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, Robbie and Vince are catching up with “Magu-Chan: God of Destruction” and “Me & Roboco.” If you have thoughts on these or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Magu-Chan: God of Destruction chapter 3
Written and illustrated by Kei Kamiki
Reviewed by Robbie Pleasant
“Magu-Chan: God of Destruction” has an amusing concept, but one that makes me wonder how much mileage we’ll be able to get out of it. Fortunately, chapter 3 adds more character dynamics to the mix by introducing another elder god of chaos.
In this case, we meet Naputaaku, whose name and design appear to be a reference to Nyarlathotep from the Lovecraft mythos, albeit with a bit more of a starfish look to him. (Although even in his diminished form, he’s still a more accurate version of Nyarlathotep than the titular character from “Nyaruko: Crawling with Love.”)
Not only does Naputaaku provide is with new character interactions, given his ancient rivalry with Magu-Chan, but it also stands to show how Magu-Chan has adapted to his life with Ruru and miniature stature. Personally, I love the dynamics between Ruru and Magu-Chan. She’s unphased by this strange creature, tries to help him make friends (even if he misinterprets it as “followers”), and is willing to scold ancient gods of chaos without a care for their destructive tendencies. She’s cheery and optimistic, if a bit dense, more concerned about getting her next meal than the fact that her new best friend is an a eldritch abomination.
Sure, it’s not exactly the most unique character work ever, but it works for the series.
The comedy works primarily through the contrast of the characters’ claims and their abilities. The intense start to the competition between Naputa and Magu meets a quick comic moment as they’re both too small and weak to dig for clams, and as Naputa’s powers of madness and mind control are proven humorously ineffective at gathering clams. Even then, the two elder beings treat everything like it’s a serious, intense moment, which is contrasted by their miniature statures, low power, and lack of stakes.
As far as art goes, Kei Kamiki’s work is fine. There’s nothing particularly outstanding about it, but the character designs are clean and concise in their simplicity. Since most of the humor comes from the contrast of what the characters are saying and what we see happen, it’s important that the art convey’s each scene and delivers the timing properly, which it manages to do.
With all that said, “Magu-Chan: God of Destruction” has yet to blow me away, but it’s enough to get a smile out of me when I read it. For a gag manga series, that’s a pretty good way to start.
Final Verdict: 6.5 – A fun, comedic series that knows how to balance all its elements for a solid delivery.
Me & Roboco – Chapter 1: Bondo and Roboco
Written & Illustrated by Shuhei Miyazaki
Reviewed by Vince J Ostrowski
“Me & Roboco” is unlike anything else running on Shonen Jump right now, as it appears to be purely a gag manga whose art and sense of humor hearkens back to an earlier time. Shuhei Miyazaki’s visual sensibilities are softer and less angular than the typical modern shonen fare. Each character has unique visual traits to easily differentiate them, and Miyazaki accomplishes one of the most overlooked feats in cartooning which is that characters’ physical traits match their personalities. The main character, Bondo, looks like he could be a Pokemon protagonist, which actually helps set the reader up to be surprised when a lot of the humor in the story comes off as a lot more mature than one would expect from looking at it. From the title page, I was instantly reminded of the earlier, gag-heavier works of Akira Toriyama or something like “Doraemon.” The gags themselves involve slightly perverted subject matter that would have fit right in with early “Dragon Ball”, before it began to favor extended fight sequences over its humble, horny beginnings. In that way, “Me & Roboco” was a refreshing enough read from a purely aesthetic point of view.
Continued belowYou see, Bondo is a 10 year old boy, envious of his friends from more privileged families being able to afford robot maids, his main area of focus being how cute they are. Bondo begs his mother (always seen holding up a knife, in one of the book’s best visual gags) to buy the family one, selling her on the idea that the maid would help out around the house. While Bondo daydreams of the stereotypical kawaii manga maid subserviently bringing him sodas, the reality is that his family ends up with what appears to be an older, clunkier model. His physical description of her, while extremely superficial, does include another top notch visual gag that I shall not spoil here except to say that it involves an overt reference to “Dragon Ball Z” that is laugh out loud funny. What follows is the expected comedy of errors when our unlucky hero discovers that the maid can’t follow his instructions the way the newer models can. There might be a more complex reason for the maid’s ineptitude, but I’m not sure if I’ll stick around to find out.
Whether you’ll want to keep up with it yourself really depends on how many of the jokes land. “Me & Roboco” works hard to try to get you to laugh. It’s like watching a sweaty comedian on stage just rapid firing jokes at you. If one joke doesn’t land, maybe the next one will. For me, I think more of the gags flopped than actually succeeded, but the few that did succeed are among the funniest things I’ve read in a comic in recent memory. The jokes that hit go out of the park. The aforementioned DBZ gag is worth a look, by itself, and there are some clever, character-based wordplay jokes here that hit too, if you don’t mind a little perversion. I don’t think I found any of the jokes particularly troubling, but just not enough of them made me laugh. In the end, I think the series is just a little too wacky and hyperactive for my tastes. Still, Miyazaki’s retro cartooning is so refreshing and the good jokes are so good that it might pull me back in a little.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – “Me & Roboco” tries extremely hard to make the reader laugh with rapid fire gags, but not enough of them hit. The series might succeed better when future chapters inevitably are a little shorter in length.
