Weekly Power Rankings – 3/14 – 3/20
One Piece 579
More Law, please.
Still can’t come to terms with Blackbeard’s new powers. This stands alone as the one aspect of One Piece I completely dislike.
Pandaman! Page 5, part of the fleeing crowd.
Buggy’s terrified face cracks me up every time.
Wow, Coby. Wow. I liked him already, but my respect has grown immeasurably.
Shock of the week. Shanks, out of nowhere.
“Bitch, what have you done to my hat?!”
Final Flash: It’s hard for One Piece to get any more into serious mode, but Oda found a way. We can never have too much Shanks.
Bleach 397
How do you follow the worst manga chapter in a year? Let’s find out.
Don’t do extreme closeups of body parts when you can’t draw them properly.
You’re right, Aizen; it does seem strange that Ichigo encountered a Hollow for the first time mere moments after meeting Rukia. I was chalking that up to awful writing, but now you’re telling me that it’s all according to keika– er, plan. Great. That reflects well on the author.
As I continue reading, it seems the entirety of page six is a testament to Kubo’s pitiful writing. Not only can he not write, but now he’s even trying to take my job! Well, we’ll see about that.
… apparently he can’t draw, either. At least, not in a fashion that produces character designs that are pleasing to the eye. Proof positive: page 7, center panel.
I hate those ugly melting backgrounds as in the last panel of page 13. If I wanted to know what your manga looked like when set on fire, I’d light it up myself, thanks.
Right on cue, without a hint of surprise, Isshin appears.
Final Flash: Bleach is cementing its position as the embarrassment to shonen manga.
Beelzebub 54
Beel helping Oga brush his teeth is too cute.
What the hell? How does “punch me once” translate into throwing weights?
Kanzaki’s introduction is an incredible panel.
He actually pissed his pants. Excellent.
It’s too bad Kanzaki didn’t get a chance to actually do anything before Miki wiped him out.
Baby Beel on the last page gives this series yet another great facial expression.
Final Flash: The teaser says next chapter is finally Oga vs. Miki. Let’s hope that’s the truth.
Naruto 488
I know this is not the first instance of technology in the series, so I’m not surprised to see monitors, but they feel horribly out of place.
Karin is slowly being reduced to yet another irrelevant girl to pine after Naruto, to no avail.
It’s nice to see all the side characters who are more interesting than Naruto and Sasuke, but it’s also frustrating to know that this is about the extent of their relevance for another 50 chapters.
Did Kakashi just get Hokage-blocked?
Final Flash: It’s difficult to go from endgame-type fight scenes to village camaraderie. This is okay for maybe a few chapters, but it can overstay its welcome quickly.
Bakuman 79
“I don’t think we can beat him. I want to beat him.” Very intelligent, mature line.
Finally, Miura starts to support Ashirogi. It’s taken long enough.
Takagi! That’s the ambitious writer we knew.
It’s so refreshing to see Ashirogi excited again.
The faces in the middle-left panel of page 14 are hilarious.
Very interesting dialogue between Niizuma and Hattori.
Miura’s apartment suits him rather well.
Hattori and Miura working together! Excellent. Ashirogi have missed Hattori’s influence.
Final Flash: Pretty much the best possible outcome. I look forward to few series’ weekly releases as much as Bakuman.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn! 283
That cover. Wow.
So the next arc is the inheritance ceremony? If Amano completely forgoes everything that made the Future arc tedious, there is potential for a return to form. The best moments of this series were early, when Tsuna was a frantic kid who didn’t want any part of the mafia life being thrust upon him. That would be interesting. Box weapons and a generic calm bishonen hero would not.
… her name is Shitt P. Shitt P. Seriously. Shitt P. You have to be kidding me.
Hibari in the context of school is far more interesting than Hibari fighting battles he doesn’t really care about, so maybe this conflict will bring back the better Hibari.
Unsurprisingly, Kozato (and surely the rest of the transfer students) have some kind of secret relating to Tsuna and company.
Final Flash: Too early for an overall verdict, but… Shitt P. Come on. Shitt P.
