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, Vince and Zach check in with “My Hero Academia” and “Noah’s Notes.” If you have any thoughts on these titles, or “One Piece,” “We Never Learn,” “Black Clover,” “Robot X Laserbeam,” “The Promised Neverland,” “Ziga,” “Jujutsu Kaisen,” “Boruto,” “Food Wars,” “Dr. Stone,” “Yu Gi Oh Arc V,” or “Hunter X Hunter,” let us know in the comments!
My Hero Academia – Chapter 176: Deku vs. Gentle Criminal
Written & Illustrated by Kohei Horikoshi
Review by Vince J Ostrowski
When I last discussed My Hero Academia for this column, we were in the middle of a high-speed, action-packed chase at the end of one of the most intense arcs in the series yet. Since then, Horikoshi-san has taken plenty of time to let the comic decompress and breathe a little. We’ve hung around the U.A. school a little more, focusing on training, personal interactions and character exploration, and the preparations for the oncoming school festival. In truth, these school days have been a relaxing getaway compared to our heroes prior trials. Of course, anyone who’s read enough superhero comics understands the tropes of these stories and how long-running superhero serials tend to pepper in peaks and valleys of action, and so this downtime is not without its conflict. Introduced a couple chapters ago, the Gentle Criminal and La Brava are a pair of Extremely Online ™ social media junkies, running their mouths and terrorizing schools for the benefit of clicks and hits. Gentle presents himself as a dapper, fussy content creator (think Gavin McInnes only less reactionary and possessing a visible chin) and La Brava, his loyal assistant. Because Horikoshi is such a smart writer, he’s making sure that these characters and the conflict they present is appropriate for both the setting and the tone that he’s going for at this particular point in the overarching narrative. That is to say: very light-hearted.
In truth, these villains are meant to be very comical and not as dangerous or bloodthirsty as, say, the League of Villains or the yakuza groups they’ve come up against. Why, the Gentle Criminal’s quirk-reveal involves bouncing Midoriya into an oversized piece of plastic wrap and then lamenting the fact that he would be forced to use such violence when he is not a violent man at heart. And in fact, Gentle is so shocked that Midoriya could have survived this “brutal” attack that he immediately begins to run away from the conflict. See, we’re keeping it light this arc.
That’s not to say that this chapter isn’t incredibly engaging. At this point it seems that there’s very little Kohei Horikoshi can do wrong, because even his throwaway gag fights are filled with tremendously staged action, comedy (the image of Midoriya getting his face pressed into the elastic plastic shield is tremendously funny), and lots of heart. At one point, Horikoshi slows the battle down considerably to pack in introspection on the part of Midoriya. Gentle has punched the ground, rendering it elastic and bouncing Midoriya high into the air above the school. As Midoriya falls, he considers the training he’s received from All Might and draws upon it to plan his next move. As he still falls, he thinks of his friends back at the school and his personal connections to them. It’s a way of crystallizing Midoriya’s character through all of the many recent events and to show how far he’s come, all done in the form of a “calm before the storm” moment within the fight itself. The physical rise and fall of Midoriya over the course of few pages has an almost calming effect to it. At some point, Midoriya gathers himself and unleashes the “Delaware Smash” – an air blast technique that sends Gentle flying. It’s an impressive bit of art meeting the writing to capture an entire character “arc” within just a few pages. It’s the sort of thing that keeps My Hero Academia near the top of my pile, and on my mind all the time.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 8.5 – a very silly breather arc with some goofy villains keeps on trucking, but Kohei Horikoshi doesn’t skimp on any of the thoughtfulness or technique that has made this one of the finest works in the manga world.
Noah’s Notes Chapter 3
Written and Illustrated by Haruto Ikezawa
Reviewed by Zach Wilkerson
A few years ago, I got very deep into the Assassin’s Creed franchise of video games. Like, obsessively so. Like, I actually cared about the present day stuff and the prophecy junk and the prehistoric super race. After burning out on the overly bloated Assassin’s Creed III, I recently found a clearance copy of Syndicate and am joyously dipping my toes back into the water again. What exactly does this have to do with “Noah’s Notes?” I give this seemingly insignificant backstory to demonstrate that I should be primed to love a manga like “Noah’s Notes,” featuring secret histories, technological wizardry, and of course, Knights Templar. Unfortunately, this series is currently less than the sum of its many parts.
Putting aside the series’s problematic debut, the characters continue to fall flat. Mirai remains a one-dimensional, ditzy, easily exploitable character. Noah, no longer a gun toting terrorist, is at least now bearable, if not terribly interesting. With flat character’s the series’s momentum falls on its plot, which begins to fumble the intriguing premise presented in the previous chapter. Already the “loop theory” is called into question as events begin to diverge from the events of 100,000 years ago, a development that is briefly touched upon but quickly brushed aside. One is left wondering what the book is actually about.
Is this a story of preventing world-wide disaster or about racing against rival organizations to capture ancient relics? And maybe there’s some National Treasure adventure jet-setting, Dan Brown conspiracy theories thrown into the mix? My fellow hosts of the Multiversity Manga Club described Ikezawa’s haphazard mashup of ideas and genres as earnest, as if he’s viewing these concepts as fresh and unique rather than tried and true tropes. While that exuberance is certainly present, it feels unearned at this point.
With three chapters under its belt and the end of its “Jump Start” tenure at hand, “Noah’s Notes” fails to make a compelling case for a continued feature. The plot lacks cohesion and the characters lack…well, a lot. The art is serviceable and at times pleasant, but it does little to forge a unique identity for the book. I wish the series and creator the best moving forward, but personally, I’d rather read more “Ziga.”
Final Verdict: 3.0 – A bland, derivative story that wears its earnest intention on its sleeve.
