This issue includes chapters for Black Clover, World Trigger, Toriko, Food Wars!, Nisekoi: False Love, Bleach, and My Hero Academia. This issue also includes the first chapter of Mononofu (the next title to be featured in the “Jump Start” initiative), and the second 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.

Mononofu CH:001

Mononofu is the first title being featured as part of Weekly Shonen Jump‘s latest “Jump Start” initiative.

This manga focuses on a boy named Shinobu, who’s slow on the uptake and has been seen as a loser for most of his life. He ends up not getting into the school he wanted to, and has to go to a private school instead. He finds a place to live with cheap rent, but it turns out one of the rules for living there is that you have to be part of the Shourei Association and be a shogi pro in training. Shinobu has never played shogi in his life, but Yasukane Naoi, one of the other residents, introduces him to the game. Yasukane realizes that Shinobu has tunnel vision, and that he’s best when he focuses on one task at a time.

So it appears that Mononofu will be a manga that focuses on a character finding a hidden talent and working at honing it. I have to admit that when I saw that this would be a competitive shogi title, I had my doubts about it. But so far, it seems that Shinobu has been given a strong enough background as the main character that it gets the reader hooked into the story. For me, this is probably one of the stronger titles to appear as part of the “Jump Start” initiative in a while, and it shows a lot of promise. I’m looking forward to seeing next week’s chapter to find out how this series will progress.

Black Clover CH:029

This chapter completely focuses on Yuno and the witch he’s fighting against. For most of the chapter, it looks like the witch has the upper hand. But as Yuno becomes introspective, he remembers how so many people have tried to shrug him off as a Magic Knight due to his being a peasant. But as he ponders, he discovers something he can do with his magic, and this new potential manifests itself right at the end of the chapter. This seems to be a rather standard thing for shonen manga, where the protagonist finds some latent ability that’s been hidden away. So with this development, it looks like Yuno might be able to overcome the witch. Hopefully this is a sign that this battle will be wrapping up and that we’ll be returning to Asta’s part of the story.

World Trigger CH:115

This chapter did something surprising… Yuma was actually forced to bail out! But I think that was the more realistic way to go with the story, and that it’ll make Osamu realize even more that he can’t simply rely on Yuma all the time. Yes, Osamu did some more training that did help him improve somewhat, but in the end, he still had to rely on Yuma. Time runs out for the match, and Ninomiya Squad wins. We get to see some commentary, and it had a strong focus on Osamu and his actions, with the strongest criticism coming from Kazama: “He needs to do his job as captain.” That seems to have given Osamu something to think about, and right at the end of the chapter, he asks Jin to join Tamakoma-2.

Toriko CH:338

It’s revealed that Joie is a reincarnation of Froese, and that she was revived through Acacia’s full-course meal and his appetizer. Of course, this has to cause at least a slight pang of emotion in Midora, since he lived with Froese and Acacia when he was growing up. When Midora asks where Acacia is and what his goals are, Joie goes into a long-winded explanation. But when she talks, Joie says the wrong thing and angers Midora, which causes him to launch his Meteor Spice attack. But at long last, we finally get an explanation for Joie, and I actually enjoyed this chapter because Midora came face-to-face with her. Since I know their backstory, this meeting kind of tugs on my heart strings. But we can only hope his Meteor Spice attack does the trick, but knowing that this is a shonen manga, it’s likely that the author will find some way to stretch this out.

Food Wars! CH:134

Wow, this chapter ended up being a major game changer. Nakiri’s grandfather comes to confront Erina’s father, and it’s revealed that a majority of the Council of Ten have decided that it’s time for a new dean for Totsuki… and that the new dean should be Erina’s father. Erina’s father is a major jerk, and he feels her grandfather has been allowing too many inferior students to stay. If Erina’s father does take charge, this could be bad news for Soma and Megumi, since he’d obviously feel they’re inferior. How would the two of them manage to convince this jerk that they’re worthy of being students? This is definitely an interesting turn that could have a lot of consequences.

Nisekoi: False Love CH:185

The majority of this chapter focuses on Tsugumi and Honda battling it out. It actually seems to be a rather equal fight. After Honda learns why Raku and the others have come, she makes it clear that there’s no way Marika can go back to Bonyori High. We don’t get to hear why, but it shocks Tsugumi enough that it gives Honda an opening to take Tsugumi down. So now the mystery deepens, since this other thing about Marika has been hinted at previously. I have my suspicions about what it might be, and I’m curious to see if I’m right or not.

Bleach CH:642

This chapter focuses heavily on backstory for Nemu. I found her backstory very fascinating, and I learned so much that I hadn’t known before. And after the backstory, we see Nemu jumping into the battle again. Not only does she want to protect Mayuri, she also wants to show him how much she’s grown. This is such an awesome side to see of Nemu, since she always seemed to just always follow Mayuri’s orders until recently. Thank you, Kubo, for showing that there’s more to Nemu and her personality. Hopefully, this plan she’s launching against Pernida will work.

My Hero Academia CH:058

Midoriya’s training with Gran Torino is finished, and Gran Torino lectures him about still needing to find a way to control his power. The students return to school and swap stories about what happened to them during their training. Their first activity as a class is a rescue-training race. During the exercise, Midoriya seems like he’s keeping his power under control, but it turns out something happens that affects his ability to finish the race. Right at the end of the chapter, All Might tells Midoriya he wants to see him after school so they can talk about him and All for One. Gran Torino had told Midoriya when he was being questioned that the boy needed to talk to All Might. Hopefully this forthcoming conversation will reveal what Midoriya was wanting to know. And hopefully this conversation will be taking place in the next chapter.

Psyren CH:002

Ageha runs into the missing Sakurako at the location that was destroyed at the end of the previous chapter. She reveals that what they’re going through is a game, and if they clear this stage of Psyren, they can go back to their world. She collapses, and Ageha takes her to a building, where he finds other people in the same predicament as them. Through interactions, we get to see what some of these new characters are like. And after a nearby pay phone starts ringing, everyone gathered hears about the one and only exit for the game.

So, this is another story where the characters are trapped in some kind of game, except it uses phone cards instead of the internet. At least the phone cards give it a different angle. Hopefully this can be one of these “trapped in a game” stories that stands out from the others out there.

Additional reviews of Weekly Shonen Jump:

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