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, Brian checks in with “Hoshin Engi.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Every now and then, the Shonen Jump app adds a complete series to its subscription-level archives, and last week, all 23 volumes of “Hoshin Engi” were added. So, while this is not a new story, it is new to Shonen Jump, so I thought it was fair game to discuss.
Hoshin Engi, Chapter 1: The Hoshin List
Written and Illustrated by Ryu Fujisaki
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
“Hoshin Engi” begins by clearly setting its story in the very real past of China’s Yin Dynasty, but also shows us magic, flying creatures, and wizardry almost instantly as well. The manga is an adaptation of the The Creation of the Gods, ‘one of the four classic Chinese fantasy novels’ according to Ryu Fujisaki’s note, and the manga instantly takes on that classic, high fantasy tone. The timing of this appearing on the Shonen Jump app just as a new Game of Thrones spinoff happens seems to be, if not planned, quite coincidental.
Fujisaki’s art does a nice job of balancing the two, sometimes contradictory, sides of historical fantasy. The clothing designs clearly have roots in traditional Chinese apparel, but are tweaked and exaggerated, especially anything involving the Senin or Dakki. The look and feel of the story instantly set a tone, and Fujisaki has some fun subverting that tone at points, like when humor is brought in, or the tone shifts to a more traditionally shonen one. These moments don’t feel anachronistic, but rather are a nice addition.
The art maintains a nice volley between hyper detailed and more fluid. The jumps back and forth aren’t as harsh as, say, when Ren and Stimpy would do an extreme closeup on something, and so the results aren’t jarring at all. But Fujisaki isn’t afraid to emphasize something in a panel or page when it is clear that the readers should be focused on that item or character.
Like so many serialized genre stories, half the fun here is the idea of the ‘Hoshin List’ and the various opponents that Taikobo will face. This is an opening salvo that allows the reader both the pleasure of a long journey and the knowledge that it will, likely, never look this easy or optimistic again. This opening chapter does everything you want a new story to do: it introduces the stakes, the characters, the setting, and the structure. It is a wonderful enticement to return for more down the road.
Final Verdict: 8.5 – A fun and engaging first chapter.
