The new One Punch Man from Murata-sensei turned out to be revisions to chapter 99 through to 102 for the next tankobon. We knew at the end of the last volume that his decision to change the design of Doutei-kun’s cockpit would mean a huge amount of work, but I didn’t expect THIS much. I wouldn’t talk about just art fixes, but this was a major story rewrite. Unlike most of the Western fandom, Child Emperor is one of my favourite characters, and this is a way more interesting angle, with Phoenix Man taking him to a metaphysical world to talk about him having darkness within him a couple of times – including in penguin mode. Some interesting foreshadowing, and having Saitama involved definitely improves this whole fight. I laughed at Dotei-kun’s first blunt response (DASASUGIRU!), but what really made me laugh was him TOTALLY misunderstanding Saitama’s sign language. Saitama tries to tell him he’s being loud and to keep it down, which Child Emperor manages to interpret as ‘I don’t want to hear that I’m bald so don’t say it!’ I love One Punch Man.  How much strength Child Emperor drew from Zombieman’s words was also super-sweet, I’m interested if this means Phoenix Man can come back since he just ended up little chick-man, I like how Saitama being there increases Child Emperor’s suspicion of Genos (since he was meant to be excluded) and if we get more revisions on this kind of scale, I won’t mind the main story getting a little delayed. Though at the same time I kinda miss some elements of the original fight, and how Dotei-kun took care of it himself … I’m kinda glad I got to read both.

One Piece 981: Not only was there a nice colour frontispiece this week, we had Luffy on the front cover too. And it looks like we might get Luffy and Zoro dealing with Apoo after all. They’ve been given a strategy to deal with him, and we got the obvious sight gag of our smart characters reacting. Made me laugh, at least. Otherwise, mostly set-up again. This arc has had a bit too much setting-up now, I reckon. Still, Chopper got into an interesting scrape and an old familiar face showed up for the first time in a while, sending Big Mom’s kids blasting off agaaaaain …

Agravity Boys 23: I’ve been expecting this for a couple of weeks, but now we finally go back to Monica, who we knew would be holding a grudge. Geralt used Chris’ picture so the dance of mistaken identities kicked off right away. As usual there were a few laughs. I liked Saga’s extremely poor excuse. And of course Grislow showing up at exactly the wrong time to hear the worst possible lie. As expected this is a superb comedy of errors, and though I still find Monica’s … somewhat exaggerated design a little … erm, would excessive be the right word? Yeah. Excessive definitely covers it.

Chainsawman 72: Time for a trip to Hokkaido, it seems. I liked the fast cut to the poor cat getting an interesting pet-sitter, and his glib response to what omiyage he wanted. It’s kind of nice to see these guys get to relax a bit on the journey, and Power of course acts like a little kid. Like a little brat, I should say. And there’s something oddly poignant about Denji and Power being so obstreperous that Aki was distracted from the usual flood of bad memories when visiting the family grave. It’s such a dark idea that somehow it strikes me as very, very sincere. And then by the end I was laughing at the look of pride on Power’s face when the cooking she and Denji produced proved truly disastrous.

My Hero Academia 274: So Shigaraki knows where to go to find Midoriya. But I still don’t think this is going to be our final showdown. I really like that good ole Kacchan not only figured out what was going on but goes with Midoriya. I guess I’m starting to get why so many people ship them.

Moriking 7: Bless Shota, being worried his pet beetle is going to be taken away. Still, I feel like police in Japanese media may not inspire as many cries of ‘ACAB’ as those in other parts of the world right now. Though one did attempt to shoot an unarmed man who seemed suspicious because he seems so foreign and different. Maybe Moriking is a deep, meaningful allegory after all. Luckily he got a chance to show his amazing abilities and good heart and got thoroughly accepted by the police. If only real life worked that way when armed police drastically overreact, eh?

Haikyuu!! 396: Colour pages here too! The thing I like most about the popularity poll is seeing everyone back in pre-timeskip mode. I miss Noya. At least we know he isn’t dead now though, which I honestly started to suspect before he showed up. I liked the clash of players with a strong desire to be the strongest here. And Hinata shows off some ambidextrous skills. As the final lines note, we’re almost at the end of this journey now. And I have to say, it’s time.

Time Paradox Ghostwriter 4: Very like Boku wa Beatles, Teppei now feels obliged to bring the work he stole into the world where otherwise it won’t exist. The assistants look like a lively bunch, and it’s no surprise the true author – from another timeline – is among them. I quite like the dynamic they’ve set up. Not sure about where we go now, though. I like that his guilt is why Teppei is tortured to extreme perfectionism, but by the end it was just obnoxious.

Guardian of the Witch 17: decided not to leave this one til last this time. This chapter was all the fun of a 30-minute transfusion. Yay. Again, the fact nobody follows wicked orders just feels like weak world-building because there’s no reason we should be persuaded that in normal circumstances everybody is just fine with this horrific system. Claude managed not to die and the main trio just walked out of the situation, apparently. Because apparently the authority figures can just be defied and tied up and there are no consequences. I’m just surprised the manga is continuing. Cancellation soon, I’m sure.

Dr. Stone 153: The humour here felt really off, almost like this was a fan doujin rather than the actual manga. I still don’t like this arc, and I don’t know why Xeno is giving our heroes time to prepare. It feels a bit artificial that this has become a capture-the-king set-up, given Xeno should just be able to massacre the other side, but I’m interested in what little Suica’s role will be!

Bone Collection 6: What happened to Pino? Guess they left her unconscious in the woods. Later on she gets dropped back into the action. Rude. I guess showing the heroes are only using a fraction of their potential helps with the problem I had yesterday, but honestly I’m losing interest in these characters and this scenario. It needs some heart, and pronto.

The Promised Neverland 180: I’m a bit conflicted. I don’t know that the story can end in a satisfying way if Emma and the rest aren’t reunited, and at the same time I’ll be annoyed the promise is meaningless if they do. I guess them being reunited by Emma remembering nothing and them having to rebuild their bonds will be a decent balance but that strikes me as a bit awkward too. Being with this old man who lost his family to war, it’s all feeling a bit contrived, and similarly to what happened with Mama a few chapters back, how artificial it all feels is stopping me feeling any kind of emotional resonance. I’d love to believe that Shirai-sensei can write a satisfying ending but I don’t feel we’re on the right track yet.