by “If I’m going to serialize in Shonen Jump Plus, I’d like to do something that Weekly Shonen Jump can’t do, something like anti-jump”
I have been going through some Tatsuki Fujimoto rides these past few days. I read the new one-shot manga Look Back the other day and was completely blown away. I wanted to explore his works and life more.
So I went on to Jump+ and read all his works and wanted to share this view with you. If you only thought Chainsaw Man was great, just read these 7 manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
Here you go:
7. Koi wa Moumoku/Love Is Blind (恋は盲目)
Tatsuki Fujimoto describes the one-shot as Koi wa Moumoku/Love Is Blind. There is no further explanation and I have no intention of explaining it.
As the title suggests, love is blind. Love sure is blind and when Fujimoto writes something with that concept it goes beyond blind.
This is the second one-shot of Fujimoto’s one-shot in “Jump Plus”, following his pre-debut award-winning work Sasaki-Kun stopped the bullet.
Unlike the dystopian setting of Fire Punch, this work is a high school student’s school romance with a faint romance in it.
It’s probably one of those Fujimoto’s rare works where there’s no violence, gore sex, or anything involved in it. I love this manga. Out of all the Fujimoto works I’ve read this was probably the most fun to read.
Dumb Humor, love, confessions, basically the straight-up school romance meme by Fujimoto. He probably saw something funny or wanted to take a little break from all these sex, and blood things for a while and just made a one-shot manga to chill around.
Well, that’s just my thoughts but I won’t be surprised if that’s the case. Anyway, read it. I won’t spoil the fun. Read by yourself. It received an honorable mention at the 9th Crown Newcomer Manga Award.
6. Yogen No Nayuta/Nayuta of the Prophecy (予言のナユタ)
Nayuta is a girl predicted by wizards all over the world to be “the devil’s child who will bring destruction upon the world .” She was born with horns piercing the womb of her mother as predicted.
She’s a girl with a weapon who crushes a rabbit cat and kills it. She speaks in a cruel tongue, unable to comprehend by others.
Everything about her is unusual but even so, is she really the one who will destroy the world? Who would believe in such a prophecy in this day and age?
This world is modern. However, because of the existence of weak magic, groups that believe in prophecy are always shouting “Kill the child of prophecy” on the street.
In such an environment, Nayuta’s older brother Kenji has decided, “No matter what, I will protect Nayuta.”
Yogen No Nayuta was published as a special One-shot in Jump Square in 2015, three years prior to the release of Chainsaw Man.
At the time of release, no one really paid attention to the series that much but after the final chapter of Chainsaw Man it kinda blew up.
Because she is the girl who made an appearance as the reincarnation of Makima at the end of the final volume. Will she be the key to Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man Part 2? Who knows !!
There’s always a possibility. Only time will tell. For now, just enjoy Nayuta of the Prophecy before the Chainsaw Man anime and the second part hit the market.
The series is also published on YouTube as a voice comic from March 3rd and 4th, 2021. If possible check that out as well here.
Yuma Uchida the guy behind Megumi Fushiguro in Jujutsu Kaisen voiced the character of Kenji and the role of Nayuta is played by Mikako Komatsu, the girl behind Maki Sadain from Jujutsu Kaisen.
5. Just Listen to the Song (フツーに聞いてくれ)
If you’re looking for a quick yet thought-provoking manga, Just Listen to Me, Seriously might just be the next read to add to your list.
This one-shot manga story, released on July 4th via Shueisha’s “Shonen Jump+” app, is a unique collaboration between Tatsuki Fujimoto, creator of Chainsaw Man, and Oto Toda, illustrator of Niku wo Hugu (To Strip the Flesh).
Fujimoto wrote the original story, while Toda brought it to life with her distinct style. Promoted as a work between “a genius and a rising star,” it’s a notable collaboration that lives up to the hype in its own way in the One Shot manga world.
But compared to Fujimoto’s longer one-shots like Look Back (143 pages) and Goodbye, Eri (214 pages), Just Listen to the Song is surprisingly brief.
This time, though, Fujimoto took a step back from his signature plot twists and layered surprises, delivering a story that feels refreshingly straightforward.
The humor and simplicity give it a charm that’s different but equally enjoyable. If you’re up for something quirky and light, give it a read—it’s a gem of a short story that hits a few unexpected notes without overstaying its welcome.
4. Look Back (ルックバック)
The back, which looked lonely until then, feels strong and wide. He did it again. He broke the contrarian shonenism and made something unexpected & extraordinary that no one expected.
