Weekly Shonen Jump Issue #35 of 2021 is here and features cover and lead colours pages for My Hero Academia. Series also featuring colour pages this week are Undead Unluck, DC3 and Highschool Family: Kokosei Kazoku. Dr. Stone is absent this week.
You can read all the chapters listed below for free via the Shonen Jump app or website. Note that you can only read the first 3 chapters and the latest 3 chapters of a series for free. You can access the rest of the chapters plus more series by subscribing for a monthly fee of £1.99/$1.99.
You can also read via the Manga Plus app or website. There’s no paid option, so it’s entirely free with a lot of other series available in their entirety.
Spoilers ahead!
My Hero Academia Ch. 321 – Cover/Lead Colour Page
Another chapter of Deku’s classmates telling him how much he means to them and that he doesn’t need to take everything on alone. The meaningfulness is degrading with every chapter they do this in. What is this, three chapters in a row now? It was great to see the more stand out characters of UA but let’s get there faster. Showcasing everyone’s talents has been enjoyable and, in an actual fight, the setting would be great. At the moment, I’d prefer some real progression.
My Hero Academia Special Spin-off: Endeavor’s Mission – One-Shot
It was nice to get an extra bit of MHA content this week and it even serves as a prelude to the upcoming My Hero Academia: World Heroes’ Mission movie. The chapter itself wasn’t overly impressive, and there was a major sense of Deja Vu at play. Have we seen this scenario within MHA before? I wonder if this will still appear within the movie itself as it would make for a brilliant piece of animation.
One Piece Ch. 1020
It’s been nice to see all the members of the Straw Hat Pirates getting some good page time lately. This week it’s Robin and Brook taking on Black Maria and her ghoulish minions. There’s some nice back and forth between the characters here, especially Brook’s trademark sleaze and wit.
Jujutsu Kaisen Ch. 153
Jujutsu Kaisen is back, and this was a really strong chapter to come back with. Itadori and Fushiguro go undercover to an underground fight club run by a Jujutsu High third year they need to win over to their side. There’s also a surprise appearance by Panda. Overall, this was a good isolated chapter, but the pacing of the series has definitely suffered as of late. There’s still talk of the ‘Culling Game’ and it appears to be building to that. We know the rules, but not exactly why it’s come about or how it will affect the story long term.
Blue Box Ch. 15
Things are really getting romantically heated in Blue Box. Taiki is in daydream land because of his date with Chinatsu and it’s clear Hina is not happy about it. Though she hides it well with her constant cheeriness, her mannerisms always reveal her true feelings. Kyo plays things a lot cooler and very nonchalant, but it’s clear to us, the audience, that his sideward glances betray romantic feelings. I’m confident, I jokingly wrote a premonition of this scenario in the earlier chapters, but it’s clear we have some kind of love square or another shaped romantic conundrum. That’s not all, because Hina has made the shocking discovery of Taiki and Chinatsu living arrangement!
Undead Unluck Ch. 73 – Colour Page
Not much to say here it was a setup chapter building for the next story arc against Spring and the eventual showdown with Under. There was the usual comic relief and shenanigans afoot, but nothing too important. A decent chapter to get us excited for what’s coming.
Neru: Way of the Martial Artist Ch. 4
This was a fun chapter. It introduced some new characters who im guessing will become mainstays in the series. Also solves the academic problem that Neruma was worried about in the exam. Turns out Neruma is bad at academics, we know, but is competent when moving. Apparently, this is backed up by science and leads to a fun series of events where Neruma decides to leave his deck and finish the written text while taking part in the physical part. It’s silly, but really imprints the kind of character that Neruma is.
Sakamoto Days Ch. 33
The opening to this chapter was genius and as a married man, probably TMI there, I can attest to the pressure of an anniversary surprise. As usual, Sakamoto and his lovely wife are just trying to have a lovely meal together, all the while numerous attempts are being made on Sakamoto’s life. With ease, he deflects all attempts without so much as alerting his wife. That comes to an end when it appears the entire attendance of the river cruise they’re on, staff and all, gang up to take Sakamoto down. It appears that his wife Aoi might actually enjoy the little bit of excitement that all this assassin business adds to their otherwise original life.
