Service Wars: Unedited Audio and Recording Notes

Intro

• <Jordan says something about David being out>

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• Dylan: Welcome to this episode of Shonen Flop, where we talk about manga in Shonen Jump that didn’t make it big

• Dylan: I’m Dylan

• Jordan: I’m Jordan

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• But this week we’re talking about Service Wars and I’m joined by my guest Dylan!

• Guest: 30-second intro

Manga Details

Manga Details

• Tsurun Hatomune

  • Hah-toe-mɯ-nay, Tsɯ-rɯn

  • Huh, is this a pen name? I’m not finding any reference to it, but it feels kinda made up. “Hato-mune” means “pigeon breast,” and Tsurun is very close to “tsuru,” which means “crane” (the bird you make in origami). The author’s first major work, I believe, was also titled “The Naked Swan,” so perhaps this is a pen name chosen to pair with that original work?

  • Maxy B has confirmed that it is a pen name, and his editor hates it, apparently

  • Notable people they were an assistant for

    • None Known

  • Notable people they had as assistants

    • None Known

  • Other works

    • A Naked Swan (2017-2018, 4 volumes, Shonen Jump Plus)

      • Kakeru Shiratori is a beautiful high school student who excels at everything, but carries a dark secret: dude’s an exhibitionist. A comedic series of mishaps as Kakeru tries to get his nude on without getting caught and having his reputation ruined! Originally intended to be a one-volume work, but due to its positive reception it ran a full year.

    • Mitama Security: Spirit Busters (2019-2020, 5 volumes, Weekly Shonen Jump)

      • The frequently haunted Rena Haze is in for the time of her life when Joh Mitama moves in next door, an exorcist who’s SCARED OF GHOSTS. Chaos and comedy ensues. Shonen Flop episode 11.

• Publishing

  • Magazine/Website:

    • Shonen Jump Plus (Manga Plus internationally)

  • Run Dates: 

    • March 26, 2023 to December 3rd, 2023

  • Series it replaced

• Not how Jump Plus works

• Series that replaced it

  •  Not how Jump Plus works

• Series that started around the same time as it

  • The Pension Life Vampire by Shoichi Taguchi (4 vols)

• Chapters/Volumes: 

  • 37 chapters/4 volumes

About the Manga

• Plot

  •  The Ajimaru ramen shop is in trouble. The place, run by Iwao and his daughter Renge is in serious debt and exists in a mostly dead shopping district. One day a man collapses outside of their restaurant, but when they try and feed him he turns the tables on them and instead serves them. His name is Nasunosuke and he is a wandering waiter. In gratitude for giving him food he starts working, brining in a ton of customers including a famous complainer who demands food and service be given in a short amount of time. Despite his high standards Nasunosuke defeats him by delivering extremely high quality customer service thanks to his aubergine eyes which are like the sharingan for customer service, given to him by Omotanasu, the goddess of Hospitality. Soon they begin attracting the attention of CLAIM, an evil organization of professional complainers who destroy restaurants with bad reviews and were hired by the Heaven and Eye organization who wishes to run every shop out of the district to turn it into a shopping mall. The first person they meet is a woman named blanket who complains about temperature and is an old flame of Nasunosuke’s. After servicing the hell out of her she falls back in love with him and decides to help the ramen shop, but just then the rest of CLAIM shows up to intimidate them before riding out of the manga on their bicycles. Scoping out the district, they discover a punk bagel shop run by Bagel who serves bagels with chocolate nails in them and joins their team after Nasunosuke displays perfect customership. After saving a woman who was brainwashed into overworking, the group meets Tajima, a salesman at Heaven and Eye who tricks people into working for them by using big business words. Nasunosuke defeats him by forcing him to take a break. 

