Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump [2021] - Discussion and ToC Talk

[Erinyes]

BEST COLOR PAGE OF ISSUE #41 - POLL​

Wanted to open days ago but unfortunately no one leaked High School Family color page, so opening now with all series released, vote for your favorite color page, feel free to comment if you want!

Witch Watch color page is missing in the pool.
Btw, love the idea of a pool for best color page, that's brilliant !

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Witch Watch color page is missing in the pool.
Btw, love the idea of a pool for best color page, that's brilliant !

lol This is why i was feeling something was missing when i started the poll

Thanks

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 13, 2021, Original Post Date: Sep 13, 2021 ---

WITCH WATCH COLOR PAGE​

Sorry for forgetting to include the Witch Watch color page, i edited the poll and added WW and also allowed the option to change your vote, so if any of you already voted but want to change to WW, you can do!

Also, anytime you guys notice some mistake in a poll or update, please point it out because its probably not noticed yet, thanks

 

[Mammo]

It ended exactly on ch. 19 so it ain't Under 19, so no U19 member.

putting a U in front of an age number means you can't be older than that age

for example: U19 means this competition is for 19 years old and younger
so 19 years old are eligible for entry in that competition


do you guys not watch sport?

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 13, 2021, Original Post Date: Sep 13, 2021 ---

just noticed pppppp logo from its twitter

 

[Kushikime]

As for our new series, honestly I'm enjoying Neru a lot more than Red Hood currently, it's still lacking any real direction but does at least have cool action each week and the new girl is cute.

While this week's Red Hood on the other hand was mostly just explaining a plan that really didn't need explained amidst an exam arc that already feels rather random and unnecessary, as if it's there solely for the sake of having an exam and some action rather than making any sense for the story.

This confuses me because couldn’t you just switch the series and keep your statement the same. They explained how to retrieve an arrow in NERU and Red Hood you can enjoy the action and has new girl that’s cute.

 

[tirakai]

Nah Neru's chapter was quite different, the explaining was over quick with it getting to the tracking right away, we got to see some of the girl's motivations and personality, and the plan for getting the arrow back was a surprise. It's similar on the surface but was carried out a lot better.

Though the main issue with Red Hood is that it's trying to be plot focused but none of the current stuff matters. We have a physical exam despite having months of training that already served the purpose of kicking out the weaklings, and the series seems to be going for them all to pass making it even more pointless, if someone could literally stand there doing nothing and pass what's the point of having an exam at all? Unless there's going to be a twist that only the pro-active participants pass (which is possible I suppose), the physical training is enough of a test already. It's all a bit of a waste of time, just like the second werewolf fight.

 

[Kushikime]

Nah Neru's chapter was quite different, the explaining was over quick with it getting to the tracking right away, we got to see some of the girl's motivations and personality, and the plan for getting the arrow back was a surprise. It's similar on the surface but was carried out a lot better.

Though the main issue with Red Hood is that it's trying to be plot focused but none of the current stuff matters. We have a physical exam despite having months of training that already served the purpose of kicking out the weaklings, and the series seems to be going for them all to pass making it even more pointless, if someone could literally stand there doing nothing and pass what's the point of having an exam at all? Unless there's going to be a twist that only the pro-active participants pass (which is possible I suppose), the physical training is enough of a test already. It's all a bit of a waste of time, just like the second werewolf fight.

They literally explain why and how the test is so hard, the pass rate is so small - how do you figure everyone will pass? Especially when they sow seeds for betrayal at the end of the chapter. I welcome a different opinion but I don’t really understand this at all. Also they offscreened months of training are they just supposed to pass the MC off-screen?? What would even be the point of the arc then?

 

[tirakai]

The whole chapter was about a plan to make everyone pass, the idea of stealing the cuffs is cool on the surface but what it really means is one small group could just take them all with everyone else passing despite could do nothing (which is their current plan, have 6 people do all the work).

And again, there was already official training that was supposed to be really intense so that a lot of people would drop out, hard to pass training followed by a hard to pass exam that's a random game completely unrelated to the training is the series immediately repeating itself again just like the two wolf fights. Either focus more on the training or have it only be an exam, with Red taking the time to train Velou personally beforehand.

It's following the battle shounen motions without it making much sense for the series itself. Which is a real shame since the manga's had some cool world design and the two main villains we've seen are interesting, but the MC's side of the story is all so weak and often redundant. Even the main character himself feels rather unneeded so far.

