Shonen Jump ToC Rankings

So, having read this week's chapter, it seems like Shadow Eliminators is moving towards it's ending, given the sudden changes in the plot. If true, that would mean the series ending for the next round would be Mamayuyu (which also had a "getting closer to the end" chapter), Two on Ice and then Shadow Eliminators, in that order (since older series go finish first in this situations).

Dear Anemone: The series continues feeling like it's moving faster than it should, and now has a twist, that while interesting, raises questions, like, why did the other guy (Minazuki) did nothing against the starfish, if he could transform? It's not like he cared about hiding it, looking at this chapter .

Witch Watch: The return of the girl version of the guys was nice, though I feel little was done with it (while raising the question of how much they change menatlly, since Mori(hito) mentions liking gaps in personality, and Nico doesn't really have that). Honestly, I would have liked if we also saw the guy version of the girls, since I feel that would have created a fun conflict. But most important thing, is that we learn Nemu streches like a cat, which felt very funny to me, for some reason .

Regarding Nemu, her morning stretches sort of make sense given she does spend a lot of time as a cat. It's probably partially a habit already.

RuriDragon: The last before it moves to digital serialization on the 22nd. An offer to be on the executive committee for the upcoming Sports Festival to end it's run on Jump before the jump, eh?
Choujou-Senpai: At least we know the name of the drunk guy now!
Kill Blue: YAAAAAAA Shidou!!
Kagurabachi: A child comes and tries to get his sister back. Chihiro ends up taking his wish as he goes to disrupt the auction! Alright!
Dear Anemone: O-O...
Nue no Onmyouji: Shitotsu's change and apology + coming danger...
MamaYuyu: OOF to End, I guess...
Green Green Greens: AAAND OUGA with the Eagle!!
Ruirui Senki: Aoba having to fight the shadow in him to be free, and the huge fight starting in the background... Guess I'm gonna have to face the music; this is defs on the endgame...

Ok, let's see how hard to edit this in the phone is (it wasn't as hard as I though), because the most recent ToC released, and it is packed.

• First minor note is that My Hero Academia is in the cover this week celebrating the 7th season of it's anime.

• Psychic Policeman has it's second colour page this week, which doesn't exactly tell us how it's performing, but at least is better than...

• Dear Anemone has a very poor first ranking 4th from the bottom, which considering the following news, may be even worse than it appears (it might be the last available position for it), because...

• A new serialization round will start next week (more details in a bit), but this week series start to end to make space, and the first one to go is Mamayuyu, which officially ends this week. Considering there will be 3 new series, unless Ruri Dragon made things weird, 3 series should be ending, with the other sure departure being Two on Ice. The two candidates for the last series are Shadow Eliminators and Greens, neither of which has performed well in the ToC, but also neither has released their first volume, so if either goes, it would mean the higher-ups in the Jump had that little faith in the series future.

• So, we have new series starting next week, and the first one is a doozy:
  • "Negai no Astro" will be the first one, and it is a supernatural deliquents series by Ken Wakui, author of Tokyo Revengers. So I guess the Jump really wanted to have a piece of that delinquent pie, so they went straight for one of the best known bakers, huh. This is very funny for some reason.

  • Fusai Naba returns for another try in the Jump after "Aliens Area" didn't perform well, this time with "Kyukutou Necromancer" a fantasy series. The title is catching my interest, but let see how the series turns out.

  • Finally, another fantasy series called "Cycle Biyori" will start, authored by Kobayashi Omusuke, who wrote two other series ("Ashita Akira no Tanagokoro" and "Houki no Kariudo"), which I know nothing about, but the covers look very whimsical, so I'm also looking forward to this one.

Ken Wakui going from Magazine to Jump, eh...? For one, excited, but for another, given how Tokyo Revengers ended, I don't know if anyone else this side of the fandom will bother reading his new work...

