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, Ken checks in with “Blue Box.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Blue Box Ch. 52
Written & Illustrated by Kouji Miura
Reviewed by Ken Godberson III
This week’s chapter of “Blue Box,” the sport manga that isn’t really about the sports so it’s right up my alley, feels like calm before an emotional storm in the wake of Hina confessing her feelings to Taiki. It’s a more quiet, conversation-centric chapter that helps build more tension in this triangle leading up to Taiki’s next big game while also highlighting the dichotomy between Hina and Chiantsu.
If there is one word I could use to describe this chapter it’s “anxiety.” Not in so much as it gave me anxiety but what the focused trio is going through. Navigating such murky, emotional waters is not easy, even when you’re not throwing on competitive pressures that come from sports on top of it. How Taiki, Chiantsu and Hina deal with those emotions. Hina’s more outgoing and perhaps even impulsive nature creates friction, as she goes on to tell Chiantsu that she confessed her feelings to Taiki, especially when it is really not the best time when she learns about Chiantsu’s grandfather going into surgery. In opposition to this, we have Chiantsu’s continuing bottling up of her feelings, both in the beginning and ending of this chapter. Miura’s artwork needs to be commended for this especially, making it very clear the feelings Chiantsu is going through with minimal dialogue.
On the other side, we have Taiki learning that their next match (albeit a practice match) will be against Sajikawa High, which includes Yusa, whom Taiki’s already lost to. I joked above that “Blue Box” is a sports manga that’s not about the sports and it’s not but sometimes it is and this discovery feeds more into Taiki’s confidence issues, just furthered by Hina’s confession and the ending of this chapter, where both Hina and Chiantsu will be at the practice match to cheer him on.
“Blue Box” could make the argument for having some of the best artwork going on in Shonen Jump currently, maybe even the best. Perhaps other works have more dynamic action but I can’t think of a book right now that can convey what is going on inside a character’s head without words (internal monologuing is kept to a minimum). All three of the focus characters have a moment as such in this chapter and they are perhaps some of the best artistic moments in the chapter.
Shonen Jump has a lot of series that come and go, a great deal of these series that try never really feel like something unique within the magazine. For me, “Blue Box” really doesn’t feel like any other series running right now. Visually beautiful, with a story that finds its strongest moments away from action or even the athletics but in the quiet moments of the character interactions. It’s a series that worms its way into your heart and I’m glad to see it in Shonen Jump.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – A quieter chapter, but one that allows its visuals to convey the anxious emotions of its characters.