Even the Oyasumi Punpun author Inio Asano was speechless. He tweeted saying “It’s amazing! Really awesome. I have read something amazing.”
I was also overwhelmed by reading the manga. It was a crazy ride. “Is it possible to make such a poem of requiem in a 143-page one-shot?”, that’s what I thought.
The silent frames, the gimmicks, the twists everything just hit me & wowed me with an egoistic grotesque feeling that I never knew existed within me.
And it’s not just me or Inio Asano, the whole of social media has become full of these kinds of expressions. Some are also saying “Lookback” may be based on the arson murder case of Kyoto Animation. So there’s a whole new buzz about that too.
In the first few hours of release, the series generated more than 2,5 million views, on the Japanese site of Shonen Jump Plus. In 2 days it topped the trend ride with more than 4 million views and it’s still going strong.
What are you waiting for? Check it out now. Ride with the hype train and see where it goes from there. Oh, by the way, the collected chapters as a print single volume have been released on September 3, 2021.
On top of that, the manga’s popularity skyrocketed after its release, so much so that it paved the way for an anime film adaptation by Studio Durian with Kiyotaka Oshiyama working as director and script-writer for the film.
The film is set to make its worldwide streaming debut on Prime Video this November, promising to captivate an even broader audience.
3. Goodbye Eri/Sayonara Eri (さよなら絵梨)
It’s a manga about ‘doing films’ made by film lovers for film fans. When it was made available online for free, the framing and directing just blew me away considering it was just a one-shot manga, and the methods used for the manga are also incredible.
Like how the author put together every piece of a scene in such a beautiful way. This time around, I was able to fully appreciate Tatsuki Fujimoto’s distinctive mood and aftertaste. It’s just that good of a one-shot manga.
I don’t care what feelings you experience after finishing it; I just want you to read it. My feelings were all over the place. Since it alternates between creativity and realism if you read it correctly, the foreshadowing is well-collected, and it’s an engaging story.
You can also expect some story twists in there.
Whether the entire plot is taken to be fiction from start to finish, whether the movie is seen to be a metafiction that treats the movie work as a manga, or how to interpret the last explosion punch line, in my opinion, will greatly affect how the story is perceived.
All in all, it’s experimental, but it also has a great precise, and elaborative story and I personally adore this kind of work. So, I say you give it a try.
2. Fire Punch (ファイアパンチ)
We are the actors who are acting. A story of an avenger who is burning with the flames of rage both on his body and within his heart. A story of a revenger who contrasted the fettle of human lives with the detritus of hope.
A dystopian view of a revenge drama that casts a bizarre light on the survival and psychological interest in Shōnen Jump. Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto is no 2 on our list.
Fire Punch is messed up, and the structure of the world is terrible but there’s something about the series that makes you go on a binge ride. It’s the pacing and development.
The development is unpredictable. Even the point of view changes on an even keel depending on whether or not you want to clasp the theme and characters.
It is always running fast without knowing who to attach to. But that’s what makes it an interesting title. If you want to delve more into the world of Fujimoto, then Fire Punch is your way to go.
It got the gore, it got the action, it got almost everything in an unbalanced way that set the stage for Chainsaw Man in 2018.
1. Chainsaw Man (チェンソーマン)
Tale of a dark hero who integrated with the devil. The story follows a guy named Denji, a poor young man, who happens to have a pet chainsaw dog, Pochita! that turns his life upside down when it merges with Denji’s dead body and grants him the powers of a chainsaw devil.
Unlike demon annihilation and magic,isekai like the same old stories, Chainsaw Man brought a whole new perspective to the modern Shōnen series.
The main character, Denji, is not like an ally of justice. He is greedy and straightforward more like the actual human from our society. He fights with selfishness.
He cares about his dog and just wants “ordinary happiness.”And it’s not just Denji, the flashy battle action, dynamic character design, and drama of the characters collided with the story in a way that makes it a must-read title for any enthusiastic manga reader out there.
A Chainsaw Man anime by Studio MAPPA has also been released. Hiroshi Seko (Ajin, Attack on Titan The Final Season) has penned the script, Kensuke Ushio(DEVILMAN crybaby, Liz, and the Blue Bird, A Silent Voice) composed the music, Kiyotaka Oshiyama (DEVILMAN crybaby, Space Dandy, Decadence, FLCL) illustrated the devil design, Tatsuya Yoshihara (Black Clover, Monster Musume: Everyday Life with Monster Girls) in the action section and last but not least Masato Nakasono (DARLING in the FRANXX, Little Witch Academia) with Ryū Nakayama (Black Clover, Jujutsu Kaisen episode director) handled the directorial board.
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