ONE PIECE (chapter 556) – Justice Will Prevail
With Oars Jr. dying at the hands of the Warlords, Whitebeard’s side takes a very heavy loss. One of the giant vice admirals, Ronse, makes an attempt to strike at Whitebeard as he’s distracted, but is easily defeated by his earthquake abilities. Fueled by both anger and sadness, Whitebeard orders his men to push forward past Oars. Because of Oars’ attack, Doflamingo is now in the middle of battle, facing off against the 13th division commander Atmos at his crew. Using his ability, Doflamingo is able to control Atmos. Coby, haven never seen a battle this brutal, runs away from the fighting scared, with Helmeppo following after him. However, they stop just before running into and being visible to Admiral Akainu. Another marine wishes to flee the battle as well, and begs Akainu to let him go to be with his family. Saying that his family shouldn’t live in disgrace, Akainu uses his powers and attacks him in the name of justice. While still controling Atmos, Doflamingo monologues about the future of this era after this war is over, with the winner becoming justice. After Oars Jr. broke though, another pirate group under “Ice Witch” White Bay is able to break through the ice to create an opening. With Whitebeard’s forces breaking through two openings, Sengoku moves ahead with a plan to execute Ace ahead of schedule. However, Garp appears on the execution platform, torn between his feelings as a Marine and as Ace’s family. He isn’t interfering, and doesn’t plan to, at least for now. Coby and Helmeppo are shocked at what Sengoku’s plan is, but before they can do anything, they notice something falling from the sky. Our third party and main character finally appears! Luffy and company are falling to the middle of battle because of Ivankov’s “Death Wink”!
Returning to form, we once again get some great pacing with this week’s chapter. We see the classic use of Doflamingo’s powers, and his monologue about how this war will change the world is reminiscent of his attitude during Skypiea. Also, he’s the only Warlord actually doing something this chapter. Some other characters have retained their traits from the past as well. Akainu is still a believer of “absolute justice” like the Ohara flashback. Coby is still somewhat of a coward, though not as much as his introduction. Interesting to see what Garp’s final stance will be in this. Could he end up betraying the Marines to save his grandson? Maybe he’ll truly have a change of heart once Luffy arrives. Speaking of, FINALLY we get to see some action from our lead protagonist. Anyone else get a Kingdom Come vibe from this? Whitebeard’s side = Gulag prisoners, Marines’s side = Justice League, Luffy’s team = Batman’s team descending from the sky? (Read Kingdom Come). Good chapter.
NARUTO (chapter 462) – Sasuke’s Dogma
Raikage connects with his attack, though Jugo tried to block it. Suigetsu attacks Shi, but Darui blocks with his sword. Suigets compliments Darui’s sword (possible future spoil of war). Raikage assumes Jugo is down, but his shapeshifting body allows him to form chakra cannons to fire at point blank range at Raikage. In the ensuing explosion, Sasuke is able to get Shi with a genjutsu, taking him out. Jugo thinks he’s defeated Raikage, but he reappears and finally defeats Jugo. Meanwhile, Madara reveals the true situation about Itachi and the Uchiha clan. Naruto, Kakashi, and Yamato have a hard time believing him. Madara explains that it’s the curse of hatred that’s been with the Uchiha since the beginning. Retelling the events of the mythical Rikudo Sage, Madara informs them of his two sons, the elder one born with the Sage’s eyes (Sharingan), and the other born with the sage’s body. On his deathbed, the Sage had to choose a successor, and he chose the younger son. The elder feuded with his younger brother, and after many generations, their decendants still fought. The elder son’s bloodline became Uchiha; the younger became Senju (whom the 1st Hokage is). Madara recalls that his fight against the 1st Hokage was fated, and he can see the Senju blood flowing within Naruto. Their battle is fated as well. Back at the battle, Sasuke faces Raikage head on.
The battle itself was pretty decent, but the flaskback/backstory is the real meat of the chapter here, and is the main aspect that drew me in. So Naruto is related to the Senju as well? At least, that’s what I”m assuming based on Madara’s story. So Naruto will have to fight Sasuke at the series climax to save him…whenever that happens. I really liked the backstory, though. The Naruto universe definitely needs some more fleshing out, and this reveal is a step in the right direction. Raikage is also getting to be an interesting character, based on his fighting abilities so far. With two lightning based attacks (Raikage’s attacks vs. Sasuke’s Chidori) set to meet next week, interested in seeing the outcome. Good chapter.
BLEACH (chapter 372) – The Metal Cudgel Flinger
Love and Rose prepare to face Stark. With Stark still distracted at the loss of Barragan, Love attacks, releasing his sword’s bankai, turning it into a huge spiked mace. He’s able to connect after just a few attacks. Love notices that Stark’s responses have been dulled. Still affected by Barragan’s death, Stark gets scolded by Lilynette. To save himself and his friends, Lilynette convinces Stark to fight. Their match continues, and Love activates his Hollow mask. With a devastating blow, Love turns part of the city into rubble. Deactivating his mask and looking for Stark, Rose warns Love to look above him, as Stark appears with a large pack of beasts.
