One Piece 654 featured nothing very much happening – the ship got into a bit of trouble with an underwater maelstrom, then reached the surface with the help of some whales – and yet it was one of the best chapters in a while, with the perfect balance of great humour and touching sentiment. This is the kind of thing only One Piece can do, and does very well.

Naruto 571 remains pretty terrible, and this is al going to look worse, animated. Gai says that it looks like a scene from a Godzilla film, and while I’m sure TVTropes would delight in that bit of lampshading, it’s both an annoying reference to the real world in a fantasy and makes the ridiculousness of the scene more apparent.

Fairy Tail 260: catching up a little bit after not having read FT in a while. A tournament, eh? That most overused of shounen ideas. Well, I have a feeling it won’t stay in the predictable format for long.

Bakuman 161-162 quite frankly were pretty boring. The trouble with Bakuman, as I’m sure I’ll lay out in more detail at some point, is that the main characters just aren’t that interesting, so particularly ‘breather’ chapters get dull.

One Piece 653 was really a full chapter for the purpose of setting up the last few panels – the Straw Hats finally facing the enormity of reaching the ocean where all the strongest pirates are. After so many years! So it wasn’t a very interesting chapter overall, but there’s much to look forward to.

Naruto 570: really? Really? I mean, it was obviously coming, but I didn’t think Kishimoto would so blatantly turn his huge, endlessly destructive and sinister demon fox into a tsundere. The worst decision of many bad decisions lately.

HunterXHunter 332: ahhh, cliffhanger! I want more! I loved Leorio’s speech, a great mix of seriousness and comedy.

Soul Eater 92-93: fights I don’t care about and dumb fanservice. Pick up soon, please, Soul Eater!

D.Gray-man 210-211: I’d already seen a spoiler image, but Allen doing his clown performance has probably made me smile more than anything else in D.Gray-Man for months. I would have rather it took longer to find him, really, but I suppose this arc is now going to take another direction, which ought to be interesting.

New manga from Jump came out today on Mangastream, after a break over the holiday period.

One Piece 652 came back with a chapter that wasn’t spectacular, but a neat one for transitioning the arcs. Smoker and Tashigi are very welcome returnees, and I’ll bet they’ll end up allies in the fight against Big Mama. Where does Luffy go after taking on an Emperor, though? It feels like the beginning of the end.

HunterXHunter 331 set the scene for an explosive action only Gin has foreseen – and while it’s a shame he’s not the incredibly cool, powerful guy it seemed he would be for much of the title’s run, it feels like Togashi has actually thought this through well. It will be interesting to see what Pariston has planned, and what Leorio will do!

Naruto 569 came with the message that for Naruto to succeed here, he basically has to do what he’s always done. That is, never give up, never accept he’s too weak, and believe in himself. It was as cheesy as it sounded – and nothing much actually happened. Oh well. It wasn’t an especially painful chapter.

Half Prince 54-55. Back to this, my favourite Manhua from the country of my Grandparents (their residence, at least) – indeed, the only one I read. The Dictator for Life is finally revealed, and much more interesting and sympathetic than expected. This arc, based on the self-aware NPCs, has the feel of a last one, especially since the Dictator for Life has been shown to be following Prince’s progress all along. I imagine the final twist will be that the other being he sensed is someone close to Prince, and I hope that will wrap things up, rather than evolving into another arc. The humour has faded from the title now.

D. Gray-Man 209 continues to follow Johnny. I quite like that he has become the protagonist, but I can’t help but feel that now that Allen is too strong and competent, the mangaka needs someone else to fill the role of cute, hapless boy who ends up taking a beating I enjoyed his little escapade on the train, though – and his new travel companion.