I just want you to know that the entire reason this article exists is because I was getting very annoyed trying to find the answer to a simple question. All I wanted to know is what series started in Weekly Shounen Jump in 2022, and it was a whole thing trying to find that. I thought for sure the Shounen Jump app that I pay for would have the capacity to sort weekly series from everything else. Turns out I was stupid to think that as the app has no way to sort what’s currently in the magazine let alone the date that a series was added. After 30 minutes of being irritated, I did finally find the list of 8 titles that debuted in the magazine in 2022. Never wanting to deal with that again, I decided I would chronicle all of them here and continue to do so each year until my inevitable ascension/death.
With that established, let’s get into some manga. The entries below are in no particular order.
Actually pure gold. I am truly devastated that it is on hiatus right now. Wish the author all the best and hopefully if Ruridragon does come back, it will be in the less intensive Jump+ catalog. Even though it is on hiatus, you should absolutely read what is currently available. Don’t look anything up, just sit down and have an amazing time.
Let me start by saying that I don’t think it’s necessary to be an unique series in order to be a good series. Demon Slayer proves that you can just do the usual Shounen manga tropes and have a smash success as long as you do them well. However, a gimmick or novelty does go a long way towards adding some steam to an otherwise mediocre title. That is unfortunately not the case with Tokyo Demon Bride Story. It has no hook to pique the reader’s interest and everything else it does it okay at the very best. Really giving me Dororon vibes. Don’t think this one has much of a future. Dropped after 10 chapters. Update: In the time I was working on this, the series has been cancelled.
This is the least funny gag manga I’ve encountered in a good while, managing to even outdo Protect Me, Shugomaru! Not a single one of the “jokes” could manage a pity chuckle from me. Both Kai and Misao are deeply unfunny characters and the whole schtick of the former being a cyborg piloted by the latter never lands. An extreme “lol, so random” title that I can’t imagine lasting through the year. Dropped after 3 chapters.
The series debut of Shinpei Watanabe is one of the handful of series that I actively look forward to reading each Sunday. The world is completely nuts, I love his character designs, and every scene with Gluna is one in which I am happy. I like this series a great deal, which is unfortunate, because it is definitely getting cancelled. This is Neru: Way of the Martial Artist all over again. It’s simply the tax that we all have to pay at least once a year with the weekly magazine, that something we really enjoy is not going to catch on and will be axed. On the bright side, I feel that Watanabe can see the writing on the wall and is trying to get us to a somewhat satisfying conclusion. Update: This also ended while I was working on this article.
I don’t think this series has a clear idea of exactly it wants to be. It starts out as a young boy and his would be murderer engaged in a blood pact to hunt down the creatures that killed his family and then abruptly transitions into Jujutsu Kaisen. The whole “secret society of monster hunters” isn’t new to JJK but it’s what comes to mind when Yao’s new mentors look suspiciously similar to the cast of that series. We’ve got a guy with a large black headband that he uses to keep his silver hair out of his eyes and a girl in a suit with a katana whose secret technique is identical to Maki’s Simple Domain. From what I can tell, this hard fork in tone and direction is coming just after the release of the first volume and the sales were not great. I don’t dislike Fabricant 100, but I’m reading it mostly out of inertia rather than genuine interest. Likely to be cancelled.
NISIOISIN has written many things that I enjoy, there’s Monogatari, Katanagatari, Juuni Taisen, and Zaregoto to name a few. Cipher Academy will not be making it into that list. This series feels like a parody at times as NISIOISIN’s worst habits as an author are on full, unflattering display here. The eldritch dialogue, the obsession with genius, and flanderized cast makes for an abysmal slog of a read. The script reads like NISIOISIN spent 3 days skimming Wikipedia pages about ciphers and then submitted the idea to Shueisha’s editorial department in a masturbatory exercise to demonstrate his incredible wordplay to all of us. I do not know who this is for and I’m also not sure why they bothered trying to translate it given how much of Cipher Academy requires in-depth knowledge of Japanese. Fun fact: the original translator, Kumar Sivasubramanian, seems to agree as he left the series after the publication of chapter 13. Dropped after 5 chapters. Update: Sales of volume 1 are in and it only moved 5.7k copies.
If we remove Ruridragon from the equation since it was placed on hiatus then Akane-banashi is my favorite series to come out of WSJ in 2022. The subject of one girl’s mission to prove a shitty old man wrong about Rakugo is niche enough that you might give it a pass without reading it. That would be a mistake as you would be missing out on an electrifying series that is just as exciting as the best shounen battle manga. If my opinion isn’t enough to sway you should know that Akane-banashi also comes recommended by Eiichiro Oda and Hideaki Anno. It’s one of those special creative works that is loved by many other creators and it’s spot in the magazine is definitely secure.
This is the latest madness from Taizan 5, creator of Takopi’s Original Sin. The sales pitch of an entire family being struck with simultaneous amnesia after a car crash is certainly evocative. Especially since everything about their home and personal lives is a massive red flag of extreme dysfunction. While I did find the first 10 or so chapters to be very compelling, the story starts to pivot from discovery about each family member to focus on a larger conspiracy with Tsubasa at the center. It still makes for an interesting weekly read, carried along by Taizan 5’s bizarre presentation and wild character writing, but I do find the current narrative trajectory to be less exciting than the start. I doubt this will be cancelled, rather, I feel like Taizan has a specific chapter count in mind and we could see the natural conclusion sometime this year.