The mangaka of Assassination Classroom noted the influx of Chainsaw Man-inspired manga and has some thoughts and advice for up-and-coming mangaka creators.
Yusei Matsui, the writer and illustrator of Assassination Classroom and The Elusive Samurai, was one of the judges at the latest Jump New World Manga Award. According to Shonen Jump News – Unofficial’s translation, he noticed there were many “human drama entries” that showed signs of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s influence, the mangaka of Chainsaw Man. While he commented that what he saw showed an “overall high level,” he grew tired of them as it was an overwhelmingly large number. Matsui offered one piece of advice to future mangaka: they needed to “carefully think about self-production, how to stand out from the crowd, to hone their originality.” With so many new manga series debuting in Weekly Shōnen Jump and often getting abruptly cut in a few chapters, it’s clear that the magazine is looking for something unique that will appeal to readers.
Fans were overall supportive of Matsui’s comments. One agreed, saying, “Jump’s greatest strength comes from its diversity.” Many pointed out that there have been a number of new series that have been trying to replicate the success that previous Weekly Shōnen Jump works have seen without much of a favorable outcome. Others commented that while it’s understandable for manga to take certain elements from other works, there needs to be some kind of “unique twist on the premise.”
Aspiring Manga Artists Covet the Award
Jump New World Manga Award is a monthly award awarded to young mangaka with the top prize being publication in Shōnen Jump+. Run by Weekly Shōnen Jump, the panel of judges usually consist of mangaka published in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Notable judges include Black Clover’s Yuki Tabata, My Hero Academia’s Kōhei Horikoshi and Jujutsu Kaisen’s Gege Akutami.
Matsui’s first entry into the manga world was as the assistant of Yoshio Sawai, the mangaka of Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo. His first work Neuro: Supernatural Detective ran from 2005 to 2009 in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Matsui’s next major work was Assassination Classroom. The series ran for four years and revolved around an octopus-like creature posing as a homeroom teacher at a junior high. Aside from teaching all the subjects that a normal homeroom teacher would do, Koro-sensei also teaches the students how to be successful assassins, knowing that the students are all there to kill him. The manga has received positive reception.
Fujimoto’s career as a mangaka started with writing one-shots, with several of them receiving nominations and awards. His first serialized work, Fire Punch, published in Shōnen Jump+. His next work, Chainsaw Man, started in Weekly Shōnen Jump before moving to Shōnen Jump Plus in July 2022. Chainsaw Man is one of the best-selling manga series and has won numerous awards including the Harvey Award for Best Manga. Described as dark and bizarre while possessing a surprisingly humane core by critics, Chainsaw Man follows a poverty-stricken young man named Denji, who has the ability to turn into a powerful being called Chainsaw Man. While he discovers that he can achieve all he wants with this power, Denji realizes that he has stepped into a far more dangerous world than he anticipated.
Assassination Classroom and Chainsaw Man are both available to read on Viz Media.
Source: Twitter
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