In the cutthroat world of Weekly Shonen Jump, the first two dozen chapters of a series are arguably the most important. This is not just because first impressions often last a lifetime, but also due to the fact that these are what go on to form the basis of the first couple of collected volumes: while reader surveys are often said to be the focus of the magazine, recent trends show that volume sales rankings are far more important. Hakutaku is an unfortunate example of what happens when this initial offering isn’t up to scratch.
Despite launching with a decent amount of promise back in September 2024, Kouki Ishikawa’s series about independent game development came to an unceremonious end in last month’s issue no. 10 of Weekly Shonen Jump. The specific way that it ended also made it clear that this wasn’t the original plan: instead of bringing together all of the plot threads and capping off all of the characters’ journeys in a satisfying way, it simply came to a sudden stop. In other words, the classic “their adventure continues” ending.
As to why Hakutaku met this fate, it’s not exactly rocket science. During the week of February 3, the series’ first volume was suspiciously missing from the Shoseki Ranking blog that collates data from a variety of brick and mortar retailers. This means that it most likely sold less than 1200 copies: not an entirely accurate figure and one doesn’t take into account digital storefronts such as Amazon, but none of this exactly paints a picture of incredible enthusiasm from the public.
Such was the abject lack of attention for this series that Kouki Ishikawa’s illustration to celebrate the final chapter only got a measly 66 retweets and 192 likes as of the time of writing. His post to announce the release of the first volume on the same day also only got 45 retweets and 132 likes. Considering that even Kohei Horikoshi’s random pure tweets about missing the timing for a Christmas-themed illustration get more engagement, Hakutaku seems destined to join the litany of other short-lived Jump series cast into the dustbin of history.
It’s usually the case that such series deserve to be forgotten. Manga like Beast Children and Do Retry are so devoid of any redeemable features that you really have to wonder why they were serialized in the first place, but Hakutaku is different. Not only was applying the Bakuman formula to the rich world of independent game development an incredibly promising concept, the dynamic shared between the two main characters mirrored the industry in unexpected and realistic ways.
Where Hakutaku began to unwind, however, was after the arc that introduced the character of Seo. As a former programming prodigy, Seo was an essential addition to the team, but the game he helped developed ended up dragging down the series in the end. This is because despite introducing a new concept for each story arc up until that point, the series chose to stick with Seo’s game for some reason. As a result, variety was sacrificed at the precise moment where the series needed to show off how exciting it could be.
To make matters worse, the game that the series decided to stick with for the rest of its eventual run simply wasn’t that interesting in concept. Known as Hideout Plan, it was an AR game that encouraged players to construct secret bases using objects in the real world: a somewhat unique idea, but not nearly nuanced enough to carry an entire series. What’s more, it didn’t feature any story or character elements for the audience to relate to.
As a point of comparison, Bakuman is very useful. Instead of sticking with one manga at the beginning, Ashirogi Muto developed several different one-shots and storyboards before their first serialization began in the form of Detective Trap. While this was undoubtedly intended to showcase the harsh reality of the industry, it also ensured that there was plenty of variety in the early part of the story: an example that Ishikawa would’ve been wise to follow.
On the one hand, it is possible that Ishikawa simply didn’t see the point of introducing any more game ideas after the Seo arc because Hakutaku was already on the chopping block. Even so, the subsequent trip to Kyoto used the very concept of Hideout Plan to set up concrete conflicts for each character to overcome: Raika was told to be more impatient, Seo found out that he needs to be more focused, while Hikuma realized that he hadn’t figured out what kind of games he even wanted to make. All of this speaks to a very clear plan as to how the story was supposed to develop and almost certainly not an atmosphere of resignation on the author’s part.
If Hakutaku had not restricted itself to just one kind of game, then perhaps it could have acted on this plan to achieve great results. As it stands, though, it’s just another example of Jump’s brutal cancellation policy and the need to put your best foot forward from the very beginning. Other manga artist hopefuls would do well to look and learn.
You can read Hakutaku in English for free via VIZ Media’s Shonen Jump.
