The Current State of Shonen Jump 2021

last time on the current state of shonen jump demon slayer launched its unholy attack pushing one piece to the brink like no enemy ever had before but when the dust was settled one piece was still the reigning king of manga however with several powerful new foes emerging from the shadows as well as the return of old rival haikyuu and demon slayer back now more powerful than ever the war for the shonen throne is just beginning can demon slayer finally rip the crown away from one piece or will jiu jitsu kaisen shock the world could newcomer chainsaw man do the impossible or can samurai a oh wait wait what samurai 8's been cancelled oh that is unfortunate uh probably should have ended this section on a different series not really sure how to continue weekly shonen jump as many of you know is the weekly shonen magazine aimed at young boys but read by [ __ ] everybody responsible for some of the biggest properties in existence but what's become just as compelling as the battles of these stories is the meta battle that takes place every week between jumps different titles each one vying to become the biggest manga in existence while newer series desperately clings their place within the magazine the threat of being cut always looming and wow was the conclusion of that battle this year [ __ ] insane leaving the landscape of jump changed forever and the story of that is why we're here today and to begin we need to make our yearly pilgrimage to the shonen jump graveyard and pay our respects to the series that did not make it out of 2020 the first of which yeah is masahi kishimoto's samurai a i feel like everyone myself included was hoping for bigger things from the follow-up series to naruto but despite the weight of its author's name samurai 8 sold poorly and ended after 43 chapters and while we saw this coming last year i still can't help feel bad for kishimoto but hey as we said he's a guy with nothing left to prove another heartbreaker was mitama security busters and odd man i love this series it was weird and fun and special in all the ways you want a comedy manga to be but it seems i was one of the few people who felt that way low sales leading to an ending inside its first year one long-running series that saw its end was yuna and the haunted hot springs a manga about ghost titties i guess yoona never sold enough to become one of jump's top titles but it did just well enough to maintain a respectable four-year run which is impressive especially when you consider how many newcomers met a swift and brutal end in 2020 beast children zipman guardian of the witch bone collection all roasted jumps pages during 2020 only to plummet out of existence by years and jump as ever ruthless with their cuts but particularly with one series time paradox ghostwriter this was a strange one because it itself was about a young author's struggle to get published in shonen jump only to be met with years of repeated brutal rejection till just as he's about to give up and walk away from his dreams of being a manga creator his microwave teleports him an issue of shonen jump from 10 years in the future tepie our young author in desperation copying 2030's most popular manga quite nice and submitting it to jump to massive success before meeting the teenage future author of white knight who knows he's copied her series the brutal irony of ghostwriter is that was cut after just 14 chapters and it could have had something to do with jump not wanting to run with a main character whose superpower is plagiarism however it likely had more to do with its low sales but regardless this was a series that reminded you of the people who pour their lives and souls into these comics and get very little in return which is why we remember even the most short-lived ones in these videos these aren't the only series that ended in 2020 but the others are going to need a much bigger discussion so for now let's move on to the brand new titles of shonen jump and here's where things start to get a bit strange jump cut 12 series last year which is about average for them but it introduced 18. the last time shonen jump introduced this many new titles was nearly 40 years ago in 1982 so why so many new titles well let's keep going and see if we can find out one of the major new releases was burn the witch major because it's from taitai kubo focusing on rookie witches ninny and noel in their battle to protect the streets of london from dragons i gotta say i had a lot of fun with this one and it feels like kubo did as well the illustrations are gorgeous the characters brim with personality and style and the battles have all the impact you'd expect from the man who wrote bleach and jump themselves seem to have a lot of faith in the series it's one shot even got a beautifully animated three-part ova but its future does seem a little uncertain right now it's only been released in a limited for tractor run but regardless it's pretty cool to see kubo back doing what he does and doing it well traditionally jumps always had one or two spots dedicated to long-running comedy series and having in the last couple of years lost its mainstay the disastrous life of saki k as well as iso bay issa bay jump is hungry for new comedy titles introducing a wealth of new gag series maguchan god of destruction is the story about a schoolgirl who becomes friends with an eldritch god and me and robico is about a schoolboy who befriends a powerful robot maid i don't love either series but the more visual comedy of robocode did actually get the odd laugh out of me and admittedly this panel of maguchan is it's very good both series sold around nine thousand volumes on their first sales which is it's okay for a comedy manga they're probably safe for now unlike more king the