Currently Running Manga Discussion

[LumRanmaYasha]

Not a particularly great week this time.

Assassination Classroom chapter 89 - The naming joke for Masayoshi was too much of a japanese pun to really work for me, though I understood it because I watched Samurai Flamenco so I got a bit of a "oh" moment when they said the alternate reading of the name is "justice." The chapter is basically giving all the characters offensive but appropriate nicknames, some of which like "Not-Takoaka" and "Forever O" were funny, others not really so. The chapter didn't really have much to it besides that and felt short, so it didn't really do a lot for me this time.

Black Butler chapter 93 - Nothing really happened in this chapter. At least, nothing worth 30 pages. It repeated revelations we already knew from last month's and then then added the townspeople demanding the Green Witch evict Ciel and co. from the town, and then some of the humans are actually were-wolves, I guess. This was just really boring to read.

Bleach chapter 581 - Shinji and Momo have rejoined the battle...but they probably will be useless so, whatevs. And Ichigo is back to bail Kenpachi's ass out. Okay. There wasn't anything good or bad about this chapter, it's just 15 pages hyping Ichigo being back. And that's boring.

Magi chapter 225 - Things are not going well for Solomon. Though he tries to keep the species together, there is just no resolving the tensions and mistrust between them, and conflicts continue to periodically break out, and he must continually exert his power and authority to quell them. He may very well be on the dark path to becoming like his father, at this rate. But anyway, Sheba is pregnant! Hmm, I wonder who the child is?...

Naruto chapter 677 - Damn. This was a pretty disturbing chapter. Everyone is basically wrapped hypnotized, wrapped in cocoons and connected to the God tree. This Infinite Tsukiyomi thing is a pretty oh-shit kind of deal since the only people not affected are the Edo Tensei's. I'm curious to see how Naruto and co. are going to stop Madara now, since without the protection of Sauske's Susanoo they'd be hypnotized as well. Now, was this worth 210 chapters are 4.5 years of waiting? HAHAHAHHAHAH No. This is kind of a lame payoff. I mean, fucking extending trees? C'mon. But, this chapter, by itself, is alright to me because of it's tone, so I'll throw a bone to Kishimoto here and say it's a decent 'un, but I'm docking it points for not being worth the build up.

One Piece chapter 748 - This was the most focused chapter in a good while, since it only was about one thing - the other Colosseum competitors joining Luffy to take down Doflamingo, and joining the ongoing fight with Pica. It was also easily the funniest chapter in a long time too, and I particularly laughed at Cavendish's parts here. It'll be interesting to see where this alliance will go in future battles, and possibly beyond this arc.

Peephole chapter 25 - Fujiora has one hell of a plastic surgeon. Damn is she crazy. Crazy hilarious! But she's savvy enough to know someone set her up at the hospital. And the ending of this chapter...yeah, I don't think Kurosu is dead, and I wonder if Miyachi has something planned to trick Fujiora. Real funny chapter this time. I'm liking this series more each passing week.

Stealth Symphony chapter 12 - This chapter was too full of stuff, and quite frankly, it's hard to care because none of the characters besides Jig and Troma are really fleshed out yet, so having a new plot thread focused on Alice doesn't seem interesting no matter what kind of past you'll give her. I know this series hasn't been doing well in the rankings and probably will be canceled soon, but I still expected better stuff from the guy who wrote Baccano and Death Note.

Toriko chapter 278 - Komatsu's face when everyone chose him to navigate the Octopus was priceless, as was Mappy's degeneration into a tadpole from the depression of being trapped under the Golden sea. A classic, humorous, and adventurous Toriko chapter here.

Rankings:

1. Toriko - 9/10
2. Magi - 8/10
3. One Piece - 8/10
4. Peephole - 8/10
5. Assassination Classroom - 8/10
6. Naruto - 6/10
7. Bleach - 5/10
8. Stealth Symphony - 5/10
9. Black Butler - 5/10

There weren't that many bad chapters this week, but nothing particularly great either. I'll just have to hope for better stuff next week.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The new chapter of Hunter X Hunter is finally out. A bit too exposition-heavy for my tastes (as if we didn't already get enough of that during the Chimera Ant arc), and it's all only really saying one obvious thing: The Dark Continent = Bad!

