Warning! Contains spoilers for Chapter 17 of Crypto Academy!Many Shonen dance manga takes an innovative approach to classic Shonen battles, but a new series turns everything into a battle. That series is Nisioisin and Yuji Iwasaki’s Crypto Academy, following Iroha Irohazaka as he fights for survival in a fierce code-breaking academy. The series has used these codes as its own unique form of Shonen combat, and the latest chapter has shown just how versatile this really is.
In chapter 17, translated by Dan Luffey, the Crypto Academy has an officially banned recovery date in which all crypto battles are banned. At first, this seems like a great day to relax, students can participate in a variety of recreational activities. But when the students started thinking about what to do, they realized that everything from sports to games to reading could turn into a crypto war and therefore be banned. In the end, they decided to spend the day making the cake from scratch, using a recipe that was too close to the code for comfort. But at the end of the chapter, another student Kogoe remarked that they had effectively deciphered the atmosphere of doubt left behind by the Academy’s final important test. Which means even this was a crypto battle all the time.
Even relaxation can be a battle in Cipher Academy
This is not the first innovative use of Crypto Academy’s battle system. The manga just ended an arc whose battle using an easy murder mystery game is Shonen Jump’s most convoluted storyline. Previous battles have also relied heavily on puns, resulting in chapters of the Crypto Academy not being translated into English. But this chapter demonstrates that while these battles can be very complex, it is the simplicity of their concept, just decoding or solving puzzles, that allows the manga to apply these battles to most. everything that makes it so unique.
Most of the time when a series innovates according to Shonen’s fighting manga concept, it applies the characteristics of the genre to new competitions. From sports manga like Slam Dunk to much newer “performance” manga like PPPPPP and Akane-banashi that turn art into battle, many Shonen Jump series have completely redefined what fighting is all about. But even these creative skirmishes are strictly defined and cannot be applied to everything. However, Crypto Academy has broken free from this constraint and now the series can go in unpredictable new directions thanks to it.
The Crypto Academy completely redefines the concept of Shonen matches
It is this freedom that makes Cipher Academy one of Shonen Jump’s most exciting new series. While some fans may think this approach makes the series too confusing or complicated, even they can’t deny that the series is doing something new and unique. Hopefully more manga in the future will mimic Cipher Academy’s looser approach to Shonen battles. If they do, the future Shonen dance the series could even become more unpredictable and exciting, pushing the boundaries of the Shonen genre even further.
Chapter 17 Crypto Academy available from Viz Media.
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