HunterXHunter 337-339: 337 was a return to the bad old days of scribbles, to the extent that until the last part with Gon, I thought it was actually just an old standalone chapter Togashi had drawn a while ago but never thought was good enough to publish, then with a deadline looming decided to push out. Sadly, though, I don’t think that’s an excuse, and it was just a bad, ugly rushed draft put into Jump. 338 and 339 didn’t have the problem with art, though some panels were sloppy, and the immense ‘world tree’ with the silly birds at the top was very Togashi, but the narrative went a bit wild. Gon and Gin’s talk was very vague, and though the little scenes that made up most of 339 were mostly quite lovely – with really beautiful drawings of Kurapika evidently about to begin a new phase of his life – it felt like Togashi was trying to convince us that everything that has happened since the Ant Arc was really just a kind of epilogue. Oh well, if it leads us into a stunning new arc next chapter, I’m certainly not going to complain about it!

Naruto 575-577: I actually do care a little bit about Tsunade still, so these chapters weren’t painful. Sasuke’s little chat was daft, though – and it really doesn’t feel like the decisive final battle is about to start. Oh well – I’m sure both Naruto and Bleach will wrap up before too much longer, leaving One Piece to reign supreme.