Weekly Shonen Jump 3-20-17 Featured Columns 

This Week in Shonen Jump: March 20, 2017

By and | March 22nd, 2017
Posted in Columns | % Comments

Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, in which a rotating duo of Multiversity staffers take a look at two stories contained in each installment of Viz Media’s Weekly Shonen Jump. For the uninitiated, Weekly Shonen Jump is an anthology that delivers more than 200 pages of manga of all varieties. We hope that you’ll join us in exploring the world of Weekly Shonen Jump each week. If you are unfamiliar, you can read sample chapters and subscribe at Viz.com.

This week, Alice and Jess return to talk about two long running strips. If you have any thoughts on the two titles discussed this week, or thoughts on “Robot Laser Beam,” “One Piece,” “Dr. Stone,” “My Hero Academia,” or “One Punch Man,” “Food Wars,” let us know in the comments!

The Promised Neverland Chapter 31
Written by Kaiu Shirai
Illustrated by Posuka Demizu
Reviewed by Jess Camacho

When I volunteered to join this weekly manga conversation here at Multiversity, I had a lot to catch up. Of all the series contained in “Shonen Jump,” “The Promised Neverland” has become my absolute favorite. It’s dreary and dramatic with a story that I cannot figure out and each week it’s my favorite comic to read. Chapter 31 brings back to the reality of Norman being gone. Everything at the home has returned to what they consider normal and Emma and Ray have seemingly given up on trying to escape. This feeling of hopelessness is exacerbated by an offer made to Emma by Mom that could change everything for her and her place in this world. This is a very interesting chapter of the series because depending on what direction it goes, the status quo of the series will have to change because we’ve reached the point where Ray is now up to where his life is going to end. Shirai packs so much into each and every chapter of this series and even gives us a slight time jump without losing a step. Mom continues to be a fascinating villain who’s own background is still unknown. She’s maternal but deeply troubling as she continues to be fine with the horror she’s committing.

Posuka Demizu’s art continues to be a highlight for me. This chapter in particular shows off a lot of what they do best. Demizu is great at making these characters do something despite this being the least action oriented of all the series running in “Shonen Jump”. Their emotive characters do a ton on their own, especially Emma, as she goes through the wringer in this chapter. She goes from despair to utter terror back to determination and through how Demizu renders that, we’re told so much about this young girl and what she’s really going through. It isn’t until Norman’s departure and the aftermath that the horror of this situation has really sunk in. Mom’s stoic exterior is terrifying as Demizu occasionally lets slip this evil glare in her eyes. “The Promised Neverland” is the total package and I cannot wait to see what happens next after that last panel.

Final Verdict: 8.8 – A wonderful possible turning for the series that keeps the momentum going.

Black Clover Chapter 102
Written & Illustrated by Yuki Tabata
Reviewed by Alice W. Castle

The thing about “Weekly Shonen Jump” is that you are invariably starting with either the first chapter of a new story or the umpteenth chapter of an ongoing series, diving feet first into an established serial. Thankfully, this week’s chapter of “Black Clover” is the perfect example of using bridge chapters between arcs as an interlude between larger arcs of the narrative and as jumping on points for readers.

Titled ‘Asta’s Day Off’, this chapter works as both an epilogue to the arc preceding it and set up for what is clearly going to be the next arc, focusing on The Star Festival. The first seven pages of this chapter are structurally identical. They come in pairs, coupling a first page with three rows of panels where the top two rows allow characters to arrive back from their experiences in previous chapters and the bottom row leads into a second page where Asta discovers a new set of returning characters have changed beyond belief. Either they return as god-like beings, otakus or living mushroom people.

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What works here, and later in the chapter, is that Tabata ensures that even if the reader doesn’t have the direct context as to why these returns or actions have meaning, they can infer their importance through character reaction. Asta’s wild eyed shock at characters returning as otakus is what sells the joke as much as the idea in and of itself. This occurs again, in an albeit more serious way, when Asta heals his friends of their afflictions. While the reader may have no real context as to the backstory of these people or how this has played into the story before, Tabata uses their reactions to sell the moment.

This is a chapter that feels like it works in two parts, both as epilogue and prologue. It begins as epilogue, showing characters against plain white backgrounds. Tabata’s focus is on the characters, their reactions and dancing the line between their detailed close ups and exaggerated actions for comedy. Then, almost halfway through the chapter, it wraps everything up and suddenly we’re in Anor Londo. Tabata’s environmental design when the characters enter the city is staggering. The detail in the panels is just immense, a complete 180 from the stark, white backgrounds from just pages before.

It’s here that, while humour is definitely at the forefront, Tabata brings some pathos to the chapter with Asta healing his friends. A moment where a character, no longer mute, sings for what is implied to be the first time in a while, Tabata uses it to reveal the emotional core underneath the otaku jokes. It’s here that, old reader or new, the craftsmanship of the storytelling reveals the characters as real people with real emotions and wants and is a fantastic hook to the read the rest of the story.

As someone jumping into “Black Clover” for the first time, Yuki Tabata’s storytelling, both in comedy and in drama, hooked me beyond belief. This is the kind of chapter with a spark of energy that pushes you to go back and read all 101 chapters leading up to this point just so you know the depth behind the storytelling. Western comics should look to this for how to entice new readers despite years long continuity.

Final Verdict: 8.8 – A stunning example of how jumping in to a story feet first at the 102nd chapter can reveal amazing storytelling.


//TAGS | This Week in Shonen Jump

Alice W. Castle

Sworn to protect a world that hates and fears her, Alice W. Castle is a trans femme writing about comics. All things considered, it’s going surprisingly well. Ask her about the unproduced Superman films of 1990 - 2006. She can be found on various corners of the internet, but most frequently on Twitter: @alicewcastle

EMAIL | ARTICLES

Jess Camacho

Jess is from New Jersey. She loves comic books, pizza, wrestling and the Mets. She can be seen talking comics here and at Geeked Out Nation. Follow her on Twitter @JessCamNJ for the hottest pro wrestling takes.

EMAIL | ARTICLES



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