Currently Running Manga Discussion

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I never said anything about Beyond. Essentially I'm more interested in Ging and Pariston than any of the Zodiac stuff right now.

You referred to more interesting "ones" (pleural). What are the other ones BESIDES Ging and Pariston?

The 4 Zodiacs we've gotten to know are Kurapika, Leorio, Cheadle, and Mizaistrom

And Pariston and Ging, if you count former ones (actually, I forget if they still count or not).

but everyone else is a blank slate right now besides some character trait or two, so I'm not interested in them yet.

Well, there are 12 members in all and you expect them all to be characterized within just a few chapters? Of course Togashi is going to take some time to develop the other characters who are important, and not plague himself with developing every single person at the same time. If this series has shown us anything, it's that the characters that need it will get development over the course of the story.

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.

This criticism makes absolutely no sense. Of course it doesn't relate to his goal. The whole point of them enlisting Kurapika's help was because he had an ability that they found useful for weeding out spies, which is their interest. In order to get Kurapika to agree, since he had no interest in it, they offered him something in return, which was the key to attaining more of the missing Scalet Eyes. It's a trade of services. It's a natural way to get these characters to work together for the story, which is the point. Why exactly would they have the same common interest?

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.

You complain about the last 2 chapters but flat-out ignore the fact that the series has been doing this since the Chimera Ant arc? Togashi's writing style for this series has been about setting up rules and twisting them around for interesting situations. It has been this way for a long time, and that includes having dialogue-heavy chapters. How you could enjoy many of the previous chapters that did the same thing but had less interesting concepts (at least at the beginning of this arc) doesn't make any sense to me. Sorry, but I don't think that we can see eye-to-eye on this one. As far as I'm concerned, the last few chapters were definitely an improvement over the boring initial chapters of this arc.

As for Magi, my point is that the concept of the flash-back arc is great, but the execution was poor. That's really all that I have to say about it, at this point. Perhaps if it didn't interrupt what was shaping up to be a really interesting story arc with the summit, I wouldn't have minded it so much, but that's a moot point because the arc is clearly almost over.

[LumRanmaYasha]

I never said anything about Beyond. Essentially I'm more interested in Ging and Pariston than any of the Zodiac stuff right now.

You referred to more interesting "ones" (pleural). What are the other ones BESIDES Ging and Pariston?

It is basically just Pariston and Ging, seeing how/if Gon recovers his ability to use nen, seeing how Kurapika deals with the 4th prince of Kakin and gets the scarlet eyes back, and the kakin prince succession thing (as far as the concept of it goes, so far).

The 4 Zodiacs we've gotten to know are Kurapika, Leorio, Cheadle, and Mizaistrom

And Pariston and Ging, if you count former ones (actually, I forget if they still count or not).

I wasn't counting them, since they aren't a part of the Zodiacs anymore.

Well, there are 12 members in all and you expect them all to be characterized within just a few chapters? Of course Togashi is going to take some time to develop the other characters who are important, and not plague himself with developing every single person at the same time. If this series has shown us anything, it's that the characters that need it will get development over the course of the story.

I'm sure they will get developed later on. And there wasn't much time before this for the lot of them to be developed as it was. My problem was that the traitor among the Zodiacs thing falls flat to me because I don't know most of these characters and their relationships with each other well enough yet. This is a problem that can be retroactively solved once these characters have gotten development and we see how this situation plays out. But as it stands, the fact that I don't know any of that yet doesn't make the traitor thing much of an engaging plot point for me.

This criticism makes absolutely no sense. Of course it doesn't relate to his goal. The whole point of them enlisting Kurapika's help was because he had an ability that they found useful for weeding out spies, which is their interest. In order to get Kurapika to agree, since he had no interest in it, they offered him something in return, which was the key to attaining more of the missing Scalet Eyes. It's a trade of services. It's a natural way to get these characters to work together for the story, which is the point. Why exactly would they have the same common interest?

I never said it related to the goal. I was referring to your comment:

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.

