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]

Not even ChainSaw Man got a boost that big. And it was one of the best animated animes from Mappa.

CSM’s first season was not super well received. It wasn’t bad but people were disappointed in the direction and that it didn’t elevate the series. The reze movie was far more well received (frankly I didn’t think the CSM manga picked up until reze)

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 2:28 PM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 2:17 PM ---

Also again, a lot of people are having issues with reader comprehension on my post. Is it likely Nue becomes as big as JJK or KnY? NO NO NO NO NO it’s not likely or even realistic it can be that big. BUT it has the ingredients and capability to have that same perfect storm 1 milly plus generation seller. It needs A LOT to go right but if Jump actually played it smart like I’m guessing (big ask in the Saito era) then my guess is they may have realized the care needed in the animation which will be the major factor outside of luck.

 

[RealityChecker]

CSM’s first season was not super well received. It wasn’t bad but people were disappointed in the direction and that it didn’t elevate the series. The reze movie was far more well received (frankly I didn’t think the CSM manga picked up until reze)

This is why I think we should at least wait until an anime airs, we can't think just because a manga is dark or whatever, it is bound to be a hit because of said anime. We don't know how Kagurabachi anime will perform.

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 3:14 PM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 2:30 PM ---

Also again, a lot of people are having issues with reader comprehension on my post. Is it likely Nue becomes as big as JJK or KnY? NO NO NO NO NO it’s not likely or even realistic it can be that big. BUT it has the ingredients and capability to have that same perfect storm 1 milly plus generation seller. It needs A LOT to go right but if Jump actually played it smart like I’m guessing (big ask in the Saito era) then my guess is they may have realized the care needed in the animation which will be the major factor outside of luck.

The only WSJ player right now that I don't know how big it will perform is Ruri Dragon. We can rest assured regarding animation, but KyoAni doing an already big hit could possibly be massive when it airs since not only will be really good animation-wise, KyoAni has some sort of legacy quality that may bring those Haruhi, K-On, Clannad and others fans back into anime.

 

[Magister Xehanort]

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run Opening



This arc began in Shonen Jump.

 

[icrawfish]

Y’know what, lemme pivot the Nue discussion a bit: Nue fans, how far does it seem like the story is from naturally ending?

In some sense I could see people saying that, with Kasha being “Hyo number 1”, this decisive battle atop the tree will deal with him and Raisei and be the final battle. But that leaves a lot of things open, like not having had a proper dedicated arc to Gashadokuro and Kurikara (though with the latter having been eaten I don’t know that there’s much for him to have). The fate of Nue both after this arc and in the long term is also a big looming question.

I don’t have a good answet myself, so I’m just curious to see what people are thinking about the distance the series is expected to run. Assuming it lives like a normal jump series there’d be roughly 100 chapters of content left to cover, so I’m especially curious if people think that’s either too much or too little.

 

[monstera11]

CSM’s first season was not super well received. It wasn’t bad but people were disappointed in the direction and that it didn’t elevate the series. The reze movie was far more well received (frankly I didn’t think the CSM manga picked up until reze)

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 2:28 PM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 2:17 PM ---

Also again, a lot of people are having issues with reader comprehension on my post. Is it likely Nue becomes as big as JJK or KnY? NO NO NO NO NO it’s not likely or even realistic it can be that big. BUT it has the ingredients and capability to have that same perfect storm 1 milly plus generation seller. It needs A LOT to go right but if Jump actually played it smart like I’m guessing (big ask in the Saito era) then my guess is they may have realized the care needed in the animation which will be the major factor outside of luck.

People dogpile on you exactly because you think it can reach 1 mil bruh

 

[RealityChecker]

People dogpile on you exactly because you think it can reach 1 mil bruh

But Nue is already at more than 1 million copies in circulation. I don't think it will do 1 million in a year, but maybe 500K or something is possible. I think Nue could become a 100K seller.

 

[tirakai]

Personally I think we'll get two more full arcs for Nue's Exorcist, one for Gashadokuro and a final arc for Nue herself (like everyone trying to save her from destroying herself). Ending at some point in 2028.

