Archive
Weekly Power Rankings – 5/30 – 6/5
Toriko 95
[chapter link]
Let’s learn more about Blackbeard’s other life.
Interesting to see Teppei interact in such a cutesy, familiar way with Yosaku.
Setsu is feared by absolutely everyone. This is excellent.
P7: Oh, Toriko. Straightforward as ever.
Therapy Tulip! Another creative species via reader submission. Toriko has a built-in fantastic connection with its audience.
Yosaku is a bit more upfront of a burly-but-nice person than I expected, not that I’m complaining. Subtlety isn’t this series’ strong point, anyway.
20 years for both? Wow. Thankfully, these seem more like absurd challenges for Toriko and Komatsu to overcome, rather than an actual estimate (or worse, a timeskip).
Final Flash: A bit of a subdued chapter. Fun to learn about Yosaku, but we didn’t get nearly as many species introductions, and it’s still transitional plot.
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.
Weekly Power Rankings – 4/18 – 4/24
Weekly Power Rankings – 4/11 – 4/17
Weekly Power Rankings – 4/4 – 4/10
Weekly Power Rankings – 3/28 – 4/3
Weekly Power Rankings – 3/21 – 3/27
Toriko 89
[chapter link]
Love that a group finally decided to catch up on this. Thanks, Franky House!
I’ve been curious about Teppei since this arc began. He’s starting to act at the perfect time, too.
Saiseiyas are yet another creative idea from this author. Good addition to this world.
The only disappointing thing about this chapter so far is how much Tommyrod had left after fighting Toriko. Hopefully Toriko isn’t down for the count.
Parasite Emperor. Wow. Talk about having something left.
Teppei better be amazing, because Parasite Emperor seems pretty broken.
Hellboros! This is a fantastic chapter for new creatures.
Aw, poor Komatsu.
Final Flash: I’m impatient for the next chapter of this more than any series.
Toriko 88
This fight has been fantastic. I seriously hope the Toriko anime is on its way soon; I would love to see this animated.
I’ll never get tired of seeing Toriko’s “killing intent” face.
Removing constraints/weights/limits is usually poorly used, but this time, it’s happening so late in the fight, I don’t mind.
Whoa. Brutal. What a fight.
Page 14! Center panel. I already liked this series, but it’s growing on me exponentially.
Wow, I didn’t see this confrontation coming. Interesting.
Final Flash: It’s amazing how quickly this series has moved up my recommendation list in just a few weeks.
Weekly Power Rankings – 3/14 – 3/20
Weekly Power Rankings – 3/7 – 3/13
Sket Dance Wins Shogakukan Award
Sket Dance, a Weekly Shonen Jump comedy series by Shinohara Kenta, has won the 55th Shogakukan Manga Award in the Shonen category for the year 2009. Sket Dance follows the adventures of the “Sket-Dan,” a small group dedicated to helping students and staff of their school. The character traits and interplay between the group members meshes well with strong comedy writing, which is sometimes appropriately counterbalanced with heartfelt story arcs. Sket Dance has been running in Jump since 2007 but has yet to receive similar recognition from Western audiences as other Jump series, or indeed series in rival magazines. Fan scanlations for the series have fallen behind, and at the time of writing, Sket Dance doesn’t even have a page on Wikipedia.
That said, receiving such a prestigious award is a fantastic honor for the series and could be the sign of a surge in relevance in the next couple years. Volume 11 of Sket Dance debuted at #11 on the Weekly Oricon charts with over 100,000 units sold. Sket Dance also recently received a drama CD, which is typically intended as a precursor to an anime adaptation. Two other Jump series, Bakuman and Nurarihyon no Mago, already have anime adaptations in development, while Toriko received a short OVA for Jump Festa; it would not be surprising if more anime announcements were forthcoming, and Sket Dance would certainly be deserving of consideration. Furthermore, recently-formed scanlation group Iconoclast has announced Sket Dance as its first project.
Sket Dance is now in elite company as only the eighth Jump series to receive this particular award from Shogakukan, the publisher of major magazine rival Weekly Shonen Sunday. The other seven series (and the year they won the award): Play Ball (1976, tie), Dr. Slump (1981), Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin (1986), YuYu Hakusho (1993), Slam Dunk (1994), Hikaru no Go (1999, tie), and Bleach (2004).
Source: Shogakukan, Oricon
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