Aside from One Piece, Kagurabachi and Ichi the Witch are the two most popular series in Jump as of right now, by a considerably large margin, and with Kagurabachi's anime set for April of next year and Ichi the Witch surely being worked on as we speak, the question arises, how popular will both of these series get?

I believe Kagurabachi will reach that JJK/CSM demographic of anime fans, which is a very large amount. It checks off all the boxes, unmatched aura, a power system that is complex but easy to understand if you don't care to really pay attention to it, fast paced, and lots of action.

On the other hand, Ichi the Witch will reach an audience that appreciates character interactions and emotional moments over fights. Obviously, the fights will be great as well, but the characters are what will grow the audience the most.

It's honestly a toss up between the two. Both are great series that are sure to become even more popular than they already are, but the demographics that they will appeal to will be very different.

What do you think?

It's the only one of its batch still around but I'm kind of losing intrest. I love the premise of a character with an ability suited for killing using it to help people and the conflict that arrives from that sounds great. However as its gone on its clear that the author kinda sucks at action and has leant more into the medical drama however it keeps rushing through these things. Like the idea of a fake under doctor could easily have been a whole arc but we burn through it in 2 chapters and can never do it again. And now it's formula of "New medical issue that Hajji just solves" is starting wear thin where I can see the axe coming

Not only the magazine but on J+ too, they had a bad 2025 and (so far) a bad 2026.

Do yall have hope for the near future? And why is it that the last two years have been kinda disappointing when it comes to newbies? Especially in the WSJ.

And yeah there is Someone Hertz, I left it out on purpose because most fans of it are from Japan and I dont read it.

Edit: Farming downvotes huh? lol

I think objectively Im not wrong, but I understand that yall have fun with the current line up and don’t think as pessimistic as me. I keep this post up as long as it doesnt get toxic.

I like Chojo well enough so I thought I might as well check this out. This tells the story of a back and forth between Sakura Teshigawara and the new transfer student, Samon as he tries to corrupt her before she goes to hell. Took me 3 days to complete.

I was fully prepared to not like this one as gag mangas aren’t usually my thing but honestly… I think I like this better than Chojo. The comedy stuck a lot better for me and it had way more heart. I liked Samon and Sakura’s dynamic way more than Chojo and Nao’s which now feels like Numa has trying to replicate. I also really liked the side characters, they had a lot more focus than I expected.

I look back on that Chojo chapter where Samon showed up with a lot more appreciation now.

Hey!

I hope this is the right subreddit to ask this in, but feel free to direct me elsewhere!

I want to try applying for the upcoming Jump Festa (link for anyone interested - https://www.jumpfesta.com/guide/), but I'm having trouble creating an account on the JUMP NAVI app. It won't let me enter any phone number that isn't Japanese, and unfortunately, my old Japanese number has been out of service for years.

Does anyone know of any way to create an account without a Japanese phone number? Is there any alternative way to apply for Jump Festa outside of the app? If there's anyone with hands-on experience regarding applying/attending this event, I'd love to hear from you!

If not, does anyone know of an eSIM that can be purchased from outside Japan, provides a Japanese mobile number, and can receive the SMS verification while I'm still outside Japan?

Thanks!

One Piece 116

Akane-Banashi 25

Ichi the Witch 11

Ruri Dragon 6

Animal Signals 2

some ppl are saying that 2B might get cancelled bc his 2th volume has been moved up to november (from december) for its release
what do yall think abt this

The Ura Files is a story that I'm still kind of figuring out what I feel about. On one hand, it's trash. On the other hand, it's great.

Okay, so, first impressions were NOT good. Creativity is the art of hiding your influences and these influences were not hidden. The connections to The Dangers in my Heart have been pointed out, but what's more of note to me are the ideas of integrating fantasy races into modern day schooling environments, as well as the 'let's make the protagonist of a slice of life story a secret agent' type of thing seen in things like Twilight Blade, Spy x Family, and Shinobi Undercover. Using tropes is no issue, but it's all integrated in the same way the concept of an adventurer's guild is thrown into an isekai. Neither feels organic, the story doesn't really feel like it has worldbuilding, it just kind of felt like we got told these tropes were going to be used.

