2015
06.04

In this week’s Jump, the Uchiha have an awkward family reunion, Chitoge and Onodera have an embarrassingly friendly chat about how each of their relationships with their crush (who happens to be the same person) is going, and a shit ton of secondary characters who we haven’t seen in a long, long, long, looooooonnnggg time come back in…pretty much every series in this issue, actually. All this and more, After the Jump!

Weekly Shonen Jump: 2015, Issue No. 27

World Trigger chapter #104 – “Tamakoma Branch: Part 1”

Oh my god! It's him! I can't believe he's back!....Um, who is he again?

I wasn’t expecting World Trigger to take a break from the Rank Wars right before the final rounds, but it’s a welcome respite after about two dozen chapters focused on nothing but the battles. It’s high time we returned back to the story about the Neighbor world and the preparations for the Invasion, as well as developing the enigmatic subplot involving Hyuse’s abandonment by his Aftokrator teammates.

That being said, not much out of this chapter gives any hints about why he was and for what purpose. Still, it feels like there is some grander purpose for him being there rather than him being disposed of or being forsaken. Hyuse is very confident and steadfast in his conversation with Border’s board of directors, and is unshaken by the claim that his teammates meant to leave him behind. Hearing about Enedora’s death is the only thing that at all seems to bother him, and even then, he doesn’t show that outwardly. These details lead me to believe that Hyuse’s fate was mutually preordained between him and his commanders. He was aware and prepared for this, and there may be a deeper reasoning for him to stay there. Perhaps he’s a spy, biding time until he can gain a reasonable amount of trust with Border agents, and sneak out their secrets and deliver them back to Aftokrator? Hyuse is an interesting character and his subplot has a lot of possibilities as to where it could go, which is all the more reason why I want the Rank Wars to conclude relatively soon so the story can start readdressing the big picture of things.

On that note…I was very surprised by the appearance of THAT character at the end of this chapter! Especially because I had no fucking clue who that character was supposed to be! Seriously…it was only after listening to the Shonen Jump podcast and reading comments in the World Trigger thread at the One Dream Adventure forums that I realized that he was Enedora. It’s not like there weren’t clues to help you figure this out in the chapter, sine the RAD has horns like Enedora’s human body had and he addresses the characters as “meeden monkeys,” which I guess was the big giveaway to most of the diehard WT fans. But it’s been eight months since we’ve last seen the guy, he has a completely different physical appearance, and I thought he was supposed to be dead and never coming back like Unohana (on that note – happy 200th episode Weekly Manga Recap!). So, as someone who’s had more than World Trigger on my brain these past few months, you can’t really blame me for not putting the pieces together by myself, can you? I’m sure there were plenty of others who don’t pay as close attention to the series that were scratching their heads at the end of this chapter too.

But wow, this is pretty big huh? How did Enedora survive when Mira vaporized his ass? Why is Border keeping him alive in a RAD body? Why do they want Yuma to speak with him? All this on top of the question as to why Tamakoma branch is keeping Hyuse all to themselves instead of handing him over to HQ, and you’ve got a lot of intrigue going on as to what Border hopes to gain from interrogating their captured/allied Neighbor friends. I could be a bit miffed that Enedora isn’t dead which sorta weakens the coolness of his downfall in the “Invasion” arc, but I found the guy interesting and I’ll be curious to see what his role in the series will be here on out now that he is an unwitting ally of Border (or so it seems).

Naruto: The Seventh Hokage and the Scarlet Spring chapter #700+5 – “The Future”

Worst. Family Reunion. Ever.

Last time, I made cracks about how Sasuke is such a terrible father that he couldn’t even recognize his own daughter. But, to be fair, it’s not like he was ever expecting her to show up, he hadn’t seen her in a long time, and he was on edge and alert to potential ambushes and attacks by Shin’s allies. It’s only natural he would have assumed Sarada would have been one of them at first glance. And to his credit, it takes him less than a minute to realize he fucked up and the girl standing in front of him is his own daughter. He has a pretty remorseful expression on his face right afterwards too, like he’s ashamed of himself for not recognizing his own daughter and almost stabbing her. He’s still not a good father; he doesn’t realize how the secrets that he’s been keeping from Sarada and his absence from her life has been hurting her. Still he does care about Sarada’s well-being, albeit misguided in parenting, and his flaws in this chapter come across as more human rather than the more frustratingly unbelievable behavior he would often exhibit in the original series.

