Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump (2026) - News and Discussion!

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Moderator Notice:

WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP THREAD RULES​

#1. No fights or personal insults.
#2. No bait or troll comments with the intention of being annoying or starting serious heated discussions, if i notice it's a continuous behavior, i will warn the user or delete the comment.
#3. No toxic attitude towards series, no one is obligated to enjoy any series and it's totally fine to criticize what you don't like, just avoid posting gratuitous hateful or toxic comments about X or Y series, if i notice this behavior, comments will be deleted.
#4. Don't bring politics or off-topic stuff to the thread, this is about Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and mangas, so keep any conversation about topics that aren't related about anime & manga outside the thread.
#5. Don't post news about series from other magazine or publishers in the WSJ thread, post in the series own thread, but it's fine if you're mentioning other series or magazine to express a opinion or reflection about Shonen Jump.
#6. Any tweet, specially japanese, about news, update or some interesting thing about the magazine or series has to come with a text of what that tweet means and also be on topic, if not it's going to be either deleted or i will edit the post.
#7. Refrain from self advertising or advertising Youtubers videos in the comments.
#8. Constant fanart posts just for the sake of praising a favorite series is prohibited, this rule doesn't apply for official art by Jump artists posted on social media, they're fine to post.
#9. Don't discuss or hype chapter spoilers before Sunday release, only comment if is related to a series surviving status and do it only inside the spoiler tag.
#10. Regarding rule #9, an exception will be made for when we have new series, in this case, spoilers will be allowed only for the first 3 chapters of a new series for the users who are interested in knowing informations and details about the new series, these spoilers will obviously be kept under tags to protect anyone that doesn't want to be spoiled, so don't worry about it.
~ Shinuki

I hope everyone reads the rules and use it as a guide to behave well in the thread, thanks!

 

[Lost Being]

this manga is literally just only “Hype moments and aura”.

I'd say it's because Ouga is an extremely enjoyable protagonist. Beyond the action being competent, people outright just like to see him going balls-to-the-wall. Like yeah sure, "hype moments and aura" but that can only take you so far if readers just don't care about the characters, especially for a new series. Him not being muscle-brained and actually pretty observant while still being willing to do batshit stuff hits right for certain people, alongside having an overall extremely sympathetic goal and multiple displays of being just a sweet guy. That may, understandably, not fly for everyone especially if he doesn't click with you but that's a big one. It has a protag that the readers overwhelmingly want to, and enjoy seeing, succeed. I also like a few other aspects, but that goes even further into subjectiveness, hah.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

I'm not personally "mad" about Kinato's Magic rankings so far, i'm more frustrated because the chapters ranked so far are all the best ones, it's not even ranking the current arc where the criticism started to get heavier online, so it feels frustrating to see good chapters and the big author improvement not being supported by readers.

 

[Kiaida]

I wonder if Kinato lost some initial support because it sidelined Linae and Jien. We know they would eventually be back, but considering readers didn't care much about Kinato himself, maybe that got them to stop voting for it.

 

[Wookitake]

My issue with Kinato is advancing some "typical shounen tropes" (the 'Gotei 13', the rival, the Deku-like self-sacrifice) like it was a to-do list. We complain when some manga take too long to set the story, of course, but in this case, it is not exactly like that (or, more precisely, taking it too fast).

They should have developed the relationship between the characters a little bit more. Should have waited a bit to make Kinato to apply his magic to his own body. And so on.

 

[Pedroland17]

My issue with Kinato is advancing some "typical shounen tropes" (the 'Gotei 13', the rival, the Deku-like self-sacrifice) like it was a to-do list. We complain when some manga take too long to set the story, of course, but in this case, it is not exactly like that (or, more precisely, taking it too fast).

They should have developed the relationship between the characters a little bit more. Should have waited a bit to make Kinato to apply his magic to his own body. And so on.

Ah, but that’s a problem shared by a lot of this newer wave. Based on recommendations from people in this group, I decided to give Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi another shot, and I’m currently at chapter 13. It’s really funny seeing how many newer authors, early in their series, seem to throw ideas in every direction just to figure out what works and what doesn’t. In Kiyoshi alone, I’ve already noticed four or five different attempts at that kind of "standard shonen" approach.

