Periodical Manga Roundup

Fairy Tail 168 - OK some pretty nice stuff here, I guess, we're really launching full on to a new arc. Scenes of life at the guild are kinda nice even if their point isn't revealed until later. Loads of information, few minor twists, pretty decent I guess. Nice art too. Could have been a bit more eventful I guess? Nah this was enough. 7/10

Fairy Tail 169 - Explanation stuff, OK, cat drama, pretty interesting... I like the amount of plot advancement I guess, some questions getting answered, but I still am worried about the overall direction of the story. But that isn't the fault of this chapter... Edras looks pretty cool. Bizarro Fairy Tail is pretty funny, makes more sense for them to have those scenes last chapter. Things will probably get interesting pretty quick. 8/10

Bakuman 71 - Pretty fun times here: Shizuka seems interesting enough, waiting on phone call drama is always pretty funny, meeting stuff is interesting and bam, Iwase confrontation. They made it in, though! Hooray!! I am excited for them, legitimately! 8/10

Beelzebub 46 - OK this is good times for this series. Oga issuing commands, Furuichi's confrontation, and no explanations. Mystery person at the end, oh boy. I hope this direction the series is going in is permanent and is the wishes of the mangaka, not the editors (now I'm just projecting Bakuman onto everything). I think this sort of nonsense suits him but only if he wants to do it. 8/10

Bleach 390 - Hmm, OK, I can accept this. In spite of this entire arc really being about how useless the captains are, their attack here still seems pretty impressive, and Aizen laughing it off was kinda fun. But the more they hype him up, the bigger the disappointment the final battle with him will probably be. Also good to see that Gin is still hanging around, I am in the camp that thinks he will be final boss. But yeah this chapter was still mostly useless posturing and speeches. Forgivable offense, though, I guess. 6/10

Naruto 480 - Unforgivable offense. Emo bullshit. "Bite my arm" oh my god I hate whenever he does that. Sasuke gets even more evil after a retarded two pages of his face. More stupid Danzo techniques. More stupid "Is it the real body or not????" "This is a battle of the eyes" = "I will make up lame stuff whenever I want, the characters will do whatever I want them to if I want to draw some big stupid animal or a big tree or something, but if I want them to get weak I just say 'lol chakras are low' and if I want them to do or say anything I just say 'lol illusion jutsu'. This is all to appease the stupidest and most vocal subset of fans I can find." If good suspense is like savoring a glass of wine, this is bukkake. AND OH BOY ANOTHER BIG TWIST AT THE END 2/10

One Piece 572 - OK time to switch from hyperbolic rage to hyperbolic praise. Picture the scene: There I am, sitting at my desk. I check to see if the new One Piece is out. It is. I read it. The very fact that I am able to press these keys is due to my resistance of total conversion to energy. I am among the bodhisattva. The tears were just streaming down my face.

Possible flaws with this chapter: - Why are the marines so incompetent? This is more of just a general question. Why didn't Kizaru shoot Luffy in the brain instead of shooting the key? Why do they shoot Ace and Luffy with regular bullets and act surprised at the results? Also, - why hasn't Whitebeard done any attacks as powerful as the one he started with yet? Even his big attack at the end didn't do stuff like ripple the ground or summon tsunamis. -Why does Whitebeard's neck look so silly on page 15? I don't know.

But that's it. I really do believe this is the sort of chapter all shonen manga should aspire to. Awesome fight scenes! Ace and Luffy team up! Small plot issues resolved - what will happen to Mr. 3? So many characters being completely awesome! Whitebeard's speech! Oh god! I am really hoping that next chapter we will see more of Whitebeard's flashback. Actually I do not see any conceivable way that Oda will screw this up. Just... oh wow. WHITEBEARD WHY ARE YOU SO COOL. ARE ALL THE OTHER YONKOUS GOING TO HAVE ARCS THIS AMAZING ABOUT THEM? I THINK SO HOLY COW I AM SO HAPPY TO BE ALIVE DURING ONE PIECE'S RUN. 10/10