Cancelled Shonen Jump Creator Breaks Silence on Anticipated Return

Weekly Shonen Jump surprised fans with the return of Atsushi Nakamura for his third serialization. April is by far the most exciting month of the year so far, as the magazine releases three new series each week. On April 5th, Roku’s House of Oddities by Atsushi Nakamura will debut, followed by Satosho Masayoshi’s Drawn to the Fire on April 12th. Finally, April 19th marks the highly anticipated return of Hideaki Sorachi, the legendary mangaka best known for Gintama, one of the most iconic Shonen series of all time. His new series, Class 2-B Hero Destroyerz, is a fantasy comedy where the demon king has been driven out of his castle by the heroes.

Roku’s House of Oddities is a hilarious horror story about a boy who has been cursed five times. Nakamura has been working as a mangaka for more than a decade, known for a few series and one-shots, but never gained the recognition he deserved until now. With his latest series, he shares a special message for readers.

Roku’s House of Oddities’ Creator Shares a Message For Readers

In every chapter of a WSJ manga being serialized, the author adds a special note for fans, which is always shared by the official website of Viz Media in its Mangaka Musings section. The author’s note shared alongside the manga’s debut included a message from Nakamura. He shared, “This is my third serialization, but I plan to attack this with a rookie mindset and focus on making the characters as appealing as possible.”

His first series, Kurokuroku, was serialized in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine in 2013 and concluded in the same year when it didn’t gain enough popularity. The mangaka returned with Agravity Boys in 2019, which was serialized for longer but still ended in only 59 chapters. Both series remain under the radar despite being serialized in the most popular manga magazine in Japan. This time, however, Nakamura’s new series is off to a promising start, and it just might be his breakthrough.

What Is Roku’s House of Oddities About?

The story centers around Seiroku Akari, a first-year high school student and a member of the science club. Due to his love for science, he doesn’t believe in urban legends and has been trying to debunk them. He learns about The Moonlit Tales of Kokubunji, which originated from five stories about living curses. The legend says that by executing five special rituals over five days, one can break the seals and free those spirits.

He attempted that ritual only to prove the legend wrong, but ended up being cursed by those stories. What follows is a hilarious set of events as the spirits live with the boy since they have nowhere else to go. The manga has released three chapters so far and is available to read on the official app of Manga Plus.

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