THIS WEEK IN MANGA: third post

hello and welcome once again to THIS WEEK IN MANGA! its been a pretty busy week so lets get to the stuff. as mentioned last week, bleach is taking a break but they will be back next week. now, get out your membership cards cause it is time for fairy tail.




PREVIOUS CHAPTER

natsu, wendy, charlie and happy are joined in their journey by E-lucy.


FAIRY TAIL CHAPTER 172: KEY OF HOPE

we open in the town of luen town as E-lucy explains to the gang the state of affairs concerning the control of magic. natsu and lucy wonder about the people who can naturally use magic. E-lucy explains that in edoras, magic is a tangible object that can be bought, sold, or traded. it is normally created when a lachryma crystal is combined with a item, like a sword. this is what magic is in edoras and people who can use magic from their bodies dont exist. she leads them to a black market to buy the magic they need to travel, since buying, sell, and even possessing magic is illegal.

later, the team is seen at a cafe where they tell E-lucy about her counterpart, to which she laughs when she finds out about her life and hobbies. wendy asks her how to use the magic they bought but is warned not to bring it out in the open. E-lucy laments over how the empire has stolen their culture and their livelihood. natsu responds by saying that if they beat them up, then everything will turn out all right. she says that they are crazy for trying to fight them and that she has no intention of fighting with them. natsu thanks her for showing them the way, which causes her to sweat and blush a bit. suddenly, members of the royal army appear and advance upon them. natsu smiles as he pulls out the magic he bought, a sword without a blade. as wendy asks charlie how to use her magic as natsu creates a flame blade from the sword handle. he attacks but the soldiers have anti-magic shields that stop his attack. he preps another attack but nothing happens. E-lucy informs him that magic is very limited in edoras and thus magic items have a set number of uses and that if he was a bit more efficient with its use, he could've used it over a hundred times. wendy finally gets hers to work which produces a massive whirlwind that takes them away from the troops.

the group hides out in a abandon building as the troops search for them. natsu and wendy complain that the magic in that world is "inconvenient". suddenly, the troops yell for a fairy tail mage to halt. the group looks out and are surprised to see regular lucy. as natsu runs off to save her, lucy reaches one of her keys. but just as wendy is about to tell her about magic in edoras, lucy uses her key and to their surprise is able to summon scorpio. the stellar spirit is able to take down the troops, as lucy sees her friends and rushes to meet them. she is shocked to see E-lucy, who is a little annoyed by her earthland counterpart. but the reunion is cut short as more soldiers advance at them. lucy tells natsu to defeat them but he tells her he cant and asks how she can use magic. lucy, realizing that she's the only one who can fight, summons aries, surprising the edoras troops and E-lucy who have never seen stellar spirit magic before. aries uses a wave of wool to take out the soldiers as the gang beats a hasty retreat.

later in the woods, lucy explains that when the anima wave hit, her stellar spirit horologium appear and protect her, saying he felt distortion in space and protected her in his pocket dimension. she adds that she met up with mistgun when it was over and informed her of the situation before sending her to edoras. natsu ponders just who he is. then the question comes up of how lucy is the only one who still use her magic. she laments that without natsu, the battle will be very tough. E-lucy asks if they still intend to fight the empire, to which they say yes. lucy then proudly proclaims that she, as the current strongest mage of fairy tail, will lead them into battle. E-lucy thinks they are crazy but feels that they may change her world.



THOUGHTS

a nice little chapter that gives us a idea of the state of magic in edoras. it reminds me of something from the final fantasy series. lucy makes a surprise return and surprise again, she can use magic. like the characters in the manga, i too wonder why she can use magic. maybe it has something to do with her being a stellar spirit mage, since its a different type of magic from everyone else in the guild. and E-lucy's attitude towards natsu leads me to believe that something about him is putting her off. just how different is E-natsu.

also, the cover with erza: WIN!



put away your cards and pull out your kunai as we are diving into naruto.


PREVIOUS CHAPTER

sakura finally finds sasuke and makes a startling offer.