It'll most likely end before ch 250, but it could maybe push a little past that number if it does more school and harem stuff and some smaller arcs for individual characters.

 

[Kiaida]

Y’know what, lemme pivot the Nue discussion a bit: Nue fans, how far does it seem like the story is from naturally ending?

In some sense I could see people saying that, with Kasha being “Hyo number 1”, this decisive battle atop the tree will deal with him and Raisei and be the final battle. But that leaves a lot of things open, like not having had a proper dedicated arc to Gashadokuro and Kurikara (though with the latter having been eaten I don’t know that there’s much for him to have). The fate of Nue both after this arc and in the long term is also a big looming question.

I don’t have a good answet myself, so I’m just curious to see what people are thinking about the distance the series is expected to run. Assuming it lives like a normal jump series there’d be roughly 100 chapters of content left to cover, so I’m especially curious if people think that’s either too much or too little.

Assuming it goes on normally. At least a full arc for Gashadokuro and at least another one for Nue and Raisei, who was always pushed as the main villain instead of Kasha.

But there are ways it could have a few other arcs. Kurikara could survive or take over Kasha's body by the end of this battle and have his own arc considering they introduced dragons as a faction and there's a possibility he's the origin of the impure children (Shitotsu, Kabane, etc), what makes me think that is how all main heroines are connected to a Hyo (besides Suo) and Yagyo told the siblings Shitotsu has Hyo blood, her armor is shaped like a dragon as well.

Another idea would be a new Hyo. We got some scenes implying a tragic past for Yagyo and how he was originally a human. He survived the last battle out of anger and is developed like Gakuro's "dark mirror" like Mahito was to Itadori, so maybe there's a chance he comes back even stronger. Of course, that could easily be part of the final arc anyway, but I'm speculating.

 

[monstera11]

But Nue is already at more than 1 million copies in circulation. I don't think it will do 1 million in a year, but maybe 500K or something is possible. I think Nue could become a 100K seller.

Moving the goalpost. Whenever people talk about the "jjk/KnY-esque 1 million seller", they were referring to the PHYSICAL sales in a month immediately following a new volume release as per shoseki rank. NOT circulation numbers after accumulated several years.

Nue currently hit less than 30-35k physical sales in a month following each new vol release as per shosheki iirc (i do not follow the number closely so i can be wrong)

Going from that to 1 million is delusional.

Megumi has more chance to get his own long running spinoff written by gege than that

 

[Shonenfan]

People dogpile on you exactly because you think it can reach 1 mil bruh

So you think even if it does receive a JJK/KnY level animation and direction, that it cannot get close to that?

 

[NyanPower]

Honestly the only ones that could potentially get a decent boost from an anime adaptation are Kagurabachi and Ichi The Witch.

Kagurabachi’s literally Jujutsu Kaisen 2.0. Not in terms of story or anything, but it’s as clear as the blue sky that the characters, the designs, the art, the overall dark mood/vibes are pretty much identical. And people are starving for it. Though, I’m not sure how high the ceiling can be, but definitely higher than now. I still believe that, as a series, it appeals more to the western community than the japanese one, right now.

Ichi The Witch has definitely a much wider appeal and the biggest potential to actually do something unexpected, if it gets a high budget anime adaptation. It got Majiks which might appeal to a younger audience, characters with great and unique designs that are definitely going to appeal to the cosplay community, and overall it’s a very merchandise-friendly series. Not to mention that right now the adventure + fantasy mix is the heat of the moment.

I think Nue’s exorcise could have been massive back during the days when ecchi was literally everywhere, but this means it should have come out more than a decade ago. I can see it getting a boost a 100%, but definitely not much higher than what’s selling now.

 

[Shonenfan]

Assuming it goes on normally. At least a full arc for Gashadokuro and at least another one for Nue and Raisei, who was always pushed as the main villain instead of Kasha.

But there are ways it could have a few other arcs. Kurikara could survive or take over Kasha's body by the end of this battle and have his own arc considering they introduced dragons as a faction and there's a possibility he's the origin of the impure children (Shitotsu, Kabane, etc), what makes me think that is how all main heroines are connected to a Hyo (besides Suo) and Yagyo told the siblings Shitotsu has Hyo blood, her armor is shaped like a dragon as well.

