Mag Talk Weekly Shonen Jump (2025) - News and Discussion!

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Feels like it's about time to introduce a set of official rules for the thread:

Moderator Notice:

WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP THREAD RULES​

1. No fights or personal insults.
2. No bait or troll comments with the intention of annoying or starting heated discussions, if i notice it, i will warn the user or delete the comment.
3. No toxic attitude towards series, no one is obligated to enjoy any series and it's totally fine to criticize what you don't like, just avoid posting gratuitous hateful or toxic comments about X or Y series, if i notice this behavior, comment will be deleted.
4. Don't bring politics or off-topic stuff to the thread, this is about Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and mangas, so keep any conversation about topics that aren't relate about anime & manga outside the thread.
5. Don't post news about series from other magazine or publishers in the WSJ thread, post in the series own thread, but it's fine if you're mentioning other series or magazine to express a opinion or reflection about Shonen Jump.
6. Any tweet, specially japanese, about news, update or some interesting thing about the magazine or series has to come with a text of what that tweet means and also be on topic, if not it's going to be either deleted or i will edit the post.
7. No self advertising or advertising Youtubers videos in the comments.
8. Fanart posts just for the sake of posting is prohibited, this rule doesn't apply for official art by Jump artists posted on social media, they're fine to post
9. Don't discuss or hype chapter spoilers before Sunday release, only comment if is related to a series surviving status and do it only inside the spoiler tag.
~ Shinuki

I hope everybody read these rules and follow it without problem, the comment will soon be sticked at the top of the thread to be visible in every page, so if any doubt about what to avoid doing, just check it, also if i feel like any new rule has to be added in the future, i will do. Thanks!

Obs: Rules about fanart edited!

 

[iker_03]

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #26 (2025)
ONE PIECE (Cover & Lead Color Page)
Ichi the Witch
SAKAMOTO DAYS
Nue's Exorcist
Me & Roboco
WITCH WATCH (Color Page)
Blue Box
Ultímate Exorcist Kiyoshi
Akane-banashi (Color Page)
Otr of the Flame
Kagurabachi
NICE PRISON
Shinobi Undercover
The Elusive Samurai
Kill Blue (Color Page)
Syd Craft: Love is a Mystery
Hima-Ten!
Super Psychic Policeman Chojo
Star of Beethoven
EMBERS

Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #27 (Preview)
Cover & LCP: Ichi the Witch
Cp: Hima-Ten!; Shinobi Undercover, One Shot by Sako Kento

 

[westabyss]

That's what I mean though, all we have are stories that Yu-Gi-Oh! was doing badly, but nothing actually suggests it was doing badly; just that it was doing worse because it wasn't doing what the people actually wanted. Like, I've heard that the early volumes didn't sell well from word of mouth over the years, but we have no actual proof of that.

From #35 of 97, the issue where it starts being lower more often and eventually drops to the bottom 5/3 often. This was the long running/established series running:

1. Hoshin Engi
2. Rurouni Kenshin
3. Hareluya II Boy
4. Hell Teacher Nube
5. Kochikame
6. Jojo's
7. Captain Tsubasa (it gets cancelled soon, but it's still a long established franchise at this point)
8. Midori no Makibao

Then the new series that are doing well

1. I"s
2. One Piece (two chapters but we know it's an instant hit)
3. Seikimatsu Leader Dan Takeshi (three chapters, but another series we know starts really good)
4. Hanasaka Tenshi Tenten-kun (would go on to last three years)
5. the aforementioned Makuhari
6. Wild Half (it recovered in 97, before crashing again in 98, well after the point Yu-Gi-Oh! is safe)

That's not a lineup where you can just survive by being lucky. You needed something else to survive. Hell, even if you look at the issue Makuhari gets cancelled (#49), Yu-Gi-Oh! got TWO color pages in a row like 5 issues beforehand (#44 and #45). I can't find when the damn anime got announced, but I wouldn't be shocked if one of those color pages is for it. I find it highly unlikely a cancelled series that got saved at the last minute would have gotten that. I even looked back at Makuhari's 1997, and it was in the lower rankings way more than Yu-Gi-Oh! was. Yu-Gi-Oh! was getting several top 10s in early 97, got color pages in 97 (Makuhari only got 1 lead color page in all of 97, and I assume it was for the anniversary. YGO got two color pages after that Makuhari lead color page not counting the consecutive color page). By the time Yu-Gi-Oh! was a bottom dweller, Makuhari was already there with it.

