For any fans looking forward to this week’s issue of Weekly Shonen Jump, some bad news may have just come out. It seems that this week’s issue of Shonen Jump might be delayed due to the effects of tropical storm Krosa, which brought heavy rainfall to Japan this past week.
This information was first revealed in a post on the Discord of Jaimini’s Box, a scanlation group, the likes of which was later shared on Reddit. The post stated that the group would not be releasing any scans of the manga that they cover, placing blame on the storm. However, some speculation has come out that the delay is instead due to a recent arrest of a man accused of scanning copies of the manga and leaking it to scanlation groups.
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Tropical storm Krosa made landfall in Japan a couple of days ago. It brought heavy rain, disrupting both rail and air transport, while also leaving at least two people dead. While the storm has now been downgraded to a low pressure system, Japanese officials are still warning citizens of possible landslides and flash flooding.
The disruption of the country’s transport system is the most likely culprit of the delay of this week’s issue of Shonen Jump, assuming the storm is to blame. Some fans are speculating that the delay has a different cause, however: piracy.
Recently, Japanese authorities arrested a 37-year old man in the city of Fukuoka for helping manage a website hosting scanned copies of Shonen Jump’s hit manga One Piece. Police suspect Wataru Adachi of uploading copies of the popular manga to the site Mangamura. Last month, prior to his arrest, police in the Philippines detained Romi Hoshino, Mangamura’s head of operations. Hoshino is currently awaiting deportation back to Japan for trial.
Some Reddit posters are speculating that the delay is due to the Mangamura arrests. However, no one from the scanlation group has stated anything to either refute or support this theory.
More importantly, neither Shonen Jump nor parent company Shuesha have released any statement regarding a delay. We’ve already reached out to Viz Media, who publishes Shonen Jump titles in America, to see if there’s any truth to these reports, and will update this story with any new information.
