Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump [2015] - Discussion and TOC Talk

[DoctorApollo]

But I'm really surprised that Horikoshi IS a comic book fan. Didnt expect that.

I mean, what were you expecting? The guy drawing superhero comics to not be into superhero comics? It'd be kind of like if it turned out that Tetsuya Chiba doesn't like boxing or Oda doesn't like pirates.

I'm hoping this will turn out to be something bigger, and Horikoshi will eventually bridge the gap between western and eastern comics. Y'know, like what they tried and failed epicly to do with Ultimo. If BnHA is a huge overseas success in a few years, then Horikoshi could seriously make some history here.

 

[Mawara]

I mean, what were you expecting? The guy drawing superhero comics to not be into superhero comics? It'd be kind of like if it turned out that Tetsuya Chiba doesn't like boxing or Oda doesn't like pirates.

To be quite honest, I didnt expect anything. I just thought, that Horikoshi chose a gimmick for his new manga. I'm pretty glad, that I was wrong. Now I'm more excited to see, what gonna happen in MHA.

I'm hoping this will turn out to be something bigger, and Horikoshi will eventually bridge the gap between western and eastern comics. Y'know, like what they tried and failed epicly to do with Ultimo. If BnHA is a huge overseas success in a few years, then Horikoshi could seriously make some history here.

Agree! I'm pretty curious now, what Horikoshi will accomplish with MHA.

 

[Bomber D Rufi]

I read Lady Justice's first chapter.

I feel very conflicted about it. I felt like, there's something really devoid of personality. The characters felt SERIOUSLY cookie-cutter. Even Lady Justice's sexy attire in the colorpage felt uninspired and unoriginal. But...I think there are a lot of different ways it could go. It could be like Kill la Kill where the ridiculous levels of fanservice is compensated with plenty of action and badassery, or it could be To Love Ru. This is one of the few first chapters where I'm confused on what I want.

I do think its greatly improved from the oneshot, so that's a plus. Also did anyone else think Lady Justice's superpowers were identical to Supermans? All she needs is a kryptonite-like weakness and an alien backstory.

I still need to read it. I'm glad to read an opinion on the series that isn't just "ewww lady parts." or "yay! lady parts!" Ironically it was reading a bunch of those kinds of reviews that lack substance that kept me from reading it. After your post I might go hunt down the raw at least. TBH I haven't even been reading Jump aside from Gintama and AssClass lately, so maybe It's about time I picked up a few things. I enjoyed Kagamigami the last time I read it, and crept into the Academia wikia page (I"m a sucker for well written and informative wikia pages. If one wants me to read/watch something, give me a well written wikia page and you've almost got me.) which had a lot of interesting tidbits that are enticing me to read it. All the Black Clover talk is a little unsettling honestly, so I'll probably put off reading it until it has more of a stable future going for it.

Going back to Lady Justice, I think another reason why I didn't read it right away is that I don't like the title. There's just something....on the nose about it. Like it was the first thing the author slapped on it without any real creative thought. Though that's just my opinion. I do at least like the lead heroine's design (not her clothes, but her overall looks), so that's a thing. I will say one thing though, it is actually nice to have a crop of good-ish series for once rather than having one or two, and then the rest being garbage. Even if Jump slaughters them all in infancy, at least they were good-ish at their start.

 

[hokageji]

I just recently signed up for the weekly manga edition at viz but was only reading One Piece and Naruto. Now with Devilyman introduced, got more to read...

I liked the series honestly.. Not being a big manga buff probably makes this more enjoyable than others....

 

[DoctorApollo]

I still need to read it. I'm glad to read an opinion on the series that isn't just "ewww lady parts." or "yay! lady parts!" Ironically it was reading a bunch of those kinds of reviews that lack substance that kept me from reading it.

the reason all the reviews are that is because it really doesn't have anything else to offer.

the reviews lack substance because they're reviewing content that lacks substance.

 

[Bomber D Rufi]

the reason all the reviews are that is because it really doesn't have anything else to offer.

the reviews lack substance because they're reviewing content that lacks substance.