Once again, pacing is pretty bad this chapter. And I’m not exactly sure what happened, but last week, Rose and Love weren’t surrounded by rubble; at least, Rose wasn’t buried in rubble at the end of last week’s chapter. What happened? Stark also went from being cold-hearted and cruel in his fight against Kyoraku and Ukitake to being emo. Hopefully the continuation of the fight will be much better next week. Possibly Rose, Kyoraku, and Ukitake will be able to help out without it being a very uneven fight. Oh yeah, and I was totally wrong in guessing that Halibel would actually fight this week. Guess they’re saving the catfight for the end. Disappointing chapter.
HAJIME NO IPPO (chapter 865 and 866) – Higher Upper-Class Image and To the Bone
(865) As the undercard gets under way, the audience eagerly awaits Ippo’s beatdown of Woli. Even Ippo’s teammates think he’ll have an easy one. Only Kamogawa and Ippo really know that it’ll be a tough match. In the locker room, Ippo mentally prepares, but pictures having trouble getting Woli into the corner. Kamogawa trusts him though, and makes sure that he’ll stick with their plan, having faith in his boxer’s abilities. They ask who Ippo is using as a basis for Woli’s speed, and Ippo says he’s using Miyata. Meanwhile, Woli gets a very flashy entrance outfit, resembling a bird, and including feathers. Very reminiscent of Takamura’s costume when he fought Bryan Hawk. After some tomfoolery with bananas, Woli and Miguel head to the ring, prepared to surprise all of Japan. Woli enters by jumping from the ground over the turnbuckle and into the ring. Ippo makes his normal entrance. As the bell rings for the two to meet in the middle and touch gloves, Woli rushes in at full speed on the attack. Ippo blocks the blow with his glove. (866) After the surprise attack, the crowd goes wild, chanting for Ippo to get him back for his rudeness. Not understanding the crowd, Woli just smiles, and tries to remember the proper boxer stance. Woli stays on the offensive, using his speed to his advantage. His flurry of punches, however, remain blocked by Ippo. Woli tries a few more tactics: throwing a feint and charging from the side instead, going low and delivering a double uppercut at great speed. Ippo is still able to block all his attacks. Knowing that there’s still more to Woli’s arsenal after his talk to Vorg, Ippo finally decides to go on the offensive.
I don’t know why 866 got released early, but I am very glad for it. Start of the actual fight, and already it’s highly exciting! Very impressed at Woli’s speed, and especially his techniques for being a very green fighter. The audience and Ippo’s team members still don’t see him as much of a threat, but they are also impressed with how he’s doing at the moment. Not much else to say, other than really looking forward to this match. With barely any hype to it, I’m hoping that this match will be better than the overly drawn out Miyata vs. Randy Jr. (though it was still a good match). Also thought it was hilarious that Woli came out in a bird costume. What a nice throwback. Good chapter.
FAIRY TAIL (chapter 150) – Dragon Roar
Natsu is surprised that Cobra is a dragonslayer. Now attacking with poison hand-to-hand blows, Natsu struggles to land a hit on Cobra. Because Cyberios also uses poison, Cobra is able to eat it to increase his strength. Happy and Natsu are hit with Cobra’s poison breath, which will eventually immobilize and kill them. Not wanting to give in, Natsu still attacks, but Cobra can still hear his movements. Cobra comments how Natsu is an old-style dragonslayer magic user; he got is abilities through implanting dragon lachryma in his body. Natsu realizes that Cobra’s powers are just like Luxus’. The battle continues, with the poison spreading rapidly through Natsu and Happy’s bodies. Natsu tells Happy to drop him; Cobra realizes he’s going to use a full-powered dragon roar. He avoids the falling Natsu, and prepares to strike at the back of his head, avoiding the full force of the dragon roar. However, Natsu’s dragon roar is all-encompassing, being heard by everyone on Nirvana. Being that close to the source along with having increased hearing, Cobra is defeated.
Alright, so I could deal with Cobra not being a real dragonslayer. That makes up for last week’s chapter finale. And the way this match was concluded was actually believable and well done. I didn’t know that Natsu had that trick up his sleeve, and makes me wonder if all dragonslayers actually possess a great roar like that. With Cobra out of the way, there’s only Midnight and Hoteye left of Oracion Seis, and still unsure if Hoteye will defeat Midnight, or fall victim to her, or revert back to his normal ways after. Not really sure what’s going to happen next week. I’m going to assume that it’s their match still, since they’re the only ones engaged. Hopefully Wendy will be able to heal Natsu soon. Good chapter.
KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN (chapter 256) – Desire
Mukuro’s illusion faces off against Byakuran. Turns out it’s Mukuro from 10 years into the future (or present Mukuro in the Future Arc…confusing, yeah). However, Byakuran realizes that Mukuro can’t really do anything to him, since all he’s doing is creating illusions. Mukuro is actually still trapped in the Vindette Prison; however, he does have an ally that was able to help his consciouness break free to create this current illusion. As he tells Tsuna and the others to flee and protect Yuni, Byakuran is able to easily defeat Mukuro’s illusion. The Vongola use their flame rings to activate the transport system to return home. Now, Byakuran focuses his attention into capturing Yuni in order to activate the Trinisette.
