Currently Running Manga Discussion

[LumRanmaYasha]

Huh, it looks like Magic Kaito is getting an anime adaption. I love me some Kaitou Kid, so I'm down for this. It'd be great if it gets licensed for streaming, but considering how related it is to Detective Conan and how FUNi has no interest in putting any more of that out, I'm not that hopeful about that. Then again, this will only be a one or two cours series, so maybe there's hope for it.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Space Brothers is getting a movie, huh? The plot to it seems interesting enough, so I think it'll end up being worthwhile to check out. Some elements do seem like they could be a bit retcon-y, though, but hopefully they'll tie things together with the beginning of the series well.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I still need to finish the series, which I'll do after I catch-up with Vagabond, but I'd be interested in checking out the movie, myself.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Oh man, I'm late on this one this week. Was pretty busy over the weekend, and these weekly manga recaps take a surprising amount of time to write, and I just wasn't feeling it. I'm still not feeling it, actually, so I'm keeping this pretty short. Some good news to come out of last week, though, was that a new group has picked up scanning Detective Conan, so thank god for that. Especially since there was a cool new development at the end of the current case.

A Silent Voice chapter 46 - So Shoko wants to make it up to Shoyo by finishing the movie. Though Ueno has already refused, could she really get back the gang together, and make amends? The interactions between Shoko and Nagatsuka was touching in this chapter. Both of them care about helping Shoyo and clearly have a mutual bond from that, but I think they've become genuine friends themselves, a great development considering they previously were only around each other because of Shoyo. Will they be able to finish the movie? I'd hope so.

Assassination Classroom chapter 94 - Geez, Principal Gakuho is one harsh disciplinarian. And he really hates to lose. Damn. I can see why Asano both looks up to and thinks of him as a monster. I'd like to see him get some character development after this arc, and eventually rebel against his fathers methods and ideals. And it seems like Class E are no longer outcasts, and in fact are starting to be respected. Of course, the Principal isn't going to stand for that, so I wonder what he's scheming to put Class E down again.

Bleach chapter 590 - It's Mayuri, so of course he works over Sternritter Z with some bullshit moves and destroys Bambietta. Speaking of which...was it really necessary to have Bambietta beg for Z's dick (at least that's what it seemed like), Kubo? I mean, goddamn, how low can you sink? And then the ending of the chapter...okay, how the fuck is Yuppi still alive? Grimmjow blew him the fuck up. Mayuri shouldn't even know who he is. WHY THE FUCK IS HE HERE AND STILL ALIVE? As for the Privarion Arrancars...well, they make sense because that's payoff on the bodies Mayuri found in Hueco Mundo, like, 300 chapters ago, so fine, whatever. I don't get why Charlotte is also here, instead of say, the Afro Arrancar who we know is still alive and stuff, but really, who gives a shit about these guys anyway. Writing about Bleach chapters is a soul-sucking experience every week because there's nothing to look forward to or speculate with this series except for when it's ending. This is Bleach's problem, and really the problem with a lot of shonen manga nowadays, is that we have to suffer through these endless, endless battles against mooks who only exist to be fought and defeated and pad out the story. This is nothing new, of course, but reading this series every week I keep asking why this matters, and why does this need to be in the story. And, of course, it doesn't. Kubo doesn't need to have or show all these battles. No one cares about Mayuri and these Arrancar characters from 300+ chapters ago coming in and defeating a minor villain who's only characterization is that he's a sexual deviant (which is supposed to be funny, but it's not). In general, these fucking Quincies are not much of characters outside of how goddamn weird or quirky they are. They are not characters. They are one-note punching bags for the series' gargantuan cast of characters to fight just so they can have "done something" in this arc. But the Quincies should be actual human beings, because, as Kubo established early on in the series, they were regular human beings who happened to fight hollows to help people. Not these psychopathic, horrible weirdos who are waging a war of revenge for god knows why reasons. I am only still reading this series at this point because it is almost over. But goddamn does it want to drag and make it's last stretch some of the most painful, tiring reading experiences I've ever had.

Detective Conan chapters 901-902 - This was a fun case. But I think the most interesting thing about it was the ending, showing the mysterious little girl and Akai smiling on learning the news Shukichi won his match. This got me thinking that Shukichi might be the middle brother of the Akai siblings, and perhaps Sera isn't actually Akai's sister, but the little girl is, and she has been shrunk by the drug like Conan and Haibara are. I'll be curious to see if theory turns out to be correct in the future.

Hunter X Hunter chapter 348 - So Sayu is the traitor. Um, okay. Uh...that's basically the most important thing that happened in the chapter, and I don't care about Sayu so the development doesn't leave much impact to me. This is really a "see where this goes" kind of thing.

Kuroko's Basketball chapters 270.5-271 - So, Zone level 2 is still some corny-ass bullshit, but at least it hasn't turned the game around for Seirin completely as Akashi widens the gap at the last second. Rakuzan's got a 7 point lead and there's only 40 seconds left in the game. I'd like to hope Seirin will just lose the game and come out a stronger team...but I'm just betting they win at the last second do to teamwork/friendship/zone level 3 or some crap like that. Well, at least this game is almost over.

Magi chapter 232 - Huh, so Solomon basically becomes one with Il Illah and becomes god, huh? I'm confused as to whether David got revived or that was just an older Solomon, but I'm leaning towards the former because Solomon's spirit is shown replacing Il Illah as god now. Or it could not be that, I dunno, I haven't read the newest chapter yet. But, I do think that Arba is Gyokuen even more now, what with the way she referred to Il Illah as "our father" and stuff. Good stuff, this chapter.

Naruto chapter 686 - Kaguya transports them into a gravity dimension even she has trouble moving in. Our ultra-powerful final villain, everyone! And Obito is going to sacrifice himself...again. Whatever.

One Piece chapter 754 - So...is the fight with Pica going to be over now? Like that? Really?  Geez, give Zoro a challenging fight already Oda. He hasn't had a decent one on one fight since the timseskip. A decent enough chapter overall, but...eh, don't care for how the fight with Pica is going.

