The beginning of a new week can only mean one thing: time for new Weekly Shonen Jump! This is where Jacob investigates the latest and greatest in the magazine, telling you what’s worth your time and what’s not. You can find coverage of other series under the tag Jump Time. Here’s High School Family chapter 31.
It was bound to happen at some point: now that Kotaro’s mom Shizuka is a high schooler, one of her classmates has a crush on her. Charmed by her maternal ways, Takebayashi finally works up the courage to tell Kotaro and ask him what to do, which (predictably) doesn’t go down too well. That being said, it turns out that Takebayashi might not like her romantically after all, and so High School Family chapter 31 dives into a bunch of strange gags that may or may not be fetishes.
To be honest, I’ve been searching for an excuse to feature High School Family for a while now, because I haven’t talked about it since last October. Simply put: although Ryo Nakama’s latest series didn’t impress me upon launch, it has since improved to become a very consistent source of gags, laughs, and even a touch of family drama. This latest chapter doesn’t contain any of that last thing, but it is pretty funny.
As a result of talking it through with Kotaro, Takebayashi realizes that he doesn’t really like Shizuka in a romantic way: instead, what he wants is a mom, being raised by a single father. Somehow, Kotaro manages to then rope his mom into fulfilling Takebayashi’s desires, reenacting all the key stages of his life in High School Family chapter 31 with Shizuka by his side.
This includes, yes, regressing all the way back to being a baby and being pushed around in a pram, which is literally a fetish called age play. I gotta say, Weekly Shonen Jump is teaching the kids some weird kinks these days, but it’s pretty funny, so I’ll allow it.
A lot of the chapters prior to High School Family chapter 31 have been about Kotaro’s dad Ichirou and his adventures as the volleyball club’s lackey, so it’s good to see a different character receive some of the spotlight. Perhaps now that Nine Dragons’ Ball Parade is up and at ‘em, there’s no need for Ryo Nakama to fill the sports-shaped hole, however wacky and nonsensical his way may be.
You can read High School Family chapter 31 for free via VIZ Media.