So Mukuro is still an impact player, outside of using Chrome as some sort of host. Neat. Curious to find out who his “allies” are. With the Vongola back an the actual town and away from the battlefield, I guess the next part of the Future Arc will actually involve everyone fighting. Curious to see if Squalo, Irie, and Spanner will contribute to the fighting. Didn’t really feel that this chapter had that much merit besides making me care about Mukuro again, since we knew that they were going to get back to the town last chapter. Hopefully the next part of the story will be able to pace the fights in just a just as interesting manner as the Yamamoto fight and Tsuna fight from the Choice Battle. Disappointing chapter.
HISTORY’S STRONGEST DISCIPLE KENICHI (chapter 351) – Goodbye
Ethan once again meets with Kenichi and Chikage at the cafe. Ethan is thankful for Kenichi and Ryouzanpaku’s help. He also states that Demon Fist is no longer interested in Rachel; he’s much more intersted in Kenichi along with fighting Sakaki. Ethan also wants to say goodbye; with his defeat, he plans to go back to India to train with his master. However, Kenichi refuses to shake his hand, stating that he should say goodbye to everyone from school, his actual friends. Ethan says they’re not important, and the two part ways. The next day during training, Kenichi asks about how dangerous it is to use “Korui Nuki,” and Elder gives him some sound advice that he also applies to Ethan’s situation. At the airport, Ethan and Rachel are about to leave. Before they board, Kenichi arrives with all the classmates that consider Ethan as a friend. They properly shake farewell, and Ethan finally goes to India to train with his master. As Miu and Kenichi reminisce about Ethan, they sense an attack coming at them. It turns out that Rachel isn’t going to India at all, and that Ethan wants Kenichi to look after her!
Haha. Awesome twist at the end, though you can kind of see it coming. So that makes the third girl that could potentially be interested in Kenichi. Now I’m seeing some more parallels to Ranma ½, but that’s not a bad thing at all. Ethan’s arc is finally over, and it was actually a really good arc. The match wasn’t too overly drawn out, and there was just enough comedy and action to make this a good read. Wondering who the next opponent for Ryouzanpaku will be? Good chapter.
PSYREN (chapter 85)
Not available at this moment.
BAKUMAN (chapter 52) – Impressions and Headlong Dashes
Mashiro and Takagi try to implement some of the fan suggestions for their next name. In a meeting, Aoki and Nakai discuss with their editor about how they feel about changing Hideout Door. Aoki doesn’t want to make too many changes to sacrifice her ideals. Nakai, however, is willing to make changes to prevent being cancelled. Because of their differing opinion, Aoki doesn’t want to work with Nakai on the next chapter. Mashiro and Takagi give Miura their next chapter, but he doesn’t like the changes. Following fan suggestions is the worst thing to do, because it no longer makes the manga their own. The author of Great Thief Cheater is having problems with low ratings as well. The next day, Hirumaru appears before Mashiro and Takagi in a new Porsche and tells them of his new apartment and that Otters 11 might get made into an anime. The others realize it was an editor’s ploy to make him work at Jump for many more years. At their next meeting, Takagi brought in some new ideas for their manga: recurring villains and a rival detective for chapter 28. Their assitant Takahama’s one-shot came in 2nd, while chapter 28 came in 15th. Before the editor’s meeting at Jump, Miura tells both of them to be prepared for the worst. At the meeting, the editors decide to drop two of the three lowest rated mangas, one of them being Hideout Door.
Alright, so their new tactics of a recurring villain and rival detective were better ideas than using fan suggestions. Sadly, it looks like it wasn’t enough for the fans to react to. Wonder if we’ll get thrown for a loop and Trap ends up getting cancelled. Will they start over with another new series or will they try to shop trap to another shonen magazine? Sad to see Hideout Door go, and with that I’ll also bid adieu to Nakai and Aoki’s relationship. Just gonna go out on a limb and say Trap won’t be cancelled next chapter, but they’re definitely in trouble. Decent chapter.
BEELZEBUB (chapter 27) – It Was Fun
Oga and Tojou’s fight continues. They continue trading blows, until Oga blocks an attack. Tojou blocked the next attack as well, and they both go for a headbutt at the same time. Tojou asks for Oga’s first name, and he gives it: “Tatsumi.” Tojou then explains that he found the baby, and wanted to hold it until he found the parents. Oga says he doesn’t care, and throws a flurry of punches, followed by an over-the-shoulder throw. However, Tojou doesn’t get thrown, and his torn sleeves reveal the Zebub Spell mark on his right shoulder. Tojou then punches Oga far into the river. Leaving, Tojou asks Furuichi to deliver a message to Oga: “It was fun.” Oga, ego and body bruised, heads back home, even though he couldn’t find Hilda or retrieve BL. Strangely, though, Hilda is back at his home, with reinforcements?
Wow…that was actually a quick fight. Luckily, it’s only round one, so look forward to seeing more of badass Tojou. With Hilda back as well, maybe we can finally get an explanation as to what’s really going on with BL. Wondering what those ghost things are, too. Not much happened this chapter, but there was still some good action and pacing. Decent chapter.
