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

[Shinuki no Reborn]

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WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP THREAD RULES​

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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!

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #42-43 (2026)
00. Sakamoto Days (Lead Color Pages)
01. Ichi the Witch
02. One Piece
03. Someone Hertz
04. Me & Roboco
00. GrayKeith: Translator Daemonica (Color Page)
05. Akane-banashi
06. Shinobi Undercover
00. Roku's House of Oddities (Color Page)
00. The Ura Files (Not Ranked)
07. Witch Watch
08. Animal Signal
09. Nue's Exorcist
00. Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi (Color Page)
10. Under Doctor
00. The secret of Captain Gozo Tsunoda (One Shot)
11. Hal Formula
12. Class 2B Hero Destroyerz
13. Cannon Master
00. Kagurabachi (Absent)

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #44 (2026) - Information!
Someone Hertz (Cover & Lead Color Pages, 1st Anniversary)
Akane-banashi (Color Page)
Nue's Exorcist (Color Page, Characters Popularity Poll Results)
Cursed Case (One Shot by Oku Takuo, Color Page, Golden Future Cup 2026 #1)

 

[KrenKren]

Char and Hinao suffered from only being relevant when Chihiro essentially hogged all the color pages

I think the last time we saw them was 80 chapters ago? It was right after the Rakuza Ichi, in any case, which is crazy to think about now.

 

[kiyoshibro]

Someone with good sources can give me (if possible) the sales of Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi 9 and UNDER DOCTOR 2? (cuz someone on twitter is biased af and don't give complete information)

 

[RealityChecker]

Someone with good sources can give me (if possible) the sales of Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi 9 and UNDER DOCTOR 2? (cuz someone on twitter is biased af and don't give complete information)

Kiyoshi sold 7,986 first week on Oricon and 2,282 second week on Shoseki. Total=10,268.
Under Doctor sold less than Kiyoshi on Shoseki, we don't know how much because Shoseki gave Kiyoshi 2K more than what actually sold, so we can assume Under Doctor sold between 5K to 6K first week. Then second week it sold 1,855 so it may have sold between 6,855 to 7,855.

 

[Nuesmoker]

Been soing fine, I've just been way more into jrpgs over manga recently, not to mention, as you can tell from my reviews, I just cannot muster any words for most series these days, even for chapters I DO like. I like doing the Nue ones, but otherwise it feels like a chore recently. Not to mention, I've been wanting to read more from other magazines too, so I've been pretty slack on Jump honestly.

Also I should mention that the costant wait for the Nue anime has me anxious these days. A Jump Press could be announced any day now, same with the Poll Results Cover (and even then there is an ever so slight fear that they skip the cover for it, 2025 and the 2nd anniversary got me constantly afraid of these things). Plus, to be perfectly honest, seeing all these Kagurabachi designs and VA reveals has me VERY envious, I just don't vocalize that because I know I'd just be a douchebag if I did, lol.

 

[monstera11]

Kagurabachi's complete lack of Female MC is very respectable. I am glad there is no token female being shoved unnecessarily for the purpose of male gaze.

Generally most shonens shoved a female MC in ch 1 to 3 to attract male readers. KGB recognizes that such thing has no place in Chihiro's supposedly solo revenge story (it was a solo revenge at least for the first several chapters)

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

As if he doesn't do the opposite for the female/fujo gaze

 

[RealityChecker]

Kagurabachi's complete lack of Female MC is very respectable. I am glad there is no token female being shoved unnecessarily for the purpose of male gaze.

Generally most shonens shoved a female MC in ch 1 to 3 to attract male readers. KGB recognizes that such thing has no place in Chihiro's supposedly solo revenge story (it was a solo revenge at least for the first several chapters)

He probably just don't know how to write female characters. It is fine.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Roku's House of Oddities Volume 1

Spoiler

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 28, 2026, Original Post Date: Aug 28, 2026 ---

Class 2B Hero Destroyerz Volume 1

Spoiler

 

[tirakai]

A lot of the time it's not a lack of ability to write women so much as writers just defaulting to everyone being male.

If a character is female, it's because they're either a love interest, a mother or sister, or otherwise play a role in the story that requires them being a woman (like facing gender-based discrimination etc). But if a character's gender isn't important to the story, then they're male. You see it all the time in western fantasy, too (even some female writers end up doing it).