Edited by thuse on Apr 4th 2024 at 11:16:23 PM

No surprise Mamayuyu and Two on Ice are ending. The mangaka seem to have been given advance notice, and they've both been wheeling towards their respective endgames. Shadow Eliminators quickly lost my interest, so I would prefer if it dipped before Green Green Greens.

For the new series, I have no faith in the Tokyo Revengers author so meh. The two fantasy series are way more interesting, especially the one about the necromancer.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 4th 2024 at 8:17:33 AM

It's funny, since I read Tokyo Revengers mostly to discuss it with a friend (who disliked the final arc and ending), I never got invested in the series, beyong being curious about the time travel. So, I didn't feel let down by the ending, since it felt about the same than the rest of the series.

I want to share a different idea I have discussed with someone, since there was a sugestion that, because we have 3 series starting, but only 2 series clearly ending, that maybe the 3rd series ("Cycle Biyori"), could be "taking the place" of My Hero Academia, since it's close to ending, and considering Cylce Biyori is beginning in a month (there will be both a week without a new series starting and the Golden Week break).

In this scenario, both series would coexist for a bit (2-4 weeks), until My Hero ends with the proper farewell big series have. To this I added that, maybe, to give Horikoshi some rest, the final arc could end, and then there will be an announcement a short epilogue series (which Tokyo Revergers had, curiously enough) at a later date.

Could it be possible, or just a far-fetched idea?

I honestly only watched the first season of the Tokyo Revengers anime, and it was terrible? Dropped it and never looked back.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by My Hero Academia taking a break. I think if Horikoshi wants to take a break he'd be able to do that, regardless of whether a series can fill in or not.

An idea I have seen multiple times is that My Hero Academia is going to have a large epilogue, considering there are multiple plot points and characters that need to be given closure after the current conflict ends. So under that assumption, I presented the alternative idea that the series could end after finishing this arc, with the announcement that there would be some epilogue chapters published at a later date. This alternative is mostly to connect with the previous idea that My Hero could possibly end soon, and a new series could take it's place (with the added mention that this scenario would allow Horikoshi to take a break between ending and epilogue).

I suppose those are many hypotheticals presented as a single post, which now I see why it's confusing. Reworded to a simpler question it would be:

Do you think My Hero Academia could end soon enough that the higher-ups at the Jump might be already considering putting a new series in its "slot"?

Edit: I have only read the manga of Tokyo Revengers, and it's one of those series I wonder how they got so popular that every once in a while I see people (mostly teenage girls) wearing coats form the series in public. Right place and right time, I guess.

Edited by Shadow-Whisperer on Apr 4th 2024 at 9:24:12 AM

My Hero Academia is clearly headed towards the endgame, so it would not be surprising if editors are already thinking about what comes afterwards. Heck, they're always looking for their next hits anyway.

Edited by fillerdude on Apr 4th 2024 at 10:21:11 AM

Considering Horikoshi recommended Kagurabachi, I could see Jump pushing that series, maybe even capitalize on the Meme culture it created in the West, even. Japanese readers are well aware of it, too.

Jujutsu Kaisen is also supposed to be ending this year, so they might want to push another new series to take that one's place.

Edited by Demongodofchaos2 on Apr 5th 2024 at 11:00:01 AM

Yes, and that series will be Sakamoto Days, since it already has some of the best sales numbers in the magazine, despite not having an anime project yet, which you can corroborate with this months sales ranking I share below. If Kagurabachi continues sellling well, it could join Kill Blue in the tier of "promising prospects".

Today I had time, so I can now give some weekly thoughts:

• Two on Ice: The moment Kisara and Hayuma gave each other their gold medals was so cute. I'm going to miss this series after next week.

• Witch Watch: Kanshi suffers, I laugh.

• Dear Anemone: I'm not so sure about this chapter, it felt weird but I can't quite put my finger in why. Maybe not really getting a clear shot of wolf girl, or mantis for some reason vacillating to kill her contributed to it.

