Yeah, that's more or less what I thought as this arc continued to progress (although this is the first time I think Tsukuda ever admitted Megumi had a chance at the better half of the series). All I hope he doesn't degrade Megumi by having her end up with Takumi or something stupid like that. Edit: I mean, for real, Takumi is like Yamcha who still thinks he can keep up with the big leagues. Seriously, no.
I would've liked some indication however in regards to where Megumi's future character arc would be going after being on the freeze for 2 years now, but I guess after his "Megashima will have something totally important to do!" statement, I should probably not get my hopes up.
Of course, regardless of shipping, the interview is correct that as the series went on, the rom-bit of the romcom started falling to the way side in favour of the serialised storyline, so it was became a side detour to the core of the series.
The interview in general is super cool though, in particular learning about the creative process for the series and how much input each one on the team has on the chapters. I also liked there was a lot of focus on how the food creation and selection was given, since this was a major draw for the series for me since the very beginning. I'm really happy to see more talk about that, since I know in general the fandom doesn't really like exploring it that much.
It doesn't surprise me to learn that Tsukuda had writers block either (and I am amazed at how the interviewer managed to mention that, she's done her research for sure!).
Cool interview. Thanks for the link.
Isobee Isobee survival/continuation is tied more to it being pure comedy, similar to how Jaguar survived all those years or that Penguin manga for like half a decade in the magazine. There is always a consideration given to how each series affect the structure and make up of the magazine, and the editorial (for whatever reason) seem to believe that a comedy manga needs to be at the end of each issue of Jump in order to make it a complete reading experience.
In general, it does seem things are stable outside of My Hero which seems to be steadily growing, while Black Clover and Promised Neveralnd having the biggest potential to blow up out of the current line up. Not a bad position to be in.
World Trigger, I feel that it would largely depend on how the comeback is framed. D. Gray Man I think is the series most comparable to it in terms of hiatus affecting it, and it did show positive or stable sales once it came back at the time as a monthly series and also when the Hallow anime was announced. Of course, given the disaster that second anime series turned out to be, I wouldn't try and say it will be one-to-one, but I think World Trigger has some more room to grow. Never going to be a heavy hitter, but it can have a good run still.
That is, as much as i hate to say it, if it comes back
This is sort of a tangent, but Aaronrules's link did remind about the digital sales through things like Jump Plus (and how series such as the Food Wars spin off re:Shinomiya are doing sales wise) and I begun to wonder if we are ever going to have a breakdown for that data, as well as how the digital make up of sales are broken down through each different online retailer.
This is why I think it had been becoming more and more difficult to gauge the impact new series truly have sales wise and also what the true number for older series currently. Obviously stuff like Astra: Lost in Space and eLdlive would find a home in the digital retail space than in the physical one (as evident by the sale numbers of their volumes) but for a truly huge series like One Piece, how many people had converted to being digital only or have become physical-digital buyers like for World Trigger, as an example.
