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, Jess and Alice check in with “Dr. Stone,” and “We Never Learn.” If you have any thoughts on these titles, or “The Promised Neverland,” “One Piece,” “My Hero Academia,” “Robot X Laserbeam,” “The Emperor and I,” “Black Clover,” or “Food Wars,” let us know in the comments!
Dr. Stone Chapter 10
Written by Riichiro Inagaki
Illustrated by Boichi
Reviewed by Jess Camacho
“Dr. Stone” is a strange series because the idea is on the surface interesting but through its characters, it just hasn’t lived up to the potential I think it has. Chapter 10 is very light on anything substantial as far as moving the plot along. It spends a lot of time giving us Senku’s origin story. Inagaki and Boichi give us an up close and personal glimpse at his love of science and where that came from. However, this origin story moves so fast that it doesn’t give us enough nuance and even in the most basic action manga, origins have something else to them. I think my biggest issue with “Dr. Stone” is that none of these characters feel very complicated and again, even in the most basic of action manga series, there’s a little extra something, but here, there isn’t much to work with. Chapter 10 in particular makes promises of a big fight and ends before it can actually accomplish anything. The setting and the premise are so interesting that it is really tough to watch this story not take the kind of form I wish it would.
Boichi’s art, on the other hand, is very good. Boichi has a full idea of what he wants this world to look like and what these characters should always be doing. Despite the story not really reaching its potential, I’m really into what Boichi is doing. The portion of this chapter with Senku as a child is very different from the world these characters find themselves in. Boichi is much more restrained in these pages but lets loose a bit when he returns back to the post apocalyptic world. The linework is really clean and I love the amount of emotion that comes through each of the characters, especially Senku.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – Not a mess but it all just feels very ordinary.
We Never Learn: Chapters 10 & 11
Written & Illustrated by Taishi Tsutsui
Reviewed by Alice W. Castle
I knew this day would come. I’ve been lucky in reviewing “Shonen Jump” stories so far that none have featured any egregious Manga Problems™, but my luck has finally run out. In the recap page of “We Never Learn,” the reader is informed that Nariuki Yuiga has to tutor three girls in order to gain a college scholarship. I bring this up only because that’s a close to that story as these two chapters get. Instead, the first chapter is about how the tomboy-ish athlete Uruka is tricked into wearing “girly” clothes in front of Yuiga making her act awkward because of her crush on him and the second chapter being about how Fumino starves herself because she wants to lose weight. Hilarious, right?
The central problem of “We Never Learn” is that it is pure harem manga trite. Yuiga barely factors into each chapter, existing as a stand-in for both mangaka and reader to imagine what it would be like to be surrounded by three gorgeous girls every day. Each chapter is built around some situation that forces Yuiga and one of the girls to get uncomfortable close enough that their sexual tensions make them act awkward around one another. Hilarity ensues, supposedly.
Continued belowThe thing about “We Never Learn” is that, ostensibly, the girls are the main characters of each chapter. Yuiga kind of just exists in their orbit and the first chapter focuses of Uruka and her struggle between wanting to enjoy girly stuff and being told she suits being a tomboy better while the second chapter focuses on Fumino and her panic over gaining weight and attempt a strict, yet unhealthy diet. These stories could have had interesting things to say about identity and perception as women, about how to present yourself in the way that makes you feel comfortable.
But no, because the “Shonen Jump” audience is ostensibly male, these girls exist to act cute and awkward around the one male character so they can be ogled at during the completely necessary shower and changing room scenes where their nudity is barely covered.
Final Verdict: 1.0 – Fucking gross.