One-Punch Man chapter 50 - The scans say this is the 49th chapter...but this series is so confusing with how the chapters are split up, so I'm paying it no mind. But some cool stuff here, and set-up for future events with the appearance of Handsomely Sweet Mask and Metal Knight's suspicious behavior. I look forward to seeing what the new arc will be about, and how these character will fit into it.

Peephole chapter 32-33 - It was humorous seeing Kurosu and Miyachi having a normal date at an amusement park, as it was a bit disturbing. Looks like the sister of Kurosu's old friend that Miyachi killed is looking for answers. Okay. I'm not sure where that'll go, but hopefully it'll be fun.

The Seven Deadly Sins chapter 87 - The fight between Ban and Meliodas is good stuff. I don't think Ban is going to go through with killing him, even with Meliodas' blessing, but I wonder if he's going to be so willing to accept being comrades with him now that he knows Meliodas is from the demon clan. On that note, it looks like Hendricksen has an unexpected thorn in his side....Griamor! I wasn't expecting him to return, but it'd make sense for him to want to avenge Veronica and protect Elizabeth. Of course, I doubt he's going to be a match for Hendricksen, but he might be able to get away with Elizabeth or buy some time for the Sins to catch up to them.

Shokugeki no Soma chapter 79 - Takumi did a good job making a lemon coating for his semifredo to make his dish stand out from Mimasaka's, but unfortunately, it seems he miscalculated and underestimated the extent of Mimasaka's research, and ultimately his dish just does not have the same impact as his did. Ouch. Looks like Takumi's out. I wasn't expecting that, but then again, it's interesting that the underdog character no one knows about would win. Thing is, Mimasaka is such a gimmick character and I'm not interested in him going up against any of the other characters (I just know it's going to be Soma), unless he becomes a more 3-dimmensional character and such. But, it's not a bad development. It might be interesting seeing Soma avenge Takumi's loss, and the author could develop this in a good way. I'll see how this goes.

Toriko chapter 286 - I can't remember the last time I haven't enjoyed a Toriko chapter. I wish there would never be a time. But, sadly, this chapter has happened. My problem with everything that happens here is basically a result of one, critical flaw - no foreshadowing. The healing water, the blue demon, Komatsu preparing air, none of this was established properly beforehand and so it all comes off like a huge asspull here. And I really don't care that the Blue Demon landed a punch on Heracles. It's one thing for Toriko to have the potential to rival the power of the Eight Kings, but Toriko, even if it's just the demon inside of him, should not be on his level at all yet. So yeah...I do not care at all for these developments. It's a poorly-executed shonen power-up. If the flashback scenes in this chapter were properly shown when those events should have occurred proper 20 chapters ago, and if this was spread out to shown Komatsu preparing Air and stuff, then I might have been able to swallow this easier. But, this execution just leaves so much to be desired and is not well written, and I've come to expect much better from Toriko. However, there have been times in manga before where I've felt things happened in a poor way, but that was remedied later on, so I'll see how this all develops from here. But yeah, I rarely say this, but Toriko had a bad chapter this week. Too bad, but hopefully it doesn't happen again anytime soon.

Rankings:

1. A Silent Voice - 10/10
2. The Seven Deadly Sins - 9.5/10
3. Detective Conan - 9/10
4. One-Punch Man - 9/10
5. Assassination Classroom - 8/10
6. Magi - 8/10
7. Hunter X Hunter - 8/10
8. Shokugeki no Soma - 8/10
9. Peephole - 7.5/10
10. One Piece - 7/10
11. Toriko - 6/10
12. Kuroko's Basketball - 4/10
13. Bleach - 1/10
14. Naruto - 1/10

Wasn't really feeling last week of manga. Maybe it was the disappointment from the Toriko chapter, since, as you can tell from the scores, I didn't dislike most of these chapters. But...outside of Silent Voice, Sins, Conan, and OPM I can't say any of last week's chapters left much of a significant and positive impact on me. Hopefully this week will be more entertaining as a whole.

[Rynnec]

Bleach chapter 590 - It's Mayuri, so of course he works over Sternritter Z with some bullshit moves and destroys Bambietta.

Fuck you, Kubo.

As for the Giselle thing, I'll just believe that Yumchika was bullshitting about her gender.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Looks like The Seven Deadly Sins anime is being done by A-1 Pictures. They did good work on Magi, so I have good hope they do a similarly good job with Sins. Though, this also means that this is probably going to be licensed by Aniplex, but at least that'll add to the backlog of titles Toonami can pick up from them in the future (assuming it turns out good and is dubbed, of course).

[LumRanmaYasha]

Seems like the releases of new chapters of the Silver Spoon are going to slow down because Arakawa is taking care of a sick family member. Though I of course hope we still get at least one new chapter a month, I'm fine with this, and she should take all the time she needs until her family member get better.

[LumRanmaYasha]

This was a much better week than last week, easily.

A Silent Voice chapter 47 - It seems like there's going to be a chapter focusing on each member of the group and their reactions to aftermatch of Shoko's attempted suicide/Shoyo's hospitalization. Last week the chapter was focused on Nagatsuka, the week before that it was about Yuzuru. This week's focus is on Sahara, and her doubts as to whether she has really changed as a person. Unlike Shoyo, it never crossed her mind to track down Shoko and make amends or befriend her. She ran away from the situation, her problems, and Shoko, and instead tried to be someone that other people saw her as, and by circumstance, ended up coming to an understanding with Ueno, perhaps out of the desire to let bygones be and start over, or perhaps out of guilt that she saw her as a horrible person, when she herself couldn't do anything, and perhaps because she just wanted approval from those around her. So the question is, did she change as a person through these years, or has she simply been going along with the flow, doing what's convenient and popular to do at the time. But it's pointless for her to think about why she's done what she's done, and instead focus on what she can do right now for the people she cares about. The dress she made for Ueno, to me, symbolizes her desire to be useful to someone, and to be there for someone. Even though Ueno has rejected her, Shoko stops her from throwing the dress away. Shoko tells her they need it. That they need her. She is their friend, she is doing something that's making a difference. She's been helping all this time. Maybe, she would have never talked to Shoko again if it wasn't for Shoyo. Maybe, she wouldn't have been able to run over and risk her life to stop Shoko from jumping to her death. But she can help with this movie, right here, right now, and that will make a difference. 

