Weekly Shonen Jump ranks among the most important magazines that distribute and publish manga in Japan. Within its pages, titles such as Dragon Ball, Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, Bleach and Rurouni Kenshin have been published. However, with each new year, great titles depart from its roster, leaving the world with less of their favorite series running in Weekly Shonen Jump's pages.
While this has always been standard practice, soon, many of the magazine's biggest titles will be ending in fairly close succession. Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba and Haikyuu!!, two of the best-selling manga in the magazine, have reached their final arcs. My Hero Academia's future is still uncertain, but the jewel in Jump's crown for the past two decades, One Piece, is confirmed to be edging toward its conclusion. Once these top sellers end, what will the future of Shonen Jump be?
The End is Near For Some Big Shonen Hits
For Demon Slayer and Haikyuu!!, the end is nigh. The volleyball sports manga entered its final arc on October 2019, while the second-highest selling manga published in Jump for 2019, Demon Slayer, is rumored to be nearing its end soon after entering its final arc earlier last year.
A manga entering its final arc, of course, doesn't mean it will be ending immediately. Naruto's final arc, for example, lasted between Chapters 657 and 699, and published between January 8th, 2014 and November 24th, 2014. By contrast, Bleach's final arc, the Quincy Blood War, lasted between Chapters 480 to 686, spanning multiple years. In 2019, both Food Wars! and Hinomaru Sumo concluded, ending two very popular runs in the magazine, and leaving Weekly Shonen Jump starting 2020 a little thinner than years prior.
By contrast, both One Piece and My Hero Academia have more stories to tell. While One Piece will end within five years, My Hero Academia originally was outlined to end with Volume 30, but then it became clear that it would be virtually impossible to do this. In 2018, manga-ka Kohei Horikoshi claimed the current arc he was working on could be the last arc. Multiple arcs then followed that arc, and Horikoshi has since said he's toying with the idea of extending its run to Volume 50, which would set it on course to end in 2024.
My Hero Academia's timeline might be up in the air, but the confirmed loss of One Piece, one of the biggest-selling comics of all time, will be colossal.
Jujutsu Kaisen, Chainsaw Man And The New Blood
While every new title no doubt hopes to become the Next Big Thing for Weekly Shonen Jump, it's always possible success might come from the last place anyone expects. Every year, Jump introduces new manga. This year has begun with the addition of five: Zipman!!, Agravity Boys, Undead Unluck, Mashle and Guardian of the Witch, each with their own unique and, in some cases, wacky premises.
To ensure its ongoing success, Jump is no stranger to trimming any story that underperforms to make space for something new. Of the 12 titles introduced into Jump in 2019, only four (Chainsaw Man, Samurai 8, Mission: Yozakura Family and Mitama Security: Spirit Busters) are still ongoing, so it's hard to tell early on which of 2020's debuts has the potential to dethrone any longer-running competitor. Presently, Jujutsu Kaisen is the most hotly-tipped new title from Jump, with the backing of booksellers in Japan and an anime adaptation on the way already.
The years following One Piece and other big series departure might be difficult for Jump but, eventually, with enough trial and error, new shonen manga inevitably fills the void. The key to Jump's longevity over the decades since its founding is that it has managed to not only launch some of the industry's heavy-weights -- but see out their completion, too. No single series defines Jump's success, and so the finale of one long-runner shouldn't lead to the collapse of the entire magazine.
Dragon Ball, Naruto and Previous Mass Exoduses
This is not the first time a bunch of major titles have left Shonen Jump, one after the other. Between 1994 and 1999, Yu Yu Hakusho, Dragon Ball and Slam Dunk all ended their successful runs in the magazine. However, in that same period of time, Rurouni Kenshin, Hunter x Hunter and, yes, One Piece, replaced them. Later on, another mass exodus took place. In 2014 and 2016, Jump lost Naruto, Bleach, Toriko and Assassination Classroom. At the time, the magazine looked anemic, with its biggest titles now gone.
However, with every exodus, room for fresh blood is created. It's around this same time that many of the biggest titles in Jump, such as My Hero Academia and Demon Slayer first began serialization.
Dr. Stone, The Promised Neverland and The New Generation
While some of the soon-to-be concluding titles will leave big shoes to fill, there is still plenty of promising manga running in Jump that has no signs of ending anytime soon. Around the time of Bleach and Naruto's conclusions, The Promised Neverland and Black Clover began serialization -- both of which have proven to be among the magazine's most popular titles at the moment.
Both gained popularity following the widespread success of their anime adaptation -- in particular, The Promised Neverland, which ranked as one of the best selling manga alongside One Piece and Demon Slayer in 2019. Another title that has increased in popularity over the last few years is Dr. Stone, which, thanks again to an equally popular anime adaptation, should continue to gain higher and higher rankings in Jump's roster.
If anything, the end of titles like One Piece is something to actually look forward to. Many great manga is being published in One Piece's massive shadow. It's high time the new generation steps into the light.