Summary
Shonen Jump’s current manga line is the best it has been in years, competing with the “Big Three” era. The magazine has historically relied on top series, but has faced challenges when these series ended and had to find replacements. Shonen Jump has solved the problem of canceling series too early and now allows them more time to develop, resulting in more satisfying endings.
Jump Shonen is one of the longest running manga magazines in Japan, but with its current line of titles, it was the best thing in years. Which is saying something, given the publisher’s long history of excellence, serializing many of the medium’s most iconic stories. But surprisingly, what the magazine’s current manga is doing at the same time is even on par with the period when the big three were at their peak.
Shonen Jump has historically been supported by its extremely popular flagship series. While the ones that many fans will probably most associate with this are the so-called “Big Three” of Naruto, Bleach, and One Piece, this type of business model existed long before the that emerged. In the 90s, Shonen Jump serialized other popular manga such as Dragon Ball, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Slam Dunk, all of which made the magazine a giant in the industry. Then, after Bleach and Naruto ended, the magazine released many other hits such as My Hero Academia and the modern-day “Dark Trilogy” of Hell’s Paradise, Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen.
The inevitable problem with relying on these staple series is that they will eventually end, requiring Shonen Jump to find new series to replace them. This has led to a trend in recent years of magazines brutally canceling many series before they have had a chance to really gain a following and show what they can do. . Shonen Jump’s pages have always been highly competitive, but the magazine is starting to be so selective that many series don’t even have 20 chapters. The manga has been dubbed “The Under 19 Club” by fans, both a play on the canceled U19 series and a grim reflection on how little time these stories have. . Of course, this makes it feel less worthwhile for fans to invest in a new series, which hinders overall enjoyment of the magazine.
Shonen Jump’s current flagship series are all great
Shonen Jump has actually tackled both of these elements in its magazine recently, which has made it the best it has been in years. To dig deeper into this, let’s first look at the state of Shonen Jump’s flagship series right now. Of course, Jump has some of the most famous series, like Chainsaw Man, Kaiju No. 8 and Spy x Family in its Jump+ digital publication. While these are important to the overall success of the franchise, they are separate from Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. In terms of magazines, the most popular series are One Piece, My Hero Academia, and Jujutsu Kaisen, all of which are in some of their best arcs.
Part of that is because they’re each in their final arcs, which allows them to give fans the moments they’ve been waiting for for quite some time. Jujutsu Kaisen finally shows off Gojo vs Sukuna in an all-out battle, one of the best in any shounen manga, Jump or otherwise. My Hero Academia is continuing to ramp up Final War, with Bakugo and Deku each taking on one of the main villains, Shigaraki and All For One. And while One Piece hasn’t finished its story yet, it has entered the Final Saga, and thus revealed exciting new lore details that fans didn’t even know they wanted.
Shonen Jump’s other series offers a lot of variety
Shonen has become a much higher octane action manga
In addition to these top series, Shonen Jump’s other manga series truly have something for everyone. For a more typical fighting manga, Undead Unlocked contains one of the most interesting power systems of any modern manga. In terms of fight choreography, Sakamoto Days continually pushes the envelope of manga fighting, creating some of the most epic and creative battles out there. And if readers want battles on a larger scale, The Elusive Samurai is a wonderful historical fiction retelling of ancient Japanese warfare with some of the funniest characters in the magazine.
Perhaps most surprising, however, is the high quality of the magazine’s non-action series. Blue Box is a perfect example of a fusion between Sports manga and romance, relying more on love story elements than Shonen Jump series usually do. Both Code Academy and Sins of the Ichinose Family go in a much more intellectual direction, with the former being a puzzling mystery following an amnesiac boy and the latter being a battle manga in which the Characters fight using codes instead of physical attacks. Akane-Banashi is arguably the hardest to classify of all the newer series, focusing on the Japanese performance art of Rakugo and somehow translating it perfectly into a shounen framework.
Shonen Jump has fixed the cancellation problem
Even the newest series in the magazine has something to offer fans willing to take a chance on them. Although Shonen Jump has gotten a bad reputation for canceling series before they have a chance to develop properly, it seems like lately the magazine has been more willing to give these series their time. good. While there are still some series that end before the 20th chapter, there are far fewer of them than before and the ones that do seem to have much more satisfying endings. Not all of these new series are up to the high standards set by many other Shonen Jump manga, but they can still be a fun change of pace from more established stories.
With all of these stories being published simultaneously, there’s never been a better time to be a Shonen Jump fan. This doesn’t even get into all the excellent manga that have been released on Shonen Jump+, like the wholesome Spy x Family, the bombastic Kaiju No 8, and the groundbreaking Chainsaw Man Part 2. While this level of quality is certainly While many of the series that made the magazine great like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia have ended, fans can still enjoy it while it lasts. Jump Shonen not only the best in years but possibly the best for some time to come.