So not only can Buelsar willing remove his 'only disappears when he dies Hell in a Cell' himself, apparently anyone with enough power can break through it themselves too. That probably means that Buelsar isn't dead, unfortunately. Angel is defeated, but survives when Boro Boro snaps Ehwa back to her senses.
Once again Baam has made a huge power jump, and we get a flashback to when he was training with the God of Guardians to unlock his true potential. Baam lays down some philosophy about how he's discovered that everyone he's met in the tower who aims to stand above others is ultimately only running from something themselves. The 'True Power' he converses with apparently proves this right shortly after when we get a shot of a huge sphere of power completely overshadowing him. Ok.
I'm guessing that this is going to be a contrast between Baam and Zahard... perhaps Zahard was once like Baam but made the opposite decision and ended up corrupted. I wonder what it is that Zahard fears if that's the case.
I liked the scene with Ehwa more, as I think the philosophy of being afraid of your own power so that you can control it without hurting others revealed in Ehwa's flashback is more sensible. Maybe this one just hit me closer to home. Boro Boro's dialog when she was trying to calm Ehwa seemed more out of place, although I guess it sparked the flashback which helped her return to her senses.
Monday, November 30, 2015
Sunday, November 29, 2015
One Piece 808: Duke Inuarashi
Jack as a mammoth zoan is probably confirmed (he may be an artificial zoan, though). Him being Kaido's underling is definitely confirmed now. Sheepshead referred to him as being one of the three calamities, which makes me wonder if the calamities are Kaido's strongest underlings (possibly including Kaido himself?) or just three beings generally known for their destructiveness regardless of affiliation. Probably the former, if I had to guess. I wonder if X Drake is one of these calamities?
So the Gifters group are probably made up of artificial zoans, but is Sheepshead the strongest of the group? Being that he was beaten by Sanji with relative ease, this army of 500 zoans Kaido has doesn't seem like much of a threat anymore if so. There's also a Pleasures group, whose only purpose seemed to be to get crushed by random Mink civilians and show off their Electro power.
Oda has been introducing us to a lot of minor characters ever since the start of this arc, such as Sicilian and the whale forest guardians. Given Sicilian is only one of three musketeers working under Inuarashi while Nekomamushi is likely to have his own elite guard, it seems like this is going to continue. Hopefully this is because they're going to play an important role later, but given that we just had something similar happen when loads of characters were introduced for Dressrosa it has me concerned.
I still can't tell what the conflict of this arc is going to be; I just hope that whatever happens is actually important to the Kaido story Oda's been building up. I don't want to see a lengthy contrived conflict pop up just for the sake of giving the crew something to do on Zou when the plot could be moving on instead.
So the Gifters group are probably made up of artificial zoans, but is Sheepshead the strongest of the group? Being that he was beaten by Sanji with relative ease, this army of 500 zoans Kaido has doesn't seem like much of a threat anymore if so. There's also a Pleasures group, whose only purpose seemed to be to get crushed by random Mink civilians and show off their Electro power.
Oda has been introducing us to a lot of minor characters ever since the start of this arc, such as Sicilian and the whale forest guardians. Given Sicilian is only one of three musketeers working under Inuarashi while Nekomamushi is likely to have his own elite guard, it seems like this is going to continue. Hopefully this is because they're going to play an important role later, but given that we just had something similar happen when loads of characters were introduced for Dressrosa it has me concerned.
I still can't tell what the conflict of this arc is going to be; I just hope that whatever happens is actually important to the Kaido story Oda's been building up. I don't want to see a lengthy contrived conflict pop up just for the sake of giving the crew something to do on Zou when the plot could be moving on instead.
UQ Holder 103: Protect or be Protected?
Really not a fan of this chapter. Everything that I was afraid of last time ended up happening. Despite this universe being chock full of powerful action girls, Kuroumaru makes it pretty clear that becoming female has severely weakened her. She implies that it's mostly that she's not used to moving in that body... but in that case wouldn't becoming male have the same problem since she was genderless before? At the end, (s)he ends up winning by either forcing him/herself back to her/his original state, or into a male form. I assumed the change was permanent when it was revealed a few chapters ago, but I guess I was proven wrong.
