One Piece 914: Ahh, worth the wait. Some great humour, especially with Tsuru losing her temper, and then the action at the end, the sheer joy of Luffy and Zoro heading into trouble, and Law showing up just for an outraged reaction were all great. This depiction of a Japanese world but with severe deprivation and a pretty ridiculous honour system where everybody keeps refusing to eat others’ food is also more nuanced than I expected.

Haikyuu! 314: Woo! Hinata has his little giant moment. After a lot of build-up, and even without the real pay-off, this was a really nice way to give an emotional climax to the match. Beautiful art too!

 Dr. Stone 70: Hmm, this is getting confused with the telegraphing of Chrome having his own agency to escape. And the idea of a painted layer of carbon being enough to withstand a trained soldier’s spear thrust is a bit dumb.

One Punch Man 94: This mammoth chapter shows that even without Saitama (not counting his little background cameo on the frontispiece), and even without any direct appearance from King, this manga can be incredibly fun. Lots of the S-class got a chance to show what they can really do, and it was well worth trawling through the chapter slowly in Japanese before the translations got out (though as usual the fans have been lightning-quick). This was a filler chapter with lots of new characters showing their stuff, but it was a huge amount of fun. Now the executives are moving, so we’ll be into the best part of the arc very soon. And this chapter also had some great Child Emperor moments, even if he didn’t exactly fight. Not only the frontispiece with that somewhat inscrutable expression, but his adorable doubts about how King sees him too!

One Piece 913: Very funny start to the chapter with Luffy’s idea of how to use a sword. I hope Zoro gets his hands on it soon. And Oda continues to throw everything Japanese-y at this arc, with a sumo wrestler, a teahouse and even a woman who looks like an Utamaro painting. But Hawkins revealing some of his power was the most interesting part of this chapter – even if it seems like he would have trouble getting underlings! Too bad Jump’s on a break next week…

Dr. Stone 69: the pace picked up massively all of a sudden. They’ve not only relocated with their steam traction engine, now they’re planning on using it to attack. Should be an interesting chapter next time.

Haikyuu! 313: I sense next chapter will be Kageyama’s time to shine. There’s no way Karasuno is losing this, so I don’t see it as all that dramatic, and this chapter hinging on slipping in sweat wasn’t all that exciting. But the spikes were very dynamically-drawn!

Kuroshitsuji 142: Not too keen on this whole angle. After that sickening unnecessary flashback, we have lame comedy, lots of standing around doing nothing, and now these superpowered beings stopping their business just because Victorian Scotland Yard pop up with 19^th-century riot shields? And now Lizzie of all people is the one to amp up the tension? Lame. I did laugh one reader’s comment that Ciel’s real name is Armin Tanzarian, though. There’s a similar feeling of betrayal, haha.

The Promised Neverland 98: A bit of intrigue to set up this new arc. Not so engaging, but a nice set-up for another arc, this time up against humans.

Haikyuu! 312: Ramping up that artificial tension! I like how these points played out, but there weren’t any real developments this chapter.

Dr. Stone 68: As expected, not a car but a steam traction engine. Still pretty cool, and Chrome had a nice chapter showing his resolve.

The Promised Neverland 97: Interesting transition chapter. Emma is as optimistic and grandiose as ever in her goals. We also got a glimpse of Norman, presumably in the present time, and a new human bad guy.

One Piece 912: Luffy bonds with another kid, in an unusual way this time. It’s gonna be interesting to see if he fights alongside Zoro with a sword. I like how Zoro tries so hard to sound like he’s in a jidai-geki but is so bad at it, haha.

Haikyuu! 311: Poor Hinata-kun! But I’m pretty sure the set will be won by him overcoming the frustration of being shut out and simply pushing through with something new. I’m glad this series has moved past crazy techniques and is getting bogged down in strategy and stamina. It’s much more believable.

Dr. Stone 67: I’m sure this ‘automobile’ will be as much a car as a two-way radio is a cellphone, but it’s nice to move towards action again.

D.Gray-Man 229: Oh. It’s been months and months of finding and retrieving Allen – and now he’s just gone into the arc with Kanda? That feels a bit anticlimactic. And poor Timcampy.

The Promised Neverland 96: whaaaat? Yuugo? You can’t have that name, that’s the cute Eliatrope’s name. Oh well. Nice to see things work out for the kids – predictable as it was – and now we can move on to rescuing the lil’ kids. 

One Piece 911: This is shaping up to be a good arc with a classic One Piece opening. Luffy finds a cute and kind-hearted kid with a big problem. And there’s even a coincidental link to him. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops.

Haikyuu! 310: Sneaky Kenma! Nice to see real strategy coming into play in a sports manga. Seems like there should be plenty of workarounds, though. Well, this set is obviously going to Karasuno, so it’s not going to work as well as all that.

The Promised Neverland 95: It was nice to see this manga for sale prominently in UK comic shops today. And it remains strong, even with this arc ending on a slightly cheesy and cliché note.

Dr. Stone 66: Hrmmm, this one felt a little too far-fetched, especially since the first thing it did was show the big plan not working. But it actually brought a smile to my face, so I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. 

One Piece 910: cute reactions to the familiar faces in the papers, and more very very obvious references to Japanese art. Hokusai waves are what you expect to see in foreign attempts to have a Japanese feel, not Japanese ones! Still, the octopus appearing was funny and I’m interested to see where this goes.

Haikyuu! 309: Oh Hinata! You messed up. I bet this will mean he loses his cool for a while but they’ll obviously win the set. Just probably by a whisker.

The Promised Neverland 94: this chapter felt a little sloppy. A lot of space given to reiterating what happened last chapter, then a skipped-over significant reunion, and then a rushed set-up on the last page.

Boruto 25: Boruto did a good job of surprising me by being better than expected, but the last arc disappointed. Will this one be better? The set-up is dull but the art was at least very nice to look at. I wish I cared about the characters more, though. It’s a bit of a chore to read, cute as Boruto himself is.

Dr. Stone 65: old players back in the story and the plan well in motion. Interesting to see if it works. But I doubt it, because we need a more action-packed solution!