In this week’s issue, Shonen Jump launches a new rookie, Minya Hiraga, with Neru: Way of the Martial Artist, and closes Nine Dragon’s Ball Parade.
The first week of July is marked by changes in the home Shueisha. Once again the title list of Weekly Shonen Jump changes, with works that alternate at great speed. We must in fact greet Nine Dragon’s Ball Parade, the work with which the duo Mikiyasu Kamada / Ashibi Fukui he wanted to bring the spokon back to Jump.
Kamada and Fukui’s mission is to be considered a failure across the board, with the title closing after only twenty chapters, without a real conclusion. The feeling is that the authors have clashed with their own technical limits, failing to give neither the visuals nor the strong emotions that a sports manga should convey.
A spokon comes out, another comes in. In fact, today we talk about Neru: Way of the Martial Artist, the work that the newcomer Minya Hiraga has already brought as a one-shot in a Shueisha magazine. As it is easy to guess, martial arts are the subject of this manga. As always, you can find it for free on MangaPlus.
Neru: Way of the Martial Artist, the love story between a boy and the martial arts
Neruma Isami he is a young man who seems to have no other interest in life than practicing and honing martial arts. He lives in a remote place surrounded by nature, once his grandfather’s home, but still goes to school, albeit with poor results.
Neru, due to this particular passion of his, feels lonely: he has no one to do sparring with. However, fate will have it that a girl he saves from some idlers turns out to be perfect for this role. Apparently there is an old story that links Neru’s grandfather to Akebi Haiba, which will make the young man discover that others share with him the passion for combat sport.
Hiraga has a great drawing style back, which will undoubtedly be appreciated by many readers in the adult bracket. The first chapter that the author proposes to us, however, does little else to ignite our passion. It is not yet clear how important and faithful the sporting component will be in the work, and in general the tone of it. The love for martial arts can be felt, but everything else needed for an entertaining comic is remarkably absent.
Neru still has a lot to do to carve out his own space on Jump, in a time when seeing a series end prematurely is now common thing.