I didn't agree with this justification. Kurapika and his motivations in this arc are interesting to me. However, that doesn't mean that the traitor thing is in itself interesting just because he is a part of it and he uncovered it. It also does not make Kurapika's role in this arc anymore interesting than it already was either, especially since he is not concerned with the Zodiacs and their goals in the Dark Continent at all, and is instead just fulfilling a job that is required of him in order to achieve what he actually cares about doing, retrieving the Scarlet Eyes from the 4th prince. That was what I was trying to get across.

You complain about the last 2 chapters but flat-out ignore the fact that the series has been doing this since the Chimera Ant arc? Togashi's writing style for this series has been about setting up rules and twisting them around for interesting situations. It has been this way for a long time, and that includes having dialogue-heavy chapters. How you could enjoy many of the previous chapters that did the same thing but had less interesting concepts (at least at the beginning of this arc) doesn't make any sense to me. Sorry, but I don't think that we can see eye-to-eye on this one. As far as I'm concerned, the last few chapters were definitely an improvement over the boring initial chapters of this arc.

I'm well aware these kinds of chapters are nothing new for HXH. That doesn't mean they still aren't the most engaging of reading experiences when following this series on a week by week basis. Whether this bothers me when I can reflect on this arc overall remains to be seen. But think of the chapter where Meruem killed that little girl and ate her brain, or the many expository chapters in the Chimera Ant arc. If I was following the series on a weekly basis back then, I probably wouldn't have liked those either. However, I did not have that kind of reading experience with that arc, having been able to read it entirely within three nights, and furthermore, can reflect on things as a whole and consider how things that initially I wasn't all that into ultimately worked out well. Right now, I don't find these individual chapters interesting. I have no clue how things will work out in the future and whether I will ultimately enjoy what this is setting up right now, but I do know I didn't really find these chapters by themselves much fun to read. As far as enjoying the initial chapters more than these ones, I'm not sure where you're getting that from since I never said anything of the sort. I gave the first few chapters since the comeback some slack because the series had been gone for so long and I was satisfied to be reading it at all again. Now that it's been back for over two months, I expect the series to pick up the pace a bit. The chapters I've enjoyed most since the comeback where the initial few involving Kurapika joining the Zodiacs and the ones focusing on Pariston and Ging prominently. These last two or three chapters I haven't enjoyed because I find it hard to care about the traitor plot point and I've become less forgiving of the exposition. But I would say they are improvements over the initial chapters, because there is significantly less exposition and the plot is moving forward much more, and I also do enjoy these chapters more than the initial ones as well. But that enjoyment is relative, and it doesn't mean I found them very fun to read, which is basically what it boils down to for me.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

It is basically just Pariston and Ging, seeing how/if Gon recovers his ability to use nen, seeing how Kurapika deals with the 4th prince of Kakin and gets the scarlet eyes back, and the kakin prince succession thing (as far as the concept of it goes, so far).

The story-line involving the prince is part of the same story-line that you say you're not interested in, though.

I'm sure they will get developed later on. And there wasn't much time before this for the lot of them to be developed as it was. My problem was that the traitor among the Zodiacs thing falls flat to me because I don't know most of these characters and their relationships with each other well enough yet. This is a problem that can be retroactively solved once these characters have gotten development and we see how this situation plays out. But as it stands, the fact that I don't know any of that yet doesn't make the traitor thing much of an engaging plot point for me.

But you're putting too much emphasis on a plot point that hasn't even had time to develop yet. You focus on the fact that the character who is revealed to be a spy is one that we haven't gotten to know yet, but don't consider that this could also just be a herring since this series is known for that kind of thing. And, even if it isn't, we may get to know his character later and his reasons for being a spy, so I can hardly understand calling it flat when the plot point hasn't even had time to play out, yet. You say the fact that you don't know it yet doesn't make it more interesting, but how do you think plot points like this become interesting in the first place? They are given time to develop. You can hardly blame it on literally just 2 chapters for not miraculously developing the plot point forward when it's meant to span several chapters, otherwise you might as well criticize almost every long-running shounen series of that.

I never said it related to the goal. I was referring to your comment:

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.

I didn't agree with this justification. Kurapika and his motivations in this arc are interesting to me. However, that doesn't mean that the traitor thing is in itself interesting just because he is a part of it and he uncovered it. It also does not make Kurapika's role in this arc anymore interesting than it already was either, especially since he is not concerned with the Zodiacs and their goals in the Dark Continent at all, and is instead just fulfilling a job that is required of him in order to achieve what he actually cares about doing, retrieving the Scarlet Eyes from the 4th prince. That was what I was trying to get across.

