Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth 08 was probably the funniest one yet. I don’t know why TenTen makes such a great straight person in comedy, but she’s really the backbone of the series, and the gags are brilliant. I’m both glad this series gets the attention it will from being associated with such a huge series and sad that so many will ignore it for the very same reasons. It’s really one of the best gag manga I’ve read in ages. Even the mini-chapter to lead into the Jump Festa was brilliant. I’m glad it’s going to get an anime, though probably would prefer it interpolated into the series as I said yesterday.

One Piece 651 moved as expected into a war with Big Mama, one of the Yonkai. Likely to be a silly arc, it also should have some awesome fights and it will be good to see a conflict with very powerful foes after the timeskip power-up. There can’t be that much further One Piece can go after a Yonkai is taken down…but I guess Oda can spin it out however long he wants by having diversions into other islands, each of which can be a full arc.

HunterXHunter 330 continued to be interesting with Illumi and Hisoka back in the spotlight, looking extremely creepy. I liked the little stinger of Alluka’s powers used for healing, and of course Leorio’s predicament. Looking forward to more!

Naruto 568 tried to bring depth to the Tailed Beasts, but really ended up simplifying Kyuubi – or should I say Kurama? – rather than giving him depth. Son Goku was an interesting Tailed Beast, though, if obviously tied up with established lore.

Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth 6&7 continue to show that the SD spinoff is more entertaining than the main title just now. A cute TenTen story and one featuring adorable CG Gaara, I think that instead of bad filler, if the anime needs to let the anime get ahead a bit again, they ought to animate these – or just animate one Naruto chapter and fill the rest of the episode with some Springtime of Youth!

HunterXHunter 329 was a good chapter of mixed tones, fun moments, dramatic moments and violent moments combining fairly well, though never pushing into the ‘awesome’ category. There was some great deadpan humour, and Leorio’s current situation is hilarious. Nice to see Biscuit, too, even if just for one panel. The cliffhanger was great.

Bakuman 159 went for jokes this week, too, mostly based on Hiramaru, the best minor character in the series. Meanwhile, the main characters have quite conveniently got to the top of the Jump rankings. A fun little aside, this was the kind of colour Bakuman needs- but it also needs a stronger main plot. And maybe to explain where the Big Three have gone!

Naruto 567 was another limp chapter that didn’t impress at all. Slow and a little confusing, it failed to capitalise on the cliffhanger from last week and didn’t make me excited about the current battle at all.

One Piece 650 was also a slow chapter, with a bit of exposition about the wider world, and a bridge into the next arc. Looks like it will be a slightly silly one based on gluttony, but will at least involve one of the ‘four emperors’, Big Mama.

Deadman Wonderland 49 saw the end of the conflict with Mockingbird. I was a little sad it was ended in such simple terms, and so quickly, but Ganta and Senji certainly looked awesome. Neither of them seem like strong shounen characters, but they really are – even if the ‘always get up again’ cliché, familiar from HunterXHunter and Naruto, is a bit stale now.

HunterXHunter 328 was nothing like as exciting as the previous chapter, and suffered from the stupid idea of a granny motorcycle. But it’s…refreshing, seeing that characteristic Togashi way of drawing random extras in a strange detailed way.

One Piece 649 wasn’t brilliant, for a big exultant climax to an arc, normally something Oda does so well. This felt a bit by-the-numbers, though the final twist was interesting and possibly leads us to another interesting arc.

Naruto 566 was short and mostly rubbish. All the different tailed beasts should have made for a real spectacle, but the only spectacular part was when Kakashi and Gai showed up, which let’s face it is nothing new for the title.

HunterXHunter 327 felt like being transported back to the title’s glory days. Didn’t expect Hisoka! A fantastic chapter.

Bakuman 157 made me want to see how calculating Eiji was about this. That’s also really not a rule of battle manga.

Jump again

One Piece 648 was a bit daft, centred as it was on the Sea Kings, making them sapient in a way that will be difficult to reconcile with their former roles and really all seems a bit of a stretch timing-wise. The rest was the aftermath of a battle that never really seemed to get off its feet, especially in comparison with the immense one we had before it, and it’s not like there was ever any real danger of Luffy not pulling through (so Oda opted for comedy, which was a good move – Chopper once again providing the real laughs here). The final twist of another new nakama wasn’t exactly unexpected – either this was going to be how things proceed or he was going to go off to be his own captain again – but I’m glad we’ll start making some progress beyond Fishman Island again now. Time for the Grand Line, if you please!

