MSR April 2024

 

 

 

MSR April 2024

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy this monthly blog, I also put out bi-weekly animated film reviews among other content. Check out my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/kyoukasuigetsu) and Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/kyoukasuigetsu) to support my endeavors. Any contribution is appreciated, even sharing to friends.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Scanlations and official sources both have a place in the community, but buy official manga volumes to support the author. If you can, also subscribe to Crunchyroll and/or Shonen Jump through Viz Media to read chapters nearly simultaneous with Japan. Most, if not all, of the series covered can be found through legal means, so please encourage the industry that gives us what we love

 

Mamayuyu ended this month at 29 chapters, which has become the average versus what used to be called the Under 19 club, like Golem Hearts, Demons Plan, etc

 

 

 

Two On Ice also ended, at 28 chapters, an unfortunate victim of many sports series competing for dominance in a post Haikyuu magazine, the major one standing out likely Akane Banashi (the rakugo one) which is rumored to have an anime adaptation greenlit

And Shadow Eliminators concluded at 19 chapters, meaning it likely wasn’t doing well, since that’s a few months earlier than the other 2.

 

 

We have 2 new series in April, plus one more in May, filling in the gaps left by MamaYuyu, Two On Ice and Shadow Eliminators.

 

First is Astro Royale by Ken Wakui (of Tokyo Revengers fame), which focuses on Hibaru Yotsurugi, the only blood son of a recently deceased yakuza boss. The successor is announced, but a faction favoring Shio, the first adopted son, opposes it, while Hibaru and Terasu, the 12th adopted son, seek to carry on their late father’s legacy. And Hibaru, wanting to represent the yakuza spirit, says Terasu was announced as the one to take over while he will be the shield (even though Hibaru was the one set as the new head). When he wishes on a meteor shower, the pendant he holds is granted the power of Astro. He utilizes it to save Terasu, but we see he isn’t the only one given special abilities, great conflict on the horizon 

 

 

 

Kyokutou Necromance (Far East Necromance might’ve been too wordy?) by Fusai Naba of Aliens Area. Our lead, Kaoru, learns about the existence of shiryo, or death spirits, when his grandma is affected physically and he meets Yoji Amane, a friend of his father’s who explains more. When Kaoru stands up against an amalgamation of shiryo, he finds he can harm them due to a ring his father gave him, linked to their family curse. The ring seals a shiryo that can be used to fight other shiryo, the duty of a Necromancer

 

 

Black Clover 370-371

 

As Lucius prepares the massive spell above the Clover Kingdom, the Black Bulls all provide support to ensure Yuno and Asta can take down Lucius’s real body

 

 

 

We shift over to Morris and Mereoleona’s fight, the scientist mocking the lioness in how she’s reached the limits of human capacity while he continues to surpass them with his new magic. But Fuegoleon arrives and Mereoleona gains a new spell, reviving the souls of her fallen teammates, Morris unable to do anything to her body now fully comprised of mana as she destroys him

 

 

Kyokutou Necromance 1-2

 

Kaoru Uno lives with his grandma after losing his parents. But when weird creatures appear on his grandma, Kaoru is drawn into a world his father was connected to, the Necromancers who combat the death spirits, shiryo, with their own sealed shiryo

 

 

 

After leaving the agency of Amane Yoji, a friend of Kaoru’s father, they spot a shiryo. But Kaoru can’t summon the shiryo in his ring, especially since the person threatened by it is a stranger. He remembers how his grandma was willing to sacrifice to have him stay with her after his father’s passing instead of his abusive aunt and uncle and uses that memory to motivate him. The shiryo’s hunger is shown and it consumes the wild shiryo. Afterwards Amane approves Kaoru and they go the Shiryo Sorcery Society to check on their next mission

 

 

 

Dear Anemone 8-11

 