The you completely misunderstood my post. I was saying that Kurapika as a character and his ultimate goal in the plot is one of the things that has really interested me about the past few chapters. I never used that as justification of what's interesting about the plot point involving the spy, which I've already stated is something that can't just be made interesting in the way that you want it to be that quickly. It needs time to develop, and the reason I'm interested is because I know that Togashi has the ability to make it interesting, which he has done several times before. I find it trivial to blame the past couple of chapters on not further developing a plot point any more than they could given their already limited page count.

I'm well aware these kinds of chapters are nothing new for HXH. That doesn't mean they still aren't the most engaging of reading experiences when following this series on a week by week basis. Whether this bothers me when I can reflect on this arc overall remains to be seen. But think of the chapter where Meruem killed that little girl and ate her brain, or the many expository chapters in the Chimera Ant arc. If I was following the series on a weekly basis back then, I probably wouldn't have liked those either. However, I did not have that kind of reading experience with that arc, having been able to read it entirely within three nights, and furthermore, can reflect on things as a whole and consider how things that initially I wasn't all that into ultimately worked out well. Right now, I don't find these individual chapters interesting. I have no clue how things will work out in the future and whether I will ultimately enjoy what this is setting up right now, but I do know I didn't really find these chapters by themselves much fun to read. As far as enjoying the initial chapters more than these ones, I'm not sure where you're getting that from since I never said anything of the sort. I gave the first few chapters since the comeback some slack because the series had been gone for so long and I was satisfied to be reading it at all again. Now that it's been back for over two months, I expect the series to pick up the pace a bit. The chapters I've enjoyed most since the comeback where the initial few involving Kurapika joining the Zodiacs and the ones focusing on Pariston and Ging prominently. These last two or three chapters I haven't enjoyed because I find it hard to care about the traitor plot point and I've become less forgiving of the exposition. But I would say they are improvements over the initial chapters, because there is significantly less exposition and the plot is moving forward much more, and I also do enjoy these chapters more than the initial ones as well. But that enjoyment is relative, and it doesn't mean I found them very fun to read, which is basically what it boils down to for me.

The part about reading it weekly is a fair enough point. But, that's just a matter of preference. I still can't bring myself to blame the series for having a weekly release schedule like it's supposed to. Perhaps, if you really feel that a weekly reading schedule doesn't do the story much justice, you would be better off waiting for a cluster of chapters to come out at a time. That's what I decided to do for KnB (granted that I haven't heard good things about the arc, but it still beats reading it on a weekly basis).

[LumRanmaYasha]

Those are fair points. It's too early to really judge and I'm being more negative about it than I really should be over what is only a few chapters. I guess it feels longer to me, somehow, maybe because the series took a one-week break between the last two chapters and the latest chapter felt like one of many "decent but not great" chapters from last week which didn't help my opinion of it. One thing I do think that has been a problem with most of the chapters since it's come back is that there is too much expository dialogue, which is probably what's really rubbing me wrong lately, so hopefully that fades away soon.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

As much as I love the series, it has never been great on a moment by moment basis. However, in evaluating the themes and character development of each story arc, it stands stronger. That said, I do agree about the exposition, but it has been that way for a while. I think that Togashi is still a good writer, but ever since the CA arc it has felt like the series has been lacking in some of the heart that it used to have, and generally that's why I prefer YYH overall as a series.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Much of the usual stuff I read wasn't updated this week because of the Obon holiday, but I still was able to read some great chapters regardless.

Assassination Classroom chapters 97-98 - Class E has gone above and beyond in demonstrating that they do indeed know how to use the skills they've learned responsibly and are able to help others with them, which wins over the old man they hurt and earns Korosensei's forgiveness. Karasuma is pleased with their work too, and rewards Class E with new combat-ready uniforms to help them in their further assassinations. I love how Erina was the one who suggested that the girls' uniforms look cuter (it's even more hillarious how she wanted them to be nothing but a bra and underwear, at one point), and then everyone points out that the defensive capabilities are much weaker than regular uniforms. The new uniforms definitely look like they are going to be useful, especially since it seems a new serious arc is about to start, as the assassin killer that killed Erina's teacher is now targeting her. Funny, amusing chapters with some good plot development. Plus it's given me a whole new sig! Good work, AC.

