Shonen Jump 091221 Columns 

This Week in Shonen Jump: Week of 9/12/21

By | September 15th, 2021
Posted in Columns | % Comments

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 “Undead Unluck.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!

Undead Unluck Chapter 78
Written and illustrated by Yoshifumi Tozuka
Translated by David Evelyn
Lettered by Michelle Pang
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore

Not being familiar with “Undead Unluck,” I figured that a week that the Shonen Jump banner image was from this book, it would be an easy-ish week to jump into the title and get a sense for what it is. However, while there were some amazing visuals that kept my interest throughout, this was a reasonably impenetrable chapter, and I’m no more educated about “Undead Unluck” than I was 22 pages ago.

Tozuka’s artwork, however, made the 22 pages a breeze to enjoy, as the ‘uniform’ the speedster donned was a wonderfully manic design, taking bits of Ultraman and Jet Jaguar and mixing them with Transformers and a touch of the 90s Marvel aesthetic. The way the suit moves felt smooth, but had an implied hitch to it that implies a robotic cadence. This is an important contradiction within the action in the issue, which is all about going far beyond acceptable speed for that suit. The suit is protecting and helping, but the actions will destroy it.

I’m honestly not 100% sure which side of this battle I was supposed to be rooting for – I presume the speedster – but the designs of both parties were fun and helped push the visual storytelling. I keep focusing on the designs because the action itself was, at times, a little murky and confusing to look at, almost in a Michael Bay-style. All the pages looked beautiful, but it was a little jarring to be as unsure of what was happening, not just from the script side, but even visually at times.

Final Verdict: 5.1 – If I had any idea of what was happening, I would’ve enjoyed this far more.


//TAGS | This Week in Shonen Jump

Brian Salvatore

Brian Salvatore is an editor, podcaster, reviewer, writer at large, and general task master at Multiversity. When not writing, he can be found playing music, hanging out with his kids, or playing music with his kids. He also has a dog named Lola, a rowboat, and once met Jimmy Carter. Feel free to email him about good beer, the New York Mets, or the best way to make Chicken Parmagiana (add a thin slice of prosciutto under the cheese).

EMAIL | ARTICLES



  • -->