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, Robbie checks in with “The Hunters Guild: Red Hood.” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
The Hunter’s Guild: Red Hood Chapter 16
Written and illustrated by Yuki Kawaguchi
Reviewed by Robbie Pleasant
Occasionally, a manga will drop major plot points of such magnitude or at such a speed that it gives the distinct impression that it’s struggling to maintain its ratings and needs to do something drastic to stay afloat.
For “The Hunter’s Guild: Red Hood,” that was last chapter, and it’s kept it up through this chapter as well.
Yes, chapter 16 drops a lot of plot twists. No sooner did Velou join the Hunter’s Guild than we’re suddenly hit with multiple revelations – about the Guild, a magic book that controls destiny, the village’s chief, and Velou’s own place in everything. It’s a lot to take in.
And it all feels like it’s getting crammed in there at once. Characters appear and are brought together almost instantly, and most of the chapter is spent on plot exposition. It’s supposed to be a big reveal, but there was so little buildup or foreshadowing that it all falls flat.
If “The Hunter’s Guild” had more time to build this world, let us get to know more about the Guild, and encounter more characters while dropping bits of lore, these would have been world-shaking revelations that reframed how we see everything. Unfortunately, we didn’t really get that, so it doesn’t have the intended effect.
Yuki Kawaguchi’s artwork doesn’t exactly help matters either. While “The Hunter’s Guild” does have its own unique aesthetic, relying heavily on rough designs and plentiful shading lines, this chapter lacks polish in many panels and often feels lacking. The roughness really shows, and not to its benefit.
With that said, credit can still be given for what it does well. The character designs themselves are distinct and creative, and the manga’s aesthetic does match the mood and add personality. Some panels do also give us nice details on the characters and scenery, it’s just when they’re smaller or further back that they feel more like sketches than full drawings.
Each character also has a well-established personality, driving motive, and personal arc that could be explored later, if we ever get a “later” with this manga. Plus, there’s still some creative choices, like the sudden appearance of a bed to relax in while reading from the “True Book” that controls destiny.
Unfortunately, with things as they are, it feels like the manga is making a Hail Mary play to maintain relevance, and in doing so fumbled its own pacing. I’d love to be wrong, but we’ve seen this before, and it’s rare for a manga to recover.
And so, since I may not have another chance to talk about this manga, I’d just like to add one late thought: The first chapter was basically the exact same as the first chapter of “Claymore” – virtually beat-for-beat. (Sorry, that’s been bugging me since I first started reading this manga.)
Final Verdict: 4.5 – “The Hunter’s Guild: Red Hood” shows all the signs of a struggling manga, and throws at us every plot twist it had planned to try and keep our attention, but does so at the expense of all their buildup.