But the person I quoted actually had something of substance to say? They stated what they read, how they felt about it and why. I'm not asking for a winning article on the failure of a Japanese comic book magazine marketed to teenage boys to understand modern feminism. As I stated, most reviews were basically against the fanservice or for it. While arguably the manga wasn't translated up until now and maybe that's why there wasn't much talk about it other than aesthetics, I was more referring to someone reading it in English (I assume) and stating more than a one liner about it for clearly ostentatious reasons.

That being said, you are stating the obvious. There are two chapters out so of course there isn't any substance to it right now. Most jump manga aren't content rich in their first two chapters anyway, which I guess answers my main point too.

 

[DoctorApollo]

No but dude like, there's no plot. It's just a superman girl. It could not be more bland if it tried.

Most shonen manga series do have a plot, and it's evident in the first chapter. Lady Justice could grow into something, but the first chapter is the most bland it could have been. The big plot was that a classmate discovers her secret identity, but even that is done as blandly as possible.

what I'm saying is that the quality of the reviews are proportional to what the story has to offer. It doesn't have to be GOOD to have reviews with substance, bad stuff with substance gets reviews with substance. Whether Lady Justice is good or not is irrelevant, my point is that it doesn't have much substance.

I don't know why a few people here became a bit obsessed with the ecchi and discussing it considering how commonplace it is for JUMP, but that's just their deal. My point is that there is nothing to say about Lady Justice. Seriously. Read it, you will get what I mean. There is nothing to say about it. The only thing you can possibly say about it is "oh, Stan Lee." That's it. You can't say anything positive or negative because it has no plot, in the first chapter. People said a bunch of stuff about Black Clover, for instance, because it had a plot. So we could argue over whether it's good or not. For Lady Justice, there is literally nothing of substance to argue over.

The person you quoted also had nothing to say about it, she just wrote a long post that is summed up in her sentence "I feel conflicted because it has no personality" or whatever it was. Literally all she said was "well, right now it's nothing, and i dont know where I want it to go." Because that's all you can say about Lady Justice. That's all the series is right now: nothing.

(and for the record I didn't dislike Lady Justice, because -- just like everyone else here -- I still know nothing about it past the basic premise. "guy knows his classmate crush is secretly superman", that's it. That's all we know about it. Read the first chapter and you won't discover anything else about the story. That's my point: there is nothing to review.)

 

[Bomber D Rufi]

No but dude like, there's no plot. It's just a superman girl. It could not be more bland if it tried.

Most shonen manga series do have a plot, and it's evident in the first chapter. Lady Justice could grow into something, but the first chapter is the most bland it could have been. The big plot was that a classmate discovers her secret identity, but even that is done as blandly as possible.

what I'm saying is that the quality of the reviews are proportional to what the story has to offer. It doesn't have to be GOOD to have reviews with substance, bad stuff with substance gets reviews with substance. Whether Lady Justice is good or not is irrelevant, my point is that it doesn't have much substance.

I don't know why a few people here became a bit obsessed with the ecchi and discussing it considering how commonplace it is for JUMP, but that's just their deal. My point is that there is nothing to say about Lady Justice. Seriously. Read it, you will get what I mean. There is nothing to say about it. The only thing you can possibly say about it is "oh, Stan Lee." That's it. You can't say anything positive or negative because it has no plot, in the first chapter. People said a bunch of stuff about Black Clover, for instance, because it had a plot. So we could argue over whether it's good or not. For Lady Justice, there is literally nothing of substance to argue over. The person you quoted also had nothing to say about it, she just wrote a long post that is summed up in her sentence "I feel conflicted because it has no personality" or whatever it was. Literally all she said was "well, right now it's nothing, and i dont know where I want it to go." Because that's all you can say about Lady Justice. That's all the series is right now: nothing.

(and for the record I didn't dislike Lady Justice, because -- just like everyone else here -- I still know nothing about it past the basic premise. "guy knows his classmate crush is secretly superman", that's it. That's all we know about it. Read the first chapter and you won't discover anything else about the story. That's my point: there is nothing to review.)