NARUTO CHAPTER 483: MASTER AND STUDENT MEET AGAIN

we open to kakashi finding kiba, lee, and sai on the ground. he tries to wake kiba, who wakes up just enough to tell him where sakura went before passing out again. kakashi comments that tsunade must have taught her how to make powerful sleep gas and that they'd be out for a while. after hiding them, he heads off.

back at the clearing, sasuke asks sakura why he would join her and if she has something up her sleeve. she said she doesnt that that she's been regretting not going with sasuke when he left years ago. karin, barely alive, thinks that she is a old friend of his and that she must love him too. sakura proclaims that she will do whatever he asks of her. he states that his goal is to crush konoha, which visibly surprises her but she agrees. sasuke then orders her to kill karin and he'll accept her offer. pulling out a kunai, she asks who she is. he explains that she was a part of team hawk but is now useless to him and that since sakura is a medic ninja, she'd be more useful him. she thinks about how heartless he's become and how much he's changed as she walks over to karin. sasuke asks if she can handle this as she thinks that if she can kill him, it will all end. karin weakly asks sasuke not to do it, which was chidori sakura in the head. she turns but is unable to dodge his attack in time. fortunately, kakashi arrives in time to stop his attack, thinking that sasuke really intended to kill her. he tells sasuke how low he's fallen. the two trade attacks, which gets sasuke to back off.

kakashi then tells sakura that he knows her intentions and that she shouldn't shoulder such a burden alone. he voices his own feelings of fault as he blames himself for his team failing and apoligizes for being a terrible sensei. he turns his attention to sasuke and asks him one last time to forget about his revenge. sasuke laughs loudly before asking his former teacher that if he can bring itachi, his parents and his clan back, then he will stop. kakashi says he doesn't want to kill him but sasuke counters that he cant kill him and that he wants to kill him so bad "he can taste it". kakashi orders sakura to take karin somewhere safe and heal her since she knows a lot about the akatsuki.

as naruto races to their location, kakashi remembers how the third always thought fondly of orochimaru, despite how things went and that he understands how he felt when he fought him. sasuke adds that kakashi will be able to tell him once he kills him.



THOUGHTS

sasuke is a dick.

really. there is nothing more to say. now, on the CBR, there was a guy who was a total sasuke fanboy and thought that he and sakura would end up together and that sasuke was a anti-hero. well, look who's laughing now. sasuke just keeps getting more and more into villain territory with each chapter. now, he just tried to kill sakura. yep. there is no saving him.

kudos to kakashi for doing something in this one. havent seen him do much since the invasion of pein.

this wont be much of a fight. sasuke cant spam his MS attacks anymore since he's both out of chakra and going blind. unless, kishi decides to wank him again.


well, its time to say hi to the number one enemy of ninjas: pirates! time for one piece.


PREVIOUS THOUGHT


luffy says goodbye to his brother.


ONE PIECE CHAPTER 575: SILENT ANGER


the chapter opens with luffy, still in utter shock after his brother ace dies in his arms. whitebeard, jimbei and the pirates are weeping tears as the world witnesses his death. the sadness is broken however as iva warns luffy to move, as akainu comes for him but luffy has completely broken down and unresponsive. marco stops him attack and tells jimbei to get luffy off the island. he says that luffy was ace's reason for living and they will protect him at all costs. the admiral states that he wont let the brothers leave alive. a enraged whitebeard suddenly attack and injuries the magma man. akainu counters, taking off half of his head with one swipe but it doesn't stop WB a bit as he unleashes another attack on him, not only putting down the admiral but cutting the plaza in half, separating him from the other pirates. sengoku is astonished that the pirate still has such power left.

the pirates flee to their ships, while hancock voices her worry for luffy to her snake. whitebeard continues to rampage through the plaza when all eyes turn to the crumbling HQ as a massive figure looms behind it. then someone catches sight some someone on the scaffolding, as WB and sengoku recognize the group: blackbeard and his crew, now with new members from impel down.



THOUGHTS

damn you oda! damn you for making us love one piece.

it was a great chapter to follow up with one of the saddest moments in manga. a lot of people thought that luffy would uses his pain and unlock some uber powers and own akainu. not me. i knew better. luffy just lost his brother he went thru hell (or five levels of hell) trying to save. he'd be in no condition to fight anyone.

also, whitebeard shows us why he's friggin whitebeard! not only did he pwn akainu and cut the plaza in half, but he did it with half his skull missing. pissing off mr. newgate is not a good idea.

and its great to see teach and his boys back. and he's got some new nakama too. they all look like interesting people but it might be a while before we get to see who they are and what they can do.

sadly, no one piece for two weeks. so we will have to do.

so that was THIS WEEK IN MANGA. hope you enjoyed and tune in next week for more reviews. later.