Issue 46 votes:
Tier 1 (Great):
1: One Piece #1195 - Once again, Sommers is hilarious. Anyway, I really really like the Brook and Shuri stuff. Brook tries to reason with her and get her to stop being Gunko and return to being Princess Shuri, but she’s done so much evil over the course of her life that she no longer feels like she’s Shuri anymore, she basically thinks she has no choice but to double down on the fact that she’s Gunko or she’ll have to face all of the horrible stuff she’s no doubt done over the decades. Also, it seems like when she entered into a Covenant with Imu, she was on the verge of death? Or maybe the memories of what she did to her father are so traumatic that she’d rather just become Gunko and have those memories erased, but either way, she was fully turned under duress. The next scene shows us Lili used to live here on Elbaf which is a surprise! I suppose it makes sense for her to hide away here after she betrayed Imu and the rest of the kings. I also suspect that the world was much more connected back then, so places like Wano and Amazon Lily (if they even existed yet) were not very valid. So Elbaf makes the most sense! And lastly, finally…FINALLY Oda is addressing Sanji’s sacrificial nature and habits!! YESSSSS!! His childhood made him value himself as lesser than everyone else and it’s been present throughout the whole series. He’s ALWAYS ready to self-sacrifice for others, hell in his first ever arc at Baratie he almost stayed with Zeff rather than set out to follow his own dream because he thought Zeff needed him more and didn’t place his own dream above that need, and in the world of OP, not following your dream is basically the same as dying. Can’t wait to see more of his training with Iva! There’s also something VERY poetic about Kuma, THE self-sacrificing guy, sending another self-sacrificing guy in Sanji to his best friend Iva (or at least, to his island) to train and learn from! Btw I’ve seen some people suggest Sanji might come out as queer due to all this, I don’t really agree with that at all because it’s not been built up as that lmao, like at ALL, but I can see how queer people could draw parallels with Sanji’s journey of self-doubt and overcoming it. Fantastic chapter.
2: Akanebanashi #225 – Man Issho’s performance was so insane that is basically made everyone into zombies of awe and then it made people go and eat soba unconsciously, phew. It’s interesting to hear that Zensho doesn’t view Rakugo as high brow art, just something to not be taken seriously; it’s just entertainment and nothing more! Ikken has his own plans going for becoming the “face of Rakugo”, quite a sneaky guy though there’s no malice in what he does, I think. Time to find out what Akane’s request of Issho will be!
3: Witch Watch #265 – Holy shit, Shikimi summoned…Cell Jrs? Ok not quite, but kinda similar, and he tapped in Roswitha’s power to do so. Hibana has also officially turned! As expected of course, but it’s still nice. Yo even the normal fucking police officers are fighting, one of them even got what looks like a headshot on one lmao. Kinda cool tbh, I like when even the “powerless and normal” are involved in a big fight, kinda like FMA’s final fight. Seeing the parents protect their kids with such ferocity and vigour is actually very heartwarming to me, I always like dynamics like this. Oh the spell is done…andddd we have to wait till next week to see what they look like, fack, fine, I’ll wait!
4: Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi #111 – Kiyoshi rising Memmy going around saving people looks sick tbh. Kiyoshi has now reached the point where his very name inspires confidence to everyone; that’s what the title of being a Cross Paladin brings! The top level demons look pretty cool, especially Magma Hino, he looks like Ghost Rider lol. Kiyoshi kicking through the window was full of aura, and Iefuda’s design is actually pretty nice, gives off the creepy vibes you’d expect from a body hopping murderer.
5: Greykeith #5 – Ah so we meet the police member who was calling Greykeith last chapter, nice! Amatsuka is his name! Haha he blackmailed Greykeith, I mean it’s a pretty good bit of blackmailing since that’s literally the whole reason Greykeith even is a Wizard in the first place lol. Oooh Devils can be called forth with the Summoning Circles, makes sense and I suppose we’ll see one (or more) later on in the series lol. That’s a big will-‘o-wisp! Aww their true form is so cute! Nooo, I feel bad for them, they just wanted to eat after being starved! Seems like we have our first proper villains of the series, nice.
Tier 2 (Good):
Sakamoto Days #278 – Sakamoto got that dad buff. And he’s using the environment again! Consistently! Been a while since we last saw that. Torres basically says that that is his greatest strength, and I agree, hell it’s the greatest strength of this manga lol. Fun chapter, feels like very very very long overdue return to form!
Cannon Master #15 – The dude with the afro/perm and cigarette looks cool as fuck, I’m not gonna lie. Not much to say about this chapter, but I DID really enjoy it. The art for the action was smooth, and I could tell what was going on pretty easily, which is not a given with action in manga format lol. Bharat showing off a bit! And why not?! The fight choreography was great. If this is the end of this series, I will be paying attention to Machida’s career with great interest, I think he has tons of potential!
