WSR 9-23-13

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Magi 198

Last time we ended with the black spot being destroyed and Titus appearing before Ugo. Marga Is being carried, unconscious, by Sphintus and he’s saddened that she will wake up and her new friend, Titus, won’t be here anymore

Elsewhere, Sinbad and Kouen are eyeing each other, since they are sort of rivals, not to mention the strongest Metal Vessel users in the group so far. Aladdin reminds Kouen that he said he’d retreat after the black spot was defeated, though I thought he only said he’d do this if Aladdin explained about Alma Toran. Either way, Kouen said that his original goal was conquering Magnostadt and he didn’t want to use Kou Empire’s Metal Vessel users against Reim. It’s just that their enemy changed. Aladdin insists that he has to keep to his promise. Koumei observes that they still have Judal and Hakuryuu, meaning they know they’re in the area, but they wonder if the other side has a trump card.

Sinbad moves to manipulate Kougyoku, presumably from attacking with Zepar’s sound element a while ago, but Yunan stops him, saying they were trying to stop a fight between them and the Kou Empire. It’s revealed that Sinbad’s Seven Seas Alliance has formed a confederation with the Reim Empire, which is pretty big, since that’s one of the major powers in this world, along with the Kou Empire, the Parthevia Empire and a few others.

Kouen then decides he’ll be taking Aladdin with him, shocking everyone. He says that if Sinbad just wanted to gain more power and territory, he’d use the advantage he has to kill off Kou Empire’s fighters, weakened as they are. Other people move to stop Kouen from taking Aladdin, mostly from Magnostadt.

Marga is remembering her time spent with Titus, her hopes that she and Titus can be friends until she’s really old, even though we figured out a while ago about Titus’ shortened life span.

Meanwhile, Gyokuen says that even if their medium from Magnostadt was useless, Scheherazade is dead and Reim is in an unstable state. And though the medium was disabled, the aperture where Il Irah came through is still technically open for a year or so, so if they get another medium, they’ll have that much less time they need to bring him into the world. But the others are concerned that Solomon may reincarnate the new Magi in Reim so that Kou can’t act. Or even more interestingly, implant Scheherazade’s “ego” into a new vessel, meaning she herself will still be a Magi, just in a new body. He’s done this with Yunan, which explains why he’s so young, yet seemingly the most experienced Magi around. Not to mention Scheherazade may still have other bodies that are able to preserve her rukh and enable her to be reborn immediately into the new body without any difficulty

Back at the Sacred Palace, Ugo is told by Scheherazade that Titus should be returned and not her, meaning Titus has been dictated as a new Magi, which is a turn I didn’t expect at all. Mu’s subordinates explain that something was transported to them from Reim’s magic circle and it’s Titus in a new body, with Scheherazade’s hair and a body that’s smaller than his original was.

The chapter ends with Judal seen gathering all the black rukh and Hakuryuu apologizing to Aladdin and his friends, since he has now turned to Judal’s path of depravity, meaning he’ll likely be a pseudo villain in the next chapter if he comes up.

World Trigger 31

We begin with Jin defeating Kazama. He notes that Jin was hiding this ability and Tachikawa says that now that they know what Fujin’s capable of they’ll defeat him in the three weeks until official enlistment and take his Black Trigger, but Jin thinks otherwise.

We return to Miwa being told that the battle’s over, Tachikawa and Kazama bailing out and Narasaka and Shohei retreating. Izumi is amazed they lost, Ken bragging about his double Sniping he did last chapter. Izumi’s peeved that the #5 A squad in Border beat them, but Kitora retorts they aren’t just maintaining their popularity in terms of being the face of Border, they train hard.

Miwa says that they’ll regret sheltering a Neighbor. A person, according to him, doesn’t realize their true danger until they’ve lost someone close to them. Jin, he says, doesn’t take them seriously at all and that will cost him one day. Arashiyama responds that Jin does know: Neighbors killed his mother, not to mention his mentor Mogami died 5 years ago. He insists that since Jin knows about losing family and others close to him, he’s just concerned about Miwa and the others’ safety.

