----- ADS-----
Shueisha’s beloved imprint Shonen Jump has a long-standing history of unceremoniously pulling the plug on up-and-coming series, and the fate of one of the magazine’s digital platforms, Shonen Jump+has confirmed that this trend isn’t going to be slowing down going into 2025. The latest series on the chopping block, an action comedy titled Naked Herowill be ending after only releasing 27 chapters on April 25th (April 24th in North America) confirmed by the announcement on the final page of last week’s chapter.
Videos by ComicBook.com
Naked Hero by Muscle Pain was originally included as part of Shonen Jump+‘s indie serialization round in Japan in September 2024. This came after the series was originally submitted to Jump Rookie on March 8, 2024, debuting alongside another series, Margynal OOL Crigri Girico by Mitosupa Tsuchimoto. Naked Hero‘s plot was relatively straightforward, following a protagonist named Kid living a completely average life before being attacked by monsters and losing everything. Despite its fantasy setup, the series is extremely tongue-in-cheek, focused on delivering an action comedy filled with gags than it did on world-building.
[RELATED: Shonen Jump’s Next Big Icon Is Already Here]
Shonen Jump’s Cutthroat Reputation Could Be Hurting New Talent In the Industry
There are a lot of different aspects that go into releasing a successful manga, and in recent years, the way in which Shonen Jump‘s serialization is structured for writers makes it extremely difficult for new talent to obtain and maintain success. Another recent example of a series being abruptly cancelled in 2025 was the award-winning No\Namecreated b y Rafal Jaki and Machine Gamu which ran for a measly 14 chapters before getting axed on Jump+ in February. Despite the star power behind the series creation, being written by the showrunner of Studio Trigger and Projekt CD Red’s Cyberpunk: Edgerunnersas well as the series own accolades, it wasn’t enough to keep it around. In a heartbroken response on the tweet announcing the series’ cancellation, a fan asked Jaki if the manga ending was a choice between the creative duo or a choice on the part of the platform. Jaki responded, stating that: “The harsh reality of Jump+ is that if you don’t have a hit you get canceled. That being said we are grateful for the opportunity and hope to [come back] stronger.”
If an established creator is struggling to keep a series going through the online platform, it should come as no surprise that newer, indie mangaka would be having an even harder time convincing editorial teams to showcase their work. It’s an unfortunate reality that even causes staple content released by Shonen Jump to struggle, with mangaka like Kohei Horikoshi, the creator of My Hero Academiaand Gege Akutami, the creator of Jujutsu Kaisentaking several breaks during both of the series’ respective runs due to health concerns. Obviously, this isn’t just an issue with Shueisha and Shonen Jumpbut an industry-wide problem that puts more time into focusing on the commercialization of art instead of giving creators time to make a quality story. Hopefully, as anime and manga continue to grow in popularity around the globe, the industry can cut the creatives driving these communities forward some slack and allow them to create on their own terms.