Assassination Classroom chapter 95 - Class E has become more and more confident in themselves and the series has progressed. In the beginning, they were misfits and outcasts, scorned by everyone, mocked for their lack of skills, left behind to suffer for the sake of the other students of the school. Korosensei has slowly but surely over time rebuilt each and every one of them. He's shown each student their strengths, how to better themselves, and that they can achieve marvelous results just as much as anyone else in the school if they applied themselves seriously and diligently. As a result, Class E is now a force to be reckoned with. Not only because they are all skilled killers, but because they have learned to make the best use of their skill sets to overcome their obstacles, and work together to surmount their shared adversities. They are a close-nit family, and from each others' influence they've bettered themselves as students, assassins, and, more importantly, as people. And people have recognized them for it. Time and time again Class E has been put in situations where people have expected them to fail miserably. They've seen them as useless, incompetent, or otherwise inferior to elite groups like Class A or the professional assassins Takaoka hired. But Class E has proved their mettle to time again, and again, and again, and they've slowly but surely earned the respect of those who once looked down on them. Now, Class E is not the black sheep of their school. They are viewed as capable, if not eccentric, students and athletes and respected for it. This was Korosensei aim all along. He's been teaching them that the only way to earn people's respect and attention is to show that you are capable of things no one else can do, that you can do things just as well or better through your own means, and that you must work hard to achieve this but you can't achieve it alone, and that's why it's important to work together. And after beating Class A in the recent competition, and with mid-terms on the way, it seems his efforts have paid off handsomely.

However, because of Class E's rising success, and because of how well their risks have paid off to them, they feel invincible. They've overcome many obstacles, some of them being life-or-death situations, and they've come up on top in the end each time. But this has led them to think they can get away with anything, impatient to improve themselves more through more audacious methods regardless of the risks involved. Here, unsatisfied, they attempted to kill two birds with one stone by not only going through Korosensei's usual vigorous cram-sessions in school, but also to self-train together outside of school by jumping on top of rooftops to and from school. They didn't think of the risks of this. They didn't think about what could happen, whether they could get hurt, whether they could hurt someone else, whether they could be seen and the secret of Korosensei exposed to the world. They didn't think about the consequences, because after being on a winning streak in life for so long, they've forgotten that there are consequences, dangers, and risks to what they do and don't do. And while they didn't end up killing anybody, they've hospitalized an old man. And they're lucky it was just that.

Korosensei has always taught them to be mindful of both themselves and others. They've forgotten that. And it's caused an accident. And that's unforgivable to him. He's angry not just at them, but at himself to. He's never wanted anyone else to get hurt because of his or Class E's actions (well, until he blows up the earth, that is). And so that slap, to every single student in Class E, is a striking moment. Korosensei, who prided himself in being able to teach any student and get them through any situation, has failed to teach them a very important thing. Humility. And so, as a consequence, Class E will learn this the hard way. They will take care of the old man they hurt for the next two weeks, without any studying or training. They will lose these two valuable weeks of their lives, to understand that there are consequences. That they are not all-powerful, they are not invincible. They can get hurt, and they can hurt others. I'm totally reading too much into this chapter, but seriously, it's a lot of great stuff to think about as you reflect on the series thus far and on these characters. Really cool chapter of AC this week, and I look forward to seeing where this storyline goes.

Bleach chapter 591 - So, I guess the bits where Mayuri was shocking the Arrancar for their incessant babbling were a bit amusing, but it still doesn't make this much of an interesting situation. Though, I did find it amusing that Luppi says they "won't lose to Shinigami." Uh, dude, I know Grimmjow blew you up and stuff, but your friends there all got their asses handed to them by shinigami. Anyway, Charlotte defeats Bambietta (for good, I'm assuming), which is...like, really? Charlotte? So is Charlotte stronger than Komamura in his most powerful form now? No, even if Bambietta has been weakened and shit from being blown up by Mayuri in the last chapter (which, really, she's a zombie, she shouldn't feel pain and shit so she should always be at max strength and whatnot), I really, sincerely have to question why fucking Charlotte of all people is able to single-handedly destroy Bambietta even though Ikkaku and Yumichika couldn't. Whatever. The real, and only, interesting thing in the chapter is the fact that Hitsugaya is a zombie now apparently. Which is...um, well there was no setup to this, but I guess it's plausible since he was pretty beat-up in his last appearance. Of course, Giselle's power only requires other Arrancar to be dead before she can take control of them, so I'm guessing Hitsugaya is still alive and they'll be able to de-zombify him somehow. I mean, it's effin' Hitsugaya. One of the most popular characters among the japanese fanbase. I sincerely doubt he's going to be dying anytime soon.

Detective Conan chapter 903 - Ooh, Conan has just been getting right to it with the plotline it seems. Conan might just meet Sera's mysterious little sister after this case is over. That's exciting. I'm beginning to suspect that Sera might not actually be a girl. I dunno, just the way Aoyama goes out of the way to bring up how flat-chested she is and stuff, plus the hint that last chapter that the little girl might be the one who's really Akai's little sister, makes me feel that's going to be a twist with her character. I feel that schtick was already sorta done with Eisuke, but whatever. Heck, this could just be a red herring. Bourbon was a total red herring, after all. The little girl might be related to Shukichi in some way totally unrelated to Akai. Who knows? Anyway, murder case at a hotel pool! It's a Sonoko + Sera case, so it's guaranteed to be a good time. Looking forward to seeing how it develops.