So, it's a pretty mediocre chapter in and of itself, but I am certainly interested to see where this series will be going with this concept. It's sort of like how in One Piece the New World was promised to be more bizarre and dangerous than ever, but disappointingly it's just like the fucking Grand Line all over again. With HXH, I have no worries about its so-called "New World" living up to the title of Dark Continent.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Ah, looks like Viz is releasing the complete All You Need Is Kill in a single omnibus in November. That's nice to see. AYNIK was a fun manga with some excellent artwork from Obata and I've enjoyed keeping up with it until now, so if I have the scratch, I'll be sure to pick this up.

[LumRanmaYasha]

This was a rather solid week, actually. Helps that it's the first week I can talk about Vinland Saga and HXH has returned!

Bleach chapter 582 - This felt kind of short. It's basically just Ichigo easily beating some of that Quincy gang and that fight starting, plus some bit about Juha Bach planning to do....something. Like, not a lot really happened here, but at the same time, there wasn't anything awful in this one either. It's certainly a step up from the Gremmy bullshit from the previous weeks.

Hunter X Hunter chapter 341 - And so, HXH finally returns! The first half of this chapter was kind of boring, though, since it was basically a bunch of exposition and featured random characters that I kinda doubt will be much important in the grand scheme of things (and basically everything that happened in that scene was basically to say that the Dark Continent was dangerous....which is, y'know, obvious. But I did like the second half of the chapter when it switched back to the Zodiacs and we learned Beyond led the failed expedition 50 years ago, and then the Zodiacs planning to get Ging to lead the voyage among other approaches, and then the ending of the chapter where Beyond appears and asks them to contact V5 and tell them they've captured him. I wonder what his plan here is. All in all, while it was a bit too expositiony in parts, I thought this chapter gave a good first sense of where the arc might be going and I hope to see what Beyond's gambit here is next week. Good to have HXH back, for however long that'll be.

Kuroko no Basket chapters 262-263 - These chapters were pretty good, actually. I mean, Akashi's bits still annoyed me, but Kuroko telling Kagami to give up on trying to take him on alone, and instead work as a team against him, was the right direction considering that teamwork and the Kuroko/Kagami partnership is what this series is based on and the anithesis to Akashi's playing style. Kuroko knowing Kagami so well that he's able to perfectly support and predict Kagami's moves, even more so than Akashi, was well-done payoff to Kuroko's sense of observation and relationship with Kagami all this time,  and is something that has finally outmatched Akashi's own "Emperor Eye" skill, which makes it the first time so far he's been beaten outwitted and outplayed in such a way. Now this is a direction I can get behind instead of that shitty second door idea. But, though this is a step in the right direction, the series could still do that or something more groan-worthy. I'll wait and see how this plays out, but I will say this is the first time in a while I've liked any part of this match, which is a plus.

Magi chapter 226 - All Solomon wanted was to be equal to everyone else. He did not want the position of leader or a position of power thrust upon him. He did not want to see people bow down before him. But, with all the fighting and conflict between the species, there was only one way to unify everyone, and restore order and peace. For the sake of this, Solomon had to become what he did not want. He had to become a King. And thus, the birth of King Solomon. Though his closest followers promise not to treat him less casually than usual, we've seen in the past that they too cannot resist the urge to revere him and hold him of higher status than they as well. Solomon is worried, above all else, that being entrusted with such power and authority he will become corrupted and arrogant, and a dictatorial and oppressing figure like his father. Luckily, he has in Sheba someone who will never be afraid to call him out on bullshit or when he gets out of line, but it's clear he's still troubled. So the look on his face when Ugo tells him that the one thing every being on the planet is equal in is the rukh says a lot. That one idea must have really made an impression on him and uplifted his spirit, and given him hope for creating the equal world that he wants. This was an excellent chapter in how it developed Solomon's character, paying off on many established aspects about him while setting up some more things for down the road. Next week's chapter looks to be the beginning of the final showdown with Elder David, and I'll be interested in seeing how that turns out as well.

