What'll Come After?

[damnz]

Completely Off-Topic: After looking into the matter of the connection with Oda and Hiro Mashima I did find that the rumor of him training for a few weeks under Oda comes from some "interview" that likely doesn't exist. The most popular reasoning for why the art styles are so similar is that while Oda was an assistant to Nobuhiro Watsuki, Hiro Mashima was a good friend at the time too and the thoery is that he took some examples from this time.

On another note, Rave did start about 1/2 year to a year after One Piece but I'd assume Rave was already being drawn as One Piece was coming out.

About that question: Oda and Mashima worked as mates for Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenhsi's author), so they trained together before starting their own manga series.

Now then, back on topic: From looking up this mess, appearently the newest additions to Shonen Jump are Sket Dance, Samurai Usagi, Our Hero Studies, and Belmonde le VisiteuR. There's a small chance one of these will go on the be the next big title.

About the new big series filling Naruto/Bleach hole... well, I think Fairy Tail will do it when it reaches at least the 100 first chapters, but I doubt 666Satan will do, cuz I think it's really too childish and have a lot of non-sense, very different than Naruto and Bleach.

[barbapapa]

Oda and Mashima have no proven relation to each other.
My guess is, at the time One Piece was becoming popular, the editors at Shonen Magazine went out to look for a young artist with a similar artstyle to compete with Jump. Even if he was crappy at the time.

[nxlouco]

666Satan is already finished, at chapter 76. But Fairy Tail could become BIG. I hope Sket Dance gets a little more attention as the time goes on i really like it.

[avafiery]

Naruto's Shippuuden is just here to finish off all the mysteries left off b4 shippuuden. Anyways, there are tons of good manga out there, but none has actually sparked me like the big 3. I wish manga would just come out all in a day. Like all 40 volumes, so I don't have to wait a week for a mere 20 pages. I lose interest if there isn't much to read...