Sorry for the delay. It happens when it’s your brother’s last weekend in California before he goes to Marine job training in North Carolina this week. So I was a little too preoccupied during the weekend to finish this up. Couple that with awesome football games, and you’ve got yourself a very distracting weekend. So here’s the reviews that were supposed to be out over the weekend. Some monthly mangas are out now as well. Enjoy!
ONE PIECE (chapter 559) – Destiny
Ace finally resolves his heart and accepts whichever fate is in store for him, whether it’s being saved by Whitebeard and Luffy or executed. As Luffy’s group continues to advance, Buggy’s followers want their leader to get into the action as well. While he’s deciding what to do, Whitebeard calls out to him, remembering that he used to be on Roger’s ship. Though Buggy is scared out of his mind, his followers think that Whitebeard is talking to Buggy as an equal. Knowing that they’re here for his head, Whitebeard proposes that they make a temporary alliance until they rescue Ace. Now being full of himself, Buggy agrees. Marco questions what Whitbeard’s doing; it’s mainly because he doesn’t care about Buggy, but his followers will pose a problem. Whitbeard then directs his forces to split up and attack Marinford from the sides, rather than a direct approach. Meanwhile, Moria is angry at Jimbei for defeating his zombie army, and the two Warlords face each other. Jimbei gets the first hit in, and so far has the upper hand. Luffy continues plowing forward until he meets his first real obstacle: Smoker. Luffy uses Gear Second to attack him, but Smoker’s abilities allow the attacks to pass through. Smoker pins him with the help of his seastone weapon, and Luffy has no means of escape. However, Hancock comes in to save him, and she is FURIOUS at Smoker; he realizes she’s using Willpower to attack him in his smoke form. Ivankov finally comes face to face with Kuma, still trying to make him recognize who he is. Doflamingo interrupts their conversation, saying that the Kuma he knew is now dead.
Let’s start at the top. The interaction between Buggy and Whitebeard was hilarious. Buggy’s followers are awesome, but I still his his normal crew (Mohji, Cabaji, and Richie). I’m pretty sure that Moria isn’t defeated yet, but I hope Oda shows more of his fight with Jimbei. Two Warlords fighting each other…never would have guessed. Speaking of Warlords, what is the ex-Warlord Crocodile doing? He hasn’t been shown since he tried to attack Whitebeard. Luffy vs Smoker, just a tease of a fight. After this is all over, and if Smoker is still alive, I’m fully expecting him to follow Luffy when he goes to the New World. Meanwhile, Hancock vs Smoker should be very interesting, especially since Smoker hasn’t fought anyone with Willpower before (at least, to the audience’s knowledge). And we’re left with a teaser mystery about Kuma’s past and relationship to Ivankov. Things are escalating really fast, but the pacing is still spot on. Can next week arrive already? Good chapter.
NARUTO (chapter 466) – Battle Behind Closed Doors
Continuing from last time, Mizukage spews out some sort of liquid towards Sasuke’s direction. Tsuchikage and his bodyguards cling to the ceiling to avoid the attack. Sasuke manages to block it with Susanoo, but Mizukage’s bodyguard Chojuro follows up with an attack with his sword, pushing Sasuke through the liquid wall and into the next room, also sealed by the previoius liquid attack. She then reveals that she can use three elements: water, fire, and earth, and uses an acidic spray to attack Sasuke. It eats away at Susanoo, depleting his remaining chakra. Before she can finish him off, something sprouts from her body, along with the other people in the Kage meeting room. It turns out that Zetsu used a technique to make it look like his other half died, and now he’s transferring their chakra to Sasuke. He’s able to use Susanoo for a little while longer, and break out of the sealed room. Tsuchikage finally decides to have himself a turn, and he and his bodyguard Akatsuchi decide to attack. After his attacks, Karin can no longer sense Sasuke’s chakra. Raikage and Gaara along with the rest of their group arrive at the meeting room, trying to find Sasuke. However, Madara appears, holding an unconscious Sasuke over his shoulder. He wants to let them know what his goal is, the Moon’s Eye Plan.
Alright, some resolution, yet enough happened without actually changing the status quo. It would be pretty bad if Sasuke managed to defeat any of the Kages, no matter how strong everyone thinks he is. And with none of them dead along with none besides the Raikage getting good screen time, hopefully they’ll have another purpose in future arcs. Of course, that’s assuming that Kishimoto doesn’t neglect to use them. Curious to see what Madara’s plan is. Hopefully the exposition won’t be too drawn out, yet be very interesting. With this arc drawing to a close, it’s been a pretty intersting arc so far, and quite enjoyable. Decent chapter.
