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One Piece 586
[chapter link]
Smoker and Hina! And a camel taxi.
Poor Sabo. Also, it’s strange and somewhat unnerving to be in the midst of a Luffy flashback during scenes like this. Usually, for One Piece flashbacks, Luffy is in the present time, ready to act on the injustice he learns. Now, present-day Luffy is incapacitated and would have neither a fresh reason nor the immediate ability to take revenge for Sabo, and flashback Luffy is too weak. It’s an odd feeling, knowing that whatever happens to Luffy here is probably left that way for the rest of his character history.
Stelly looks… weird. He’s a mix of cute, ugly, and evil. Bizarre.
This is rough. I feel awful for the kids.
Unsurprisingly, the pirates were set up. Still, they had it coming.
Please tell me that’s Dragon.
… that’s Dragon and (presumably) his wife. Luffy’s mom. Whoa.
Final Flash: Sabo not only avoids death but is probably still with Dragon in present time, and we get the first glimpse of who we can only assume is Luffy’s mom. Amazing. Also, so much for there not being anyone available to deliver much-needed retribution.
Lock On! 13
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Last chapter was surprisingly good. Well, good for Lock On!, anyway. Let’s hope the author builds on that.
A rival club? It has potential, I suppose. Arata (the cocky underclassman) could serve as a decent comic foil to Utsuru.
P4, bottom-left panel: See, this kind of stark panel would work excellently if Lock On! regularly had competent backgrounds.
Lots of festival/competition types of storylines in shonen manga right now. It’s almost as though that’s what’s happening in Japanese schools right now.
Yuki is a little too gullible, even for her role as the gullible kindhearted friend.
P16, bottom-right panel: Sadly, what’s clearly supposed to be a touching moment is ruined by the art style. This looks like My First Manga. Take off the training wheels already, Tsuchida.
Rival status confirmed.
Final Flash: I still feel Arata has some potential, but that’s not saying much in a series that began like a sinking ship. That potential needs to be realized quickly.
Beelzebub 61
[chapter link]
Really like the shot of all of them lined up, with Furuichi cowering.
Furuichi is the leader!
Sports festival? Not sure I like how we’re continuing to take the focus away from the fights that were started.
The clause that the captains will be stripped of their status if they lose makes me curious about how long the setting will be this school. We still have the Demon World to return to.
Izuma was in on the whole thing. I’m glad he’s developing into a serious villain.
Hildegarde! We haven’t seen her nearly enough recently.
Final Flash: Not an awful setup chapter, but still a considerable letdown from the fighting. Hilda’s arrival creates interesting theories about her role in the upcoming fig– er, I mean, sports festival.
Bakuman 86
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This is it.
Positive reactions right off the bat. Hoping not to be swerved.
P3, bottom-right panel: Priceless expression.
Ooh, that cake is appetizing.
Whoa, Azuki can bake! Crafty little move there by Kaya.
That is such an amazing gift idea. How sweet.
It’s rather amusing to see a legal notice about a Wham/George Michael song in manga.
And there’s the swerve. I’m not at all surprised to see that it’s not being voted in unanimously, but for it to have to be judged as superior to Crow and Natural at the meeting is harsh.
Of course it came down to chief. Another cliffhanger.
Final Flash: I enjoyed the heartwarming Mashiro/Azuki stuff, but at the same time, I really want to find out if Perfect Crime Club gets in. Having to wait at least one more week hurts.
Hunter x Hunter 309
[chapter link]
Pouf may have unknowingly triggered some more memories in the King.
Regarding the entire concept of Pouf trying to hide the girl: I’m expecting the King to find her, obviously, and I’m slightly worried that this storyline could be Togashi’s way out of the corner he’s in right now, with the King overwhelmingly more powerful than everyone else. If he finds the girl and decides he shouldn’t fight, or becomes weak, or anything of that nature, I’ll be disappointed.
This game is just another way to stretch for time, which is completely unwanted right now. Let’s get the King fighting someone already.
Too much internal monologue from Palm. This isn’t Death Note.
Ikarugo and Werefin end the chapter? Does Togashi hate his own main characters or something?
Final Flash: Dull, wordy, and a general waste of time.
