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

[Shinuki no Reborn]

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~ Shinuki

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[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)

 

[Shonenfan]

Ura report kind of reminds me of ruri dragon meets rosario vampire. If it succeeds, it feels more like a witch watch replacement. Very hopeful for Grey Keys.

 

[Stivie]

Ura report kind of reminds me of ruri dragon meets rosario vampire. If it succeeds, it feels more like a witch watch replacement. Very hopeful for Grey Keys.

Witch Watch isn't even that good to need a replacement. Now everything is a Witch Watch replacement. First Roku, then Animal Signal. Now nobody wants a replacement for Sakamoto Days, which has any relevance.

 

[cameronney618]

Didnt read the oneshot so i didnt know what to expect but this manga resembles 'the dangers in my heart' so much, it's not even funny. It's a carbon copy.

 

[Wookitake]

Just realized both Harukaze and DttF had a character from the oneshot/on the cover that barely shows up in the actual series lol. That being said I think the sidelining of Aokaze was probably a bigger fumble because Hana was pretty clearly always going to be a goal point while in the oneshot Aokaze was clearly supposed to be one of the main characters.

My not-so-hot take is that the midget catcher would be a better MC for Harukaze (and hence the series wouldn't be named like that).

I'm also workshopping a general take about sports manga. I need to think about it more.

 

[Shonenfan]

Witch Watch isn't even that good to need a replacement. Now everything is a Witch Watch replacement. First Roku, then Animal Signal. Now nobody wants a replacement for Sakamoto Days, which has any relevance.

Roku definitely is a witch watch replacement. Ura is more of a ruri dragon replacement I guess.

 

[Stivie]

Didnt read the oneshot so i didnt know what to expect but this manga resembles 'the dangers in my heart' so much, it's not even funny. It's a carbon copy.

It almost seems like plagiarism, so much so that there's another manga with an oni girl in Jump+.

But there are many manga with big girls and short boys lately.

--- Double Post Merged, Aug 31, 2026, Original Post Date: Aug 31, 2026 ---

Roku definitely is a witch watch replacement. Ura is more of a ruri dragon replacement I guess.

Ruri Dragon has a distinct identity, but Ura is a mix of various things that worked out well.

 

[RealityChecker]

It almost seems like plagiarism, so much so that there's another manga with an oni girl in Jump+.

Plagiarism?

 

[Aqyurs]

It is kind of annoying seeing every single new series is a replacement for x when 1) the series it's "replacing" isn't ending in the next batch and 2) they only have superficial similarities.

Ruri Dragon and Ura Files aren't similar just because they both have a school girl with horns (and Mayori Academy on Jump+ definitely isn't similar to Ruri). Every comedy series with a slightly supernatural theme isn't similar to Witch Watch just because they have powers to cause hijinks (and almost none of them will come close to replacing the 30k hole Witch Watch is going to leave behind either). The entire reason why Witch Watch stands out is because it's distinct in Jump. You won't find any other series capable of telling jokes the way Shinohara does and the vast range of topics the jokes belong in. Shinohara's character writing is also A+ quality and is capable of making any character at the very least memorable, if not likeable. The supernatural background isn't the main reason why people have stuck around this long for the series, comparing them solely on the grounds they're supernatural comedies is missing the entire point of Witch Watch's success.

That's also why no one suggests to find the "Sakamoto" replacement. Sales wise, it already got replaced by Kagurabachi and Ichi. What Sakamoto itself actually offers (great and unique chroegraphy) isn't something you can just find anywhere. Hoping or expecting every random battle manga to be able to replicate that sense of style is just setting them all up for failure.

 

[monstera11]

It is also very disrespectful to reduce a series as a mere "replacement".

Each manga is a product of love, blood, sweat and tears of the author.

 

[Pietro]

Ura files is a mix between Shinobigoto and what? i don't remember the name but some years ago there was a series with an oni girl as main character. i feel like all the new mangas are copied of each others

 

[jellyfish1]

All fiction is a copy or mix-and-match of what came before it.

 

[Dongus]

I predicted that Someone Hertz would become a hit because it was a romcom following trendy tropes in the romcom sphere as of recently, so there's no surprise that I'm putting my money on The Ura Files making a decent splash. There's nothing particularly original about it, the characters' dynamics are very reminiscent of Dangers In My Heart, and the "Gyaru who is nice to loners" has been a popular archetype in the romcom sphere lately. The only thing shaking it up is the shortie's identity as an undercover secret agent, we got some Kill Blue in here too somehow. My opinion is always, "Better to be popular than to be original."