Naruto chapter 678 - Some of the dream worlds of the people trapped in the Edo Tensei were kinda sweet and funny. But this chapter's big twist is awfully dumb.  Zetsu, this whole time, was actually working under Kaguya's will, and Madara was a just a pawn in her grand scheme. Kaguya was only introduced, like, 6 chapters ago, so this is kind of sudden. It also feels incredibly cheap because they've been fighting Madara for 100+ chapters now and he was actually set up properly even though his character and motivation is dumb. So, the first half of this chapter is okay, then it's tedious for a while when Madara is spouting his peace crap and we go through the same "YOU GONNA LOSE" "NO I AINT BECAUSE I AM THE MESSIAH AND I GOT FRIENDS" bullcrap, and then out of nowhere plot twist. Surprisingly, this was probably did not make me all that pissed off like a lot of recent chapters have, and mainly that's because I think I'm just getting tired and used to this kind of crap so I'm like, whatever.

One Piece chapter 749 - This chapter was the most boring one in a while. Like there's all of this action going on in the fight against Pica and stuff, but it's so cluttered visually that htere's no momentum and nothing is exciting or interesting here at all. The very end of the chapter, with Law revealing he actually has a personal grudge against Doflamingo as well, that he killed his best friend who also happened to be Doffy's brother, and so I'm guessing this is going to segue way into Law's backstory which I am interested in seeing. Though, one thing that bothered me was Law telling Luffy he recognized his plan was "indirect and inefficient." If he knew this, why the hell he didn't think of a better plan in the first place! I dunno, that line kinda rubbed me the wrong way. No new chapters of OP the next two weeks because Oda got his tonsils taken out, so hopefully chapter 750 will be worth the wait.

One-Punch Man chapter 47 - Oh man Boros is so pissed off. Seeing Saitama utterly own him will be glorious. But the action in this chapter was fucking amazing and brilliantly drawn. Murata is most certainly a master of fight scenes. I don't even care that the chapter was so short, because it was so exciting and awesome I was completely satisfied. Can't wait for certain payoff in the next.

Stealth Symphony chapter 13 - Last chapter had me wondering why the fuck I should care about an arc about Alice. This chapter made me like Alice, and hence be interested in the story. There was just enough charter expansion, humor, backstory, and interactions here to make her an interesting enough character. So good turnaround there. Everyone's pointed out that new villain kind of looks like Crocodile, and that's not a bad design to rip off if you're trying to pick up interest in your series, and he definitely made an impression here what with blowing a guy up by force feeding him gold coins he dripped out like blood from his body and whatnot. This new story arc looks like it'll be fun, though only time will tell whether it'll be the series' last before cancellation or if it'll save it from that fate.

Toriko chapter 279 - Whoa, what a chapter. Joa isn't Frohze after all, rather, she's her "daughter." Not only that, she's working with the Blue Nitro council. Shit, the Blue Nitro have a fucking civilization. That's scary to think about considering how much of a menace the mindless, ravenous Nitro are, though it also explains why the one who was friends with Ichiryu could talk and was very human-like in his mannerisms. And it seems like Joa is finally ready to make her move and collect Acacia's full course for herself. As far as Toriko's group goes, Komatsu's food luck has guided them out of the golden swamp and they are now finally at the Bewitching Food World, and oh how Shimabukuro is teasing us of Buranchi's return. I can't wait for that. A great chapter, as always.