Like if Uruha was female, would it change anything? No, he doesn't need to be male storywise, but that's just the default.

The opposite does exist, some LNs are that way, but I don't think we've had one in Jump (even Ichi the Witch has most of the villains present as male, and it literally has a setting requiring a female-dominated cast).

 

[Bulju]

As if he doesn't do the opposite for the female/fujo gaze

He doesn't? Aside from the one hot springs chapter with Sojo I can't think of any instances of Hokazono pandering to the fujo gaze. He draws slim, attractive men for sure but I'd hardly write that down to pandering and moreso it just being what he likes to draw (specially considering all his women are the same).

 

[Kiaida]

If a character is female, it's because they're either a love interest, a mother or sister, or otherwise play a role in the story that requires them being a woman (like facing gender-based discrimination etc). But if a character's gender isn't important to the story, then they're male. You see it all the time in western fantasy, too (even some female writers end up doing it).

To the extreme some series take, it's rare and confusing. I don't judge characters based on feats or strength because that's stupid, I just want to see interesting character arcs and interactions, so something like Jujutsu Kaisen only being able to handle Maki well out of all the women in the cast is weird. It's not like Gege is unable to write different characters, he wrote space aliens as relatable characters with understandable motivations. Being fair to him, Yuka is cool, but she did spend too much time off-screen.

I'm sure this "limitation" some Jump writers use as an excuse is mostly made up because they don't want to admit they're intentionally not writing them either because "boys just want to see strong dudes" or because they're pandering to fans who think women get in the way of the male character relationships.

Not even trying is worse. And no, before people try to say shonen manga was always like this, Jump had Cat's Eye in 1981. In fact, they're doing worse in this regard than when they had Sket Dance, Nurarihyon and Medaka Box running. EDIT: Akane does a lot for Current Jump at least.

 

[monstera11]

A lot of the time it's not a lack of ability to write women so much as writers just defaulting to everyone being male.

If a character is female, it's because they're either a love interest, a mother or sister, or otherwise play a role in the story that requires them being a woman (like facing gender-based discrimination etc). But if a character's gender isn't important to the story, then they're male. You see it all the time in western fantasy, too (even some female writers end up doing it).

Like if Uruha was female, would it change anything? No, he doesn't need to be male storywise, but that's just the default.

The opposite does exist, some LNs are that way, but I don't think we've had one in Jump (even Ichi the Witch has most of the villains present as male, and it literally has a setting requiring a female-dominated cast).

How would Iori being female change anything?

 

[Shonenfan]

Kagurabachi is ok on the women front imo; not revolutionary like Akanebanashi, Undead unluck or even one piece (yes having a female villain as the first antagonist our MC fights in alvida and having a female main villain in Big Mom is something many other series haven’t done).

We still have a sword bearer who is a woman who will get development. Hiyuki is hinted to have a big role. And if we’re being honest, KB is pretty small in its scope of characters it focuses on each arc (like 3 or 4 people). It’s not a big cast each arc that has a focus on development. It’s similar to early HxH. The focus net is small, but KB does have better representation on that front

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

He doesn't? Aside from the one hot springs chapter with Sojo I can't think of any instances of Hokazono pandering to the fujo gaze. He draws slim, attractive men for sure but I'd hardly write that down to pandering and moreso it just being what he likes to draw (specially considering all his women are the same).

lmao! yeah he totally does, the Hakuri character introduction and his instantly dynamic with Chihiro is one of most blatantly "MC couple" fujoshi pandering i saw on WSJ lately, and it 100% worked, last year WSJ issue #45 cover was full to the brim with fujoshis calling them married couple coming out of their marriage and etc on Twitter, these things are done in purpose, and I'm not criticizing him, of course he was influenced by his editor to pander to them, and it worked for him greatly, but saying Kagurabachi isn't trying to pander to fujo is just crazy, it is what it is kkkk

 

[Shonenfan]

lmao! yeah he absolutely does, the Hakuri character introduction and his instantly dynamic with Chihiro is one of most blatantly "MC couple" fujoshi pandering i saw on WSJ lately, and it 100% worked, last year WSJ issue #45 cover was full to the brim with fujoshis calling them married couple coming out of their marriage and etc on Twitter, these things are done in purpose, and I'm not criticizing him, of course he was influenced by his editor to pander to them, and it worked for him greatly, but saying Kagurabachi isn't trying to pander to fujo is just crazy, it is what it is kkkk

Feels like the fujoshi thing has been a massive factor for success of a series nowadays. Blue lock is the most successful sports manga since haikyuu and probably the only one to reach those heights and it’s littered with it. Starting to spread to battle series now too. Hell, Im not even sure a sports manga can succeed nowadays without it. I get it to a degree since women like it and it brings them in as readers and voters. Still kind of sucks as it strays from Shonen when non Shonen demographic determines things.

