Monday, December 28, 2009

periodical manga roundup

Beelzebub chapter 43 - At first I thought there would be an arc where he is trained by the old guy or whatever, but I guess they're leaving that as more of a mystery. I really didn't think they'd do something crazy like this demon world arc, though. Seems more like Yu Yu Hakusho every day, but it's still pretty good. Seems like the author is confident that the story will go on for awhile as he expands the mythos and universe of the series. 7/10


One Piece chapter 569 - I dunno. This haki thing still bugs me a bit, despite my faith in Oda I really can't see how he's going to do cool things with it. Didn't we already have a dramatic stop of Ace's execution by an unlikely third party? Why didn't they get stronger people to kill him? Also: I really don't want Whitebeard or his pirates to die. I'm OK with them losing pretty decisively now, although I'd prefer if they didn't, but they're just too cool to have all their time here. And why aren't Sengoku and Garp doing more? They acted like Whitebeard's latest attack would require them, but then the admirals took care of it anyways. And Oda is still hinting at "the pirate's big attack is still to come!". He's making it suspenseful, sure, but every character's actions and status is about the same as it was at the end of the last chapter, which makes me question the point of this one. Oh well, the action was still awesome, and who knows, a few years down the line this could be seen as a very pivotal chapter as Luffy's Emperor Haki is now known to a lot of major characters. 7/10


Bleach chapter 387 - Ugh, I don't care about Tousen, I especially don't care about ugly bug Tousen, I don't care about Captain Furry and Mr. Inconsistentpowers. Aizen and Shinji I do care about somewhat, but Shinji's bankai is so retarded that thankfully even Kubo can't bear to use it for more than a few chapters. Aizen randomly killing Tousen is a pretty stupid "twist" and seems pretty out of character too. And, of course, Ichigo pops out for the standard "double twist". Hopefully this means we're moving towards the final fight. God damn it it better be decent, at least. 3/10


Naruto chapter 477 - Sasuke vs. Danzo was interesting, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense. We get it, he has a life or clone or whatever for every eye on his arm. That's pretty stupid, but the good odds are that Kishimoto won't even stick with that. Look at how well he stuck to Itachi's death. I can't wait for the explanation there - Madara had him in his eye-world-thing the whole time? This series really isn't following any of its own rules anymore, nor is it following the rules of generally good storytelling. It is pretty exciting, though, lots of interesting ridiculous attacks and summons and stuff. 5/10

Claymore chapter 99 - I wish this was a weekly series, I can never really remember what's happening. Good art for the most part, some sketchy scenes. Riful and Darf getting tortured was interesting, a bit of their own medicine etc. My fear is that the mangaka seems to be wrapping up all the directly loose threads while completely ignoring things like the other continent, the organization, etc. We're in for some interesting things with Raki and Claire and Priscilla all meeting again, but beyond that, I have no idea where the story will go, and it worries me. Also a whole lot of the lore about awakened ones and such is pretty confusing. Entertaining chapter as always, though. 7/10

Bakuman chapter 68 - Really fun chapter. The marriage plotline is just sort of dragging at the moment but I'm sure it'll lead to some really funny scenes. Fukuda and his loose-lipped editor is always good, plus his on-toilet rant about surveys was another nice insight into the business, although it's most likely the opinions of Tsugumi. Aoki and Fukuda are always fun to see interacting, and Aoki being all frantic was admittedly adorable. Good stuff, plot twist will probably be that neither were accepted, or both were, I dunno. 9/10

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