This issue includes chapters for Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign, One Piece, Food Wars!, Bleach, World Trigger, My Hero Academia, Toriko, Black Clover, Nisekoi: False Love, and Blue Exorcist. This issue also includes the first chapter of Psyren (which is the current title to be featured for the “Jump Back” initiative).

I’m providing my reactions and impressions for each manga title that appears in the volume. However, be warned that this post may potentially contain spoilers.

I only started reading Weekly Shonen Jump back in late February/early March of 2014, which means there’s a number of series published in the magazine that I jumped in the middle of. Since then, I’ve been able to start reading older chapters of some of the titles, but I haven’t managed to do this for all of the titles yet. Because of this, there may be times I might inadvertently include incorrect information in the write-ups. If you see something in a write-up that’s incorrect due to my having not read earlier chapters of a series, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know. Not only can I correct the incorrect information in the write-up, it will also help provide information for me to have when reading future chapters of a series in Weekly Shonen Jump.

Of course, you can always check out Weekly Shonen Jump for yourself by subscribing to the digital publication at VIZManga.com.

Seraph of the End: Vampire Reign CH:037

This chapter focuses a lot on Yuichiro and Mika. At first, it’s Yuichiro trying to convince Mika that he isn’t a monster and that he needs to live. That actually resolves rather well, but then tensions start getting high when Mika tells Yuichiro not to trust the humans and go back to them, but Yuichiro insisting that they’re also his family. But the most important part of this chapter is Mika revealing the existence of the Seraph of the End project to Yuichiro and that this the reason how it ties in with what happened at the beginning of the series. There’s quite an interesting setup for this series now, and I believe that Yuichiro will find himself being torn between Mika and his friends from the Demon Imperial Army. And from the look of things, it appears that Mika really has no intention of cooperating with Yuichiro’s human teammates. I’m actually looking forward to seeing what will happen, and how being reunited with Mika will affect Yuichiro in the long run.

One Piece CH:799

Well, this was an interesting chapter. Luffy tries fighting with Fujitora, and it looks like it’s going to be an epic fight. But a giant grabs Luffy and starts heading toward all the boats in the port. And the citizens of Dressrosa run along to stick close to everyone, in order to keep Fujitora from dropping the large weapon from the sky. This chapter definitely didn’t go as I had anticipated, but I actually prefer this since it seems like the story is actually starting to advance. I also hadn’t anticipated the various pirate factions starting to get along, and asking to join up under the affiliation of the Straw Hat Pirates. It’ll be interesting to see how Luffy will react to this, since this proposal was dropped right at the end of the chapter.

It should be noted that One Piece will be off next week.

Food Wars! CH:133

Erina’s father makes a grand entrance, but it turns out he’s an absolute jerk who has no qualms about insulting anyone. The chapter also reveals some backstory and history for him. This wasn’t what I was expecting after he made his first appearance in the previous chapter. Soma makes an appearance right at the end of the chapter, so perhaps he’ll be able to help Erina out. Erina’s definitely concerned about what her father will think of her cooking, especially with his demanding behavior. This is one of the first times I can personally think of that I’ve seen Erina cower to someone else. There’s definitely potential for this to be an interesting story line.

Bleach CH:641

This chapter focuses more on Mayuri and Pernida’s battle. Most of it is actually Mayuri talking to Nemu and explaining a plan that he believes will work. Unfortunately, things don’t go as Mayuri plans, and now it looks like Kubo will be stretching out this battle even more. But there’s a cliffhanger at the end of the chapter, so maybe the beginning of the next chapter will be interesting.

World Trigger CH:114

This chapter has a strong focus on the battle. However, there is a scene of Chika regretting the fact she didn’t shoot and how it left Yuma out there without any cover and disrupting Osamu’s plan. The action of this chapter alternates with commentary from the commentators, but the chapter ends with just two people standing. Not surprisingly, one of them is Yuma. Can Yuma find a way to be the last one standing and help his team continue on to the next stage of the B-Rank War?

My Hero Academia CH:057

A lot of change is in the air over the course of this chapter. One of Ida’s hands may be permanently damaged. Gran Torino loses his teaching license for six months and takes a pay cut, and tells All Might he needs to talk to Midoriya and tell him everything. The Hero Killer’s message starts to spread, and it appears villains out there now have a strong desire to join the League of Villains. A lot was thrown out there in this chapter, and it appears the tone and direction of the series is about to make a sudden shift. It’s going to be interesting to see how the series will be progressing in the coming chapters.

Toriko CH:337

Midora and Joie come face to face, although not much happens with this. The main emphasis of the chapter is on Neo trying to revive and that it appears the revival is starting to succeed. This chapter jumps around a lot, so I have to admit that I was having problems being able to entirely follow what was going on. Hopefully the next chapter will either help to make this part of the plot clear, or that it returns to one of the loose ends that’s currently hanging out there.

Black Clover CH:028

At first, it looks like the Magic Knights have quickly defeated rather weak enemies, but they find they were actually in a trap instead. Most of them disappear through spatial magic, but Yuno manages to avoid it. A mysterious witch shows up, and it looks like it’s going to be up to Yuno to take care of her. It’s a little disappointing that the story line with Asta wasn’t touched on at all here, and now with this new development, I wonder how long it will be until we return to Asta’s part of the story. Hopefully Yuno will be able to defeat this annoying witch rather quickly so the story can move on.

Nisekoi: False Love CH:184

Raku and the others make it to Marika’s place, but are turned away by Honda and the guards. Mikage gives some help on how they can sneak in, and Raku, Chitoge, and Tsugumi try to infiltrate. But Honda finds them and tries to stop them. So this storyline is still going, and it looks like Tsugumi and Honda will be battling it out in the next chapter. The end result of this story could still go either way, but I have a hard time believing that Marika’s mother will actually listen to Raku and change her mind. But who knows how Komi will end up playing this out.

Blue Exorcist CH:071

Most of this chapter focuses on Bon being determined to become Lightning’s disciple or assistant. It ends up coming down to having to play a game with a set of cursed demon karuta cards, and there are things about this game that I hadn’t seen coming. We also briefly get to see Yukio trying to scare himself in order to force himself into manifesting his powers. While I had managed to guess that the karuta cards would be an important aspect of the chapter, I hadn’t been able to predict how the game would play out. But it looks like Bon’s character may be moving into a different direction, and that Yukio could potentially end up in a bad situation due to his desire to manifest power.

Psyren CH:001

Psyren is the next series to be featured in Weekly Shonen Jump‘s “Jump Back” initiative, and the first four chapters will be featured throughout the month of September.

Well, Psyren has an… interesting premise to it. Ageha takes on jobs that allow him to beat up people under the guise of helping them in order to make money. One day, he answers a ringing public telephone and finds a mysterious phone card with “Psyren” on it. Things get personal when a girl he’s known a long time, who also has one of these cards, mysteriously vanishes. As he tries to find out where she is, Ageha gets drug into and wrapped up in the world of Psyren. Sadly, Ageha had been warned to keep his nose out of this business, but he went headlong into it anyway. Ageha definitely isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and now he’s paying the price for jumping into the middle of something that he didn’t understand. It’ll be interesting to see what will happen to Ageha in the next chapter and to find out how this story will progress.

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