Honestly, Kuroumaru transforming back disappoints me. Him finally falling into a gender seemed like it was going to be a serious change after his condition was hinted at ~80 chapters ago, but now we're right back into the status quo. At the end Kuroumaru even tells us that his feelings for Touta haven't changed, which makes me worry that all the development he was building up over the last few chapters is now moot. At least we know that he's decided he would rather fight beside Touta than be protected by him.
On the bright side, the action scenes in this chapter were pretty interesting to look at. Too bad it ended so quickly once Kuroumaru changed. As I thought last chapter, for all his hype immortal hunter Chao seems to only exist as an embodiment of the worf effect. I had higher hopes for Asura Tu, but he just decided to leave rather anti-climatically. A shame, as I was really hoping that this encounter would lead us out of the recent harem stuff into a more serious plotline.
Honestly, Kuroumaru transforming back disappoints me. Him finally falling into a gender seemed like it was going to be a serious change after his condition was hinted at ~80 chapters ago, but now we're right back into the status quo. At the end Kuroumaru even tells us that his feelings for Touta haven't changed, which makes me worry that all the development he was building up over the last few chapters is now moot. At least we know that he's decided he would rather fight beside Touta than be protected by him.
On the bright side, the action scenes in this chapter were pretty interesting to look at. Too bad it ended so quickly once Kuroumaru changed. As I thought last chapter, for all his hype immortal hunter Chao seems to only exist as an embodiment of the worf effect. I had higher hopes for Asura Tu, but he just decided to leave rather anti-climatically. A shame, as I was really hoping that this encounter would lead us out of the recent harem stuff into a more serious plotline.
Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Tower of God S2 Ep. 177
Ah, so we're doing the 'developing minor characters right before they die' cliché. I really should have seen this coming a mile away as soon as I thought Moontari was going to get a real fight sequence... unfortunately I didn't. Bero Bero's fate seems pretty bleak too, but we still haven't seen all of her sugar rush powers so maybe that will be her saving grace. Maybe she'll end up fighting Buelsar in Moontari's place, although right now Baam seems to be going up against him. So much for conserving energy... Moontari probably would have been better off if he just let Baam duo that fight with him.
Angel too seems to be getting beaten, but since she's been one of the most prominent characters on the villain's team I still kind of feel like she has a decent chance of surviving this somehow - of course the flashbacks she just got don't really help her case. It helps that Ehwa doesn't seem like the type to outright kill people, but that is also dependent on how much control she has of her new powers and how pissed off she is at her teammates' deaths.
Ehwa's new flame powers certainly look flashy, probably some of the series' best art, but I don't see how its really different from her earlier powers besides being more powerful. I guess it completely engulfs her in a flaming aura (is that the first time she's done that?) and allows her to fly. Her completely calm appearance is a pretty stark contrast to the raging flames which I liked.
So I guess there was another way to release the chains than killing Buelsar after all, if he's asking Baam to hurry this fight so he can get past. He's such a liar.
Angel too seems to be getting beaten, but since she's been one of the most prominent characters on the villain's team I still kind of feel like she has a decent chance of surviving this somehow - of course the flashbacks she just got don't really help her case. It helps that Ehwa doesn't seem like the type to outright kill people, but that is also dependent on how much control she has of her new powers and how pissed off she is at her teammates' deaths.
Ehwa's new flame powers certainly look flashy, probably some of the series' best art, but I don't see how its really different from her earlier powers besides being more powerful. I guess it completely engulfs her in a flaming aura (is that the first time she's done that?) and allows her to fly. Her completely calm appearance is a pretty stark contrast to the raging flames which I liked.
So I guess there was another way to release the chains than killing Buelsar after all, if he's asking Baam to hurry this fight so he can get past. He's such a liar.
Thursday, November 19, 2015
One Piece 807: 10 Days Ago
Not much really happened in this chapter.