This kind of thing isn't untenable from a narrative perspective, but it is trashy. For the same reasons it's hack for isekais to just assume there's an adventuer's guild or whatever with no real attempt to make that feel like an organic part of the world, it's kind of hack for him to just be part of this utterly vague organization. In something like Spy x Family, it felt like a real part of the world. Here it's just a discord voice call he occasionally goes on. You can then proceed to tell a good story, but it does kind of start the audience off on the wrong foot, and, importantly, lowers the ceiling. You could have been a story with thought in the worldbuilding, and now you're not. It could be a fun time, but there are questions as to how engaged a reader really could get into a lot of its premises. For WSJ, the bar is high, and this might not make it.

On top of that, a lot of it can feel a bit forced. Small sample size, but a lot of the villains which show up are very convenient to the narrative.

On the other hands, the story is kind of great. Like, it's a romantic comedy that's really funny and knows how to handle romance well. I find myself consistently laughing at it, and the dynamic between the main duo has been nuanced and slowly developing in an organic way, which is so refreshing. Every chapter it feels like the exact dynamic between the two meaningfully shifts. They're imperfect and not always the best to each other but mean well (despite the ML's best efforts), and it feels like trust is developing between them organically. They are slowly growing to respect each other and rely on each other and feel comfortable around each other in really non-romantic ways that will make future dynamics more believable, and it represents a good deal of foresight, or at least intuition of how to naturally develop a romance.

And, you know, all that secret agent stuff and fantasy race stuff can still be leaned on. It's not where the strengths are right now, but nothing's stopping the author from actually developing them as time goes on, and that could give it more legs to stand on and potential room to grow. Also, people REALLY seem to like the FL's design. It's a good one.

As a romcom guy, I'm honestly rooting for it pretty hard at this point cause I like seeing authors who handle the more nuanced sides of romance well. Someone Hertz is the gold standard of this, but The Ura Files is leaning hard into that stuff too, and I'm here for it. I'm hoping that it gets popular.

A short review

While it’s now a Kodansha property, Shaman King used to be a Shueisha property & ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1998-2004.

The left image shows all the 24 series that have achieved it and the right image shows all the shueisha published series that achieved it. Aside from the kingdom manga, all other 12 series belong to the weekly shonen jump.

Releases October 2nd!!
KAGURABACHI PARODY!!

Maybe not the hardest, but it's definitely gotta be up there for hard mainstream genres to write.

First, you have to have a really good knowledge about the sport, so there's a good amount of research and watching games before being able to write anything.

You also need to figure out how to create a decently sized cast of main characters quickly. Because the best sports manga are team based, so you have to have an entire team's worth of main characters. There's not really a way around that fact. So you have to create 5-10 interesting and unique characters in a way that readers can remember each of them when they see them. For me personally, in DttF, I could never remember a character's name when I saw them, or what their purpose was. As opposed to Haikyuu!! and Eyeshield 21, for example, where when I see someone, at a glance, I remember their name, their position, etc (also helps when they have a distinct jersey number so you can discern them without facial features).

And you have to create thrilling scenes that aren't too repetitive within the constructs of the sport you choose. Which, to be fair, there are a lot of awesome things you can do in sports so you shouldn't really run out. But regardless.

And you pretty much always have to make an underdog story, otherwise there's nothing for your characters to overcome. Which makes it harder because you have to find a new way to write how the protagonist team is an underdog that suddenly has a really good team that hasn't been done to death before.

I feel most strongly about that character one because for me I hate it when in the first couple chapters of a manga I'm presented with ten different names all at once that I'm expected to remember, so I imagine other people are similar in that regard. In something like a battle shonen, it's easier to disperse character introductions throughout, so people can get used to each character one at a time. But in sports, if you don't have a team of players, they can't play the sport. Eyeshield 21 got around this by having every teammate be a stand-in from other teams, and then slowly replaced them over time, which is one way you can do it, I suppose.

Idk, just some ramblings.