Detective Conan chapter 904 - This case doesn't seem too interesting, but it'll probably be resolved next week. But I do wonder how the fish tank and fishing line are a part of this murder and why they were in the pool, since that's kinda wierd. Also, I think it's becoming more obvious that Sera is not really a girl after all. Then again, Aoyama is not usually this blatant with these things, so maybe it's a fake out. I am still positive she's not actually Akai's sister and the little girl is, though.

One-Punch Man chapter 51 - Wow, King is so powerful and intimidating that just his aura is enough to make criminals wet their pants and pass out. That was hilarious. Seems like he's going to be important in this new arc. I'd love to see how he and Saitama get along.

Rin-ne chapter 179 - A lot of the chapters I tent to enjoy most in Rumiko Takahashi's comedies involve her incorporating all the main cast, or at least most of them, in a single event and just letting them play off each other. As such, I got a lot of mileage out of several moments here, and there were some good gags in this one too. However, as most stand-alone Rin-ne chapters tend to be, the concept behind this one was just very mundane and uninteresting, which is nothing new as a problem in this series, but something that I always feel disappointed about, especially when there's a lot of potential in several elements presented here. So kind of a hit and miss chapter, unfortunately.

The Seven Deadly Sins chapter 89 - Ban is back on track and ready to do his job, wastes no time in getting Diane and Gilthunder healed, and leaps into action. King struggles against fighting Helbram, horrified by what's happening to his friend, but Helbram in a very cringe-inducing scene begs for him to kill him before he becomes nothing but a mindless zombie. Poor King just can't get a break, can he? Meanwhile, Meliodas and Hawk take the lead and rush to rescue Elizabeth from Hendricksen. However, they might be too late, as Dreyfus' attack designed to kill Hendricksen went off course when he, get this, tripped from the ground breaking under him (geez, when has something so mundane ever screwed somebody over in a fight in a manga? I can't think of anything else), and his attack swirls out of control and hits Elizabeth instead. I doubt Elizabeth is going to die, but damn, this was completely unexpected and an interesting turn of events. I really wonder how this is going to play out.

Shokugeki no Soma chapter 82 - The reporter character seems to have good intentions after all, earnestly interested in Soma's beef stew. Last week I was confused as to why Soma revealed exactly what he was making to Mimasaka without having any tricks up his sleeve. So I love his reasoning in this chapter. This beef stew is an important dish for him, being the first one that his father allowed on the menu at their restaurant, and something he worked tirelessly to create. Mimasaka might be able to perfectly replicate someone's dishes and go a step beyond, but he has never worked hard or passionately like other chefs to create a entirely new dish from scratch. Soma is challenging Mimasaka to a battle of creativity. They both are on the same level now. Both know what the dish is and what they are making. But the winner of this shokugeki will be the one who is able to perfect the dish beyond the level it already is at, which is no easy task. This is a challenge that will push Soma to think outside the box and utilize his creative thinking skills that we've seen him use before to add new twists to old favorites, while forcing the copycat Mimasaka to truly embrace what it takes to make a great dish instead of his typical research and replication. A really cool conflict that has made this match much more interesting to me than I originally thought it would be. Really, that's the strength of this series, to take a formula that is in many ways standard but add it's own unique twist to it to make it refreshing. Now I'm really looking forward to see what Soma will make while experimenting. It's sure to be something I could never have expected.

Rankings:

1. The Seven Deadly Sins - 10/10
2. Assassination Classroom - 9/10
3. Shokugeki no Soma - 9/10
4. One-Punch Man - 9/10
5. Detective Conan - 7/10
6. Rin-ne - 7/10

A short week, but a quality one. The majority of these chapters were excellent, and the two that weren't were still very entertaining. And I appreciate a small week like this after reading and writing about triple this amount last time. That one took an unexpectedly long time to write. 

