THIS WEEK IN MANGA: i'm back!!

hi guys. i'm back. after some computer trouble, i'm back to review the latest and greatest in manga today. but enough of my problems. time for the manga, starting with fairy tail.



PREVIOUS CHAPTER

the secret of happy and charlie's mission has been revealed and they set off to rescue the others.



FAIRY TAIL CHAPTER 178: BECAUSE I'LL BE BY YOUR SIDE!


we open with the knight's of edoras meeting and discussing the capture of natsu,wendy, and lucy. they suggest that since lucy can produce magic from her body, they can drain her magic indefinately. the emperor speaks, saying that the queen of the exeed has order her execution. the others protest but her word is law. the emperor goes on to say that the dragon slayers can be used as a semi-permanent magic souce, if their experiments turn out ok. the knights cheer and talk about what they will do with their magic while tigerlily looks on dis-approvingly. he attempts to speak to the emperor about it but changes his mind and leaves.

meanwhile, lucy thinks about what she heard about charlie, happy, their mission, their race and their queen. she yells how stupid it is when E-erza appears in front of her cell, commending her understanding of their world. lucy greets her happily as she enters but soon goes back, since she naturally loosened up around erza. she begins to tell her about her world's erza, about how she's part of fairy tail, kind, strong and cool. E-erza ignores her as she drags her out of the cell by her hair, telling her that she isnt that person. she continues, saying that she doesnt seem like the type of person to laugh at others suffering and that she only wanted to save her friends. she tells lucy to be quiet as she lifts up on her spear and holds her over the balcony, telling her that she will die here. lucy still says that her erza wouldnt do this. E-erza calls lucy lucky since she herself loves to watch people suffer and has personally killed many members of fairy tail before letting her fall.

just then, happy and charlie swoop in and save her, surprising both lucy and her would be executioner. she questions why the exeed would save her when their queen gave the order to kill her. charlie says the order is receded. E-erza doesnt believe her and order lucy returned to her. charlie then says that she is the daughter of the empress, which causes the knight to immediately fall to her knees, begging forgiveness. as lucy and happy look on in shock, charlie asks where natsu and wendy are, which E-erza says they are in the basement. she orders their release but the knight says it not in her power. charlie forces her authority on her when pantherlily arrives, yelling that they are "fallen" exeed and fugitives. the trio fly off, as charlie reveals that it was a bluff about her being royality. E-erza is obvious angry at being tricked.

as the guards assemble, charlie asks lucy if she is mad about their mission. she just says that since they came to rescue her, its good. charlie asks why happy is smiling. he answers that since she isnt a princess, he doesnt feel so far from her. lucy notes how close the two have become. their happiness is short lived as a army of flying exeed bear down on them. they prepare to go down to the ground when they see the amassed army of edoras waiting for them.





THOUGHTS

I DONT CARE IF YOU ARE A KILL CRAZY BITCH! I STILL LOVE YOU, ERZA!!!!







ahem. sorry about that. well, this was a good chapter. we see more of how jerky the knights and emperor are but it seems to me that there more to tigerlily than we thought. he seems more honorable than his fellow knights. happy and charlie's relationship has evolved a lot over the last few issues and lucy has pointed this out. but we shall see what's gonna have in the chapter.




lets leave the kitties for now. gimme my ninja action with naruto.




PREVIOUS CHAPTER

the ninja world preps for war.





NARUTO CHAPTER 489: ON THE BRINK OF WORLD WAR!




we open on mount myoboku as gamatora explains to the old sage toad of jiraiya's last wises for naruto. pa toad agrees that naruto should at least be allowed to have the seal. the sage toad asks for naruto to be brought before so he can tell him his future.

meanwhile back at konoha, karin is telling her new captors that she was forced to work from both orochimaru and sasuke and how sorry she is. ibiki says that while she has endured much, he didnt ask for her life story and scolds on of his men for crying at her sob story. karin straightens up and says she will talk but only if she has some food. else where, tsunade, having woken from her coma, is eating a massive amount of food to get her strength back so she can keep her young appearance. when shizune says there is no more food, she eyes ton ton. shizune is horrified at this but the hokage wasnt looking at the pig as kakashi enters. he says he was a second away from being the sixth hokage when she woke up but he's relieved that she is back since he felt he wasnt right for the position at the time. tsunade is still surprised by the ninja aliiance and the fact that the tsuchikage and raikage agreed to it. she asks if madara is really alive, which he confirms by how big the plan is. worried at how the dark fate of uchiha torments everyone, she orders a emergency war meeting after she's done eating.

at ichiraku, sakura informs naruto of tsunade's recovery, which makes him happy. old man ichiraku is so happy, that everyone will eat on the house, with further makes him happy. he offers a meal to sakura but she runs off to tell everyone else the news as naruto prepares to feast. at the war planning meeting, the female elder calls for rations and the names of all able ninja in the village. shikamaru comments that war is really happening while his father is a bit stunned that he was called to the meeting. he tells him to memorize everything that is said in the meeting. just as naruto is able to eat, he is transported to toad mountain where he starts to eat ma toad's cooking. he then gags at the worm soup.

he is taken before the elder toad who forgets his name. naruto reminds him of who he is as he begins to tell naruto his future. he says that he will meet a octopus and that he will fight someone with power in his eyes. naruto says he already knows who that is and that he's prepared to face him when the time comes. he order gamatora to give naruto the key to the fourth's seal. after naruto asks what it is, gamatora informs him that the key will allow him to open and close the seal on the fox, even allowing him to full release the demon if he wanted to. he also says that he could even master "that" jutsu.

as naruto thinks on this, anko and other jounin find victims of kabuto who, according to anko, is becoming more and more like orochimaru. she then wonders if he will go after the leaf or akatsuki first. else where, kabuto appears in madara's hide out, saying that he felt he needed to greet him first. madara says he never thought he would find him, to which he comments that he was a spy for many nations and thus knows a great deal. calling him a traitor to the akatsuki, he jumps at him, as he preforms a jutsu. 5 coffins rise out of the ground. to the shock of madara, they contain the bodies of deidara, nagato, orochimaru, sasori, and itachi. kabuto says that he now knows the edo tensei, surpassing his master's level and the second hokage's. he says that this is merely a display of power to earn his trust, saying that he wants to join madara.




