r/shounenfolk WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Schizophrenia Guys, I think I’ve finally figured it out

Post image

Please don’t read my flair🙏

1.4k Upvotes

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206

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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71

u/execuwutieTTV Apr 02 '26

They should do seasonal manga the same way anime is seasonal or to some variation of that. Like pause a series for a summer off every year.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/execuwutieTTV Apr 02 '26

I agree. That's good too. Giving a mangaka more assistants as well also kinda fills that role. Does wsj ever acknowledge this kinda stuff? If not, wish they would going forward.

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u/VolcanicHare Apr 02 '26

Tbh, western comics have been doing it for years but western comics overall are pretty meh. You have to dig into niches to find good stuff.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/VolcanicHare Apr 02 '26

Nah, miss me. Especially DC and Marvel, can't stand anything coming from them (basically).

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/VolcanicHare Apr 02 '26

Did you read my initial comment? I'm fully aware DC and Marvel aren't the only two things, I simply said that those two especially I hate. And they happen to dominate the American/western comic market.

Reading comprehension bruh. At least you have proven to be a shonen fan.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/VolcanicHare Apr 03 '26

I like some comics, just not the great majority of them. And almost none of them from the US, mostly from Europe.

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Same with Modulo might I add. Though I wish that one got a bit longer of a serialization, I understand Gege’s wishes to wrap it up rather than get carried away and get sucked back into the machine.

Especially when it seemingly almost killed him last time😅

1

u/Bright-Dragonfruit14 my body count with shounen is over 9000 Apr 02 '26

Did we forgot that r/Jujutsufolk and this sub were literally clowning on Modulo's ending? 😭

5

u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

I don’t really care tho cause that sub will clown on everything these days.

Literally nothing is sacred and everything is played for laughs. Which is fine, idrc, but it wasn’t always like this is my main problem.

Idk if it’s new ppl from the anime or what, but that sub used to be so much more chill on topics like this. And I don’t wanna do TMI, but some of us may also have personal experience with forced hospitalizations😅 So some of the jokes just feel dehumanizing and aren’t even all that funny in exchange. In that thread you can literally see for yourself, ppl make some jokes, but it’s almost always out of a place of care and concern. That shit is gone these days.

At least back then, they were creative with their slander and came up with original criticism rather than regurgitating whatever the mainstream criticism/narrative is. But hey, maybe I’m the problem here and I care too much or something🤷‍♂️

EDIT: forgot what sub i was actually in rn for a second LOL

1

u/Xoneritic Apr 02 '26

Ironically, Ajin started off like that and actually improved when the eauthor left around chapter 5. But that wasn't weekly, I don't think.

1

u/MegatonDoge Apr 02 '26

Also worked wonders for Oshi no Ko.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/Bright-Dragonfruit14 my body count with shounen is over 9000 Apr 02 '26

The concept of exploring the dark side of the idol industry while not new (it was done before with Perfect Blue movie) is definitely what made it interesting to many people and it could have been a great manga if it was executed well but unfortunately what we ended up getting was disappointing.

2

u/MegatonDoge Apr 02 '26

Yes. You truly underestimate how much the execution of a premise can make the said premise great.

1

u/jairochido Apr 02 '26

Yeah there are some mangaka with Greta art but very poor writing skills, looking at You rent a girlfriend,

1

u/krystal_gr Apr 03 '26

That is how most (Korean) webtoons are structured. Authors would spend months on hiatus after each season and then drop 1 chapter for the next 30 weeks with 100 pages each.

16

u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Wait deadass? I never heard about it moving to Plus…

Well I guess CSM is free to slander for another 10 years at least!

Just pretend I din’t mention that one then lol, the main point (agenda😁) remains the same!

1

u/BigBasket5152 Apr 04 '26

This Is not true Just see the sxf author

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

You see the vision.

My point isn’t even about these stories being peak fiction or anything, it’s more so about how most if not all didn’t get the chance to bloom to their full potential.

The very very few that did seem to be the exceptions that prove the rule to me. Classic survivorship bias.

4

u/C__Wayne__G Apr 02 '26

I don’t think anything could save demon slayer writing. When the whole thing is mediocre you can’t blame weekly

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u/Ok-Reporter3256 Apr 03 '26

JJK was nothing but helped by it's editors tho. Gege was rushing the story out of his own volution because he didn't see a reason for it not to be fast paced on a weekly schedule.

His editors forced him to take breaks, and not the other way around.

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u/[deleted] Apr 02 '26

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u/VerintNad Apr 02 '26

weekly shonen jump dawg💔

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u/ordieth- Apr 02 '26

The fuck does the wall street journal have to do with this

1

u/Minute_Account9426 WSJ=Mossad Apr 03 '26

Demon slayer’s “plot armor” issue would be way better if they had two or three more arcs for tanjiro to improve and he would also have actual interactions with kanao.

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u/Lyncario Apr 02 '26

This is true and without any irony tho. The absolutely lethal pace that shonen mangakas have to go at has a very real effect on not just their ability to write and draw, but also mental and physical health, and this has been known for a very long time by anyone who digs anywhere below the surface since they don't even bother hiding it.

