This Week in Shonen Jump: Week of 9/20/22

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 11
Written by Akinari Asakura
Illustrated by Takeshi Obata
Lettered by James Gaubatz
Translated by Stephen Paul
Reviewed by Brian Salvatore

After a few months of installments that focused on teams other than One Way Ticket to the Top, ‘Chapter 11’ brings it back to one of their (16) routines. The comedy of “Sho-Ha Shoten” is never actually its strongest suit, but the discussions of how the comedy comes together and the process behind each act is. And while it is nice to see other teams and how their comedy came together, the bread and butter of the strip is seeing One Way Ticket to the Top make their mark.

This chapter works really well because it shows, in equal parts, the routine itself and the process that led to the routine. While this may be the least humorous routine to read in this manner, but it is the one that makes the most sense for the team to perform, the reasons for which are laid our clearly and concisely. Sometimes, the strip goes too deep into rationale and game theory for the competition, but ‘Chapter 11’ doesn’t suffer from any of that. Asakura and Obata then take, perhaps, their biggest leap from the ‘reality’ of the manga thus far, by having a literal tidal wave of laughter forming as routine #16 crescendos. It is an unexpected choice for this strip, but it works, and hammers home the point that is being made by the narrators/other team: these two are a force to be reckoned with.

The cliffhanger likely is less dramatic than it seems, but with the doubt put in Taiyo by the other team’s commentary, it seems like all could fall apart here for OWTTTT. This is also handled really well; we have always known that Taiyo is the lesser performer, but hearing it from a knowledgable source makes it more real, and shows a potential chink in the armor of the team that has seemed so well prepared and motivated. While there is little doubt that their skills are extraordinary, the time constraints they’ve placed on themselves gives the story a sense of urgency that wouldn’t be there if their goal was just to ‘one day’ be the best.

Final Verdict: 8.4 – A strong chapter that leaves the reader wanting more.

* This article was originally published here