[Pharass]

I have now read all the available chapters of Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic and I have to say that I'm impressed. This easily ranks among the best shonen-manga I've read in quite some time. Of course, the setting helps a lot; I've always had a fascination with 1001 Nights-themed settings, ever since I watched Aladdin as a wee tyke. That said, Shinobu Ohtaka also does a great job creating engaging plot-lines and interesting characters.

My favorite story-arc (so far) is The Magnostadt Arc, by the way.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, Magi is great stuff and the Magnostadt is easily the best arc, and what really elevated this series to the next level for me.

Though, as far as the best currently-running shonen manga goes, my votes'd go to Silver Spoon and A Silent Voice.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Caught up with some more series this week, so I'll be talking about some of them from now on as well:

A Bride's Story chapter 40 - Anis seems to be very happy to finally find a friend in Shirin, though the reason why she seems drawn to her is a bit odd. I'm not sure exactly what Anis' maid means when she say that she and Shirin have to go through some sort of ceremony to become "sister wives." I mean, the obvious thing would be Anis' husband taking Shirin as a second wife, I guess, but I dunno, maybe it's some different kind of thing they're referring to? I guess we'll see in next months' chapter.

A Silent Voice chapter 49 - I was expecting a shouting match between Ueno and Kawai, but that wasn't the focus of the chapter. Though, we got an amazing scene where Ishida's mom meets Shoko, and can't find anything to say to her, and instead walks away, telling Yuzuru that they can talk once Ishida recovers. But the real meat of the chapter was learning more about Mashiba and seeing him come to terms with himself and the incident this week. And it seems he isn't the confident, upstanding man he appears to be. His motivations, in fact, had been very skewed, dreaming to become a teacher solely to punish the children of those who bullied him, and hanging around Ishida to make himself feel more normal in comparison. However, Ishida's selfless actions have left him thinking about what kind of person he really is and makes him feel guilty and ashamed. Unlike Kawai, who immediately pulls a 180 and agrees to finish the movie only because Mashiba agreed to help, Mashiba genuinely wants to be a better person, and has been encouraged to change his ways following Ishida's example, apologizing to the teacher he beat up in order to help Shoko be able to film at the school. I appreciate this look at Mashiba, and it seems next week, we'll be coming back to Ueno. I wonder if she'll be able to suck up her pride and change her ways too? 

Assassination Classroom chapter 99 - The students try their best to cheer up Bitch-sensei by getting Karasuma to give her flowers for her birthday. However, Karasuma is no romantic and says some things that give away that it was the students' plan and not his own, which pisses her off. Karasuma isn't clueless about how she feels about him, but there is no room for love in their field, and if Erina can't handle that, than she will need to be replaced. And of course, flower shop guy is an assassin and he's gunning for Bitch-sensei. Why am I not surprised? This is shaping up to be a fun storyline. I wonder if flower shop guy is the assassin that's been taking out all those other ones, including Erina's former teacher, Lovos? Should be interesting to see how this plays out.

Berserk chapter 336 - Rickert learns of Griffith's army of apostles, and that's really all that happens in this chapter. I know Rickert wants to hear the truth of what happened to the Band of the Hawk straight from Griffith's lips, but he may be in way over his head. Also, even though Griffith is now a king as he's always wanted to be, I feel that his ambition is far from quenched. I would not be surprised if he tries to expand his empire. Surely, his army of apostles are restless for some bloodshed. Anyway, I wonder what Rickert will do now, and hopefully next month's chapter gives some development on that front.

Black Butler chapter 96 - The Green Witch has completed the ultimate spell, which should calm down all the werewolves now, which is super. But, unfortunately, Ciel and Sebastian have successfully tricked her in coming along with them to visit the queen. Ha ha ha...she is so screwed. Poor girl.

Bleach chapter 593 - Looks like Hitsugaya got caught in a groundhog day-esque loop. And it also looks like he's now dead. Maybe. I dunno, Mayuri is a psycopath, I wouldn't put it past him or anything. But Hitsugaya is like the most popular character of this series in Japan, so I kinda doubt he'd be killed off in such an unceremonious manner.

