WSR 9-2-13

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Magi 195

We’re reminded immediately at the beginning of this chapter that the four other Metal Vessel users of the Seven Seas alliance, besides Sinbad himself, have been assembled. All of the heads of those countries in Sinbad’s alliance comment that Sinbad didn’t call all of his alliance together, some of the countries in a non assimilation state, which I’d assume means they’re not on call all the time; it’s unclear. They also say this could be dangerous, because Sinbad, according to them, should have all his countries at readiness to fight for him. We then find out the Djinn these countries’ heads use: Vassago, Alloces, Cerberus, and Forneus.

The household members who appear less human use powerful attacks on the medium and Alibaba comments that one of them is Drakon. Morgiana thinks she might become like that too, but Yunan advises against it. Once one achieves assimilation, presumably with their Household vessel, they can’t become human again. Even in Alma Toran, they called it the ultimate measure. But Morgiana says she wants to become stronger. She then flies away with her Metal Vessel, which means Yunan wasn’t helping her. Alibaba says it’s dangerous, but Yunan responds it’ll be okay.

Sinbad then comments it’s been a while since Yunan showed up and he’s suspicious of what Yunan taught Morg. What she’s doing is maintaining the heat around her chains and making a shape so that the heat along with the air will allow her to fly/glide. And if she changes the shape of the chains, she can gain a powerful weapon as well. She wraps the chains around the enemy and the power is much greater than the last time.

It seems like the Borg of the medium is stronger than before, Gyokuen even saying they can’t hope to break it, but cracks start appearing.  Sinbad states that the principle of Sindria is noninterventionist, not attacking and not starting unnecessary wars. But they will be defensive if an enemy enters their territory.

They still need to break through, but suddenly Mu appears, shattering it with Barbatos. He explains Scheherazade transferred most of the troops away in the retreat, so they’re safe. And he brought the other Metal Vessel users from Reim, though one of them still can’t use Djinn Equip, meaning he’s a bit pathetic, since even Alibaba can use it and he’s one of the newer ones. 

Alibaba says they need to use all their strength, but Koumei says their magoi is at its limit. But Scheherazade’s other clone can use the same Extreme Magic that Titus, her other clone, used, releasing all the accumulated magoi at once. She does so and restores everyone’s magoi, since she had an immense amount, probably much bigger than Titus’. Everyone then starts to prepare their Extreme Magic and Al Sarmen’s members near the site are infuriated that things turned out this way. With 13+ Metal Vessel users, the huge seal has nearly all the points occupied, which is amazing. The chapter ends with the medium’s body seemingly disintegrating from the attacks, so it looks like things have finally turned out in the end for Aladdin’s group’s victory

World Trigger 28

Miwa’s group sees one of Tachikawa’s group use Bail Out, concluding it can’t be Jin, since a Black Trigger isn’t equipped with that

Narasaka and Kodera are shocked that Jin managed to kill someone, but Narasaka thinks it’s not like Jin to do that

Meanwhile, Kitora and Yosuke are fighting and Kitora taunts Yosuke that one of their side was defeated.

Jin moves to attack, while Kazama and Utagawa prepare for stealth combat to aid the snipers. Jin fires off some more of his Fujin attacks. Utagawa’s revealed to have what Jin calls a Chameleon Trigger.

Kazama then explains Jin’s Black Trigger ability. He’s able to transmit his slash through objects to anywhere he can see. He has a limited number though and once he runs out, he’ll have to reload, so that’s the moment they have to strike. The snipers are commanded to give covering fire, and ignore hitting their fellow members.

Tachikawa further explains that the danger is in the remote attacks. In close range, it’s supposedly the same as other blades.

Jin is seemingly cornered by Tachikawa and one of the Snipers even says that Tachikawa’s better at swordsmanship. But Jin uses Fujin to attack Tachikawa from above, since he’s in an enclosed area, which makes the targets for Fujin much bigger. He then attacks Tachikawa with even more blades, downing him.

Kazama and Utagawa then do a team attack, Utagawa saying Jin’s down to zero. Kazama uses a blade from his foot that attacks Jin from below, trapping his foot. Tachikawa then reveals he’s still able to fight, planning to attack through Kazama to get to Jin, pinned as he is.

Kazama then notes that Jin used 6 blades on Tachikawa and one on Utagawa before that. That leaves one out of his 8 left, so he’s trying to figure out when he used it. But then Jin cuts through both Kazama’s leg, freeing himself, and Tachikawa’s arm, saving himself from the attack. He saw their attacks coming and set the trap in the enclosed space of the garage they’re fighting in. The chapter ends with him complimenting them, saying that they could beat a Black Trigger, but with Jin’s Side Effect of foresight and Fujin’s attack variables, he’s just too good for them.

