It’s been a while since I’ve settled down with a nice long shounen manga series. Not to say I’m a shounen n00bie – I followed most of the ongoing series featured in the Taiwanese equivalent of Shounen Jump back in middle/high. So I’ve had my dosages of Rurouni Kenshin (adored), Hunter x Hunter (ok until it turned really weird), Shaman King (ok until it turned utterly convoluted/uninteresting), etc. And then more recently D.Gray-man (dropped but will hopefully pick up again someday?)… I think it’s fair to say lately I only pick up shounen if I like the character design, or have seen many pretty scans floating around and really want to wall said scans. AKA I usually read shounen to satisfy my silly “no-walling-unless-read-or-watched” rule, less so because I’m dying of curiosity about the plot.
But then there was Bleach – undoubtedly the longest shounen series I’ve managed to stick out recently (I’m up to chapter 201 now! xD). While marathoning/slugging through the story I find myself constantly being reminded of all the things I both love and hate about shounen manga.