And again, all the comments from Takahashi in the YGO bunkobans release suggest the series was struggling, but never in actual danger. "Death T was cut short...to get to the card game". Takahashi decided he wanted to try a longer arc after Death T ended, which is how we get to Duelist Kingdom eventually. But Duelist Kingdom isn't the next arc, so he clearly was still looking towards the card game in July of 97, aka it's not getting cancelled yet. They were getting flooded by readers trying to figure out how to actually play the card game. The card game is first played in chapter 9, where it already started ranking well and chapter 10 got the cover (again, before the card game is actually played). The series had to be popular before the card game because Takahashi also says he didn't expect it to be so popular; it was just going to be one two-part story arc. That's why I'm saying it's probably more accurate to say the card game overshadowed everything else instead of just saying it did badly. The anime talks start in July of 1997 (aka, the stretch where it's at the bottom of the TOC). Unpopular series that are about to get cancelled don't get anime talks within a year of its debut.

Yeah, like I said Makahari just started out really popular. It fell off somewhere around chapter 50. Apparently the author lost motivation among other things. I mean I am just citing the story that the author told himself because him and Takahashi shared the same editor. But you are right that the timing is off because YGO probably had its Anime announcement 1 or 2 issues prior.

 

[Aqyurs]

Yeah, like I said Makahari just started out really popular. It fell off somewhere around chapter 50. Apparently the author lost motivation among other things. I mean I am just citing the story that the author told himself because him and Takahashi shared the same editor. But you are right that the timing is off because YGO probably had its Anime announcement 1 or 2 issues prior.

Did the Makuhari author say the name of their editor? This would be around the time the story about an editor locking Toriyama in a room to finish his work would have happened right? And we know that One Piece's original editor was extra harsh on Oda when he was trying to serialize the series. Maybe the editor was trying jedi mind tricks to motivate the Makuhari author and he picked Yu-Gi-Oh! because the editor knew that another editor couldn't contradict him since he was the YGO editor too? It is odd.

 

[JBC008]

I know yesterday to earlier today, there was the discourse regarding the cover. What are the JP fans saying about it?

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

I know yesterday to earlier today, there was the discourse regarding the cover. What are the JP fans saying about it?

Read a few comments surprised about WW inclusion but nothing big

 

[JBC008]

Read a few comments surprised about WW inclusion but nothing big

I figured that it was taken out of proportion here. But I had a feeling the WW inclusion was for promotion purposes.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2025, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2025 ---

But man, those sprites really had me confused on a few like Akane and Tokiyuki.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

I figured that it was taken out of proportion here. But I had a feeling the WW inclusion was for promotion purposes.

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2025, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2025 ---

But man, those sprites really had me confused on a few like Akane and Tokiyuki.

When i say nothing big is because the rest is just trash talking / trolling comments.

 

[JBC008]

When i say nothing big is because the rest is just trash talking/trolling comments.

Ah, I am curious how unfiltered comments sections are in Japan. Unless it is other platforms that are universal like Twitter, then I am one to talk.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Ah, I am curious how unfiltered comments sections are in Japan. Unless it is other platforms that are universal like Twitter, then I am one to talk.

