Naruto 689-692
Weekly Manga Review (belated… with even MORE SPOILERS!)
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Author: lostinreality248
Weekly Manga Review (SPOILERS!)
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Sasuke is almost caught by the lava floor (thumbs up to those early childhood memories) but Naruto saves him just in time, while Naruto’s clone helps Kakashi and Sakura secure Obito from the wall. Sasuke explains that the reason they’re both able to do it is because of Sage of Six Paths’ blessing, just as Kaguya creates a dimensional door behind them and grabs them by their chins. To their surprise, she’s crying – what worse a thing is there for a mother to kill her own children (the analogy being that Naruto and Sasuke are reincarnations of her two sons – Sage of Six Paths had a brother, remember?)? She summons Black Zetsu again, which is seeping Naruto’s and Sasuke’s chakra and explains the true story behind the entire conflict between the shinobi – starting from the strife between the Uchiha and Senju all the way to the capturing of the Bijuu by the Akatsuki.
He explains how it was Kaguya’s two sons, Hagoromo and Hamura, that sealed her away when she became threat to humanity, and that Juubi’s body became the core of the Moon and that Kaguya’s body was part of that of Juubi’s. He talks how he changed the content on Sage’s tablet which initially aimed at explaining more powerful techniques for the purpose of bringing peace, turning it into Infinite Tsukyomi being the salvation of the Uchiha. He explains how Madara survived the deadly fight with Hashirama (using a sneaky Izanagi), how Akatsuki was really created (there have been so many creators of this organization…), how all the planning was put forward to revive Kaguya.
Naruto, however, breaks free from the grasp of Black Zetsu and frees Sasuke, saying it wasn’t just Black Zetsu who has written the history of the shinobi and that Kaguya, as a mother figure, should be proud that her children have become independent. Zetsu says that they’re too rebellious and don’t stand a chance against Kaguya. And apparently there’s another technique that Naruto and Sasuke can (and have to) use.
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Yhwach summons a pillar of light and telepathically thanks Ichigo on making it to Seiretei, going as far as calling him a “Saviour” because of his armour, the “King’s Key”. Yhwach explains that the armour is made from the bones of Zero Division, which is why Ichigo was able to enter Seireitei from Zero Division’s headquarters without a scratch (even though there are 72 barriers put forward) due to the King’s Key’s amazing defensive properties and how breaking through all the barriers prevents them from being closed for 6000 seconds (because saying 100 minutes is obviously too hard…). As Ichigo realises the weight behind this, he dashes towards Yhwach but is stopped by the Sternritters that surround him. One comments on Ichigo’s sturdiness as he flies unscathed even after taking a blow from Meninas. As he’s about to be shot, Ichigo is saved by Renji. With Rukia, Byakuya, Ikkaku, Yumichika and Tousen, he promises to not let anyone get in the way of Ichigo defeating Yhwach.
Area D: Inou Ryouiki 1-10
Written by Nanatsuki Kyouichi and illustrated by Yang Kyung-Il, this manga was published by Weekly Shonen Jump from March 2012 (still ongoing…?) tells the story of Satoru Ida, who’s sent to an island called “Area D”, with “D” standing for “Death” (as opposed to “Dream” when first introduced). He’s sent there because he’s an “Altered” – a person who has mysteriously developed special powers after being exposed to the flash of a supernova 12 years ago. The Altered are seen as a threat to humanity because of their powers, and those who are caught are sent to Area D. On the ship there, Ida makes friends with an S rank Altered, Jin (S rank Altered being even more of a threat to others), Kaito Yuuki and Rio Ibuki. They befriend Mariko, too, by freeing her from a haunted cell on the ship, and avoid getting killed by an overly angry officer in disguise through collaboration of everyone’s powers (except Yuuki’s, his are still to be revealed).
They arrive at Area D and are sent in one by one, though Jin promises everyone that they’ll make it through as a team – something he strongly sticks to throughout the story so far, saying that it’s important to not forget being human even if one is an Altered.
Weekly Manga Review (SPOILERS)
Shingeki no Kyojin 58
Backstory
Shingeki no Kyojin (jp. “Attack on Titan”) is a manga series written and illustrated by Hajime Isayama from September 2009. An anime adaptation of it has been made, consisting of two seasons 12 episodes each. The story is set in an era equivalent to our industrial revolution and revolves around Eren, a teenage boy, and his friends Mikasa and Armin as their town is destroyed by titans – gigantic human-like creatures that threaten the humanity. Witnessing his mother’s death at a hand of one of the titans, Eren decides to join the Military Force – an organisation which trains humans how to kill titans using special 3D-manouver gear. Together, the trio makes more friends in the military as they join the Scouting Squad (a detachment of the Military Force specialising in external intel collection and fight) and train to avenge their fallen comrades.
