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.
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