ONE PIECE (chapter 557)
No One Piece chapter this week. No real reason given, except that Oda’s wife delivered a baby last month! So he’s probably just a little busy here and there. Follow the link to AnimeCrazy.net for the picture.
NARUTO (chapter 463) – Sasuke vs Raikage
Sasuke is able to dodge Raikage’s attack, and connect with his Chidori. Raikage’s lightning armor was able to prevent a fatal attack, and he realized it was Kakashi’s technique. Being that close, Raikage is able to catch Sasuke, and deliver a devastating power bomb (wrestling move). In the nick of time, Sasuke is able to use the Mangekyo Sharingan to form a chakra cushion preventing his head and back from connecting with the concrete. Meanwhile, Madara is sure that Naruto and Sasuke will face each other again, in fact he’ll force Sasuke to fight him. Kakashi asks why he needs the tailed-beasts. He needs them to be complete. And with that, Madara disappears. Back at the fight, Sasuke uses Itachi’s black flame technique Amaterasu, but Raikage is able to dodge. With his speed, Raikage is about to get a sneak attack before Sasuke surrounds himself with the black flame. However, instead of wimping out, Raikage still attacks, sacrificing his left arm in the process.
So there’s not much I can talk about with the B-story of this chapter. I mean, we know that Sasuke and Naruto are going to eventually fight, and whether or not it’ll be a fight or a “fight” remains to be seen. What Madara means by complete, I can only guess, and right now, I can’t come up with anything, so talk amongst yourselves. Now for the fight. Raikage certainly isn’t disappointing, even giving up his arm to the black flame just so he can land an attack. The fighting pace is going well, and to me, it actually looks like Sasuke has not had any advantage in this fight at all. However, using foresight, there might be something to Sasuke’s only connecting attack. We’ll see. Decent chapter.
BLEACH (chapter 373) – Wolves Ain’t Howl Alone
Stark sends his wolves in for the attack. Rose and Love try to hold them back, but attacking them doesn’t stop them. They see that the wolves are like moving flames or energy. When the wolves finally attack their target at close range, they set off a giant explosion. Love thinks they’re Ceros. Stark corrects him; they’re actually pieces of Stark and Lilynette’s soul, able to be controlled in battle. Love and Rose still do not want to back down, and as Stark prepares to deliver his finishing blow, he is pierced by a blade from behind.
Last week, I was hoping that the fight continuation would be better this week. Well, it wasn’t. The wolves were pretty neat, but Stark himself isn’t really doing anything. I didn’t even get a sense of danger for Rose and Love. Yes, they were injured against the wolves, but Stark was willing to let them run. We’re supposed to dislike most villains, yet Kubo tries to throw in some sympathizing characteristics so that we’ll somehow see them as just damaged characters. End this fight soon so we can move on to the next already, and hopefully finish this arc sometime early next year. Disappointing chapter.
HAJIME NO IPPO (chapter 867) – Inscrutable Hurricane Winds
Finally going on the offensive, Ippo charges in for a quick and devastating body blow. Woli brings his guard, but realizes that he won’t make it in time to avoid any serious damage. As Ippo’s blow connects, Woli jumps back to actually avoid any damage. The announcer and audience thought he was sent flying at first. Takamura realizes what Woli actually did. Itagaki notices that Ippo wasn’t surprised by what Woli did. Takamura states that Ippo knew he would, which explains his intense concentration. Back on the attack, Ippo drives Woli to the ropes. Trapped, Ippo unleashes a flurry of high blows so Woli has to concentrate on his high guard. Finally getting an opening, Ippo goes for another body blow, but Woli is able to dodge quickly before it’s even properly thrown. As he escapes to the side, Ippo throws a left hook to the head, trying to reach him. Ippo feels his glove barely grazing him, and Woli felt it a little too, and was surprised. That little graze was enough to send Woli’s legs wobbling though, and Ippo gets his first down.
Continuing with the early releases, this week’s chapter retains that same high energy of the previous two chapters. Ippo still isn’t in too much of a panic/desperation mode, but it’s still early in the match. Woli is still able to hold his own with his speed. Though since he got knocked down, I’m not sure if he’ll be able to use his corner agility that well. As usual, the art is able to greatly convey the intensity of this match. Oh, and next week might have something special to go along with color pages to celebrate 20 years of Hajime no Ippo circulation. Preemptive congrats! Good chapter.
FAIRY TAIL (chapter 151) – End of Oracion Seis
Happy’s body is finally giving in to the poison, and they both fall back onto Nirvana. With the poison spreading through Natsu’s body and his realization that he’s on a vehicle, Natsu is helpless to defend against a desperate and barely mobile Cobra. Before he can finish Natsu off, Cobra is shot by Brain’s staff. And speaking that only Cobra can hear, Brain disbands his association with Oracion Seis since an average guild can defeat them so easily. Brain’s new secondary goal is to make Natsu his comrade/puppet because of his strength. Meanwhile, Hoteye has the upperhand against Midnight. As she realizes she cannot defeat him, she runs away and tries a sneak attack. Hoteye is able to see where she is and stops her before she can. Lucy, Jura, and Gray arrive in time to see Brain dragging Natsu away, and saying that he’ll make Natsu the newest member of Oracion Seis. Brain also tells the others that their first target is Cait Shelter. His purpose, just to see what happens when a light guild turns dark. Not getting a real answer, Jura wants to stop him at all costs and is able to attack Brain first. Brain is surprised at the attack and Jura’s unknown magic (at least, to him).
