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 “Sho-Ha Shoten!” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Sho-Ha Shoten! Chapter 12
Written by Akinari Asakura
Illustrated by Takeshi Obata
Lettered by James Gaubatz
Translated by Stephen Paul
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
The competitive nature of “Sho-Ha Shoten!” means that, like has been discussed in this column before, sometimes there are chapters that feel like they are necessary for the plot but don’t feature One Way Ticket to the Top. And then, there are other installments that are almost entirely made up of the various routines that OWTTTT or others put together. All of that is to say that, for all the charms of this title, and there are many, it can be short on emotion and even shorter on catharsis. ‘Chapter 12’ delivers on both, but also adds a bit about the nature of comedy and performance that makes it one of the more complete chapters thus far.
Because of Taiyo’s blanking on the end of the routine, the group is forced to improvise, which is a piece of performing that everyone must, at some point come into contact with. The skill at which Azemichi recovers after Taiyo’s brain fart is impressive, if a little unrealistic, but furthers the ‘Azemichi is a better performer’ narrative. There’s also a bit of a discussion about the scoring of these competitions and the mindset of the judges. This is an aspect that had previously been unexplored, and might offer some insight into how the ‘final’ competition may shake out.
In the first panel, the one displayed above, Takeshi Obata does a fantastic job of bringing the reader directly into the tension and fear of Taiyo’s forgetfulness. Obata does a masterful job bobbing and weaving between showing the performers sweating and the crowd trying to figure out if the performers are sweating. That’s a tough bit of nuance to put out there, but it is handled really well. Credit should go to Akinari Asakura’s script as well, for threading the needle between getting too deep into things that cannot be seen (decision making, for instance) and showing the characters’ reactions to that.
The catharsis that occurs when OWTTTT wins feels earned and important due to how long it has been since we’ve seen a win like that, and the continued build of the pressure that the team puts on themselves. The tricky thing, going forward, is to not spend so much time between the competitions, but to not rush it, either. Due to the nature of the title, that’s going to be the push and pull each time a competition closes up. This manga has overcome pacing issues, humor translation issues, and some realism questions, but it is working thus far.
Final Verdict: 7.5 – After a few chapters of build, “Sho-Ha Hoten!” finally delivers a moment of release.