BLEACH (chapter 376) – Execution, Extinction 2
Halibel doesn’t go down that easy and strikes at Aizen; however, it was just an image projection of himself, as he stabs her from behind. He then calls out the captains and Vizards to fight him. Meanwhile, Wonderweiss gets back up again and tries to sneak attack Mashiro. Try being the key word. Kensei points out that Mashiro should remove her mask because they’re fighting a tough opponent, but she says she can fight for 15 hours with her mask on. Wonderweiss keeps attacking, and manages to rip off part of her scarf. She attacks with a Cero, and he cancels it out with his own Cero. Mashiro then goes in for one more attack; however, her mask breaks. He hits her with one blow, appearing to knock her out. As he goes in for another, Kensei blocks it with one hand while saving Mashiro with the other. Now he faces him, and he says that he won’t go easy on a kid.
So Halibel goes down with pretty much only a whimper. Thankfully, we didn’t get a flashback for her after she died. Thought we’d see some sort of setup for Aizen’s fight, like who he might battle. I wasn’t actually expecting Wonderweiss to revive that quickly, but since he ranks as being one of the more powerful Espada (though not ranked), it does make sense for him to revive at this point. Not sure how good Kensei will do against him, but this chapter had me intrigued. Looking forward to next week. Decent chapter.
HAJIME NO IPPO (chapter 869) – Instincts Born from Freedom
After getting hit, Ippo continues pressing forward with his attack. But Woli keeps dodging the blows. After failing to stop him with one blow, Woli tries a few 1-2 combinations; yet Ippo remains on the offensive. That still isn’t enough. Ippo pressures him to the ropes, but before he can strike, the referee jumps between them to remind them that the bell is ringing to end the round. Kamogawa gym members comment on the fight. They wonder how Ippo’s doing with punches he can’t predict are occuring from. Takamura says they have to hurt. Itagaki thinks they might be light. In his corner, Ippo says he’s doing okay so far. However, Woli’s punches are not light at all, and Coach sees how Ippo is able to maintain the fight. He’s using his preparations against Miyata as the basis for his fight with Woli. In the opposite corner, Miguel tells Woli about Ippo’s stamina; how a normal person would normally be worn out after throwing those punches, yet Ippo can continue like that from start to finish. The bell rings again, and both fighters head to the center. Ippo continues the pressure, and Woli still dodges the attacks. Ippo’s next tactic: pressure Woli into the corner.
Such a good, well-paced fight so far. Each chapter has ended with me wanting more. I don’t think I’ll be able to properly review this fight until the end of the actual match, but I’ll continue to do my best. Art is still amazing, and it isn’t too hard to follow the match so far. With the exception of Woli’s dodges, but those are supposed to be pretty impossible for normal people to do. Just the start of the match, everyone. Wait till we get to the meat of it. Good chapter.
FAIRY TAIL (chapter 153) – Midnight Operation
Members of Cait Shelter discover that Nirvana is heading their way. Their guild master Roubaul is shocked at this development (with hilarious results of not finishing the drink that he swallowed). The members are worried, hinting at something they’ve done in the past, possibly a dark secret. Whether to flee or stay to fight, Roubaul sombers up, suggesting that it might be time for them to pay for their crime. On Nirvana, our heroes try to figure out what to do next. Wendy and Charle split up from the group, as she tries to find Gerard. Hoteye communicates with the others telepathically, saying that to stop Nirvana, they must stop Midnight. He tells them to find him below the King’s Room, and to beware his strength. As they go, it’s revealed that it wasn’t Hoteye at all, but Brain pretending to be Hoteye and sending them to a trap. They get to the room, but realize too late it’s a trap and set off an explosion. Meanwhile, Erza and Gerard come face to face with Midnight. Gerard tells Erza to stay back, that he’ll face him. Lucy, Gray, and Natsu survive the blast, thinking that they’ve just been buried by rubble. However, they escape, and realize that they were saved by Jura, who sacrificed himself to take the brunt of the explosion. He manages to tell them that he’s glad they’re safe before falling unconscious. At the other battle, Gerard falls, and Midnight makes his way to Erza.
