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 two titles 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, Walter and Brian check in with “Yui Kamio Lets Loose” and “Mitama Security: Spirit Busters.” If you have thoughts on these or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Yui Kamio Lets Loose Chapter 36
Written and Illustrated by Hiroshi Shiibashi
Reviewed by Walter Richardson
As Kerry predicted in last week’s installment of This Week In Shonen Jump, “Yui Kamio Lets Loose” has met its untimely end. In this kind of will they/won’t they romcom (if you can still call it that) the dreaded “L” word is usually the sign that things are wrapping down, and sure enough there was only one more chapter to go after Kiito’s confession of love to both Yuis last chapter. The writing has been on the wall for a while, with Yui and Kiito in search of the final girl boss and the overall accelerated pace of the narrative, and the comic has somewhat suffered as a result.
While this final chapter undeniably has some of the same problems many of these series that are cut off early have, Hiroshi Shibashi has done an admirable job with the space he has left. There is certainly something unsatisfying and anticlimactic about not getting to actually see the final fight between Yui and Himiko after that has seemingly been what the comic has been building up to. At the same time, the true climax was always going to be Kiito’s decision about how he feels about Yui(s), and I believe it was a wise decision to cut the action short in order to just give us a little more time with the characters we’ve come to know in a short span of time. It’s imperfect and there are some dangling loose ends, but there’s something pleasant about Shibashi getting a chance to give some slight nods to the plots he never got to pursue, whether they be stories that “happened” between the battle with Himiko and Yui or stories yet to come.
While the quality of the narrative was somewhat harmed by the acceleration to the end, Shibashi’s art escaped mostly untouched. While we don’t necessarily know whether or not Shibashi had to rush his art or if he had enough forewarning of the series’ impending doom that there weren’t too many things that needed to be laid out again or redrawn, that in itself is a good sign: we can’t tell. This chapter and those preceding it are not noticeably worse than the earlier chapters in terms of visuals. That being said, I wasn’t exactly a huge fan of Shibashi’s art in the first place (it’s above average and fun but not particularly unique), and I similarly wouldn’t say this is notably any better than prior chapters. The lack of any real action in this chapter means that Shibashi is relying mostly on his characterization skills, his main strength, and while he never knocked my socks off his art delivers where it needs to, giving both emotional heft and levity when necessarily. It’s not exactly the highest flying praise, but hey, you could do a lot worse.
“Yui Kamio Lets Loose” wasn’t necessarily a great comic, and now that it’s done I don’t think I’d recommend it to anyone who missed it. Nevertheless, it’s a series I’m glad existed. The initial hook was fun, the protagonist was a welcome change of pace from the usual “see, he’s just like you!” fare these types of stories have, and it certainly kept surprising me with the swerves in its overall tone. It was a bit of a mess in the way that only a serialized story could be, and for all of its flaws I’ll miss having a new chapter every week — and this final sendoff is a good example why.
Continued belowFinal Verdict: 6.5 – Goodbye Yui Kamio, goodbye Kiito. It was fun while it lasted.
Mitama Security: Spirit Busters, Chapter 14
Written and illustrated by Tsurun Hatomune
Translated by Amanda Haley
Lettered by Rina Mapa
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
“Mitama Security: Spirit Busters” keeps managing to find new ways to tell, essentially, the same story. Rena doesn’t seem to mind her ghosts, and so the whole idea of someone being protected (by Joh) who doesn’t want or need protection is a funny one. But this chapter in particular is a wonderful sideways view of the story, which allows the story to unfold differently, and in a really fun way.
The unnamed spirit that acts as the guide in this installment is someone we all know in real life: the know-it-all with good intentions that just can’t shut up. Hell, most of us have probably been that person at some point or another, and so the narrator is extremely relatable. The spirits all look somewhat like Baymax from “Big Hero 6,” so there’s an added cute factor, too, but more than anything, this spirit seems like a good egg who is trying their best.
The approach of focusing not on Rena but on a particular spirit gives Tsurun Hatomune a chance to illustrate the world through a sideways glance; most of the ‘action’ from the normal perspective happens either in the background or off-panel here, allowing the spirit(s) to be the focal point of the strip. This is a nice change, and one that helps break up the monotony of any weekly, serialized comic.
But more than anything else, the message that gets drawn from this chapter is just how unique and special Rena is; we already knew that spirits loved her, but this chapter juxtaposes her with others that have been haunted by our narrator, and it provides a much starker distinction between Rena and the world. No wonder she has a long line of spirits behind her.
I’m still a little worried about what the long-term goals for this story are, in terms of having a plot that can grow, but I’m enjoying the ride thus far.
Final Verdict: 8.0 – A solid chapter with some heart.
