Do Stop

Shone Jump's new series Do Retry by Jun Kirarazaka launched it's first chapter today on the service and I gotta say it seems dead on arrival. Set during the aftermath of World War 2 in Japan, we follow Aozora Okami. A war orphan who struggles to keep both himself and his sickly sister alive day to day. Normally if this were a drama based manga, this could lead to interesting and perhaps nuanced storytelling. Sadly though, it suffers from the Naruto Syndrome, by that I mean how Naruto would always yell out "Believe it!". Well here, Aozora keeps saying the same dang thing his dad would say after his championship boxing matches "I've got a strong heart". 

Aozora is written as a weak underdog who can take a beating and keep getting back up. However, the way the story is framed to set him up to be an underground boxer for a local gang just wasn't working for me. I get that Shonen Jump is aimed primarily at younger audiences, but with global phenomenons like One Piece, and works that tip toe the line of what the magazine usually does like Chainsaw Man and Jujutsu Kaisen, I would expect them to give artists with unique stories a chance to shine.

Hopefully, the series does get better and "lights a fire" in me to read past chapter 10(if it even gets there). Till then, I would only read this one if you have nothing to do and want to torture your brain cells with how boring this work is.

You can read this on the Shonen Jump App. Until then, have a great day and see you for the next one!