One Piece 694: The Straw Hats and their temporary allies escape their prison, and Trafalgar Law’s cruel trick has its consequences. I’m actually very interested now in how Franky’s fight will develop, and of course DoFlamingo is on his way much sooner than anticipated. As usual, Oda keeps things exciting!

Naruto 614 was an underwhelming follow up to what was after all a less than impressive death chapter. A bit of a speech, a bit of romance and everything is pretty much back to normal- and no explanation as to why the bad guys don't just keep doing that devastating attack over and over again.

One Piece 693: Looks like the arc is going to end with the fireworks of a big explosion and a narrow escape. Most of the chapter was simply getting everyone together, but Franky’s bit was amusing and typical Oda silliness that only he can pull off while still being in an overall serious storytelling mode. That’s his true talent, that ability to mix so well.

Naruto 614: Well, of the characters to choose, I suppose he made sense, though the fan who was watching the anime of this series back in 2003 would have liked him to have gone out in much more of a blaze of glory than jumping in front of some lame pointy sticks coming from the finger of a lame giant monster. Oh well, more proof we’re nearing the end. Phew!

Fairy Tail 302-304 – the tournament is unexpectedly being played out to the very end, but the last part is a dramatic and interesting battle royale with unexpected heroes, while the main characters take part in a covert rescue, so it’s all quite neatly done. Neat, but not all that interesting, I’m afraid. 

One Piece 692 was fun – nice to see Usopp in charge, and I’m glad Frankie’s going to get some action, even if the new fruit users look very silly indeed. I wonder if this time, Luffy’s irresponsibility will have more severe consequences.

Naruto 613 slapped the previous chapter in the face by just saying all that concrete rubbish was useless anyway and hadn’t done what it was meant to – but at least backed that up with a better chapter. Some real consequences to this war, at least seemingly, and that sad moment of resignation and dignity accepting inevitable death. But the big stompy monster remains stupid – Kishimoto made designs that worked for his first huge monsters, so why are his more recent ones so crappy?

My Little Pony – Friendship is Magic chapter 2 continued the very different mood of the comics, and did very well for it. The background humour remains much geekier and presented in a very different way – prominent yet as a background detail. For example, we got further Bowie references to complement the Diamond Dogs, and some meta humour with the ponies treated as dolls by a troll who acted like a very stupid collector of 80s toys, and also had Optimus Prime, a Slinky and a Rubik’s Cube. There were also big spiders who came with Toy Story references and mostly served to get some butt-whuppin’ in and a great final part where changelings imitated each of the ponies to turn them against each other, which was done much better than similar scenarios in the series and involved some of the best reactions we’ve yet seen. 

HunterxHunter Special 02 – well, Kurapika was shown to have cheated, but at a test which was unfair anyway, and inadvertently anyway. He thought he failed but his little friend Pyro/Pylo/Pairo had helped him out. It was cute, seeing this flashback, but the previous chapter was much more remarkable for its brief character sketches than this one, which was much more typical than the average Togashi – at least until the harrowing final pages about the Ryodan’s executions, that is. 

One Piece 691 couldn’t maintain the same level of brilliance of the previous chapter, but with a rousing speech from Usopp, it was still a satisfying and impressive one!

Naruto 612: The idea of concrete wasn’t a bad one, but everyone standing around marvelling at how a few groups of guys could be coordinated to take things in turns was daft, and the chapter itself was over in a flash. Still sub-par!

HunterXHunter 340 special was a treat for fans – not only the first chapter in many months, but a flashback to tie in with the upcoming movie that showed Kurapika’s headstrong personality as a child and even his parents. Great stuff!