5ch/2ch are as unfiltered as it gets but jp netizens don't really curse online like westerns and yet at the same time it can actually sound more nasty/mean sometimes, but overall is just repetitive troll behavior like being obnoxious and negative towards certain series, Jp Twitter overall is actually way more chill and positive than the Forums

 

[JBC008]

5ch/2ch are as unfiltered as it gets but jp netizens don't really curse online like westerns but at the same time it can actually sound more nasty/mean sometimes, but overall is just repetitive troll behavior like being obnoxious and negative towards certain series, Jp Twitter overall is actually way more chill and positive than the Forums.

Of course it’s the Chan platforms. It’s kind of ironic of how new I was to the whole internet space since a few years ago. That was mainly how I was always rejecting it in a similar fashion to Togashi (before he joined Twitter and only used it for teasing HxH chapters).

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2025, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2025 ---

By the way, what were others thoughts on that one-shot Love Crown, Phantom RPG posted yesterday.

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Shoseki Top 500 (April 23)
144. Witch Watch #21
168. Akane-banashi #16
289. Undead Unluck #27
327. Undead Unluck #26
402. Nue's Exorcist #9
409. Hima-ten! #3
413. Me & Roboco #21
485. Kill Blue #9

Shoseki Top 500 (April 24)
190. Akane-banashi #16
198. Witch Watch #21
391. Undead Unluck #26
408. Undead Unluck #27
431. Me & Roboco #21
444. Nue's Exorcist #9
458. Hima-ten! #3

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2025, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2025 ---

WW went from 10 volumes of backlog charting to zero in one day lol

 

[Franz]

WW went from 10 volumes of backlog charting to zero in one day lol

And is that a good thing?

 

[Nuesmoker]

Nue's Exorcist recommended by the comedian Hussya Taniguchi

 

[Shinuki no Reborn]

Thanks for the votes, actually better than what i expected

WHAT IS YOUR SCORE FOR THE 1ST CHAPTER OF NICE PRISON? - VOTING RESULTS

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2025, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2025 ---

WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP ISSUE #21 (2025) - POLL & COMMENT VOTING!​

Yo guys & girls, sorry for the wait but the voting for issue #21 is finally open! Vote for your top 3 through the poll and in the comments, don't waste time because it's already Friday!

Summoning the users who usually vote and also participate in the thread:

Spoiler

@animeexpert
@BelTL
@Bulju
@c3pman
@Chamo
@Crimson Trickster
@Discomusic
@defensor_de_boruto
@Dongus
@DrLazer
@echo
@EnriqueR
@Felcis
@Hawke
@icrawfish
@iker_03
@Inumaru
@ItsSamu
@Javieroski
@JBC008
@kakilangit
@Kiaida
@Koen
@KrenKren
@KyuKyu555
@LogicoftheVI
@mapacheko9
@Mankichi Togawa
@Mitsuki Rein
@MOthinus
@Nakura
@NeenNeen
@Nuesmoker
@NyanPower
@pennycryman
@PhinKin
@Pietro
@PikaBoy3
@Ravellino
@redon
@SharkBait
@Thehoennhippo
@TheRealTravisty
@shonenblue
@sofiahalbof
@Stivie
@V1zy
@VixenOnVideo
@Zest00
@WyldViolet

 

[V1zy]

In 5 months Shonen Magazine already announced a anime adaptation for 4 new series + New season for 3 series + 5 other series with a new season in production, meanwhile Jump only has Yozakura S2, TES S2, Sakamoto Part 2, & Blue Box S2 announced, come on Jump, its time to start announce new stuff!

I do wonder how many anime announcements we'll have this year. I assume that akane banashi is the next one to get an anime, and bachi already had their production company leaked so it will probably be announced this year as well. Will the kill blue and nue anime be announced this year or will they wait until next year for it?

 

[Nuesmoker]

In 5 months Shonen Magazine already announced a anime adaptation for 4 new series + New season for 3 series + 5 other series with a new season in production, meanwhile Jump only has Yozakura S2, TES S2, Sakamoto Part 2, & Blue Box S2 announced, come on Jump, its time to start announce new stuff!

