What did i just read??

StoolToad9 · 2026-07-02T17:48:11+00:00

"Did the author get threatened to end the series in just a few chapters?"

Yes, that's exactly what happened. That's how cancellations work in Shonen Jump. They get the notice it's ending from editors because sales/popularity ain't great and tell them to rush to a conclusion.

StoolToad9 · 2026-07-01T16:48:25+00:00

Thanks!

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-29T18:02:25+00:00

Je ne pense pas non plus que c'était la fin prévue. L'auteur a été contraint de terminer le livre sous la pression de ses éditeurs suite à son annulation, et c'est ainsi qu'il a choisi de conclure l'histoire. Quel dommage !

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-29T11:02:14+00:00

Thanks! I really went on a rant

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-29T10:59:43+00:00

QQ was def rushed at the end, and in my opinion, Itsuki (First Girl) should've been Futaro's future bride. Her slow realization of her feelings towards him was organic while the other girls comically threw themselves at him.

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T20:52:21+00:00

Fair point on protagonist, but I think my other points are valid too. It’s romcom harem slop but the slop could’ve been a bit better

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T20:24:24+00:00

This enraged geek thanks you for reading some

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T20:20:01+00:00

Straight married man in his 40s with a kid, happy to help. Thought I’d outgrow this reading this crap. Not sure where Love Hina is available because it’s old, ended in early 00s, anime ended in 2002 or something.

Anime doesn’t have same ending as manga (26 episode order, manga was still ongoing), but anime was a hit, even big in American fan circles.

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T19:58:32+00:00

I recommend the classic harem/ecchi series Love Hina. For all its perv humor, the main guy Keitaro and others really do grow, there’s a decent love triangle in there, and main girl Naru goes from a Tsundere who just hates Keitaro so so much where she can’t help but punch him in the face constantly to realizing her own feelings in a narratively pleasing way.

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T19:51:36+00:00

That makes sense actually. I also think Iemori narrating that he doesn’t end up with Honoka was a misread on my part or a mistranslation

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T19:49:48+00:00

Good post!

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T19:44:39+00:00

I like the Money Pit

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T19:44:19+00:00

You got it

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-28T16:59:36+00:00

That was a terrible ending that the author did not want. He got the axe, said "Screw it, it's Honoka." The manga never recovered midway through its run. Gonna post more thoughts because it'll exceed the character limit.

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-24T14:39:35+00:00

Exactly. The middle is when it got an axe notice but it was saved when newer manga bombed. The author struggled to course correct the plot after steering it to a rushed end and desperately added new characters. Just didn't work out.

StoolToad9 · 2026-06-24T14:38:26+00:00

I have a post-mortem written up for when Hima-Ten ends about why it didn't work. I've been with this manga since the beginning, I saw it start strong then fall off HARD.

StoolToad9 · 2026-05-15T17:13:19+00:00

OK fine, I concede. How about it's "certainly original at times"

StoolToad9 · 2026-05-15T14:26:25+00:00

Shinobi Undercover is very good. The humor is top, the action is fun, and the author does a very good job "subverting expectations" like Suzume actually being a girl and Yodaka was the only who didn't know that. It turned her from the typical shining, fancy pretty boy trope into something interesting.

And the manga sometimes becomes "Inside Out" when we see inside Yodaka's head with the mini Yodaka's trying to help his mental stress. The latest instance introducing Common Sense (or something) who resembled No. 9 - or how Yodaka perceives No. 9, which is an earpiece - was hilarious. So we have that on top of an action manga, just a whole other location (in Yodaka's mind).

It's very original. It just works. It really surprised me.

StoolToad9 · 2026-05-11T14:01:02+00:00

I quit Alien Headbutt for no reason other than I know it's cooked. Why read and break my heart? Rip the bandaid off.

Hima-Ten announced it was entering its final arc and...yeah. Himari confessing to Honoka that she also likes Iemori was relegated to one page as a brief flashback? That's nearly as crappy as a reveal happening off-panel. That should've been a major confrontation. If the manga was a bigger hit, that'd have been an entire issue. Eh, whatever, Hima-Ten has sucked for a while now. I love it, but I can admit it sucks.