What I’ve been enjoying, though, is that the manga has a solid sense of humor, and the fights have good choreography, with attacks full of references. I also find it interesting how casual it is with naming things, without forcing some elaborate power classification system or special training arc before unlocking abilities. That stands out to me.

The author clearly hasn’t fully found his path yet, but I get the sense that once he does, he has what it takes to make a genuinely interesting story.

 

[DKong]

I'm not personally "mad" about Kinato's Magic rankings so far, i'm more frustrated because the chapters ranked so far are all the best ones, it's not even ranking the current arc where the criticism started to get heavier online, so it feels frustrating to see good chapters and the big author improvement not being supported by readers.

I forget ranking is like 8 weeks behind lol, I can't imagine these newest chapters will be treated any better. That's gotta be pretty discouraging for the author too though since by the time the feedback comes in you might already be down a path that readers are gonna hate ,there's probably some advanced insider process to mitigate this tho

 

[Aqyurs]

I forget ranking is like 8 weeks behind lol, I can't imagine these newest chapters will be treated any better. That's gotta be pretty discouraging for the author too though since by the time the feedback comes in you might already be down a path that readers are gonna hate ,there's probably some advanced insider process to mitigate this tho

The authors get feedback way sooner. We accept 8 chapters back for the TOC because of circumstantial evidence, really old insider leaks, and because we need some kind of baseline to have actual conversation about the TOC since we don't get the actual survey results. Otherwise one person can just assume the rankings reflect one week and someone else can assume they reflect over twenty weeks, making it impossible to actually discuss how a series is doing on the TC. Eight chapters is a timeline that made sense, and there's enough clues out there that support it, so we use 8 chapters.

It's also probable that the authors aren't doing that, they're choosing to go down a path that lets them tell a mostly finished story. Kaedegami's author was told the series was getting axed by the time they finished the chapter 7 drafts, which would be probably around chapter 3-5's release in the magazine. They weren't working on chapter 8 and beyond without knowing if the new direction would rebound the series or not; they worked on those chapters so that the series could have some kind of conclusion in its limited time left.

And yes, we have many authors who describe that time period between being told that they're getting axed and the months it takes for the last chapter to actually be published as soul crushing. It's part of why I think letting obvious flops flounder until chapter 20 is bad. If the author's going to wallow in depression for months, they're not going to meaningfully learn anything for next serialization during that dead period, and reflecting on what went wrong in a 12 chapter series isn't going to be that different from what went wrong in a 18-20 chapter series.

 

[DKong]

And yes, we have many authors who describe that time period between being told that they're getting axed and the months it takes for the last chapter to actually be published as soul crushing. It's part of why I think letting obvious flops flounder until chapter 20 is bad. If the author's going to wallow in depression for months, they're not going to meaningfully learn anything for next serialization during that dead period, and reflecting on what went wrong in a 12 chapter series isn't going to be that different from what went wrong in a 18-20 chapter series.

Oh interesting,so we're working on an estimate kinda, that kaedegami stuff makes sense .I think I agree with this take too, Jump seems like it could be great for newbies if they can properly utilise the experience,huge exposure ,connection and advice from vets and getting a taste of the full weekly schedule however I do think just leaving them out to dry until they squeak will only serve to discourage them in the future.

Super helpful thanks

 

[KrenKren]

Ah, yes... my favorite Sakamoto fights

 

[NeeNeen]

My issue with Kinato is advancing some "typical shounen tropes" (the 'Gotei 13', the rival, the Deku-like self-sacrifice) like it was a to-do list. We complain when some manga take too long to set the story, of course, but in this case, it is not exactly like that (or, more precisely, taking it too fast).

They should have developed the relationship between the characters a little bit more. Should have waited a bit to make Kinato to apply his magic to his own body. And so on.

