Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump (2022) - News and Discussion

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Akane-Banashi is unstoppable!!

Aliens Area apparently too

 

[Aeneas]

Definitely didn't expect a color page for Aliens.

 

[Stivie]

Akane Banashi and Aliens Area + one shot are getting color pages next issue

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 6, 2022, Original Post Date: Jul 6, 2022 ---

Starting to think you're trolling Stivie, how Yozakura remains the same from the beginning? And i'm not even talking about the story but about Gondaira as a artist, he has 3 years of serialization, zero breaks, the most number of color pages for 2 consecutive years, even published 2 chapters at once in the 2nd anniversary, so far it's very clear he isn't trying to go for another series and end Yozakura lol

And even so, with all this, it has very mediocre sales for a manga with 3 years of publication.
I'm not trolling anyone, I'm just stating something obvious.

 

[Ravellino]

Yeah that's very surprising and early af, it almost makes me thing it's some editorial push thing and Ruri Dragon will also get on #34 with chapter 7 but well, gotta wait and see, Undead Unluck is literally fucked if Aliens Area, Super Smartphone and Ruri Dragon all survive

On the long term that can fucked a lot of the less selling series

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

And even so, with all this, it has very mediocre sales for a manga with 3 years of publication.
I'm not trolling anyone, I'm just stating something obvious.

Selling over 40k copies per volume without any anime adaptation is hardly "very mediocre", it took literally 3 years and 13 volumes to have any actual drop in sales, you're not talking about a series that already had anime, or won awards or was pushed as "new generation" or something, we're also far from that time where something like Yozakura would be considered as bottom tier on Jump, you're coming off as quite aggressive towards the series for no reason at all Stivie.

--- Double Post Merged, Jul 6, 2022, Original Post Date: Jul 6, 2022 ---

On the long term that can fucked a lot of the less selling series

True.

 

[OniluapL]

If 40k copies in a month after almost three years is anything more than mediocre that just serves as evidence Jump is in really dire straits.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

If 40k copies in a month after almost three years is anything more than mediocre that just serves as evidence Jump is in really dire straits.

Selling over 40k copies with no anime to push sales is pretty much decent/fine level for any manga magazine, stuff like Magu-chan got a nearly 2 years run on Jump doing 12k at most, thats just the reality of the magazine and the industry, not really the "Jump is in the mud" Discord meme.

 

[OniluapL]

Selling over 40k copies with no anime to push sales is pretty much decent/fine level for any manga magazine, stuff like Magu-chan got a nearly 2 years run on Jump doing 12k at most, thats just the reality of the magazine and the industry, not really the "Jump is in the mud" Discord meme.

Yeah, but Jump's standards shouldn't be the same as other magazines, not when its circulation is three times bigger. Sure, it's the reality right now, and it just proves things got way worse, lol.

 

[Pietro]

I'm the only one who voted for "instant success" in the survey. Let's see if I was right

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

After what happened with Doron Dororon, it's better to be very cautious about these supposedly "it's popular" color pages kkkk

Yeah, but Jump's standards shouldn't be the same as other magazines, not when its circulation is three times bigger. Sure, it's the reality right now, and it just proves things got way worse, lol.

Well, that's just how things are, in the same way that the Shonen Jump from the 2000's and early 2010's age had greatly decreased compared to the 1980's and early 1990's "Golden Age", not much to do, Jump has to simply adjust themselves to the overall current standard of the industry.

 

[Mankichi Togawa]

227 9784088831169 PPPPPP　２ 集英社 マポロ３号 2022.4.4
229 9784088830063 PPPPPP　１ 集英社 マポロ３号 2022.1.4

Nice rise

 

[TheRealTravisty]

I don't think it's fujoshi power it's Mimin power. I noticed the manga gain more fanart and color pages when she got introduced

I do agree that the series quality went up with the introduction of Mimin, I don’t think Sorachika’s appeal should be underestimated.