Shinobi Undercover #100 – Happy 100 chapters! Awww, Yodaka is finding out a true rival, and actually looks like Kawasemi is doing the same lol. I said last week that they were pretty similar, and look at that! They themselves feel it. Yodaka not having any big reason to protect Aoi other than his feelings for her is cute, so cute it even melts Kawasemi’s heart and he now kinda likes Yodaka. Granted, Yodaka doesn’t KNOW anything about Aoi because OP didn’t tell him, but even if he did know I doubt it’d change anything. Good chapter full of good combat art and a satisfying conclusion to this fight.
Under Doctor #35 – Shuli is superhuman! Well tbh I thought maybe the Bandettas were cyborgs, but nope they were actual humans inside super durable suits all along. And they’re drug addicts, who need to get their fix. Pretty fucked up. A new character, FF, appears. Anddddd they’re a creep! One of those “I love to watch people die” types, oh boy. They (?) kinda remind me of Balalaika from Black Lagoon in terms of appearance, actually lol. I kinda like this development, I’ve wanted more long standing villains for a time in this series now, don’t get me wrong I like the medical stuff as well but it was getting repetitive with all the “person in trouble > Haiji saves the day > Haiji is glazed” stuff and this kinda helps break that up a bit + provide stakes (both fighting wise AND medical wise) and long running goals for everyone. Good chapter.
Someone Hertz #52 – Karino REALLY wants them to no mention that they saw her to anyone lmao. Also Mimei joined in on Mizuo making a pun without batting an eyelid, he’s slowly becoming just like her lol. Mizuo running is gonna get her killed at some point, please stop lmao. Karino’s reason for participating in Mon-Mid is pretty relatable, I’m sure there’s loads of people out there that have felt like she did, losing confidence in yourself (I know I have), but finding a place to call “home”, a community, can always help with that. And damn she’s so cool….ah never mind, she lost all her aura lmao. Their calls have evolved from just phone calls to facetime calls, wow.
Ichi the Witch #101 – Ah so Kumugi does have some latent potential. And what a neat way to describe it, lore wise! The jar imagery is nice. Kumugi wants to have fun as well! Look at the smile on her face! And look at how big her Muscat gun got, my word. Shit’s a bazooka. I like her writing “bang” with her magic. I wonder what this means for her going forward, if she’ll keep this big power up permanently or if it’ll be sealed again and then released as necessary.
Roku #25 – Bro even the cats are falling for Johan lmao. Johan literally rizzed the tea shop owner into confessing his truest, deepest desires, shit’s insane. Bro, he did NOT need to do all this to regain his passion for making tea again, I’m dead. Well, at least he became buff as shit lmao, that’s one positive, if you could call it that. That Udon Hot Pot must be really good if even Johan wants it over his usual tea lol. Btw, I notice they have no gone back to translating Johan’s name as “Johan” instead of “Yohan” like they did for that one chapter…how odd lol.
Class 2-B #23 – Shihan is crazy, literally no reason to put all of your energy into that spear throw lol. And that ended up being his downfall because Kumon’s power is, of course, the ability to absorb energy and redirect it. Kumon could possibly end up absorbing all the Heroes’ powers at some point? Probably his end game in terms of power. I like the motif of trying to bring back “night to the world”, it’s the opposite of what it usually is, a nice little twist. Btw they didn’t check to see if Shihan was dead or not, and since we saw no body, I’m gonna assume he is.
Tier 3 (Ok):
The Ura Files #6 – Look everywhere bro, embrace your youth. Aww, she knows so much about track team because she probably researched it after he told her (lied) that he used to be in it lol. The Battle for Onigashima…..we One Piece now! Jk, but yeah that makes complete sense tbh lol. She’s a physical freak so why wouldn’t you want her in your club? And of course she wants to know first which club Kibitsu would join lol. Anyway, standard fan service dress up chapter a series like this will always have lol.
HAL Formula #16 – Hinokura is evolving. And so is Miharu, to the point he’s taking Hinokura’s style and adding it to his own, if only for the qualifying round. We see glimpses of other racers too, in classic silhouetted shounen style lmao. The tires have been saved, so that’s good, and now onto the race proper itself!
Animal Signal #17 – Oh a butt focussed chapter lol. The punching machine is an obvious reference to DBZ when they did it. Sumire’s power is on another level, a wombat combat perfect match. I mean Roga….there’s much much worse ways to go out, I’m just saying. Anyway, Sumire has somehow joined the A.C.T.
Kagurabachi #134 – Lmao at Misaka and Shiba just becoming bros after fighting, fair enough. Oooh so Natsuki’s scar comes from his dad giving it to him, just like was expected, Misaka had a legit reason to kill him lol. Misaka protecting Natsuki by giving him harsh treatment is nice. Samura is here! And the way his attack was drawn this chapter was pretty fucking cool. The Avengers are slowly assembling. I will say, the pacing of this arc has slowed to glacial levels, it's starting to grate on me a bit.
Me and Roboco #300 – Happy 300 chapters! Bondo getting some self-awareness and realising he wears the same thing every day lol. After all of that, he just…painted it on himself…better hope it doesn’t wear off lmao.
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