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 “Choujin X.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Choujin X, Chapter 1
Written and illustrated by Sui Ishida
Translated by Jan Cash
Lettered by Snir Aharan
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
“Choujin X” reads like four different mangas smashed together into one story. Despite that, it somewhat reads as a coherent tale. While it’s a little too early to say exactly what type of story Sui Ishida is telling, it is clear that he’s not content for it to be just one thing.
The story begins with a vignette that only has tangential connections, at least initially, the rest of the story, but that opening sequence shows that Ishida is neither afraid to create sympathetic characters nor afraid to make them suffer and die without too much fanfare. The sequence is shocking in just how violent and tragic it becomes, seemingly out of nowhere. The only thing that is more surprising is how the tone shifts, again, to being a playful teenage story out of the plane crash that burns a child alive.
The ping-ponging of tone settles down once we meet Tokio and Azuma, partners in crime prevention. Azuma is the real star of the pairing, as he is the child of a crimefighter and a physically gifted specimen. This is where Ishida really shines, as he is able to draw some really dynamic and fun action sequences, mixing in some levity and some darkness, but never betraying the fun, shonen style. The darker elements seem implied by both the title and the cover image, as well as Ishida’s past work, but they really creep in slowly as the story unfolds.
The story does eventually go darker, and when it does, it transforms the characters, perhaps forever, into Choujin, which in this case, appears to be a hybrids between animals, monsters, superheroes, and regular folks. The transformations are celebrated by Tokio and Azuma, even after they see what the transformation has done to one of their previous victims. It is too early in the story to see what the longterm consequences of the transformation will be, but there is clearly a chance that this will ruin their lives forever.
Again, this darkness isn’t overpowering, and it is mixed in with a lot of effective humor. For instance, pre-transformation, one of the thugs is lamenting that, due to his broken arms, he can’t shop online. I’m not sure why this is so funny, but it really works. The humor also undercuts Tokio’s feelings of inadequacy, allowing the story to never get mired into too much of a downer.
But that’s also one of the difficulties of this story: it’s all over the place. Over time, it will likely settle in, or we will adjust to the scattered nature of the story, but for now, it feels very strange and disjointed. Once it settles in, I think this has potential to be one of the more unusual and unique stories in Shonen Jump. Until then, the really detailed and emotive artwork will carry the story along.
Final Verdict: 7.2 – A strong debut, but a little too uneven to overly praise.
