This issue includes chapters for One-Punch Man, Black Clover, Bleach, My Hero Academia, Food Wars!, World Trigger, Nisekoi: False Love, and Toriko. This issue also includes Naruto being featured for the “Jump Back” initiative, but this time focusing on the first four chapters of Volume 28 (which is set at the end of the two year timeskip).

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.

One-Punch Man CH:050.2 + Bonus Chapter

The heroes are being asked to serve as bodyguards for the executives from the association, since Garo seems to be targeting them as well. Metal Bat is assigned to protect an executive and his son at a sushi bar, and a monster attacks while they’re there. For the most part, this chapter focused on Metal Bat getting frustrated with the exec and his son, since they don’t understand how to act in a more “lower class” establishment. The monster shows up right at the end of the chapter, so we won’t get to see how Metal Bat handles this situation until the next chapter is published.

Weekly Shonen Jump also included a bonus one shot for One-Punch Man this week. Saitama is out and about and encounters a fisherman. The fisherman catches the “big one,” but it’s not what he expects. There’s also an encounter with Speed-o’-Sound Sonic for Saitama to deal with. This was an OK one shot, but it was a little disappointing at the same time, since it was drawn to celebrate the start of the One-Punch Man anime. Oh well.

Black Clover CH:034

Asta and his new rival jump in to fight against the enemy, and Noel joins them. But just as it looks like they’ll be defeated, more Magic Knights appear to help out. But the enemy manages to kidnap Asta right at the end of the chapter. This was primarily an action-oriented chapter, with a lot of magic use and fighting going on. But with Asta being kidnapped, I imagine the next chapter will likely show us what happens to him and possibly start providing some more information and backstory on the enemy.

Bleach CH:647

The beginning of the chapter focuses on a wounded Kyoraku trying to get away from the Quincy. But then it quickly shifts to Rukia and the others approaching the enemy stronghold. But before they can get there, they are stopped by a Quincy. But before anything can truly get going with that plot, the chapter jumps back to Kyoraku. But the way this chapter ends, I’m almost afraid that another character is going to die. I certainly hope this character doesn’t, because I’ve really liked them over the course of the series. But with the way Bleach seems to be more a bloodbath these days, I’m sincerely afraid this could mean the end for yet another character.

My Hero Academia CH:063

Midoriya and Bakugo continue to disagree on how to deal with All Might during the exam, but they manage to come up with a compromise. But then the story shifts to Todoroki and his partner, Yaoyorozu. It shows that they have a hard time communicating, and Yaoyorozu has to make a difficult decision when their opponent captures Todoroki. Right at the end, Yaoyorozu has a plan to deal with Aizawa for the practical portion of their exam. So it seems this exam will be focusing on the various pairs having to try to overcome their shortcomings and work together. Hopefully this particular story arc won’t run for an overly long time. This kind of concept works great for a shorter story arc, but not as well for a longer one.

Food Wars! CH:139

Erina’s father gives a speech, which is broadcast to the entire school through the closed circuit television system. His first announcement angers students, and his second announcement creates a new group that is extremely elitist and takes away choices from the students. He tries to make it appear that this will create a much fairer system. We then see that there’s a plan in place to shut down Polaris Dorm. Wow, with these two announcements, the series has just been turned on its head. How is this going to proceed, and how long will this new system be in place? This arc has definitely been an interesting turn of events, and it’s actually get me a little more interested in this series.

World Trigger CH:119

We see that Yuzuru wants Chika to try a Trigger. But before he tells her about it, he explains what’s likely causing her to not want to shoot at people, even if they’re in Trion bodies. The explanation he gives makes a lot of sense. He then asks to have a Trigger setting changed and has Chika try it. We learn it’s the Lead Bullet that immobilizes an opponent with weights, and Chika recognizes it. After getting through the explanations, the scene shifts to Osamu and Yuma talking to Enedora, which basically provides exposition about Aftokrator, as well as some backstory for Hyuse. This ended up primarily being an exposition chapter, but the exposition was necessary in order to progress Chika’s story and to provide information on Hyuse. We’ve known very little about him up to this point, so getting even this brief backstory is better than having nothing at all.

Nisekoi: False Love CH:190

This chapter backtracks to before the end of the previous chapter, so the reader gets to see what leads up to Raku crashing the wedding. But it quickly returns to Raku’s crashing of the wedding. Marika is told to send Raku away, and she says a lot of things that could be true, but she could also be saying them to obey her mother. But Raku isn’t willing to accept that she’s truly happy and says he wants to help if she’s in a bad situation. He refers to her as a good friend, and it hits Marika hard, even though she knew that was how he felt. Marika then surprises everyone by what she does next. Of course, Marika’s mother isn’t going to take this lying down, and a fight is about to begin. Some of the guards fall over, though, thanks to Onodera’s bad cooking. The chapter ends with Raku and the others gearing up for a fight to try to get out and whisk Marika back home with them. So Raku has finally told Marika that he thinks of her as just a good friend, so it appears she’s officially not going to be part of Raku’s harem anymore. But at this point, I can’t guess how the story will progress from this point.

Toriko CH:343

Don Slime attacks. There are quite a few action panels, and then we get an explanation for what happened to Komatsu and the others. However, the flashback isn’t finished by the end of the chapter. It’s safe to say that this flashback will be continuing in the next chapter. I still have this sneaking suspicion that Toriko may be getting closer to ending. Otherwise, I can’t explain why the story has suddenly sped up after dragging it out for so long.

Naruto CH:247

This chapter sees Naruto running into Shikamaru and Temari, and he also learns that he’s the only one in their year who isn’t a Chunin yet. We then get to see what’s happened to Gaara during the course of the timeskip, and learn about the changes for the Sand Village. This chapter also introduces two members of the Akatsuki, and they’re just launching their plan when the chapter ends. This chapter finally is what truly gets the first post-timeskip story arc into motion, and the next chapter will likely focus on the attempt to get Gaara. I already know this portion of the story from the anime, so there’s really nothing to surprise me here. But I do like this story arc, so I don’t mind seeing it in manga form. Next week should be the last week this appears as part of the “Jump Back” initiative.

Additional reviews of Weekly Shonen Jump:

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