tagline of which reads the king of insects is here to sweep you off your feet you're going to larva this manga it's already been canceled high school family kokusei is a stupid manga with a stupid premise and i love it fifteen-year-old kataru itani is set to begin his new life in high school only to find out that his father has enrolled in the same high school as well as his little sister and his mother and their cat this one's from the author of iso by isobe which started as a one-shot gag title intended to fill in for a week when oda was too sick to write one piece but people liked it enough that it kept it going for four years and i feel like that same magic is here the awkward art style distill to dialogue the fact that it can somehow be earnest and endearing despite both those things and got one good hard laugh out of me at least once per chapter i really think this one has legs so here's hoping it becomes a jump comedy mainstay gagmanger great but the heart of jump has always been screaming boys punching each other and so it's no surprise that they introduced a steady stream of new battle manga the first of which is undead on look fuco is cursed with the ability of on look meaning anyone who touches her suffers a horrible tragedy and dies andy is an immortal zombie who cannot die the two together battling a shady government organization leading to some pretty creative battle scenarios where andy will draw out fuco's on look by touching her and use his immortality to survive the ensuing devastation obliterating his enemies and it's a cool setup but andy has what i can only describe as some crash bandicoot ass energy to him and that combined with some pretty bland character writing and gropey humor mean i just didn't find a lot to like in this one but my own take aside undead unlock is selling well and its chances of becoming a shonen jump mainstay are pretty high another series that looks like it's going to stick around is ayakashi triangle it ends its fairly standard first chapter by transforming its main character a demon hunting ninja into a schoolgirl and i like gender swap stories i think the opportunity is always there to look at gender and sexuality in some fun and interesting ways and does ayakashi triangle do any of that no but it does have the feel of a creator who really knows what they're doing and that's because it's from kintaro yabuki veteran author of black cat and it shows the artwork is gorgeous and there's a beautiful flow to the page layouts meaning even if this one doesn't have a whole lot going on besides its cute ninja it's still a fairly enjoyable read and at 23 000 estimated units sold its first volume is hitting hard lining up akashi triangle for a good run and jump which you cannot say for our blood oath uh i hate being too dismissive of series this early in their run but when i read the title for this in my notes i was like did i did i read this oh oh the the vampire thing yeah yeah this honestly feels like a manga taped together from other better manga and with just 5 000 units sold this one could be dead on arrival and it's gone it's gone literally canceled as i was typing this bill king is another title whose future i am not sure of it's got a great opening chapter that delivers a fantastic premise it's set in a world where people build houses to protect them from giant monsters and it's like oh cool a non-battle battle manga about building let's go let's [ __ ] do this only to reveal that the main character is bad at building and that he fights munches instead the chapters that follow don't build on the concept in any kind of meaningful way and maybe you can turn it around but with no sales data available at the time of writing i don't have high hopes for this one the last of our battle series is a phantom seer and there's nothing that new here but what it does do it does really well it's your traditional let's fight the demon style story but what elevated is some [ __ ] beautiful artwork that really captures the majesty and horror of these creatures with some great creepy haunted house style setups combined with a fun battle system where our main character summons his own demons to fight for him while i do think that jump is being way too reliant on the school children fighting demon style story 22 000 sales is an extremely solid start especially from two rookie creators and with the right direction phantom seer could have a big future in the magazine lastly i want to talk about three stranger titles that just feel a little out of step with the rest of jumps catalog two of which i adore and one of which is hard-boiled cup and dolphin a loose cannon cop is transferred to a small seaside village where his partner is a literal walking talking dolphin whose daughter is the oracle of a secret sea cult who recently vanished triggering the appearance of strange and dangerous half-human half-sea creatures that are slowly taking over the village for everything i just described i feel like this series should be way more fun than it is but over its first five chapters the story never felt like it was building any kind of momentum or direction i was never really sure what emotions its scenes were trying to convey or why i should give a [ __ ] about its characters i appreciate its originality but without any real direction or drive it's a hard one to get excited about and maybe that can change with its more recent pivot to a battle orientated title and hopefully save it from its low sales and potential looming cancellation okay everything we've talked about so far take that [ __ ] and throw it in the [ __ ] garbage because here are my two favorite new titles the first of which i can only describe as rock lee versus the wizards mash is a child born with zero magic ability in a world of wizards but because