  • Tajima then invites Nasunosuke to the mandatory tournament arc: the King of Service. If he wins then Heaven and Eye will pay for Ajimaru’s renovation and continued upkeep, but if he loses then they will continue their harassment until they’re driven out of business. Nasunosuke accepts, and in the tournament meets Lowsen, a legendary convenience store clerk, Yoneki, a muscle bound flight attendant/instagram e-girl, Soejima, a security guy, Professor Pomeranian, a teacher who wears a Pomeranian mask, Yago, a genius doctor, QQ, a literal serial killer who believes that killing people is the ultimate service, and Corn, Nasunosuke’s former co-worker and rival who works at a host club. During the matches the service workers reveal that they can use “service energy” to create jjk style domain expansion where they can bring people into their own service areas. After a few rounds the finals consist of Nasunosuke, Corn, QQ, and Soejima. Corn and Soejima are knocked out while Nasunosuke uses his Aubergine eyes to determine that QQ used to be an incredible service worker named Q, but after being hit in the head was given the Super Service Serum, or SSS by Kanemizu, the president of Heaven and Eye, which drove him insane. Nasunosuke summons Omotenasu to reignite his love of service and turn him back to normal. Just then Kanemizu makes Tajima grow into a giant kaiju and all the service workers fight him, making them both fly off to Egypt. Three years later, Q works for Ajimaru since he technically didn’t kill anyone even though he definitely did, Mai married Bagel despite definitely still being in love with Nasunosuke, Yoneki and Corn are seemingly together, and Nasunosuke resumed wandering the earth. The last page shows Nasunosuke delivering a giant squid to a whale.

• Characters

  •  Nasunosuke- 

    • A wandering sam- I mean waiter 

    • Aubergine eyes

  • Renge 

    • Daughter of Ajimaru’s owner 

    • Basically audience surrogate

  • Blanket and Bagel 

  • Corn 

    • Nasunosuke’s rival

  • QQ 

    • A notably androgenous former service worker who pushed himself too hard & was corrupted by evil goo

    • Definitely killed people

Why it Failed- jordan

• Escalation from somewhat realistic “life of a service worker” to “Oh god this is a world-ending threat” happened way too quickly, needed more room to expand the story

• Blew it’s load early by introducing a dozen complainers at once & exposition dumping

• Devolved into a shonen battle manga w/ only the veneer of its original customer service theme

What it Did Well - Dylan

• Complaining customers were spot-on

• Art is a step up from Mitama Security

• Puns that translated really well (honestly just a solid translation)

Where it Could Have Gone- jordan

• Kept things grounded & been more of a monster of the week type manga where each complaining customer is more of a puzzle instead of something that’s immediately handled, while slowly revealing the world around them & Heaven & Eye’s sinister plot

Misc Thoughts - Dylan

•  The mangaka really loves gummies, doesn’t he? 

• Maxy Bee thoughts: This is Hatomune’s first series without editor Junichi Tamada, who had been working alongside him since his first submission to the Akatsuka awards in 2011, but had to move on after being transferred to Shueisha’s Dash Books division.

Hatomune is often mistaken for a woman because of his art style, as a major part of his study for A Naked Swan involved reading and learning from copies of Bessatsu Margaret.

Final Verdict

• Six Word summary

  • Community

    • Tucker: Serving cun…tinuous reader satisfaction and eggcellence 

    • Maxybee: Serviceable silly story, weird wacky wars

    • Spike: Even revenge won’t be served cold

    • Glornak Ironspawn: Customer service is my personal hell

    • Kpt.Kluless: Truly a Dinner and a Show

    • Riel: What do your eggplant eyes see

    • AuraPaladin: Promising shopping district remains tragically underdeveloped

    • Blahmoomoo: Service so great that it’s hilarious

    • Sbubby: Hato-sensei where can I tip you?

    • Portal man: They gave Gordon Ramsey a manga?

    • Quack: My eggplant eyes see wasted potential

    • Redblade: Bishounen battle to please peoples problems

    • Duderocks the earthchild stan: Karen’s destroyed (by great customer service)

    • The Wolf The Wood The Trafalgar: Better Food Wars but less horny

    • David: Oh hey I can submit one

    • Sandmandf: This is my six word summary

    • GreyPotter King of Questions: Genius host attains true eggplant deification

    • Thores (aka Daniel): Rizzly Bear. 10 out of 10.

    • Carbon: Strongest customer service employee of today

    • Watchtower Y:LAD (Yakuza: Like a Dragon) Business Management Minigame: Manga Edition

    • Spook (Sir Skelington): No Summer (summary?) this week, am fasting

    • Andyroid17: Don’t remember that part of 1984

  • Dylan: Here it's service or be serviced

  • Jordan: oh I remember customers like this