As Ryuchi, who died by the chameleon monster before, awakens to his regenerated form, Minazuki explains she grew up on the Galapagos, a human raised by wolves. Her Adaptor potential activated when she was faced with imminent danger. The mantis humanoid attacks and it seems she might be pinned, but with her enhanced olfactory senses, she notes a moment of weakness and tears his head off, showing her power

 

 

 

Minazuki tricks Kurokawa into thinking she defeated the mantis monster, so her own abilities are still secret. Meanwhile Lobelia reveals she can produce a highly potent toxin, seemingly weakening Anemone and leaving Hachiue severely wounded.  We learn Lobelia made the honey badger and mantis monsters and even reverted Anemone to the flower form. Someone took Anemone away after Lobelia crushed the flower (possibly Hachiue’s friend Yoshio). She moves to take down Anemone, but Hachiue, more linked to Anemone and using more plant powers, shields him

 

Lobelia flees after Hachiue pins her briefly and Minazuki and Kurokawa arrive soon after, The group finds the data, though it being in Japanese confuses them, indicating there’s more behind the scenes regarding the experiments

 

Ryuchi meets back up with the group after Kurokawa hits him, mistakenly thinking he was an attacker. With the data in hand, everyone just has to wait until the ship returns in a month. Hachiue and Ryuchi decide to keep exploring, while the other 2 stay behind. And the boys meet up with Kurage, another member who seemingly died, but now has been revived and likely possesses jellyfish abilities via adaptation

 

 

 

Shadow Eliminators 17-19 [END]

 

While Togami and Nagito defeat Zen’s 2 generals, Aine isn’t so lucky against Zen, his power too much. She tries one more desperate move and it buys enough time for Aoba to appear, having conquered his Kasane and grown much stronger

 

 

 

The fight between Aoba and Zen begins after Aoba eliminates the giant Kasane, then promising to defeat his older brother for all the suffering he caused while he sat by passively. Their clash leads to Zen’s defeat, but Aoba disappears as the skull from the Otherworld takes him away abruptly

 

2 years have passed and the culture festival is in full swing, Asakaze the president of the committee. He intervenes when a lost kid starts to shows signs of a Kasane invasion. Aine lets slip that Kuromori actually is in the Physical World, Aoba telling Asakaze that Zen let the skull take over his body, and we see that he’s still trying to turn everything into Kasane as his plan was before. And the two continue their adventures into the future

 

 

 

 

Nue’s Exorcist 45-48

 

Nue explains that she needs to train Gakuro and through some white lies, pushes Kazusa to ask Gakuro to train together. Shitotsu and Shiroha will also be involved, everyone wanting to get stronger for the upcoming fight

 

 

 

Gakuro’s training is to master Xenoblade, while Shitotsu, Shiroha and Kazusa are all dealing with their own trials under Nue, the living space more a formality for the overall training experience. The standards are difficult, but Gakuro persists, he and Kazusa having awkward interactions, Kazusa seemingly more casual in spite of the prior indications she might have a crush on Gakuro. And Nue plans to go to the Exorcist Bureau, who are concerned about the Level 4 group’s abilities

 

Kazusa is apparently nervous, hiding it well and when Koga, along with Machida and Tsujita in other training areas, is pulled into the process, subtly hinting something about Kazusa’s past. But everyone jumps into their training and we see improvement, Shiroha unlocking more of Kyokotsu’s power. Afterwards Koga tells Gakuro that Kazusa lost a captain she admired in the past (possibly Gakuro’s father?). The next day, Gakuro is tasked with fighting Moroyoki

 

As the training begins, Moroyoki says he’s going to push Gakuro to the brink, since he’s technically still imprisoned and plans to eliminate Gakuro for associating with Nue. But Gakuro’s strength impresses him and they clash their Hollow Weapons to strengthen Gakuro’s , Moroyoki already at the highest stage with Soul Armor. Meanwhile Nue goes to the Exorcist Bureau. Kazusa explains her past to Gakuro, how she was betrothed to the captain mentioned before. He eventually died and she became closed off to making close friends, sharing that with Gakuro leading to them holding hands

