My opinion about Weekly Shōnen Jump
Weekly Shōnen Jump is the highest-paid comic weekly in Japan, and its internship is one of the longest considering all similar magazines. Throughout all these years, manga has motivated people from various corners of the globe to practice with their favorite characters. For example, Zidane watched "Captain Tsubasa" in his youth, while a small group of MMA fighters showed that Goku and company are well known to them. It did not bypass Poland (in the end it came from somewhere: "16 o'clock - everyone goes home because DBZ!"), One of the athletes (Borys Mańkowski), boasted that he plowed the field like Songo. Despite these great stories and extraordinary characters, the weekly seems to struggle with a few problems that I will try to present and somehow connect with each other.
It is worth starting with a comic that was the first manga with such a gigantic reach. Of course, we are talking about "Dragon Ball". The international success of this coloring book meant that for years it was tried to earn several times on the same idea (of course, the story, action time, and a few other things were changed, but the "core" of the script remained essentially unchanged). Which results in "Naruto", "Bleach", to some extent "One Piece" or "Hunter x Hunter". Those who played FPP and RTS games on the PC in the 90s remember that for years the shooters were referred to as "Doom-like games", and most of the ideas from the strategy were brazenly brought to life by Blizzard or Westwood. It was the same with MOBA games when studies wanted to repeat the success of Valve and the team responsible for the success of "League of Legends". Or departing from the topic of games - the Chinese successively copying foreign equipment, which they are increasingly clogging the market with. What does all this connect? The desire to earn easy money in an absorbent market. All people are guided by it regardless of where they live. The weekly "shot up" with his comics and wanted to get the most out of it. Of course, just like now, then there were titles that differed from the patterns liked by the audience, but the impact of Dragon Balls on some aspects of the manga was felt, and I have noticed fans complaining about excessive similarities with "Dragon Ball".
Years went by, the money is correct, comics come out - live not die. The problem is that everything has its beginning and end. You can't drag manga forever, because you can ruin the structure of history by lengthening it excessively (like "Bleach" or an even better example - "Naruto"). However, they can be replaced with fresh titles that will gain a new group of readers. Unfortunately, the publishing house does not encourage working conditions, earnings, and the zeal of editors and interfering in the process of creating a comic has been well shown in Bakuman. Sometimes you can hear about the problems that allegedly had (I rely on a certain but not verified in 100% source) the author of "Naruto". He had to artificially stretch or accelerate some chapters, which lost their natural pace. That would even explain some of the foolish stories in this manga that was so bizarre that you could get the impression that Kishimoto was inventing them drunk.
On the other hand, the publisher only promotes a good battle ("Boku no Hero Academia"). I write "barely" because I do not share general sympathy for this fairy tale. With all sympathy for really nice and good anime, the story is in my opinion noticeably weaker than "Naruto", "One Piece" or "Hunter x Hunter". Don't get me wrong - it's still a good story that does not offend the reader with its level I mean only a rather poor universe (compared to the above), which, apart from a few ideas, seems to be only a mix of the best ideas from individual comics. I don't see too much of my contribution in it, but I see too much of the reproduction and use of proven patterns. Sure, it can be said that this is a "modern type of battlefield", where you do not spend too much air time on such things, but I am not in favor of this solution. It is a bit better with the characters - e.g. the protagonist stands out in plus against his colleagues from other manga (he plans more, acts tactically, generally noticeably departs from the main character's archetype), unfortunately, you can also feel reproduction in this aspect. And one more thing - I am completely dissatisfied with explaining what Quirk is, I miss defining its limits, limitations, explaining the possibilities. "Dragon Ball" can forgive such deficiencies, but not a fairy tale that aspires to something better. Of course, this is only my subjective opinion and you can think that I am wrong.
Not every very good or cult title had a good start. "Bleach", "One Piece" or "Dragon Ball" did not have very good beginnings in my opinion, but somehow they broke through and were remembered in history. I skipped "Naruto" because in retrospect I can say in retrospect that he had the best beginning of all Jump comics I read. In the end, Kishimoto has unfortunately bothered his manga. "Naruto" would work as an example of how one should not create a coherent world. The guy built the universe for years, and then in dozens of chapters he completely forgot about it. Contrary to appearances, it is not so rare that the author forgets about such things. First of all, it's work, and hardly anyone does what he loves (and believe me, artistic activity is no exception). Anyway, even the best-paid or the lightest job not once turns a hobby into a torture. Secondly, it's really hard to rethink the story of a long comic book from A to Z without making a mistake. It is impossible to remember everything 100%, we will always miss even a single detail. Even Eiichiro Oda, who is widely recognized when it comes to the coherence of his world, has not avoided a few mistakes. Although they are not as big as in "Naruto", they do not destroy the plot coherence (and even if so, they are a slip-up for one frame), but their presence is worth noting.
Getting to the point - the reason for these problems is the non-market assessment system of the authors. It is archaic, and its weaknesses are particularly evident today. Sometimes Netflix, Crunchyroll, Marvel Unlimited. Rating manga in Shounen Jumpie consists of sending weekly special questionnaires posted in the weekly. In this document, we assess the level of individual chapters and present our impressions. They are (in my opinion) pointless for several reasons - how many people will apply to their mini-review? How many will write out in detail and will not judge on the principle - 1/10 = I don't like 10/10 = I like it, like 90% of reviewers? How many readers will send them regularly every week? What about comics that need time to get started and their beginnings are not very promising because they need a story foundation? The data provided by the questionnaires is inaccurate and too general, and the authors do not receive direct signals about what they like and what does not. For similar reasons, YT gave up the rating of movies and left only thumbs up and thumbs down, because most people rated them as I wrote above. This is due to the fact that when we buy Shounen Jump we don't get only the one comic book we care about, and their whole package. Generally, until a manga is released, it is really hard to estimate whether the comic is popular.
As Korwin says (polish far-right politician) - you have to vote using the wallet, because in this way you can give the publisher a clear signal what the client wishes. Petitions, e-mails, etc. are generally very, very rarely successful, the most important are revenues and they usually determine the fate of the comic. This is how it looks regardless of what the creators say to you or whether it is about movies, books, music, fairy tales. The wallet is the most effective form of voting because we give a real signal if we really want to know the rest of the story. The Japanese seem to needlessly obstruct their work instead of making it easier for them, just as Americans or Europeans do. They are unnecessarily stuck in their archaic approach, instead of simply copying solutions made in the USA and adapting them to their needs. Maybe my perspective is too narrow and I do not see many important aspects, but looking at different rankings, the amount of discussion on the internet about individual comics, I do not think that Weekly Shounen Jump would release another comic that would match the "One Piece" theme, "Dragon Ball Z" or "Naruto". Sure, they are still releasing more popular and supposedly good series, like "Dr Stone", "Shokugeki no Souma", "The Promised Neverland", but I don't think any of them will ever achieve similar global popularity.
And how do you see this publication and the works published in it? I am happy to discuss this. Thank you Mangowy Nałóg (one of fan page at Facebook) for invaluable help in matters of substance. On average I embrace the topic of manga and if it wasn't for the help of a nice friend, it would probably go wrong ^^.