Magi chapter 233 - Man, I really enjoyed this chapter. Sheba has grown on me a lot since her introduction, and now we see here that she's been the one who fiercely defends Solomon and his teachings in his stead. The Solomon that was left in the mortal world is but an empty shell. His soul and will became one with Il Illah and spread evenly among everyone in the world. But this is suspicious to many. They feel that now Solomon is directing their destinies. They are not free, they are being controlled by him. They are not satisfied with everyone being equal. They want to fight destiny completely. Sheba, alone, fights for Solomon's ideals because he no longer can. And, over time, she slowly manages to forge a peace. However, the person she once promised to help protect Solomon with, Arba, her closest friend, has been working to undo Solomon's actions by utilizing David's technology to create what appears to be the Medium. And I think we all know what happens next. Even so, I look forward to seeing it played out in the remaining chapters of this arc.

Naruto chapter 687 - This chapter was about Obito's redemption. We take a break from the battle to watch as the same points get beaten over and over again and feel "aw" when Obito dies and meets Rin in heaven, I guess. No. Fuck that shit. Obito does not deserve redemption. Not this conveniently, anyway. He goes to fucking heaven? Are you serious? He's "awesome," Naruto? Are you an idiot? Baka, he's fucking directly responsible for the death of your parents and Neji and starting this damn war among a myriad of horrible things. I don't give a fuck if he wanted to be hokage and he believes Naruto will be hokage and all this bullshit. Obito was an angsty, irrational, murderous puppet of a black blob with mommy issues. He was most surely not "awesome." I heard this chapter has made Neo Ulta Mike on Toon Zone go from being indifferent to Naruto to loathing it. While I've long found this series to be irredeemably awfully written, I can certainly see how this can be a clincher for others because this is just insulting writing on Kishimoto's part. Fuck you, Naruto. Fuck you.

One Piece chapter 755 - Was the whole stuff with the Tontatta's princess set up before? I honestly can't remember. I did enjoy seeing more of Franky's fight with Senor Pink and the "We're Heartbreakers" line. But the whole stuff about Princess Mansherry was just confusing to me because I totally forgot that was even a part of this arc. There really is just too much going on right now to keep track of.

One-Punch Man chapters 26.5, 29.5, 34.8, 34.9 - There wasn't a "regular" chapter of OPM this week but a bunch of sub/special chapters were uploaded, and they were all quite enjoyable stuff. I love these kinds of simple chapters just because it shows how great a character Saitama really is. Clueless about the politics that come with his profession, but always an unhesitatingly willing to do the right thing and help people as a hero should. Admirable qualities that compliment his laid back, normal guy personality and it makes these side-chapters lovely reads. And hey, more OPM in any form is always a good thing, so I'd rather read these side-stories than no new chapter at all. 

Peephole chapter 34 - I have a feeling this girl's brother wanted Miyachi to kill him. Like, he was way too excited to find out Miyachi was a killer. Maybe he thought getting killed was going to be the ultimate get-off or something. Anyway, looks like Miyachi's going to nip the bud before it spreads and kill the sister off, or so it seems. Will Kurosu stop her? I dunno, we'll see.

The Seven Deadly Sins chapter 88 - I loved, LOVED this chapter. The exchange between Ban and Meliodas was superb, tying into their characters and relationship with each other perfectly and coming to a satisfying, sensible resolution between the two. And the end of the chapter, with Dreyfus and Griamor, father and son, teaming up to take down the man who betrayed them together is pure brilliance. So excited to see that fight next week.

Shokugeki no Soma chapter 80 - Well, I expected Soma and Mimasaka would end up facing each other. I expected a lot of what happened in this chapter, as it's standard plot development in this situation in pretty much any series. But the execution was still superb and I love Soma's calm, cool playing of the situation, riling up Mimasaka by outwitting his expectations and making a audacious gamble. It makes me excited to see Soma take down the oaf and see just how he can possibly outdo him after showing him all his cards. Fun stuff, and goes to show even though something might happen predictably, it doesn't mean it can't be damn fun to watch/read if executed just right.

Space Brothers chapter 231 - From what I can tell, this is the first new Space Brothers chapter in over two months. And...it's kind of a total waste, honestly. Nothing of real significance happened. I was really interested in seeing how Carlo's story was going to go from here and whether he'd be able to get back onto the team or not, but I guess we're taking a break from that to focus on what's going on with Sharon again. Which I wouldn't mind, but most of this chapter was devoted to an unfunny set-up that paid off in a rather corny way at the end of the chapter. Sure, we've been introduced to two more of Sharon's colleges in the same boat as her, but I still feel most of this chapter was unnecessarily fillerish, and the fact this was the first new chapter in over two months and there isn't a new chapter next week doesn't help that. Well, hopefully the next one will get back on track.

Toriko chapter 287 - Thankfully, Toriko has pulled itself around from last week. While I still don't like how the Blue Demon wasn't really set-up that great, he has an interesting dynamic with Toriko and it's clear that even he's no match for Heracles. Moreover, it turns out Komatsu has not yet prepared Air (I guess the Blue Demon just ate an Air fruit and not "Air" itself last week), and that the knife needed to prepare it is insanely large. I wonder how Komatsu will be able to pull this off? This puts the tension back into the conflict because the necessity of timeliness is still in play, since Blue Demon can't hold out against Heracles for more than a few minutes and the continent itself is shattering because of Heracles' power and because he's so fucking pissed off right now. Whew, like I said, Toriko managed to recover from last week the best it can. Now, it still needs to keep doing right from here on out, but I'm hopeful that I won't be disliking a Toriko anytime too soon.

Rankings:

1. A Silent Voice - 10/10
2. The Seven Deadly Sins - 10/10
3. Magi - 10/10
4. One-Punch Man - 10/10
5. Assassination Classroom - 10/10
6. Detective Conan - 9/10
7. Shokugeki no Soma - 9/10
8. Toriko - 8/10
9. Peephole - 7.5/10
10. One Piece - 7/10
11. Space Brothers - 6/10
12. Bleach - 3/10
13. Naruto - 1/10

Very good week this time. It's rare that there' 5 10/10 worthy chapters in a week, but these were all so strong that I don't feel like giving 'em anything lower, and then there were a lot of solid chapters from most of the other series too. As always, I look forward to seeing how the new developments in these chapters play out next week.