"Too fast" isn't a matter of timing, but of set-up. In this case, I don't think the main issue is the relationships, or the fact that Kinato started straining his body in chapter 10 (it makes sense he would do that in an emergency); the problem is that he suddenly snapped and went from 0 to 100 for no clear reason. He says it's to protect the town, but we've never seen him care about material items before (the people have already evacuated). We've never seen him consider himself as an indispensable front fighter before, or jump to the most reckless solution without considering any alternatives (his seniors are fighting and doing well, but he's acting as if they don't exist and doesn't even consider supporting them like has been his role so far). We've never seen him act with such unfounded confidence before, or boast his imaginary powers ("I will stop you as many times as it takes"? Kiddo, you couldn't even put a scratch on him this time).

Character growth is nice, but when your character basically changes his whole personality after getting hit in the face once, you're either dealing with a form of shizophrenia (would be funny if that was the case) of you just skipped the entire development part of character development. And everyone else is constantly hyping him up, too, so it's clearly not an oversight. The writer intended for him to transform from a quiet kid into an arrogant jock in minutes, and we're supposed to like it. But for me (and many other people apparently), the whole thing just feels massively OOC because there was nothing leading up to it.

(I only just noticed, but how tf did it take them 40 minutes to teleport after the fight started? Either the mangaka or the translator dropped the ball there.)

As for the rival... do you really think golden boy is supposed to be one? If he is, then that's an even more egregious case of skipping essential story parts, because they forgot to make him do anything impressive. He zapped one armor, breaking his sword in the process. Then everyone started raving about how special and awesome he is. He then played fuel source for a bit, Kinato told him he wants to become his equal, and then we don't see him do anything for the entire fight. What are we trying to live up to exactly?

And how does literally everyone know what a colourless badge looks like if nobody has ever gotten one before

Ah, yes... my favorite Sakamoto fights

Don't know about the left, but I feel like the right match could go either way.

 

[KrenKren]

"Too fast" isn't a matter of timing, but of set-up. In this case, I don't think the main issue is the relationships, or the fact that Kinato started straining his body in chapter 10 (it makes sense he would do that in an emergency); the problem is that he suddenly snapped and went from 0 to 100 for no clear reason. He says it's to protect the town, but we've never seen him care about material items before (the people have already evacuated). We've never seen him consider himself as an indispensable front fighter before, or jump to the most reckless solution without considering any alternatives (his seniors are fighting and doing well, but he's acting as if they don't exist and doesn't even consider supporting them like has been his role so far). We've never seen him act with such unfounded confidence before, or boast his imaginary powers ("I will stop you as many times as it takes"? Kiddo, you couldn't even put a scratch on him this time).

Character growth is nice, but when your character basically changes his whole personality after getting hit in the face once, you're either dealing with a form of shizophrenia (would be funny if that was the case) of you just skipped the entire development part of character development. And everyone else is constantly hyping him up, too, so it's clearly not an oversight. The writer intended for him to transform from a quiet kid into an arrogant jock in minutes, and we're supposed to like it. But for me (and many other people apparently), the whole thing just feels massively OOC because there was nothing leading up to it.

(I only just noticed, but how tf did it take them 40 minutes to teleport after the fight started? Either the mangaka or the translator dropped the ball there.)

As for the rival... do you really think golden boy is supposed to be one? If he is, then that's an even more egregious case of skipping essential story parts, because they forgot to make him do anything impressive. He zapped one armor, breaking his sword in the process. Then everyone started raving about how special and awesome he is. He then played fuel source for a bit, Kinato told him he wants to become his equal, and then we don't see him do anything for the entire fight. What are we trying to live up to exactly?

And how does literally everyone know what a colourless badge looks like if nobody has ever gotten one before



Don't know about the left, but I feel like the right match could go either way.

I'd need to reread Sakamoto but Azami actually does feel like he'd fit right in with the cast even with his powers lol

 

[cameronney618]

Kinato is doing terribly because it had shoddy character designs on top of being a blatant copycat. Not a single character in this manga stands out. Throw them in a modern Slice of Life setting and they would fit right in than they do in it's fantasy setting.

Also, every chapter past kaminagi's appearance has been piss poor. You are better off rereading fairytail.

 

[Dongus]

Ah, yes... my favorite Sakamoto fights

Surely Nagumo has a dimension cutting laser sword packed in there somewhere yeah?

