Two new Weekly Shonen Jump series — Tokyo Demon Bride Story and Ginka & Glüna — have been added to the magazine’s line-up. With this good news, however, comes something bittersweet as seven series have been canceled in 2022 alone.
Shonen Jump readers may already be familiar with Tadaichi Nakama’s Tokyo Demon Bride Story from a one-shot that appeared in the magazine back in 2021. Similar to works such as Ayakashi Triangle — which has an anime adaptation airing in January of next year — the series has taken key elements of the original one shot while adding extra flair for long-term appeal such as giving the protagonist, Jinta, a stronger personality.
With only one chapter released so far, Watanabe Shinpei’s Ginka & Glüna has already showcased its distinct visual style and unique premise (I don’t think anyone was expecting ‘Frosty the Snowman – the manga’). As a debuting mangaka, Watanabe certainly has a lot of competition, but the series’ first chapter alone has had a nice blend of goofy antics and sweet moments. If that pace keeps up, the series will only get more popular in the upcoming holiday season.
A final verdict remains to be seen, however. Will Tokyo Demon Bride Story and Ginka & Glüna become long-running manga in Weekly Shonen Jump? Or will they fade into obscurity with an early cancellation? With less than four chapters published between them, that remains to be seen.
How many new manga series have been added to Weekly Shonen Jump since 2022?
Back in February, manga fans got a first look at what would be 2022’s first additions to the magazine: Yuki Suenaga and Takamasa Moue’s Akane-banashi (Akane’s Discourse) and Hideo Shinkai’s Earthchild. While being one of the first to start off the 2022 year of manga, Earthchild was also the first to be canceled — only reaching the 27-chapter mark before its ultimate end on September 5, 2022.
Luckily, the rest of the 2022 line-up is still going strong. May brought fans Super Smartphone, the tale of an AI voice assistant and a high school genius teaming up to solve crimes. And soon after in June 2022, two new Shonen Jump manga — Aliens Area and RuriDragon — started the summer season off strong.
That’s in addition to the aforementioned Tokyo Demon Bride Story which began back on September 5th, and Ginka & Glüna which has had its first chapter available on VIZ media’s app since September 11th.
How many Shonen Jump series have been canceled in 2022?
Newcomer Earthchild wasn’t the only Shonen Jump manga to get the ax in 2022. Although, while many assume the magazine has a knack for canceling series for even the slightest dip in performance, it’s important to remember that a ‘cancelation’ in these cases doesn’t mean that a work made an egregious error that has fans taking to the streets in outrage — as is common on Twitter.
Rather, some serialized works aren’t written with the intent to span decades like One Piece. And others, while having some niche appeal, may not be the right fit for a shonen magazine which is geared towards mass audiences.
Of the 2021 roster, three series have met their end. Yuji Kaku’s Ayashimon saw its final chapter back in the beginning of summer with Daiki Ihara’s Protect Me, Shugomaru! Following suit a week after. And the cancel wave came with no reprieve as Doron Dororon ended on August 29th.
Out of 2020’s line-up only two have failed to ring in the third anniversary. Kei Kamiki’s Magu-chan: God of Destruction ended just as this year’s new series had been announced. And while not a ‘true’ cancellation, Ayakashi Triangle was removed from the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and rehomed to Shueisha’s Manga Plus app.
Longtime fan favorites weren’t able to stave off the looming threat of cancelation either. 2017’s Dr. Stone manga (the Dr. Stone Season 3 release date is in 2023) wrapped up its final arc on March 7, 2022. Luckily, there’s still plenty of content to adapt — especially with the Dr. Stone Reboot: Byakuya series — making it likely that the end of the manga won’t mean the end of the anime adaptation for quite some time.