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 “PPPPPP.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
PPPPPP Chapter 2
Written and illustrated by Mapollo 3
Translated by Junko Goda
Lettered by James Gaubatz
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
So many times stories are told of prodigies: athletes practically born as Olympians, artists who show extraordinary talents while finger painting, writers who told their pre-schoolers stories they’d remember for 25 years. More rarely are stories told about the rest of us: the frustrated guitarists who can’t quite nail the lead part, the kid with a decent jumper who can’t defend for his life, the person for whom inspiration dies after 5 paragraphs. One of the most charming things about “PPPPPP” is how it sets out to redeem the mediocre talent, both as a person worthy of pursuing a hobby, and also as having something a prodigy doesn’t: the need to draw from things other than natural talent.
Sonoda, the only non-genius of septuplets, is a mediocre pianist who, when playing a piece that is cherished by both his mother and him, elevates his playing to something sublime. No virtuoso can deliver what he can when playing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” and a teacher at his new music high school recognizes his uniqueness and wants to help him unlock it. But, almost ironically, the entire school is set up to nurture the opposite type of student. This is put in stark relief when we see Sonoda put against Furusu, the star student, for the teacher’s attention. The school is set up for kids like Furusu, not Sonoda.
One of the most impressive feats that Mapollo 3 performs here is the visualization of the music performed by the various students. There’s nothing technical or flashy about the visuals, but they are full of subtle nuance, and make the reader pay attention to panels that may’ve just been passed over otherwise. But most of the emotion in the strip comes from Sonoda and his mother’s interactions. Because Sonoda is mediocre, he needs to draw from other parts of his life for his successes to ring true, and so we need to show those other parts of his life: his struggles at school, his sick (and, in turns out, dying) mother in the hospital, his detachment from his siblings and father.
The endgame here is relatively clear: Sonoda is going to attempt to reunite with his siblings in order to save his mother’s life. Whether or not that actually works remains to be seen, but the journey there is a familiar, and potentially enjoyable trope. This feels more like a sports manga than a music one, but the genre matters less than what Mapollo 3 is putting out, and the product is very enjoyable so far.
Final Verdict: 7.9 – A strong warm up of scales and intervals. I’m waiting patiently for the songs.