Fastforward to Now
Eren and Historia (the heir to the throne of the human realm in the story) have been abducted during a mission that was supposed to make them appear as having been abducted (oh, the irony…) with the intent of revealing Historia as the true heir and changing the government structure, with Captain Levi being forced to flee for his life as his father, ex-Scouting Squad expert strategist and weapons master, chases after him with pure intent to kill. Hiding in an inn, Levi uses his surroundings to his advantage as he creates enough distraction to escape his enemies. Levi rejoins with Mikasa, Armin and the crew and explains the situation and the team is forced to leave the town as they’re being chased by Levi’s father’s lackeys, one of which catching Jean off-guard and… a smear of blood is all that we know happened.
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With a timely Summoning Jutsu, Sasuke saves himself and Naruto with his giant hawk, while Kakashi saves himself and Sakura by using a spare scroll as rope attached to the ceiling by a kunai, also saving Obito with another kunai through his hand. Sasuke stresses that it’s him and Naruto that are the only ones who need to survive and defeat Kaguya, since they’re the only ones able to do so with their Yin and Yang power – Sakura and Kakashi just happened to be nearby and got mixed up in the battle. Naruto points out that his body “just moved”, quoting Sasuke from long time ago – he had the urge to protect his friends without thinking about it. As the scroll burns down, Naruto moves to save Kakashi and Sakura while Sasuke protects them from Kaguya’s needle hair, and finds out he can float in the air like Madara could earlier. The black rods that kept the previous Hokage down dissipate and they move to join in the fray, too, as Naruto and Kaguya clash with a fierce explosion.
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The battle continues, with Ichigo going as far to avoid killing the Quartet as to tell Candice to dodge his Getsuga Juujinshou, though she’s having none of it and ends up losing an arm. She calls for Giselle to heal her and does, in fact, get an arm reattached (from one of the Shinigami corpses below). Before the Quartet can do anything, though, Bazz B shoots them all down with Burner Finger 1, though with not enough force to kill them. More Sternritters arrive and they all agree that only one of them can take the honours for killing Ichigo, instead of working together and splitting the share of glory between them (how typical of humans…). meanwhile, Emperor Bach orders for the “Key”, and as his second hand summons a white cross on the floor, Bach recites a prayer and calls “his sons” to join him.
Another flash of light happens in the far horizon behind Ichigo, and another week must pass before we know what it will lead to.
Weekly Manga Review (SPOILERS!)
Ao no Exorcist 57
Aka “The Blue Exorcist”, the manga is written and illustrated by Kazue Katō, published by Shueisha (Japan) and Viz Media (North America) since April 2009 and is still ongoing. A two-season anime series adaptation was created based on the first 15 chapters that ran from April 2011 until October 2011. While from chapter 16 the manga story clearly deviates from the anime, both productions are decent and worth pursuing, with a movie made in 2012 called “Ao no Exorcist Gekijouban” which follows a side story involving a child demon
Backstory
Rin Okumura is a teenager who has troubles fitting in the society norms, notoriously failing to keep a job and getting into fights very often. He lives with his twin brother, Yukio, and guardian, Father Shiro Fujimoto in a monastery in modern-day world. One day, his bullies ambush him and beat him up, which causes his demonic powers to awaken – he is the son of Satan, the most powerful demon in the world of Gehenna (equivalent to our Hell) from a relationship Satan has made with a human female. As Father Fujimoto sacrifices himself to save Rin from being taken to Gehenna, Rin vows to become an Exorcist to avenge his death. Alongside his brother (who himself has been a hidden Exorcist for many years), Rin makes friends with other trainee Exorcists – Shiemi (whom Rin has a crush on), Ryuji (the perfect rival), Konekomaru (the smartest member of the group), Izumo (the tsundere) and Renzo (the lazy pervert). The team undergoes many adventures as they train themselves in the art of Exorcising demons.
Fast-forward to Now
Renzo turns out to be a spy at the Exorcist Academy, working for Illuminati – an organization aiming to bring Gehenna and Assiah (normal world where the story takes place) together for true unity. He kidnaps Izumo on orders by Dr. Gedouin, who wants to perform experiments on her involving a powerful demon. Rin and the other Exwires set out to bring her back to the Academy, which leads them to the Inari Shrine, a popular yet mysterious tourist attraction. The infiltrate the shrine but are immediately caught by Gedouin and separated into chambers to fight powerful chimaeras one-on-one. Latest chapter sees Konekomaru using his brains in the last moment before being eaten alive to escape, by tricking the chimera into breaking through the wall of the chamber head-first. With help from Kuro (demon cat that became Rin’s pet), Konekomaru escapes and reunites with Yukio who himself tied his chimera down to the ground after swift analysis of the chimera’s properties. As Konekomaru runs to check up on others, he notices Renzo and Gedouin.