Back at Border headquarters, the other Kido squad members insist that Shinoda’s betraying them, which he retorts that they resorted to theft over debate. And he says that if they try this again, they’ll have to deal with him. One of Kido’s supporters notes that Shinoda’s the strongest member with a Normal Trigger, meaning that even these other members are relatively scared of him, even if they also use Triggers to fight. Not sure if all of them do, but Rindo and Kido may also be fighters along with their administrative duties.

Kido then decides he’ll send Amo, shocking the others. He’s supposedly the strongest member in Border, the only other S rank besides Jin and also the only other Black Trigger user. Some others oppose this because Amo’s inhuman in his methods, but Kido says that since Shinoda’s supporting Jin, they can’t be picky.

Jin enters and the others starting throwing insults at him, though a few say he’s in the perfect position to negotiate instead of what Kido thought he was doing: declaring war. Jin says they only want one thing: to enlist Yuma as an official Border Agent. The others say they can’t really expect Jin to think they’ll do that: using the Border rules to protect Yuma, since fighting between agents apart from mock battles is forbidden. He says he’ll give up his Fujin to them in exchange.

This is a big gain for Kido, since we know Jin’s Black Trigger can be used by many besides himself, while they don’t know if Yuma’s Black Trigger is compatible with anyone besides Yuma. Not to mention they already have an S rank and a Black Trigger on their side. It’s like Jin expects Yuma’s growth potential to be good enough that giving up Fujin (for now) is the best course of action to get him into Border ahead of schedule.

Kido says he could just take away his privilege to use the Black Trigger, but Jin retorts they’d have to do the same to the others, since they also fought in violation of the rules. Kido says maybe he could only confiscate Jin’s Trigger, but Jin says he knows that wouldn’t pass in Border HQ. The chapter ends as Jin leaves, presumably succeeding in his negotiations, but Tachikawa and Kazama are waiting for him.

Bleach 550

We start with Askin looking through his fingers shaped in a box, sort of an artistic view of things, and he concludes he can’t beat Mayuri, or that it will take too long. Mayuri is curious, Askin saying that it would take multiple attack combinations to kill him. He then explains that he doesn’t like to focus on details, preferring things to go easily, saying Mayuri should fight someone else. Starting to leave, he asks Mayuri if he’ll attack him from behind, Mayuri saying he’s free to go, that he doesn’t care. Mayuri wants to analyze his reiatsu, but he’s also suspicious that Askin’s just trying to provoke him to move into his attack range, Askin smirking and saying that he’s glad he didn’t show off his true skills, complimenting Mayuri on his observation skills.

The group then feels Soifon’s reiatsu, thinking she must’ve defeated her opponent without her Bankai. Askin then says it’s just as Juhabach predicted. Mayuri is curious, Askin explaining that Juhabach speculated that the captains who had their Bankai stolen would be able to adapt and develop new fighting styles. But Mayuri then says that there’s still a problem in his implication, Askin agreeing since it still means that the overall prophecy of Juhabach is that they’ll still lose in spite of this.

Back where Toushirou and Ranigku are, the wall of ice starts to melt away as Bazz B returns, seemingly unscathed. The only thing damaged was his cloak, ripping it off as he prepares to fight.

Soifon senses an attack from BG9, grabbing a spike he shoots out at her, grabbing it and then throwing him to the side and crashing into a wall. She’s amazed he’s still breathing, but he responds he’s never taken a breath. Soifon wonders if he’s a robot or something like that, commenting that Mayuri would enjoy toying with him. I wonder if this means he’s something like the Quincy equivalent of a modsoul, or whatever exactly Nemu is.

He takes off his cloak as well, his body seemingly mechanical in nature as he reveals a score of cannon like openings that come from his limbs and chest. The recording of Eternal Shunkou is noted by him as an impressive piece of data, but he also notes that if that is as far as Soifon can go, he doesn’t even need to use the Bankai he stole from her. The cannons all fire, a huge blast engulfing Soifon, which she manages to escape from. She thinks she’s managed to escape, but BG9 stabs her arm and catches up to her, reemphasizing that her Eternal Shunkou was a useful piece of info, which makes me think he adapted it for himself and is now using it against her in a way. He fires off the cannons again, now at close range, a huge explosion resulting.