Vinland Saga chapter 104 - Looks like Haalfdan's wife, Asrid, wants him to reconsider marrying off their son to Gudrid. Of course, Haalfdan wants the marriage to happen for the sake of a blood-alliance, though as Asrid points out their marriage was clearly not done under such a pretense. It's clear, anyways, that Gudrid is ultimately not going to marry Haalfdan's son (that's just obvious as far as this kind of set-up goes, even if you don't take into account the historical Gudrid married the historical Thorfinn and whatnot). But anyway, that's not the meat of this chapter, which was Thorfinn and co. asking Haalfdan for a partial loan, ships, and supplies to fund and aid their effort to colonize Vinland. This led to some explanation of that plan, which is to recruit 100 people from Greenland to accompany them, and then Thorfinn and Einar would take the lead in the farming process there. The biggest revelation in this chapter is that Leif's brother had earlier attempted a colonization effort but had come into a violent conflict with the native Skraelings and it fell apart. With Thorfinn's nonviolent stance, though, Leif's confidence that things won't turn out similarly on their attempt is fairly justified, unless he's hiding more details more him and the rest. I'm interested in seeing what Haalfdan wants to talk to Thorfinn about in the next chapter.

Rankings:

1. Magi - 10/10
2. Vinland Saga - 9/10
3. Toriko - 9/10
4. One-Punch Man - 8.5/10
5. Hunter X Hunter - 8/10
6. Kuroko no Basket - 8/10
7. Stealth Symphony - 8/10
8. One Piece - 7/10
9. Bleach - 6/10
10. Naruto - 5/10

Overall, there were a lot of really good chapters this week. Hopefully next week can be as good. And again...WHY THE FUCK HAVEN'T THE FINAL CHAPTERS OF ALL YOU NEED IS KILL BEEN POSTED ALREADY. Goddamit, I'm sick of waiting for those. Detective Conan better get updated next week too or I'll really be steamed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I already posted my thoughts on HXH.

As for OP, this chapter really contains a lot of my gripes with the current artwork. Oda just has way too much happening on each page. He also has all of these spreads which should make it easier to show big scenes and make it all look clear, but these contain some of his most visually cluttered scenes instead. I feel like he's trying to cram so much into each scene to make them feel more epic, but this is a case where more does not mean better. The artwork in the earlier parts of this series was much better, when it was all simple and easy to follow.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Another exposition-heavy HXH chapter. Togashi just loves those, doesn't he?

This time we at least learned a few more things than in the last chapter. Namely, that the world that we know of in HXH is really only a relatively small body of land in in giant ocean, and now we're seeing that the Dark Continent is all the rage among everyone who's anyone in this series. It's interesting seeing Ging proposing to temporarily team up with Pariston, considering that those guys are polar opposites.

Really, though, I didn't mind the exposition so much, but I'd like the story to get back to Gon before too long. I don't really care for it when manga like this tnd to forget about their main characters almost completely.

[LumRanmaYasha]

This time we at least learned a few more things than in the last chapter. Namely, that the world that we know of in HXH is really only a relatively small body of land in in giant ocean, and now we're seeing that the Dark Continent is all the rage among everyone who's anyone in this series.

So basically, the Dark Continent is exactly the same as the Gourmet World in Toriko. 

Ging and Pariston agreeing to temporarily work together is a cool development. I actually don't care when the story gets back to Gon because I'm more interested in Ging, Pariston, Beyond etc. than him as it is, but I do wonder how he's going to fit into the story when the time comes.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Eh, Beyond is interesting as a concept for a character, but boring as an actual character. His only defining characteristics s so far are being smug and seemingly knowing more about the Dark Contient and V5 than the Hunters Association, which he uses to his advantage. Gon just recovered from a highly traumatic experience. I'd say it'd be more interesting to see how his character has grown since that time than it would be to see all of these characters that we just met and mostly don't care about (Ging and Pariston notwithstanding, because they are both awesome). He's also kind of the main freaking character of HXH, so it'd be kind of silly to not eventually go back to his story.

[LumRanmaYasha]

This week was...meh.

All You Need Is Kill chapter 14 - Looks like a new scanlation group picked up AYNIK for the final four chapters. Well, I'm glad I'll finally be able to read them now, but this chapter was full of awkward sentences (and they renamed the Mimics something else for no reason) and stuff, so that's unfortunate. As for the chapter itself, nothing really happened except Rita and Keiji going off into battle. That's it. So...not much content in this one, but I guess it was still good, though the experience was marred a bit by the new group's translation. Mmm.

