5 Weekly Shonen Jump Series That Won’t Survive 2026

by

Weekly Shonen Jump is a hugely popular manga magazine, both in Japan and internationally. It’s famous for publishing incredibly successful series like One Piece, My Hero Academia, Dragon Ball, and Naruto, among many others. Because it’s so well-known, getting a manga published in Weekly Shonen Jump is very difficult. Many artists aspire to have their work featured in the magazine, but it’s a highly competitive environment.

2025 was a difficult year for Weekly Shonen Jump, with 10 ongoing manga series cancelled and 3 more finishing their stories. This large number of endings makes the magazine’s future uncertain, and shows how easily a series can be dropped. While the magazine doesn’t officially share cancellation numbers, a series’ position in the table of contents – its ranking – is a good indicator of its success. Higher rankings mean a series is popular, while lower rankings suggest it might be in trouble. Based on these rankings, here are some Weekly Shonen Jump manga that could be cancelled before the end of 2026.

Harukaze Mound

It seems like Harukaze Mound is struggling to find an audience. While sports manga are usually popular, this series just isn’t gaining much traction.

The series first appeared in Issue 29 and has only been a top 10 hit three times since then. Recently, it’s been consistently near the bottom of the rankings, averaging 17.8 over the last eight issues among ongoing series. Based on these numbers, it’s unlikely to continue much beyond 2026.

Otr of the Flame

Similar to Harukaze Mound, Otr of the Flame appears to be losing popularity. The fantasy series hasn’t performed well in sales rankings for the last eight volumes, averaging a rank of 17.5 and consistently appearing near the bottom of the index in recent weeks.

Sales for Otr of the Flame are also struggling. The manga volumes only sold around 2,947 copies in the first week of November, barely surpassing the 2,107 copies of Ping-Pong Peril, which was recently canceled. Another series with similar low sales, Kaedegami, ended just last month. Unless sales improve dramatically, it’s likely Otr of the Flame will be canceled soon.

Hero Girl and Demon Lord Call It Quits

It might be too early to say, but Hero Girl and Demon Lord Call It Quits doesn’t seem to be performing well. While it debuted at number one in 2025’s 50th issue, it has since fallen to 7th and then 12th place in the following two issues.

It’s concerning that this new series isn’t gaining much traction. Usually, shows build an audience through positive buzz, but this one seems to be having trouble finding viewers. While comedic series often do well, Hero Girl and Demon Lord Call It Quits may be falling behind popular shows like Me and Roboco and Hima-Ten!.

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi

Unlike many of the other series we’ve discussed, Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi has already been published in Weekly Shonen Jump for a little while. It began in June 2024 and currently has six collected volumes. Notably, the series received a recommendation from Eiichiro Oda, who Shoichi Usui, the creator of Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi, assisted for five years.

I’ve been following Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi for a while now, and honestly, it hasn’t been bad overall. However, things seem to be heading downwards lately. Looking at the last eight issues, it’s averaging around a 13.9 ranking, which is…okay. The initial sales numbers for the November tankobon release are decent – 8,559 copies sold – but it’s definitely lagging behind other current hits like Ruri Dragon (over 56,000!) and Akane Bashi (almost 27,000). It feels like Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi might just be a series that survives on its existing fanbase, which is fine! But I’m a little worried it could be on the chopping block by 2026, so I’ll be keeping a close watch on how it does.

The Elusive Samurai

Unlike many manga series that end abruptly, The Elusive Samurai is expected to have a natural conclusion. The creators announced plans to wrap up the story in Weekly Shonen Jump issue 48 of 2025. While it’s been a month since that announcement and the series is still ongoing, fans can expect the final chapters to arrive in 2026 if it continues throughout the year.

Fortunately, fans can still anticipate the second season of the anime. Although we don’t know when it will be released, hopefully it arrives next year to help soften the blow of the manga’s conclusion.

Read More

2025-11-28 17:34