The Hunters Guild: Red Hood Ch. 5
Every chapter so far has felt like the series is still trying to finalise the origins of Velou’s tale. We’re still in the hamlet, we’re still being teased with Velou wanting to become a hunter and join the guild. The problem is we’ve done this multiple times now. The characters are good, Lycaon and Cinderella are well designed and have made an impact. But how long are we supposed to care about the same hamlet and the people within it? The last chapter seemed to hint towards a time skip or was that Velou speaking as a narrator of sorts. The story needs to move forward, we’ve seen several characters now but little in the way of world-building or even the world outside of this little hamlet.
Me & Roboco Ch. 51
Well, this chapter was really scraping the bottom of the barrel. Introducing a new character that can hear people’s thoughts and not even using it for cheap gags. It was all so long-winded and dialogue-heavy. The pay-off, the new character falling for Roboco’s charms.
DC3 – One-Shot – Colour Page
From the talented duo that bought us The Promised Neverland comes the one-shot DC3. It has a decent premise the twist, if you can call it one, could be seen a mile off. The action was not fitting for Posuka Demizu’s art style. I enjoy the style that both Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu bring to the table and, without wanting to pigeonhole them, this type of story doesn’t suit their approach to storytelling.
Black Clover Ch. 301
This week’s Black Clover certainly threw a curveball in that Asta, for now at least, will not be taking on Megicula. Asta’s sudden outburst declaring that he’s useless right now was unexpected and rather refreshing. Though he puts the pressure back on Noelle and the others, they seem more than ready to meet the challenge. Asta may not have saved the day, but he definitely stole the show. It’s a welcome change of pace, not having the main character come in and save the day at the last minute every time.
Highschool Family: Kokosei Kazoku Ch. 48 – Colour Page
It’s nice to change things up once in a while and this chapter definitely achieved that. Instead of focusing on any one member of the family for an entire chapter, we instead get a charming summer festival. We see the Ietani family attending for the first time, not as a family but each with their own social groups, now that they’re high schoolers, of course. But as things tend to do, people got separated, and the groupings got mixed. It was a nice fun chapter featuring a few faces we don’t see too often. It also made for some chuckle-worthy light comedy moments.
Mashle: Magic and Muscles Ch. 72
The student body is in peril and Mash, being the good guy that he is, spares no time in going to help. His unwavering drive to help his fellow students against such a gigantic foe starts a shift in mindset within the student body. Comments about his abilities start as mocking because of the students’ uppity attitudes soon turn to support and the beginnings of acceptance.
Magu-Chan: God of Destruction Ch. 53
Not a bad chapter for once. The abandoned house motif worked well and combined with a series of misunderstandings made for good reading.
The Elusive Samurai Ch. 26
This series is a real hard one to grapple with. The story has a basic premise but does little to keep up the interest to see any real progression. Each chapter feels random and insignificant to the larger story. The comedy is bland and the constant weirdness does everything but make for enjoyable reading.
Witch Watch Ch. 24
I was right on the money about Wolf being a familiar and a werewolf one at that. Whoever saw that coming. Now with two fighting type familiars in the story, does that open things up for a little battle shonen, perhaps? The light comedy and wholesome nature of Witch Watch could do with a bit of excitement.
Ayakashi Triangle (Web-Only, 18+) Ch. 54
Something was either lost in translation here or it was just a poorly planned out chapter. Was Suzu fantasising/dreaming or was Matsuri? What was the point the author wanted to get across in this scenario, or was it just there to be ecchi?
Mission: Yozakura Family Ch. 92
Turns out Taiyo wasn’t above exploiting Shinzo weaknesses, in particular his weakness toward family. Taking advantage of the fact that Shinzo wouldn’t come down on him with his full might allowed Taiyo to pass the first stage of the exam. It also helped several others to pass as well.
Candy Flurry (Ame no Furu) Ch. 14
Although this was a pretty fight heavy chapter and the action good, there’s something missing. The build to this moment and the story thus far hasn’t really gone through any genuine effort to explain why. Why are the sweets users targeting Tsumugi, Misaki and Irie with such force? Surely there are bigger things to deal with, it’s not like they know their secret identities. From the outset, the story has never really had much depth to work with and it shows.
Let us know in the comments or via social media your thoughts on this week’s Shonen Jump. Be sure to check back in next week for another roundup!
Image Source: Viz Media