--- Double Post Merged, Sep 13, 2021, Original Post Date: Sep 13, 2021 ---

What would even be the point of the arc then?

That's exactly what I'm saying about the arc as it is now, there's no point to it. Why spend all this time training recruits when in the end you decide pass/fail based on a random game they could pass by doing nothing, or could be really strong but fail because a bunch of other examinees threw them under the bus or dragged him with them? It's an exam arc because battle shounen have exam arcs, there's really no need to have an exam here at all in story.

 

[AbrahamOmosun]

Red Hood should just have started hunting creatures immediately after they left the village. The MC is already very comfortable with a gun and axe and can keep his wits in a battle, feels like there is no need for him going to the training facility (since they never even showed what was so "difficult" about it)

 

[Blink22]

Am I the only one that thinks Red Hood’s paneling has improved very much? The art itself is still messy and it’s hard to distinguish characters sometimes but I actually commend the author for the paneling of the action sequences. Very pleasing to follow and easy on the eye. Especially the panels when its Porschen in action. Almost as remarkable as Chainsawman’s paneling.

While I think the exam arc is a bit sudden and we still haven’t had time to properly digest the side characters, I think it’s smart for the author to go straight to the action and give us their characterization through this exam arc instead of wasting tons of chapters on staying in one place like before with the Hamlet. The Hamlet chapters already hindered the momentum. We already got the initial set up and core established. No need for SOL shenanigans and waiting even longer for the interesting stuff or it spells doom for the series.

Also, I appreciate that Red Hood has a firm narrative finally established from this arc. Neru doesn’t even have that yet. Reception has definitely risen since the exam arc started with the author already giving us small pieces of characterization and setting up future potential conflict within the core cast. We’ll see if it reflects on the rankings, but get the feeling the Hamlet chapters were too damaging for its long term future so we’ll see.

 

[SharkBait]

shueisha getting Naruto in Fortnite, incredible.

also how we are this many years out from Shippuden ending and the Shippuden Naruto Look is still the look of the brand

 

[kakilangit]

yooo. My boy TOP is FLASH and IRON MAN in one go!
The Power in UU is so OP and Insane, dude can running around the world and surpass speed of light.

----
Exam arc is the most boring trope and overdone in shounen. Why not take another route tho?? seriously. When you need your MC to be part of bigger organization, had better alternate, please.. or doing it quickly, or or go balls with destructive/twisted version.
example
OP = Luffy recruit the member one by one. Hard to imagine in this day and age, but why not follow this (EZ did this)
UU = Kill member to be part of the member, thats something like 'villian' organization did (phantom troupe), but hey, its no exam
Mashle = fast & funny way.

since MHA and BC, how many had exam arc in their story and still running this day??
Golem art, Build king, ------ i dont follow much, so i got nothing else, sorry
and now neru and RH.
Both are dull and boring. with RH trying to be 'smart', "all/everything according to the plan", said velou (thats ironically funny, because of my dry humor), some casual will tell you, its overexplaining=to many exposition, with little action compare to it (its should be way round in this state of manga, early).

For red hood, beside exam, you can had trainee and hunter made 1-2 mission, or long journey. As partner and as mentor-mentee inside hunter-monters arc, or ala Naruto-JJK. 1 teacher-3student, etc (without chunnin exam).. with that you can had montage training as well as adventure/explore the world building and then doing the 'serious arc'.. if you pass/still alive, you can return/follow to Hunter guild.
Just 1 bad example from me....

 

[galaxy-juice]

Exam arc is the most boring trope and overdone in shounen. Why not take another route tho?? seriously. When you need your MC to be part of bigger organization, had better alternate, please.. or doing it quickly, or or go balls with destructive/twisted version.
example
OP = Luffy recruit the member one by one. Hard to imagine in this day and age, but why not follow this (EZ did this)
UU = Kill member to be part of the member, thats something like 'villian' organization did (phantom troupe), but hey, its no exam
Mashle = fast & funny way.

since MHA and BC, how many had exam arc in their story and still running this day??
Golem art, Build king, ------ i dont follow much, so i got nothing else, sorry
and now neru and RH.
Both are dull and boring. with RH trying to be 'smart', "all/everything according to the plan", said velou (thats ironically funny, because of my dry humor), some casual will tell you, its overexplaining=to many exposition, with little action compare to it (its should be way round in this state of manga, early).