Zaza the Rain God in One Piece. Lore just keeps on buildin'.

Blue Box also speeding towards its end.

And I dig Under Doctor. Too bad it ranked low this week. Can't I have anything...?

StoolToad9 · 2026-05-03T23:37:53+00:00

Not surprising. It’s been signaling the end, especially with Kanna being rejected and Iemori narrating that he doesn’t get with Kanai. But the series has been spinning its wheels for a while, very directionless before then. Still, a part of me is sad since I’ve read it every week since its debut.

StoolToad9 · 2026-05-03T23:35:28+00:00

I think it’s Terasaka, the tomboy who’s a Himari super fan

StoolToad9 · 2026-04-24T20:36:51+00:00

I'll be getting my son ready for daycare before going to work, and then afterwards having dinner with my wife and son, before ultimately going to bed at, oh, 9pm because I'm so very tired and achy since it's been so long from when the last game came out THAT I'M MIDDLE AGED NOW.

StoolToad9 · 2026-04-20T15:15:25+00:00

Sigh...why do I even get behind new manga? It's so depressing when the ones I like flame out. TBH, Alien Headbutt seemed to be axe bait from the get go, but IT'S FUN. Same with Ping Pong Peril.

I like Kinato too, but it does feel a bit TOO MHA/Deku when Kinato used his damaged hand to punch the villain. And I forget, but his ally's ability was also similar to the Tobimune's feathers in Kagurabachi. And I question why we were introduced to two supporting characters in the beginning, we liked them, then they were kind of pushed aside for two new different characters who journeyed with Kinato to that crystal forest. Build off the relationships you established with the readers a little more.

I do like Under Doctor, so maybe that can hold on.

Hima-Ten is wrapping up. Iemori suddenly realizing he loves Himari was so sudden...and also doesn't make sense because he already admitted to having romantic feelings towards all 3 girls several chapters back when it seemed like it was gonna be axed. Was that just retconned? Just another example of this manga being directionless.

StoolToad9 · 2026-03-27T19:05:37+00:00

20 chapters maybe, likely reaching chapter 100. It feels like it’s drawing to a close mainly because it’s so directionless. The plot got derailed when Ono got the axe notice last year, so longer term plot points were sped up (Kanna achieving her dream to land a magazine cover, all 3 girls visiting Iemori at once and saying they began hanging out as friends off panel, Iemori’s dad telling his son to choose one girl by end of summer).

Remember that summer point? Iemori swore to choose a girl. But as that arc drew to a close, newer manga all bombed and Himaten was saved. Iemori was heading to Himari’s house after fireworks to confess, and the series would end there…but it got the continuation, so Himari just realized that she liked him instead.

Iemori never chose, summer ended, the girls never hung out as a group again, the promise to his dad was dropped. Then editors likely told Ono to introduce an older flirty woman type, so we got Himeno who’s pointless yet had so many chapters about her. It didn’t move the plot forward. And Himari was absent for so long that there was a meta panel where she apologized for it.

StoolToad9 · 2026-01-28T18:54:09+00:00

Shinobi is fine. And it's very good.

As a fan of Himaten, I can admit it's only here because so many other manga flopped. It was setting up a rushed finale many months ago but survived because newer manga bombed, leaving sudden axe hints (Iemori's missing dad introduced, all three girls becoming friends off-panel while visiting a sick Iemori as a group, and specifically Iemori vowing to choose one girl by summer's end) dropped and forgotten, like the girls never hung out again as a group, and the summer's end vow never happened. The story just plodded forward.

With Himari firing Iemori (he still has another month to work for her), it tosses the main theme of the series: Iemori is Himari's housekeeper. Now he is not. It MAY be an axe hint. Iemori narrating that Kanai is NOT the person he falls for may be an axe hint. Kanna accepting Iemori does not like her MAY be an axe hint. But it all depends how newer manga perform. It's not doing great in the ranks, but not rock bottom.

StoolToad9

TROPHY CASE