The Shrine

I remember this series used to be the anti-HXH since the author never missed a part in 3 or 5 or something years, and now it seems like every 3 weeks OP gets delayed once. But unlike say Ravages of Time or HXH where the story is complicated enough that it is conceiveable the author needed some time to think about what to do next, the story in OP can be written by a 10 year old so I don't see that as a valid excuse. Of course, I know Naruto and Bleach have been delayed recently too and the story in those can be written by a trained monkey, so who knows what's going on.

I know sometimes stuff like that happens when the author gets burned out but that doesn't seem like it fits OP here. Or maybe the guy just has so much money he decided to do something else besides drawing manga.

Word on the street is that the manga industry is freaking out cause Bleach/Naruto/One Piece are holding everything up, and Naruto/Bleach are ending "soon".

Har somebody posted this on 2chan apparently, weeks missed per year.

　　　　　　　OP　　naruto　bleach　 gintama　reborn　 hXh
1997　　　０　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　.　　
1998　　　０　　 　　　　　 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 　　　　　　　３
1999　　　０　　　　０　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 15
2000　　　０　　　　２　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 13
2001　　　１　　　　２　　　　　　０　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　16
2002　　　２　　　　３　　　　　　０　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　18
2003　　　３　　　　１　　　　　　０　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　10
2004　　　３　　　　３　　　　　　２　　　　　０　　　　　　　０　　　　26
2005　　　３　　　　３　　　　　　２　　　　　０　　　　　　　０　　　　17
2006　　　４　　　　１　　　　　　０　　　　　１　　　　　　　０　　　　44
2007　　　４　　　　１　　　　　　０　　　　　０　　　　　　　０　　　　40
2008　　　４　　　　２　　　　　　１　　　　　１　　　　　　　０　　　　28
2009　　　７　　　　１　　　　　　１　　　　　０　　　　　　　０　　　　47

2010　　　８　　　　３　　　　　　３　　　　　２　　　　　　　０　　　　27

Maybe the big 3 wised up from HXH and realized they can still rule the world while not working at all. I wouldn't count on Bleach ending anytime soon. Any time now Aizen will reveal that he has 3 brothers and he's only the weakest one out of them, and that the dangerous man who was behind all this is... Toshiro Hitsugaya. Naruto probably still got at least a good solid 15 volumes to go. Shonen Jump is kind of stagant but then it's not like there's anybody good to replace the current stuff with. The fact HXH is #3 on sales per volume basis from Shonen Jump (beating Bleach) even though most people can't tell you what happened in the volume before the latest since that's 3 years ago. They recently got the guy who did Prince of Tennis to do some short story to try to stimulate some sales!

I think part of the commercialization of manga. Dragonball at 42 volumes was considered an ultra long series and yet any of the big 3 are longer than that by far, and really none of the big 3 is as good as Dragonball was. You basically have guys dragging out stuff longer than they should and it's clearly way over their ability but they can't stop because Shonen Jump wants to milk its cash cows, and I'm wondering if even OP is getting tired of doing exactly the same thing every single volume over and over and over and over and over again. Not to mention the big 3 authors all seem to work pretty hefty hours, unlike say, Togashi, so it might actually be stressful too.

Is Shonen Jump the only game in town? I thought there were tons of manga companies out there.

They're by far the biggest weekly serial and with Full Metal Alchemist ending there's pretty much nothing that's remotely on the same volume of sales compared to Shonen Jump serialized anywhere else.