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 “Ichigoki’s Under Control!” If you have thoughts on this or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Ichigoki’s Under Control, Manual #1
Written and illustrated by Seiji Hayashi
Translated by David Evelyn
Lettered by Yuan Han
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
From the jump, “Ichigoki’s Under Control” does one thing perfectly: it doesn’t waste too much time on the origin of how Ichigoki got turned into a piloted cyborg. By page 10 of this opening chapter, we have the entire story of just how it happened, and by the end of the chapter, we have all the information we will need to go forward, plus we’ve already seen Ichigoki in action, giving us a good barometer for what the series is going to look like. If this were in lesser hands, the entire first arc would be the first ten pages, and this story wouldn’t be fully revealed for months. Compression is an underrated skill in modern comics, but Seiji Hayashi delivers a short (38 pages) opening chapter that does all it needs to do and gets out of the way.
The other ace up Hayashi’s sleeve is the humor found within the story. Many shonen manga stories have humor in them, but Hayashi’s humor is a little more observational and detached than other stories of a similar ilk. There’s a bit about a kid carrying around a basket of bananas which had me legitimately laughing out loud. This chapter has room for humor because, again, it isn’t so bogged down with an origin story. I know I’m a broken record with this, but it is really refreshing.
The other reason that this is working so well is the art. Hayashi’s art is malleable and does a few interesting things very well without losing the tone of the strip in the process. For instance, there are a number of panels with a gorilla, which is drawn far more photorealisitc than anything else here, but it still has enough artistic license to make it fit in this world, albeit in a scarier, more threatening way. Similarly, when the tone changes into something sillier, everything gets turned on its ear, but not so much that it disrupts the flow of the series.
The best example of this, however, is the difference in between Ichigoki’s appearance and that of his ‘pilot,’ Misao. She’s a miniaturized person, and so is drawn doll-like and not unlike something you may see as a child’s toy; think like a Bratz or LOL toy, but less overtly sexualized. The differentiation between the two is clear, but never drawn attention to or even brought up. Hayashi has given each of them a specific look and role, and they reflect each other quite nicely.
Final Verdict: 8.1. – A fun, funny, opening chapter.