Still no idea what's up with Sanji. Oda seems to be quite fond of drawing plot revelations out lately, such as having the samurai agree to tell the Strawhats everything going with them once they reach the top of Zou and then having them repeatedly fall back down. I guess Oda wants to tell us everything in a certain order for maximum dramatic effect, but the ways he's doing so to make that happen just feels contrived. He didn't even give a reason for not telling us about Sanji - he just skipped that conversation and then had the characters talk ambiguously about it so the reader won't find out. The fact that Oda is acting like this, though, makes me partially predict that it's going to be something comedic. We see Brook again in this chapter, and Momosuke is mentioned, although no Ceasar Clown (and obviously no Sanji).
We got a flashback to how the crew evaded the Big Mom pirates, which I wasn't expecting but was glad to see. I think the relative ease at which half the strawhat crew were able to escape a Yonkou's flagship makes the Big Mom pirates look a little weak, although I suppose if she herself had made an appearance it may have turned out much differently.
It's hard to predict what the conflict of this arc will end up being at this point, but the two most likely contenders will either be the samurai or Zou's King of Night Nekomamushi. Possibly the King of Day Inuarashi and he will have some disagreement concerning the visitors to the island, and Nekomamushi might attempt to attack the strawhats. Or the samurai arrive and one or both of the kings will attempt to take their revenge on them, thus forcing the strawhats to intervene.
Is Jack a Mammoth Ancient Zoan? That would be pretty cool.
Still no idea what's up with Sanji. Oda seems to be quite fond of drawing plot revelations out lately, such as having the samurai agree to tell the Strawhats everything going with them once they reach the top of Zou and then having them repeatedly fall back down. I guess Oda wants to tell us everything in a certain order for maximum dramatic effect, but the ways he's doing so to make that happen just feels contrived. He didn't even give a reason for not telling us about Sanji - he just skipped that conversation and then had the characters talk ambiguously about it so the reader won't find out. The fact that Oda is acting like this, though, makes me partially predict that it's going to be something comedic. We see Brook again in this chapter, and Momosuke is mentioned, although no Ceasar Clown (and obviously no Sanji).
We got a flashback to how the crew evaded the Big Mom pirates, which I wasn't expecting but was glad to see. I think the relative ease at which half the strawhat crew were able to escape a Yonkou's flagship makes the Big Mom pirates look a little weak, although I suppose if she herself had made an appearance it may have turned out much differently.
It's hard to predict what the conflict of this arc will end up being at this point, but the two most likely contenders will either be the samurai or Zou's King of Night Nekomamushi. Possibly the King of Day Inuarashi and he will have some disagreement concerning the visitors to the island, and Nekomamushi might attempt to attack the strawhats. Or the samurai arrive and one or both of the kings will attempt to take their revenge on them, thus forcing the strawhats to intervene.
Is Jack a Mammoth Ancient Zoan? That would be pretty cool.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
Onepunch-Man (Original) Chapter 104 Review
For those of you reading the redrawn version of Onepunch-Man by Murata, I should warn you that this is a review of the original Onepunch-Man comic by ONE which is much further ahead. So, if you continue reading, be wary of spoilers.
Saitama and Tatsumaki continue their battle throughout this chapter, rampaging across the country and stampeding into the stories of various side characters as they do so. We start with the introduction of the A-Class rank 34 hero Feather who is fighting to save his lover from N City's notorious Iron Fist gang headed by the A-class criminal Big Iron (none of whom we've ever heard of before). Just as Feather is about to have the heroic second wind to the biggest fight of his life, Saitama and Tatsumaki come crashing in, completely clueless, and offhandedly obliterate the gang. Afterwards, Feather justifiably decides to repress this memory.
We get reappearances of Metal Bat, one of my favorite S-rank heroes, and Speed of Sonic as well in similar circumstances, completely played for comedy. It was nice to see these two again, considering that Metal Bat hasn't been seen since the Alien Arc and Sonic since early in the Garou Arc, even though it doesn't seem likely they'll play much of a role any time soon.