[LumRanmaYasha]

A Silent Voice has been confirmed to end on November 12th. Assuming it won't be taking any breaks, then that means there are about 13 or so more chapters left, which sounds short, but likely work out well. It's great that the series can end naturally, rather than force itself to go on and on like a lot of other popular series. I hope the remaining chapters continue the level of excellence the series has held for it's entire run and then some.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Wow, I'm super late on this one. On the flip side, because of the Oban Festival, there aren't many new chapters out for any of the manga, so I won't have much to talk about for this saturday. That certainly balances out last week, where I read nearly 20 different new manga chapters....

A Silent Voice chapter 48 - I'll be honest, I did not expect a chapter about Miki...but wow. Have you ever met a person who has deluded themselves that they are this innocent, model citizen, but in reality is very much a hypocrite and capable of some horrible things, but he/she doesn't realize it and always manages to put a spin on what's happened to put themselves in a victimized or positive light? I certainly know such people, and it can be almost horrifying to see just how far they will twist the facts to make themselves appear saintly and in the right. Typically, you don't see these kinds of characters often in anime/manga. If you do, they are these psychopathic, crazy people, which is not really what I'm talking about, which is more of a "everyday evil" kind of thing. As far as animation/comics in general goes, I'm drawing a blank on many similar characters like this. The closest I can think of is Eric Cartman from South Park. Specifically, if you remember the episode "Fishsticks," you'll remember how Cartman managed to convince himself that he was responsible for the fish dicks joke, when in reality he was only a catalyst for Jimmy to think of it, and you saw the process of how each time Cartman thought of what happened he kept portraying himself in a more active role and heroic light, while Jimmy was increasingly shown to be ineffectual and less involved. In Cartman's mind, the reality of what happened changed to fit his need to be important, and even though Kyle and Jimmy call him out on it, Cartman convinces himself that it is Jimmy who's the one who is deluding himself. It was simply impossible for Cartman to acknowledge that he was taking credit for something he didn't do, because he genuinely believed that he was responsible, and because of his massive ego, the reality of what happened was soon replaced with a more palatable version to suit his delusions of grandeur.

Miki Kawai is exactly the same. She believes she is this cute, kind, model student. She is her class representative, she gets perfect scores, she does plenty of community service. It's clear that she believes she is paradigm of a human being and tries to behave as one. One could say she has a superiority complex, since although she is genial to other people in public, her insistence to help them comes from not just wanting to help, but to show off how smart and kind she is. The first pages of this chapter show her looking at her mirror and thinking about how cute she is. She makes a point to remind Mashiba about the text she sent him about visiting Ishida, not really because she cares about him, but because she wants an excuse to get closer to him and make him fall for how gosh-darn selfless and caring she is. She isn't just satisfied with him knowing that, but the class as well, telling everyone to fold 1000 paper cranes to show their support for Ishida. Why? She'd probably say it's a symbolic gesture of good will. But it's also a completely frivolous act. It will not help Ishida get better. It will not help Ishida feel better. But Kawai is not thinking about that. She's thinking of a way to, yet again, show what a great person she is for thinking of such a "selfless" gesture. What Kawai cares about is the approval of others, and the attention of others. This is why she is head of the class, makes sure she's exceptional at everything she does, and presents herself as this kind, saintly figure. She wants people to notice her and love her as much as she loves herself. And she is eager to know what people think about her. Obsessed. Why else would she be peeing at someone else's phone, focusing on her text?

How does Kawai take criticism of her and her 1000 paper crane plan? Well, she's just confused. After all, she's "worked harder than anyone else," "for the class," and "they all backed her" as class represented. So why would people be mocking her behind her back? She quickly labels herself a victim. She soon attributes their comments as jealousy of her "relationship" with Mashiba. And then she begins to feel she's being bullied. She thinks "oh, this must be how Nishimiya and Sahara felt;" she puts some small criticism of her and her behavior on the same level of Shoko's horrific and often violent bullying and Sahara's complete isolation from school. Both of which, she is quick to forget, she was a part of, and as guilty as anyone else for. She re-remembers the incident where Ishida told her, as a favor, to not tell Mashiba and co. about how he used to bully Shoko in middle school, which she at the time perceived as him threatening her, and publicly shamed him in front of the entire group, the event that destroyed the movie making group, left Nishimiya alone once again and ridden with guilt for what happened, which caused her to try to commit suicide, which led to Ishida saving her at the cost of himself, leaving him in the condition he is in now. But Kawai doesn't think about it that way. She just thinks that "oh, Ishida has been punished for what he's done to me, maybe I should forgive him...a little." She's already manipulated the facts, to portray her as a helpless victim who has suffered just as much as Nishimiya, whereas in reality she was one of the biggest bullies of both her and Ishida, who she now thinks as someone in need of her forgiveness. In Kawai's mind, everything is about her and everything is like how believes it is. And she is always blameless. And if she can't blame Ishida because he's in the hospital, or Shoko because she's been bullied, who else is left but her own best friend, Nao, who she quickly turns on. And notice how she plays the poor victim act in front of Mashiba, tells her she's being bullied with a little sob, and tells him the name of the girl who wrote the text criticizing her so that he can "do something about it." She casually passes off the task of revenge to another person, to absolve herself of any blame. This way she keeps her reputation intact, humiliates and isolates her perceived enemies, and stays on top and as popular as ever. I doubt she even realizes how manipulative that is. But she's probably incapable of even considering that.

