Kohei Horikoshi is a legendary name among mangaka. After all, he created one of the most popular modern shonen of all time — My Hero Academia. MHA follows the story of Izuku Midoriya and shows his rise to becoming the greatest Hero. Sadly, Horikoshi's My Hero Academia story ended in 2024 with the release of its Chapter 430. More recently, its anime ended as well, in December 2025, leaving behind a big gap to fill.
Luckily for many fans of Kohei Horikoshi's work, he made a brief return on August 10, 2026, with a brand new manga series titled “Quit Laughing, Shijima.” Quit Laughing, Shijima was a simple one-shot, but its popularity has been astonishing. So far this week, it ranks as the second-hottest series among all shonen, just behind One Piece and ahead of other big modern ongoing shonen like Dandadan, Spy X Family, and Sakamoto Days. Quit Laughing, Shijima has the potential for a full-fledged serialization and, hopefully, an anime adaptation.
Kohei Horikoshi is quite a popular mangaka, and his magnum opus is My Hero Academia, a shonen series that was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 2014 to 2024. This series especially caught on following its anime adaptation, which came in 2016 by Studio Bones, making it one of the most well-known and iconic anime series globally. Horikoshi’s main manga might have ended, but there was one new project fans were excited to see getting published recently. This new project was a one-shot manga, which, instead of the typical superhero story, told a horror romance.
On August 10, 2026, in Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue #37-38, Horikoshi released Quite Laughing, Shijima, and it has immediately gone on to become a sensation. While we were all curious to see how this new story would perform, it's undeniable that it has already experienced great success on Manga Plus, the biggest manga reading application officially licensed by Shueisha. According to the ratings from Shueisha itself, which have been built up all the way up to August 27, 2026, Kohei Horikoshi's “Quit Laughing, Shijima” has been officially a dominating force among new gen shonen.
Currently, the new hit shonen Manga, Quit Laughing, Shijima, ranks #2 on the hottest tab, after One Piece. This one-shot has been viewed 179.8k times so far. For a one-shot series to be doing so well is impressive, and it must be said that it has also surpassed other big modern shonen. This week, “Quit Laughing, Shijima” has surpassed Dandadan, a series that has been on the rise since its 2024 anime adaptation by Science Saru. Dandadan has been beaten, as it currently stands at 155.1k views for the week. Quit Laughing, Shijima has also surpassed other big hits, including Spy X Family with 139.4k views, Sakamoto Days with 117.4k views, and Kagurabachi with 110.1k views. When looking at the trending tab, it is actually the #1 trending manga on the whole platform, showing the great interest fans have in the one-shot.
Quit Laughing, Shijima was always planned to be a one-shot, and this was made clear by Shueisha before the release of this new hit in Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue #37-38 on August 10, 2026. However, with the grand success it has experienced on Manga Plus and the sales boost it has given Weekly Shonen Jump Double Issue #37-38, it could potentially be a series that could later be expanded. As many fans of Horikoshi who have looked into the story know, the ending allows for an expansion of this new world. In that sense, Horikoshi could be setting up his grand return as a mangaka and continue “Quit Laughing, Shijima” as a full-fledged series.
Mangakas dropping one-shots and then turning them into a full manga is not unheard of. For example, Jujutsu Kaisen's Gege Akutami first released a one-shot for his new sequel story in the final Volume 30 release. This one-shot would introduce us to Yuta's grandkids, Yuka and Tsurugi Okkotsu, and a year later, we were then treated to a new manga covering their stories, known as Jujutsu Kaisen: Modulo. Modulo was not exactly a full-fledged manga and only ran for three volumes over six months, but this kind of short manga serialization could be the perfect path for Horikoshi to undertake, especially if a long manga serialization isn't on the cards for him.
Horikoshi could even collaborate with an artist and just focus on writing the story instead. However, he has previously clarified that he intends to draw his new manga himself. Either way, with its success, Shueisha could potentially push Horikoshi to continue this story, especially right now, when the magazine has hit a new low and fallen under 1 million sales for the first time in decades. With One Piece being the only true pillar of the magazine, it definitely needs a new hit, and this is where Horikoshi could step in.
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