Its not like it never existed (look at Prince of tennis and freaking Keigo Atobe LOL) just feels like it’s spreading to everything now

 

[RealityChecker]

Feels like the fujoshi thing has been a massive factor for success of a series nowadays. Blue lock is the most successful sports manga since haikyuu and probably the only one to reach those heights and it’s littered with it. Starting to spread to battle series now too. Hell, Im not even sure a sports manga can succeed nowadays without it. I get it to a degree since women like it and it brings them in as readers and voters. Still kind of sucks as it strays from Shonen when non Shonen demographic determines things.

Its not like it never existed (look at Prince of tennis LOL) just feels like it’s spreading to everything now

You don't like that?

 

[Aqyurs]

Its not like it never existed (look at Prince of tennis and freaking Keigo Atobe LOL) just feels like it’s spreading to everything now

It's always been in everything. Why do you think Reborn and D. Grayman are so popular? Naruto x Sasuke shippers didn't just invent that ship out of nowhere, the series had tons of things that support that ship. Even in other media like games, Kingdom Hearts has been doing this since at least Chain of Memories (the second game in the series).

The only real difference is that it's more obvious now because we see people post online all the merch released appealing to fujoshis.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Feels like the fujoshi thing has been a massive factor for success of a series nowadays. Blue lock is the most successful sports manga since haikyuu and probably the only one to reach those heights and it’s littered with it. Starting to spread to battle series now too. Hell, Im not even sure a sports manga can succeed nowadays without it. I get it to a degree since women like it and it brings them in as readers and voters. Still kind of sucks as it strays from Shonen when non Shonen demographic determines things.

Its not like it never existed (look at Prince of tennis and freaking Keigo Atobe LOL) just feels like it’s spreading to everything now

Not nowadays, it's been quite prominent like this for like 10+ years already, at least on Shonen Jump, and while it's not necessarily a bad thing per se, it's also not good either when Jump starts to lean on it just a bit too much, it's been a topic on JP Forums about how Jump has leaned on pandering to girls a bit too much in the last years in opposite to the original audience, part of it being that supposedly japanese guys are today more interested in Vtubers, idols and stuff, which is also one of the reasons why Nue has struck such a cord with male readers since it's fully on appealing to male readers while also throwing some bones to the female audience with some attractive male characters.

You're totally right that sport mangas has basically no shot in surviving if doesn't grab the female audience, and it's been like this since forever.

 

[Kiaida]

It's completely fine that these series exist and it's a good thing overall. But it's disappointing how mainstream battle series love to sideline women in it thinking it would be a negative point. Somehow the witches in Ichi are sidelined for male characters in every single arc, that goes against the story's basic premise. It's just silly at that point, especially when basically every villain they fought so far was a guy as well besides Fujimine, who they didn't even truly battle.

And talking about spokon. Literally nothing works, so there's that. Even with appealing characters you need an unique concept or interesting story, there's a reason Blue Lock is the only major shonen spokon success in the last 10 years.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

It's completely fine that these series exist and it's a good thing overall. But it's disappointing how mainstream battle series love to sideline women in it thinking it would be a negative point. Somehow the witches in Ichi are sidelined for male characters in every single arc, that goes against the story's basic premise. It's just silly at that point, especially when basically every villain they fought so far was a guy as well besides Fujimine, who they didn't even truly battle.

And talking about spokon. Literally nothing works, so there's that. Even with appealing characters you need an unique concept or interesting story, there's a reason Blue Lock is the only major shonen spokon success in the last 10 years.

You don't need unique concept in sports lol You only need appealing char designs, good character writing and interesting dynamics, good art too, that's the things fujos care (the fewer male fans too), Blue Lock is a out of the box case with the unique soccer setting, not the norm.