Shonen Jump!

Shonen Jump is the most famous manga category for both genders. In the most recent polls, Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto is the most famous Shonen Jump manga in America. Bleach by Tite Kubo follows in a close second. If you’re interested in reading these series, you can read them online for free at http://unixmanga.com/ or http://mangastream.com/. UnixManga is a website where you can read your manga from the very beginning. I suggest this site for you newbies out there. MangaStream is a website that only uploads the most recent chapters. If you’re already very updated, I suggest this site for you. Shonen Jump manga (or at least these series) are uploaded every week on either Wednesdays or Thursdays.

Going back to the most favored manga series in America, Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto has been given this title. The series is based on a boy named Naruto Uzumaki who dreams to become the strongest ninja (or known in the manga “shinobi” [“kunoichi” for females]) and the next Hokage.

Did you know: Naruto’s surname “Uzumaki” is actually his mother’s maiden name. His father – the Fourth Hokage – had the surname “Namikaze”.

The second most famous Shonen Jump manga (though I think it should be the first famous) would be Bleach by Tite Kubo. Surprisingly, Bleach is favored more by females (including myself) than by males, despite the fact that it is Shonen Jump.

Fun Fact: Tite Kubo, the author and illustrator of Bleach, had first thought to name the series “Kuro” (black) or “Shiro” (white). No one really knows how the name “Bleach” was chosen, but fans believe that it is because the main character, Ichigo Kurosaki, “bleached” his hair and dyed it orange (although he states in the series many times that his hair is naturally orange). Personally, I think “Bleach” is a great name, because if he went with the name “Kuro” or “Shiro”, it would be awkward because of the characters with those words in their name (i.e. Ichigo Kurosaki and Toshiro Hitsugaya).

There are many other Shonen Jump mangas, such as One Piece by Eiichiro Oda and Katekyo Hitman Reborn by Akira Amano. I don’t know much about these mangas as much as I know about Naruto and Bleach, but I know that they are also very famous.

Thank you for reading my section on manga about Shonen Jump. My next category about manga will be focused on Shojo Beat (this article will be mainly for the fan girls). Please stay tuned in manga fans and feel free to a leave comment!

P.S. I’m taking requests! If you would like me to do a section on a certain Shonen Jump manga (i.e. Bleach, Naruto, One Piece), please leave a comment and tell me which series you would like me to do an article on. I’ll try my best to summarize the series without giving a lot of spoilers!