• Mamayuyu: The series ends this week, and this final chapter felt a bit underwhelming, mostly the second half because, while having Corleo connect with End was nice, setting up a fight that won't be resolved doesn't sit well with me. Considering that, unless the situation changes, Corleo dies either way makes me hope the final volume has an extra chapter that resolves the cliffhanger.

• Psychic Policeman: This series keeps making me laugh at least once per chapter, with Robocop being so proud of becoming a microwave fulfilling the quota. Also, not sure if it was intentional, but the wonky way Nao was drawn in twintails (in almost every panel Nao looks like she has her usual ponytail with another "tail" drwan with less detail in the other side of her head), was enjoyable in a goofy way.

• Roboco: You now something is big if there is a Roboco chapter based on it, and this time it's Mashle's opening "Bling Bang Bang Born", which inspires Roboco to rap so Creepy Nuts does the song for Roboco's movie. I wonder if this attempt will be successful.

• Shadow Eliminators: The sudden way things are advancing is making me believe this will be the last series to end for this serialization round. Since there will be an issue in a couple weeks without a series starting, I guess Shadow Eliminators will have 3 more chapters.

A lot of this is why I don't really read anything from WSJ anymore. I'm a fan of battle/fantasy shounen series so shit like Shadow Eliminators or Mamayuyu are up my ally but I never want to start reading a series when I know it can just be canceled after 20-30 chapters.

And the series I did read (Black Clover, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Undead Unluck) I don't really enjoy anymore for one reason or another.

Edited by Silentedge89 on Apr 7th 2024 at 9:27:49 AM

Mamayuyu definitely ended on a huge whimper. I know it was cut short, but damn that ending still felt haphazard. I feel like it would've been better to kill Corleo off for real.

I'm also going to miss Two on Ice. It's a series that didn't really do anything wrong, but it always seemed out of step with JUMP's demographic. Green Green Greens I'm nervous about for similar reasons, but at least thus far it's been a fantastic character piece.

We also got Centuria this week, a dark fantasy from one of Tatsuki Fujimoto's assistants. It was honestly predictable, but it has potential, especially if it can leverage the main character's special condition.

Centuria is interesting in concept but the execution of the first could use some more polish to make it less on the nose at some points. Let's see how things go.

Kill Blue: HOOOO SHIT... Another newer deadlier threat, eh...
Kagurabachi: This'll be a hell of a fight, it seems...
Choujou-Senpai: Center Color!! As someone who part-times as a convenience store worker here, this is totally relatable!
Nue no Onmyouji: Trainig arc incoming!
Green Green Greens: The end of the Yaesaki's 1st golf course... Where to from here...?
Dear Anemone: What?
Ruirui Senki: AYT! Aoba made it! Now for the ultimate battle... Really hoped for this to go on longer, but the flag's waving for this it seems...
FINAL: MamaYuyu: Just for anyone wondering, there IS an extra chapter in the volumes.

Right, next week, Wakui-sensei's new series... Just from seeing the previews, it really seems like he took A LOT of the style from Tokyo Revengers for this... If not this side of the fandom, maybe the Japanese side will get this one rolling, but if not, then, oof...

Edited by thuse on Apr 8th 2024 at 9:28:23 PM

Thank you for information about Mamayuyu.

I read a couple things about Wakui, and I didn't know he was working with another magazine for 20 years, having multiple series with Tokyo Revengers being his big break. That just puts into perspective how impressive it is for the Jump to get him.

Another thing is that Tokyo Revengers has sold 80 million volumes, and in comparison My Hero has sold 100 million. Makes me believe the higher-ups are hoping for another big hit, but we'll have to see how well it really goes.

Banking on a big name author hoping for another hit is how Samurai 8 happened (partially, I mean I enjoyed it but I'm in the minority).

Yeah its a gamble, but at the very least a currently popular mangaka will attract a lot of eyes at the start (meaning it won't be axed immediatly...), but only time will tell if Wakui's new series will be a success or a failure (...meaning it isn't immune to be cancelled).