Wow, wasn’t expecting Gerard to get taken out like that off-screen. I mean, I know that Fairy Tail fights are pretty fast paced, even for normal shonen standards, but still. Roubaul’s hilarious character trait is awesome. For now, it’s my new favorite running gag in FT, next to Gray (and Leon) stripping as they use their powers. Gripe at the moment, most of the members of Cait Shelter look pretty generic and similar. Not really feeling their character designs so far. Seems like they’re mainly filler though, and we’ll probably not see most of them for a while. Also, Jura’s most likely not dead. Hopefully he’ll be up and about by the end of this arc. While he looks pretty generic as well, he has some good magic powers and is a pretty interesting character. Speaking of interesting, when is Ichiya going to do something? Looking forward to the soon-to-happen Erza vs Midnight fight. Hopefully she can hold her own against him. And yes! Finally some assurance that Midnight is a guy. Mystery solved. Decent chapter.
KATEKYO HITMAN REBORN! (chapter 260) – [no title listed]
Sending Zakuro away, Kawahira tells the others that they’re safe, and that he ran into another Namimori junior high student before they arrived, Hibari. He tells them that they shouldn’t underestimate the Funeral Wreaths’ power. Back to the battle, Daisy’s body is covered in something similar to scales. The box weapon converted his body into a weapon. Tsuna is able to wirelessly communicate with Dino to let them know where they’re hiding and that they’re safe. Daisy attacks, wanting to find out where Yuni is. Dino sends out his horse box weapon with flame wings to cut down Daisy. Her arm is cut, but due to her powers, the severed arm strangles Dino’s box weapon while she regenerates a new arm to fight Dino himself. Dino attacks with his whip, but she’s able to dodge each attack, speaking out Dino’s attack pattern in the process. Too late, he realizes that Byakuran faced him in a parallel world and told Daisy how to fight him. Before Daisy can do any more damage, Hibari knocks her into the building, and kicks Dino away to the safety of their subordinates. Dino realizes that Hibari resembles the First Cloud Guardian, even having the same box weapon, Alaude Handcuffs.
So now some of the mystery is solved as to why Squalo was defeated that easily, along with Dino’s quick defeat. Daisy’s power up and combat ability was surprising. It’ll be put to the test against Hibari. I have no clue how he’ll fight with his handcuffs, though. His tonfa sticks definitely look like the better weapon. Then again, I wasn’t really sure how Tsuna using a cape would work either, but it got the job done. Definitely a step up from last week’s chapter. Decent chapter.
HISTORY’S STRONGEST DISCIPLE KENICHI (chapter 354) – Death Match
Training, Kenichi expresses his concerns about Tanimoto being a member of Yomi to his masters. After asking Rachel, it turns out the last Yomi master is named Ro Jisei, while Tanimoto’s master is Ma Sougetsu. However, that name piques Ma Kensei’s interest. Shigure question’s him about it. Kensei knows that his brother is alive and back in Japan. Before they left the Island of Despair (many chapters ago), Tanimoto told him that his brother began practicing again. Ro Jisei is one of Sougetsu’s friends, and had taken his seat after his disappearance. Back to Tanimoto, he has been called to a Death Match against Jisei’s disciple Chou Enshin. The winner to take place as one of the members of Yomi. Turns out that they have similar fighting styles. While neither having a clear advantage, Tanimoto feels a slight disadvantage. Sougetsu reveals that it’s the same situation as his training: Enshin is just slightly more skilled than Tanimoto.
Still not sure what to think about there being another member of Yomi. Although, Tanimoto is certainly a good character in this series. I’m not sure if even he’ll be able to defeat Kenichi if he gets the Yomi seat. Wasn’t really expecting a full-out fight this soon, especially one not involving Kenichi at all. Looking forward to the outcome, and to see if Tanimoto/Sougetsu have any ulterior motives. Good chapter.
