One Piece 722 was very interesting – more focus on Cavendish means that Rebecca is no longer the only realistic candidate for victory in Luffy’s plot, Brook got a nice little double-cross in and the main group is getting bigger and bigger with the little fairies. I’ve been engaged throughout this arc, and it’s still in the building-up stage.

Naruto 648 started with Sasuke going into action with a silly made-up way for him to use senjutsu inserted, and then everyone standing around going ‘WOW SO POWERFUL, WHAT POTENTIAL’ yet again. Then came the cheesy contrivance of everyone being able to see a flashback – but at least the arrival it heralded was a neat moment. On one page of 20-odd. 

Rozen Maiden II 46-47: Nooooo Suigintou! Don’t take it back! Good thing you let Souseiseki do one last thing, and it doesn’t look like it will be over any time soon. Unwound World Jun seems to be effective at helping his younger self, but they’re still a way off reviving him…and it was nice to see Hinaichigo back, at least for a little while. Poor Tomoe. 

Naruto 647 was a bit better than recent chapters, cheesy inspirational speech and all. Now that the bad guys are actually a credible threat, things are more dramatic, the notably-absent characters have made a return, and Sasuke is finally doing something other than watching other people and going ‘Huh, they’re powerful now.’ 

One Piece 721 was indeed a flashback, though not the one I expected and thankfully looking to be consigned to the one chapter. It was a bit of a tearjerker, but too brief and centred on a character we haven’t yet built up much of a bond with, s basically I just to get back to one of the main action strands.

Naruto 646 has revealed that the big thing that the good guys will need to stop is a giant flower with an eye in it. So business as usual in Naruto. At least the baddies are finally looking formidable, even though the good guys falling victim to them are doing so in a very 80s cartoon withering-away manner. 

One Piece 720 was a thoroughly silly chapter, which is great – a prospective tough opponent is actually a Luffy fanboy, bowing a head in gratitude led to some very serious consequences, and at the end Luffy was introduced to another of the country’s dark secrets, which looks likely to bridge into a flashback sequence. Hopefully it won’t be a dull one.

Naruto 645 made me amused that for all the hype around Sasuke returning, he has basically just stood about for the last month, and where Orochimaru is I do not know. The ‘Naruto is stupid’ gag at the start did nothing for me, and nor did Naruto and the once-fearsome Kyuubi’s manzai act. There was some blatant retconning with what happened with Pein, and more double-page spreads of silly monsters. Well, at least the bad guy is finally hurrying things along.