Shonen Jump’s Ichi the Witch Almost Started a Feud Between Magazines

Less than a year into its debut, Ichi the Witch by Osamu Nishi is already becoming the talk of the town, with many seeing the series as Shonen Jump’s next big hit. More importantly, with My Hero Academia and Jujutsu Kaisen concluding their stories only a month apart, Ichi the Witch’s release last September was perfectly poised to fill the void left by these two giants, and the coming years could very well see the series become a pillar of Weekly Shonen Jump. Ichi the Witch has evidently shown great promise from the very start, so much so that Shonen Champion and Shonen Jump both desperately wanted to publish the series, as revealed by their respective editors-in-chief themselves.

In a recent interview, Hideo Matsuyama, the editor-in-chief of Weekly Shonen Champion, and Yu Saito, the editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump, were asked how Ichi the Witch came to be published in Shonen Jump and whether Osamu Nishi had any prior discussions with Shonen Champion before making the move to Jump. In response, Matsuyama revealed this was something the two editors could have had a fight to the death over. He further revealed that he was surprised when he found out Nishi was going to publish a new series in Jump and that he wanted to intervene. However, after finding out that it was Nishi’s decision, he prayed with all his heart that the deal with Jump would fall through instead, stating the hilarious reason that Jump manga taught him not to bully the weak.

[RELATED: Ichi the Witch Has a Special Surprise in Its Next Release for Fans]

Weekly Shonen Champion Wanted to Publish Ichi the Witch Instead

The interview in question comes from a roundtable discussion between the editors-in-chief of Shonen Jump, Shonen Champion, Shonen Magazine, and Shonen Sunday as part of the Manga Review Contest organized by the Japan Publishing Industry Foundation for Culture held on March 15th, 2025. These four publications are commonly regarded as the “Big Four” of shonen manga and are often in fierce competition with one another.

Seeing as Osamu Nishi’s other work, Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, is currently being serialized in Shonen Champion, the interview gives fans interesting insight into what went on behind the scenes with Nishi’s move to Jump, which would have been a huge deal for Shonen Champion. Though not as well known outside of Japan, Nishi’s other notable series, Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, continues to be one of Shonen Champion’s top-selling series, hitting 17 million copies back in circulation across 40 volumes back in November 2024. The series has also spawned an anime, which is soon expecting its fourth season and has acquired a decently sized following that more than makes up for its size in pure passion for the series.

As such, it makes sense that Shonen Champion was not eager to let Nishi go. In the interview, Yu Saito, the current editor-in-chief of Shonen Jump, reveals that Nishi had discussed proposing the series to Shonen Jump after discussing the matter with Shonen Champion’s editorial department. According to Saito, he saw this as a win-win situation since Nishi did not stop serializing Iruma-kun at the same time, though he also hilariously stated being unable to look editor Matsumaya in the eye while saying so.

Ichi the Witch May Not Have Gotten the Same Exposure Without Shonen Jump

While it is amazing to see Osamu Nishi’s work finally receive the exposure it deserves, it is sad to think that Ichi the Witch might have flown completely under the radar if it hadn’t been published on Shonen Jump. Weekly Shonen Champion boasts a multitude of gems that often become global favorites when adapted into anime.

Look no further than Baki, Beastars, Saint Seiya, Nishi’s own Welcome to Demon School Iruma-kun, and Tougen Anki, which, since its recent anime announcement, is already grabbing eyeballs. However, with manga itself still being quite niche outside of Japan and Shonen Champion falling behind Jump in the localization game, these manga, despite how great they may be, fail to gain traction among global readers. That said, hopefully, Ichi the Witch will draw attention to Osamu Nishi’s body of work as a whole, as well as other wonderful Shonen Champion manga waiting to be discovered.

Ichi the Witch is available to read on Manga Plus and Viz Media’s Shonen Jump reader app.

Source: Manganou.