Another idea would be a new Hyo. We got some scenes implying a tragic past for Yagyo and how he was originally a human. He survived the last battle out of anger and is developed like Gakuro's "dark mirror" like Mahito was to Itadori, so maybe there's a chance he comes back even stronger. Of course, that could easily be part of the final arc anyway, but I'm speculating.

2/3 arcs after this one. It’s such a weird series in terms of pacing though and part of why I’m kind of meh on the series.

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 8:52 PM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 8:48 PM ---

Honestly the only ones that could potentially get a decent boost from an anime adaptation are Kagurabachi and Ichi The Witch.

Kagurabachi’s literally Jujutsu Kaisen 2.0. Not in terms of story or anything, but it’s as clear as the blue sky that the characters, the designs, the art, the overall dark mood/vibes are pretty much identical. And people are starving for it. Though, I’m not sure how high the ceiling can be, but definitely higher than now. I still believe that, as a series, it appeals more to the western community than the japanese one these few years.

Ichi The Witch has definitely a much wider appeal and the biggest potential to actually do something unexpected. It got Majiks which might appeal to a younger audience, characters with great and unique designs that are definitely going to appeal to the cosplay community, and overall it’s a very merchandise-friendly series. Not to mention that right now the adventure + fantasy mix is the heat of the moment.

I think Nue’s exorcise could have been massive back during the days when ecchi was literally everywhere, but this means it should have come out more than a decade ago. I can see it getting a boost a 100%, but definitely not much higher than what’s selling right now.

Yep those are the obvious ones and international discussion will be big for carrying those; but i think sometimes these should-be obvious home runs (like SD could’ve been) fall short either due to 1. rushing to get the anime out so the quality suffers and people become disinterested or 2. we underestimate/overestimate how deeply rabid Japan is about the series (which is kind of my point about Nue).
That being said, it doesn’t matter how many ingredients or elements it has in its favor, if the animation and direction sucks than it’s all for naught.

 

[RealityChecker]

Honestly the only ones that could potentially get a decent boost from an anime adaptation are Kagurabachi and Ichi The Witch.

What about Ruri Dragon?

 

[NyanPower]

2/3 arcs after this one. It’s such a weird series in terms of pacing though.

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 8:52 PM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 8:48 PM ---

Yep those are the obvious ones and international discussion will be big for carrying those; but i think sometimes these should-be obvious home runs (like SD could’ve been) fall short either due to 1. rushing to get the anime out so the quality suffers and people become disinterested or 2. we underestimate how deeply rabid Japan is about the series.

SD’a case was pretty unfortunate. It got a studio which is not exactly known for either good (aside from a few ones) or high budget anime adaptation. Not even the ones that are positively criticized, like Dr. Stone, got a higher budget than an average one.
Also SD is literally all about people fighting all the time, and that requires a whole lot of effort and finances to get something good out of it. This didn’t happen. If it was treated as something like One Punch Man, maybe it could have been something more than what was left.

What about Ruri Dragon?

I keep forgetting Ruri Dragon is part of WSJ. Yeah, this one’s another obvious choice. Though I will say that if it wasn’t for KyoAni picking it up, I wouldn’t be that sure it could get its momentum back. Ever since after the hiatus it lost a good chunk of its popularity. But— KyoAni took it under its wings, it’s bound to get big. Not saying something like Lucky Star/K-On/Clannad’s levels, but perhaps something more like Bocchi/Maid Dragon’s
popularity

 

[FantasticFootno]

While I think it would be hilarious for something like the bachi anime to flop, its literally only set up for success. Cygames will deliver a good enough adaptation, that covers the stuff people want to see. Its also not coming out too late for hype to die out, and its already being hyped by the west. Something like Chainsawman kinda stagnated because the anime was so late, and also covered such a small amount of the series, while sakamoto days was both late and kinda middling in terms of adaptation.
Although on the Chainsawman comparison, idk, that trailer for bachi was not it, it felt like its going to be as pretentious as the CSM anime was. And chainsawman at least had a valid reason to try and pull that approach, bachi does not lol.