As far as fathers go, Naruto is clearly the better dad. At least, he has a better understanding of how to talk to and handle children, as we’ve seen in how he’s been able to make Sarada feel at ease by gently comforting her and giving off a warm, friendly vibe. Both Sasuke and Sakura could learn a thing about parenting from him. Sakura, at least, isn’t just going to let her daughter cause trouble and is going to pick her up, and give her a good talking to. After this chapter, I’m leaning towards Sakura is actually Sarada’s mother after all and not Karin, and Sarada was just overly paranoid. Sarada’s glasses are probably related to Karin in some way, but they are likely just a gift or something. I honestly see this subplot resolving fairly quickly provided Sakura meets up with the rest sooner rather than later.

But, on to the meat of this chapter; the reveal that there may be a force out there that even Kaguya was fearful of. Which would make sense and explain why Zetsu and Kaguya’s plan was to make a brainwashed army; why would they need an army if she was the strongest being out there? Of course, this raises a lot of possibilities as to what the new threat is and how powerful it’s forces are. No doubt it’s connected to the new Akatsuki and whoever this new leader is that’s been harvesting Sharingan eyes a la Danzo and made a bunch of Uchiha clones. I’m assuming this mini-series will run right up until the premiere of the Bourto movie, so that’s about two months more for this story to develop. I don’t think all the questions about whatever Kaguya-sque threat is out there will be resolved, and instead will be used as a springboard for more stories to be potentially set in the Naruto universe in the future. Which, well, what did you expect? An anime franchise as big as Naruto was never going to end, and if it’s to keep relevant and profitable, it needs a way to move forward and reinvent itself. The upcoming Dragon Ball Super series is a testament to that.

One Piece chapter #788 – “My Battle”

One Piece: Probably the only other piece of media besides Super Princess Peach that makes a character cry to fight.

In all seriousness, though, it’s a cute moment in the chapter and nice resolution to the fact that Doflamingo was planning to use Mansherry’s tears to revive his fallen executives, and now that very power has been turned against him. I don’t care about the Tontattas and their annoying baby speak (reading Leo’s lines in this chapter was tedious), but I do like this contribution and find it an effective payoff for their subplot in this arc. And speaking of subplots paying off, the scene where Viola challenges Doflamingo to a fight in order to atone for her misdeeds and buy some more time for Luffy was pretty sweet. It’d be even better if Rebecca doesn’t just stand there like a bawling idiot and helps fight him with her or something, but I’ll take what I can get as far as female characters doing something substantial to help out in a fight these days. So, good for you, Viola and Mansherry. You guys have been more useful in this arc than the series’ actual main female leads have been. Which…really doesn’t speak well of how Oda’s been writing his female protagonists these days if the bar’s this low.

Speaking of bars (well, strings technically, but they might as well be), I’ve been struggling to feel any tension from this whole Bird Cage ordeal we’ve been dealing with these past three weeks. Are we supposed to be on the edge of our seat hoping that everyone will be able to stop it without Luffy having to beat Doflamingo first? The problem is that Oda has done this schtick about a big doomsday weapon that is threatening to destroy a whole bunch of people in almost every major arc he’s written since the Straw Hats entered the Grand Line. That bomb in Alabasta, Deathpeia in Skypeia, the Buster Call in Enies Lobby…he’s used this device so much that it’s lost all impact at this point. I’m not worried about the lives about anyone because I know no one is going to lose them.

Had this conflict with the Bird Cage been used to highlight the reunification of the Dressora people after all the suffering and segregation they endured under the tyranny of the Don Quixote family, and it was they who rallied to push back the Bird Cage and momentarily stopped it, then I might have been able to buy into it. It would have made King Riku’s rallying cry to them a couple chapters back all the more meaningful instead of just coming across as yet another “believe in Luffy” speech. But instead, it’s the outsiders of Dressora that are shown taking the most initiative in protecting their country. Zoro comes up with the idea, the other Straw Hats and the gladiators follow, then the marines, and then we see some small panels of some Dressora citizens starting to help, but the focus on them is so minor compared to the focus on outsiders Oda might as well cut them out. So it becomes less about a nation uniting to protect their country from tyranny and more about the Straw Hats and the other established characters just trying to buy time for Luffy to recover. Which makes the stakes and emotional connections in this come across a whole lot weaker, and the moment when the Bird Cage is stopped feel less of a meaningful accomplishment and rather just an “okay, that happened” beat. It bothers me, because there is a really great way Oda could have executed this that would’ve elicited a better thematic and emotional effect and provide a much better resolution to the subplot concerning the mistreatment of the Dressrosa people, but Oda went in a more cluttered direction, spreading focus on characters too far and too thin, making this all feel like it was filler from the anime that Oda decided to draw in his manga for whatever reason.

