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, Rowan checks in with “Ruridragon.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Ruridragon chapter 8
Written and Illustrated by Masaoki Shindo
Translated by Caleb Cook
Lettered by Kyla Aiko
Reviewed by Rowan Grover
It’s the second chapter post-hiatus, but my hype for the return of the excellent “Ruridragon” has not dimmed with this week’s entry. Right off the bat, I want to credit Shindo’s title art. Every entry gives us a little insight into how Ruri gets on with her life, horns and all, and this week’s piece is a great character moment. We can see our protagonist angling her head to avoid bursting a tossed volleyball with her horns. Ruri’s an active character, but very conscious of appealing to others and not causing upset, and this shot captures all of that emotion in a static image.
Now, to the meat of the chapter. What we’re shown this week is another stage in Ruri’s haphazard training of her dragon abilities with her mother. Creator Masaoki Shindo stages these events with such casual effort, that it makes them a real joy to read. Ruri’s mother is often quite lackadaisical about her approach to helping Ruri understand her traits, so she conveys them in a relaxed tone. For instance, she refers to Ruri’s newly manifested static electricity powers as “big bad forces of nature… like it or not, they’re in your genes”. That she’s so focused on getting on with it and making the supernatural feel normal makes her a very endearing mother figure.
I do love that Shindo has Ruri’s mother cut loose in the second half of this chapter, too. The ‘training’ takes place in a sports center, with the theory that exhausting, blood-pumping events are the triggers of Ruri’s powers. We get more of that rock-solid mother-daughter dynamic in these instances, but what I love is that Shindo is drip-feeding us elements of Ruri’s mother that I never expected to receive. Having Ruri exclaim at how her mother is so good at every sport she tries her hand at? Great storytelling. Why is she so good at sport? And why has Ruri never seen her in action until this stage in her life? With these questions, Shindo is building strong intrigue, and I’m glad to see it flourish within Ruri’s mother.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, I’m obsessed with how Shindo draws Ruri in so many great slacker poses. It feels like the character has relaxed to a point of less tension in the story, and so it feels right for this natural, comfortable side of her to come out and be expressed in the art. Having her wake up in a bed with sheets and doona crumpled and strewn all around the mattress is a great little setting detail. It’s how I’ve woken up multiple times during these humid Sydney summer nights, and to see her also dishevelled and cross-legged in the middle of the morning action feels relatable and endearing.
It’s these little things that keep sticking out to me throughout the chapter. Ruri walking around the house constantly scratching the back of her head with a slight lean in her walk. Always finding a spot to sit while her mother stands and monologues. These moments feel very specific to her, supporting and elevating Ruri’s lazy/awkward/fun personality. It’s great character continuity and makes for a more engaging story. Shindo is working hard at making characters interact with their world like real, unique people.
Final Score: 9.0 – “Ruridragon” continues its streak of being charming, thoughtful and funny. It’s good to be back, folks.