 

[ItsSamu]

There's two very noteworthy details about this issue/the TOC.

One pretty startling fact is that this issue (due to the absence of One Piece, Black Clover, and My Hero Academia) has the lowest average chapter count of everything published within it (68 chapter average) in a long time. You'd need to go back to the 80's to find a time when the magazine chapter average was this young overall and absent of long-running veterans.

Specifically, this week Jujutsu Kaisen is the oldest series this issue with chapter 190, and the last time the oldest series was ever that low was 1980, Issue #30 when Kochikame reached chapter 190 as well, a whole 42 years ago. Take that as you will - I'm sure anyone convinced of Jump's doom when the veterans do end will feel some type of way.

The second point is on ALIENS AREA getting a colour page before it's ranked. Here's the previous series in a similar situation as an example, as far back as 2015:

Series to get colour page on chapter 7

• Blue Box - Ongoing
• Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru - Cancelled
• Shudan! - Cancelled
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Ended naturally
• Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs - Ended naturally
• Mononofu - Cancelled
• School Judgement: Gakkyu Hotei - Cancelled

Series to get colour page on chapter 8

• Robot x Laserbeam - Cancelled
• Hungry Marie - Cancelled
• Straighten Up! - Ended naturally, not long running

In general it's not the most common thing to get a very early colour page but on the whole it isn't really the best indicator of potential success. Straighten Up! always feels like an odd one as it was performing pretty well all things considered before ending sooner than expected, though this is considered to be an intentional decision by the author rather than a cancellation. Demon Slayer and Yuuna are the blessed duo that ran together and found their degrees of success in their runs. Meanwhile everything else either got cancelled not too differently from a regular flop or we have those that started strong (be that in sales or TOC) before being cancelled a little later than usual (5 volumes+). So I'm not sold then that ALIENS AREA is a guaranteed success because of this just yet.

Otherwise, congrats on WITCH WATCH getting its first ever top spot in the TOC, just one week after Akane Banashi got it too. I'm happy to see Akane in the top 5 still and getting another colour page next week, while PPPPPP remains in a decent spot. MYF at the very/near the bottom happens from time to time, it'll likely bounce back, we'll see.

If 40k copies in a month after almost three years is anything more than mediocre that just serves as evidence Jump is in really dire straits.

The current state of the magazine is always a fun topic.

I feel like everyone who has kept up over the past few years knows what is happening/has happened:

1. All the veteran series are in the final arc/saga, likely to all be concluded by 2027/2028, with My Hero Academia ending quite soon.
2. There was an absence of potentially long-running mega hits produced between mid-2018 and mid-2020, resulting in less exciting candidates to eventually become veterans
3. 2020 was a massive blow with 5 veterans/successful series ending
4. Currently it seems like less non-battle manga are outperforming their battle manga companions

Other than the obvious fact of 2020 being the year where so many top performers ended, I think the drought over potential mega hits is what makes the magazine feel weak right now. Since Mission: Yozakura Family, Undead Unluck, and Mashle are the only series surviving between Jujutsu Kaisen (in 2018) and then we're left with semi-veterans which aren't quite delivering. Of the three Mashle peforms pretty well and has its anime coming now but it's ending naturally soon; MYF continues to feel like a middling series; and Undead Unluck is declining until it reaches its soon-to-come end. Chainsaw Man would fall in this group time-wise if it were continuing in Jump, but it's not - though even if its time in Jump was shorter than many expected it's certainly going to be the Next Big Thing by the end of the year. But a long-running veteran it is not.

Act-Age is also a factor to consider - it was really being built up over time, the consensus was it was of excellent quality and its popularity was growing to the point that it comfortably sold over 100k by 2020. Horrible circumstances got it rightfully discontinued, but in a world where this didn't happen this would absolutely be a top performing veteran right now with its stage productions and an anime by now, and volumes sales boosting as a result. But those prospects all vanished overnight which I think has left a lasting effect along with the rest of the hits ending that year. Had it not ended I don't know if we would have got Akane Banashi and PPPPPP down the line, who knows - I feel like these performing arts series were pushed to fill and void and have done so well, and is probably the smartest editorial decision since then.