Bleach chapter 583 - Ichigo continues fighting the Quincy quartet, and he uses a new move at the end. That's all that really happens. I guess there are some "humorous" bits with the Quartet, but their dynamic and the jokes are basically a repeat of Harribel's fraccions back in the Arrancar arc, and it wasn't funny then, and it isn't any more funny now. Eh.

Detective Conan chapters 898-899 - Yukiko made the disguise for Akai so he could become "Subaru Okiya." And it seems that James Black knew all along of this as he felt the glue on Akai's hands before he "died," so Akai told him. It looks like Akai is going to continue masquerading as Okiya for the time being. And it also seems that Bourbon is trying to take down the organization from the inside, but that doesn't mean he's an ally of Conan or the CIA. In fact, he's still very much Akai's enemy, but it seems he won't make a move on him for now, since they have the same goal. But it seems he knows something about Vermouth, who seems to have a closer relationship to the boss than previously thought. Moreover, it seems that someone even higher up in the organization, Rum, is on the move now to get rid of the "rats" in the organization. Very exciting stuff...which of course means we have to immediately go back to a normal case the very next chapter! Yumi's been kidnapped and her shogi-playing boyfriend has to save her before his game time runs out! This looks to be a fun case, but I was really hoping the series'd stick with the main plot stuff for a while longer. But it looks like Sera and her mysterious younger sister are going to play a role in this case so maybe we're in for surprises yet...

Hunter X Hunter chapter 342 - The Dark Continent is basically the Gourmet World, V5 is going to create a subdivision called V6 to direct the exploration mission with backing from Kakin, Beyond convinces the Hunter Association to join him, and Ging and Pariston team up. Interesting stuff, though still too much exposition.

Kuroko no Basket chapter 264 - Akashi finally tastes defeat and shows an emotion (anger)! Seirin finally scores a point again and Akashi, who is also now out of the zone, misses a shot. Looks like Seirin has a chance to win while Akashi's still out of it. Pretty expected but good developments here. With Akashi knocked off his high horse I'm interested to see if his rebound will be well done, but considering how mishandled the character has been the entire series, I don't have much expectations of such.

Magi chapter 228 - Everyone prepares to go to war with Elder David and the capital...that's it. Not that much else of interest happened, though I liked the scene in the middle when Arba and Fallan's kid begs them not to go but Arba tells him they have to in order to protect those they care about. The end is curious in that it looks like Elder David wants Solomon to help him destroy the "God" of Alma Thoran, so it seems Solomon might be walking into a trap. I wonder how so.

Naruto chapter 679 - Madara is dead, just like that. No realization that he, the manipulator, was being manipulated the whole time like Naraku in InuYasha or anything but just bam, absorbed into Kaguya. Wow. Two years spent on fighting this guy and he goes out on a whimper without the satisfaction of the heroes beating him. Maybe this'll be a Kishin-like situation and he'll resurface again but goddamn this is lame. At least Kaguya is no-nonsense and immediately recognizes who Naruto and Sasuke are and tries to kill them, but her grand master plan is to turn everyone into fucking white Zetsus? Seriously? That is the ultimate plan of the master villain of this series, to turn everyone into Zetsus to make a Zetsu army...for what exactly? Wow is this dumb. I dunno even know what to say. I guess, like the WMR guys, I'm just done with feeling anything about this shit. I just hope this Kaguya fight doesn't drag too long so the series can end sooner.

Stealth Symphony chapter 14-15 - Slice is a cool villain with a cool plan of getting his own target to be his bodyguard. The orphanage director has come to finish her job, killing Jig and taking his Dragon legacy item. But Slice has broken Jig up with his assault, and now Jig is becoming a dragon. And it turns out he was crazy all along. Hmm. Pretty decent chapters, I guess. I do like Slice a lot and the concept of his plan. But the series is clearly getting canceled with is why it's wrapping up all these loose ends quickly and with these twists and whatnot. I wonder how many more weeks of it there are.

