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.
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#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.
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#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!

 

[monstera11]

I think about this a lot. It almost makes me wish that WSJ had a "second tier" just like in non-american sports, where teams get relegated. This could allow for these less-popular series to gain momentum, albeit in another mag (in this second-tier mag). If they got popular/good enough, they could be "promoted" to the 1st division, i.e., WSJ.

It is very insulting to label them "2nd tier"

 

[JBC008]

But regardless, modern Jump is far more lenient than it used to be.

Well if I can give an argument with Otr and Harukaze, they were series under the supervision and launched by its editor and captain, Murakoshi. A talented editor who I would back, but can’t due to not being versatile in battle and sports series.

 

[tirakai]

Demon Slayer is a series we know for a fact was never at risk at any point, it only hit the bottom 3 once which wasn't until on ch 38, and it jumped up to the top 5 just three chapters later.

I don't think they're necessarily being lenient on purpose, it's moreso that WSJ has been a lot less full since around 2018 or so without enough series ending to replace the hits.

When you look back further there was often 2-3 spots occupied by flops and strugglers (sometimes there was even none and they had to cancel long runners) with new hits quickly replacing anything that ended, hence why they had to be so harsh ending the flops by ch 12 sometimes. Since around 2018 however there's usually been 4+ flops or semi-flops in the magazine at any given moment so they haven't needed to rush an end to series in the first opportunity like they used to.

Like Otr, it's not that they were extra lenient, other series got U19'd after all, rather it rose in the ToC above other flops at just the right moment. It survived an extra round by having a lot of flops running at once that all did worse. When they only need 3 series to end, the manga in 4th last gets to survive.

You don't need to outrun the tiger, you only need to outrun your slower friends and all that.

 

[WyldViolet]

Yeah, Nakano had a strong 2 years, but if he was more prepared for 2020, it wouldn’t have been to much of a disaster with how the exodus was. For Saito, it will become a similar situation with 5 more established titles concluding this year. Even others I’ve talked with are comparing Saito bringing back Sorachi is like how Nakano bringing back Kishimoto. Hopefully it will be a different story cause at least Class 2-B is still funny and endearing, but somewhat stuck with some jokes that are from the first chapter. Even though a majority are toilet jokes, at least they are well written and delivered in a funny way.

Personally, I think any EiC would struggle with such an exodus. But tbh, he had a stronger lineup of series remaining than the mag had when Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk ended within a year of each other.
But yea, Saito bringing back Sorachi is an interesting parallel to Nakano with Kishimoto.

 

[Aqyurs]

I think about this a lot. It almost makes me wish that WSJ had a "second tier" just like in non-american sports, where teams get relegated. This could allow for these less-popular series to gain momentum, albeit in another mag (in this second-tier mag). If they got popular/good enough, they could be "promoted" to the 1st division, i.e., WSJ.

This already exists basically. Jump Giga has all these one shots by unproven authors that could possibly get a series if their one shot is good enough, axed Jump authors usually release a one shot here first to get a general idea what their fans want to see next from them, and it even used to do miniseries that got made into proper Jump series if they were popular enough:

1. The miniseries that would inspire Jujutsu Kaisen and get reworked into 0
2. Momiji no Kisetsu
3. Invade You!
4. Hell Warden Higuma
5. (only sort of counts) Shuhei Tanizaki (Gonron Egg) did a mini series in Jump Giga in 2016

Other miniseries outside Giga that got turned into actual series:

1. Neru: Way of the Martial Artist (Shonen Jump Digital exclusive)

===

As you can see, the miniseries went 1-5 once they got "promoted", even if the 1 was a massive home run. The fact that after that one home run they didn't even come close to replicating probably made them less enthusiastic about transferring series wholesale and focused more on authors instead.

As for why they didn't take series from like Jump+ or SQ or something. Well aside from the fact that most of those authors would have to get used to a new schedule that they may not be able to keep up with, they're not meant to be "second tier Jump". They're supposed to be their own brand that stands on their own. If you just take the most popular Jump+ series that's able to run weekly every two years and transfer it, why should I care about Plus? It's just going to keep losing a lot of their best series.

Also we already know that the transition from one shot to full series doesn't guarantee you the same level of popularity; Hero Girl's one shot was extremely popular and it did not translate at all. Consider that theoretically it's the same audience mostly (there's probably a good number of people who don't bother reading one shots in Japan too, only actual series, but it's the same pool of people) and it's already hard. Now you're asking a vastly different audience from one magazine/platform to come over to a second one they might not even like which makes it way harder. Just getting the popular author and asking them to make a new series is way easier a sell.