 

 

 

4 Knights of the Apocalypse 144-147

 

Nasiens arrives to stop Mertyl, but even after detoxifying him with a needle infused with his magic, the curse or magic still makes him attack Nasiens. King appears to stop his son, realizing he’s being manipulated as Killbeggan and his allies are scared away when Chastiefol’s massive bear form looms over them. And Nasiens, in spite of his broken arm from Mertyl, tries to get up, Percival’s magic appearing above them

 

 

 

Mertyl rages more with Killbeggan’s magic still affecting him, Diane forced to confront him, while Sixtus and King deal with Killbeggan and his minions. King’s Chastiefol allows him to deal with Killbeggan’s magic, still not as powerful as Merlin (ironic since he replaced Merlin in Camelot), Diane ready to endure Mertyl’s anger and Sixtus approaching the minions at the tree

 

Killbeggan tells King the curse on Mertyl is powerful enough only the Drug of Yore can cure it. Meanwhile, Diane takes Mertyl’s rage, while Zena and Zilian, the two giantess daughters, bring Gideon, Diane’s Sacred Treasure. Diane refuses, walking towards Mertyl, eventually embracing her adoptive son. She explains how they were sad about losing their child, but saw the need to care for this child swapped in its place. King even gave Mertyl the drug of Yore, but it didn’t work, unable to transform him. Yet all of Mertyl’s siblings recognize him as their brother regardless

 

In the aftermath, Mertyl’s vulnerability to the Fairy Forest atmosphere resumes, Nasiens and Tioreh unable to get out of King’s Pollen Garden barrier. Sixtus is overpowering his foes, even as they merge. But then he’s injured by the intervention of Worreldane, the White Knight, who impales Sixtus, saying that he also doesn’t like to bully the weak, but will in this case

 

 

 

My Hero Academia 419-421

 

We learn All For One manufactured the situations leading up to Shigaraki’s present situation, particularly that his own innate Quirk was replaced with a modified form of Decay, only meant to create destruction, which would further seed his hatred to take down One For All in the future. Deku is pushed out into the present, losing both his arms in the process. But thankfully others in Class 1-A arrive to help and Aizawa as well via Kurogiri’s portal

 

 

 

Aizawa and Present Mic struggle to get Kurogiri to warp them, apparently winning him over offscreen. They get assistance from other Heroes, dealing with the straggling problems in the process, resuming where we left off at them helping Deku, including Eri’s horn, which restores Deku’s arms

 

The unified front stands against All For One’s assault, Deku still the main target even though he only has embers of One For All at this point. Everyone encourages him to press on

 

 

MSR March 2024

 

 

 

MSR March 2024

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoy this monthly blog, I also put out bi-weekly animated film reviews among other content. Check out my Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/kyoukasuigetsu) and Ko-Fi (https://ko-fi.com/kyoukasuigetsu) to support my endeavors. Any contribution is appreciated, even sharing to friends.

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Scanlations and official sources both have a place in the community, but buy official manga volumes to support the author. If you can, also subscribe to Crunchyroll and/or Shonen Jump through Viz Media to read chapters nearly simultaneous with Japan. Most, if not all, of the series covered can be found through legal means, so please encourage the industry that gives us what we love

 

While I was never as dedicated as others were to his works, Akira Toriyama’s influence on anime worldwide cannot be understated. Dragon Ball Super will be on hiatus, the future of Daima and the continuation of Super’s anime are unclear.

 

But a little recommendation from yours truly: Sandland, a 1 volume work by Toriyama in 2000, had a movie last year, but if you want a more extended and bingeable version, the anime series is on Netflix, though only the first 7 episodes, the remaining 6 will come out later.