Excellent chapter, getting to the level of many other shounen fighting series.

Bleach 547

After over a month of waiting, Bleach has returned and with color pages. We see Ichigo preparing to leave and then the situation shifts back to Soul Society, where Seireitei is disappearing right under people. So Kubo qualified something that was bothering me for a while: Seireitei itself is disappearing, but not the people in it, so it’s a spatial and temporal alteration, the people themselves not affected, at least not on Soul Society’s side.  I’m a bit worried Ichigo may still need to go through the other two palaces before arriving, but I guess that’ll give him a chance to have his moment of saving the day like he did before.

Some of the major captains and vice captains notice this, including Shunsui and Nanao, Shunsui fairly stunned at this, though cool headed. We shift to 13th Division where Kiyone and Sentarou find Ukitake meditating or the like

Back at 12th division, Kiyosu and Akon are fighting over the conflict of trusting their instruments that things are disappearing versus their instruments still being here. The scene around them changes to the Wandenreich’s Shadow empire, the instruments disappearing.

Juhabach then explains that after the war 1000 years ago, the Quincy retreated to Soul Society and using the free flowing reishi there, concealed themselves in the shadows, though the exact explanation suggests this is more like a world in a different dimension than Soul Society, but technically in Soul Society itself, a shadow of sorts. Askin Nakk Le Varr further explains by saying since there’s so much reishi in Soul Society, they were able to build up their power for all this time.

And Jugram finishes the explanation by saying they never broke through the Shakonmaku surrounding Seireitei, they were already within Seireitei in the shadow world they created. Jugram then reveals his specific rank, Grandmaster of the Stern Ritter and direct liaison to Juhabach, the Emperor. Shunsui then responds in kind with his rank, recent as it is. He then asks why they’re not drawing this battle out and Jugram responds that Juhabach asked him and the others to finish this battle swiftly, exterminating everyone.

Back at 12th division, some of 12th division’s members ask where the Quincy appeared from, Askin condescends a bit, reiterating that he didn’t appear from anywhere, since he was technically there, just not in the present world. He even asks whether they’re really as smart as they say. Mayuri then speaks, explaining a bit more about the nature of the “shadow world” and that he had theorized the Wandenreich had something to do with the shadows, so he made his personal laboratory unable to cast any shadows. He and Nemu come out in what are cringe inducing outfits, presumably to further generate light. Mayuri criticizes the illogic of making a shadow world, but then says he’s not above defying logic himself. The battle between them then initiates as he says he’ll show Askin whether they’re as smart as they say they are or not.

The chapter concludes as Bazz-B uses his fire powers to attack unseated officers, but then ice freezes it as Toushirou and Rangiku appear, saying they have to stop him.

I’m confused at the ice powers coming back, since supposedly Toushirou lost his Bankai. I’m wondering if he retained Shikai somehow, or if something else is responsible. This kind of inconsistency would be glaring if there isn’t an explanation at some point, though at the same time, we didn’t get exact qualifications about the extent of power loss with the medallions stealing Bankai.

A nice set up chapter and I hope we get to see Kisuke’s strategies being put to use, though he, Isshin and other participants not in Soul Society are going to have to get there eventually

Naruto 645

Minato continues to reminisce about how much Naruto resembles his mother and suddenly Naruto’s chakra from Kurama gets a huge boost and he leaps forward to attack. But he’s reminded by Tobirama that only sage attacks will work on Obito. He then talks to Kurama in his inner world and Kurama says he may be able to enter sage mode from his present state. Back when they were confronting Pain Nagato, their chakras started to intertwine while Naruto was in sage mode, so now they’re compatible. It’s also revealed that Kurama was helping Naruto during sage training, preventing him from becoming a frog with his own chakra’s power. So now Kurama is releasing a sort of seal and letting Naruto use sage techniques while tapping into Kurama’s chakra

Naruto and Minato then team up to power a giant Rasengan and use Naruto’s sage techniques on it. Tobirama then teleports them to fight Obito, Obito blocking it and neutralizing the attack, though their attack does push him to his limits as well, it seems.

Tobirama comments that using the Hiraishin is difficult, because they’re telegraphing it too much. Naruto then decides to add the sage technique to the Tailed Beast bomb, asking Minato’s Kurama for help as well.

Sasuke, meanwhile, is astounded at Naruto’s growth, suggesting that he and Naruto are still worlds apart in terms of at least raw power.

Obito then decides to move his Infinite Tsukuyomi forward, summoning out the Juubi itself, sending shockwaves through the battlefield as the chapter ends with the Juubi’s body appearing.