of his dad's training he has become impossibly strong and after enrolling in an elite magical high school for the sake of his father must use his raw physical strength in place of magic to do everything wizards can do the joy of this title coming from watching mash using his strength in creative surprising and hilarious ways much to the outrage and humiliation of the wizards around him and it could have so easily been a one-note title but mash is so damn likable his straightforward deadpan demeanor complemented by some beautifully awkward artwork and dialogue the relationship with his father grounding the hilarity with a tender emotional core making this more than just a gag manga i genuinely think marshall has the potential to go whatever direction it pleases and with 30 000 sales on its first volume this one could have a bright future and jump and it was nearly my favorite of the new series nearly sakamoto days is everything you want from a new title a really weird original premise executed near flawlessly sakamoto is the world's most deadly assassin who falls in love with a convenience store clerk a couple of years and about 120 pounds later he's left his world of killing behind in favor of a peaceful life of retail with his wife and daughter only to be tracked down by his former associates desperate to drag him back into his life as an assassin if you want to know what i like about this series it's kind of everything the near mute sakamoto is a super charming main character whose love for his family is endearing as hell that love hilariously played against his instincts as a professional killer there's a running gag where sakamoto murders someone only to reveal in the next panel that it was just his imagination and even the action has an incredible dynamic flow to it little visual touches like sakamoto dismantling his opponents gone or deflecting a bullet with a piece of chewing gum selling sakamoto as this ultra badass who is trying for the sake of his wife and daughter to not fall back into his murderous lifestyle making for a hilarious and touching story about a person trying to do better than what they used to be the only reason i could see this one maybe not sticking around is i think it's just too weird to fit for jim's audience but i would love to be wrong about that okay now it's time for the main event the big showdown the clash of the titans the war of jumps 10 biggest series but first it's time for a hunter by hunter watch in which we recount all the exciting plot developments and shocking revelations from the last year in hunter hunter oh i just wanted to come back i just uh okay let's begin the countdown but first a very quick note on shonen jump sales data you probably don't care about this so it's not going to include it in the main section but if you do pause the video and read it here i love you thank you bye clinging to its number 10 spot is black clover which had a pretty rough year dropping about a million in sales but still there's no indication of this long-running wizard battle manga ending soon and considering jump is about to be in a position where it really badly needs reliable long-running series i think it should probably be okay at number nine it's act age and this is a little difficult to talk about the series ended abruptly after its writer tatsuyamatsuki was convicted and confessed to the indecent assault of two teenage girls this will be the last time i speak about him on this channel and i hope his victims are doing okay and that his artist shiro saki finds a partner more worthy of her talents at number 8 with just under 900 000 sales it's dr stone if you've never heard me talk about it before it's basically a battle manga that replaces power levels with technological advancements which to me is still one of the best ideas in jump for years so i'm always a little bummed out not to see it in the top five or not even breaking a million but it doesn't change the fact that it's a great series which you should really check out if you have not already at number seven with two million sales it's my boy it's the goat it's chainsaw man and we talked about this a lot last year but oh this manga horrified me this manga made me fall in love and in the process had me feeling just about every emotion in between denju's journey from nothing to actual person is hilarious devastating and shockingly over its final chapters cementing chainsaw man as one of my favorite manga of the last decade and held honestly just ever and oh i'm a little heartbroken to see it disappear from jim's pages but fortunately this isn't the end of the story part two will be continuing in you know what we'll get there and an anime is scheduled for later this year so please studio mapa do not [ __ ] this up we could be on the verge of something really brilliant here despite being pushed out of the top five hero academia saw a jump in sales from last year carrying it to an impressive six million sales and the fact that it couldn't crack the top five with numbers like that show you what an insane year it's been for jump but it also looks like this could be one of the last times we talk about hero academia as an ongoing series horikoshi dropping hints that the end could be closer than people think but he has said this kind of thing before so i guess we'll see at number five it's the promise neverland dropping two places from last year and about a million in sales it might look like the promise neverland has lost a lot of the momentum that took it to the number three spot last year but there are two reasons for that one promise neverland did not have an anime last year and two the series actually ended last june concluding a pretty spectacular run and jump especially for a series this dark and different massive respects to its creators