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 9:07 PM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 9:05 PM ---

Anyway uh something something, the real winner will be the chojo anime which will have it and ura sell 1 chojillion copies.

--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 9:10 PM ---

Also on the anime front, supposedly Black Clover is slated to have 26 eps, the second half of that will air in 2027. So Pierrot will really be out of series by then. Even more reason to assume they'd be picking up something like Nue or Ichi for 2028.

 

[Broseph]

Although on the Chainsawman comparison, idk, that trailer for bachi was not it, it felt like its going to be as pretentious as the CSM anime was. And chainsawman at least had a valid reason to try and pull that approach, bachi does not lol.

On the contrary, it makes much more sense to me for Bachi to do a pseudo-realistic aesthetic than CSM. The latter is so goofy in the source material and clearly inspired by B movies that the approach they took was always going to piss off a lot of manga readers. KGB on the other hand is very open about trying to capture the mood of something like John Wick that the approach feels much more true to the source material

 

[Nuesmoker]

Y’know what, lemme pivot the Nue discussion a bit: Nue fans, how far does it seem like the story is from naturally ending?

In some sense I could see people saying that, with Kasha being “Hyo number 1”, this decisive battle atop the tree will deal with him and Raisei and be the final battle. But that leaves a lot of things open, like not having had a proper dedicated arc to Gashadokuro and Kurikara (though with the latter having been eaten I don’t know that there’s much for him to have). The fate of Nue both after this arc and in the long term is also a big looming question.

I don’t have a good answet myself, so I’m just curious to see what people are thinking about the distance the series is expected to run. Assuming it lives like a normal jump series there’d be roughly 100 chapters of content left to cover, so I’m especially curious if people think that’s either too much or too little.

The thing about when Nue will end is that there are WAY more things left to cover beyond Gashadokuro and Raisei:

Spoiler: Lotta text

-Raisei and Nue's past together.

Spoiler: Lotta text

A bare minimum of 3 chapters for it if Gekka's anything to go by, probably more though.

-The captains' backstories. Igari's was mostly covered for what it's worth and I guess we don't REALLY need Sumeragi's, but Doryo's has been openly teased, and Shimaki's ability feels too specific not to dig into a bit. Also both their Hollow Weapon names.

-We have not seen Izane fight, and we know she can as she has mastered the five Goriku just like Doryo. Plus she's the literal head of the Bureau, no way she has no Hollow Weapon.

-Rido, Kabane and Lil' Kyoko. Volume 10 extras confirmed that they are all still active. Kyoko might very well play a part into Shiroha's inevitable Soul Armor for the final fight against Kasha, but the other two have almost surely no place in it as it is now.

-Itsuki Fujino. He was obviously a rat in service of Raisei and Kasha, but we have no time to tackle him right now realistically. Probably gonna be in Raisei's arc as a "Mid Boss" of sorts.

-The Impure Children and the Village. It was only recently that we got the official confirmation that Shitotsu is an Impure Child, was tortured with Kabane in the village, and that she has the blood of a Hyo. Absolutely no way we don't cover this properly soon, which leads me into...

-...The Dragons and Kurikara. Both Shitotsu and Kabane are the only confirmed Impures we've seen and both have Dragon forms/ Imagery. Technically just speculation, but I am 99% sure that Kurikara is the Hyo whose blood is in Shitotsu (and Kabane). This matters because that would make him related to the village, and in turn all but confirm an arc with/centered around him. In other words, a Kurikara related arc seems to be very implied.

-The Level 4s. A reminder that we've yet to see them all in action proper. We even know of a "Grim Reaper" that was supposed to be an obstacle of Shangri Isla, and multiple hooded Level 4s were waiting their turn to do something (volume 15 extras) before the games got skipped.

-Poison Guy. Speaking of Level 4s, we STILL don't know who this dude, who helped Ishu transfer to North High and almost killed the entire school, is! It's not Soranaki, there wasn't even a HINT of the two being related in any volume extra, and it's 99% not Yagyo. Ishu did not mention either helping or even knowing her.