That’s really what this all feels like to me, filler. There doesn’t seem to be any legitimate reason for the series to spend over a month on this plot device and have the fight between Luffy and Doflamingo be delayed for so long. Perhaps, the consequences of the fight between Doflamingo and Viola will help justify this, or Oda will do something more interesting with all this in when things are at it’s most desperate point. All I know is that I didn’t feel anything when the Bird Cage was halted in this chapter, because I just don’t feel any tangible, actual stakes in any of this. It comes across as Oda going through the motions of what he likes to do at the end of every big arc, and it just isn’t nearly as effective this time around.

Devilyman chapter #2 – “Aeru Taira”

There definitely seems like something’s up with Aeru, but whatever it is, Devilyman ain’t telling us yet. All we know for sure is that he ain’t some high school detective turned teenager thanks to some miraculous drug. I guess Shinichi Kudo won’t have to sue.

This second chapter seems to set a precedent for the formula the series wants to coast on for the immediate future. Madogiwa and Aeru discuss find a despicable fellow, torment him in a hilariously ironic way that exposes his wrongdoings, and extorts any and all dirty money out of the situation. Essentially, how “Shadow Games”-era Yu-Gi-Oh! was like except Aeru is actively seeking out the assholes instead of randomly being victimized by them. With the formula comes special powers the characters can use, and Aeru already got his with he truth-seeing eyes in the last chapter. Now we learn that Madogiwa is able to become doll-sized when splashed with warm water. Random, but as evidenced in this chapter, has a lot of potential for creative uses.

I drew a YGO! comparison before, and this really does feel like a “Shadow Games”-era scenario to me. An over the top antagonist who’s exploiting some one the heroes like, leading to them tricking them into a situation that exploits their faults, and exposes their foul human nature publicly and to karmic retribution. My only concern is if too many of these situations will be resolved by Madogiwa simply freaking out an antagonist, as both chapters so far involved him scaring the antagonists of the chapter senseless in order to get them to fess up their schemes and cough up their dough. It’s fine in this chapter, since it’s a good twist to have a false demon exorcist to be scared silly when confronted with a real demon, but it will get old if the series falls back on it too much. I’d like to see how the main characters handle a situation where their enemy won’t be scared at the sight of Madogiwa.

While not as strong as the first chapter, this is another fun outing from the series. Aeru is fleshed out and shown to have some sort of moral conscience, only going after bad people and helping out those they victimized. We also get a hint of his background, as we see him look contemplatively over a picture of his family. What happened to them? Why is he living alone in a tent under a bridge? What’s with all the stacks of books and paper in there? These images combined with the cryptic foreshadowing at the end of the chapter indicates that Aeru is caught up in something big. It’s an intriguing development, and more than enough of a hook to keep me wanting to read more and see where it goes.

My Hero Academia chapter #44 – “Relaxing Day Off”

Can I just say I love it when MHA has these comic-book style cover pages? They’re just really cool. It’s going to be a darn shame if they are merely rendered in black and white in the U.S. editions of the graphic novels.

This was a nice cool-down chapter for the Sports Festival arc. Not that it’s a relaxing chapter, unless you think seeing the sight of Ida’s brother in a half-dead state and his little brother freaks the fuck out and his mother fall unconscious out of shock is all nice and chill. Damn. Kind of gypped that he wasn’t really dying in this chapter. That would have made that page so, so much more cruel and ‘effed up, though I suppose the effect on Ida’s character arc is still mostly the same. His personal hero and the person he looked up to most in the world is in a sorry state. That’s got to get him to rethink his stance on being a hero, or at least, what he expects to accomplish as a hero.

Speaking of character who are going to need to figure themselves out, Todoroki’s development in this chapter is by far the most interesting and engaging. Settling old demons, and finally talking to first mother in the first time in years, Todoroki hopes by reconnecting with her he can make peace with who he is, and be confident in the hero he wants to be. I really want to see the talk between him and his mother. Hell, I just want to see more of Todoroki in general. He really is the most interesting character in the series.

Outside of that, it was nice seeing glances at the family life of Midoriya and Ochako. Ochako’s parents in particular seem like a lot of fun, and it might be nice to see more of them in the future. As for Bakugo, I was totally wrong about him getting a change in attitude or show some self-awareness after his unsatisfying victory. He’s still an angry jerk. Hmm. At least he’s a funny angry jerk. And hey, at least some of the other characters are getting tied of hearing him yap too. All Might stuffing the victory medal in his mouth to shut him up was hilarious.