NUE NEXT CMON LOVE NUE GO NUE

Realistically tho we will get Akane's announcement soon enough (it would be about damn time) as well as Kagurabachi's. I can however believe Nue will get announced this year!

...If they start to speed up adaptations as they should, at least.

 

[Kurama58]

NUE NEXT CMON LOVE NUE GO NUE

Realistically tho we will get Akane's announcement soon enough (it would be about damn time) as well as Kagurabachi's. I can however believe Nue will get announced this year!

...If they start to speed up adaptations as they should, at least.

Wait for the jump festa this year .

 

[Inumaru]

Issue #21 votes:
1 - Ichi The Witch
2 - Nice Prison
3 - Ruri Dragon

 

[Newkerzy]

To be fair, there could be more, I just didn't look before 1990. But from what I was noticing, yeah, most of the time, the global hits since the 90s usually came from either newbies or people with one failure. I also saw that Kazuki Takahashi for example, had one failure in WSM and then one in WSJ before making Yu-Gi-Oh!, so I wouldn't be shocked if some of the other successful authors did something like that instead of failing twice in Jump. there's also people like Haruto Umezawa, but I still don't know if the original Hareluya was outright cancelled, or if it was always meant to be a short preview series for the sequel Hareluya II Boy like Saiki Kusuo Vol. 0 essentially ended up being

I think Yu-Gi-Oh! is one of those "misleading TOC" type of series. It's probably more accurate to say that the readers were just way more interested in the card game over everything else than saying it was outright doing badly (in the volume 3 afterword of the bunkoban release of the series, Takahashi did say Death T essentially got cut short so he could get to the card game sooner). Like yes, it has stints in the bottom 5/3 with a few last places, but it's more like how Nue's Exorcist has been a bottom dweller for most of this year: it's true if you just look at the TOC, but we also know it's clearly more popular than being a constant bottom 5/3 series. I wouldn't be shocked if for example, Yu-Gi-Oh! got pushed to the back more often because it was really violent in a mostly realistic world And we can't check the sales for YGO since it was too early for Oricon, but the series has 40 million in circulation as of 2022. Even if it was struggling in sales when it started, there's basically no way it was only like a 10k seller or something truly catastrophic (for the time).

In the afterwords for the volume 5 bunkoban release, Takahashi said talks for an anime began after the Death T arc ended, which was July of 1997. That anime aired in April of 1998. It couldn't be doing that badly if it was getting anime talks before the one year anniversary. Even if Toei only saw it as a potential merchandise juggernaut...that would still imply the series was popular enough to be marketable in the first place.

I think the early games introduced in the series might have had a cult following enough to put the series on life support, at least, that’s my guess. But it is pretty odd for Toei to consider approaching a series that was a walking zombie at the time. I honestly doubt they were privy to the development of the card games prior to their first meeting.

I would disagree with people saying it wasn’t lucky or in a better state than people think. Takahashi was truly fortunate the card games blew up in the span of 3 years beyond his wildest dreams.

Did the Makuhari author say the name of their editor? This would be around the time the story about an editor locking Toriyama in a room to finish his work would have happened right? And we know that One Piece's original editor was extra harsh on Oda when he was trying to serialize the series. Maybe the editor was trying jedi mind tricks to motivate the Makuhari author and he picked Yu-Gi-Oh! because the editor knew that another editor couldn't contradict him since he was the YGO editor too? It is odd.

I think we need to stop there, otherwise, you’re just opening up a rabbit hole for people trying to visualize Yugioh’s chart to success

--- Double Post Merged, Apr 25, 2025, Original Post Date: Apr 25, 2025 ---

True, all those people crying "NAK THE HAK" gotta be feeling pretty weird about now... *backs into corner*

I‘m still placing faith in Saito until he goes off the rails or start being a dick to certain authors.