 

[KrenKren]

Surely Nagumo has a dimension cutting laser sword packed in there somewhere yeah?

 

[nemu asahi]

May I say something about Kill Blue?

I'm watching the anime and I think it's not focused at all: he's a killer, he has a mission (I think?), but the thing he worries/struggles the most is... keeping up with maths? As a side joke, it could be great but it's too focused on this. The side joke of keeping up with modern young people is good as a side joke too, but we're hearing all the time ojisan thoughts and it lacks dynamics.

Maybe he has a goal (getting back to his old self) but all he's doing has very little link to what he's trying to achieving. IMHO.

It's a very laid back atmosphere, no bits/punch/dynamics, whatever. For this theme and genre, it's weird.

Maybe some of you wrote these points too on this forum when you were reading it, but that's what I'm feeling as an anime only watcher.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

May I say something about Kill Blue?

I'm watching the anime and I think it's not focused at all: he's a killer, he has a mission (I think?), but the thing he worries/struggles the most is... keeping up with maths? As a side joke, it could be great but it's too focused on this. The side joke of keeping up with modern young people is good as a side joke too, but we're hearing all the time ojisan thoughts and it lacks dynamics.

Maybe he has a goal (getting back to his old self) but all he's doing has very little link to what he's trying to achieving. IMHO.

It's a very laid back atmosphere, no bits/punch/dynamics, whatever. For this theme and genre, it's weird.

Maybe some of you wrote these points too on this forum when you were reading it, but that's what I'm feeling as an anime only watcher.

He is in a mission to investigate/protect Noren since she's the daughter of the president of the pharma company behind the drug that turned him into a kid, but when he returns to being in a school for the mission and starts engaging with school time and everything surrounding it, being young and making friends again after being basically a middle aged and depressed assassin without personal life and family he starts to enjoy the little things about life again, is pretty simple.

 

[tirakai]

The lack of focus was its strength early on imo, it did a lot of different things decently at a time when Jump was somewhat lacking in genre variety. It could do sports, romcom shenanigans, action, school slice of life. It was a jack of all trades, even if it didn't excel at any one particular thing it had a little something for everyone.

When the series tried to be more focused later on as an action-assassin series, it collapsed.

 

[JBC008]

He is in a mission to investigate/protect Noren since she's the daughter of the president of the pharma company behind the drug that turned him into a kid, but when he returns to being in a school for the mission and starts engaging with school time and everything surrounding it, being young and making friends again after being basically a middle aged and depressed assassin without personal life and family he starts to enjoy the little things about life again, is pretty simple.

Yeah, like the movie 17 Again.

 

[Stivie]

The lack of focus was its strength early on imo, it did a lot of different things decently at a time when Jump was somewhat lacking in genre variety. It could do sports, romcom shenanigans, action, school slice of life. It was a jack of all trades, even if it didn't excel at any one particular thing it had a little something for everyone.

When the series tried to be more focused later on as an action-assassin series, it collapsed.

But this lack of focus clearly hurt the manga, as it failed to attract more readers, leading to a drop in popularity.

 

[nemu asahi]

He is in a mission to investigate/protect Noren since she's the daughter of the president of the pharma company behind the drug that turned him into a kid, but when he returns to being in a school for the mission and starts engaging with school time and everything surrounding it, being young and making friends again after being basically a middle aged and depressed assassin without personal life and family he starts to enjoy the little things about life again, is pretty simple.

I understand you. But they sold it as an assassin genre, right? Missions and all that, but there is no tension/action at all (at least for me). I think shinobi (not reading either, but from the panels I see from time to time) does a better job at it (might be wrong, waiting for the anime XD).

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2026, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2026 ---

The lack of focus was its strength early on imo, it did a lot of different things decently at a time when Jump was somewhat lacking in genre variety. It could do sports, romcom shenanigans, action, school slice of life. It was a jack of all trades, even if it didn't excel at any one particular thing it had a little something for everyone.

When the series tried to be more focused later on as an action-assassin series, it collapsed.

I need to know what I'm watching. It needs to choose a genre and to stick to it. IMHO.