Nisekoi

It is odd, yes. I mean, I get that they want to promote new series over old one that are ending, but you'd think that the older magazines are better at selling magazines, if only on recognition.

I imagine that "the dramatic final chapter of a popular series that's been going on far too long" would get more potential readers than "here's this week's new wannabe".

I'm not so arrogant as to tell these people how to do their jobs, but the way many of these kind of companies conduct business truly baffles me sometimes.

Maybe they want to emphasize continuation rather than ending. Could affect long term sales.

Right, right, I forgot. The series' rankings also determines the order in which they are printed in the magazine, with the best in the front and the worst in the back.

Which is also a pretty odd decision, but it does explain why the editor might want to tweak the list here and there.

I can see the logic behind it. If you consider your target audience to be easily distracted and fickle, then it's good to have a strong starter to catch their attention. So that checks out. Building on the easily distracted idea, maybe they don't want the readers to reach the second story, get bored and just toss that week's magazine out without finishing the issue. Jump is pretty ruthless, so if a series isn't doing well they're probably not going to make much effort to prop it up.

Yeah, One Piece's author actually called Shonen Jump out for not giving Naruto the cover in its final chapter.

The order series appear also has a notable effect on the rankings, so it sort of becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Series toward the front are more likely to get the votes to stay in the front, series in the back are less likely to get the votes to move.

...Which is lampshaded in Bakuman, actually. So at least some people in the Jump are aware of the issue.

That's pretty harsh. So if a series does bad, Jump are pretty much going to leave it to it's fate. And if a series is ending, Jump won't even give it a proper send off and just onto the next biggest thing?

Chapter's out. #OTP 4 Lyfe

But yeah SJ is ruthless when it's not the big three I've heard. I guess they have to be but still.

edited 11th Dec '15 8:58:34 AM by moberemk

The will of the universe (Komi Naoshi) will not let them part until they have had a good date together.

The chapter's not out for those looking for it. The raws are. Different things.

Not quite...can't directly link to the translation but for those curious r/nisekoi is a good place to start.

Hm? I found the chapter translated.

@moberemk: "Big 3" is another thing that has never been accurate. Firstly, One Piece was never big in the West. Secondly, Bleach isn't that enormous in Japan, and deflated immediately when the anime ended. The current top 3 in Japan for Jump are One Piece, Assassination Classroom and Haikyu!!.

I never got the "Big 3" thing either. Though apparently, Bleach's popularity has been pretty consistent. It going down in the rankings has less to do with it's sales tanking and more to do with other series doing better. It doesn't really seem to be doing worse all things considered.

Edit: Why did you say Assassination Class Room and Haikyuu instead of Attack On Titan and Nanatsu No Taizai?

edited 11th Dec '15 3:44:58 PM by LSBK

Because shounen jump. I don't think those two run in that magazine, do they?

Oh. But I never took "Big 3" to mean the biggest in that magazine, I always thought it referred to the most popular manga period. Which means it still doesn't make sense but I've always seen it used in that fashion.

I think the "Big Three" refers to OP, Naruto and Bleach because they were the first three big fighting shonen to start in the Jump of the post-Dragon Ball era (plus Hunter X Hunter, but this one is... special). Of course it no longer means anything nowadays, but in the early 2000's it did somewhat. I can see why the expression popped up in any case.

And One Piece is definitely big in France, at least.

edited 11th Dec '15 4:27:49 PM by Lyendith

France is one of the top countries for anime/manga, so that comes as no shock.

I've never gotten why One Piece was such a big deal myself. I mean, it's good, but not particularly outstanding, I don't think.

Its as much of a Widget Series as you can get and pretty much embodies the Japanese Spirit to its fullest. I also think Japan admires Oda for basically working himself sick on the series.

In short, its everything Japan loves and then some.

And admittedly, while I'm not a big fan of the series, managing to constantly develop a single storyline with a cohesive universe over more than 80 volumes is pretty damn impressive. There are other series that are over 80 volumes, but they are either Gag Series (Kochikame), sports series that can be as long as you want them to be (Hajime no Ippo), an endless succession of mini-arcs in a frozen time (Detective Conan) or divided in several loosely connected parts (JJBA). I can't think of any author who did what Oda did with OP. Kishimoto maybe, but past volume 60 he obviously had no idea what he was doing.

"The Big Three" was a western concept, and mostly constrained to internet boards at that. It never meant anything to Shonen Jump.

For them, One Piece is the big thing and Hunter x Hunter gets all the special treatment.

Oh yeah, chapter out:

This was actually pretty funny and cute. Their relationship is energetic as always But man, at this point even God wants Raku to get a hint.

Bold move there Chitoge, hopefully Raku idiocy won't ruin it.

My, my...◊

Yep, that was cute. If there's not further development next chap I'm gonna be mad.

edited 15th Dec '15 3:44:42 AM by Lyendith

Chapter is out.

Well, it took him nearly 200 chapters, but finally the dense idiot got it right.