The past 1.5 years has so far given us Me & Roboco, High School Family, Sakamoto Days, The Elusive Samurai, WITCH WATCH, Blue Box, PPPPPP, Akane Banashi, and probably RuriDragon.

Of these you have Me & Roboco which isn't a mega seller by any means but fits into the spot of mainstay gag manga while HSF seems to be pushing through on by defying all metrics. The Elusive Samurai started strong but has been in sales decline from there, likely will be until an anime comes. Sakamoto Days feels like it could be a mega hit if it gets a stellar adaptation, and its TOC rankings and sales continue to improve at impressive rates, while WITCH WATCH and PPPPPP also seem to be doing better over time, to a lesser degree, the latter defying early cancellation fears.

Then you have Blue Box, which is the biggest thing since Mashle, but seems to have reached its ceiling until it also gets adapted. Akane Banashi has come along and outperformed half the magazine with an under printed first volume despite being on something very niche for WSJ - the next volume will be very telling, but it's clearly here to stay. And RuriDragon feels like they're finally trying to capitalise on the comfy slice of life which is uncharacteristic of the magazine but could very well pay off based on early hints - it might have an upper limit for its audience as well but I wouldn't be surprised if it does an Akane and overtakes several series older than it with its first volume.

The magazine still needs some battle manga to come along and carry on the legacies of those that are soon to leave (and join Sakamoto Days down the line when it become a veteran). They might be waiting until closer to when the current veterans do conclude like has happened in the past but sooner would be better, and personally I'm not convinced ALIENS AREA is going to be that series. And as I've said before, another spokon would be lovely.

All in all though, I think 2019-2020 was especially rough for losses and long-term gains and has created this vacuum in the magazine until very recently where we've got some non-conventional series outperforming those you'd expect to do well and become eventual veterans. On a personal level some of my favourites in the magazine are those recent unlikely hits so I think the positives of this year outweigh the negatives (of which there have been a few pretty rotten flops), but there's still work to be done to try and offset the blow the magazine is going to take when One Piece does eventually end; it's inevitably going to happen but they have only a few more years to cement what could carry on the magazine's legacy. For the time being they at least have the continued adaptations of Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and others like Haikyuu!! and Dr. Stone to still keep their recent hits relevant.

 

[Mankichi Togawa]

I really want to see what will happen next week ToC. After all the impact it has had, it will feel really odd if we don't see RuriDragon getting color pages on chapter 7 after Aliens Area got them

Now I think about it better, issue 34 is the One Piece anniversary aka Shokugeki no Sanji is very likely to appear

 

[Stivie]

There's two very noteworthy details about this issue/the TOC.

One pretty startling fact is that this issue (due to the absence of One Piece, Black Clover, and My Hero Academia) has the lowest average chapter count of everything published within it (68 chapter average) in a long time. You'd need to go back to the 80's to find a time when the magazine chapter average was this young overall and absent of long-running veterans.

Specifically, this week Jujutsu Kaisen is the oldest series this issue with chapter 190, and the last time the oldest series was ever that low was 1980, Issue #30 when Kochikame reached chapter 190 as well, a whole 42 years ago. Take that as you will - I'm sure anyone convinced of Jump's doom when the veterans do end will feel some type of way.