kayushira and posako de muzo cannot wait to see what they do next if you want a series that is absolutely [ __ ] exploded this year then it's our number four jujutsu kaisen a stellar anime adaptation from studio mapa propelling kaisen's sales by 5 million from last year and yet you would expect an increase following an anime but watching it leapfrog both hero academia and promise neverland is kind of insane as for my own opinion on jujitsu kaisen i like it i'd be lying if i said it was doing anything to really set my world on fire but its story mechanic of the main character and villain inhabiting the same body is a fun one but to me its real strength is in its supporting cast and particularly in gojo whose power of infinity is some real batshit stuff that let the animators really run wild his aloof persona underlying a murderous anti-authority personality unless something crazy happens we're looking at jiu jitsu kaisen becoming a top three title next year and that is a good thing for jump because it's current number three is haikyuu this one's a little bittersweet as the sun has finally set on the beautiful boys doing things well volleyball title iq's final chapter released on july 20th 2020 ending a monstrous run that lasted eight years its final year seeing its sales rise by three million units to 7.2 million breaking jumps hallowed ground and entering the top three for one final time and while its success is in part two to season four of the anime this is how you want to see long running series go out it's fans rallying around it and giving it the send-off it deserves which brings us to number two it's one piece shockingly for the first time in the history of recorded manga sales one piece has been outsold by not one but two other titles with a decrease of 2.5 million sales from last year bringing its total to 7.7 million units the non-jump title that outsold it was yasuhi sahara's kingdom a manga that's insanely popular in japan but not really anywhere else but there's some caveats here one piece only had three volumes as opposed to four last year and a fourth volume would have likely brought it closer to the 10 million units it sold in 2019 and even then its volume sales still surpass kingdoms but still it's hard not to look at these numbers and not to feel like one piece's days as the untouchable god of manga might be over for what it's worth i'm really enjoying the huano arc and a brief informal twitter poll indicated that most of my followers feel the same and the anime has never been better with some absolutely fantastic animation but despite everything there is one series that dragged the god of manga crashing down to earth and it's our number one demon slayer you know those caveats we talked about between one piece and kingdom those completely disappear when we talk about demon slayer and to such an insane degree if you rank the top manga volumes by sales in 2020 demon slayer's entire catalog occupies slots 1 to 22 one piece only appearing at number 23 taking demon slayer to a galactic 82 million sales and to put in context how [ __ ] bananas that number is you could take the best year of the combined sales of the big three that's naruto bleach in one piece and together their total sales barely scrape half of demon slayer's 20 20 sales and so how how did this happen well it was kind of a perfect storm demon slayer had a huge amount of momentum going into 2020 after footage of its 19th episode went viral exploding its popularity that year those numbers compounding both by 2020's pandemic leaving people desperate for entertainment as well as the release of the demon slayer movie which was for a time the number one film in the entire world the combination of these three factors having an exponential effect on demon slayer sales surging them to heights that has never been seen before by any series ever and in doing so crowning an undisputed new god of manga only for it to blink out of existence demon slayer released its last chapter on may 18 2020 and after so many years of saying i could never see a series surpassing one piece it is crazy to me to see it finally happen only for that series to vanish but i think it's deserved koeharo gotege wrote a series that embodied the core strengths of shonen's storytelling but delivered it with a tenderness and emotion that made it appealing to a massive audience and she deserves to end it on her terms however its conclusion does leave jump in a very dark place when you look at jumps top 10 titles five of them ended last year that number climbing to six if you count the conclusion of number 11 we never learn in january and potentially seven if hero academia does end soon leaving jump with only a handful of long running series two of which failed to break a million in sales and so while jump sold more than it ever has in 2020 2021 marks the beginning of a much more difficult period where the magazine will need to rebuild the majority of its catalog and that's why we're seeing such an influx of new titles now more than ever shonen jump desperately needs brand new breakout hits and the really strange part is it actually already has them two just not in the magazine itself remember earlier when we talked about chainsaw man transitioning to a new publication well where it's going is jump plus an online magazine app owned by shueisha the same company that owns weekly shonen jump with its own range of titles that is free to read online not only does this potentially give jump plus a much wider reach as there are zero barriers to entry but because it's not a physical magazine and is not limited by physical space it doesn't need to be as aggressive in its cutting or scheduling with authors seeming to have more ownership over their schedules taking more time in between chapters which