 

[JBC008]

Personally, I think any EiC would struggle with such an exodus. But tbh, he had a stronger lineup of series remaining than the mag had when Dragon Ball ended.

Fair argument, but at the same time, the early to mid 90’s was a different time and it’s mindset was also different because of the leadership done by Horie and then rebuilt and strengthened due to Torishima.

--- Double Post Merged, May 2, 2026, Original Post Date: May 2, 2026 ---

But for Saito with the lineup he has now, be has those reliable hitters after Sakamoto Days and Blue Box conclude with Kagurabachi, Ichi the Witch, and Someone Hertz being the new pillars.

 

[Aqyurs]

Yeah, Nakano had a strong 2 years, but if he was more prepared for 2020, it wouldn’t have been to much of a disaster with how the exodus was. For Saito, it will become a similar situation with 5 more established titles concluding this year. Even others I’ve talked with are comparing Saito bringing back Sorachi is like how Nakano bringing back Kishimoto. Hopefully it will be a different story cause at least Class 2-B is still funny and endearing, but somewhat stuck with some jokes that are from the first chapter. Even though a majority are toilet jokes, at least they are well written and delivered in a funny way.

I think it's also worth considering that Nakano didn't have to just deal with one exodus; he had to deal with losing multiple long term series almost every year, just like Saito. 2020 was bad obviously, but people seem to forget that he was bleeding series basically as soon as he took over.

2018 he lost Gintama, Saiki, and World Trigger (to SQ) plus his end of magazine gag manga, Lycopene, had to get transferred due to the author's health. 2019 he lost Soma, Hinomaru Sumo, and Boruto (to V-Jump). 2021 he lost We Never Learn and Chainsaw Man. 2022, his big hit Ruri got put on a multi year hiatus and Dr. Stone ended. Even if we consider the three 2017 series as gifts to him instead of ones he had to make into hits, he basically had to plug giant holes every single year of his tenure and managed to do it while Saito is struggling to find mid tier hits, let alone potential 5+ year mainstays.

Nakano had his weaknesses, but disaster navigation wasn't one of them.

 

[JBC008]

I think it's also worth considering that Nakano didn't have to just deal with one exodus; he had to deal with losing multiple long term series almost every year, just like Saito. 2020 was bad obviously, but people seem to forget that he was bleeding series basically as soon as he took over.

2018 he lost Gintama, Saiki, and World Trigger (to SQ) plus his end of magazine gag manga, Lycopene, had to get transferred due to the author's health. 2019 he lost Soma, Hinomaru Sumo, and Boruto (to V-Jump). 2021 he lost We Never Learn and Chainsaw Man. 2022, his big hit Ruri got put on a multi year hiatus and Dr. Stone ended. Even if we consider the three 2017 series as gifts to him instead of ones he had to make into hits, he basically had to plug giant holes every single year of his tenure and managed to do it while Saito is struggling to find mid tier hits, let alone potential 5+ year mainstays.

Nakano had his weaknesses, but disaster navigation wasn't one of them.

I get where you are coming from, and yes losing different series in a year is tough when you lose 2-3 established ones, but when you lose 5-7 in one year, and you have limited hits, that’s a problem. With Saito he is still new, and made some bad and probably questionable decisions, but only last year. It hasn’t gotten worse yet for me to truly lose faith in him and say he was the worst EiC Jump ever had.

--- Double Post Merged, May 2, 2026, Original Post Date: May 2, 2026 ---

Oh, and to add to that, EiC’s and the editorial department are more aware about established series ending that we don’t know the full context of how much longer the series will last. Furthermore if they do, it is the EiC’s decision, strategy, and overall direction for where the magazine will go when they launch new series and if those series will stick.

--- Double Post Merged, May 2, 2026 ---

So they have plenty of time to prepare when the established series to end and plan some possible new hits. If that was the case and Nakano was still in charge when MHA and JJK concluded, maybe Ichi would still be good but Kagurabachi would still be hovering around the back, while Saito is acknowledging the reception and putting Kagurabachi more up in the ToC.