ONE has been introducing a lot of A-rank heroes ever since the start of this arc, which I am pretty iffy about considering that the strongest three of A-class (excluding Sweet Mask) were shown to be pathetically weak compared to an S-rank towards the end of the Garou Arc. I have a hard time understanding just how useful these A-classes can be - even in this arc they've been pretty thoroughly humiliated (such as A-rank 35 hero Air being one-shotted by a severely weakened Evil Natural Water). It makes me wonder if ONE is just introducing them for the sake of filling out A-class when there are more plot centric things he could be using those panels for. However, since some of them, like Air, Butterfly DX, Chain'n'toad, and Forte, have been consistently appearing throughout this arc it does make me more confident that he has some plan in mind for them. Still, there were already plenty of A-rank heroes introduced before this arc,and reusing them probably would have been simpler than creating a whole bunch of new ones (although I suppose many of them might still be hospitalized after being hunted by Garou).
Finally, the battle between Saitama and Tatsumaki comes to an end, and Saitama, despite never going on the offensive at all, clearly has the upperhand. It's revealed, however, that Tatsumaki is still injured from her fights in the Garou arc (understandable since it was only a few days ago chronologically), but absolutely can't stand the thought of losing. When Saitama offers to postpone their fight until she's recovered, she smiles and happily agrees to see him later. Psyche!
At the end we return to Fubuki, who has agreed to Tatsumaki's demands by disbanding her group. It's likely that she's mainly doing this to protect them from her sister, but I don't think her subordinates are going to just let this be either.
Saitama and Tatsumaki continue their battle throughout this chapter, rampaging across the country and stampeding into the stories of various side characters as they do so. We start with the introduction of the A-Class rank 34 hero Feather who is fighting to save his lover from N City's notorious Iron Fist gang headed by the A-class criminal Big Iron (none of whom we've ever heard of before). Just as Feather is about to have the heroic second wind to the biggest fight of his life, Saitama and Tatsumaki come crashing in, completely clueless, and offhandedly obliterate the gang. Afterwards, Feather justifiably decides to repress this memory.
We get reappearances of Metal Bat, one of my favorite S-rank heroes, and Speed of Sonic as well in similar circumstances, completely played for comedy. It was nice to see these two again, considering that Metal Bat hasn't been seen since the Alien Arc and Sonic since early in the Garou Arc, even though it doesn't seem likely they'll play much of a role any time soon.
ONE has been introducing a lot of A-rank heroes ever since the start of this arc, which I am pretty iffy about considering that the strongest three of A-class (excluding Sweet Mask) were shown to be pathetically weak compared to an S-rank towards the end of the Garou Arc. I have a hard time understanding just how useful these A-classes can be - even in this arc they've been pretty thoroughly humiliated (such as A-rank 35 hero Air being one-shotted by a severely weakened Evil Natural Water). It makes me wonder if ONE is just introducing them for the sake of filling out A-class when there are more plot centric things he could be using those panels for. However, since some of them, like Air, Butterfly DX, Chain'n'toad, and Forte, have been consistently appearing throughout this arc it does make me more confident that he has some plan in mind for them. Still, there were already plenty of A-rank heroes introduced before this arc,and reusing them probably would have been simpler than creating a whole bunch of new ones (although I suppose many of them might still be hospitalized after being hunted by Garou).
Finally, the battle between Saitama and Tatsumaki comes to an end, and Saitama, despite never going on the offensive at all, clearly has the upperhand. It's revealed, however, that Tatsumaki is still injured from her fights in the Garou arc (understandable since it was only a few days ago chronologically), but absolutely can't stand the thought of losing. When Saitama offers to postpone their fight until she's recovered, she smiles and happily agrees to see him later. Psyche!