Alright! So it’s good to know that Jura, one of the Ten Sacred Mages, is definitely not a pushover. In his previous “fight” against Hoteye, we really didn’t see too much of their battle, and it turned into comedy before they both got serious. Looking forward to seeing Jura fight Brain, while the Lucy and Gray either help Natsu or stop Nirvana in the process. Not sure if Cobra himself is actually dead or not, perhaps just immobile. It’s tough to say, since Brain thought Angel was dead a few chapters ago, yet we see her saying she isn’t in a single panel (almost breaking the fourth wall). Still waiting for Ichiya to do something, along with what purpose Wendy, Charle, Erza, and Gerard have for the rest of this arc. Decent chapter.
KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN (chapter 257) – Namimori
Vongola arrives back in Namimori. Irie tells them to destroy the transportation device before Byakuran can use it. Gokudera uses a missile to destroy it and sends it flying. Before it can be fully destroyed, Byakuran is able to call it back. Kusukabe, Hibari’s “servant,” appears since they are close to Hibari’s underground safe house. Finding out the details, he tells them to go to the Vongola base, since it’s connected to the safe house. The transporation device reappears, and it seems to have scattered the Funeral Wreaths seperately. Hibari and Dino head to the school, where one of the Wreaths appeared to have landed nearby. The rest head to the base to recover and change clothes. Squalo uses their communication device to ask the Varia family to send more reinforcements, but they all see to be pre-occupied with their own Millefiore battle aftermath. Before he can get a complete response, the power goes out. An explosion occurs, and one of the Funeral Wreaths has breached the Vongola base.
Continuing from last week, Byakuran was really serious that the Funeral Wreaths do not give the Vongola family any rest. With one of them now arriving, curious to see who will fight this time. Going to guess Gokudera since he didn’t actually get a fight during the Choice battle. At least we’re sure that Hibari will have a good fight eventually, and wondering if Dino will be able to fight as well. The pacing this week was good, and it was definitely more refreshing than last week’s mostly pointless chapter. Decent chapter.
HISTORY’S STRONGEST DISCIPLE KENICHI (chapter 352) – Tanimoto Natsu
Just a normal day in high school again for Kenichi. This week’s chapter opens up with Tanimoto, aka Hermit, who we haven’t seen in a while. Kenichi is also with him, clinging to him like they’re best buddies. As soon as they turn the corner however, Tanimoto once again angrily turns on Kenichi, not wanting to be friends. Tanimoto hears someone approaching and quickly masks himself as the good honor student again, but once he sees it’s Nijima, he attacks him, too. Kenichi asks how his sister is treating Tanimoto. Nijima butts in, saying that because of her ineptitude, Tanimoto is the one doing all the housework. As he leaves, Nijima wanted to tell him what he’s found out about Yomi, and tells Kenichi instead. Thanks to Loki acting as a spy, they’ve been able to figure out 9 members of Yomi, with just one more member missing. Cut to a huge bulking man about to take out two cops. Tanimoto appears, in his Hermit garb. He knocks out the cops, and takes on the angry opponent. Above the rooftops, someone tells him he has one minute to defeat his opponent, who is supposed to be stronger than Tanimoto. After using a quick and devastating combination attack, Tanimoto succeeds, and asks the figure, his master Ma Sougetsu, what his purpose is in Japan.
Some more classic Kenichi comedy at the beginning of the chapter. We haven’t seen Tanimoto for a while, so it was pleasant to see another good returning character. I’m slightly confused by what Nijima said: 9 members of Yomi identified, yet there were 10 images, one being a silhouette. One is actually dead, another missing, while the others were defeated or awaiting their chance. So I’m uncertain if the silhouette was for either Tanimoto or Ma Sougetsu. I don’t think Tanimoto is a member of Yomi, since he was an ex-member of Ragnarok. Don’t know if the next arc will involve Tanimoto fighting Kenichi or someone actually from Yomi. Too soon as to make out what’s coming up next. Decent chapter.
