To be fair, TES’s tone seems slightly more consistent in the last two chaps. At least it doesn’t give me whiplash as much. Still not really getting into the story though; despite the tonal shifts, the narration actually feels weirdly flat. Like someone is just reading the story to me instead of letting me immerse.
Didn't read Nine Dragons because I have no interest in baseball.
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Monster #8 is fantastic. Solid all around.
Phantom Seer still has amazing art, but the storytelling is pedestrian. Especially when Jujutsu Kaisen is tackling a similar premise with oodles more personality and grit.
The Elusive Samurai is displaying the less palatable tendencies of the author. I definitely think it's a lot more uneven than both of his previous works, but at least it's got a somewhat unique flavor. The narrator does talk too much though.
Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin is now "just another battle manga". Shame. I think they could have kept the lighthearted humor of the earlier chapters, or capitalized on the mystique of the ocean-world and the cultist antagonists.
Sakamoto Days has just shown us its best fight so far. Boiled's bouncy bombs and rocket gloves are frickin' cool and I hope he sticks around.
Witch Watch is super cute! Like I expected Niko to be more of a bumbling idiot who gets into mishaps her childhood friend has to bail out her from, so it's actually nice that she isn't a useless load. Niko is cute. Looking forward to when they start going to school.
Mashle knows what it's good at and keeps on doing it. Dude knows how to trash talk.
i tell c, I'm not too hot about. We understand a bit more about what makes Aoi tick, but it's going to need to make the cases themselves interesting.
Edited by fillerdude on Feb 14th 2021 at 9:13:30 AM
So, issue no. 12!
Front color: Undead Unluck (first anniversary)
Center color: Kuuronzu Ball Parade (chapter 2), Dr. Stone, Chounouryokusha Inou-san (oneshot by Kuge Tsubasa)
Random placement: Witch Watch (chapter 3), I tell C (cahpter 4), Nigejouzu no Wakagimi (chapter 5)
1. Boku no Hero Academia
2. Jujutsu Kaisen
3. Boku to Roboco
4. Mashle
5. Black Clover
6. Yozakura-san Chi no Daisakusen
7. Sakamoto Days
8. Ayakashi Triangle
9. Hakaishin Magu-chan
10. Koukousei Kazoku
11. Honomieru Shounen
12. Shakunetsu no Niraikanai
13. Build King
No One Piece this week.
I’m still not sure what to think of Elusive Samurai… I feel there’s a slight improvement, but not quite enough to sell me on it completely yet.
Edited by Lyendith on Feb 21st 2021 at 11:10:15 AM
Sakamoto seems to be doing pretty well in the rankings, wonder how the volume sales will be. Build King crash and burn, it seems. Never really caught my interest, to be honest.
Edited by jun_kagami on Feb 21st 2021 at 5:34:42 PM
i tell c: So I'm guessing that this series is aiming more towards a Psychological Thriller than a straight Mystery Fiction, with the specific cases just being an excuse to create dangerous situations for the protagonists to get caught up into. I like the characters well enough to continue, but I think they could have done better with the mystery angle of the whole thing.
The ferris wheel shot in Sakamoto was badass. I think it’ll be here to stay.
Kinda disappointed Build King isn’t doing so hot.
i tell c is honestly boring.
Edited by fillerdude on Feb 21st 2021 at 6:12:09 AM
The Head of the Hydra
I feel like Build should have started like Toriko and just go straight to the experienced working instead of doing the usual "Start from the beginning with 2 newbs getting their license."
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Re Sakamoto Days: I wonder if they're going to expand more on Sakamoto's changing forms. Like, how would the story have been different if Sakamoto simply got the wife and daughter but remained physically the same as he did before.
Edited by Adept on Feb 21st 2021 at 9:19:23 PM
I think it has more to do with the central gimmick. Food is way more relatable a topic than carpentry is.
The Head of the Hydra
True.
Making the world revolve around food makes sense because everyone wants food. But making the entire world revolve around architecture and carpentry doesn't really work as well.
Edited by slimcoder on Feb 21st 2021 at 6:57:44 AM
"I am Alpharius. This is a lie."