 

 

 

 

 

Dear Anemone 3-7

 

Hachiue manages to utilize some of Anemone’s power, striking at the core of what is a giant basket star to save the others. But when they arrive at the laboratory’s ruins, they find stairs to a basement, something ambushing them from behind.

 

The attacker is a honey badger humanoid. It explains how it killed most of the team, Hachiue’s friend potentially still alive. But after Hachiue attacks, finding the honey badger skin too tough, something else kills it and is chastised by a woman who recognizes Anemone

 

While Minazuki, another person involved in the mission, shows they’re willing to let Hachiue deal with dangers so they can get the data, we shift over to Hachiue, seen as not human by the mysterious woman, named Lobelia (another flower!). She wants to experiment on Hachiue, their compatibility something intriguing to her researcher tendencies. But Anemone says they regard Lobelia poorly and it seems there may be a fight

 

Lobelia and Anemone clash as we see Lobelia was involved with a professor who was noticing changes on the island 50 years ago, the explosion possibly part of his ongoing research. Lobelia was the first to be created, but seen as a failure, Anemone made 40 years later and regarded as a success, which explains the present hostility, even malevolence according to Lobelia

 

We see Lobelia does resent Anemone, a contrast to the general idea that plants don’t feel emotion, not even possessing a central nervous system. As that fight continues, we see Minazuki and Kurokawa fight the mantis monster sent by Lobelia, Minazuki revealing they were already melded with monster cells, transforming as we shift to one of the humans killed early on, now alive, having adapted as well

 

 

 

Shadow Eliminators 12-16

 

We learn the drug Rindo used is made from mixing brain matter from failed Kasane and Thread essence. Aoba’s brother, Zen, mocks Aoba for using a weaker version of the Unmasking Jutsu he has inscribed on his body, Aoba’s concentrated into earrings. Asakaze is wounded badly, Togami telling Nagito. The chain is broken on Aoba’s Kasane and Zen’s plan to overlap the two worlds is made clear. The trio unleashes their own Kasane forms, while Aoba appears to go berserk. A group of Eliminators arrive to provide support

 

 

 

The group is called the Shadow Servants and one of Zen’s helpers explains that anyone who has been killed and come back to life has a link to the otherworld and formed a natural Kasane. Aoba’s granny intervenes to help Asakaze, also saying she’ll reveal the secrets behind the Kuromori siblings (Aoba and Zen) to the Shadow Servants. The battle is resolved offscreen, Zen’s group, dubbed the Outsiders, having escaped and Aoba captured. Asakaze wakes up after 3 days of recovery and asks Aoba to tell him his story

 

Aoba tells of how he and Zen were taken in as children to a cult that worshipped the Otherworld. Their caretaker, Seri, helps encourage Aoba in spite of his ineptness in training. We learn she’s working with the Shadow Servants as an undercover agent. Zen discovers the skull, which has been communicating in some way, Agami, the cult leader, wanting to discern its secrets to achieve the power from the Otherworld. Aoba and Zen are descendants of the skull’s body before it expired and the brothers are linked to the Otherworld, forcibly made Kasane, the power enchanting Zen, who then killed Seri

 

 

Zen explains how the Unmasking Jutsu allows them to turn their bodies into Kasane, viewing the religion they were raised in as true in saying how weak humans are. Aoba was then isolated by his own choice for 5 years and then eventually started to train as an Eliminator. Asakaze refuses to let Aoba hide himself away and Aoba’s master appears, saying they need to start training

 

Aoba’s kindness is said to be a weakness by his master; that he has to learn to save himself instead of only thinking about others. We see the Outsiders unleash Kasane seeds, forcibly transforming people in Moribe, starting the plan to merge the Otherworld and human world. The Shadow Servants manage to intervene, facing off against Zen and his forces, while Aoba trains

 

 

 

 

 

Nue’s Exorcist 40-44

 

