CATDOLL: The decline of Shonen Jump: A comparison of the ranking and sales of comics from 2010 to 2016

Recently, many popular works on Shonen Jump have been completed, but there is no work that can completely replace Naruto and One Piece. The only popular manga that we are familiar with and have not yet completed are One Piece and Fairy Tail, but even these two works are facing the dilemma of completion; for Shonen Jump, is the benefit brought by a long-running masterpiece like Naruto and One Piece a decisive factor for the survival and development of Jump?

Recently, netizens summarized the ranking and sales comparison of "Weekly Shonen Jump" JUMP2010-2016 in the first half of the year (the O list data is sorted by JUMP works, limited to works that have been serialized for more than 1 year.)

In 2010, the top three manga dominated the ranking and sales. The fourth one, Gourmet, was the target of re-promotion. Gintama and Kakuro: The Hitman, were stable as the backbone. There is a saying that 2CH releases a wave of high-quality new series every four years. Dream Eater, Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan, and Kuroko: Basketball in 2008 belong to this group. However, Kuroko: Basketball has not been animated yet, so it is much inferior. Devil Daddy in 2009 is a step behind. These three manga and two backbones are the third echelon. There is nothing much to say about Tsukishiro as a symbol of JUMP. Hunter, who publishes one single volume per year, is an exception. The rest of the bottom 5 are cut off, except for the strange PSYREN, which is a new series after 2009. PSYREN is a manga that has been in the bottom 5 for a long time (more than 1 year) except Hunter, Tsukishiro and the later Bleach, but it was also cut off in issue 52 of 2010. It can also be seen that the series in 2009 and 2010 are relatively weak. The ranking of the three pillars, the backbone, and the rising star all accurately reflects the sales volume. Although it is not as glorious as the SD and DB serialization, 10 years can be regarded as the glorious period of JUMP.

2011 was the year when Sasaki left and Yoshihisa Hei took over. One of the consequences of this was the replacement of the old with the new, the so-called "new officials start with three fires". Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan was probably the victim. In July 2011, the second season of Nura: Rise of the Yokai Clan was broadcast. Although the sales volume was not considered to be the backbone, it was definitely acceptable. However, it was cut in half. It is not common for an animation to be cut in half. It also shows that JUMP had the confidence to cut the manga in half that year. It is estimated that it would not be able to promote it now, let alone cut it in half. Meikuei has indeed accumulated popularity with the long animation that started in the Sunday morning slot in April 2011. It replaced Bleach and came in the third place in terms of ranking and sales. Bleach's FLOP actually started before the Fullbring arc, from the late stage of the long Hueco Mundo arc. It was concentrated in 2011. Kuroko: Basketball, which had not yet received an offer for an animation, was almost cut in half, but thanks to the fact that it was not cut, it ushered in its glory after the animation in 2012. In 2011, One Piece reached its peak with the help of the major events in the manga and the power of SW. The record of 38 million actual sales is probably difficult to break. Moreover, the data of the O list at that time was not as inflated as in recent years, so it should be said that there was less water.

After the peak period of One Piece, sales plummeted, Bleach continued to be a flop, and in 2012, the new series, which was once every four years, had just started. It can be seen that JUMP has begun to decline. The miracle of Kurokoro Animation and FJ Laozi's two volumes can be said to have saved JUMP. Gintama also began to decline. Nura: Reborn, which sold 1.87 million copies, was cut short, and Family Reborn ended, Dream Eaters ended, and the backbone of the franchise was weakened. The new series Assassination Classroom has not yet taken off, and it seems that the lack of successors was quite serious that year.

In 2012, a new wave of serializations, such as Shokugeki no Soma, Assassination Classroom, and Haikyuu, began to gain momentum. Especially Assassination Classroom, which secured the second place in the first year, is not easy in JUMP, where evil comics are like walking a tightrope. It is a pity that Kurokami retired at the height of his career and killed himself. The long fourth ninja war of Naruto caused sales to decline. Many facts have proved that chapters beyond 6-7 volumes will make readers start to lose patience. Nisekoi has become less popular, and readers are beginning to feel tired of the daily life chapters.

One Piece only published 3 volumes in 14 years, so it was almost animated. Rapunzel, who was in the prime of her career, was anally raped, but she managed to keep the top sales of Japanese anime. Hail to the Sky: Volleyball’s sales increased several times thanks to the effect of the Japanese 5th time slot, surpassing Kuroko Basketball to become the second best-selling. Assassination’s sales of 4.6 million without animation are not bad, right? Compared with the sales of Bleach, the sharp decline in ranking is even more regrettable. The first season of Nisekoi animation was broadcast, reversing the decline of the previous year. The Gourmet animation ended, and the FLOP was obvious. It is said that Daddy couldn’t control the plot in the later period, and was finally cut off. As the series of the Golden Future Cup, it has been able to extend its life for a long time. The 15-year series of Naruto ended, causing the circulation of JUMP to drop by 200,000. The cover of the final issue was given to Assassination, and the ranking was also given to Assassination in the second place, which is also a transition between the old and the new. The readership of Trigger is relatively stable, and the circulation of the first and 14 volumes is said to be the same, but there is also a lack of new readers, so the sales are mediocre.

In 2015, the Assassination animation and live-action version brought Assassination back to the peak level of Kuroko no Basakana. After all, the two were also tied together and had a million-print first edition promotion. The gap between the second place and One Piece is getting bigger every year, which reflects the current situation of Weekly Shonen One Piece. It is not difficult to understand that Hero is being pushed as a work with the potential to become a long-running orthodox fighting manga that has not been seen for a long time. Although the first volume of Hero was reprinted many times and was a big hit, it began to lose momentum in the second volume, and this dream ended a little too quickly. Judging from sales, the only backbones of JUMP are Shokugeki no Soma and Haikyuu from 2012. Bleach, Nisekoi, and Gourmet seem to be competing to see who is more obscure. The heavy blow of the end of Kuroko no Basakana and Naruto is really painful.

In the first half of this year, Assassination had a small boost due to the effect of its completion. The treatment of the lucky completion shows that JUMP is still quite harsh on evil manga. The gap between the second-ranked Junshun and One Piece continues to widen. Just like Assassination succeeded Naruto in 2014, Hero succeeded Assassination and came to the second place in the ranking. Although Haikyuu Season 2 did not have much effect, it still stabilized in the third place in sales with the popularity accumulated in Season 1. Ao Shou Re Wu and Zuo Men Jun should be considered as the new series that are strongly promoted, but the sales combined are still beaten by PSYREN, the worst younger brother in 2010. Hero, who is definitely the second in the ranking, is just a stalwart in terms of sales, but I heard that the development of the recent few chapters is okay, I hope it is not too late. Although the ranking of Shokugeki is a roller coaster, the decline in sales honestly reflects that readers are not satisfied with the plot after the Autumn Selection. The second season of the animation has also been cut to only one season, and the third season is probably difficult, and the future is worrying. The third season of Haikyuu, Shiratorizawa, will begin in the second half of the year. We don’t expect much effect. We’ll be lucky if the sales can be stabilized with the color pages at the beginning of the volume. Before 2012, with a few exceptions, the rankings almost reflected the actual sales. After 2015, there is a sense of using ranking control to try to influence sales. Coupled with the ending of Police Station, Bleach, Assassination, and Nisekoi, it can be said that this is the most difficult year for JUMP since the 21st century. The rule of a good work every four years may be broken. There are still two opportunities for new serialization this year. We can only hope for a miracle.