Naruto 565 for one thing showed that for all the criticism he gets, Oda is better than Kishimoto at depicting anatomy from odd angles. Comparing the female Jinchuriki with wings seen from below with a comparable angle for Shirahoshi, even if the former focuses on legs and the latter on the torso (as Shirahoshi doesn’t have legs), it’s clear which has been done better. The Jinchuriki’s pelvis seems…distended. The chapter itself was another underwhelming one, with a few moments of action and then big two-page spreads of things I don’t find very interesting – plus a fight that’s essentially a rehash of the Pein fights.

Bakuman 156 seemed to be the most explicitly autobiographical chapter of the series since it began, with the sort of endnote that usually only crops up on authors’ omake at the end of the series. But it was nice as a one-shot to show just how much work goes into making a manga.

One Piece 647 was pure fanservice, but great for it. The awesomely strong crew looked great, especially immense Chopper (and Frankie's line about being upstaged was hilarious), and I loved the surprise conclusion for being on such a huge scale.

Naruto 564 was an adequate chapter, but didn't excite me much, for an action-packed clash between our heroes and the dead Jinchuuriki. It did satisfy me on a strange level that the character we saw with rubbish powers in anime filler had the same rubbish powers here. Now Tobi's true identity has become a prize to work for. Perhaps it'll turn out to be Obito after all!

One Piece 646 – pffffft, Chopper’s huge berserk form getting all shy was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. This chapter was amazing – I also got a chuckle out of the source of Sanji’s newfound power, but mostly every page was a huge amount of fanservice as the male strawhats show just how far they have grown. Fantastic stuff, with very impressive art – it’s clear why this chapter took two weeks, and it was well worth the wait.

HunterXHunter

HunterXHunter 325 was brilliant, thanks to the return of Leorio, after such a long time. No Kurapika, but that was commented upon. Leorio was brilliantly funny in his interactions with Morau, brilliantly unpredictable confronting Gin and showing what he can do with his nen and then at the very end part of a brilliant mini twist I didn’t see coming at all. It’s been quite a few years, but he’s suddenly become much more of a favourite character!

HxH

HunterXHunter 324: I’d have loved this chapter no matter what else, if only for the gathering of hunters outside Gon’s room, figures seen from the back we haven’t seen in quite a long time. But I loved it in any case: great new characters, great set-up for the new arc and a nice reference back to the old theme of Killua at odds with his family. Togashi, you’d better not go on another long break now!

Naruto, Bakuman, Soul Eater

Naruto 563 sees all five kages in action together, which is pretty awesome even if most have only been introduced fairly. After all, One Piece’s Whitebeard was incredibly cool to see in action even if he’d barely appeared, and the Supernovas were great even if they only made very brief appearances. On the other hand, Naruto battles are as silly these days as anything in Dragonball Z, with giant ghostly god things, giants made of sand and women spitting out lava fields. Not great stuff – it would work with a more humorous tone, but Naruto has gone for more serious shounen, and it comes out goofy.

Bakuman 154 revolved around a little twist I didn’t expect, but which made me smile. There was some of the old Hikaru no Go flavour here, too, in the art – passionate young people getting very excited about something a little silly. Good fun!

Soul Eater 91 had me giggling with its stupid, stupid first page about an iron bar. It was good to see Kid in action again, and that ridiculous moon close-up, but the title is still having real pacing issues and this didn’t seem like a full chapter at all. Kid’s opponent, looking like Shirou from Deadman Wonderland redesigned by Kitou Mohirou, is uninteresting and I’d much rather see what’s happening with Chrona. Still, I’m definitely still interested in the series.

Fairy Tail

Fairy Tail 254: joining other major shounen series in a timeskip, Fairy Tail has just moved in an interesting direction – where are the main characters, and what will the minor guild members do to find them. It’s risky, not only shifting away from your main cast but suggesting that they’ll all be totally different when they reappear, but I like it.


Fairy Tail 255: so the time skip isn’t really a time skip at all – or at least, not for any characters that really matter. A little hop into the future and a chance to introduce some new characters. I like it. It’s too early for big changes to Fairy Tail.

Fairy Tail 256: a feel-good chapter of reunions and updates – with the drawing of the cats one of the biggest laughs the title has given me so far. And I chuckled at Juvia’s overactive shipping imagination. I was also glad Lucy thought of her parents – that was the main thing I was wondering about last chapter. Poor Lucy.

Fairy Tail 257&258 take the arc forward. I quite like that there were a lot of loose ends left at the end of the last one, but these two new dragon slayers don’t seem the most interesting thing ever. Well, we’ll see where it goes.