If people say he’s being a dick right now, I’ll admit I’m being biased because the covers contain some of my favorite series. But I forgive him for the inclusion of the ones I don’t read for obvious reasons (WW anime, and OP….being OP plus KGB, the current rising star alongside Ichi)

 

[Kiaida]

I know yesterday to earlier today, there was the discourse regarding the cover. What are the JP fans saying about it?

The average person won't talk about a leaked cover.

 

[Aqyurs]

I think the early games introduced in the series might have had a cult following enough to put the series on life support, at least, that’s my guess. But it is pretty odd for Toei to consider approaching a series that was a walking zombie at the time. I honestly doubt they were privy to the development of the card games prior to their first meeting.

I would disagree with people saying it wasn’t lucky or in a better state than people think. Takahashi was truly fortunate the card games blew up in the span of 3 years beyond his wildest dreams.

The thing is, if you go by the TOC of the series, the only time the series would be on life support, is the stretch that starts at 1997 Issue 35...which is July, the point where anime talks began. Before that, it was all over the place ranking wise (but almost always in the middle or upper half). It got a cover at chapter 10, lead color pages at chapter 13, and got color pages frequently up till chapter 27. I still don't know when it got announced (I still would guess October of 97), but the anime had to been announced at some point between July of 1997 (when the talks first began) and April of 1998 (when the anime actually airs). I think you would agree that Jump wouldn't cancel a series before the anime airs right? So a lot of its time in the bottom 3/5, and last places, happened when it already had an anime that was going to air. So a lot of the low placements don't matter that much if at all in my opinion.

Toei definitely didn't know anything about the development of the card game when they were discussing an anime, because a version of the card game didn't exist irl until 1998. That version was made by Bandai, licensed by Toei, and it wasn't that popular, had no structure, was released at the same time as the anime debut (so they weren't already in development by the time Toei started showing interest in making an anime), and was clearly collectable first, game second. The card game we all know and love until someone drops the 50th Maxx C on me doesn't get released until 1999, well after the point Yu-Gi-Oh! is safe. It got two video games in 1998. I understand that video game development didn't take anywhere near as long as it does today, but the fact that they were releasing games for the series so early on has to mean they saw the franchise as something more than on life support. The series got 14 color pages and lead color pages in 1998 (the most that year), again, all before the actual card game existed. It managed that before the mega money maker gave Shueisha an excuse to promote it to hell. All it had was the anime (and the bad version of the card game no one liked), so it had to be doing at least good without the card game.

And yes, of course Yugioh got lucky. I think the lucky part was becoming the mega money maker it is today, not the fact that it survived at all before it got the chance to become a mega money maker. You need more than luck to survive in Jump for three years. I understand the card game helped a lot, but it also didn't actually exist for 3 years. Just the concept of a cool game can't keep a series alive for three years. It either needs to actually exist or the series itself has to being doing an actual thing to be popular. Duelist Kingdom begins at the start of 1998 and obviously increases the popularity of the series massively, but the anime was already coming (it starts airing around 15 issues later). So actually seeing the card game fleshed out and alive wasn't what got the series an anime or games; there were still only two or three duels to work with and the rest was imagination.

Me personally, I have always heard the stories about the series not being popular at all early on and almost getting cancelled if it wasn't for the card game. I thought just content wise, it was completely plausible and believable. And we can't see the volume sales for the series because it was too early to either support or disprove the theory. However, actually looking through the TOC, seeing comments from Takahashi about the development of the franchise over time, seeing the timeline for things like the creation of the card game vs the original anime vs the first video games: I just can't believe it was actually doing horribly or badly at any point. If it was, Shueisha are the most reckless company ever giving so much exposure in different mediums before it actually had a t product that could capitalize on it.

But yeah, I think we can stop trying to figure what was actually up with Yu-Gi-Oh! year 1. It ultimately doesn't matter because it did became mega successful however it did.