is kind of awesome not only does it give authors more time to create their stories but it also means they actually get to have a life outside of making manga which personally i think you know might be a good thing if you want to know more about jump plus i'm going to link to a really good video from taser lad who goes into more detail than i have time to hear but what jump plus has resulted in is a wider looser ecosystem that to me doesn't feel as laser focused on appealing to traditional shonen audiences and i think it's that freedom combined with the added reach of these digital series that have resulted in two of the biggest titles of the last two years the first of which is spy x family or spy family or spy cross family i don't [ __ ] know why do people get so mad about why do people get so mad about spite by family began publication on march 1 2019 and centers around a man known only as twilight a spy tasked with infiltrating the life of a high-ranking government official who holds information that could tip the scales in a major international conflicts the only problem is that the mission requires twilight to have a wife and child which eventually leads to him adopting a surrogate daughter anya who just so happens to be a telepathic girl and taking yore as his wife who unbeknownst to him is a deadly assassin known as the queen of thorns the three forming a fabricated family and infiltrating the societal elite resulting in scenes that elevate regular family encounters like interviewing for your daughter's preschool to these knife edge battles where one false move could blow the entire mission but slowly with each passing day the three grow closer to one another and that fabricated family starts to feel more real for the first time each of the three start to feel like they're somewhere that they really belong but are haunted by the knowledge that if the mission does end so does their time as a family action well really well done is rare this is a series that instead builds the relationships of its characters through some beautifully heartfelt little moments making it a more intimate slow-paced story than anything you'd find in jump regular but that tenderness has proved its strength spy multiplied by family exploded on release and with only two years in publication and without an anime achieved 4.5 million sales in 2020 currently sitting at the number eight best-selling series not just in jump but in the world and if that heavily rumored anime does happen we could be looking at the birth of a real industry monster speaking of monsters kaiju number eight takes place in a world where at any moment massive swats of civilization could be wiped out by giant monster attacks our only protection against them being the defense force an elite military organization composed of mankind's best and strongest and kafka hibino is not one of those people instead he watches from the sidelines as his childhood friend bina ishiro leads humanity's war against existential threat despite swearing as children that they would grow up to defend humanity together but things didn't work out like that kafka is now 32 years old and spends his days cleaning up the carcasses of dead kaiju and his knights getting drunk alone in his apartment wondering how things got like this and that is until when saving a co-worker from a rogue kaiju kafka is given the power to transform into a kaiju and decides to use that power to try and become a member of the defense force and finally stand alongside mina fulfilling their lifelong promise what i love about this series is while it does have a lot of the shonen tropes you'd expect it uses them to tell a completely different kind of story kafka is not a protagonist that feels intended for younger shonen readers rather he's the feeling of being a kid and thinking you're going to change the worlds and then watching 20 years go by as you consistently break every promise you've ever made to yourself but then after everything realizing your life is still yours it's never too late and you can still do whatever you want with it and maybe it's because i'm old and bad but i think that's kind of beautiful and i don't seem to be the only one kaiju number eight's first chapter went viral on twitter collecting a record-breaking number of views its first five weeks in volume sales selling an estimated 270 000 copies completely obliterating its weekly shonen jump contemporaries in a similar time period so what we now have are two digitally published shonen jump plus titles dramatically outperforming jumps more traditional print series the internet is changing manga both in the kinds of stories being created and how people experience them and what this could mean is that there may come a point when we need to re-evaluate what we think of as shonen jump is it a physical magazine or is it a wider array of titles coming from more varied and flexible ecosystems and personally i hope it's the latter i think jump has more to gain by embracing this new era of manga than it does trying to keep things the way they were but whether it does or not that remains to be seen friends thank you for joining me today if you had a good time with this one then maybe consider heading on over to my patreon at patreon.com super ipad wolf where for a single dollar you can help keep the electricity in my computer that i need to make these videos i want to thank rugia for his help in researching this video i'm going to link the guys manga blog below check it out it's pretty cool this video in particular i'd like to thank eric aguilozzo jake foley digit777 king theo escape jam rosie and super saiyan hot dog find me as ever hosting the let's fight a boss video game podcast or on twitter at ipatchwolf friends take care of yourselves and i'll see you next time

