Mourning Bride 01-02: I picked this up because of Chrno Crusade and the cute youngest son, but I took an instant dislike to all the characters. Including the youngest son. But the premise is intriguing and the art is pleasant so I’ll probably continue with this.

Chainsawman 32: Aw, I hoped we’d get more from the training. Well, we still might. I know these bad guys are extremely formidable but I don’t have much interest in them just yet.

One Piece 950: a bit of a setting-up chapter this time, but it had some nice sentiments and hints at some more backstory for Zoro coming up.

Dr. Stone 115: This was a great chapter, just what Dr. Stone needs amidst all the zaniness – a bit of heart and soul with a father’s dedication and self-sacrifice. And hopefully this will propel the story forward pretty fast.

Haikyuu!! 359: ehh, I like how this match is being paced and it’s very compelling but I don’t like Hinata having a rival short guy who can do everything he can do and more. I get that it’s introducing a competitor to make Hinata grow more but it just makes it seem like short genius spikers aren’t as rare or remarkable as Hinata’s whole story led us to be inspired by. If little giants aren’t such an anomaly, that takes something away from Hinata’s arc.

One Punch Man manga 113: Nice to see two more big baddies from this arc. Pretty close to the webcomic, but satisfying nonetheless. Really looking forward to when it all comes to a head on the surface.

The Promised Neverland 144: Sung-Joo really is formidable. And would make such a good ally it seems Norman’s plan was very poorly thought-through. We need to know what Emma promised, too. But things are moving at a very fast pace and it feels like the whole manga could wrap up pretty soon. We’ll see. Interesting, fast-paced developments, though.

Samurai 8 12: This still feels too artificial. I’d be very very surprised if this has long-term consequences, so…it’s hard to care. That’s the big problem with this title, beginning to now. Kishimoto is not making me care. 

One Piece 949: wasn’t too convinced by Luffy giving a speech while facing the pain head-on. Gon did that many years ago a lot more convincingly. But when he foils the bad guys’ plan and looks very cool doing it, it made the chapter work.

One Piece ‘covers’ 1 – Boichi: This is great! The Dr. Stone artist takes on a classic old chapter of One Piece, from back when Oda’s art was…less impressive than it is now. Boichi is great at dynamic action scenes and overreactions and both were in evidence here. It’s really fun seeing this redrawing, not so different from what we get with the One Punch Man manga, and I’m very interesting to see who else does this. Man, I’d like to see Obata Takeshi try his hand.

Haikyuu 358: This felt like a meaty chapter, which is great for a transition between sets. We got more insight into the strengths of the opponent, fun character moments and some straightforward love of the game.

Chainsawman 31: the training is kinda fun but where’s it gonna go? Wonder what terms the ‘future devil’ will impose too.

Dr. Stone 114: haha, Ginro had another good moment this chapter. He should get more and more chances to shine in his own special way. And the science was actually good this chapter…even if just for making plaster expand.

The Promised Neverland 143: a really satisfying chapter for the first time in a while. We don't know what Emma has to sacrifice but we know it's very meaningful to her, and then Don and Gilda's story actually got really meaty, with double-crosses upon double-crosses and the guys we really sympathize with in this situation - even though everyone can be called a good guy in a sense - have the upper hand in a visually pleasing scene. Classic shounen, which this series in general is successful at transcending, but when it dips back into it for some action scenes, it can make for some great moments. 

Samurai 8 11: Kishimoto continues to just barely keep me engaged enough to keep reading. I still feel as though what we're seeing here was meant to be held in reserve for big twists later and the series not getting a great reception encouraged Kishimoto to show it now, but at least it made for some exciting action. And it's something quite peculiar to visual storytelling like manga that two close-up shots of our young hero and heroine can make me more sympathetic to them without any dialogue. 