Fairy Tail: Zero chapter 2 - I wasn't planning on sticking with this series, because I hate FT and all that, but I checked out this chapter and liked it well enough to give it some more of my time. Mavis is a fun and likable character and it was cool seeing her outwit a guy 10 years her senior in a battle of wits. This story of how the Fairy Tail guild came to be might prove more interesting than I thought.

Fuuka chapter 27 - Looks like a lot of people have come out to the school fair, not really to see the band, but to see Koyuki who they expected to attend (an she has), and heckle Yuu for being in such a close relationship with her (hoo-boy, fanboys are so fucking crazy). And it looks like some hot-shot U.S. singer has caught wind of the fact Koyuki will be there and will attend as well. Hmm, wonder where that'll go. In any case, the band is not afraid of the hecklers or mad at Yuu, and they are going to give their performance everything they've got, which should make for one interesting concert, if nothing else. Will they be able to win these people over with their music? Guess we'll see.

Kuroko's Basketball chapter 274 - And so, through the teamwork of Kuroko and Kagami, Seirin scores the rebound and beats Rakuzan just as the time runs out. Yep, it's over. This match is finally over. Seririn has one. They shoudn't have, honestly, but they did, fine. So...is the series going to end soon? The end of the chapter promises at things winding down, so I guess so. In any case, there's really no where to go from here without the series going to POT-esque levels of ridiculousness, so it might as well end. For what it's worth, I liked this chapter and ending to the match just fine, but that doesn't change how the match as a whole was a complete mess with a sever lack of genuine tension and and often times infuriating or just plain boring to read. Very disappointing to be perfectly honest. Too bad.

Magi chapter 235 - I was surprised that Wahid sacrificed himself to summon the Medium. I guess he's not alive in the current timeline, then. I liked finally seeing how the djinns were created (and who the djinns were originally), and I guess Ugo was the one who ended up creating a new world, which is cool to know. Looks like this arc has at most one chapter left, and then we'll get back to the present. I'll be curious to see the reactions of Sinbad and Kouen, among others, to this story.

Murcielago chapters 7-9 - And so the Murder Party ends in a whole bout of bloody, over the top fun. I wonder if the maid is going to be a recurring character now? Probably.

Naruto chapter 689 - I do like how all three of Team 7 has dealt a final(?) blow on Kaguya. It's not particularly well-done considering the mess that is Sasuke's character arc and how useless a character Sakura has been the entire series, but whatever, fine. Hopefully this battle is close to being over. I'm fucking sick of Kaguya and Zetsu and their bland bland blandness. Their still is that whole thing that the sage of six paths was going to do to help that hasn't happened yet, though, so....I dunno.

One Piece chapter 757 - I don't like how Rebecca is suddenly afraid to fight Diamante for some reason, but Kyros coming to her aid and father and daughter reunited was a nice moment. Hopefully both of them work together to take Diamante down. The other action in this chapter was very fun as well, so overall, this was an enjoyable chapter.

Peephole chapter 36 - Woah-oh, Yawagiwa knows something's up with Kurosu and that he knows more about her brother's disappearance than he lets on, and she seems crazy enough to bug 'em about him enough for him to slip up and find the truth. I wonder if this lead to a fun battle of crazy wits between Yawagiwa and Miyachi? That could be fun.

Silver Spoon chapter 105 - Oh man, I was dying of laughter from the three pages where Nishkawa was explaining all the different types of potatoes with anime-girl analogues. Amazing. Hopefully Hachiken and Oikawa can get things in order to see their pizza, and Hachiken gets to show his stuff in a horse race.

Space Brothers chapter 233 - Now this was a much better done sentimental chapter, with Mutta reflecting on how much Sharon's guidance has led him down his current path, and vowing to keep his promise to her. That said, I hope to see some more plot development come next time.

Toriko chapter 289 - Air has been successfully prepared. Awesome. I wonder if they'll have to give it up to satiate Heracles, though?