Fairy Tail x Rave: I’m not familiar with Rave Master, but it didn’t take long to get the hang of, and I liked this little crossover special. It was by-the-numbers, down to the usual crossover twist (we’re led to think the bad guy is someone from one series, only to be one from the other), but it was fun and I liked the mangaka poking fun at himself for drawing his main characters to look so similar.

HunterXHunter 323 was a bit of a shocker, and I’m actually finding myself really drawn into this Alluka situation. Indeed, I rather resented the comparatively dull election storyline for taking up pages. Nice for Hisoka to be appearing more too!

One Piece 645 – boo, a break next week! On the other hand, Chopper’s little revelation was awesome – if expected – and the arc looks like it will only last a handful more chapters. Still compulsive reading!

Naruto 562 – a few dud chapters were worthwhile for the awesome final panel of this one. Some of them have only been introduced this arc and it could have happened any time, but the five kages assembled make for a pretty cool image.

Jump Manga

HunterXHunter 322: a very Togashi idea! We finally learn the reason the last of Killua’s brothers has been hidden away out of sight so long. It’s all a bit contrived, but very much in keeping with HunterXHunter. It’s all a bit convenient, but I wonder what will come of this little story arc. I assume it will end up with Gon back to normal, but at what cost?

One Piece 644 was a stirring speech chapter. I’m just glad it wasn’t the start of an extended flashback into the bad guy’s past. Not bad, with a nice moment of posing for the Straw Hat crew at the end, but I want the arc to end.

Naruto 561 didn’t get the adrenaline going, despite the extremely powerful new foe and Naruto getting extra power. There’s an old person to sacrifice himself in what is getting to be a tired Naruto conceit and the stakes still seem low (clone Naruto vs resurrected dead guy controlled remotely, albeit one with lots of secrets).

Bakuman 152-153: two chapters today, as I hadn’t caught up with last week’s. I was quite pleased about that, as they went well together. Bakuman was playing to its strengths again – new, strong story ideas, drama with them going up against one another and the underlying rivalry of Ashirogi vs Niizuma, but … the manga is just getting pretty repetitive now. It needs to go somewhere major now, or end soon. But with the anime’s second season just starting, I know that’s not happening any time soon.

Jump manga day!

HunterxHunter 320 had a lot of treats for fans – many, many old faces from the beginning of the manga, even including Hanzo and Biscuit. Kurapika at least got a mention, though poor Leorio is nowhere to be seen – and I’m betting there’ll be a big reveal with him soon. I have to wonder if this is partly to entice new fans in the wake of the anime starting, but either way I’m happy to see it. What I didn’t expect was for Gin to be such a funny, carefree character (despite it being in large part an act), or for Hisoka to be centre-stage for a while, which was fun. Plus now we finally get to the last Zoaldyck brother.

One Piece 642 wasn’t a particularly strong chapter, showing some of the revamped fighting skills of the straw hats but mostly reusing jokes and not taking the plot much further.

Naruto 559 brought with it a bit of a twist that invites a lot of speculation, but I can’t help but feel the solution it brings will be a let-down. We’ll see. Some interesting art this week, thanks largely to Sai’s rather stupid power, but I have to say the idea that Naruto swans in and the tide of the whole war turns is quite annoying.

Bakuman 150 (last week’s chapter, I think) benefited from last week’s arc climax, even if it was a weak end to a weak story, but was a strong chapter because of a background character with gravitas taking the time to talk with the various characters. It had a nice balance of character humour and drama, so worked well.

Deadman Wonderland 48: a long chapter with an unneeded flashback that really brought no depth to some very obvious characters. Nice double-page spreads, though, and I did care what happened to Crow.

Fairy Tail vol 27: this new arc is short on originality, but I’m enjoying it a lot. Juvia remains my favourite character by far.

Jump this week was treading water a little, with no pun intended for the One Piece storyline. Maybe HunterXHunter will be better when it’s released by scanslators.

One Piece 641 was an action chapter in which very little happened – Luffy tried to get near to the huge arc, Noah, but Hodi got in the way. He also destroyed the air bubble around it, and then it got put back again. So not a lot happened until the very last page, where we were promised a revelation next time.

Naruto 558 annoyed me – it was supposed to be a great, uplifting chapter where Naruto’s many clones come to the rescue in various places, but it irritates me that suddenly everyone seems so useless – and the humour fell flat.

(later)HunterXHunter 319 was a light chapter – it’s refreshing to be reminded how funny Togashi can be. I’m not sure it’s the right time, though, and several of the Zodiac are nothing like as cool as they looked in the last chapter, but I’m glad we’ll have more focus on Gin, and hopefully we’ll soon be back seeing our main characters and how they’re faring.

