Felt like a good year in terms of my Shonen Jump enjoyment 😊 I think there were only 3 or so weeks that were super lack-lustre.

Comments for the series that didn’t make the cut/get cut:

• Decent amount of flackback/political conflict in One Piece to actually kinda capture my interest
• Hero Aca final arc/battle snoozefest…
• This year was action-packed for JJK. Particularly impressed by the way it came full circle back to Sukuna’s binding vow with Itadori.
• Woah Mission Yozakura is now the 4th oldest series in the magazine??? I honestly don’t care about the twins at all, so very meh on this one.
• While I have been liking Undead Unluck a lot more since Andy disappeared, I can’t say that I actually *like* it. It just feels really drawn-out since I know they have to go around recruiting all the UN-ppl, who I mostly don’t even remember so also meh.
• I pretty much spent all year hating on Roboco and wishing for it’s cancellation 😣
• I think the addition of Akira and Amane (and Mafuyu, I feel like Shin is only half a character without him) is what really brought Sakamoto Days up on my enjoyment scale.
• The Elusive Samurai has absolutely been killing it this year (no pun intended) with the additional characters and plot advancements. Still educational and still entertaining. Looking forward to the anime.
• Good on Blue Box having the two MCs actually get together I guess, but I’m more happy they did that because now I get more Kyo/Ayame. Assuming that younger Yusa will end up becoming Hina’s new love interest (and that she will kick up some sorta fuss about him being a younger guy even though it’s just a year LOL).
• Not a single chapter of Ruri Dragon 😢 But we at least got some awesome Hunter x Hunter chapters at the beginning.
• Kill Blue is so confusing for me. I like it, but it also makes me go 😕 a lot too.
• I am amazed that Nue’s Exorcist hasn’t been canned yet 🤣 Probably my guilty pleasure series, I know it’s not high quality but it’s still *fun*
• I actually completely forgot that the series was called “Martial Master Asumi“, I think subconsciously I always referred to it as ‘that fighting series that isn’t as bad as that boxing one’
• I worry for MamaYuyu because I feel like it has no direction. I’m not super invested in it, but there are aspects *cough*Minerva*cough* that I like.
• Kagurabachi is probably the current golden child, but I don’t think it does anything spectacularly well. It’s solid for sure though.
• I predict that Two on Ice will rank highly next year unless it gets axed (please please please don’t axe this one)
• Green Green Greens is ok. I am curious as to how they will make golf interesting (of all entertainment mediums, manga has the highest chance of accomplishing this). Robot x Laserbeam flopped after all.
• I spent the entire year thinking Jiangshi-X was Weekly Shonen Jump LOL.

And in memorial:

Farewell, you are missed 😢

PPPPPP was a favourite of mine for quite a while, sure went out with a bang LOL. Like even more ‘up yours WSJ’ than Bleach’s 🤣 Very sad about Tenmaku Cinema but I can kinda understand why it wasn’t popular. Ice Head Gill wasn’t even that good (kinda fits more in with Ginka and Gluna/Fabricant 100 below) but I just loved Gill that much that I kinda miss the series haha.

Bye, I enjoyed our time together

Ginka and Gluna and Fabricant 100 were series that I think had good premises, but failed on execution. Mashle thankfully didn’t drag on and the ending was amazing, as in, whenever I see anything Mashle my mind immediately goes to ‘continental kick’ LOL. Ichinose kept me on my toes and got my respect for tackling a bunch of hard topics, but overall also failed on execution.

Wait, you existed?

I honestly probably completely forgot about the existence of High School Family the week after it ended… You’d think I would remember Tokyo Demon Bride Story more given how much crap I gave it while it was going, but turns out I didn’t hate it it enough to remember it.

Sorry, but good riddance

Ichigoki’s Under Control was probably the Shugomaru of 2023 except nowhere near as bad. It only really made this tier because so many other WSJ series do comedy well that reading Ichigoki afterwards (and it was always afterwards cos it was so low in the TOC) kinda felt painful. Do Retry had nothing redeeming about it and was a chore to read.

First Place – Akane-Banashi & Cipher Academy
(29 Points)

Wow! A draw for first place! Both series are kinda in the same place – as in they have established casts that now allow the series to build relationships and delve into their respective subject matters.

With Akane-Banashi, I love the rival aspect it’s got going on between so many of the different characters, as well as the use of a different art-style for the rakugo segments. And none of the characters are really hateable, some are not very nice, but not to the point of villain. Another thing about Akane-Banashi, it’s the kind of series where I can really tell, and appreciate, the translation/localisation quality.

With Cipher Academy, I love the friendship aspect it’s finally built between Class A. I think the beginning was tough because there were too many characters to remember, but it did a great job of organically introducing and delving into each one, to the point that they are all valuable cast members now. It’s another series where I can appreciate the translation/localisation quality, or at least appreciate that it the source material may not be fully translatable… And even though I hate solving puzzles myself, I really enjoy the huge variety displayed in this series. It’s smart without me having to be smart to enjoy it 😋

Second Place – Witch Watch
(26 Points)

To be honest this one probably only dropped because it had (an important) final battle/plot climax arc. I can’t say I enjoyed that arc that much (although some of the fights *were* pretty cool), but I can appreciate that it was necessary to set-up the current situation. And I really like the way they are coming full circle with the spells Nico has used throughout the series. It makes me excited to read the tankobons, although that will only happen when the series ends and I don’t want it to 😝

Third Place – Tenmaku Cinema
(18 Points)

A WSJ Graveyard series making the top 4 😶 That’s how much I liked this one I guess. It really had that Act-Age feel to it and I really really miss Act-Age.

Useless Stats

So Kill Blue was a very close 5th place with 17 votes. This was followed by Nue’s Exorcist (15 votes) and then Sakamoto Days and Two on Ice (13 votes), which is actually a crazy result for Two on Ice given it only started serialisation in issue #43 😮 The Elusive Samurai (11 votes) was the last series to get over 10 votes. The other ones that actually made it onto the scoreboard:

• Jujutsu Kaisen – 7 votes
• Ice Head Gill – 6 votes
• One Piece – 3 votes
• MamaYuyu – 2 votes
• Mashle/Blue Box/Fabricant 100 – 1 vote

Conclusion

After writing this summary I can see that I am enjoying the newer series a lot more than the older ones. In particular, there is a bit of a ‘hate zone’ in the middle with Mission Yozakura/Undead Unluck/Roboco 😅 I can understand that some people might be worried for the future of WSJ given that there is no real ‘big’ battle manga to take the place of Hero Aca and JJK (which are in their final arcs), but I think the quality is high. It’s just that the series I like are ones that aren’t really mainstream… If Two on Ice can solidify a spot in the line-up, I think personally that’s very good coverage:

• Actual battle – Hunter x Hunter (and maybe Kagurabachi)
• Actual sports – Two on Ice
• Battle comedy – Sakamoto Days
• Gag comedy – Witch Watch
• Non-sport sports – Akane-Banashi
• Battle of wits – Cipher Academy
• Edutainment – The Elusive Samurai

I think all of the above (except maybe Two on Ice) are safe from the axe, so 2024 can only get even better IMO! 🥰

Categories: Weekly Shonen Jump Impressions

Tagged as: 2023 in Review

hikaru