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Through Black Zetsu’s strike from behind, Madara’s scream chills the bones of Team 7. As pure chakra flows into him (stolen from all the people caught in the Infinite Tsukyomi), he begins inflating from all the power and his shadows dissipate. Naruto and Sasuke dash out to strike him down while he’s seemingly vulnerable, though Black Zetsu taunts them that he’ll suck their chakra in too just like two bugs flying into fire. He also reveals that it’s what Kaguya did all those centuries ago – cast Infinite Tsukyomi on all humanity, catch them in the Tree of Life’s roots and turn them into her soldiers – the White Zetsu (shocker, because that’s exactly what Madara did when he started the wa in the first place, only until now it was thought that White Zetsu copies were GROWN from the Seed of Life, not transformed from humans). Though he seems like he’s about to burst, Madara is fused with Black Zetsu and turns into (drum roll for more suspense) Kaguya Ootsutsuki herself! The end seems frighteningly close as she changes the environment and Team 7 topples to red-hot lava.
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Ichigo starts battling the Quartet. As the Heilig Pfeil are shot, they demolish the surroundings but Ichigo is unscathed. For once, all four girls are in agreement that they want to kill him, suggesting they always do what they want instead of cooperating. Candice adds to some comic relief as she throws tantrums left and right with Ichigo repelling her attacks with ease (quick and small flash of Getsuga Tenshou), though her Electrocution does seem rather intimidating. With a double Getsuga (Getsuga Juujinshou) the blasts are truly spectacular and next week will tell if they were enough.
Weekly Manga Review (SPOILERS!)
Pandora Hearts 94
Backstory
Pandora Hearts is a manga created by Jun Mochizuki and published by Square Enix (yay!) in Japan and Yen Press in North America. The story revolves around Oz, heir to the house of Vessalius, who’s thrown into an alternative dimension (The Abyss) for crimes he hasn’t committed to the house of Baskerville. He befriends Alice, a girl in the Abyss, and makes a contract with her – Alice is a Chain, a magical creature that can escape the Abyss but only if she’s tied to a human by a contract. However, only contracts mediated by Pandora, an organisation researching the Abyss, are legal. This means that once Oz returns to the human world with Alice, he needs to evade Pandora’s agents while trying to figure out why he was thrown into the Abyss in the first place. With his friends Gilbert, Xerxes Break, Sharon and sister Ada he has many adventures on his quest to find the truth.
Nowadays
Oz turns out to be a chain himself, Gilbert becomes the head of the house of Nightray, Alice has a twin in the Abyss and Xerxes Break is an insanely skilled and experienced fighter. The Tragedy of Sablier which happened 100 years ago was started by Jack Vessalius instead of being prevented by him (in general public’s eyes). Latest chapter sees Oz and the crew chasing after Glen Baskerville who wants to destroy the Abyss to prevent the world destruction. Break is dead, and the Baskervilles decide to run after Oz to help him stop Glen. Sheryl sends her chain, Equus, to aid them as Zwei/Echo freaks out because she wants to be rejoined with Vincent, which starts the crumbling of the dimension.
On the other side, Glen and Gilbert’s brother Vincent encounter yet another chain, Cheshire who was thought to be dead for a long time. Cheshire is the guardian of Alice’s memories, which had the truth hidden about the Abyss and he was seemingly killed as Oz and his friends broke through his defences to find the truth.
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The dreams from everyone caught by the Infinite Tsukyomi are given a glimpse of – Ino’s desire to be fought after by the boys, Chouji’s dream of finding a perfect woman, Hinata’s desire to be with Naruto and so on. The light from the Moon eventually fades once everyone is caught in the technique except for Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura and Kakashi. The Black Zetsu comes up against them to stop them, as does Madara. Although everyone gets ready to fight, Black Zetsu stabs Madara from behind out of all things. Though he was created by Madara, his true nature as the Fox Goddess Kaguya is revealed. The two fuse and Naruto with his friends ready for the worst.
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Ichigo starts fighting with the Qincy Quartet. Candice gets über annoyed for being thrown into a tower and getting her outfit messy (because she’s a girl like that). Litotto remarks that Ichigo is the primary target for all Quincys and to underestimate his power is a stupid thing to do. The Quartet starts the fight properly, activating their true weapons (heart-shaped to shoot intense missiles called Heilig Pfeil, dl. “Holy Arrow”) as Emperor Ywach stands up from the throne. Ichigo points out he’s glad the girls have some fight in them as he’d otherwise feel bad for defeating them.
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