Shingeki no Kyojin 119: having just caught up with the manga, at the very least I can say it still has the power to surprise me. I didn’t expect that cliffhanger, though I don’t think it will derail our main character’s plot. And honestly I expected these kids to tragically fail at everything they had hoped for – but it’s not going down quite like that.

Haikyuu! 357: ohhhh that Tsukki! Lol! What a great way to close out the set, and what a classic face. I fear this may come back to haunt him, though.

Dr. Stone 113: this was fun, figuring out what they meant from a message in symbols. It was obvious what it was as soon as we got ‘Pura’, though. Not that I got the ‘atta’ at the end. Ginro was funny here with his flashback too.

Chainsawman 30: I feel like this series is back on track. I like this for training a lot more than most shounen’s long arcs about mastering a secret technique or whatever. I’m expecting this attempt to be smart will be hilarious, too – and simply having that expectation means this manga is doing good things with its characterisation.

One Punch Man (manga) 112: as expected, Homeless Emperor looks pretty awesome. The momentum should build from here, now the most formidable enemies of the arc are getting introduced.

The Promised Neverland 142: the far-past flashback was not very interesting. I’m glad it’s over. But now I’m interested to see what the cost of this demand will be.  

Samurai 8 10: I was totally bored for the bulk of the chapter, and I hate introducing a supposedly super-duper strong guy only to be fodder moments later just to ineffectively hype up your bad guy. But throwing all the characters together with this new enemy and already showing the father’s mystery, which was until now a hidden hand – that makes this more interesting all of a sudden.

One Piece 948: Nice to see this particular formation come together. And it’s well overdue for Luffy to learn to use his haki properly. This should be the last substantial power-up before the manga’s final battles. I hope!

Haikyuu! 356: Good little run of points for Karasuno. Kinda wanted them to blast through to their inevitable set win, but I guess it makes more sense to draw it out a bit.

Dr. Stone 112: Getting into this title a bit more again now. It’s fun having the two parallel stories. And cross-dressing Ginro doesn’t hurt, joke character though he may be!

Chainsawman 29: Okay, this was starting to lose me but I enjoyed this chapter. Denji actually questioning whether he’s heartless was a good idea to keep us interested in him, and how they answered the three questions was fantastic.

Samurai 8 09: I still don’t care, either about Hachimaru the randomly cocky former home hostage or about random new stammering princess. Skipping over their potential bonding in a few panels was also a terrible idea.

The Promised Neverland 141: This flashback makes sense but it badly needs some more realistic touches. Some irreverence or undercutting of the pompous tone.

One Punch Man (manga) 111: yay for an expanded role for Child Emperor. He looked so cute when he heard from Zombieman too. And we've finally reached the most quirky villain of the arc getting involved. Should get more and more fun from here!

One Piece 947: whirlwind chapter. I'm not sure what's going on with Big Mom now, if this was a genuine knockout/her rouse to get to Kaido/exhaustion catching up, but I didn't like her basically being ushered offstage, even if it puts Luffy in a strong position.

Haikyuu! 355: I don't like this imitation shrimp! The real shrimp is much cuter. Hinata's shocked face was cute and it looks like he'll pull off something amazing next chapter. Or it could get undermined but that seems unlikely with this set-up.

Chainsawman 28: I kind of lost track of which was the good girl and which was the bad girl (despite being clearly delineated by hair colour. Probably I could have concentrated harder but Chainsawman has lost me a bit. Collapsing all the main characters into one place makes sense plotwise but seems too contrived.

The Promised Neverland 140: Well, at least the art was beautiful here. But I’m sick of the pseudoscience bullshit in what was once a very promising, cerebral manga. Hopefully we get out of this arc soon.

Dr. Stone 111: Nice colour chapters to celebrate the anime. Haven’t felt much of an urge to watch it, or the Promised Neverland adaptation – the manga will do nicely for now. Maybe in a few years when it’s nostalgic I’ll watch. But in this chapter, we got a few good laughs, and I’m all for cross-dressing Ginro, haha. I would at least like to see him animated!