Rankings:

1. Silver Spoon - 10/10
2. A Silent Voice - 10/10
3. Assassination Classroom - 9/10
4. Murcielago - 9/10
5. A Bride's Story - 9/10
6. Fuuka - 8/10
7. Berserk - 8/10
8. Magi - 8/10
9. Toriko - 8/10
10. Peephole - 8/10
11. One Piece - 8/10
12. Space Brothers - 8/10
13. Kuroko's Basketball - 8/10
14. Black Butler - 8/10
15. Fairy Tail Zero - 8/10
16. Bleach - 4/10
17. Naruto - 3/10

Good week. Only two chapters below an 8/10. That's something I'd sure like to see more often.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

That One Piece chapter downright pissed me off. Seriously, Oda? You build up Rebecca as someone who can actually fight, and then when faced with the guy who claims to have murdered her mother, she breaks down and cries for "Soldier-San" to save her. In previous appearances, we at least saw that she was very willing to fight for herself, even if she was outmatched. In this case, despite her opponent being stronger, it would have made more sense to see her get angry and at least try to fight back. Instead she just cowers like a cliche damsel in distress. That's REALLY bad characterization, and it comes from a writer who should know better by now.

On another note, I hear that the match between Seirin and Rakuzan is finally done, so I'll probably catch up with the manga pretty soon, but I'm honestly not expecting much based on what I've heard about it. It seems like Tadatoshi tried to capture the magic of the Shohoku vs. Sannoh match from Slam Dunk with this one, but failed miserably at it.

[Rynnec]

That One Piece chapter downright pissed me off. Seriously, Oda? You build up Rebecca as someone who can actually fight, and then when faced with the guy who claims to have murdered her mother, she breaks down and cries for "Soldier-San" to save her. In previous appearances, we at least saw that she was very willing to fight for herself, even if she was outmatched. In this case, despite her opponent being stronger, it would have made more sense to see her get angry and at least try to fight back. Instead she just cowers like a cliche damsel in distress. That's REALLY bad characterization, and it comes from a writer who should know better by now.

Ugh, that's almost worst than Naruto.

[LumRanmaYasha]

Yeah, it was weird that Rebecca is so afraid of Diamante when in the Colosseum she didn't back down against him at all. Running away and crying for Kyros to rescue her was completely out of character for her. I didn't enjoy how Oda handled that at all, though, it didn't "piss me off" because...I dunno, I don't care about Rebecca all that much I guess. When Ussop ran away during the fight with Sugar, THAT pissed me the fuck off more than I had ever been at anything in OP because it destroyed years of character development for who was my favorite character in the series, and so this didn't seem quite as bad in comparison to me, since Rebecca is such a minor and not terribly interesting character. Though, hopefully she at least helps out in the fight against Diamante with Kyros. If she just sits back and lets him do all the fighting, then I'll be pretty steamed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

I don't care about Rebecca as a character, either. It pisses me off because it's flat-out terrible writing. Oda just wants to make a touching moment of Kyros coming to rescue his daughter, which would be fine if she was staying in-character, fighting back, and just happened to be losing because Diamante is way above her level, and Kyros came in before he could finish her off. Having her cry for him to save her without even so much as raising her sword in her own defense makes her look like every generic damsel in distress ever, and while I don't care about the character, I'm sick of this stupid-ass archetype, and I'm really disappointed in someone like Oda for using it. Even if the series has been down in quality from its prime for a while, I still consider moments like this to be an extreme low for a writer who was clearly capable of far better material than this.

Even Nami, who was never much of a fighter, never acted as pathetic as this in a fight.

[LumRanmaYasha]

No arguments there. It is bad writing. It just didn't bother me quite as much, compared to some other bad writing bits that have happened in the arc, and really, since post-timeskip. That isn't to defend it, but to just explain why I, personally, did not become "pissed off" by it, though I was very annoyed.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, Oda has really been in a slump since the time-skip. I just wish that he could somehow get things back up to the level of quality as they were in the CP9 arc as far as Luffy AND his crew go. As much as I loved the Impel Down and Marineford arc, I have to wonder if they may have been detrimental to the quality of the series in the long-run, seeing as how Oda can't seem to properly write for the other Straw Hats anymore. I think that instead of the next arc trying to outdo this one and all previous ones by being bigger in scope, perhaps he should try and throw a curve ball into the formula by going for a smaller-scale but more personal arc, much like Arlong Park or Drum Island. I believe that it may help him reconnect with some of the characters. I think that, right now, he's a bit too focused on making his story more big and epic with each chapter that he may be losing that personal touch and charm that made it so appealing in the first place.