-Who ordered the extermination of the Yajimas? Most likely it was Kasha and Raisei, but again, we don't know FOR SURE.

-Who is Gakuro's mother? Does he even have a biological parent? Takuro has been shown completely single in ALL of the flashbacks with him, even at the family grounds, and Igari said very early on in the series that she "Didn't know he got married.", so the relevance of a mother has been brought up before.

-What is the Tamaodo School? It is likely related to the Fujinos, as it was brought up by Baldie during the raid, but Yagyo was a member of it and he was OLD, from Gekka's age by the imagery in his flashback. Speaking of...

-We might get even more from Yagyo. He's the only character we know that transitioned from human to spirit (Raisei's kinda like that but Yagyo's the only full blown case we got of it), and we have no further info about his human life beyond being called Yoichi, not even WHY he hates humanity the way he does.

-Gekka's implied relation to the Fujinos. Her mind reading is VERY similar to Shiroha's emotion reading, plus being from an "Unclean Tribe".

-The origin of the Hyo. Nue "awakened" on Mount Gekka with no memory of anything before. Besides Soranaki, who's an outlier, we don't know of a single Hyo's origin point, and Yozora's existence+The volume 12 inner cover heavily suggest that they grew up, just like humans.

-Ishu's meeting with Gakuro. We have no clue when exactly it happened, unlikely to be after Takuro's death. But it very much matters as we've yet to see a power up for her like Suo and Shitotsu (and Shiroha soon).

-Natsuki being Nue's descendant. Like... HOW??

-How did Nue seal Kasha, Soranaki and especially Kurikara after Gekka got Doggified?

-What about Nue's other relations after Gekka and before Gakuro and Raisei? We know she got more.

-MOST IMPORTANT THING OF ALL, WHICH ONLY I EVER SEEM TO MENTION- Gakuro's ominous internal monologue: "My first and only Summer Festival." Does a tragedy happen to him? Is the series' ending bittersweet? Given the themes of "Everyone surviving, me included.", it really brings up a lot of questions.

And this is, again, not counting the fact that we got Gashadokuro and Raisei as a whole to focus on. The series has given no less than 1 arc per Hyo so far, so I REALLY doubt the two would get combined into one. Count in the fact that Kawae can just add MORE stuff, MORE lore, and it just feels unfeasable for the series to not have at LEAST 3 arcs left (One for Kurikara as I mentioned, one for Gashadokuro, and one for Raisei, PLUS all the stuff SOMEHOW sprinkled inbetween) which would be around 1 1/2 years AFTER this current arc concludes. It would be a bit longer than Undead Unluck in such a case, which as mentioned by others would be standard, but with that last point I raised I even wonder about a Part 2 of sorts.

Then again, it depends on whether or not the series is even ALLOWED to go on that long by the magazine itself, but with how this arc HASN'T really rushed things at all, I think it's possible. Dare I say, I can even see a 270-ish chapter milestone, but that may be Hopium lol.

So, TLDR, Yes, the series can easily go for 100 more chapters, in my opinion.

 

[FantasticFootno]

On the contrary, it makes much more sense to me for Bachi to do a pseudo-realistic aesthetic than CSM. The latter is so goofy in the source material and clearly inspired by B movies that the approach they took was always going to piss off a lot of manga readers. KGB on the other hand is very open about trying to capture the mood of something like John Wick that the approach feels much more true to the source material

Yeah idk I'd still go with neither being pretentious in the grand scheme of things, but you cannot tell me that the approach works for bachi. There's "inspiration", and then there's the actual content of the manga, which is a bog standard shonen action series. You can argue its john wick inspired, but you can also argue the same thing for Sakamoto Days, and would Sakamoto Days's anime be improved if they treated it like some grand work of art? I can think of like two moments of part 1 that can be improved by it treating the series like some grand piece of art (like chainsawman did), but I can think of a million other moments where it would have the opposite effect, and actively piss me off (like chainsawman did).
I think something like the recent jjk seasons skirt on the edge of this pretentiousness line for me, but if bachi gets even close to being csm-pretentious, its going to make the series extremely insufferable to watch.

