it. And now our heroes prepare their counter-attack…

Dr. Stone certainly has its rocky moments (aha aha), but it’s an above-average series told with enough creativity to stand out.

Robot x Laserbeam, Chapter 47

You know what I said last week about sports anime stinking? Take that with a grain of salt, but in general sports anime and manga hold little interest for me. Somehow, though, I keep coming back to Robot x Laserbeam, which is about golf of all things. (I’ve never golfed.)

In some ways, it’s a pretty standard shounen setup: A young prodigy goes up against other tough rivals and slowly (I mean, it is golf after all) overcomes all challenges. The series manages to just barely keep within the gray zone where you can’t decide if Robo’s abilities are realistic or not. If that doesn’t whet your appetite, well, it wouldn’t whet mine either.

However, there’s a human dimension that adds color to the series. Robo is brilliant at analysis, but clueless when it comes to most human relationship nuances, the kinds of things that most of us would be aware of. So at the end of the previous chapter, he accidentally, but understandably, cheesed off a world-celebrated golf champion by (accurately) observing that the guy was an arrogant jerk. (The guy was rude to Robo’s friend) Oh, said champion is going to be judging Robo’s next match. The tension between Robo’s loyalty to his friend in the face of an insult, and his own unintended insult, is the kind of interpersonal dynamic that keeps me coming back.

Needless to say, we expect that the champ will try to get revenge on Robo, and the new chapter is largely the playing out of this expectation. The champ sets up his net for Robo, hoping to humiliate him, and we are introduced to all of the other competitors in the championship. This installment of the story is not a flash drive to a hole in one, but it is a solid putt setting up a likely birdie.

My Hero Academia, Chapter 173

MHA needs no introduction. Having finished a relatively serious arc ending with the rescue of “demon girl” Eri from the villain “mafia”, we’re still in the prep phase of a more light-hearted arc about the school festival. Class A is going to hold a dance with live music, and some of the characters who have been around a while but whom we haven’t gotten to know in detail are finally getting moments in the limelight. Class B, ever struggling with their inferiority complex, declare they will have the better show: “Romeo and Juliet and the Return of the Prisoner King of Azkaban! It’s a totally spectacular original fantasy screenplay…!”

Oh, and there’s a super-powered beauty pageant in the works, which promises MHA levels of fanservice and related gags. But it’s in the support class’s tech exhibition that you’ll find my MHA ‘Best Girl’: That’s right—none other than manic, manipulative, and all-around friendly tinkering genius Hatsume Mei!

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Stand aside, Froppy fans! In the immortal words of Hatsume (after PWNING Iida), “I have nothing left to say!”

We Never Learn, Chapter 53

Yuiga is a high school boy (of course!) who is always near the top of his classes. He ends up tutoring the best-looking girls in his school (of course!) and the typical romantic hijinks ensue.

At the outset, Yuiga had to devise different methods for teaching each girl according to her scholastic proclivities. As a former teacher I found this intriguing and hoped it would continue to be a part of the series. However, the series has become a pretty generic rom-com lately. It’s nothing exceptional, but it’s acceptably good at what it does and rarely disappoints.

Chapter 53 is unusual in that its the romance of one of Yuiga’s guy friends which is at the center of the action. Basically, it’s like While it’s not Nisekoi quality, it’s enjoyable. I look forward to it every week.

Hunter x Hunter

For HxH aficionados, I’m sure this series doesn’t disappoint. I tend to get lost among all the “nen” lingo, dozens of characters, and continually-multiplying abilities. Even so, it tends to draw me back for another chapter, week after week.

Food Wars

What used to be an interesting premise seems well-worn to me by this time. However, those who enjoy FW, again, will probably continue to enjoy it.

Promised Neverland, Chapter 77

Oh my gosh!!!! So good!!! And this wasn’t even the best chapter in the series! I don’t want to spoil any of it but—see, HxH? THIS is how you have a hunt!

Black Clover, Chapter 147

Again, don’t want to spoil much, but—the Wizard King finally kicked the bucket! And that being in the crypt is getting released! And Yuno’s getting all glowy and shiney! Yessir, big changes are afoot in the BC universe!

And if you read the manga, you don’t have to listen to Asta’s annoying anime voice. 😀

Seraph of the End

Again, a story I came into the middle of and haven’t bothered to fill in the gaps yet. Seems like a compelling tale, though.

Appropriately, it comes at the end of the magazine. 🙂

In Conclusion

Did you enjoy this format and style of treating WSJ? Let me know and I may try to do so more often!

Notes

* And that’s where the analogy with street drugs breaks down. Kids, don’t do drugs—do manga. It may destroy your life and ensure you never reproduce, but the dent on your financial resources will be comparatively less.

** No, not that sense of “crack”. We’re done with the drug analogy, remember?