The second point is on ALIENS AREA getting a colour page before it's ranked. Here's the previous series in a similar situation as an example, as far back as 2015:

Series to get colour page on chapter 7

• Blue Box - Ongoing
• Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru - Cancelled
• Shudan! - Cancelled
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Ended naturally
• Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs - Ended naturally
• Mononofu - Cancelled
• School Judgement: Gakkyu Hotei - Cancelled

Series to get colour page on chapter 8

• Robot x Laserbeam - Cancelled
• Hungry Marie - Cancelled
• Straighten Up! - Ended naturally, not long running

In general it's not the most common thing to get a very early colour page but on the whole it isn't really the best indicator of potential success. Straighten Up! always feels like an odd one as it was performing pretty well all things considered before ending sooner than expected, though this is considered to be an intentional decision by the author rather than a cancellation. Demon Slayer and Yuuna are the blessed duo that ran together and found their degrees of success in their runs. Meanwhile everything else either got cancelled not too differently from a regular flop or we have those that started strong (be that in sales or TOC) before being cancelled a little later than usual (5 volumes+). So I'm not sold then that ALIENS AREA is a guaranteed success because of this just yet.

Otherwise, congrats on WITCH WATCH getting its first ever top spot in the TOC, just one week after Akane Banashi got it too. I'm happy to see Akane in the top 5 still and getting another colour page next week, while PPPPPP remains in a decent spot. MYF at the very/near the bottom happens from time to time, it'll likely bounce back, we'll see.



The current state of the magazine is always a fun topic.

I feel like everyone who has kept up over the past few years knows what is happening/has happened:

1. All the veteran series are in the final arc/saga, likely to all be concluded by 2027/2028, with My Hero Academia ending quite soon.
2. There was an absence of potentially long-running mega hits produced between mid-2018 and mid-2020, resulting in less exciting candidates to eventually become veterans
3. 2020 was a massive blow with 5 veterans/successful series ending
4. Currently it seems like less non-battle manga are outperforming their battle manga companions

Other than the obvious fact of 2020 being the year where so many top performers ended, I think the drought over potential mega hits is what makes the magazine feel weak right now. Since Mission: Yozakura Family, Undead Unluck, and Mashle are the only series surviving between Jujutsu Kaisen (in 2018) and then we're left with semi-veterans which aren't quite delivering. Of the three Mashle peforms pretty well and has its anime coming now but it's ending naturally soon; MYF continues to feel like a middling series; and Undead Unluck is declining until it reaches its soon-to-come end. Chainsaw Man would fall in this group time-wise if it were continuing in Jump, but it's not - though even if its time in Jump was shorter than many expected it's certainly going to be the Next Big Thing by the end of the year. But a long-running veteran it is not.

Act-Age is also a factor to consider - it was really being built up over time, the consensus was it was of excellent quality and its popularity was growing to the point that it comfortably sold over 100k by 2020. Horrible circumstances got it rightfully discontinued, but in a world where this didn't happen this would absolutely be a top performing veteran right now with its stage productions and an anime by now, and volumes sales boosting as a result. But those prospects all vanished overnight which I think has left a lasting effect along with the rest of the hits ending that year. Had it not ended I don't know if we would have got Akane Banashi and PPPPPP down the line, who knows - I feel like these performing arts series were pushed to fill and void and have done so well, and is probably the smartest editorial decision since then.

The past 1.5 years has so far given us Me & Roboco, High School Family, Sakamoto Days, The Elusive Samurai, WITCH WATCH, Blue Box, PPPPPP, Akane Banashi, and probably RuriDragon.

Of these you have Me & Roboco which isn't a mega seller by any means but fits into the spot of mainstay gag manga while HSF seems to be pushing through on by defying all metrics. The Elusive Samurai started strong but has been in sales decline from there, likely will be until an anime comes. Sakamoto Days feels like it could be a mega hit if it gets a stellar adaptation, and its TOC rankings and sales continue to improve at impressive rates, while WITCH WATCH and PPPPPP also seem to be doing better over time, to a lesser degree, the latter defying early cancellation fears.