I'd say compared to the original one-shot, it's an improvement. The number one reason is that the irresponsible and racist comment was shifted from the shortie to some jackass, which allows the chemistry between the leads to work a lot better. I feel like the romances that taste good are the ones that feel like, "You're the only one who treats me like this." which helps characters feel like they were made for the other. Letting shortie here be the one to somewhat vouch for Ura despite his misconceptions, allows for a significant chemistry boost to make it feel believable. The climax is also more action-packed, which gives people a little more sides to be excited for.

And art-wise, I love me some Shun Numa, but come on.

It's not even close. It's not even fair. My man Kuroki is an absolute masterclass artist. And it also helps that they wrote in a more romantic angle, which I feel Kuroki could capture in a way that Shun Numa just can't. Shun Numa's a great artist, but he's a greater mind deciding to step out of the way and putting Kuroki on the job, because the end result is just so much better. And like, you don't even lose the Numa-isms, cause it's clear as day that Numa was storyboarding this stuff from the gag reaction panels and so on. You can tell which pages Numa personally sketched the storyboard form, and which ones were a blank panel that read, "Do your thing, Kuroki."

As for latent potential, you could run 200 chapters of gyaru comedy and it'll work out. But the setting allows for an expanded lore, since Oni are known as a Class 1 threat, it hypothetically means there are various other races running around, which makes for some of the easiest cast to build as the chapters go. Yeah, throw in that tengu, throw in that yuki-onna, throw in that kappa. Just Witch Watch that shit, you'll get 30 characters minimum. And that's the failing point as well. Because Shun Numa has demonstrated through Samon and Chojo that he can get a good premise and duo going, but he struggles to make an extended cast that captivates the audience. Ura's future lives and dies on the hill of Shun Numa's past weaknesses. If it were me, I'd just leverage Kuroki's strengths and make a Rosario Vampire 2 heh.

Anyway, cute manga, cute dynamics, cute leads. I dig it. Putting my bets on it. Hoping for the best. I dropped Someone Hertz because it doesn't exist on the same wavelength as me, but I can see myself following this for the long run because I can vibe with the humor.

Axed manga, Kinato's Magic and Drawn To The Flames. For one, I finished Kinato's Magic. I thought it was funny through the chapters, and while it lost it's (heh) magic right around the time Kinato decided to become Deku, it appears that the lesson was learnt when Kinato decided he won't fight the dawg guy and just focus on what he can do. If you've got a premise, stick to it, and the people who came to see someone play support will not be alienated when he changes to DPS. Good effort, and I hope he pieces together everything from this attempt on a third manga that embellishes his strengths. By that, I mean he should just make Shokugeki No Soma 2. I dropped Drawn To The Flames at some point after the first game because I just wasn't feeling it. There were some things about the main character that really made me feel like I couldn't get behind him. Narrowing it down, he has a wimpy personality, screwed up his passes 40 times, but has the gall to go aurafarming on dudes when he hits a nasty dribble. Sorry, no, that's two different characters. I'd feel irritated to see Deku land a Detroit Smash and then go, "Heh, that was only 20% of One For All." There's a room for aurafarmers, and we love to see 'em, but seeing it on someone like Deku at the 10 chapter point of MHA feels disastrously undeserved. Land your passes first boi.

Animal Signal? Still have my money on it, still looking like it's paying out. There was a tough lion lady last week with silly costumes and I ate good. This week is an absurdist comedy regarding some girl's destructive butt. Probably the best chapter they've put out. I think leveraging the more surreal and ridiculous gags is the way to go for this manga, and the writer seems to specialize in this type of humor.

Hal Formula? Dropped. Not gay enough for me. When it comes to sports stories, the chemistry between the athletes needs to mesh, and the characters shape the purpose of the race. Right now, I don't know what this race is for. If we return to Initial D, even the initial (heh) race was about outside racers coming into town with their hotrods thinking they're hot shit, with the purpose being to knock them down a peg getting beat by a tofu delivery car, by a driver who barely knows anything about racing.

Cannon Master? Also dropped. Great art, interesting setting, but lacking a certain pulse that I need in an action manga. I feel like it's devoid of purpose. Speaking of purposeless, Under Doctor has been spinning the BEST DOCTOR EVER thing, and I find it unnervingly gross that there's a character who wants to be second best. Like c'mon, don't teach kids to strive to be not as good as someone else, give them the drive to surpass their idols.

Kagurabachi and Nue's Exorcist have swapped genres for the past few weeks, with the former telling a romantic story of a dude stopping at nothing to save his girl, and the latter doing a bunch of aurafarming swordfights. Well, the girls are back in town this week just as Kagurabachi ended this portion of its story, so I guess they'll go back to their normal servings.

Shinobi Undercover giving Suzume more things to do other than be a walking gag? Great. It's been hinted at for a long while, now it's being explored. Great. Nothing like disguising your powers as something else just because it's really gross and painful. She needed that bag.