For red hood, beside exam, you can had trainee and hunter made 1-2 mission, or long journey. As partner and as mentor-mentee inside hunter-monters arc, or ala Naruto-JJK. 1 teacher-3student, etc (without chunnin exam).. with that you can had montage training as well as adventure/explore the world building and then doing the 'serious arc'.. if you pass/still alive, you can return/follow to Hunter guild.
Just 1 bad example from me....

I know you say "how many series after BC had an exam arc and are still running today", but there really aren't many battle shounen in the magazine in the first place right now. JJK and UU, didn't do it, I guess. But M:YF and Mashle both did (and M:YF is in the middle of its second one right now).

Demon Slayer also did one since BC started.

 

[Sho-West]

Figured I would stop lurking(since the 2020 thread) and make a profile, so hello all. I referenced how long I've been lurking to congratulate @Shinuki no Reborn on becoming a mod. It will be nice to finally be able to vote in your polls and hopefully contribute to the dialogue within the thread.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Figured I would stop lurking(since the 2020 thread) and make a profile, so hello all. I referenced how long I've been lurking to congratulate @Shinuki no Reborn on becoming a mod. It will be nice to finally be able to vote in your polls and hopefully contribute to the dialogue within the thread.

Welcome to the thread. Also taking the opportunity to welcome @dreamsinsleep that is a new member commenting too, hope you guys enjoy the forum

 

[CuriousReborn]

Exam arcs are fairly common in manga just like tournaments, why wouldn't they, its an easy way to introduce a bunch of characters and have them fight/showcase their abilities. That being said after catching up with RH I do not like this exam arc.

For comparison sake, MHA had two exams early on. One of them to enter the school which lasted one chapter and the another which focused on 4 already established character. Similarly the exam in KnY focused on one character with a little more sprinkled here and there. Meanwhile RH is doing 6 characters + the two cops + god knows how many more might join them.

For the former two, the exams made a lot of sense in term of actually testing the characters. In MHA, the test was about testing the applicants quirks and they were based on saving or defeating enemies, which showcases what kind of hero they want to be, hence Deku only having saving points. KnY test was a literal demon hunt, people can die, but considering the enemies it makes sense to only test them this way as any other way wont showcase the true hardship of fighting demons.

However, in RH the test is kinda random. I understand what the mangaka want to do, they are hunters not prey, MC is smart, I get that. However, if they were actually hunting werewolves or whatever, they would have been already dead since they got captured. If you were going to do an exam to test hunters it should have been way more involved with actual hunting, no second chances (obviously I don't mean death here, get captured and its over), maybe try to replicate an environment where you actually hunt or be hunted and test their abilities and wits on the field. Instead we got cops and robbers with a game of handcuffs.

Spoiler: This doesn't really apply yet, since the exam is still ongoing and things can easily change.

Not to mention, for both MHA and KnY the exams served a much greater purpose than just a showcase. Like, Shinso and how the hero exam shut people who want to be heroes completely out due to their quirks, or the MCs resolve against the guy who bullied him through his entire life. KnY also was more about the character than a showcase.

RH spent two chapters so far on heavy infodump, some of the paneling is creative, but still feels hard to read and too much text for my liking, you don't need that much text to explain a basic plan or make your character smart.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

JJK and UU, didn't do it, I guess

Wasn't the Goodwill arc pretty much a exam arc with the name of "event"?

 

[AbrahamOmosun]

Wasn't the Goodwill arc pretty much a exam arc with the name of "event"?

Not really, nobody was being tested on anything or trying to get into any position or organization. It was just a regular team based tournament

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Not really, nobody was being tested on anything or trying to get into any position or organization. It was just a regular team based tournament

Officially wasn't a exam, but you can argue that the team battles that were supervised by the superiors from both schools also serves as a test/training to show the future potential of the students.

 

[galaxy-juice]

Officially wasn't a exam, but you can argue that the team battles that were supervised by the superiors from both schools also serves as a test/training to show the future potential of the students.

I think it's closer to a tournament than an exam arc. Since they were competing for additional opportunities instead of some specific position.

But you're right, it's really just semantics.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Btw, looking at this color preview for PPPPPP, it's only missing the red hair character to be literally like the comparison i made earlier with the Generation of Miracles from Kuroko no Basket kkkk