Naruto 495
[chapter link]
Naruto rapping on the cover page does not fill me with confidence.
P3, top-right panel: This panel is to be saved for posterity.
The entire discourse between Naruto and Dark Naruto is poor. No specifics to comment about. Just poor.
Those guys were just sitting there watching him? That’s… bizarre.
We’re done with the pre-training arc stuff. Now, to the actual training arc. I’m a little depressed to say that.
Final Flash: Not a good chapter, and very little to talk about, but at least we’re moving forward.
One Piece 585
[chapter link]
I suppose Magellan and Hannyabal don’t have any other friends.
Despite not being a huge fan of flashbacks, and despite wanting to move forward with the present-time storyline, I’m enjoying this flashback now. It’s fun to see kid Luffy devising attacks but not yet being able to pull them off.
Oda seems to be having fun writing this, too. One Piece rarely features so many narrative boxes.
Sabo is the son of a noble, and he’s passionate about becoming a free pirate. Sorry, kid, but your fate is sealed.
Several pages of bittersweet scenes of three brothers. This would feel completely different if it had been before Ace’s death. Sorry for doubting you, Oda.
Sabo’s father in cahoots with Bluejam. Next chapter should be the climax of the flashback.
Final Flash: A very different kind of One Piece chapter. More narrative, extended stretches of allowing the art to speak without dialogue. Reminds me of some old Calvin & Hobbes Sunday strips. Very much a “feel” chapter, and a good one.
Bleach 404
[chapter link]
Sadly, our wish of “Bleach 404” being a missing chapter error message did not come true.
Well, five pages in, and it feels like the chapter’s missing. Nothing happening. Just staring.
Unnecessary and ill-timed comic relief between Yoruichi and Kisuke.
Tired of seeing extreme close-ups of these three. If you’re going to kill someone off, hurry the hell up and do it. It’s not like there’s going to be any impact anyway; might as well get it over with.
Oh, right, Ichigo’s here.
Again, Gin is spot on in his remarks about Ichigo. Gin is easily the only tolerable character left in this series.
P16, middle panel: I’m sorry, is that supposed to be an attack? Is that art supposed to convey anything?
Ichigo, already useless, resorts to Hollow mode. Great.
There’s Matsumoto again. Do something this time.
Final Flash: Typical putrid Bleach.
Beelzebub 60
[chapter link]
Color page: Colors are pretty good, but this isn’t the most flattering example of this mangaka’s art. Too many of Oga and Toujou’s features look similar.
Page 5, top-left panel: Oga’s willing to fight! Excellent.
So Izuma not only dodges Toujou, but somehow hits his arm in such a way that it’s smoking? Scary.
Not sure how I feel about Toujou shrugging off Miki’s attack. It’s a cool scene, but I thought we’d already established that Oga was above Toujou.
Deathmatch. Yeah, Izuma is scary.
Furuichi! Back to chasing girls, too. Can’t go wrong, here.
Expulsion? That can’t actually happen, can it?
Final Flash: Some cool moments, but it’s very disappointing not to see any of the fights resolved.
Toriko 94
[chapter link]
Well, that’s one way to start a chapter. Bare ass. Full color, too.
Color spread: So much pink! The large character behind Toriko looks a lot like Blackbeard from One Piece, too.
“And my completely dead three subordinates” is an amusing line. They’re not just dead. They’re completely dead.
Page 5, third row, right panel: Toriko is uncharacteristically adorable here.
Butterfly Therapies… yet more interesting ideas used only in passing. Great touch.
As expected, Setsuna foreshadows an interesting development with the wall penguin child.
Nice to see Toriko walking around casually without an arm. I expect him to get his arm back soon, but in the meantime, this is good.
Onsen Sharks! Creative.
The first person in our world to successfully genetically engineer Diet Fish will make a fortune.
Love that Sani was so focused on himself that he didn’t notice Toriko’s missing arm.
… whoa. I was more right with that Blackbeard comment than I expected. Yosaku is practically the spitting image of Teach. Weird.
Final Flash: Fun transitional chapter with many great new species.
Naruto 494
Was not looking forward to this flashback at all, so entering with low expectations.