THOUGHTS

well, i'm happy with this chapter. it was a nice build up to the war, seeing everyone take sides. nice to see shikamaru being including on the planning. he could be big in the war. we finally get a better understanding of what the key could do for naruto. also, we still get hinted on what "that" jutsu is. i have a feeling that its his dad's teleporting jutsu but that's just me. nice to see kabutomaru doing something and what a way to make a impression. so now the ninja world is choosing sides.






time to see what that wacky aizen is up to in bleach.





PREVIOUS CHAPTER


aizen sets the record for most bullshit in a single chapter and isshin steps in.





BLEACH CHAPTER 398: BACK FROM BLIND


we open with ichigo seeing his father, in soul reaper mode, standing in front of him and aizen. before he can say anything, isshin head butts him off the roof the building. as he hangs on, isshin comes over and kicks him in the stomach before they flashstep away. aizen comments that it was a wise tactic to gets some distance from him.

elsewhere, isshin holds down ichigo, saying he knows what he wants to say but his son kicks him in the face. he screams that he wasnt asking him questions but that he couldnt breathe. as they both calm down, isshin tells ichigo that he isnt mistaking him for someone else and he agrees with him. isshin tells him that they will talk later since he has a lot of questions for him. ichigo tells him that he understands that if he had a reason for not telling telling, he will tell him when the time is right, mirroring the conversation he had with rukia a while back. he thanks isshin for punching him since it seems to have brought him back. isshin corrects him, saying he headbutted him. he yells that he ruined the somber mood.

aizen says that isshin put up a powerful barrier since he cant sense either of them when gin arrives. he says that he took a long time sightseeing, to which he replies that he didn see a opening or a necessity to jump in. before he can talk more, ichigo attacks gin from behind but he block it with his sword, the shockwave of the attack slicing the building they were on. isshin goes in to attack aizen himself. they clash swords, isshin blows him back but flicking his finger, sending him flying into a few buildings. gin tells ichigo that its been a while since they fought and he wont be holding back, before saying "bankai".







THOUGHTS

well, this chapter almost makes up for the bullshit the week before






almost.


its short but its good. not much to say about it. next week see what gin's bankai is.






hey? you are a pirate. time for one piece.




PREVIOUS CHAPTER

kolby stands up and shanks is on the scene.


ONE PIECE CHAPTER 580: END OF THE WAR


the marines and pirates, including garp, are surprised to see shanks, one of the four emperors, at marine ford and saying he will end the war. he then tosses his strawhat to a still flying buggy, telling him to give it to luffy. he tells him that he has a treasure map just for him in return, which delights buggy. lucky roux then asks if its ok that he doesnt want to see luffy, since its been ten years since he has. as buggy throws the hat to law, shanks says he'd love to see him but right now, it would break the promise they made to each other. akainu tells ao kiji to get luffy as he freezes the ocean but the sub dives out of reach of his ice. kizaru, still under ben beckman's watch, launches a light attack on the sub that misses. he says that if he missed, they should call them lucky and let them go for now. boa hancock, feeling that they are alive, orders the ship she's one to give chase. she then tells them to report to the marines that they, the seven warlords, will pursue luffy.

buggy then yells at shanks for lying about having a treasure map. shanks said it was just a spur of the moment thing and that it was a long time since they seen each other. as they argue, buggy's followers continue to worship him, not knowing the nature of their relationship. buggy then thinks that if he sticks with shanks and his crew, he could get off the island safely. marco approaches him and red hair tells him not to encourage any more fighting and withdraw peacefully. mihawk then starts to leave, saying that his agreement was to fight whitebeard and his allies and that if they fight red hair, the damage will be much higher. shanks adds to this by saying that if anyone else wants to fight, that he and his crew will be more than happy to throw down with them. he locks eyes with blackbeard and sees if he wants to fight. the pirate says he wont, since he got what he wanted, as he and his new crew withdraw.

with that, both sides, pirate and marine alike quietly and calmly, retreat to their respective sides. shanks then says that the world has seen both whitebeard and ace die so he will be taking their bodies for mourning. some of the marines protest this but fleet admiral sengoku agrees to this, ordering for the wounded to be tended. thus the whitebeard comes to a quiet end.




THOUGHTS


wow. just wow.

this was a great ending to a wonderful arc. it had everything: action, drama, suspense, twists, turns, everything. seeing shanks just end the war just being saying "knock it off you guys" shows just how much stroke he has in the world. seeing everyone's faces as they retreat from the battlefield shows the toll it took on everyone. the backlash of this war will be felt for a long time and how luffy will recover from this will be worth reading. too bad we gotta wait two weeks before we find out what happens. damn you oda. you crack dealer, you.






well that's it for this week in manga. turn in next week for more manga goodness. until then...............stay otaku my friends.