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, Ken and Robbie check in with “Boys Over Flowers” and “Black Clover.” If you have thoughts on these or any other current Shonen Jump titles, please let us know in the comments!
Black Clover Chapter 233
Written and Illustrated by Yuki Tabata
Reviewed by Rowan Grover
“Black Clover” revels in its ability generate fun through pure absurdity in chapter 233. The setup here is simple: Charmy, the half-dwarf who’s very protective of her food morphed into her giant ram-form to get back at Asta for messing with her meal. It’s a welcome moment of levity for the series as it presents readers a simple enough premise that still functions as a fun and compelling story. Everyone here is present in their essentialized forms, and that works for this story: Asta is headstrong, Charmy is quick to anger and Rill is cool and calculating. Rill’s motivations turn out to be somewhat vain and chauvinistic, but it doesn’t completely shatter the illusion of innocence.
The final segment is what really drives the plot along and feels like an essential part of the story, although it’s still nothing more than a tease at this early stage. Yuno is an enigmatic character in this sequence but comes across as gentle and composed. His interactions with the citizens of the kingdom of Spade do depict the welfare of the city quite well, and add a sense of history and depth to Yuno’s personality. Ultimately, however, there are no major decisions made save for a issue-ending revelation that feels obvious throughout the story anyway.
Tabata has a lot of fun illustrating the first half of the story involving Charmy. The way that her circle of food morphs with the environment around her is delightful and detailed, giving a real sense of the natural being manipulated by outside forces. The initial panels of the battle between Charmy and Master Potrof are a lot of fun because they feel almost kaiju-esque, with Potrof’s vines creeping up to attack Charmy’s alarmingly dominating form. Tabata ends the sequence nicely with a classic three-quarter page spread of Rill and Tabata shooting through the air to defeat Charmy’s form, and the diagonal composition does well to convey a sense of dynamic air choreography.
The latter sequence has some neat setting work when it establishes the kingdom of Spade, showing off mountainous terrain and forestry winding through the massive peaks before giving way to a distant, skull-shaped castle. However, once Yuno touches down, the area feels alarmingly sparse. The setting is almost at odds with itself since what we see has barely three cottages present, yet when readers are shown a flashback, the town is filled with buildings and lively settings. The bedridden Spade citizen is well-acted, however, and looks truly desparate to share his news with Yuno.
This chapter of “Black Clover” is a neat breather and works well as a filler before drip feeding readers some information for the next arc, but nothing feels really substantial here. Come for the art and fun first half, stay for the plot twists but be wary of some contradictory worldbuilding and slow storytelling.
Final Score: 6.9 – A decent filler issue that provides some plot twists but ultimately feels slight.
Boys Over Flowers Season 2 — Ch. 110
Written and Illustrated by Yoko Kamio
Reviewed by Kerry Erlanger
Chapter 110 begins with Haruto seemingly having a crisis of self, which isn’t too surprising. He recently met his hero and mentor, but more importantly his girlfriend has her own apartment now. He’s living the horny high school boy’s dream!
Still, it’s not a particularly interesting bout of introspection he’s suddenly suffering from. It sort of boils down to “when did I stop pretending to be cool and grow feelings?” which is so typical of these types of mangas as to be a full on trope. And as if his monologuing about it wasn’t enough, Oto has to further push the agenda by reminiscing about all the dumb products he used to buy to a misghuided attempt to make himself cooler, like a belt that makes you taller while you sleep and cologne that makes people attracted to you (is this really so different than regular cologne? What a dweeb.). But I guess those things did end up working to an extent, because they were basically the catalyst for the two of them meeting. Again, this isn’t really revolutionary storytelling, but it is sort of cute for two people in love to reminisce about remember when, especially in a situation where the coupling was unexpected “in real life.”
Continued belowThough none of this is really unexpected, is it? Not their ending up together, nor the fact that it’s revealed that both Oto and Haruto are virgins, despite the latter’s reputation as a lady’s man. Neither is the situation the two of them quickly land themselves in, getting mugged by a couple of kids who Haruto sees himself in. He chooses to teach them a lesson, because he’s mature and has the self-reflective distance to do so now.
The best moment of the chapter is probably when Haruto blushingly tells his butler that Oto is going to be spending the night in his room and instead of horror or indignation, he responds by sobbingly congratulating them on their “graduation” which is… super uncomfortable. Nothing sets them mood for a sexy night in with your lady like the hired help looking forward to your impending loss of virginity! And lose it he does in a few romantic cut aways that only hint at what’s happening, with a few more ruminations on how Oto has made him a better man. I still find it strange that they chose to have sex at his family’s mansion, rather than the apartment Oto lives in along, but whatever gets you going, I guess.
For such a big moment in these characters’ lives and relationship, the overreliance on tropes makes it somewhat forgettable. Not that it’s necessarily unenjoyable, but it gives off a bit of a filler vibe, which is extra unfortunate when you consider that there’s one more chapter left of what’s otherwise been a cute series.
Final Verdict: 6.0 — This chapter serves mostly to highlight how far the characters have come in an effort to make the moment more meaningful, but it ends up falling a bit short of anything monumental.