Just as expected: halfway through the chapter, and this has all felt pointless. We already know how tailed beasts ruin kids’ lives. We saw that whole flashback with the title character of the series. Speaking of which, can we go back to him already?
There he is, brooding over the awful truth of this world: That everyone hates you until you save their asses multiple times.
The squid moment elicited a half-smile from me, but I can’t help but feel like this isn’t the time for humor.
Really don’t care at all about Motoi.
And Motoi’s issues with Bee are resolved? How? Was Bee listening the whole time? This doesn’t make sense. You can’t use the audience to convey plot from character to character.
Final Flash: Unnecessary flashback featuring an uninteresting character.
Bleach 403
The next time someone asks me to explain Bleach, I think I’ll just show them the first panel of the first page of this chapter. It pretty succinctly sums up the full depth of the Bleach experience.
Perfect Aizen looks completely stupid. What an awful character design.
Wow, Yoruichi. You don’t say. It’s not like the entire Beamcast crew predicted this mere days ago or anything… not that that makes us special. Anyone with a pulse could have seen this coming.
Oh, good, speed lines.
What the hell does she have on her arms and legs?
Completely unsurprisingly, she did absolutely nothing of value. Even “shocking” character reappearances are devalued in the face of Perfect Aizen.
Final Flash: Well, fanservice-hungry readers probably enjoyed this, at least.
One Piece 584
Why wouldn’t Crocodile and Daz Bones be walking around with mafioso hippos?
Man, Ace and Sabo were jerks when they were young. Well, at least Ace “was.” Who knows about Sabo, yet.
Luffy was a real man even when he wasn’t a real man. Here’s hoping for some serious retribution against Polchemi.
Oh, good. The kids aren’t so bad, after all.
Well, there’s that retribution. Pretty brutal.
While I’ve questioned the placement of this flashback, the fact that it was withheld until after Ace’s death makes the scene where Ace finally accepts Luffy both touching and haunting.
As if Sabo wasn’t certainly going to become an important character already, he’s now also staying with Dadan? Look for him to feature prominently in some capacity.
Tenryuubito. Things are about to get serious.
Final Flash: I would expect next chapter to be the last chapter of the flashback, which would be acceptable. Given that we know most of what happened to Luffy and Ace after this point, I would expect it to be Dadan or Sabo who gets tangled up with the Tenryuubito.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! 288
[chapter link]
Tsuna, you’d be well advised not to sleep with a PSP. It’ll break if you look at it wrong, let alone roll onto it or drop it a couple feet.
(He sleeps with Nuts, too?)
Another future project for me to consider: A comprehensive list of shonen stereotypes. I say this now because Tsuna’s mom is clearly the quintessential ‘gullible/oblivious parent’, which would surely chart highly on the list.
P6: “Is it really okay [for me to stay]?” “Of course!! Nuts is here too!” … uh, what? Stupid name aside, how the hell does that make any sense?
Gokudera has easily inspired the most confidence in me regarding this series’ return to form. He’s been excellent thus far in this arc.
Studying battle? Amano is going all the way back to the beginning of Reborn for this style of humor.
P16, bottom-left panel: Adelheid is keeping watch. Clearly, the Shimon family aren’t quite as straightforward of allies as the author would have us expect. I doubt they’re enemies, but I’m curious as to their agenda.
The ninth! Good timing.
Final Flash: Solidly enjoyable chapter. The charming humor from the very beginning of the series with a little of the action that set the series apart from its comedy contemporaries.
Beelzebub 59
[chapter link]
No way Oga thought that far ahead.
P2: Yep. Also, love everyone’s facial expressions in the large panel. Especially Beel.
Dual hadokens from Oga and Beel! Excellent.
Furuichi’s little moment of comedy reminds me how much I’ve missed him in the last few chapters.
Fake attack names! Hilarious.
Nanami-senpai? Hm.
Oh, 6 Horsemen. This could become interesting. Or completely one-sided.
Toujou! Yeah, decidedly in the “interesting” camp now.
Final Flash: Still good, but not as excellent as preceding chapters. A little disappointing to see the Oga/Miki fight end unresolved.
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