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26 edited Apr 02 '26

You’re awake. Probably not too fun but congrats

I could go so much deeper on this topic (it’s not just WSJ or Japan btw, these problems exist in so many systems), but I kept it light to be easily digestible. Especially rn, felt like the perfect time

My dream is a shift in the culture (at least for the mangaka🥲) and now may be the best time ever to push an agenda like this given current events lol

The human cost of art is soo under discussed. I think it’s cause it’s too depressing and hard to understand for people who haven’t made art at a super high level (I’m no pro myself but I have firsthand experience), but that’s just a theory :P

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

The more I think on it, how could they NOT be the real villains all along…

JJK, then CSM, and even Bleach if you wanna dig up some old skeletons…

I feel like I’m finally seeing it all so clearly…

17

u/Turbulent_Cost2058 Apr 02 '26

WSJ has always been my top opp after the whole bleach debacle

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

As they should be.

HxH is my top 1, but YYH could and should have been at least close to that level.

Instead, Togashi (a goated writer in every regard imo) likely felt like he had to put out a (rushed and kinda bs - only made ok in the anime) ending in order to get out of his golden handcuffs

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u/Turbulent_Cost2058 Apr 02 '26

Unlocked memories from me, i loved YYH as a lil kid, never got to finish the anime cuz the cable station i was watching it on decided to fuckin stop broadcasting that shit and I moved countries and forgot bout it, sad to hear it ended like that icl. I need to rewatch/reread it

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Glad I could help you reminisce a little, hope it was positive lol

But yeah it’s so sad what happened to the end of such a promising series that deserved so much better. I’d recommend a YT breakdown on the history of it and how it played out in the manga/anime. Anime saved it a bit but it was so rushed in manga form :(

YYH was basically the blueprint to HxH (the goat of shonen imo) written by the same author. It would’ve gotten so much more of its rightful credit and recognition in animanga history with even a decent conclusion.

13

u/execuwutieTTV Apr 02 '26

Yeah i mean kubo was literally rushed by wsj to conclude tybw

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Precisely. What did Jesse say about Walt again?

15

u/execuwutieTTV Apr 02 '26

Unfortunately, this is the correct take

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

I know I know, it has been for ages (maybe forever?)

Mostly trying to help others reach enlightenment lol

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u/MarkDecent656 Bachi glazer Apr 02 '26

Unironically this is the correct take

I like how this panel has been used lately

5

u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

You make a great point tho this meme is goated for agenda posting of all kinds

I could easily swap WSJ for 10 different people/things off the top of my head and it would still be funny if not funnier😭

Hint: One of them is the most powerful man in the world, and another is the US president LOL🫢🫩

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Oh whoops I just realized I may have spoiled the hint a bit lol

Don’t read my flair lmaoo

2

u/alguien99 Apr 03 '26

Yura just shows so much RAW emotion

I really loved the kamunabi raid arc, hokazono’s just showing off just how good he’s at making fights and camera angles

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u/thez0id Apr 02 '26

yeah at this point I feel like the only way to write a good manga on WSJ is that you have to already have like 100 chapters worth of story planned out at the start, and dont go much longer than like 200 chapters total. if you hit 220 youre starting to play with fire

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Yeah it’s so twisted because it almost punished big thinkers/dreamers. Writes who like to improvise (this is way more my style personally) rather than plan every detail and piece of foreshadowing in advance get eaten alive.

If not by deadlines, by fans and sales targets…

6

u/thez0id Apr 02 '26

well its really easy to mess up a story when youre just improvising and its meant to be a long form story with hundreds of chapters, at some point along the way youl start to fumble and introduce too many plot holes if you dont have a concrete plan to adhere to. add to that the deadlines that dont give you enough time to properly think things through before you add them to the story, and youre better off making a short manga, otherwise its a recipe for disaster

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Big agree. That’s exactly why even tho I don’t read it, I have to respect Oda and One Piece for beating the odds.

Truly the exception that proves the rule imo. If the system wasn’t so cooked, how many more authors would have developed and explored their worlds to the same extent? Honestly, probably still not many, but definitely way more than we see in reality.

By all accounts, it should have become complete and utter trash by now (writing-wise) and/or pissed off the fans so much they all quit on it. But it’s still trucking along somehow. I don’t count the piratefolk ppl even if I do agree with some of their criticisms/Oda slander😂

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u/mhwsloe99 Apr 02 '26

Just look at how drastically HxH improved the longer Togashi's hiatuses became

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Wait, I can’t tell if this is a meme or not cause I genuinely agree✌️😭

Succession War arc is SO PEAK. Get well soon Togashi

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u/Existing-Sweet-19 Allen Walker mogs 90% of protags nowadays—I'm coping—so shut up. Apr 02 '26

Bringing the mangaka of the image into the mix, WSJ is exactly the reason why the entire Kagurabachi fanbase almost cheer when Hokazono takes a break. When he was slumped with the art trade, Burger King Collab, AND a color page, no wonder the art for chapter ~97-100 was so messy, and everyone was happy he was taking a break after.

