Jump Review [2025: No. 29]

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I bought a lottery ticket on the way home from losing badly at horse racing, and it won! It was a measly 100 yen → 500 yen, but I'm thinking of quitting horse racing. I'll write my impressions.

Table of Contents: Harukaze Mound, Akane, Witch, Nue, Ao no Hako, Himaten, How to Exorcise a Loved One, Nigewaka, Sid, Postscript

Harukaze Mound

It's been a full three years since the one-shot was published in 2022 No. 33, and the serialization has finally started. I took this opportunity to skim through the previous one-shot, and I think the process of arriving at the underhand throw was better. Last time, it was just a story about playing softball, but this time, they said something about the position of organs and other plausible things, which made it more convincing. In line with that, the protagonist's dominant arm was also changed from right to left. Also, in the one-shot version, it felt like they were going to Koshien as twins, but this time it seems like they'll be rivals. The flow of gathering strays and winning against elites is also orthodox, and sports manga aren't interesting without good characters on the enemy side, so I don't think it's bad. Since the protagonist will be breaking a promise with his younger brother, I'm looking forward to seeing if his brother becomes like Toshi-kun from Major. By the way, in Ace of Diamond, the protagonist refuses the invitation once to avoid breaking the promise here, but I wonder what will happen this time. There are many readers these days (only on the internet) who are concerned about these minor details, so it seems safer to follow Ace of Diamond, but I wonder. If he's aiming to be a pitcher because he admires complete games, there's little merit in being on the same team, but they'll probably come to terms around there. It's a minor detail, but what about observation mode? This is quite common, or rather, there are people who start thinking silently to find out the true intention, right? If anything, I do it sometimes too. Is it popular to insert these minor details into one episode? I was thinking while recalling Far East Necromance and Himaten.

Akane

I thought the old man saying that Akane is the best was a line to see the future prospects, but it seems to be a justification for passing the preliminary round in 5th place. Karashi is provoking a lot, which is good. I like this guy.

Witch

Leon from the start is too old man-ish. To be honest, I haven't seen it either, so I looked it up, but it's a movie from before I was born. Sometimes I wonder, "Is this interesting for middle and high school students to read?" There are many Jump manga with parodyネタ that make Robo laugh, and they're mostly from the older generation... I'm curious. Regarding Leon, well, it's certain that Keigo is a character who likes this kind of thing, so it would have been ideal if the tsukkomi was interesting even if he didn't know Leon. But does Nico even know Leon? By the way, Terminator 2 is older than Leon. In that respect, Kanshi is safe to laugh at. As for Miharu, I think that character would be better (if it were a more serious manga)?

Nue

I might become a Tagiha supporter. I originally liked her appearance, but I didn't like characters who didn't show much emotion, so my evaluation of her was subdued. However, recently she's been showing more emotion, or rather, I've started to see Tagiha's own will behind her actions, and she's looking quite cute with her new wife move this week. It was a terrible episode where they kept saying pee and poop all the time, but when I turned the page, Suzaku's butt suddenly appeared, and I wondered what was going on.

Ao no Hako

Has an ikemen moved in next door to the senior? I often see greetings from neighbors who have moved in next door in manga, but that doesn't happen these days. Regarding the Ayame part, I wondered if drawing the worries of such a strong romance character would resonate with the incels who read Jump, but I wonder if there are incels who get caught up in a girl like Ayame who has a thin wall between men and women and end up crying. I don't know because it's a world I have no connection with.

Himaten

This, this, the manga for incels, come on! I'd be anxious if all the girls weren't looking at me. Himari was cute this week when she was deliberately trying to go on a stamp rally inefficiently. Because of Honoka, the time limit hasn't changed, but I liked the feeling that she didn't want to go around efficiently and end. It's good if the feelings are prioritized even though I know it's pointless, so I'll leave it at that.

How to Exorcise a Loved One

It was pretty good. I like handsome guys with unnecessarily high specs who act on incomprehensible principles. The King & Prince (the one with the yellow earth) did a completely unrelated story in the ending, but this was also interesting. Revealing the location of your house and the key so casually is the same reason I like Sunshine Ikezaki's gag about saying his cash card PIN. I really like gags that involve doing things you shouldn't do.

Nigewaka

A long-awaited historical revision. Now that I think about it, both are related to Moronao. However, this revision was quite forceful, or rather, the Tadayoshi side felt cornered, so it wasn't bad, but it was unsatisfying. I was expecting a development that I could understand with reason, so if it's a divine power, this time might be more convincing than defeating him with rhetoric... However, in this kind of series, Amane Daizen, also known as God's Fan from Tokyo Ravens, is super cool. I thought I was talking from an advantageous position, but I realized that I was already in the opponent's pace, and by that time it was too late... Also, the commentary was interesting this week. When I talked about the No. 2 unnecessity theory in the review two weeks ago, I thought, "I thought the Kamakura shogunate was also taken over by the Hojo, but since the Hojo clan is not attached to the shogun, it might be a wrong example," so I didn't write it, but there's a behind-the-scenes story, and they wrote about that properly, which was informative. If I had enough knowledge to say that, it would have been cool if I had anticipated the commentary, so I'm glad I didn't say anything stupid. I have two feelings about that.

Sid

It's over~ Well, to be honest, I wasn't very invested in reading it, so I thought so, but I think there were many people who actually felt that way. Regarding this, an acquaintance online said, "Do young people understand being forced to read manga with the atmosphere of Sherlock Holmes and other things?" and I think that hit the mark to some extent. Love comedies are a genre where you deeply empathize with the protagonist and virtually experience delicious things, so if the setting doesn't click, it's even tougher. If you think about it, love comedies only have school settings in mind. Even high fantasies tend to be set in magic schools, so maybe that's the answer. I think each character was cute, but in the end, the setting only worked in a bad way, and the problem was that it didn't contribute much to the fun. It's completely a side note, but could it be surprisingly good if it were the same setting in a mystery game? I think I could empathize with the protagonist while reasoning, but if the goal is too lacking as it is in this work, it would be tough.

Postscript

I have paid leave tomorrow. It's tough to work 5 days a week in a state where my mind isn't completely settled without Kagurabachi and One Piece, so I'm glad I happen to have a day off. That said, I have nothing to do, so I'm thinking of drinking alcohol, but I just learned a word called orikalissalkanit, which expresses "the feeling when you have no plans to go out and are drinking alcohol alone at home in your underwear." Tomorrow will be this itself, not just the feeling. Well, see you next week.