Ah, I see. Now that you've elaborated some I get your point. Yeah, I did sort of sense that it's not really sure of what it wants to do quite yet which is while I kind of like Teeba's post on it. Though I maintain that most Jump manga are kind of like this when they start really. Like if one were to look back at the first two chapters of successful Jump serials, you'd find that while you could discuss a "plot" with others, they really lacked "substance". Like even OP as great as it is now was just "Pirate kid does pirate things" by chapter two, Gintama was "Samurai guy lives in samurai era, but with ALIENS" by chapter two and so on. I haven't read Black Clover, but from what I'm hearing, people are split by it because it's a bunch of tropes strung together without ---you guessed it, "substance". Now that it has actually run for a while, it's easy to retrospectively look back and say "oh okay so that's what they were going for back then", but the whole point of an extra long first chapter is to "wow" with either artwork or characters. The first instinct of most mangaka in weekly shounen mags is not to have a world dripping with substance --at least not from the beginning since it's pretty easy to get cancelled quickly. You can discuss a plot, but it doesn't necessarily mean that it has substance. Generally plots don't until they're given time to unfold.

Though I do completely understand what you're saying. I'm not defending Lady Justice or detracting from it since A) I haven't read it, and B) it's not even on it's third chapter yet. Black Clover having a plot --albeit good or bad doesn't mean at all that it has substance. It just has a plot. A plot of which could be really great or shitty. A plot with substance comes with time.

 

[DoctorApollo]

Though I do completely understand what you're saying. I'm not defending Lady Justice or detracting from it since A) I haven't read it, and B) it's not even on it's third chapter yet. Black Clover having a plot --albeit good or bad doesn't mean at all that it has substance. It just has a plot. A plot of which could be really great or shitty. A plot with substance comes with time.

To the first part, you should know I am also not attacking Lady Justice. I just wanted to explain to you why the reviews look like they do. Once you read it, you will understand why they looked like that.

and about substance, well, at that point it just depends on how you define the word substance. For me, "substance" means, like, STUFF. There is stuff. Stuff happens in the first chapter of Black Clover. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about Lady Justice. but yeah, it depends on how leniently you choose to use the word "substance". To me, "having substance" doesn't mean "literary masterpiece", it just means "it has stuff that happens and you can discuss."

 

[Bomber D Rufi]

To the first part, you should know I am also not attacking Lady Justice. I just wanted to explain to you why the reviews look like they do. Once you read it, you will understand why they looked like that.

and about substance, well, at that point it just depends on how you define the word substance. For me, "substance" means, like, STUFF. There is stuff. Stuff happens in the first chapter of Black Clover. Unfortunately I cannot say the same about Lady Justice. but yeah, it depends on how leniently you choose to use the word "substance". To me, "having substance" doesn't mean "literary masterpiece", it just means "it has stuff that happens and you can discuss."

Naw, I know what you mean. I know you aren't attacking it. I'm using the term as a thing where...I dunno, something more than "Characters doing stuff" becomes apparent in the story. Like when a wider worldview is introduced and we're introduced to not only the protagonist but the world he or she inhabits along with the rules of said world, the consequences of actions in the world and so on. That to me is substance, and depending on the talent of the author can be enacted quickly or might take a volume or something. The first and second chapters are more like advertisements; "Here's why you should read me!" with later installments being the bulk of the reason why one keeps reading.

 

[SharkBait]

I still need to read it. I'm glad to read an opinion on the series that isn't just "ewww lady parts." or "yay! lady parts!" Ironically it was reading a bunch of those kinds of reviews that lack substance that kept me from reading it. After your post I might go hunt down the raw at least. TBH I haven't even been reading Jump aside from Gintama and AssClass lately, so maybe It's about time I picked up a few things. I enjoyed Kagamigami the last time I read it, and crept into the Academia wikia page (I"m a sucker for well written and informative wikia pages. If one wants me to read/watch something, give me a well written wikia page and you've almost got me.) which had a lot of interesting tidbits that are enticing me to read it. All the Black Clover talk is a little unsettling honestly, so I'll probably put off reading it until it has more of a stable future going for it.

Going back to Lady Justice, I think another reason why I didn't read it right away is that I don't like the title. There's just something....on the nose about it. Like it was the first thing the author slapped on it without any real creative thought. Though that's just my opinion. I do at least like the lead heroine's design (not her clothes, but her overall looks), so that's a thing. I will say one thing though, it is actually nice to have a crop of good-ish series for once rather than having one or two, and then the rest being garbage. Even if Jump slaughters them all in infancy, at least they were good-ish at their start.