PSYREN (chapter 89)
No chapter at the time of this writting
BAKUMAN (chapter 56) – Adults and Children
Takagi has been able to come up with different names for their upcoming meeting. The first one is “Two of Me”: a man wakes up to find out there’s a duplicate of him with the exact same thoughts; they decide that one has to leave and live in a different environment to become a different person. The second story is “Future Watch”: an inventor father leaves his family and laboratory due to debt; his son finds a pair of watches that allow him to travel 7 minutes into the future; using his cellphone, he can call himself 7 minutes ago with knowledge from 7 minutes in the future; however, they cannot exist at the same time. Both of these names are for their serious manga submissions. For their gag manga, Takagi wants to use hitmen in a ridiculous setting: billionaires gather the top 10 hitmen to kill each other to become the best hitman and win a large prize; a young hitman gets involved and has to face the other hitmen as well (sounds like the videogame No More Heroes). They manage to get work done for “Future Watch” along with passing their college exams. After, they finish the three chapters for “Two of Me” and “Hitman10” for their meeting. Mashiro notices that Takagi put in an abundance of jokes for “Hitman10.” Probably to push “Two of Me” over it. At the meeting, Miura decides that “Hitman10” is the direction they should go in. However, the editors find out that they submitted something for Treasures as well, without Miura’s knowledge. Things get heated as they argue over the ethics of what they’ve done. The duo really wanted to submit a one-shot first to test the waters, and they really didn’t want to do “Hitman10” either. Fighting against their editor, the EIC sends Hattori in to resolve the issue. He tries to clear things up as best he can, but notices all the work that they did and is hesitant. Miura then begrudgingly comes to a conclusion: they can submit their one-shot, and if it does well, he’ll quit his job. Though his resolve was true, everyone managed to convince him not to do that. Things are finally decided: the one-shot will be submitted, and if it does well, it’ll be published. However, they still have to submit “Hitman10” to the meeting in April. If “Hitman10” is liked, they’ll go with that instead of “Future Watch.” However, if they notice that “Hitman10” is sub-par so that they can get “Future Watch” serialized instead, they won’t run either.
Holy crap… Once again, so much happening in Bakuman it’ll make your head spin. So the three series names sounded pretty interesting, but without really being fully fleshed out, it’s tough to say what I’d like to read more. Honeslty, “Hitman10” didn’t sound that bad at all. Another good cameo by Hattori. And was anyone surprised that Miura was going to pick “Hitman10”? I thought not. Some really funny sight gags at the beginning of the chapter, with Mashiro and Takagi having “cool” faces when talking to Miyoshi. Doesn’t look like we’ll get to Nakai and Aoki’s problems for a while. Well, this semi-reset of the story is going quite well for me. Looking forward to seeing the results of the polished names. Good chapter.
BEELZEBUB (chapter 30 and 31) – Join Us and fsdfa
(30) After reviving from the internal struggle, Oga takes a shower, only to find Shirayama (Kanzaki’s henchman) spying on him outside the bathroom window. He makes Oga follow him, but doesn’t tell him why. Flashback to Kanzaki and Himegawa talking to Toujou. They’re upset that Tojou took all of their underlings. Tojou doesn’t know what they’re talking about, so Kaoru fills them in. Since their defeat to Oga, their underlings began to call themselves members of Tojou’s faction so that he can defeat Oga. They don’t want their school to be run by a freshman. Tojou wants to settle this with a fight, but Kaoru intervenes, saying that they aren’t worthy enough to fight him. So he defeats both of them. Cut back to the present, as it’s Kanzaki and Himegawa telling the story to Oga. They want to join forces to take down Tojou, though they still hate Oga as well. So with this unexptected alliance, the four of them head to the school. They meet up with Aizawa, and the other two want to take him out first, but they’re interrupted by a bunch of other factions wanting to take out Oga for Tojou. Oga wants a rematch against Aizawa, but he simply walks away, saying that if he defeats all of them, he’ll get his rematch. What will happen to this newly formed group, the Shinkidan? (the first three syllables of their last names) (31) Kanzaki and Himegawa manage to take out a few of the grunts, but Oga defeats the rest of them in the meantime. As Oga walks away, they yell at him to not walk ahead of him, because they’re not his underlings. Hilda, Lamia, and Dr. Rachmaninorr are watching over them, wondering if Oga will be able to reconnect with BL. The guys arrive at the school, only to be greeted by an even larger number of delinquent factions, almost the entire student body. Aizawa lets them do as they please, while he goes to get Tojou. However, before they get surrounded, they are saved by Kuneida and the Red Tail female group. Oga wants to know why they’re all there, but she tells them that they’ll hold those guys off for him.
Double chapter review. Don’t really feel like splitting up the chapters for review, so I’ll just lump them both together. I was actually thinking that Kanzaki and Himegawa were going to try to take on Oga first, but my other prediction was almost right: that Tojou would take care of them. Technically, it was Kaoru. It was funny seeing the difference in both strength and attitude between Oga and the other two. Too bad Shirayama isn’t really getting included in the fight scenes. He’s mainly there getting surrounded, but not shown fighting at all. Anyone surprised by Kuneida appearing in the last pages of chapter 31? I thought not. But it was still cool regardless, especially with her former group still supporting her. Things are getting good again, and I’m really looking forward to these upcoming fights. Not too sure if Oga is going to take on both members of Tojou’s group and Tojou himself. Kanzaki, Himegawa, and even Shiayama have to do something, right? Good chapters.
