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The story
A thread on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G board gained traction after arguing that Weekly Shonen Jump’s new serializations aren’t generating buzz, calling it a “dark age.” Since One Piece ended, Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia have carried the magazine’s flagship status, but posters pointed out one after another that newer titles like Kagurabachi are struggling to gain traction in sales and buzz. Alongside complaints about chronic hiatuses and the editorial department, the thread saw claims that today’s kids are spending their time on YouTube and TikTok instead of reading serialized manga, as well as pushback arguing that older fans are simply measuring things against the era of One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach — and that for today’s kids, right now is actually the golden age — exposing a generational gap in perspective.
What people said
It'd be perfect if that garbage Hunter x Hunter would just go away too
This
It's all template art, can't tell any of them apart
For that kind of thing there's Jump+ (the digital manga app)
Since it's online, people will at least give it a look, and the serialization pace is more flexible than the print magazine
Kids today honestly don't read manga
Even Jump's own editorial team has said outright that their rivals aren't other magazines, but YouTube and social media
Seems like TikTok just hits harder and is more fun than manga to them
Even binge-reading something that's already finished takes time
And if it's still ongoing, waiting a week for the next chapter might be unbearable for kids who are neck-deep in short-form video these days
With an ongoing series you have to wait for the next installment
Even if you do read it, it's rough unless you can binge the whole thing at once
They're clearly picking up artists who just aren't good enough
Both the readers and the artists are shrinking in number
You can gauge a series' momentum by per-volume sales, and both of those titles have already surpassed Bleach
Jujutsu Kaisen passed Bleach's total print run in less than half the number of volumes
Felt like it was ripping off some knockoff alchemy story…
but looked closer and it turns out it's by the same original creator, lol
Chapter 1 had this "master is troubled because his absurdly strong disciple overrates him" setup, but then the master suddenly turns out to be crazy strong too, and now I'm like… what is this series even going for?
Even that era looked like a dark age to the Slam Dunk and Dragon Ball generation
Honestly I can't even tell what's happening in it right now
Is it doing some kind of flashback arc?
It is getting talked about though
Kagurabachi was only good at the very start
Exactly this
Even if it's for health reasons, they should just end the series once
Today's mangaka just don't have that hunger anymore
Strawberry 100% and I''s were pretty good though
Pretty Face and M0 (Em Zero) were fun though
Re: #67
Robinson's never really drawn anything with substance to begin with, has he
Ichi: gets talked about, but sales aren't really growing
Samuwan (a fan nickname, likely for Sakamoto Days): gets talked about, but sales are dropping
It's rough that these are the current flagship candidates
Neither of those can become the flagship
If something like World Trigger showed up now, that might actually become the flagship
This is exactly the moment they should've gotten ufotable
I don't think ufotable could've done it schedule-wise
They've got their usual Type-Moon anime lined up, plus Demon Slayer still has more to go
Though apparently the director is a huge fan of hardcore sword-fight choreography, so we'll see how that turns out
At that point it's not manga anymore, just a rough draft for an anime
Well, that's because of how big Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen blew up once they got anime adaptations
Background and Key Points of the Discussion
The “Jump dark age” debate is a topic that periodically flares up on 5ch, and this time it coincided with a stretch where, after One Piece ended, flagship-level titles like Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia were also wrapping up or nearing their climaxes, leaving no clear successor in place. The thread split between those who see declining quality and editorial management as the main cause, and those who point to a structural shift — manga now competing with YouTube, TikTok, and other video content for people’s limited free time. What’s easy to miss is that this kind of “dark age” judgment is usually a relative comparison rooted in each poster’s own formative years — whether the Slam Dunk/Dragon Ball generation or the One Piece/Naruto/Bleach generation — rather than an argument grounded in objective data like print runs or how long a series stays in serialization. In fact, even the sales claims made in the thread were based on gut feeling, with no concrete figures offered to back them up.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Weekly Shonen Jump Is Entering an Unprecedented Dark Age wwwwwwwww.”
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