It’s getting to the point where I think Minato is going to have to make his sacrifice and give Naruto the other half of Kurama, boosting his chakra that much more and probably giving him a level at least somewhat close to what the incomplete Juubi has (since he didn’t get the full energy from Gyuuki or Kurama when the Juubi was summoned)

One Piece 720

Last chapter ended with Luffy’s victory against Don Chinjao and we’re reminded of one of the stakes in this tournament: challenging the Donquixote family’s warriors. Due to the damage from Chinjao’s head returning to its normal appearance, they get a replacement ready, delaying the next block for 15 minutes.

Cavendish attacks Luffy and we also see Bartolomeo, who reveals he’s a raging fanboy for Luffy, nearly killing a guy who mocked Luffy’s loss of Ace back in Marineford 2 years ago. He was inspired by Luffy surviving at Logue Town, lightning striking where he was about to be executed. Following Luffy’s every move, he moved up from being a mafia boss to eventually commanding his own crew. He even talks about Luffy as if he knows he’ll be the next Pirate King, even referring to him as senpai. The guy who insulted Luffy then gets his tongue cut out by Bartolomeo. Cavendish and Luffy are still fighting and Bartolomeo is too flustered by being this close to Luffy that he can’t even act at this point. Very odd change of his character, but it’s Oda.

Chinjao and his grandsons come in and thank Luffy, Chinjao’s bowing causing his head to make another crack in the floor. He even promises to make Luffy the new head of the Flower Country’s navy. Luffy runs away from all his admirers/rivals/etc and Rebecca helps him out.

But before they can get away from everyone, Burgess is seen talking to Blackbeard on a Den Den Mushi and Blackbeard taunts him, saying Burgess is getting Ace’s fruit, while Luffy says he definitely can’t let them get it. Blackbeard compares getting Ace’s fruit to getting Ace himself, connecting back to his initial offer to join his crew, which Ace rejected.

Rebecca then finds Luffy after he wandered off, getting him a lunch. They then sit in an area where no one goes. Luffy offers her some food, but we get flashbacks suggesting that she grew up in poverty. One of the gladiators grabs Luffy and Rebecca tries to stab him. But Luffy gets free and then pins Rebecca on the ground. She cries, saying Luffy can kill her, which he says he wouldn’t do to someone who treated him to lunch. The gladiators all apparently planned to try to kill Luffy. 

It’s then revealed that Rebecca was apparently one of the many gladiators held prisoner by Doflamingo, making them fight to the death and only freeing them if they have 1000 victories. If anyone tries to escape, all of them are killed, so it’s a lose-lose situation. If Rebecca managed this, she must be amazing. Or she may just be the strongest overall, since most of the gladiators have lost a limb or two, so they wouldn’t fight as well as Rebecca would. She also explains that she’s indebted to Soldier-san, the one legged toy soldier we’ve seen hanging out with Franky and a friend of the gnomes as well.  The chapter ends as Rebecca insists she has to kill Doflamingo before he does, since she doesn’t want to have to be protected anymore.

We may go to the attack on the coliseum for a bit, but I imagine the 4th block will be a focus, even if only to cut down the combatants to the obvious finalists. I like that we’re getting some backstory on Rebecca as well as Doflamingo’s tyranny in Dressrosa

Fairy Tail 350

Doriarte starts to attack Gray after revealing his monstrous new form and Gray comments that’s both agile and strong. Doriarte then releases a shockwave scream that initiates the retrogression magic, returning Natsu, Gray and Erza back to their child forms. Minerva acts confident, but Erza points out even she’s been affected. Lucy, Flare and Wendy have also been reverted. The treasure hunter guild and Happy and Charle are also retrogressed.

Gray thinks Doriarte used the magic on the entire village. He then starts to fight the giant demon, but his attacks don’t seem to be affecting him at all. He tries to stop his mobility by freezing his feet, but he easily breaks free and kicks Gray across the forest. He’s reminded that the magic debilitates all your attributes, except mental capacity; so everything physical or magical in nature.

The nature of the area around him, a village frozen in ice that no one can break, makes him start thinking of a strategy. Happy and Charle save him from being crushed and then he notes that even Doriarte is hurt by the ice, especially when it’s in spiked form. The fact that he can’t destroy it means it can be used against him, since he’s been avoiding it. He wants to use the power, but he had a lack of confidence before. He’s inspired and manages to use the ice’s power with him as a medium and blows Doriarte away, likely negating his Retrogression magic as well

But he’s not done yet and says they’ve unlocked Hell’s Gate. He’s suddenly attacked by a giant form of that weird bird thing Happy and Charle saw as the chapter ends.

I’d imagine the retrogression magic subplot will be eliminated soon enough, but it may be a factor. Chibi fights would certainly be a weird sort of twist, but not beyond what Fairy Tail’s done before in one form or another