It's been a few years since I've posted about what manga I've been reading. Since then I've picked up a few new series mostly due to the Shonen Jump app on iOS making it easy to keep up with new issues. This is my current reading list.
Akane-Banashi
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Latest chapter: 71
Probably my favorite among my new/recent follows; hard to believe it's been running over a year already! Akane-banashi is about a young girl trying to get into the world of rakugo, a form of live verbal storytelling that I'd actual never heard of before I decided to randomly start this series. Despite not being about any form of physical combat or interaction, it still feels very action-oriented, fast-paced, and shonen-like. Revenge, rivalries, training to get better, tournaments, etc. Combined with the focus on storytelling it makes for engrossing reading and I'm always looking forward to the next chapter.
Sakamoto Days
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Latest chapter: 126
Sometimes I'll randomly start a manga in the middle of it's run and for this one I think I started reading it around chapter 70-80 maybe, based purely on a recommendation I read somewhere that said it had very good and well-drawn fight scenes and that assessment was 100% true. I liked it enough to keep going despite understanding very little of the story because I jumped in so late. Last week I finally decided to binge all the chapters to understand what was going on and it feels like the series has gotten even better.
Martial Master Asumi
Latest chapter: 6
I also randomly start new manga if I notice them on the Shonen Jump app. This one is very recent and IDK yet if it will be any good; so far it seems like very standard Shonen martial arts fare, with a focus on MMA.
Spy X Family
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Latest chapter: 85
Started following this after watching and enjoying the anime earlier this year; I didn't even bother trying to backread because when I jumped in it felt like the status quo is about the same as where it was at the end of season 1 of the anime. A bit ironic, since I started reading it because I was impatient and wanted to see some progress in the main quest, etc. New chapters seem to come out only every other week?
My Hero Academia
Latest chapter: 395
My own notes say I read and binged all of this back in 2019 and I think I have been following it since then. It's okay and very standard Shonen fare, but I do find it a bit hard to enjoy some of the massive fight scenes because the drawings and layouts can be a bit hard to follow. I am a bit behind on the anime, but I am looking forward to seeing many of these fights animated. Also, the series has SOOO MANY CHARACTERS which is a problem for me because I have trouble keeping such large casts straight (see One Piece below). The series is on its final arc at the moment, it will likely finish late this year or early next year.
One-Punch Man
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Latest chapter: 186
Been reading this one since I think 2015 or so. It's okay, very over the top. Occasionally hilarious. Read the manga before trying the anime so the anime gags kind of fell flat because they were the same as in the manga. It's another one of those ones where I have trouble keeping track of all the characters. (I guess this is common for manga that have hero associations?!?) Seems to come out twice a month as well.
Dragon Ball Super
Latest chapter: 95
I'm kind of very confused by the DBS timeline because I jumped into the manga halfway through and only after the DBS anime ended I think? The anime arcs came first before they were adapted to manga but the manga also has original story arcs that never appeared in the anime. I started the manga around the Future Trunks storyline but never bothered to backread or watch the anime but I did watch the Beerus and Resurrection F films, so the only arc I'm not super familiar with is the multiversal tournament arc which I think I kind of got the gist from various summaries?
The manga also covers the stories in the DBS films. The current story arc covers the "Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero" film which I haven't seen yet. It's progressing quite slowly (looks like only one issue comes out a month, though each issue is longer than a typical manga issue) so I'm kind of tempted to just watch the film already.
One Piece
Latest chapter: 1088 (!!)
I have been following One Piece since 2007! Watched the anime first, switched to the manga once I caught up. It's always hard to recommend to people because it's so long and epic and requires a huge time commitment and the art style is maybe an acquired taste but I love all of it, it's insane and there's a ridiculously good amount of worldbuilding and I always enjoy reading all the theories that go around the internet.
My one complaint about this series is that because it's been running for so long, there is a HUGE supporting cast which means I have trouble remembering all the supporting characters. My trivia team has a choice of rounds for a particular quiz night and one of the options is One Piece and even though I'm a fan I was like NO THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!!
The author Eichiro Oda says the series is "close to the end" we are in the final saga, but that's kind of on a GRRM timeline and each saga can be 100+ issues or more so it's at least 2-3 years out before this actually finishes. In the meantime I am very much looking forward to the live-action Netflix adaptation coming out next month.
Hajime no Ippo
Latest chapter: 1429 (!!!)
Started reading this one back in 2010 and it's still going strong! And I have no idea how much further this is going. It's a manga about boxing, and a few years back the author made the audacious decision to have the main character quit boxing on fears of being punch-drunk. Everyone assumed it would be a temporary thing, but he's still not boxing now, instead acting as support for other boxers! Everyone is looking forward to see what finally gets him to step back in the ring.
This is the only non-Shonen Jump title on this list. I mainly read it via the scanlations released via the subreddit.
Others
I tried my technique of "just jumping into an already running manga series without any background" on Jujutsu Kaisen, but that didn't land as well as Sakamoto Days. Might want to try backreading first or maybe watching the anime.
I also tried to use this technique to get back into Hunter X Hunter; I stopped reading it after the chimera ants arc I think, but it feels like the current storyline is super complicated and every page has these super long dialog boxes with long explanations and I haven't even seen Gon and his friends in the few months I tried following the current issues, so I just gave up on it.