PSYREN (chapter 85) – Disappearance
Ageha is still upset that Hiryu is being reckless, and to try to calm down, he head-butts the wall. They don’t want to endanger Root by searching for him, so they decide to let him be for the time being. As they deliberate about what to do, Van speaks up and wonders if it’s okay for him to be listening. However, #7 doesn’t punish any of them, so what they’ve said was safe. She angrily tells them to get out. Kyle and Shao are training, and Frederica talks to Ageha trying to “cheer” him up. Though he’s separated from his friends, there’s still hope that they’ll make it back. Meanwhile, #7 sends out the mini-Nemesis Q to ambush one of the civilians in order to escape. Ageha finds out and frantically searches for her. She communicates with him telepathically, talking to him about how he’s able to change the flow of time. However, if he stops the destruction of the world, he isn’t “repairing” it. Instead, he is destroying that flow of time and world, and reforming it to something else, forming a new timeline in the future. She is also allowing them to talk to the members of Root without alerting Nemesis Q. And she states she’s leaving because Amagi Miroku is still linked to her, and sooner or later he’ll discover her location along with Root if she continues to stay there. And before Ageha can do anything, she disappears back into the world of Psyren.
Looks like this is officially the end of the Nemesis Q arc. It was a good arc for the most part, but the ending of it was a little lacking. Good to know the fate of the other two members of Ageha’s group, well sort of. And we also were introduced to a few more new characters. Pretty good arc over all, especially with Ageha’s new power up. This chapter was an okay wrap up, and there wasn’t much else that the author could’ve done with #7 being there just healing up. Interested to see what further purpose she’ll have in the next few arcs, especially if she’ll actually help the others or not. Decent chapter.
BAKUMAN (chapter 53) – 18 and 40
EIC chooses Hideout Door and Detective Trap to be canceled, the two lowest ranking manga. The EIC wants Nakai to continue drawing stories for them, though not too interested in Aoki. He also wants Mashiro and Takagi to prepare for their next series, after seeing their dedication to manga. Miura calls them and tells them the bad news, they have four more chapters left for Detective Trap. Taking the news hard, they just mope around the rest of the day, waiting to meet with Miura later. Nakai, on the other hand, goes into a panic after getting the news. As Aoki gets the news, she wants free reign to end the manga her way and is thinking about going back to shojo manga. One of the other editors wants to try to woo her back, and another Jump SQ editor wants her to write for them also. Aoki is popular because she’s pretty. After a few hours of moping, Mashiro and Takagi head back to their studio to let their assistants know the news. However, with four chapters left, they want to make them the best ones they can be. At the meeting, Miura gives them two options before they get cancelled: 1) continue on as before and make the last chapters the best possible, or 2) try out new things that might not fit with the story but will lead into new ideas for their next project. The third option was to use four of the 8 chapters they have left over, but he wants to release those in a special volume after. As they walk back, they think about life beyond manga, like going to college, reminiscing about what they’ve done and what their rivals are able to do. They ended up trying different things, leading up to their last chapter. Nakai is still depressed about possibly not working with Aoki, Fukuda is in a bad mood, Hiramaru is still fickle about being in manga, and Niizuma is in a bad mood as well. The bad moods of course being about the cancellation of Detective Trap. Mashiro finally tells Azuki; responds with appreciating their hard work, and she’s still waiting for him, but she wants to get married before 40. With new fuel to his fire, Mashiro wants to work on their next project.
Damn, so Trap is over. Oh well, can’t win them all. And they are the underdogs of this manga as well. Not sure where their next project will take them in terms of direction, but looking forward to what the creators of this manga will give us. Strange to see that Fukuda and Niizuma are both upset that Trap got cancelled. Well, this is a new slate, with new creativity for our protagonists. Oh, and I was totally wrong about thinking it wouldn’t be cancelled last week. Good chapter.
BEELZEBUB (chapter 28) – The Dr. Is In
Hilda introduces who she brought to Oga: a physician that looks like some sort of amorphous blob with a hat. There’s another in Oga’s room, a little girl. Oga comments on her size and shortness, and she gives him a kick to the nuts. She points out that he’s weak and poor, that he doesn’t deserve to be BL’s parent. The physician stops their arguments, and gives a formal introduction. He is Dr. Foras Rachmaninorr, and she is his assistant Lamia. He hates the human world, so he’s using a temporary body in the meantime. BL’s disease is known as King Fever: his demonic power is over-flowing and needs an outlet, but Oga is not powerful enough yet. Tojou isn’t strong enough either, because BL’s fever hasn’t gone down yet. Hilda wonders why BL is clinging to Tojou. In a flashback, we see Tojou and Shouji walking around at night, and Tojou happens to stumble across BL. He calls BL over (kind of like a stray cat or dog), and he crawls over, imagining Tojou as Oga. Hilda wants to help Oga level up, and as the parent, he shouldn’t be crying over the loss. Oga says he hasn’t lost yet. To help Oga’s growth, Lamia brings out a gun.
Okay, so we get a little more explanation about BL and Tojou, and at least now we know what’s wrong with BL also. Wonder what Lamia will do with that gun? Well, not much else to say about this chatper. We get two new characters, and some lead up to character development. I knew that Oga wouldn’t be always able to rely on his own strength as parent of the future Demon King. So here’s the first of what will probably be a few shonen staple power-ups. Looking forward to the “traning.” Decent chapter.
