Haikyuu! 318: It’s nice to give the antagonists some screentime and make them likeable, but this kind of flashback isn’t really needed in Haikyuu! because one thing it always does well is to identify strong, interesting character types just through the everyday conversations we see. So while this was by no means bad or uninteresting, it feels superfluous.

One Piece 917: haha, looks like pliers really triggered Luffy. Well, torturing a kid did, so his counterattack was very satisfying. This chapter progressed things very slowly but the action at the end, and the possibility of Law vs Hawkins, made for a pretty satisfying update. I wonder how long it will take for Kaido to be on the scene. The idea of a horse-person randomly inheriting the ability to see like a herbivore despite a human face is so Oda, haha. I remember it was obvious Jack didn’t die when he was last mentioned so it’s no surprise to see him back, but I’ll have to look up the details of who he was…

Dr. Stone 74: I feel like an editorial hand instructed the mangaka to hurry this story up. If so, it was a good idea! It’s all coming to a head now, and the whole plant-a-telephone strategy, as well as the idea that communications devices would give a huge advantage in organizing an army, ended up reduced to converting two key players to the good guys’ side. That’s not really what the set-up was meant to lead to, but it’s probably a fair bit more interesting.