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, Rowan checks in with “Fabricant 100.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Fabricant 100 Chapter 35
Written and illustrated by Daisuke Enoshima
Reviewed by Rowan Grover
For the past few arcs, it has seemed like “Fabricant 100” has had the Sword of Damocles hanging over its head. The author keeps bringing in plot components that indicate an upcoming endgame, leading to some odd, truncated pacing. Unfortunately, creators feeling the threat of cancellation isn’t uncommon in the Shonen Jump magazine but rarely has that need to get all of a series’ elements out before the close felt so rushed as it does here. It’s a shame considering how strong the bones of this story were!
This story seems to deal with the series’ antagonist/prime plot engineer, Doctor, whom Enoshima appears to be giving a pseudo-Oppenheimer arc. Yes, the movie may be on my mind, but the shades of it are so strong in Doctor’s backstory. Doctor is introduced into a small village, where his pragmatic, capitalistic mindset gets in the way of feeling and communicating genuine human emotion. Enoshima gives us a direct interior monologue from the doctor that makes us feel his cold reasoning, which gives us a shred of empathy before we all realize how inhuman that thinking is. It’s a solid way to convey humanity in a villain, and I especially think having this land in the Oppenheimer movie release period makes the story more effective.
The elements that work well at conveying economic storytelling, unfortunately, do get in the way of telling a more meaningful tale, however. Having the direct monologue from the Doctor gives us a great look into how his brain ticks. Devoting most of the real estate to that and leaving other characters fewer dialogue lines, however, makes the supporting cast in this story feel shallow. The woman Saya who supplies Doctor with apples has a sad case but feels more like a plot device than she does a sympathetic character, due to how much her motivation is told to us by Doctor’s monologue.
The story’s punchy pacing also feels like a negative in the latter half of the story. The atrocities of the air raid barely occupy two pages so they lack the impact that they should. Having Doctor approach his conclusion to re-stitch the townsfolk as fabricants also feel like it barely had time to breathe, and feels more like fan service. I want to chalk it up to the threat of cancellation, but the series has had this tense pacing for the last 10-20 chapters, so it doesn’t feel as excusable here.
Enoshima’s art excels here with the facial expressions but leaves a little to be desired outside of that. As I said, Doctor is given a tragic backstory as every good Shonen villain deserves, and the way his emotions are portrayed is expertly done. When we see Doctor reacting to how little apples he’s receiving in return for his engineering work, Enoshima renders the antagonist apathetic, becoming more disillusioned with the charms of this country town as the panels roll on. Once he catches himself, however, we see lines of weakness start to permeate his expression. It’s subtle, but clever work, and shows us Enoshima knows how to believably act out his characters.
Most of the problems I mentioned with the narrative recur with the art as well, unfortunately. Whilst it seems so much effort is invested in bringing Doctor to life, every other aspect of the chapter suffers at that expense. Saya, who feels like she should be a fairly important character (speculation that she’s the title character is rampant!) does not receive the all-star treatment you’d think she deserves. The character is largely relegated to charming but shallow smiles before dying mostly off-panel saved for an out-stretched hand. Considering how well-acted Doctor is, Saya barely comes off as memorable, which is odd considering she’s the second-most important character in this chapter.
The background work, whilst not as important, also feels a little thin here. The largest amount of detail is relegated to the air raid scene. It’s solid and conveys destruction alarmingly well. However, it’s over in such a short amount of time that it’s hard for readers to fully register the scale of what’s just occurred. It’s a shame that it seems like this is how the series is panning out on a macro scale. Starting with promise but shooting forward at too fast a pace for us to fully register the scale of what’s happening.
Final Score: 5.8 – Some minor redeeming features don’t prevent this chapter of “Fabricant 100” from leaving a bad taste in your mouth