HunterXHunter 318 began with a rather mawkish embellishment on last week’s excellent chapter, which I felt was unneeded and detracted from, rather than enhanced, the powerful idea.

Naruto 557 featured a ninja art that involved making a clone blow up to a huge cloud of water vapour with a face. Luckily, Gaara could protect everyone with a huge stand statue looking like a loved one. Kishimoto is too far gone now to know what is cool and what is totally lame. Or so it would seem.

No One Piece this week, so I caught up on a little bit of Fairy Tail – I’m still on vol 24, as I haven’t been keeping up for months, but the end of the Edolas arc is full of great emotional moments. I love Natsu’s instant willingness to play the villain for the sake of another. Great end for Mistgun, too. I should get back to watching the anime…

It was also the cheapest way to have an emotional scene of characters reunited with a sister they thought dead (AND a tearful goodbye) I can really think of, yet somehow it worked.

On the other hand…’We needed to give the mission of hunting dragonslayers for “cover”’ was a bit far-fetched…

One Piece 639: not a highlight of recent years, but setting up some very nice fights for the upcoming chapters. This arc has been a bit anticlimactic, but it’s getting somewhere now, and already there are some hints at what comes later.

HunterXHunter 316…showed me I’ve been underestimating Togashi. Finally we see the major characters…albeit Gon only in shadow. And it’s obvious that he actually has planned all this out and isn’t just cruising along to bring the arc to an awkward, rushed end. He’s got some good things planned and the Reina twist was done deftly. I just want there to be some more chapters so that Gon gets some closure with his father. Without him being shoehorned into this arc. Oh, and Kurapika and Leorio back, too.

Naruto 555 was typical Kishimoto disappointment. He tries the shounen conceit of some clever trick working to beat an impossible opponent, but it’s such a stupid trick and so easily-done that it feels like an unimportant piece of padding.

Instead, there is manga. Chief amongst which is new HunterXHunter, chapter 313. It feels as thought Togashi is bringing this arc to an abrupt end very soon, which is a shame because after all it has taken so many years to write, but despite that very little happened in this chapter. Maybe the new anime adaptation will revitalise him. I can only hope so. I’m too emotionally invested in Gon for all the mysterious backstory about his father never to end up with good closure.

Catching up with Fairy Tail, which has been repetitive throughout the Edoras arc, but is still a lot of fun. Just…better in small doses. I suppose I should really continue the anime, which has gotten remarkably far through the manga material now.

Read the latest Bakuman last night, too – chapter 144. I would have preferred our heroes figuring out what is going on to just being shown, but at least it gets things moving. I don’t know where this is going, but we’ve had the message of ‘one or two creative minds doing something they believe in always outdoes hollow committee-created writing’ hammered into us now, so I’m unsure what this new iteration will offer.

New manga! One Piece 636 had some very funny moments, especially with Franky’s silly new creations, but the best part was the three most formidable Straw Hat Pirates in the final few moments. But where will the arc go to build on this?

Naruto 552: At least these chapters are mitigating the disappointment of Itachi’s final appearances a little, even if it’s in such a daft way that it hardly helps. On the other hand, it’s a bit rich having Itachi of all people lecturing Naruto about relying on others and not shouldering a huge burden on his own. At least a throwaway line at the end acknowledged that.

The…special chapter of Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth, featuring lots of naked Gai jokes (in SD style) was…disturbing.

Jump

One Piece 635 was of course pure fanservice, what the whole arc – indeed, everything since the time skip – has been building up to. The Straw Hats show off their new powers, and of course nothing can stand in their way. Oda as usual knows how to mix the awesome with the absurd in perfect measure, and the result is a payoff that deeply satisfies. Next: the boss.

Naruto 551 slipped, after a few strong chapters from the ailing title. The pacing was all over the place. There are great elements at play here – Naruto more powerful than ever before, the 8-tails and even Itachi, still in action. But the huge beasts and summons have long looked daft in action, Naruto being dumb with what techniques to use fell flat, and as for Itachi giving an explanation, finger raised and all, on the brink of death was funny in all the wrong ways. Anticlimactic.

Rock Lee’s Springtime of Youth 4 remains a guilty pleasure, extremely silly and puerile but brilliant in its way. This time, the humour revolved around kancho, and would no doubt have been even more disturbing if I were not already familiar with the concept. It was exaggerated until funny, though, and Tenten makes an undeniably great tsukkomi.