Toriko chapter 280 - The Bewitching Food World is like a full on supernatural japanese ghost town. Amazing, and so many hilarious moments, and all leading up to an annoyed Buranchi finally making his appearance yelling at the group to come to his place already. I was dying from laughter. A solid arrival-at-new-place-look-around-at-stuff adventure shonen chapter, and I look forward to seeing the story move forward with Buranchi tagging along next week.

Rankings:

1. Detective Conan - 8.5/10
2. Toriko - 8/10
3. Hunter X Hunter - 7/10
4. Stealth Symphony - 7/10
5. Kuroko no Basket - 7/10
6. Magi - 7/10
7. All You Need Is Kill - 7/10
8. Bleach - 6/10
9. Naruto - 3/10

Pretty mediocre week. Only Conan and Toriko were particularly entertaining for me. Not to say HXH, Magi, etc. didn't have good parts to them this week, but overall the chapters didn't leave much of an impression outside of those parts. Hopefully next week will be much better.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Kurapika and Leorio have joined the Zodiacs and are going to the Dark Continent! Awesome, FINALLY Kurapika returns to the main story! And it looks like the owner of his clan's eyes, which is the target he's been seeking all this time is the fourth prince of Kakin who will be going on the voyage as well. Good that there's going to be development on Kurapika's part of the story. It's also great that Leorio is going to be prominently in this arc too, and is coming for reasons that make perfect sense. It'd be nice if Killua also came so we'd have all four of our main characters together again, but I guess we'll have to see about that (we still need to see how Gon's going to be coming along as well, after all).

Looks like Pariston's goal is to change the Hunter Exam in a way that will allow his underlings to move into the ranks of the Association easily, and then eventually Pariston will have effective control over it to do as he pleases. And Ging is now #2 is Beyond's group. Good stuff.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

This week's chapter was the first really good one since the series came back. Togashi has essentially given fans what they have wanted for years. He wrote Leorio and Kurapika back into the main story.

I have to admit that for some reason, I thought Leorio was going to recommend Gon to be a Zodiac, but I'm not complaining if it's Kurapika. It'd be awesome if Killua could come back as well, but even though he's my favorite HXH character, I don't mind him getting a break from the series since he's been in every story arc thus far. Gon will of course have to join somehow. And Gina's exchanges with Pariston in this chapter were just class. Even though it's just more set-up, it's the type of set-up that gets me pumped for what's about to come next.

On another note, Killua should totally get his own spin-off series if Togasgi ever manages to wrap-up HXH's main story. I know it'll never actually happen, but you have to admit that the idea could work, since Killua completely has the substance and depth to be a main character (he practically has been as much of a main character as Gon throughout most of the series, and he's just flat-out more interesting than him). Though, another part of me just hopes that Togashi does something completely new after HXH is over.

[LumRanmaYasha]

On another note, Killua should totally get his own spin-off series if Togasgi ever manages to wrap-up HXH's main story. I know it'll never actually happen, but you have to admit that the idea could work, since Killua completely has the substance and depth to be a main character (he practically has been as much of a main character as Gon throughout most of the series, and he's just flat-out more interesting than him). Though, another part of me just hopes that Togashi does something completely new after HXH is over.

While it's an interesting idea, I think the series is far a ways off from ending,  so I'm not sure how I'd feel about a spin-off about him just yet since we don't know where Killua'll be in terms of his character arc at the end of it. Personally I'd just prefer Togashi make a new manga.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Personally I'd prefer he actually re-did the entire Three Kings arc of YYH and make the current one non-canon to give the series the proper ending that it deserved (because I'm the biggest YYH fan ever, and fuck that ending), but I'd be cool with a new series as well, though I'd like to see Togashi do a story without special powers or anything and just tell a good story with human characters. He's proven that he can do really good human drama if you look beyond the regular shounen tropes that overlay his stories. I'd like to see him really do something along those lines, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I think Togashi could write one heck of a political thriller, myself.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, he seems to always feature some form of shady politics in many of his story arcs, and especially in the Chimera Ant arc.