Chainsaw Man overtakes Jujutsu Kaisen and Boruto on Mangaplus after the latest fiasco

Modified Jun 11, 2024 20:00 GMT

Chainsaw Man overtakes Jujutsu Kaisen and Boruto on Mangaplus after the latest fiasco (Image via MAPPA Studios)

Tuesday, June 11, 2024 saw author and illustrator Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man manga series overtake both Jujutsu Kaisen and Boruto on MANGA Plus’ “Hottest” rankings. Per the metrics given there, Fujimoto’s manga has nearly 600 thousand hits on the back of chapters 167 and 168. Respective mangakas Gege Akutami and Masashi Kishimoto, meanwhile, are seeing their series sit in second and third at roughly 420 and 380 thousand hits, respectively.

While Jujutsu Kaisen and Boruto are incredibly popular series, Chainsaw Man’s resurgence into the number one spot (a rank it’s all too familiar with) undoubtedly stems from its latest releases. Although divisive both within the series’ fandom and the larger anime and manga community at large, it’s clearly leading to exciting success for Fujimoto’s series.

Chainsaw Man’s resurgence over Jujutsu Kaisen and Boruto also takes advantage of serendipitous timing

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While Chainsaw Man’s latest issues are the main source of this latest success, there are also some extenuating circumstances which contributed. For one, the Boruto manga is a monthly manga series approaching the release of its next chapter. In other words, as the most recent release has aged, people have understandably stopped frequenting the series’ MANGA Plus page to view the issue.

Jujutsu Kaisen, meanwhile, is now on a sudden two-week break due to a sudden health concern for Akutami. In addition, this health concern led to Akutami only being able to draft seven pages for the manga’s latest release. Considering this, not as many people are reading the issue as they may otherwise have if Akutami was able to put a full chapter out.

That being said, neither should take away from the success Fujimoto’s manga is seeing, even if that success is born out of controversy. That being said, such controversy being created also speaks to how popular Fujimoto’s series is, and how well he’s writing it as of late to generate such attention and success. The fact that the issue is so divisive does speak to this narrative quality to a certain degree, which is a hallmark trait of the series’ wildest releases.

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Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man manga series first began serialization in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in December 2018, where it ran until December 2020 upon concluding its first part. The manga then returned in July 2022, where it switched to the digital Shonen Jump+ platform with the story’s second part, which is still ongoing and regularly serialized there today.

The Fall 2022 anime season saw a television anime adaptation of Fujimoto’s manga produced by MAPPA Studios begin airing, met with general success and praise. The anime has yet to be confirmed for a second season as of this article’s writing. However, there is a film adopting the Bomb Girl arc/Reze arc, also being produced by MAPPA. Release information for the film is unknown as of this article’s writing.