One Piece 768-9: out of the flashback and back to the action. And great to have a short recap of where everyone is and who is fighting who. Franky’s moment in particular was a little slice of genius. Law gives it his best but we went a bit too long without seeing Luffy – so he gets a moment of attention where we see that Bellamy is going to be an idiot to the end. 

One Piece 767: sad and dark as expected, Law’s flashback concludes – probably the most grim of any character’s. I was moved and like his character a whole lot more, now – so mission accomplished, really!

One Piece 766: After a sweet nod to Naruto on the title page, One Piece took its flashback to the inevitable tragic part. A coincidence right on the brink of victory spoiled Corazon’s plans, and the final bittersweet gag was pure Oda brilliance. 

One Piece 765: Aw, no chapter next week. I liked how this story-based chapter went, even if not a lot happened and I could have done without the fart joke. But I do want to get back to the main action!

Naruto 697-698: blah blah blah, fisticuffs – at least not with giant blobs any more – and then the two main characters surviving and having a deep moment where they decide to just go back to where they were a few chapters ago, only having a very dramatic mirrored injury. Not moved.  

Naruto 696: talk talk talk make new giant blob monsters. This is the way the most successful manga of the decade ends.

One Piece 764: Awww! I didn’t think anything much good would come from this flashback, but the little odd-couple surrogate father-son road trip with tragic and exaggerated results is pretty awesome in that typically cartoony yet highly emotional Oda way. 

One Piece 763: two different backstories today. And it seems Doflamingo’s is the darkest we’ve had yet – which makes sense if he’s the most twisted of them all. This is class violence taken to an extreme, and it makes sense. Then there’s the reason Law and Doflamingo are estranged – which at some point is presumably going to involve Doflamingo’s brother going up against Doflamingo...and that ending badly for him. The pacing of the arc has stalled, but I’m still interested.

Naruto 695: only five chapters left of Naruto, and I’m glad about that. It’s well outstayed its welcome. And how do these precious final chapters get spent? Stupid giant blob fights to start, schmaltzy flashbacks in the middle – as though we haven’t already pretty clearly got the picture that Naruto and Sasuke have a deep bond – and to end, set-up for an annoying talking chapter. 

Naruto 694 could really have been one page. Sure, Sasuke is a maniac now who wants to wipe the slate clean to begin a better world, like most other insane anime bad guys. Get on with it, will ya? Wonder if he’s rushing for a nice even end at 700 chapters?

One Piece 762: setting up the story of the flashback, this chapter wasn’t too interesting until its dramatic ending. There’s some fun in seeing the younger versions of the current crop of bad guys, though.