Bleach chapter #628 – “New World Orders”

That one panel sums up all you need to know about this chapter. The rest is filler. Unfunny filler involving characters freaking out after learning that Yoruichi has a younger brother. The point of whom I still don’t get. I guess Kubo thought this arc needed more comic relief of something. Otherwise, um, Ywach’s got a brand new castle called Wahr Welt now I guess. And Shunsui is becoming more and more like Yamamoto what with his uncharacteristically callous suggestion that they can solve everything by just killing Ywach and electing a new Soul King. Because becoming the Soul King is just that easy, as we’ve seen. What else can I say about this chapter? Even the Shonen Jump podcast had to struggle to think of things to say about this chapter and just joked their way through it, and they have to speak positively about this series. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…I wish Kubo would stop with the stalling and start with the fighting. And more fighting is the last thing this series needs. Still, I’d rather something happen that’s worth talking about than yet another chapter that just keeps saying the same thing over and over again and drags maybe two to three panels max worth of information over an entire 18 page chapter. Put us out of our misery already, Kubo.

Toriko chapter #325 – “Rampaging Direct Hit!!”

Surf's up.

Aw yeah. It’s been a while since we’ve had a good old fashioned adventure chapter from Toriko, and boy, what fun it was! The thing about talking about a chapter like this, though, is that it’s more about how the experience of the action/adventure scenes feel in the moment, which I don’t know how to properly describe without just recapping what happened in the chapter. There are plot bits that stick out as intriguing though, like the revelation that Teppei (I assume it’s Teppei) developed a dark art that uses fungus in cooking that manipulates the brain and the nervous system, which could explain what’s been up with him lately. And I was not expecting Starjun and Brunch to meet up with Toriko and co. this quickly, nor did I expect them to meet up with Jiji this soon into the arc. Toriko moves fast, man. But really, the meat of the chapter was the sheer insanity of the crazy ride through the Black Triangle, having to outmaneuver scores of sideways tornados, avoid crashing into moving islands, escape from giant flaming tidal waves (that even have hands!) called the Wave Boys, which all weave into the quick and epic returns of Starjun and Brunch and the reveal of Gold Chef Jiji. It’s the kind of fun, ridiculous madness that makes Toriko what it is, and I enjoyed every page of it. This arc is off to a great start.

Nisekoi chapter #172 – “Prayers”

The harem's all here to celebrate the New Year!...six months late.

This chapter reads to me as a sort of “calm before the storm” interlude, taking a breather after the last couple of plot-progressing story arcs. The basic beats of where the characters are now in their relationships and what they hope to get out of life in the immediate future are readdressed, and the core scene of this chapter is focused on Chitoge and Onodera discussing their progress with their crushes to each other, unaware that they are both talking about Raku. There’s an ironic tension in the scene; these two can’t remain unaware that they both like the same guy for long. Yet, they’ve grown into such close friends, reassuring each other that they don’t know any one else more beautiful and awesome and that their love lives will work out. Well, unless they all want to be polygamists, that aint going to work out. More than heartbreak, what’ll be the most interesting, and crushing, when they finally realize who each other likes is the strain and potential dissolution of such a close and trusting friendship. The emphasis on their relationship in this chapter seems to be leading towards that inevitable outcome, and it’s something I’m curious to see how Komi develops. That, and whatever Marika’s deal is. When she doesn’t show up for a group activity where literally every other prominent character in the series attends, you gotta assume some shit’s going down.

Black Clover chapter #15 – “Three”

I'm inclined to agree...with both sentiments, actually.

Well. Luck’s whole winning complex and mommy issues were sure resolved easily. Mmm. That’s…rather disappointing. It just feels hollow that Asta would be able to snap Luck out of his funk so quickly and easily. I feel this was an issue that has long been with him and we should have seen been worked through over time during the course of the series (it’s not like it’s going anywhere…have you seen the rankings lately?). But instead, Tabata just has him realize he has friends and he’s not alone anymore when Asta helps him out a second time. It feels like a waste. Perhaps Luck is just crazy, and he just periodically forgets things when he’s in the heat of battle. That would make sense, actually.

