Manga: Jump into the New World with Shonen Jump Alpha!

Prepare for the New World! Pre-Order Shonen Jump Alpha now! 

The end of this month will premiere the debut issue of Shonen Jump Alpha. This will be the best (legal) way to read the latest manga chapters of One Piece and several other Weekly Shonen Jump titles from Japan.

A weekly internet publication is something that One Piece fans have been asking after for years. Shonen Jump Alpha will contain a reliable and accurate translation done by long time One Piece fan and translator, Stephan Paul (Regular contributor on The One Piece Podcast). You get to read a year’s worth of manga from six popular series including One Piece straight from Japan for only $25 dollars a year.

The best part is that you will be going to the New World the right way.

Oda announced at Jump Festa that the Straw Hats will be entering the New World within the year. Even if the Fishman Island arc looks to last a little longer than expected, we still won't have any more unexpected detours similar to what happened with Thriller Bark and Sabaody. Even though Volume 61 and 63 both have the phrase 'New World' as their subtitle, it doesn't mean we are or have been in the New World. Why go into the New World with a translation that is shoddy when you can have a translation that is done by a real professional that has experience with the series.

Viz wants to make sure that this goes well. They are putting everything on the line by making Shonen Jump go digital and eliminating the print edition. It is sad to see the print edition go away because it is always nice to have a physical form for reading something as great as One Piece. Instead, we are going to get something that is prompt, legal and of high quality. Viz could have just continued from where they left off in the printed edition. Instead, they are going to release new chapters straight from Japan. It may be two weeks behind the Japanese release but this is a big privilege considering Japanese companies have a tendency to be tight about distribution of their material, but there is hope that the release may become more simultaneous. There is even a possibility we may receive more titles from Weekly Shonen Jump such as Sket Dance and Gintama.

Viz has already started to hasten the upload of digital manga for most of the titles that will be in Shonen Jump Alpha. If you have only been following the Shonen Jump One Piece release then you can purchase Volumes 1 through 63 right now with Volume 64 coming soon to start catching up.

There is no excuse for anybody living in the United States who loves One Piece to avoid subscribing to Shonen Jump Alpha. We are going to enter a new era of the series with the best possible way to read it. Viz is a big player in the English manga industry which offers some of the biggest titles from Japan for a cheap price. We have to support this, which is why starting with Chapter 652 we are going to follow the Shonen Jump Alpha release. So make sure to subscribe to Shonen Jump Alpha to be part of this and get all the extras that come with it.

We are truly entering the New World of manga.