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 4
Written by Akinari Asakura
Illustrated by Takeshi Obata
Lettered by James Gaubatz
Translated by Stephen Paul
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore
Pacing is everything with sequential stories, and with “Sho-Ha Shoten!” being a monthly release, the story can feel a little sluggish getting from one event to the next, even if each installment feels pretty full. For example, in ‘Chapter 4,’ we get the genesis, creation, and performance of a new routine. That’s a lot, but when you consider that they got to this competition back in December, and we won’t know the results of it until February, it feels oddly decompressed.
As I mentioned in my last review of the first two chapters, there’s also the tricky matter of having to create comedy that is appropriate, can be explained, and is also funny, and while the sketch presented here is clever and fits in with the philosophical approach of ‘cracking the dam’ “Who’s On First” it certainly isn’t. While that’s not the most important part of the story, the book has painted itself into a corner where we need to believe that the comedy works. Because Azemichi’s father has given them the ridiculous ultimatum of needing to win every contest, we, the audience, need to be convinced that they have a chance to actually win. Now, that could be something mitigated if other groups are shown not being funny, but if that’s the case, then we lose the sense of competition. The only solution is to make their bits actually funny.
Takeshi Obata’s artwork attempts to add some absurdity and over the top energy to the book, and it helps the reading experience by diversifying what we’re seeing on the page. However, the ‘extreme close up’ work that Obata does at times feels over the top and out of place at times. While ostensibly a sports manga, it is far easier to draw a game winner fadeaway jump shot or even a beautifully cooked meal than it is to illustrate a perfectly timed comedic routine. Akinari Asakura is writing a really intriguing story with a hole in the middle, not to get all Benoit Blanc on you, and that hole is effective comedy. Sadly, it may appear that that hole will never get filled in, at least not to the degree that it needs to for the story to sing or, rather, laugh.
Final Verdict: 6.0 – The Aristocrats, this ain’t.