Meanwhile, returning to Toushirou and Rangiku’s fight, Bazz B notes that his flames were called weak by Toushirou. But he also notes that he, Nanana and As Nodt were all hit by Yamamoto’s flames and still survived. It wasn’t that they missed, however; it was that Bazz B’s flames were able to cancel out Yamamoto’s Ryuujin Jakka. He blasts away the ice wall further, slightly disappointed that Toushirou doesn’t have his Bankai, since he’d love to be able to show that even Hyourinmaru’s full power could be stopped by the flame in one of his fingers. Toushirou attacks again, Bazz B stopping the attack. Rangiku is told to retreat while Toushirou uses a special ice wall technique. But Bazz B decides to show off the power in just one of his fingers, using Burner Finger 1, blasting a small hole through Toushirou as the chapter ends.

There are predictions that Toushirou has used his Ice Clone that allowed him to fight against Halibel before, even though that required his Bankai previously. Not sure how Soifon will fight against BG9 further and Mayuri hasn’t even really figured out Askin’s powers and their precise nature.

Naruto 648

Naruto and Sasuke were confronting Obito before, Naruto starting to take chakra from the other half of Kurama. He apologizes, but the other half insists it’s fine, since they’re helping each other anyway. Naruto explains to Sasuke about the senjutsu tactic, but Sasuke’s already ahead of the game. Juugo then uses his natural energy ability to infect Susanoo with what appears to be the curse seal power.

Suigetsu notes this and Orochimaru explains that Juugo’s power was the origin of the curse seal mark he used, though we knew that a while ago. Juugo’s power being senjutsu and the fact that Juugo’s chakra had already been injected into Sasuke means he adapted to it and thus he’s able to incorporate it into techniques. So now Susanoo functions as if Sasuke is a sage.  Tobirama comments that Sasuke’s becoming as amazing as Madara was. Even Orochimaru comments that Sasuke’s potential is still not at its peak and that soon he will surpass Madara, which is an interesting prediction. I doubt Sasuke will become a sage, though Obito was seemingly able to do it with raw will, so I wouldn’t be  surprised if Sasuke is able to shape the curse seal chakra that Juugo gives him into something even stronger.

Tobirama also comments that Naruto resembles Hashirama a great deal, especially in his headstrong ways, but also his ability to draw people to him. Naruto and Sasuke move to attack Obito, Obito also starting his attack.

The other ninja are amazed, just waiting for the other 5 Kage to get there. Hashirama flashbacks to Madara telling him that he sees a future for the village that Hashirama hasn’t perceived yet. The other ninja in the alliance see this because of the nature of Hashirama’s chakra, being a sage, similar to Naruto’s memories appearing previously.

We continue into a flashback where Hashirama and Tobirama are in a meeting with the other 4 Kage and their successors. Hashirama is so overwhelmed that he already shows a bit of perceived weakness, bowing fully to them, which the others have a problem with, even though they think Hashirama’s plan to unite the countries and villages has merit. The Tsuchikage thinks there might be an ulterior motive, but the Kazekage says they should just focus on business and divide the Bijuu that Hashirama captured accordingly.

Tobirama says they will expect a small donation for the Bijuu exchange, though Hashirama says giving it freely would be fine, Tobirama silencing him. We return to the present for a moment, Naruto and Sasuke’s fight against Obito and Hashirama’s fight against Madara hinted at, though not focused on as we return to the negotiations. The Kazekage notes that their village already has a Bijuu so instead, they want a plot of the Fire Country’s land and 30% of all the money the other Kages are paying for their Bijuu. The others are understandably shocked at this, the Kazekage saying he’s justified, since their country isn’t exactly prosperous or able to advance itself economically as well as the others. They respond that they could just form their own alliance and eliminate the Kazekage’s village and country.

Hashirama says that this treaty is only a temporary solution and he willingly admits that it may come to war again in the future. He says his greatest wish and dream is for all shinobi to unite together regardless of their differences. He pleads with everyone, both in the flashback and in the present to ally with him in this hope. The 5 present Kage appear as the chapter ends.

I wonder how much of a contribution the 5 Kage will have when Madara kicked their butts a while ago with clones. They may offer support to Hashirama, but that’s about it for the moment, unless they can also use senjutsu, in which case, they could help Naruto and Sasuke against Obito. Tsunade could be a sage like Jiraiya was, but we’re not sure about that.

