2025 has been a chaotic year for Weekly Shonen Jump, with several manga cancellations as sales and viewership keep dropping off the charts. Ever since it was launched in 1968, Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump has serialized several iconic series, including Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, and many more. WSJ eventually became the best-selling manga magazine of all time, and even now, it continues to stay on top with several hit series such as Jujutsu Kaisen and My Hero Academia that redefine modern Shonen. It’s also incredible that among the 23 manga series in history that have sold more than 100 million copies, 12 of them were from WSJ.
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While only a handful of Weekly Shonen Jump series engraved their mark in history, several other shows that were considered classics end up eventually being forgotten by readers. Additionally, the underrated series that don’t often produce impressive results are often axed. Despite the ever-growing manga industry, WSJ is facing a major crisis as it’s unable to produce more groundbreaking hits like Kagurabachi and Ichi the Witch as of late. This is why the number of cancellations has been quite alarming this year, and one more might join the list.
Otr of the Flame Shares Disappointing Sales Update
According to the latest sales report, Otr of the Flame by Yuki Kawaguchi didn’t even sell 3,000 copies in the first week of November. The report comes from @WSJ_manga on X, a famous account known for sharing all kinds of updates on Shonen Jump series. The account also confirms that the sales of Otr of the Flame are even lower than Kaedegami, another fantasy series that got axed in October this year, before even releasing its first volume. At the very least, the difference in sales isn’t much, but it’s still worth noting that a cancelled series got more attention than an ongoing one.
Otr of the Flame has released two volumes so far in Japan, and the sales keep dropping. The manga is also expected to release its third volume next quarter, along with the rest of the WSJ series. While the sales are disappointing, the account also mentions that the overall sales have been low this time around. The only series that showed impressive results is One Piece, selling over 600 thousand copies. This means that while Shueisha won’t cancel the series right off the bat, the threat will still linger for a while until it shows better results in the upcoming weeks.
This action fantasy has a small but dedicated fan base, even though the score is still below 7 on MyAnimeList, which is considered average. The manga debuted in May 2025 and has released only 26 chapters so far. While Kawaguchi has released several one-shots before, this is the second serialized series so far. The manga creator released The Hunters Guild: Red Hood in 2021, which was also serialized in WSJ. Unfortunately, it was cancelled in the same year without even getting a chance to release 25 chapters.
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Image courtesy of Focus Features.