Then you have Blue Box, which is the biggest thing since Mashle, but seems to have reached its ceiling until it also gets adapted. Akane Banashi has come along and outperformed half the magazine with an under printed first volume despite being on something very niche for WSJ - the next volume will be very telling, but it's clearly here to stay. And RuriDragon feels like they're finally trying to capitalise on the comfy slice of life which is uncharacteristic of the magazine but could very well pay off based on early hint - it might have an upper limit for its audience as well but I wouldn't be surprised if it does an Akane and overtakes several series older than it still surviving with its first volume.

The magazine still needs some battle manga to come along and carry on the legacies of those that are soon to leave (and join Sakamoto Days down the line when it become a veteran). They might be waiting until closer to when the current veterans do conclude like has happened in the past but sooner would be better, and personally I'm not convinced ALIENS AREA is going to be that series. And as I've said before, another spokon would be lovely.

All in all though, I think 2019-2020 was especially rough for losses and long-term gains and has created this vacuum in the magazine until very recently where we've got some non-conventional series outperforming those you'd expect to do well and become eventual veterans. On a personal level some of my favourites in the magazine are those recent unlikely hits so I think the positives of this year outweigh the negatives (of which there have been a few pretty rotten flops), but there's still work to be done to try and offset the blow the magazine is going to take when One Piece does eventually end; it's inevitably going to happen but they have only a few more years to cement what could carry on the magazine's legacy. For the time being they at least have the continued adaptations of Demon Slayer, Jujutsu Kaisen, and others like Haikyuu!! and Dr. Stone to still keep their recent hits relevant.

Those series that were canceled even with CPs in chapters 7 or 8 belonged to veteran authors who had success before failure.

Naba Fusai, the author of Aliens Area is still a newbie at jump, there's no comparison.

 

[coldmess]

Series to get colour page on chapter 7

• Blue Box - Ongoing
• Samurai 8: The Tale of Hachimaru - Cancelled
• Shudan! - Cancelled
• Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Ended naturally
• Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Springs - Ended naturally
• Mononofu - Cancelled
• School Judgement: Gakkyu Hotei - Cancelled

Series to get colour page on chapter 8

• Robot x Laserbeam - Cancelled
• Hungry Marie - Cancelled
• Straighten Up! - Ended naturally, not long running

Honestly this makes it seem like Aliens Area is getting axed sooner rather than later. Akane didn't get one until 12, Doron Dororon at 10, Smartphone at 9, Ayashimon at 9, and Earthchild at 12.

 

[tirakai]

My guess is that, since these news series are all guaranteed to last into the 20s in the current schedule of new stuff, Jump is giving them all a bit of promotion since they'll have extra time to attempt to prove themselves anyway (unless they're instantly hopelessly dead like Shugomaru).

And also maybe because there's only 4 proper signature series at the moment (well, 2 right now) so colour pages are getting cycled around among series that might not get much in a normal lineup.

 

[KagamiKuroko]

Maybe jump should institute a 3 strikes policy for editors as well, a guy like taguchi got way too much leniency after steering flop after flop and maybe its time to get rid of Nak

 

[Magister Xehanort]

WSJ Issue#32 Cover

Spoiler

Elusive Samurai Colour Page

Spoiler

Elusive Samurai × Assassination Classroom. Colour Page from WSJ#32 in celebration of 10th Year Anniversary

Sugoi Smartphone Colour Page

Spoiler

 

[Cerclox]

About Yozakura, no one is saying that the manga should be canceled in the next wave, but a manga that is almost 3 years old, with 13 volumes, should be selling more than it sells, just like Sakamoto day. What will happen if PPPPPP, Akane banashe and Ruri dragon surpass Yozakura's sales?
If that happens, it becomes more difficult to keep Yozakura inside the magazine, especially when Undead Unluck ends.

I agree with that if Ruri, P6 and Akane being this new series surpass Yozakura in sales it will start to be in danger since Jump always focus on the series that are doing good and show promise of growth on becoming a hit rather than the ones that start declining and it will show in the TOC for sure since Jump will start pushing those new series, it will be interesting to see what happens and with UU ending that doesn't help at all.