Kekkaishi 298
Interesting chemistry between Yoshimori and Tokimori Hazama.
Try your other hand? Yoshimori is just like Echizen! You still have lots more to work on…
The casual reference to Yoshimori’s mom’s terrible sewing ability is yet another nice, small touch that helps set the mood of the series.
Mudou was captured before even being able to finish taunting. Amusing.
Final Flash: It’s a training chapter, but like other such Kekkaishi training arcs, it doesn’t feel tedious.
Gamaran 41
More enemy introductions, and more Ranmaru fighting.
This seems unusually straightforward. Still waiting for the mandatory mid-fight advantage shift.
Looks like we’ll have to wait until next chapter, too.
It’s the only brother Naoyoshi likes? Wow, that’s completely… expected.
Final Flash: I really don’t care for how long we’re focusing on Ranmaru. His flashback was decent, and the fact that he’s also Ogame school is interesting, but this is taking too long.
Zettai Karen Children 210
I find it harder and harder to come up with anything to say about this series. I blame this on the series.
A battle of bladders? What the hell is this?
Can’t stand non-chapters like these. Literally nothing of consequence happened. A fight continued to not happen, two guys continued to run away from things, and people continued heading in a direction.
Final Flash: If you can’t be bothered to write anything interesting, I can’t be bothered to comment.
Fairy Tail 177
I can tell from the cover page that I’m not going to have many nice things to say.
Impossible to take any of this action seriously.
Huh. So those were his parents. Neat.
Final Flash: In the conversation with episode 101 of Naruto.
Defense Devil 41
It’s amazing how this art manages to be incredibly detailed yet easy to follow. Some series (Trigun Maximum, for one) have so much detail that it overwhelms the eyes.
Sweeper alert! Further proving the infatuation mangaka have with the term “sweeper.”
Oh dear. A pig.
“I must wear evil cutie makeup” – This may be profoundly ridiculous, but at least it’s honest. Better than dark fantasy series pretending to be legitimate while leaving a trail of glitter all over the place.
The car’s name is “Jody” when the license plate clearly says “Zodi”? Really, I Eat Manga? I have my doubts.
(Oh, by the way, start your KITT references now.)
The car is also perverted and makes bad puns? The hood skirt-flip was amusing, but this could become tiresome.
“GILTY”? Come on, even if that was in the original (which it is), fix it.
Go-go-gadget ridiculous car chapter.
Final Flash: Overall, displeased with the car. Not a good fit in this series.
Lock On! 5
Looks like Bleach is getting some competition for worst Shonen Jump art. These backgrounds, these buildings, these character designs…
Yamato may be generic, but he’s proving to be a more interesting character than Utsuru.
All the drama of Utsuru’s speech is wiped away by the photography references. Photography is not a good backdrop for this type of story.
Resolution within one chapter, and now they’re probably going to be standard schoolkids-series buddies.
Final Flash: Maybe the series will improve once there are enough members to start the club… if the series hasn’t been cut by then.
AR∀GO 12
I don’t know, I’d say “Orca of Oppression of Revolution” is just as catchy as “Seth.” Might want to rethink that.
This is just about the right time to introduce a longer storyline.
It’s also the right time to explain Patchman’s powers further. Arai seems to have good pacing so far.
Unrelated to the series itself: I love Trinity BAKumA for releasing this (and Sket Dance, whenever they do), but their font choice for Seth’s speech is poor.
Even the devil comes from the talk-too-much-and-lose-your-chance school of villainy.
Final Flash: Good fight and good exposition.
Bakuman 78
All marital issues should be solved with rock-paper-scissors.
Top-left panel of page 5 is amusingly reminiscent of Death Note.
Miyoshi, everyone wants to play Quoits.
(Yes, I had to google Quoits.)
Wow. I had Yamahisa pegged as a shady character, but that was a pretty great speech. Too bad it didn’t go over well with anyone but me, it seems.
Miura: Learn something.
The shock reaction running joke is hilarious.
Mashiro finally displaying confidence in wanting to quit is a great step forward for the series.
Oh wow. What a last page.
Final Flash: Every change of direction this manga takes is a fresh, exciting step forward.
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