BLack Clover is unsettling? How? Its a series that wont be slayed in its infancy and is good, so I think, based on your statement, that you ought to add it to your reading regime. The advance praise for it, is far from unsettling,in fact it speaks the opposite, it is well deserved. I suggest you give its first two chapters a chance on today.

 

[Heiji]

Gakkyuu Houtei last chapter :
http://plus.shonenjump.com/client_i....html?tw=1&lin=1&cid=SHSA_JP01PLUS00001668_57

3rd (last) volume 04/08.

 

[Eru13]

Gakkyuu Houtei last chapter :
http://plus.shonenjump.com/client_i....html?tw=1&lin=1&cid=SHSA_JP01PLUS00001668_57

3rd (last) volume 04/08.

Tbh, with this chapter added to the mix, the series feels pretty complete, so much it makes me even think that the best decision was to just end it as a short-ish serialization

 

[Bomber D Rufi]

BLack Clover is unsettling? How? Its a series that wont be slayed in its infancy and is good, so I think, based on your statement, that you ought to add it to your reading regime. The advance praise for it, is far from unsettling,in fact it speaks the opposite, it is well deserved. I suggest you give its first two chapters a chance on today.

I never said the series was unsettling, I said the reviews and things people have said about the series are unsettling. I haven't read Black Clover yet so I'm not forming an opinion of it. Also have we been reading the same posts? Many people have accused it of plagiarism at worst, and being uninspired and cliche at best. Generally speaking, I don't read jump manga at the beginning unless they're by established authors who have had a success already or the art/characters are intriguing enough to warrant an immediate read. I know you like it, but as of right now, Black Clover has neither going for it in my opinion. If the first volume sells well and the series remains in a position where it won't be suddenly cancelled, I might give it a look then. Otherwise? I pass.

I did finally buy Academia in Japanese on kindle and I'm really enjoying it. It's interesting to me that in a way it does an ensemble cast as well as AssClass. I really like it when an author is able to have more than a few characters who are interesting. It's something I inspire to in my own writing, as difficult as it is.

 

[Teeba]

I think the fact Lady Justice is something we're still discussing shows its having some kind of impact. I remember when UBS and Roggy came out there was hardly this much discussion - and well, they didn't last long either.

Lady Justice looks very much inspired by recent franchises, so even though it evokes a lot of Superman/girl comparisons, its definitely a reaction to more local trends. I immediately thought of Kill la Kill and the more polarizing Cross Ange. I'm pretty sure the author is banking on the fans of those franchises to support this manga.

The title is really off, I didn't realize it now but I totally agree with Bomber. Maybe if it was something like, "Justice Girl!" or something more cutesy, it would fit the series more.

 

[piau9000]

Am I the only one that is not happy with the flood of "western superhero" series in mangas lately?

 

[Bomber D Rufi]

I think the fact Lady Justice is something we're still discussing shows its having some kind of impact. I remember when UBS and Roggy came out there was hardly this much discussion - and well, they didn't last long either.

Lady Justice looks very much inspired by recent franchises, so even though it evokes a lot of Superman/girl comparisons, its definitely a reaction to more local trends. I immediately thought of Kill la Kill and the more polarizing Cross Ange. I'm pretty sure the author is banking on the fans of those franchises to support this manga.

The title is really off, I didn't realize it now but I totally agree with Bomber. Maybe if it was something like, "Justice Girl!" or something more cutesy, it would fit the series more.

Exactly. The fact that we are discussing it means that it has at least on some level succeeded. Whether that's a good or bad thing is to be seen...

The title would fit better if it were more of a serious take on the whole superhero thing. At least when I read or hear the title I think of a very solemn hero story that might air as an American drama or something, and not what it actually is....which we're not sure of yet. I guess what I'm trying to say is that it has potential to be good even with it's limited premise. Then again so does everything really.

 

[Chipp12]

Maybe you should actually read the series before discussing it? Because its 2nd chapter explains the reasons behind this title.

 

[Bluenotebook]

http://www.shonenjump.com/j/_sp/comics/

Thoughts? Honestly, Kagamigami's is super plain and Boku no Hero looks like it's getting canceled

 

[piau9000]

I liked the cover.
But it doesn't look like a jump manga though.