 

[Aqyurs]

but when you lose 5-7 in one year, and you have limited hits

That isn't even really true though. In 2020, he found an equal amount of hits to outs:

OUT:

1. Haikyu
2. Yuuna
3. Demon Slayer
4. Promised Neverland
5. Act-age (not by choice, but because the writer is scum)

IN:

1. Undead Unluck
2. Mashle
3. Roboco
4. Ayakashi (got transferred but it got an anime so clearly it was a hit)
5. Sakamoto Days

Nakano even matched Modulo by having Burn the Witch as a mini series. Plus he had a sort of success in High School Family, a one year survivor in Magu-chan, and an almost one year survivor in Agravity Boys.

Now if you want to argue none of the 2020 hits are as successful as Demon Slayer or Haikyu, sure, but keep in mind that Demon Slayer was a slow grower that wasn't crossing 150k copies on Oricon until right before the anime started airing (and before episode 19 changed the world forever) and that Demon Slayer is one of the most successful manga of all time. I can cut Nakano some slack for not being able to replace a 4 million seller right away. Aside from that though, he did a decent job of mitigating the loss of 3 pillars, unexpectedly losing a promising series, and a lower mid tier series.

 

[kiyoshibro]

Thank you Asuta Roth, without you we aren't here to talk about Usui greatness on character designs!

 

[JBC008]

That isn't even really true though. In 2020, he found an equal amount of hits to outs:

OUT:

1. Haikyu
2. Yuuna
3. Demon Slayer
4. Promised Neverland
5. Act-age (not by choice, but because the author is scum)

IN:

1. Undead Unluck
2. Mashle
3. Roboco
4. Ayakashi (got transferred but it got an anime so clearly it was a hit)
5. Sakamoto Days

Nakano even matched Modulo by having Burn the Witch as a mini series. Plus he had a sort of success in High School Family, a one year survivor in Magu-chan, and an almost one year survivor in Agravity Boys.

Now if you want to argue none of the 2020 hits are as successful as Demon Slayer or Haikyu, sure, but keep in mind that Demon Slayer was a slow grower that wasn't crossing 150k copies on Oricon until right before the anime started airing (and before episode 19 changed the world forever) and that Demon Slayer is one of the most successful manga of all time. I can cut Nakano some slack for not being able to replace a 4 million seller right away. Aside from that though, he did a decent job of mitigating the loss of 3 pillars, unexpectedly losing a promising series, and a lower mid tier series.

I can see your argument, it was tough cause I had a different mindset going in, and I had much greater expectations along with them needing to be prepared for the real test in finding not just new hits, but the major staples of the 4 major genres that Jump needed to survive. Also with the pandemic and the abundant amount of comedy titles did not help as it was a matter of reading the room. Sure, they were okay, but I was expecting more. More as in how Sakamoto Days started, confident, focused, took risks, and was a story. If it was going to make me laugh or cry, impact me, but don’t make me angry in the sense that you didn’t try, or didn’t think things through. But in the case of other series that were hits but not my taste, like Ayakashi Triangle, I can commend the artistry of Yabuki and what it wanted to do, but my main problem with it was its subject matter and how exploitative it can be. I can respect the other authors who did stay long and had a good run as well as others that did stay when I joined the peanut gallery being Magu-Chan, High School Family, and especially Me & Roboco, when I knew we can get better comedies. Now that time has passed and despite each of my grievances with them, there are some things I can appreciate about them in their own way. And as for the other hits that I did truly love and glad they survived were Undead Unluck, Mashle, and Sakamoto Days as I saw talented newcomers and witnessed massive growth and success in all three authors.

--- Double Post Merged, May 2, 2026, Original Post Date: May 2, 2026 ---

I don’t care about high sellers, I just wanted well written works so I can engage with it. And if I can see it then others can see it and then the high seller aspect will come , but of course art and storytelling is subjective.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

June releases are up on Amazon but please don't take these rankings too at face value, it's only like the first 24 hours, i'm only posting because of Kinato:

AMAZON (PHYSICAL / DIGITAL)

95,069. Under Doctor #1
93,297. The Mage Next Door #3
93,296. The Mage Next Door #2
87,649. Gonron Egg #2
87,648. Gonron Egg #3
62,863. Hero Girl and Demon Lord Call It Quits #3
62,862. Hero Girl and Demon Lord Call It Quits #2
40,706 / 23,428. Kinato's Magic #1
334 / 124. Shinobi Undercover #8
91 / 56. Nue's Exorcist #15
48 / 46. Witch Watch #26
46 / 43. Akane-banashi #22

From UD to JK the digital ranking isn't available yet for some reason, and yeah, there's no way Under Doctor is going to perform worse than TMND so we have to wait for more time to have a better idea of how will probably perform but i'm surprised with Kinato already charting like this, i pray this is a good sign for the sales

 

[cameronney618]

@Xanji06 deleted but he's talking about this:

"Shuten Touji

First appeared in Volume 2. The character design was already set, but when the series got canceled, everything got shelved. Good for you, Shuten!!!"

