Naruto 693: still ridiculously abrupt, this final showdown gets its stage set...with a cliffhanger that promises lots of talking. Oh boy. How exciting. And it’s pretty bad that I actually laughed a little when I thought Sakura had died. 

One Piece 761: a simple chapter, with an interesting clumsy character introduced in flashback – unless it’s another familiar character in another form! Looks like we’ll have quite a bit of flashback to come...but next week’s a hiatus. 

One Piece 760 was a good one – another of Oda’s chapters where characters simply put their trust in others and bow out of the main story, which while a convenience seems so powerful as a gesture. And of course Doflamingo isn’t so easy to take down. He’s started talking about his past – not a surprising one – so the real battle is going to be paused a little. 

Naruto 692: that ridiculous face/heel turn! Though it was always going to be the climax of the manga, I thought the recent arc meant he was going to sidestep it altogether. Instead, Kishimoto has set up the final fight in the most abrupt and stupid way. Surprise! Even though I had a million opportunities to further this agenda in the last fight I’ll do it now instead! And it didn’t happen until after Kishimoto got in more tsundere-Kyuubi lines, for even more demerits. 

One Piece 759: not a lot happened, and obviously this won’t be enough to beat Doflamingo, but it was deeply satisfying to watch it happen. Poor Bellamy, though.

Naruto 691: Kurama the awesome nine-tailed fox is being all tsundere again. Lame. Then there was some mawkish speech saying goodbye to zombies that didn’t move me in the least.

Genshiken 103: oh, Sasahara’s little sister. You femme fatale, you. This was really never going to have ended any other way – it’s oddly opposite from the West’s usual depiction of female purity...indeed, of most manga’s...but one of the main things prized in a book about otaku for otaku is male purity. How being a virgin is both an embarrassment yet a mark of pride. It’ll be interesting how the title’s singular take on transsexuality will develop next time.