Gakuro and Shitotsu finish off the Level 3 and regroup with Kazusa and Shiroha, who direct them to help Kyokotsu fight the 3 supporters of the Level 4. The master, Yagyo, appears and defeats Kyokotsu’s clone, though Kyokotsu manages to bind the 3 girls serving Yagyo and Gakuro is left to face Yagyo himself

 

 

 

Yagyo explains that the Level 3 that Gakuro killed was named Tsucchi, seeing him as an important ally. But as Gakuro stands off against Yagyo, Karasu Tengu is turned to Yagyo’s side somehow. Kazusa tries to help in spite of Gakuro warning her to leave with the others and she’s injured, Gakuro going into a sort of rage. And Nue breaks into the barrier, having regained her strength

 

Gakuro is unable to keep fighting, but Igari, a captain, manages to occupy Yagyo, Nue telling her contractor he needs to rest for now, horribly injured from the battle. He still insists on going to fight Yagyo anyway, slashing the item he was giving to an ally that opened up a portal for escape, promising that he’ll take Yagyo down, the Level 4 accepting as we learn they also had a Hollow Weapon

 

In the aftermath, Gakuro learns Shitotsu has transferred into his class, meeting up with Igari after school at Takuro’s grave. He’s chastised for still blaming himself and thinking he’s automatically on the level of a Captain with his accomplishments. But when he says he will persevere, Igari acknowledges his potential and Gakuro tells Shitotsu the same afterwards

 

 

 

Yagyo meets a group of Level 4 Spirits, plotting to stop Nue and release the other Hyo. Meanwhile Shitotsu is making friends easily, but at home she’s trying to connect with Gakuro, apologizing for how distant she was, blaming herself for their separation. Gakuro promises to be stronger and we see Nue plans to train Gakuro harder to deal with the Level 4s

 

 

 

4 Knights of the Apocalypse 141-143

 

Mertyl stands off against Kilbeggan, a mage serving Arthur. Sixtus, the 2nd oldest, intervenes, sending the mage into retreat. He tells Mertyl they were looking for the Drug of Yore, only King able to acquire it. Nasiens talks to Percival’s sleeping body, King approaching him with a subtle line suggesting that Nasiens is the lost 1st child. He explains the nature of spirits and how the Tunnel of Whispers allows people to hear the voices clearly. And while Percival may be able to hear Nasiens, King says he has a gift for Nasiens later

 

 

 

Diane and Tioreh discuss whether Nasiens could be the long lost child, Tioreh worried it means Mertyl isn’t really her brother anymore and runs away crying. Mertyl misunderstands King giving Nasiens the Drug of Yore to help Percival as a betrayal. Nasiens tells King he can’t take it and that Mertyl should get it instead, while Mertyl, upset, is targeted by Kilbeggan to be manipulated

 

Mertyl is offered help by Killbeggan, revealing himself to be a lizard man, a failed creation of a mage (from Belialuin?). The shared struggle and deceptive presentation about Arthur’s kingdom convinces Mertyl. Meanwhile, King and Diane discuss Nasiens and the other kids learn he is their brother, Sextus noting King offering the Drug of Yore to Nasiens. And Tioreh is attacked by Mertyl, now consumed by jealousy

 

 

 

 

My Hero Academia 416-418

 

Eri is told by Ectoplasm they can’t evacuate until the system is repaired and Kota assures her that Deku has inspired many people, including himself. And others speak on the situation, Uraraka’s condition critical. Deku manages to pierce into Shigaraki’s consciousness, likely dealing with his trauma at the family house directly

 

 

Deku and the other vestiges, minus Nana, confront Shigaraki, in the form of a dark Deku phantasm. Nana manages to get in and sees how she hurt her son, Shigaraki’s father, embracing him as Deku tries to stop Shigaraki, in the form of a child himself

 

Deku appears to break past Shigaraki’s defenses slightly, but the memories start to become more fragmented and confused, including Tenko’s father as what appears to be All For One trying to take back Shigaraki’s body