Weekly Shonen Jump New Series - February to March

During February to March, Weekly Shonen Jump began printing six new series. These series vary in genre. From the love comedy of We Never Learn to the supernatural in Hungry Marie. After reading the first few chapters of each of these series only two caught my attention. Dr. Stone and Robot x Laserbeam. Although I did enjoy the other series especially Demon Prince Poro's Diaries, I could not find myself engrossed in the overall story compared to the ones I mentioned. As usual, Japanese readers will help determine and shape the future of these series.

We Never Learn - Taishi Tsutsui  WSJ#10

Tactics and technique……
"What is the problem an extra brainy high schooler, Yuiga, runs into with two very cute girls?!
A fresh Love Comedy!!"
- Shueisha

Since Nisekoi ended, WSJ has been looking for a hit love comedy series to fill the void to accommodate that particular demographic of their readers. The only other romance-ish series is Yuragi-sou no Yuuna-san. however that series ecchi element could put some readers off. I do hope it can live up to the editors expectations and truly be a successor to Nisekoi. Its first ranking was 4th which is a very good start.

U19 - Yuji Kimura  WSJ#11

Tactics and technique……
That country of despair was completely controlled by grown-ups—Japan.
Although suppression and absurdities were carried out daily there, the children lived hanging on to their hopes within their hearts whether that was school clubs, love, idols, or even urban legends...
Main character, Eiji Kudo, had always questioned society's absurdities, but he too lived with hope of love for his childhood friend, Akari. However, due to the new policy of the "Grown-up Party," the two were... Now's the time to take a stand, children!
- Shueisha

U19 is an interesting series set in a type of tyranny Japan, where Adults are so controlling that the stress of it all can give you super powers....Yay!  (I think most people would have powers if this was real). Through all this crazy overall plot, there is a romance element in there between Eiji and Akari.

Demon Prince Poro's Diaries - Hitsuji Gondaira  WSJ#12

Power is everything in the demon world...
The prince of the demon world, Poro, became tired of everything and decides to (secretly) transfer into the land of his dreams, the human world!!
A laughable yet tearing(?) comedy of a demon's human world hang outs takes off!
- Shueisha

This series is just so fun to read. The comedy is great and there is enough action to keep you entertained. The artwork is fantastic and fits this plot and genre very nicely. As you can see from the image below, the world that the series is set in has some interesting movies in theatres. I really do hope it could develop more and be a success, however the series first ranking was 11th.

Hungry Marie - Ryuhei Tamura  WSJ#13

Taiga Bijogi, a boy from a temple, has a crush on the girl from the church next door, Anna Sagimiya.
However, the two families have a long feud between each other and the two could not get any closer.
Then one day, Taiga happens to find out Anna's secret and...?!
A "love story" of chaos is about to begin!!
- Shueisha

Tamura-sensei sure seems to love the supernatural and occultist with yet another series in this genre. Tamura is well known for his previous work, Beelzebub which also ran in Weekly Shonen Jump. It is no wonder why Hungry Marie feels so familiar, with some character designs being almost identical to his hit series. Despite that, Hungry Marie does intrigue me and I would like to see if Tamura can take the story in a very different and strange direction.

Dr.Stone - Riichiro Inagaki and Boichi  WSJ#14

A science fiction adventure presented with amazing super artwork! 
A story of survival that one has seen before has begun - !!
- Shueisha

This is such an amazing series with great plot and equally amazing artwork. Unfortunately I cannot go into much detail as I might give away the main development. I suggest to give it a read, the first chapter will certainly blow you away.

The combo behind this series is Inagaki (the author of Eyeshield 21) and Boichi (a very popular South Korean artist).

Robot x Laserbeam - Tadatoshi Fujimaki  WSJ#16

 

The main character · Extremely serious, rigid, unreadable, unsensitized and expressionless. 

His name is Robo.  

Such Robo encounters golf ...!?  

The real golf tale by Fujimaki Tadatoshi now starts to move! 

- Shueisha

Never underestimate sports manga!
Unfortunately I didn't listen to this holy of manga proverbs (lied) so I had very low expectations of this series. As some of you may know, I don't particularly enjoy sports series save a few exceptions like Hikaru no Go, Slam Dunk etc. However after reading the first couple of chapters I really do find this series intriguing, and shockingly its about golf. The only other golf manga that I personally know of is Nakabi Suzuki's Rising Impact which also ran in Weekly Shonen Jump nearly 20 years ago.
The author of Kuroko no Basuke, Fujimaki is the author of this sports manga so it would be no surprise if it does well as he has a solid reader fan base.

The first three chapters of these series can be viewed for free in Japanese on the Weekly Shonen Jump Japanese version of the site. You can also read the first two chapters for free in English at the Viz Media site for Jump.