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, Brian checks in with “Do Retry.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Do Retry Chapter 1: Aozora Okami
Written and illustrated by Jun Kirarazaka
Translated by David Evelyn
Lettered by Finn K.
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
The old cliché says that history is written by the winners, and so as an American, most of what I read in school about World War II presented the United States as being fair and calculated with their military decisions. However, as you get older and read/learn more, there is a lot about the US efforts that seem cruel and dehumanizing against Japanese civilians. However, indoctrination runs deep, and so it is always a little jarring to read a story where there are Japanese kids waiting for their beloved father’s return from war. That is not a value judgment on the story in any way, it is just a commentary on the headspace that this story instantly puts a Western reader into.
“Do Retry” mixes a lot of the standard manga tropes together in a way that feels familiar but never overly expected. It is one part sports mana – both Aozora and his father show boxing prowess – and a family manga. Within that family manga, there is the missing/sick parent trope, the dead parent trope, and the sibling rivalry based on one child not having the skill/attribute they most desire. This is also a crime manga, with the underworld showing both detached cruelty and unexpected kindness, always for a price, to Aozora. Throw in the historical backdrop, and you’ve got a manga stew going.
None of that is inherently bad, or makes for a less pleasant reading experience. A big part of that is due to Jun Kirarazaka’s artwork, which practices restraint for most of its runtime, but pops moments of intensity throughout. Whether those moments are flashbacks to Aozora and Akari’s square-jawed hero father, Aozara’s painful defeats, or the emotions that spew forth in him when his family is challenged in some way. The art doesn’t shy away from the horrors of the world that these kids live in, but it is also careful to not make it so dire that there isn’t hope found on the page.
All of this is designed to pull on the heartstrings of the reader and, for the most part, it works. The sibling relationship is given a surprising amount of depth for how little page time it actually gets, and the historical context grounds the story. The stuff with the underworld and the boxing – presumably where the series is headed – is the weakest stuff here, but part of that it is hasn’t been as deeply explored. Both pieces also are in the running for the most clichéd in the chapter, both with the cartoonishly evil criminals and the preternatural boxing ability appearing out of nowhere. That boxing ability does lead to the best single panel of the chapter, though, showing the brain of the punched getting jostled.
Final Verdict: 7.0 – A cornucopia of tropes that manage to coalesce into something moving and enjoyable.