Akanebanashi has been hitting it out of the park with the God Of Death duel, and I forgot to comment on it when the results tallied, but it is super interesting that Akane is becoming the ideal disciple for Issho and leveraged his ideals in rakugo to win. The manga had built Kaisei up as her final opponent, the one to beat, the disciple of her greatest enemy, and he not only lost, he lost while adopting a style of rakugo that mirrors her father's 1:1. Riveting stuff. Akanebanashi is reading like what if Luke Skywalker became a Sith, without being overtly serious about it to the point it's laughable. I love it. Now the lame afro dude is getting his shine, and admittedly, the guy's just a natural comedian. There's something grossly hilariously tragic about the entire thing. But as a performer, the ability to make people laugh so naturally is a golden gift that any performer would wish to be blessed by.

Okay, let's vote.
1) Akanebanashi
2) The Ura Files
3) Animal Signal
4) Sakamoto Days
5) Witch Watch

Hope I can find time to write for next week too. Byyyyyyyeeeeeee.

 

[tirakai]

I liked the introduction of Drawn to the Fire but I think it took too long to introduce a 3rd proper character, and the one it introduced wasn't all that interesting either. I do think the girl being an end goal was a mistake too, it could've done with a bit of genre mixing in this era of Jump not finding any sports hits whatsoever. I enjoyed the MC's sleight of hand skills, and the main duo was fun, but it wasn't enough to keep it going during the matches themselves.

Hal Formula doesn't seem like it'll stick either so again I have to say I'm not sure what it would even take to get a dedicated sports hit in WSJ these days. We've had slow character dramas, team building, series that launch right into the sports, series that do lots of training, solo sports, duo sports, team sports, really down to earth stuff, really over the top series, just about every way you can do sports yet I think Martial Master Asami is the only one to make it past ch 30 in 11 years (and only just barely) aside from Blue Box, which was more of a school life romance series themed around sports.

Under Doctor hit ch 30 this week, but will it make it to ch 40? I think it still could but it'll depend on how the newer series perform. I don't think it'll make it to a year regardless.

Class 2B seems pretty dead at this point and while it's not impossible for Sorachi to bring it back around, I really don't think the characters are good enough to make it work.

 

[RealityChecker]

Ura might really be a hit. Lots of talks and fanarts on JP twitter.

 

[Stivie]

Ura might really be a hit. Lots of talks and fanarts on JP twitter.

That's how it was, MamaYuYu.

 

[RealityChecker]

That's how it was, MamaYuYu.

Do you think people should just stop enjoying manga or you are just annoying people because they like manga you don't like?

 

[Stivie]

Do you think people should just stop enjoying manga or you are just annoying people because they like manga you don't like?

You don't even know if I liked it or not.

 

[RealityChecker]

You don't even know if I liked it or not. What are you going to do, invent lies again, just like that Reddit post thing?

You literally said earlier that Ura could be a case of plagiarism.

 

[Kiaida]

Hal Formula? Dropped. Not gay enough for me. When it comes to sports stories, the chemistry between the athletes needs to mesh, and the characters shape the purpose of the race. Right now, I don't know what this race is for. If we return to Initial D, even the initial (heh) race was about outside racers coming into town with their hotrods thinking they're hot shit, with the purpose being to knock them down a peg getting beat by a tofu delivery car, by a driver who barely knows anything about racing.

I think this race was for... highlighting how much Miharu cares about Haruka and that's what gives him motivation. Which yeah, fine, but I think that's basically his only characteristic besides liking to gamble with his life. This could be more interesting if there was internal conflict about how these aspects are naturally contradictory ("if I die, who will take care of him?"), but Terasaka feels too self absorbed by his own lines.

That's generally something I believe is an issue with his stories, he gets too deep into technicalities he finds interesting, but never questions if the readers care as well. His character writing hits a similar point where yes, you can notice he has some interesting ideas, but it's also too much of a laser vision about where they should go. Miharu's lack of interaction or interest in other drivers makes this racing manga feel like he's tackling speedruns and not in an environment that should be full of other cars and several interactions.

People said GGG's contemplative nature fit golf well, but it's now clear Terasaka takes sport too much as a challenge against oneself and I don't see it mixing well with Formula. I brought up Initial D here before as well and I agree with you, races are clashes, you need dynamics and conflicts to spice it up.

Sometimes you need the characters to live, breath and choose for themselves.

 

[WyldViolet]

Yea, I dropped both HAL Formula and Animal Signal.
Hal Formula I really dislike the characters and find it boring.
Animal Signal just isn't really my thing. It feels very much aimed at a very young demographic, and I personally don't find it very funny. Although given how people are talking about the most recent chapter, really makes me wonder who the series is actually for.
No shade towards the people who enjoy them, just not for me.