If anything clinches the "Kawai is a self-centered bitch" thing it's that she completely ignores what Shoko wants to do, finish the movie, and belittles her idea while going on what she believes to be a motivational speech but is really a self-pitying rant. Furthermore, now that she believes "Nao is bad," she is quick to antagonize her. She firmly believes that Nao is the bad guy here, but Nao, while a despicable in her won right for how she's treated Shoko all this time, genuinely cares about Ishida's well-being and recognizes that her actions were wrong, and while she won't admit it, she feels guilty about it. Nao doesn't hide behind pretense. She does what she feels. But all Kawai cares about is keeping up her image of being a model student. She has no genuine interest in anyone else but herself, and she is not capable of thinking of herself in a negative light, or contemplate on her own actions. So here we have two very different everyday life villains. One who isn't afraid to admit who she is, the other completely unaware. And now they are face to face with each other, a tense confrontation soon to turn to a shouting match. And it's anyone's guess where it will lead. Once again, A Silent Voice has the best chapter of the week. Easily.

Assassination Classroom chapter 96 - Well, that was resolved a bit quicker than I expected.  But it was a great chapter. What Class E needed was a lesson in responsibility. What could teach them that more than taking care of a bunch of rowdy elementary school kids for two whole weeks? Not only does Class E embrace this challenge, they own it, and go above and beyond. As it stands, it would seem they've done more than enough to warrant the old man's forgiveness, but will Korosensei be satisfied with just this, or is there more to be done? I'll have to read the next chapter to find out, but I'd hope so. Otherwise, this seems just a bit too short and convenient, after such a promising development delivered in the last chapter. Still, I can't complain too much. T'was a good chapter, after all.

Attack on Titan chapter 60 - It looks like the truth about the Interior Corps. crimes and the Monarchy's corruption is about to be exposed. Meanwhile, Erwin is before the king and about to be executed. Ho boy, this sure ain't looking good for him. The story keeps rolling along and I enjoyed this chapter quite a bit. Some great scenes here, from Levi trying to get information from the stubborn Interior Corps guy and continuing to ignore his attempts to taunt and guilt trip them, Flegel standing up to his father's murderers and exposing them in front of all of Trost, and Hange convincing the reporters to do the just thing and expose the truth. Very good developments, and it'll be interesting to see how some of them, particularly "Kenny Ackerman," come into play in future chapters.

Attack on Titan: Before the Fall chapter 8 - Lots of strong, powerful dramatic action in this chapter. I honestly don't remember being this enthralled by a fight against a Titan in any point in the main series. That's probably because the art in this series is just so much stronger, providing more serious dramatic menace to the situation, and an even greater sense of desperation. Kyukuro has a plan to beat the titan, which would make him the first one in years to do so according to this series. Will this battle be what inspires him to think of the 3-D maneuver gear? I wonder, and I guess I'll have to wait to find out.

Bleach chapter 592 - Hitsugaya is likely not dead, but he is brain dead, with no awareness of what he is doing. Obviously, he's way too much of a match for the Arrancar, so Mayuri is going to have to deal with him himself. This is probably one of the better chapters of late, at least, mainly because it was focused and mostly action-oriented. I'd rather read a meh Bleach chapter than one that pisses me the fuck off or bores me to death, which is what we usually get, so I'll take it.

GTO: Paradise Lost chapters 9-10 - These are probably the first GTO: PL chapters I can say I've liked. The core story still isn't interesting, but the gags were very strong in this chapter, particularly the scene where Onizuka and Ryuji are cleaning up the grafitti while casually avoiding the attacks of the mad fangirls. I was surprised to see a flash forward to Onizuka in prison again so soon. Apparently the incident that got him into prison is coming up, and after we see that, will we see how Onizuka is adjusting to prison life? Now THAT I want to read about. These chapters showed some promise of improvement. I don't know if it will keep that, but it would be nice if this series elevated itself to just meh or okay rather than being boring and a pale imitation of the original, like it's been so far, so we'll see.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan chapter 14 - Karlan has been killed, his forces pushed back, and now Arslan and co. must rescue the alive king and oust the usurper. They'll probably succeed. I'd say the best thing about this chapter was it's good action, which was to be expected since Arakawa is drawing this series. But the strategy Arslan and co. employed to allow a party of 5 men outwit and push back an entire army was impressive and entertaining to watch, and I do really like this core cast of characters. Overall, it was a good battle chapter with solid plot development.

Hunter X Hunter chapter 349 - We learn more about how the succession to be king of Kakim works and who all the princes are and stuff, and then the fourth prince gets some sort of power from some fairy-thing as part of an initiation sort of deal. Meanwhile, Kurapika decides they should just play it cool and not expose Sayu as a traitor until they arrive on the Dark Continent, and then we learn that six of the princes are hiring bodyguards, and that's the chapter. I'm going to be perfectly honest here: I've kinda found these last few chapters rather boring. They've been way too expository and filled with huge walls of text serving to over-explaining things that could be described faster and more simply. When we are focusing on Ging and Pariston, that stuff is fascinating and awesome because of the tension between the characters and that we know enough to be invested in them. But I can't really care about the 4th prince of Kakim or the majority of the Zodiacs besides Kurapika, Leorio, and Cheadle, which is why the Sayu twist falls completely flat for me and I don't find it interesting. I'm just hoping for some more exciting developments soon, and them finally leaving for the Dark Continent at some point. One thing I am interested, though, is the fact the Princes are hiring bodyguards. I have to wonder if anybody we know will be hired by the 4th prince, in particular. Perhaps the Phantom Troupe? It'd be interesting to see Kurapika have to go up against them again now that they know his tricks and identity. Or, perhaps Kurapika will team up with a rival prince to take down the 4th prince. There's a lot of potential with this new plot point, and I'm curious to see what Togashi does with it.

Kuroko's Basketball chapters 272-273 - One thing I do like about this situation is that even though Kagami entered the second phase of the zone, the match was not turned around easily and Rakuzan is playing as hard as ever. And by a stroke of luck, Hyuga manages to score a three pointer with a foul, allowing for Seirin to tie up this game and go for overtime if they can make the rebound. So overall, these were much better chapters that captured a sense of desperation and intensity that the match had really lacked prior. Obviously, I can't ignore how crappy a lot of this match has been, but I do appreciate when it has a good moment, and this is a good moment. If Serin makes the rebound, they'll have tied the game against the strongest players in the area. Even if they lose after that, they'll have a moral victory there, in the same way how Shohoku beating Shonan but losing the game after was. I'm not sure if the series will go that root, but at least I like this development, which is nice, since I like liking things.