 

[Broseph]

Yeah idk I'd still go with neither being pretentious in the grand scheme of things, but you cannot tell me that the approach works for bachi. There's "inspiration", and then there's the actual content of the manga, which is a bog standard shonen action series. You can argue its john wick inspired, but you can also argue the same thing for Sakamoto Days, and would Sakamoto Days's anime be improved if they treated it like some grand work of art? I can think of like two moments of part 1 that can be improved by it treating the series like some grand piece of art (like chainsawman did), but I can think of a million other moments where it would have the opposite effect, and actively piss me off (like chainsawman did).
I think something like the recent jjk seasons skirt on the edge of this pretentiousness line for me, but if bachi gets even close to being csm-pretentious, its going to make the series extremely insufferable to watch.

To each their own. I don't really view it as pretension. It's just an art style lol. Don't know why it needs to be seen as a grand work of art to have it. Do people just view live action influence in itself as pretentious? My problem with CSM season 1 wasn't even the look of the show itself but they watered down a lot of the energy of the panels and as a result, the humor was significantly dropped. Can't see myself having that problem with Bachi.

 

[Kiaida]

Yeah idk I'd still go with neither being pretentious in the grand scheme of things, but you cannot tell me that the approach works for bachi. There's "inspiration", and then there's the actual content of the manga, which is a bog standard shonen action series. You can argue its john wick inspired, but you can also argue the same thing for Sakamoto Days, and would Sakamoto Days's anime be improved if they treated it like some grand work of art? I can think of like two moments of part 1 that can be improved by it treating the series like some grand piece of art (like chainsawman did), but I can think of a million other moments where it would have the opposite effect, and actively piss me off (like chainsawman did).
I think something like the recent jjk seasons skirt on the edge of this pretentiousness line for me, but if bachi gets even close to being csm-pretentious, its going to make the series extremely insufferable to watch.

As someone who is NOT into at all how much mainstream western movies influence modern Jump works, I think it's fine to keep these influences visible in their anime because it's an adaptation after all. Sakamoto Days probably needed to be more similar to John Wick for the anime to do better and some of the decisions they went for, like the slow motion scenes, go directly against the manga's action ethos. It just looks terrible when you strip away the dynamism. You can't just push usual techniques like that when a major concept of the work is exactly how much the fast pace is baked into the battle choreo.

Jujutsu Kaisen's anime meanwhile I don't think is "movie-like", there's enough variety in the animation and styles closer to other several art forms, including anime, Yuta's battle against Ryu and Uro was exaggerated and fast paced, not realistic at all.

Of course, it all depends on execution and where each style fits; Higuruma's flashback going a court drama movie style was a cool idea as his story is about the weight of reality-status quo crushing his idealism, but it's a bit fair to think of the Zen'in clan massacre as slightly pretentious in how close it followed the Kill Bill Tarantino style of direction and color composition. I'm not against it by itself, but doing that took away part of the emotional weight of the event in the eyes of many japanese fans and I can see that (still liked it myself though).

As for Chainsaw Man, it's a complete misunderstanding of the work itself. While the manga has a ton of influences from everywhere, the director laser focused on a specific type of movie that he thinks is prestigious. This is a manga that is heavily inspired by movies like Sharknado and Evil Dead, it's not "Prestige Cnema Man". And there's a looot of otaku culture in it that was completely vaporized in the anime. The clash in styles is what makes Chainsaw Man fun and without that it becomes monotone.

When the director says "I don't want to be like Suzumiya Haruhi", it gives the impression he doesn't understand basic stuff like how the Eternity Devil is a reference to Haruhi's Endless Eight arc. And I'm not even going into how Fujimoto said Haruhi inspired him to become a creator or how he wrote a whole story as a Kyoani homage, but if you can't understand the work you're adaptating, it's hard to trust your changes.

I'm not against transformative adaptations, don't think the director has to go 1:1 to adapt a story, but I expect him to understand the core or the source of what he's working with to then translate that to his new interpretation. My impression of the Chainsaw Man anime is that the director literally took everything at face value because he likes movies and couldn't find anything interesting to say about Chainsaw Man. That I see as pretentious.