I do like how they worked as a team to defeat the Diamond captain, though, with a pretty clever strategy that takes advantage of Asta’s lack of magic to outwit him. And man, that dude’s arm is seriously messed up now. Fuck, dude. Speaking of fucked dudes, Yuno’s not looking so hot in his battle with the other guy. Considering he’s been Mr. Perfect in all his moments in the series so far, it’s cool to finally see him not only at a disadvantage, but losing. I have a feeling some more teamwork is required to beat Mr. giant sword-guy. Perhaps Asta’ll arrive just in time to help his old pal and show up those snooty Golden Dawn jagoffs? Maybe. Probably. Maybe.

There were cool moments in this chapter; Tabata’s art really sells a lot of the imagery and the panel showing Asta swinging at the Diamond knight and breaking all the bones in his arm is really damn brutal. But as far as developing the story and characters go, I feel that the series has kinda regressed, and that leaves me rather disappointed considering the promise shown by last week’s chapter. It’s not a bad outing from this series, but it is an odd and regressive one. I’m hoping for something promising to come out of Yuno’s current situation, but I’m not getting them too high lest I get let down like this again.

Food Wars! Shokugeki no Soma chapter #120 – “One Monster Event”

Chinese Cooking Sweat Shop

This chapter features the most shocking revelation ever – Totsuki Culinary Institute actually has general education classes! Really, we’ve never seen any of them sit in a non-cooking related class before, so you could’ve assumed they didn’t have any at all. Also, I totally forgot who that Hojo chick was. I had to look her up to remind myself she used to be Megumi’s rival in the early parts of the series and lost in the preliminaries of the Fall Classic. It’s nice Tsukuda remembered she was a thing, and is bringing her back to help train Soma in chinese cooking in order to compete with Kuga’s booth at the culture festival. Especially because, like his personality, Kuga’s cooking shows many layers of experience and a spicy edge. He’s a stickler for perfection and despite his effeminate behavior he commands a lot of respect and works his kitchen like a sweat-shop, beating his subordinates into perfection. Kuga’s got it all figured out; a large highly trained staff that can put forth exceptional dishes and serve large quantities to meet the demand attracted by the Culture Festival. Soma’s totally underestimated the game this time. Not only is his cooking not even close to Kuga’s level, but he’s got no staff and too few connections and resources to match Kuga’s output of 1000 orders per day. While Soma’s generally been skilled at pulling things together on the fly all by himself, this time, he’s got to make a plan and get a lot of help. Question is…how? Just when you think Soma’s grown into an unbeatable cooking machine, we find that he’s still got a big wall to climb. Let’s see if he can break it down instead.

One-Punch Man chapters #44.3-44 – “Accelerate” & “Hero Name”

Heh, poor Sonic. The jerk might be quick, but he’s still a far ways from ever being a match for Saitama. As fast as he is, Saitama is even faster, and all he has to do is do a bunch of sideway steps to make a wall and block his path. Though, Saitama should’ve been on top of things better, since he let Sonic slip away let again. He’ll be back, though. The current storyline with Garou is too intense for him not to.

I love how Blizzard is now yet another random hero who’s spontaneously decided to ally with Saitama after seeing his true skills. It’ll be awesome if she starts chilling out with Saitama and King in his apartment just because. It’s nice to see her character being explored some. She’s got a serious inferiority complex towards her older sister, Tornado,  who’s the strongest Esper in the world and has always been better than her in just about everything. As a consequence, she’s always had to settle for being second best…at best. So, naturally, her status as the #1 B-Class hero is very important to her, as is subordinating all those before her so that she could amass a collective power to rival her sister’s individual prowess. She can’t even become A-Class because there are people on that level far stronger than her as well, especially it’s #1, Handsome Mask. Who we’ve seen before, and are sure to see more of as this new arc gets into the heat of things. Though first, it looks like we’re going to see a bit of his ruthless side as he fights this weird tribal-looking guy. I suspect that Handome Mask is hiding a rather ugly personality.

While brief, these chapters offered some neat character and world building, and are setting up a lot of characters to take center stage as this arc continues forward. I personally can’t wait for Saitama to meet and show up Atomic Mask’s three pupils, as well as how his first interaction with Handsome Mask will go down. But first…what’s up with Garou? I wonder if we’ll see him again anytime soon…

Yu-Gi-Oh! chapter #4 – “Jailbreak”

Well here it is, the final chapter of this Yu-Gi-Oh! Jump Back. Can you believe only four chapters in, the series is balls crazy to feature a story about an escaped convict holding up a fast-food restaurant? Because it was. It’s actually a pretty neat chapter in terms of giving Anzu some character development to make her more than just Yugi’s one female friend. Granted, stuff like her side job at the burger joint and her dreams of studying dance in New York sorta gets dropped and never mentioned again by the time the series enters it’s Duel Monsters phase, but it’s at least gives her a bit more of a character. Not to mention adding in her crush on Yami Yugi makes for some amusing comedic moments and an ironic cruel twist on Yugi’s love life.