Magi chapter 234 - In her blind desire to fulfill Solomon's will, Sheba ignored the animosity and danger around her, which ultimately proved to be her downfall, as the Alma Thorran faction, fervently anti-Solomon, wages a war against her to destroy his will and restore Il Illah, and in the process, Sheba pays with her life. A tragic end to Solomon's dream. I totally called all of this a long, long time ago, down to Aladdin being Sheba and Solomon's kid, but I still thought this was an awesome chapter. I expect that there will only be two chapters left of this arc, and then we'll finally go back to the present. I await to see how exactly this all ends.

Magi: Adventure of Sinbad chapter 30 - Sinbad's first trading venture ends in failure as a result of inexperience. However, he plans to use the knowledge he's gained from this as a learning experience and is more excited than ever to succeed in the trading venture. Good chapter, showing some of Sinbad's best qualities as a characte as well as providing an interesting start to his trading career.

Naruto chapter 688 - Obito wants to be alone with Rin in heaven, apparently, so he transports himself out of the afterlife (somehow), tells Kakashi he should be the next hokage (even though he is completely useless and Naruto has proven himself to be a far more capable and effective leader), and gives him the Mangekyo Sharingan, so now Kakashi can use the Susanoo and stuff. Eh, whatever. Bullshit power-up to make Kakashi useful. Fine. Just get this damn fight over already.

One Piece chapter 756 - Sugar's woken up, and she is pissed. I wonder if Ussop will have to fight her again. For now, she's sent out some monstrous toy soldiers to fight the Straw Hats and their allies. And at the end of the chapter, Rebecca is face to face with Diamante. She clearly isn't capable of winning this fight by herself, but perhaps Kyros will arrive and the two will team up to take him down. Overall, another meh-ish chapter, but with some good moments and a nice tease of a fight to look forward to.

One-Punch Man chapter 50 - This chapter was rather short, just showing Saitama getting out of the spaceship, Genos insulting Tornado on Saitama's orders and getting his ass kicked (which was hilarious), and then an explanation of how A-City was never rebuilt. A shorty, but a goodie, though I hope for a more substantial chapter next time.

Peephole chapter 35 - Ho ho, looks like Yawagiwa is some sort of Esper and interested in Miyachi, and Miyachi, of course, is interested in her. Interested in killing her, that is. I can tell already this'll be another fun arc.

Shokugeki no Soma chapter 81 - Soma's got nothing up his sleeve. It seems he'll just make this up as he goes along and create an earnest dish that Mimasaka can't perfectly replicate. A lot of this chapter is devoted to the introduction of this strange journalist character, who I'm not sure is supposed to be a spy or whatever, but it seems like he's going to be tagging along and observing Soma cook. Hmm. Well, this chapter was a bit of a step down from the last few weeks, mainly because of the focus on this new character, but there was some good humor here, and I am curious to see where this development leads and if it'll influence the dish Soma makes.

Toriko chapter 288 - Of course, Horse King Heracles is on a whole other level. A lesser series would have the Blue Demon completely turn the battle around and beat it. Toriko? The Blue Demon scores one lucky punch, but Heracles doesn't have to lift a hoof to take him down. All it needs to do is breathe. Literally, inhaling the air around the Blue Demon, which ends up suffocating it, forcing it to return to Toriko's already battered and bruised body. There is absolutely no way they can beat it. It is one of the eight kings of the Gourmet World for a reason, after all. Toriko is simply not on it's level. What he's done is buy time for Komatsu to prepare the Air fruit, which, if things go right, should ripen at 120% of it's normal flavor, which would surely satisfy Heracles, possibly enough to spare all their lives. The clock is ticking, though. Toriko has no cards left to play. He's too outmatched. He won't be able to hold Heracles off for much more than a few seconds. Will that buy Komatsu and co. just enough time to succeed? Likely, but I'm no less excited to find out in the next chapter.

Vinland Saga chapter 106 - I liked seeing Gudrid's backstory. I think it's clear she's going to join Thorfinn and co. on their adventure, and she's a very interesting character in her own right with good potential for a strong character arc. On Thorfinn's front, it seems that the gang is going to have to delay their adventure to head off in the opposite direction of their goal in order to sell off the narwhal horns for a good sum, enough to fund the colonization of Vinland. The trading and bartering skills Thorfinn will need to acquire will no doubt prove essential assets in the future, so this will likely turn out to be a good experience. Another great chapter with some great plot development.

[LumRanmaYasha]

^Wow, I wrote a long ass post this week. I can only imagine how long it would have been if I wrote this on Saturday and all those chapters were fresher in my mind. 

Rankings:

1. A Silent Voice - 10/10
2. Magi - 10/10
3. Vinland Saga - 10/10
4. Magi: Adventure of Sinbad - 8/10
5. Attack on Titan: Before the Fall - 8/10
6. Toriko - 8/10
7. Attack on Titan - 8/10
8. Assassination Classroom - 8/10
9. One-Punch Man - 8/10
10. Peephole - 8/10
11. Kuroko's Basketball - 7.5/10
12. The Heroic Legend of Arslan - 7.5/10
13. Hunter X Hunter - 7.5/10
14. Shokugeki no Soma - 7.5/10
15. One Piece - 7/10
16. GTO: Paradise Lost - 7/10
17. Bleach - 5/10
18. Naruto - 1/10

Overall it was a pretty decent week with three really excellent chapters, which is always good to see. This week I don't have much to read because of the Obon holiday in Japan, so hopefully I can get a quality over quantity kind of deal with what I do have.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I feel the opposite about HXH and Magi. While I'm not a fan of the overt exposition, I felt that this chapter and the last few in general were more interesting than the first few chapters since the hiatus. The concept of a spy among the Zodiac is interesting, and it's the kind of thing that's right up Kurapika's alley to find out. Again, I don't love these chapters, but if anything was flat, it was the introduction to this arc. Paiute frankly what we got recently was an improvement, even if it's still too dialogue-heavy for its own good.

