Welcome to This Week in Shonen Jump, our weekly check in on Viz’s various Shonen Jump series. Viz has recently changed their release format, but our format will mostly remain the same. We will still review the newest chapters of one title a week, now with even more options at our disposal. The big change for our readers is that, even without a Shonen Jump subscription, you can read these most recent chapters for free at Viz.com or using their app.
This week, Robbie checks in with “Beat and Motion.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Beat & Motion chapter 1
Written and illustrated by Naoki Fujita
Reviewed by Robbie Pleasant
Before I can acknowledge what it is about “Beat & Motion” that made it really reach me, I have to confess something: I am an adult who failed to achieve my dreams but still hangs on to that slight bit of hope that someday I’ll get around to accomplishing something. (Maybe you are too, I don’t know you and I’m not one to judge.)
So that right there made me the right audience for this manga about a disillusioned young adult trying to regain his passion.
The first part of “Beat & Motion’s” opening chapter introduces us to our protagonist, Tatsuhiko, as he discovers and subsequently loses his passions over the course of his youth. It’s a sadly familiar sensation to anyone who discovered something they really enjoyed, only to either discover they just weren’t good enough or had their drive and enjoyment of it destroyed by their peers.
But that makes the second part all the more impactful, as he realizes how dour and disillusioned he’s become and tries again with a reignited passion. (And since we’re about to talk about that part, we’re entering spoiler territory).
Now, the catalyst for this change is a random girl who he meets while out drinking with friends. Fortunately, she’s not a “manic pixie dream girl” who appears to fix his life – she calls him out on his attitude and kicks him so he thinks he’s about to get hit by a truck (which I assume is the famed isekai “truck-kun,” but we’ll never know for sure). And while that does inspire him to try again at animation, it’s handled in a far less “wish fulfillment” sort of way; the girl’s goal is to call him out, not get involved in his life to encourage him.
Of course, it later turns out that she’s the online musician he’s been crushing on for years and suddenly wants to collaborate with him, but that came after he tried his hand at animation again. So there’s still a little of those elements in there, but they’re pretty necessary for the story.
Now, it’s the part where Tatsuhiko tries animation again where the story starts to get good. Seeing him look back through his old work and rediscover what it was he loved about creating is just as motivating for readers as it is for him, especially when the art shifts to show him getting absorbed in his work with images of the whales and butterflies he’s animating flying by beside him. The dream sequences where he’s essentially reunited and both rescued by and rescues his younger self helps too.
It hits hard and it hits right.
So story-wise, “Beat & Motion” managed to connect. How about the art?
For the most part, Naoki Fujita’s artwork is pretty basic. The manga is set in the modern day, so the character designs are equally mundane. Tatsuhiko, our protagonist, is so generic that he’d be a background character in any other series. But that’s actually to the manga’s favor, as it makes him more of a relatable everyman and makes the series feel more grounded.
In general, the artwork is perfectly passable “Shonen Jump” manga, with bold lines, clean artwork, and minimal backgrounds, which is all very easy on the eyes. It’s a style that allows all the little key touches to the characters, like Tatsuhiko’s expressions and body language, to come through nicely.
Continued belowAt other times, though, the artwork levels up to add more depth, detail, and shading to really make a moment land home. For scenes like Tatsuhiko getting pushed, or the moment he really gets pulled back into the work, there’s an added level of focus and detail that makes the moments all the more impactful.
All in all, “Beat & Motion” is off to a solid start. Maybe, for me, it just came out at a time in my life where the theme of chasing one’s dreams, failing at it, then trying again resonates with me the most. Maybe it’s how well the artwork enhances and adds to the storytelling. But this is a series I hope gets to live up to its full potential in the pages of “Shonen Jump.”
Final Verdict: 8.0 – A strong start for a new series that will undoubtedly hit many readers close to home.