You gotta love how Yami Yugi manages to outwit a damn psycho with a gun with nothing but words and a lighter. He takes advantage of the convicts’ confidence that he’s in control of the situation to trick him into taking his bait. He could’ve just shot Yugi, and then taken his lighter. But no, he had to be a dumb asshole and ask Yugi to light his cigarette for him, which allowed Yugi to exploit the fact the convict was so distracted he was spilling alcohol all over himself and the table to immobilize, and ultimately, incinerate him. They didn’t really even play a Shadow Game in this chapter; it was just a really simple game of wit. Rather one-sided since Yami Yugi was the only one between the two who was actually witty, but it makes for a really memorable and amusing outing nonetheless. Actually, it was more “fun” than a chunk of the current series in this week’s issue, which is a good testament to how quickly Kazuki Takahashi managed to make his series into something unique and interesting in spite of it’s shoddy arc and unimpressive characterization (at this point, at least).

Revisiting the beginning of YGO! was rather fun. Honestly the best of the Jump Backs Viz has chose to run so far. Hopefully something just as fun to read replaces it. Considering that Viz is currently offering the entirety of Saint Seiya in a digital bundle…my guess is that will be next. Speaking of, I should probably get on reading all those volumes I bought. Can’t let that $70 go to waste, after all.

Final Thoughts:

Seriously, did every mangaka make a conscious decision to bring back or prominently feature a long neglected secondary character this week? Enedora in World Trigger, Violet in One Piece, Midoriya’s mom and Uraraka’s parents in MHA, Starjun in Toriko, Hojo in Food Wars!, Handsome Mask in One-Punch Man, a bunch of chicks in Nisekoi whose names I still can’t be bothered to remember…there were a whole lot of characters I was surprised to see this week. As far as the issue itself went…it was decent. Not nearly as strong as last week, a lot of that having to do with the fact most of the series were doing a bunch of set-up/wind-downs this week. One Piece and Black Clover were the only series that were really in the heat of an intense situation, yet their latest chapters still ended up feeling like let downs. Even Food Wars! wasn’t as strong as it usually is this week, and that’s been my go-to for a good time in Jump every week this year. There are still just enough genuinely strong chapters in this issue to commend, though….

Best Manga of the Week:

1. World Trigger – The conversation between Hyuse and the Border higher-ups was intriguing in it’s implications, and the continued mystery behind Hyuse’s motivations. And the end of the chapter reveal that Enedora is still alive was a bold and interesting development, even if his identity flew over my head at first. WT celebrated it’s two-year anniversary (well, two and a half year anniversary, technically) by putting out yet another strong chapter, and easily the best of the issue.

2. My Hero Academia – A nice wind-down from the Sports Festival arc, opening new doors for the characters to grow, especially in the case of Todoroki. Also had it’s share of amusing bits as well, as well as some mortifying ones, making for a really cool, balanced chapter.

3. Devilyman – The series plays with it’s premise and sets up a versatile formula, resulting in a strong sophomore chapter full of fun laughs and a refreshingly old-school manga comedy vibe. Combined with some nice expansion of Aeru’s character and hints at an intriguing backstory and something rumbling in the background, and this is shaping up to be a very promising new addition to the Jump lineup.

4. One-Punch Man – While not the flashiest of fights or the deepest of character development were demonstrated in these chapters, that single page showing Sonic’s reaction to Saitama’s serious sideways jumps is enough to clinch it the fourth spot on these ranks. A lot of really cool pages and panels in these chapters, though that’s to be expected of any given OPM installment.

Line(s) of the Week:

Madogiwa: “You could be an angel or a genius teenager transformed into a child due to some medicine’s side effect.”
Aeru: “Huh? You read too much manga.”
Madogiwa: “Then how do you explain me?!”

Devilyman

Panel(s) of the Week:

Page(s) of the Week:

Well, that about does it for this issue. I hope next week’s is a bit stronger. Until then, enjoy the beginning of summer, take a nice walk around the town, and take any copies of that Attack on Titan/Avengers crossover comic you find and throw them back in the trash, and I’ll see you again after the jump!

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