Magi, on the other hand, has been incredibly tiresome throughout this whole flashback arc. I also felt unsatisfied with the way the author handled the characters transitioning into being members of Al Tharmen. These were characters that had years of history together, so to see them turn on Sheba and kill her without a hint of remorse, guilt, or uncertainty, like it was nothing, just makes them come off as 1-dimensional ass-holes. Putting that aside, the arc just failed to make me care enough about any of the characters, and now that Sheba is dead, I still don't. It's alright from a world-building and mythos-expanding perspective, in suppose, but this was still the most boring arc so far. At least it's almost over, though.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I thought that the concept of a spy among the Zodiacs was interesting too. Then Kurapika found out who the spy is after a chapter. And when it was done, and now that we know and Kurapika's already got a plan on how to arrest him and stuff...I just can't say I really care about any of it. We don't know anything about Sayu and, frankly, most of the other Zodiacs either. I just think this would have had more impact if we had gotten to know these characters, or at least Sayu, a bit better first. As it stands it just feels like another added plot element amongst more interesting ones I'd rather see focused on.

As for Magi, I dunno, I thought this arc had it's moments. I do agree that it would have been nice to see the other characters be more conflicted about killing Sheba, but considering they had likely already fallen into depravity by this point (and we've seen how that corrupts people's senses of judgement) and Arba is basically an irrational fanatic for Il Illah and shown to be a merciless killer in the past when she slaughtered fake-Elder David and his cronies (she didn't know they weren't the real deals) and how she made a point to yell out about how Sheba was being manipulated by Solomon and stuff was probably to convince the others of her actions and further their already passionate hatred for Solomon, I'm not quite as bothered by it.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

What more interesting ones? We barely know anything about Beyond, either, and he is quite frankly a boring character. We've hardly had any time to devoted to the other plot-lines sans Going and Pariston. As for not knowing about the Zodiacs, it's setting up that we'll learn more about them as they interact in this arc, and that's also technically not true since we have gotten to know 4 of them really well by now. Also, as far as Kurapika using his abilities and trying to maintain trust with who he's informing for, it's interesting not because of who he found out, but for him instead. For one thing, we know he's not doing it out of good will. He is doing it so that they will give him what he wants, which is the prince, so he can get the rest of the Scarlet eyes of his clan. Furthermore it possibly foreshadows future events to come. For instance, Ursula presented his plan to arrest Sayu. Hasn't this series already shown us that things cam skew way out of control from an intended plan the moment something unpredictable interferes? It happened a lot in the YNC,  CA, and CE arcs, so it may be likely to happen here as well. There is plenty interesting with what's going on right now. Granted, it all could have been presented a little better, but I wouldn't call the last few chapters boring, especially compared to what came directly before it.

As for Magi, I'm not really talking about Arba,  who we know was always a fanatic. It's all of Solomon's other close friends and followers. I didn't expect a lot of depth or nuance, but we should have at least seen some transition into their hatred of Solomon. This could have easily been done in a chapter, montaging through scenes of uncertainty in them when it came to turning on Solomon would have made them feel at least a little more human. Instead, just having them be the closest of allies throughout the entire arc and then kill Sheba without so much as a flinch of uneasiness just makes them seem more 1-dimensional and leaves me with no sympathy to see them get any redemption.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I never said anything about Beyond. Essentially I'm more interested in Ging and Pariston than any of the Zodiac stuff right now. The 4 Zodiacs we've gotten to know are Kurapika, Leorio, Cheadle, and Mizaistrom, and I care about them, but everyone else is a blank slate right now besides some character trait or two, so I'm not interested in them yet. The only reason Kurapika joined and is helping the Zodiacs is to get to the Prince and take back the scarlet eyes, and this traitor stuff does not add anything to that element which wasn't already shown when Kurapika figured out Pariston's cronies were going to infiltrate the organization through the Hunter Exam and ousted all of them from the exam with his lie-detecting skills. I know everything that is happening now is set-up for things happening later in the arc, and I'm sure when the time comes exciting things will happen when the plan goes awry since they always do in this series, but I'm found the last two or so chapters kind of a chore to read just because of how much information is being thrown out and how much of it involves characters we don't know much about yet, so I'm just having a hard time getting excited for much of this. I have no clue how good the payoff will be, but right now, the set-up is just not doing much for me.

As far as Solomon's followers go, we already saw them resent him for what happened to their comrades when David and co. tricked them and burned everyone in their secret base to a crisp, and then when he replaced Il Illah as god and Sheba explained the concept of destiny to everyone they were bothered by the fact that everything that happened in their lives was pre-destined and now Solomon is control of that. They already had their doubts about him, but now he's essentially in charge of their fates, they felt he was taking away their free will, and I don't think it's too surprising that their resent of Solomon turned to distrust and hated after learning that. Arba was the only one who fought and killed Sheba, and then she made a point to loudly yell about how Sheba was a tragic victim of Solomon's control to everyone around to likely convince any doubters around. It's not really about these characters getting redemption which I don't really care about either. Who knows whether they will or not. Though, I suppose we did see Ithnan sort of regretted what happened when Aladdin met him in Alibaba (anime)/Dunya (manga)'s mind and saw his memories and stuff. But I certainly wouldn't say he was redeemed, by any stretch. Anyway, the main thing is that I just feel that how things played out was consistent with the characters' motivations. Individually, characters like Falan and even Ithnan (who didn't do much in this arc, which disappoints me a little) are pretty one-dimensional. It's not the fact of how these characters in particular betrayed Sheba that I personally like, but rather, I found the idea of how the collective group of Solomon's closest friends and followers all betrayed him after he let them down and lost their trust and Sheba wasn't able to rebuild that and ultimately ended up dying because she was so caught up in fulfilling what she felt to be Solomon's wishes that she wasn't aware of just how much those around her actually resented him and didn't forsee this happening was interesting and shown nicely in the last two chapters.