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, Brian checks in with the one-shot “Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono.” If you have thoughts on these or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono
Written by Kaiu Shirai
Illustrated by Posuke Demizu
Translated by Satsuki Yamashita
Lettered by Mark McMurray
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
I’m still a relatively new manga reader, and so I’m always delighted when I read a story that seems unlike what I come to Shonen Jump expecting. “Spirit Photographer Saburo Kono,” from the creators of the recently wrapped “The Promised Neverland,” begins with a simple enough premise: the apartment next door to the one Sota and his mother live in loses tenants after three days each time it is rented. A photographer moves in, and invites Sota over to help with an errand, and that’s when things get weird.
Visually, Saburo Kono, the photographer, is drawn to make us suspicious. He almost has a Joker in “Batman: The Killing Joke” vibe to him, and is supposed to immediately put the reader on their heels. But as the story unfolds, Kono is nothing to be afraid of; in fact, he’s trying to free the spirit of the person who died in that apartment. The story of that spirit is the crux of this issue, but to tell it would spoil most of what happens here.
Posuke Demizu’s artwork is incredibly evocative here, whether it is Kono’s weirdness, Sota’s reticence, or the dueling humanity and terror from Yoko, the ghost. Each page brings you further into the story, by using close-ups and tight framing to make Sota look as claustrophobic as his guilt is making him feel. The visuals really push this story forward in meaningful ways.
But Kaiu Shirai’s story is nothing to sneeze at, either. Shirai imbues Sota with so much emotion in such a short story, and uses the absurdity of Kono to bring it out of him. The story is a beautiful and sad one, and one that is relatable to many, many people. By Shirai and Demizu beginning the story with such an auspicious introduction, it pulls a rope a dope on the reader, and allows the heart of the story to sneak up. When it all connects in the final pages, there’s a real sense of healing and catharsis.
The character of Kono seems like a good bet to return somewhere down the road, though it may be hard to create anything this meaningful and heartfelt on a weekly basis.
