branchandroot | Weekly manga roundup

Bleach: *sparkles* Oh, yeah. Hachi kicks so much ass.

Naruto: *sighs* You know, I get a real feeling that when he got to the point of Naruto finding Sasuke and Sasuke refusing to return, he'd written himself into a corner and had no damn idea what to do next. So he faffed around for a while and decided Political Conspiracies and Sasuke finding his brother but there being Deep Political Stuff going on and maybe Naruto could grow up more that way, yeah, but then we've got Sasuke dangling off in space and wth to do with him, and... oh, wait, we'll make him an avatar of the ninja world's bitterness, which is the main 'enemy' now! It feels very muddled and a bit contrived, and is a total and complete departure from the momentum of the first half of the manga. And we know how I feel about that, from Death Note, don't we?

KHR: *squeals* Okay, so we're heading for another useless-frill moment, for which I bear Amano unrelenting grudge, but Uni's position as the arcobaleno boss is still pretty damn cool and at least she gets the classic 'power of the heart' deal. Now if only Tsuna could stop flailing; he's supposed to have grown some, here, everyone else gets what's going on, it's not in keeping that he's flailing /this/ much. Hibari and Squalo rock, though. Really a lot.

Kuroshitsuji: I do like the moral tangle of this manga. There are no perfect choices; often there aren't even any good choices. But choices must be made anyway. Ciel's choice to mercy the children is... very Ciel. I have to wonder if what's really coming isn't some codicil to the Crown-Phantomhive deal, that when the royal watchdog is corrupted or too hardened, as must inevitably happen, they are killed.