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.