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 two titles 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, Vince and Zach check in with “Double Taisei” and “One Punch Man.” If you have thoughts on these or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Double Taisei – Chapter 1: The Sun and the Stars
Written & Illustrated by Kentaro Fukuda
Review by Vince J Ostrowski
“Double Taisei” has been advertised with little information about it other than that it’s a shogi manga, “shogi” being a chess-like game popular in Japan and the subject of several manga over the years, none of which are all that well-known or popular. If you look at Viz’s website, the information about “Double Taisei’s” premise is almost laughably thin, but that is being done with good reason, as the story’s central premise is a great surprise that is only revealed partway through the first chapter and may prove to be the major driving force for all of the drama in the series, rather than the shogi matches themselves. I’m trying as hard as I can to not spoil that twist here either, but if Fukuda’s series continues to maintain its focus on the unique character traits that are central to this first chapter, “Double Taisei” may end up being the rare shogi manga that maintains a lasting appeal.
To dance around the twist, I’ll say that the series does a magnificent job of playing around with a common trope in shonen manga, wherein the main character of the story has one major interest, talent, or intellectual focus and that becomes their character. The hero defines themselves by their intense focus on becoming “the best in the world” at whatever particular skill we’re talking about, and the series is about climbing the ladder of fame and glory in that particular field and all the obstacles that stand in the way. “Double Taisei”, for a good chunk of its opening installment, looks like it could similarly be about its main character working and obsessing to become “the best” at shogi, but the twist, if applied correctly, could throw an interesting wrench into that idea. What if the main character is an all-time great shogi player, but wants to do something else? What if a character with an insane talent in a shonen manga doesn’t want to use that talent, and actively looks to avoid it. This isn’t the first manga to play with that idea later, but I’m intentionally simplifying it and avoiding the twist that, once read, might make it clear how “Double Taisei” could be a shonen competition manga unlike any I know of, if Fukuda-san navigates it properly.
The art is fairly standard shonen manga fare. It’s handsome to look at, and appropriately cute when it’s trying to be (there’s a sequence where a policeman acts like he’s there to arrest the main character and when it turns out he’s not, the results are weirdly adorable). The character beats are warm and lightly emotional – nothing over the top or very much exaggerated here. For at least his first chapter, Fukuda is keeping things minimalist and clear, which is probably appropriate for a story that could potentially get confusing with art that was not as crystal clear about its intentions.
“Double Taisei” is a fine opening chapter, but the promise entirely hinges on how the manga-ka intends to use the unique central plot device. If it goes on to be a manga that mostly focuses on the shogi hobby and competitions, then it will squander an interesting premise. If Fukuda focuses on the main character more than the game, then “Double Taisei” could create great conflicts outside of the shogi, but that affect the game and the way that the main character relates to it in significant ways.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 7.0 – “Double Taisei” is definitely one to watch, but the next couple of chapters will immediately make or break the series.
One-Punch Man Chapter 95
Written by ONE
Illustrated by Yusuke Murata
Translated by John Werry
Lettered by James Gaubatz
Reviewed by Zach Wilkerson
“One-Punch Man” is a fantastic series, one that marches to its own beat in most every way; especially when it comes to pacing and publishing schedules. After a long period of sporadic releases, the series seems to have reached some degree of regularity in its release. With this week’s chapter, we get an update on a plot thread that began all the back in 2015!
Recent chapters of “One-Punch Man” have been rather lengthy, sometimes over 100 pages. This chapter is tiny by comparison, a mere 30 pages. However, it uses its brevity well to highlight one of the more interesting S-Class heroes, Child Emperor. As a tech/science type hero, Child Emperor employs a variety of tools and weaponry. Of course, in true “One-Punch” fashion, his creations border on the surreal and absurd, including the likes of auto-turret octopi and impact resistant Saran wrap.
Whether intentionally or not, ONE uses Child Emperor to poke at the underlying foundations of this world. Framing the series’s ultra-violence around the actions of a child certainly leads one to question the veracity of this world’s “heroes.” Certainly, we’re dealing with vicious monsters, but seeing a child eviscerate a giant sentient bird is quite disturbing, nonetheless.
Child Emperor’s preceding conversion with Phoenix Man touches on complex ideas such as hierarchical struggle, generational dynamics, albeit on an understandably surface level. Phoenix Man’s musings on the fetters of organization seem to leave a lasting impression on Child Emperor, which may be important later.
Even with its lower page count, the chapter doesn’t skimp on any of the series’s trademark absurdism. Phoenix Man’s origin story is delightfully simple and bizarre, even by series standards. Child Emperor’s gadgets are well designed by Murata and each is more intriguing than the last, culminating in the most versatile flute/recorder this side of the Green Ranger power dagger.
This chapter ultimately highlights the extreme versatility and variation that “One-Punch Man” capable of. Not bound by convention in terms of page count, pacing, protagonist or concept, the series continues to feel fun and fresh several years into its run. Of course, this chapter does highlight just how long certain plots threads have been running, suggesting that it may be time to move things a long at a quicker clip. Nevertheless, if the story remains this fun and quirky, it’s easy to forgive a few shortcomings.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – A short but enjoyable chapter of “One-Punch Man” that finally moves the plot forward in a (hopefully) meaningful way.