Anyways, here is the ToC of the week:

• Repeating for one last time, "Negai no Astro", a series by the author of Tokyo Revengers will begin this week. Despite the ending of that series, I will have an open mind and see what this new series has to offer (if anythng, having a Senju-like character from early on would be a positive improvement).

• In one hand, apparently Super Psychic Policeman Choujo is a success, since after the uncertainty of the colour page, it skyrockets in the ToC, landing in a second position. Impressive and a bit unexpected.

• But in the other hand, Dear Anemone continues performing poorly (if Shadow Eliminators were to end this serialization round, Anemone would basically be at the very bottom), so unless things begin to improve, the chances for a long lasting future in the magazine are dwindling.

• And ending in a sad note, we must bid farewell to Two on Ice, which is ending this week. Really sad to see it go.

Edited by Shadow-Whisperer on Apr 12th 2024 at 7:18:13 AM

Goodbye to another one I was enjoying.

So, it seems this Sakamoto Days chapter pulled a Souther reveal (I guess only a few people can understand it)

Choujou-Senpai: New chara: Heisuke Ban, who is not only in his 2nd year of middle school (aka the code for being a chuunibyou), but also so much of a pervert that he decided to go to Choujou-Senpai in the hopes that he can teach him clairvoyance... Sick fuck...
Nue no Onmyouji: Center Color! Training, Yajima and Suou ending up in the same bed, and a possible foe heading for the dorms??
Kill Blue: The part where seemingly random people in the street start shooting at the car with Juuzou and Youichirou exchanging gunfire is downright hilarious!
Kagurabachi: Still looking cool, but ... huh?
Green Green Greens: Yaezaki to be Ouga's caddy for an amateur tournament in which Ouga's participating. Good luck hun!
Dear Anemone: No comment.
Ruirui Senki: Aoba vs Zen, which ends up with Aoba exorcising Zen, but then, him disappearing, leaving Yayoi...
NEW: Negai no Astro: Hibaru Yotsurugi is the child of one Kongou Yotsurugi, who used to be the head of the Yotsurugi Syndicate until he died during an accident. Upon death, Kongou, seeing the rest of his adopted children as too adult, entrusted the syndicate to him and his 12th adopted child Terasu, but Hibaru, seeing that him succeeding the syndicate would lead to its fracture, handed it over to Terasu instead on the day of Kongou's funeral ... which of course upset EVERYONE because they thought the current wakagashira Shiou was gonna succeed Kongou. Now one day, there happened to be a meteor shower. Alas, that was no ordinary shower because one of the meteors struck Earth. Cue Hibaru, having made a wish in the hopes that it'll come true, gaining a supernatural power: a right-hand fist akin to a bullet. Alas, he isn't the only one to get something like this... The TR-esque art is pretty on the nose with some of these characters, but let's see if this post-apocalyptic supernatural syndicate story is gonna catch on...

Farewell, Two on Ice, you did barely anything wrong. It just wasn't your time.

I haven't had time to read all the chapters yet, but I want to comment about endings and beginnings:

• Two on Ice: As said above , it's truly a shame to see this series go, since I feel it really gave something unique to the magazine, but sadly that uniqueness didn't give it a big enough audience to survive. At least this final chapter was nice, by both presenting Kisara and Hayuma moving forward alongside their fellow pair skaters, ready to make their discipline shine, while also showing that despite being in a very dark place, Sora is considering he needs help, which hopefully he does (and apologizes for being a massive jerk), so he can also move forward.

• Astro Royale: I get a feeling that most of the opinions about this series were already decided depending if a person liked or not Tokyo Revengers, with both sides have their reasons to do so. I tried to give the series a try with an open mind, and I actually though it was a decent first chapter, with a couple of things ( the powers being widely distributed could lead to a more diverse cast, and the city being destroyed creates a very different scenario than presented early on) making me think it has potential. Now the thing is to see if that potential is taken advantage or not.

Also, was it just me imagining things, or were there a couple subtle references to Jojo in Astro Royale?