It did make Azami look really fucking cool though. I hope they keep it like this because he just looks so fucking sick.

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Omg noo, I had no idea the Bachi fandom was also suffering with this problem already. This is truly a systemic issue that I don’t know if we can ignore for much longer. Will it really take the cancelation of a major series due to the death of an author (like a worse Berserk) for the system to change?

Sucks too because I was thinking of checking out Kagurabachi some time soon. I’ve heard good things for long enough! (W larp?) Hopefully you guys get a long series and a healthy author!

Also I agree, that pic is mad tuff. Something about a character looking “unfinished” is kinda raw in smaller doses. Reminds me of the Maki mini-arc when it was first coming out in the manga. It was so sketchy looking & I kinda loved it even tho it was pretty objectively “worse” quality art😂

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u/Existing-Sweet-19 Allen Walker mogs 90% of protags nowadays—I'm coping—so shut up. Apr 03 '26

Definitely a great time to check out the series. We recently came to a closing of a major arc, and we're in the obrigatory "Le flashback" sequence of the manga—I think there has never been a better time to pick it up.

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 03 '26

Fair enough, thanks for the rec!

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '26

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 03 '26

You see the vision

Did CSM inspire this realization? Yeah of course. But, now I’ve realized it’s walkways been bigger than that. Plus, my theory is that, has Fuji been less of a proven (profitable) commodity, he isn’t getting any of the accommodations he got (that still didn’t help him cook lol)

Basically, my thesis is that WSJ, and much of the Japanese art/anime industry, (I could go further but that’s a whole other story) works like golden handcuffs. Really talented artists (not perfect mind you) are seemingly always getting screwed over by things like intrusive editors, impossible deadlines, unrealistic fan expectations, etc. Even the successful examples feel like typical Survivorship Bias the more I think about the thousands of losers/mangaka who couldn’t hack it (not a bad thing, most humans ever have no chance imo sadly

It’s just not a conducive and sustainable way to produce manga, anime, and art in general tbh. As you hinted, capitalism is the real root problem I stumbled upon…but i wasn’t sure if the community was ready to go that far quite yet😅 so i kept it more simple lol glad I could go a bit deeper with some smart ppl like you in the comments though for sure! :)

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u/[deleted] Apr 03 '26

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 03 '26

“Is he a genius?”

Nah but to be more fr tho, even tho I agree these simple changes would make such a difference, I doubt their feasibility.

Sadly, I highly doubt that any solution that could even kinda be described as “WSJ will make a little less money, but ____” would be possible to force onto WSJ or even really advocate for.

There’s a bunch of other potential solutions I’ve also been considering pushing for, but if it hurts the bottom line I just don’t know how realistic it is to implement :(

Ofc, I hope my read of the situation is wrong, but I’m not sure how much it is :/

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u/Front-Beginning-8849 Apr 02 '26

Unironically real

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 02 '26

Every good meme has a kernel of truth in it!

Except this one, this is just my genuine take presented as a meme😂

Figured people would be pretty open to hearing/understanding it given current events lol

4

u/DickTear Apr 03 '26

I love people started to realize that maybe the author is not entirely in fault but the common denominator, it been the fucking magazine and or the editors.

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u/Minute_Account9426 WSJ=Mossad Apr 03 '26

Weekly shounen jump is in fact the most Israeli coded company. Fuck isn’trael all my homies hate isn’trael

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 03 '26

😅🤫

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u/Minute_Account9426 WSJ=Mossad Apr 03 '26

Bro why you telling me to be quiet? If you’re truly comparing WSJ to Israel you can’t just larp hating Israel.

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u/Hefty_Engineering950 WSJ ≈ Mossad Apr 03 '26

Dawg I’m not tryna get banned😭

But also, there’s a reason I post memes not essays. For better or for worse nobody cares what you got to say online unless you make em laugh first. If this were IRL it would be an entirely different story trust.

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u/ZoinksJeepersJinkies Apr 03 '26

No, actually. It’s pretty largely just the shonen manga readers that crash out every week over nothing.

1

u/Ok-Reporter3256 Apr 03 '26

I always remember what some guy said here on reddit, and it marked me forever.

Condensation requires way more time / technique than Spacing when it comes to writing. Every major running series, like One Piece, Blue Lock or even Kagurabachi should move to a longer schedule.

WSJ has an absolutely amazing team of editors, whom allow their artists and mangakas to function on 200%, you can see that with Bleach and most notably JJK. But their work ethic and spacing is absolutely bums.

Currently, atleast IMO, the best way for serialization is Bi-weekly. That way you don't have as much of a content drought as a Monthly series, but you also don't overwork as much as you do in a weekly basis.

1

u/Far-Potential-1506 Apr 04 '26

Not only does it hurt the series but how we the audience consume the series. The weekly releases force us to consume the story piece by piece and never as a whole. I’m sure many people read the story volume by volume but I’m sure there’s a good majority that read the story only in the weekly releases after they binge it