At the end we return to Fubuki, who has agreed to Tatsumaki's demands by disbanding her group. It's likely that she's mainly doing this to protect them from her sister, but I don't think her subordinates are going to just let this be either.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
UQ Holder 102: Koroumaru's Date
The big reveal hinted at last week was cut short thanks to a robotic replica of Kuroumaru built by Ikkuu, which frames the girlified Kuroumaru as a relative of his/hers. Kuroumaru then lures Touta into a sightseeing date, though of course Touta remains as clueless as ever. I just hope, however this arc ends up, Touta at least comes to acknowledge Kuroumaru's feelings instead of remaining completely indifferent about it.
What I thought was going to be an uninteresting chapter was certainly spiced up at the end with the reappearance of Xinzqai the immortal hunter. While I think the guy is cool, after Touta's training I'm not sure if he can really be considered much of a threat anymore.
The six armed man behind Xinzqai we've also seen before; Asura Tu of Ala Alba and likely one of Fate's subordinates. Interestingly, there was also a six armed man in similar attire and wielding similar weapons fighting as a part of Kaede's team in the 2015 Mahora tournament footage we saw back in chapter 64. The fact that Asura is a part of Ala Alba just as Kaede was back in Negima makes me wonder if he's related to her former teammate? His skin tone and hair color is a lot like Ku Fei's too, whom the older man lost to in that footage, so maybe he's their son/grandson?
At the end Kuroumaru is brought to her knees by Asura's attack and realizes that she's being overpowered. Maybe this will make her rethink becoming female, desiring strength in order to fight by Touta's side as a friend rather than a lover. Still, there are tons of incredibly powerful females in this verse (and Kuroumaru is already extremely similar, in abilities, appearance, and personality, to Negima's Setsuna, who was arguably one of the strongest), so I can't see 'wanting to be strong' as being a significant reason for Kuroumaru to become male.
...
Seriously, though, am I the only one who has seen a huge similarity between Kuroumaru and Setsuna ever since the former's introduction? I know a few chapters ago we had a cameo from a kid who is practically Setsuna's clone, but the wing imagery that has occasionally accompanied Kuroumaru's appearance makes me wonder if they might be distantly related. I may well be wrong, but I am suspicious that Kuroumaru's Yatagarasu (meaning three-legged crow) tribe and the crow demons Setsuna was rejected from for having white wings may be one and the same. If she has the same condition as Kuroumaru, then that might put a new spin on her relationship with Konoka too.
What I thought was going to be an uninteresting chapter was certainly spiced up at the end with the reappearance of Xinzqai the immortal hunter. While I think the guy is cool, after Touta's training I'm not sure if he can really be considered much of a threat anymore.
The six armed man behind Xinzqai we've also seen before; Asura Tu of Ala Alba and likely one of Fate's subordinates. Interestingly, there was also a six armed man in similar attire and wielding similar weapons fighting as a part of Kaede's team in the 2015 Mahora tournament footage we saw back in chapter 64. The fact that Asura is a part of Ala Alba just as Kaede was back in Negima makes me wonder if he's related to her former teammate? His skin tone and hair color is a lot like Ku Fei's too, whom the older man lost to in that footage, so maybe he's their son/grandson?
At the end Kuroumaru is brought to her knees by Asura's attack and realizes that she's being overpowered. Maybe this will make her rethink becoming female, desiring strength in order to fight by Touta's side as a friend rather than a lover. Still, there are tons of incredibly powerful females in this verse (and Kuroumaru is already extremely similar, in abilities, appearance, and personality, to Negima's Setsuna, who was arguably one of the strongest), so I can't see 'wanting to be strong' as being a significant reason for Kuroumaru to become male.
...
Seriously, though, am I the only one who has seen a huge similarity between Kuroumaru and Setsuna ever since the former's introduction? I know a few chapters ago we had a cameo from a kid who is practically Setsuna's clone, but the wing imagery that has occasionally accompanied Kuroumaru's appearance makes me wonder if they might be distantly related. I may well be wrong, but I am suspicious that Kuroumaru's Yatagarasu (meaning three-legged crow) tribe and the crow demons Setsuna was rejected from for having white wings may be one and the same. If she has the same condition as Kuroumaru, then that might put a new spin on her relationship with Konoka too.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)