That is a major contradiction. A series can not sell a lot of copies and still be called cult. A cult series has a small, but incredibly dedicated fan base. Death Note had a very large fan base. It sold very well, generally polled in the middle of the magazine or higher, therefore it was not a cult series. I can only assume you do not know, or understand, the meaning of the term "cult".
the new starters specializing in romance wasn't such a bad idea after all. pajama sold with it second volume more than magico, which shows how incredibly the last year sucked regarding new jump series. hopefully that won't be the cause with so many promising starters this year.
I'm not sure what fence Beelzebub straddles in terms of popularity. I mean, compared to other manga outside of Jump is sells well, but within Jump its definitely not made it "big" like some of its contemporaries have. I know I say it doesn't matter as long as it doesn't get abruptly cancelled, but I can't help but get puzzled by its not-popularity. I'm probably over-thinking it.
You're right about AC not being a typical Jump series, however I feel Jump standards are changing. Recently there have been less and less typical shonen series in Jump, and when there are, they don't tend to be successful any more. And just look at the number of romance series that have been starting, and the popularity of Nisekoi, for instance. Jump is changing, so it's more difficult to predict what will be a hit and what won't. I'm not saying AC will be a hit, and I don't think it will have the popularity of Naruto, but it's too soon to know. I can see it as being settled around 5th place in the future, though.
What are typical shounen series? Yeah, there are none as it was always a mix, rise and fall of some genres. Comedy, action, romance, sport, all still typical shounen. Let's keep it to popular, successful and well-selling Jump series.
I meant mainstream battle manga, things like Naruto, One Piece, etc. Of course Jump has always had a good variety of genres, and it has had many successful non-battle manga series, but most of its main manga have always been classical battle manga, to the point that those are normally considered typical shonen manga. What I consider a typical shonen manga to be is a manga that has a main character with a strong personality and big dreams, with its main themes being friendship, hard work, etc., not even necessarily battle manga but also sports manga, for example. While I agree with you that the genres you listed are/can be shonen, I cannot agree that romance, for instance, is typical shonen. You can’t deny that most of Jump’s components and its most know series (Dragon Ball, Naruto, One Piece, Bleach…) have been battle-themed. Until very recently the trend in Jump was battle manga, that’s why they are called typical battle manga. If you call all the other shonen themes/genres typical shonen, then what would a non-typical but still shonen manga be for you? Of course, I agree with you when you say «Let's keep it to popular, successful and well-selling Jump series», I’m just saying there are typical shonen series.
Shounen and romance go hand in hand, we had this discussion some time ago. It's not really my fault, if you didn't come into contact with shounen romance so much before, but they were always there.
Jump Issue #39 Bottom 5
I already expected the bottom five result would include Koisome Momiji, Pajama na Kanojo, and Sensei no Bulge. If this continues, it would ony a matter of time to say bye bye to these series. Too bad since I think these series actually have potentials and could do more than this. I can only keep hoping for their rank to increase again