Spoiler

So yeah, apparently the series was supposed to be axed, but is easy to see what happened, Touji was introduced on chapter 15 (Vol 2), published in October of 2024, Volume 1 was finally released 1 month later in November 2024, sold nearly 13k copies in the month, and "Kiyoshi vs Asuta Roth" started on ch19 published on November 4 days after vol 1 released, so basically Usui was able to struck gold with the decent sales and introducing a great character which saved the series!

Jump politics at work.
Make you're friends with Oda if you ever serialise something in Jump.

This is absolutely disgusting.

 

[monstera11]

Shoseki Top 500 (May 1)
1. Jujutsu Kaisen Modulo #3
2. Kagurabachi #11
3. Ichi the Witch #8
4. Sakamoto Days #27
5. Blue Box #25
6. Someone Hertz #3
8. The Elusive Samurai #25
14. Hima-Ten! #9
26. Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi #8
34. Me & Roboco #26

May is a crazy month of heavy hitters. I guess it is common to put their most hyped series during golden week releases.

Yes, Roboco is also heavy hitters. No matter what you say!!!!!!

 

[Bulju]

@Xanji06 deleted but he's talking about this:

"Shuten Touji

First appeared in Volume 2. The character design was already set, but when the series got canceled, everything got shelved. Good for you, Shuten!!!"

Spoiler

So yeah, apparently the series was supposed to be axed, but is easy to see what happened, Touji was introduced on chapter 15 (Vol 2), published in October of 2024, Volume 1 was finally released 1 month later in November 2024, sold nearly 13k copies in the month, and "Kiyoshi vs Asuta Roth" started on ch19 published on November 4 days after vol 1 released, so basically Usui was able to struck gold with the decent sales and introducing a great character which saved the series!

It's funny, I remember when the Black Parade started everyone including myself started mourning the series as it was "obviously" gonna end in a few chapters' time. I guess we weren't that far off the mark after all.

 

[Nuesmoker]

please don't take these rankings too at face

I am not gonna follow this disclaimer because I'm a Jump reader and therefore can't read!

Anyways yeah no shot UD performs like this lol, and I expect Kinato to do much worse in the long run. They've given up on it unlike UD.

Everything else does seem to be fairly in line tho.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

lol What's the deal with these ultra late releases by VIZ? Here in Brazil there's already pre order for the final Yozakura volume 29 to be released in June, meanwhile VIZ is announcing the release of vol 25 for....October???

 

[TheRealTravisty]

lol What's the deal with these ultra late releases by VIZ? Here in Brazil there's already pre order for the final Yozakura volume 29 to be released in June, meanwhile VIZ is announcing the release of vol 25 for....October???

If I recall correctly, Yozakura wasn’t originally a physical release until much later due to fan outcry.

I wish Viz were quicker on these things myself. Undead Unluck’s final volume is in October…if only they released it with volume 26 like they did in Japan…

 

[defensor_de_boruto]

@Xanji06 deleted but he's talking about this:

"Shuten Touji

First appeared in Volume 2. The character design was already set, but when the series got canceled, everything got shelved. Good for you, Shuten!!!"

Spoiler

So yeah, apparently the series was supposed to be axed, but is easy to see what happened, Touji was introduced on chapter 15 (Vol 2), published in October of 2024, Volume 1 was finally released 1 month later in November 2024, sold nearly 13k copies in the month, and "Kiyoshi vs Asuta Roth" started on ch19 published on November 4 days after vol 1 released, so basically Usui was able to struck gold with the decent sales and introducing a great character which saved the series!

he basically survived the axe and made one of the best shonen arcs of this decade, thanks god he stayed

 

[tirakai]

On that note, what's everyone's favourite story arc of the current ongoing WSJ series? Specifically the 2020s generation ie excluding One Piece and HxH.