Channel: Super Eyepatch Wolf

Views: 929,428

Keywords: Shonen Jump, Weekly Shonen Jump, Demon Slayer, One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, Manga, Anime

Id: UZr-O7Y3qGM

Length: 32min 3sec (1923 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 06 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Noirsam]

I'm also going to start calling Spy x Family - "Spy multiplied by Family''

[u/The_White_Rice]

I guess it’s not surprising that Demon Slayer outsold One Piece again, like last year people bought old volumes in droves due to the anime and those absolute psychos going to the movies in a pandemic. Damn Japan no wonder you’re not doing so hot anymore.

Still the absolute GULF in manga sales has been huge from the sub million series to the over millions is insane, I guess do in part to so many of those series coming to an end. I’m also really happy to hear SpyxFamily and Kaiju No.8 are doing so well, reading on the app I thought of them as just these sweet little titles but apparently they are absolute sales monsters so far. You love to see it.

[u/Kregano_XCOMmodder]

I wonder how much of an effect simulpub translations is having on those Jump Plus/Manga Plus titles. I know I wouldn't be following Spy x Family or Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin if they weren't legally available for free online, and Chainsawman definitely benefited from being Viz/Manga Plus for free in the west.

That said, it'd be great if they'd offer better prices/actual sales on the collected digital volumes*. I've only bought one volume of Spy x Family because I got eBook credit that cut the price in half.

*eBook prices across the board are completely fucked up, so this isn't a manga publisher specific thing, but it fucks over manga buyers because they tend to be young and not have a lot of money.

[u/Vaccineman37]

Jujutsu Kaisen earned its sales so hard, it’s probably my favourite shonen I’ve ever read. I think SEW only read the first few chapters, but there’s an insane twist followed by an incredible fight after chapter 30 or so and it never stops afterwards

[u/GameBoy09]

Wish he gave a shout out to Agravity Boys. It ended after a two year run and its one of the funniest manga I've ever read on the level of Grand Blue. Its about Bros in Space and Space Hijinks. There's a V-Tuber arc.

[u/AlexLong1000]

As someone who doesn't really pay attention to manga sales, holy shit my jaw hit the floor when he revealed Demon Slayer's numbers. The gap between it and One Piece is inconceivable to me, to the point that I was honestly expecting him to reveal there was a big scandal about inflated numbers or some shit.

[u/ExDSG]

I don't know, the gropey humor of Undead Unluck is pretty much gone after the first chapters, since Fuuko's power relies on her affection towards her target. So did he only read the first chapter (probably)? Also didn't mention anything about the "Evil government organization" not being evil

Also I feel the same for Cop and Dolphin, like it's a buddy cop series but the main characters don't have a lot of chemistry with each and not sure what it was going for, for the 10ish chapters I read of it.

[u/chazmerg]

Is he right about MHA hinting at an ending? I usually read it but I'm definitely a second-class fan and wouldn't notice him building towards an ending.

[u/Saucy_Totchie]

Love this series by SEPW because it helps broader my small scope. Read Chainsaw Man partly due to his video last year and it was as good as he made it out to be.

As someone who is paying for the WSJ sub, it's difficult to keep finding reasons to justify paying for it. My reason lately has been Spy Multiplication Family and I'm loving it because of its sweet wholesome story. I'm also thinking of starting Sakamoto Days because it's old SoL John Wick and Kaiju No. 8 does sound interesting.

That being said I didn't realize that many series actually wrapped up last year. However, the only one mentioned that I actually did read was Haikyuu (fantastic ending though). Don't know why I haven't jumped on Demon Slayer. Maybe it's because I'm somewhat of a shithead contrarian.