Could be related the the author having a construction company before return to making manga.
E.T technically is a Isekai movie
Didn't really pay attention to Build King, but isn't it that the protagonist doesn't build stuff but just fights instead?
Doesn't sound like a good match of worldbuilding and characterization.
-sigh- Lost passwords...
Looks like this week's Roboco gag is BLEACH. Now I'm trying to find out what "Bostov" (what Yuzu called Kon) means, to see if it's relevant to the gag.
Build King: It's revealed this week that our hero simply has been putting too much power into construction for the wimpy materials he had. So he a) will have to learn to moderate his "vigor" output and b) must find stronger components to work with.
Ready to see true darkness
That did just went straight to slasher territory, yes. I'm actually curious how Aioi's criminal obsession would play out against a complete psychopath with no perception of love and emotions. Most of the culprits thus far gets so creeped out by her Stalker with a Crush behaviour that they turn themselves in, or gets distracted enough for her allies to come and arrest them. A Jason-like monster would probably just stab her the moment she comes near.
Nine Dragons reveals its initial plot arc: Find seven or so other misfits who are good at baseball but can't or won't be on a normal team.
A full baseball roster has 25 players.
That's a pretty big initial cast. For purposes of manga, teams can usually start playing when they get the minimum on-field quota.
Sports manga teams never have enough players. Eyeshield 21, for instance, had the entire team play both sides of the ball and STILL need a couple of extras to fill out the line.
Ready to see true darkness
@Witch Watch: Hopefully, Niko's friends can balance her out a bit, because her constant pining for Morihito was getting a bit much. Doesn't help that Morihito himself isn't doing it for me.
@i tell c: The manga's tone still seems really unfocused (and I'm the guy who disagrees when people say the same about Ayakashi Triangle), but it at least has some pretty funny moments, especially those sidebars. (What kind of cliffhanger was that last chapter, anyway? Aioi was being attacked, but there were several people right next to her she could be defended by.)
@The Elusive Samurai: I could come to like this band of murder children. The "Where is this going?" question also applies here, but there's enough surreal/interesting stuff to keep me around for quite a while.
@Sakamoto Days: VHS rental stores still exist, but solely as a front for criminal enterprise. Good world-building.
Shoseki ranks came out. JJK at #1, unsurprisingly. CSM at #3, Mashle at #6, We Never Learn at #9, and Undead Unluck at #10.
Nice.
-sigh- Lost passwords...
Editor of Posts
What is Shoseki?
Ready to see true darkness
It is a website
that compiles publicized information from several bookstores to make daily best-seller lists.
Here is a graphic list of Thursday's new Shonen Jump releases. We won't get estimation of units sold for a while longer.
If you take out the 14 backlog issues of Jujutsu Kaisen (most of which are selling about the same), the list would be a lot closer together:
1. Jujutsu Kaisen 15
3. Chainsaw Man 11
5. Mashle 5
7. We Never Learn 21
10. Undead Unluck 5
13. Ayakashi Triangle 3
19. Mission: Yozakura Family 7
53. Magu-chan: God of Destruction 3
117. Our Blood Oath 2
Edited by thatother1dude on Mar 5th 2021 at 8:17:00 AM
Nine Dragons got my curiosity piqued with that ending, so that's interesting.
Elusive Samurai pretty much lost me with its wobbly tonal shifts.
Witch Watch is kinda cute and funny so far, and I know the author is good at ramping up the feels when he wants to, so I hope the series lasts long enough so it gets a chance to flex.
Phantom Seer is actually kinda interesting by now, though I'm still not exactly a fan.
Cop & Dolphin feels like it is wrapping up, tbh. Shame, but I guess I was in a minority preferring the whacky humor of the early chapters.
Sakamoto Days is just really fun so far and has a lot of heart already. Quite the favorite.
I picked up Monster #8 and now I'm mad I didn't do it LATER so that it would take longer to run out of chapters to read. Urgh...
Edited by BrainBlowX on Feb 14th 2021 at 3:03:56 AM
-sigh- Lost passwords...