One Piece 722

We continue from last chapter with Rebecca having insults hurled at her, Luffy furious at this, saying it’s not her fault. Some of the other gladiators are taunting her, but Cavendish comes in, silencing everyone. He’s on a white horse and has a portable loudspeaker so he can project his voice to the entire arena. Ladies are swooning over him as usual and even saying that Cavendish should kill Rebecca. He responds that they should go down here and fight themselves if they want to hurt her. While ignorant of exactly why they hate her, he respects her for putting her life on the life in the arena. He personally doesn’t like the idea of putting a warrior’s life up for sport, but he has his own reasons for participating as well.

Luffy is impressed and Cavendish is suddenly the focus of everyone’s praise. One of the gladiators even says he’s sorry that Cavendish has to manipulate them, since they’re so fickle, but Cavendish is fine with it, since he hasn’t really had as much popularity as he did 3 years ago.

Rebecca thanks Cavendish, though he says he only did it because they irked him with their attitude. The final block starts as we focus on the few named fighters, hopefully promising to be as interesting as the last 2 we’ve seen

Back at the Flower Fields, the gnomes are gathering together and are preparing for the battle. The Pink Bee and Yellow Beetle squads that came with Robin and Usopp arrive. The toy soldier starts to encourage everyone with a rousing speech, though I wonder how long it’ll be until we actually see them fight.

Meanwhile, Zoro and Wicca are going towards the Thousand Sunny, Wicca explaining about Jora and also that ten years ago, the entire Dressrosa Royal Army was taken down by just 3 of Doflamingo’s highest officers: Diamante, Trebol and Pica, two of which we’ve seen before. Apparently Wicca is well informed about all of these generals, since she fought against them a decade ago, or otherwise experienced their power in some way. Zoro and Wicca meet up with Kinemon and Sanji, who wants to help, though Kinemon reminds Sanji that they have to stay behind to warn Luffy. Violet appears and tells them that Jora has hijacked the ship and is moving it towards Green Bit, where Caesar, Law, Doflamingo and Fujitora are.

Back at the Thousand Sunny, it seems Brook is supporting Jora, or at least is enjoying her music, the others worried he might have betrayed them. Jora even puts them in a state that will kill them in 10 minutes. Brook engages Jora, saying he should play a great piece with his violin, Jora restoring it. But unaware that it’s also his sword, he uses his quick draw skills to defeat her under the guise of playing his instrument.

Back at Green Bit, Doflamingo explains the history that started after the Void Century, 20 kings of 20 countries allying together to form what is now known as the Celestial dragons. Only Alabasta abstained, making it 19 technically.  But this was what formed the World Government originally. After the kings left, new families were instated, like the Riku family in Dressrosa. And it’s revealed that Doflamingo’s family was the original rulers of Dressrosa, meaning Doflamingo is descended from and part of the Celestial Dragons. This revelation concludes the chapter and makes things much more interesting, since this explains Doflamingo’s influence and how he was able to fake his retirement from the Shichibukai, among other things.

Toriko 251

Last time we entered a flashback with Midora and Frohze. We return with Midora awakening to Frohze cooking soup. She’s concerned that he’s still healing and feeds him some soup. This generosity starts to change his perspective, since he had normally just been regarded with hatred by people. Frohze’s charity was a shock to him and he savored the feeling

He has a nightmare later of his food being stolen by people and wakes up in tears. Frohze has prepared a feast that he leaps on, burning his tongue. She tells him that he can eat it all, that it won’t be taken away. He’s amazed at the warmth, since he had never had cooked food before. And for the first time he ate until he was satisfied.

Later he is outside and looks back at Frohze who says he can stay as long as he wants, which makes him feel like he belongs, like he has a family. This could be said to have made him human and after that, he never had the dream again of his food being taken from him.

Midora has caught a Flavor Rhino and Frohze is impressed. Midora seems to have become infatuated with Frohze and it shows when Ichiryuu, Midora and Jirou all show up, Midora attacking Jirou, who uses Knocking to freeze him in place. Jirou compares him to a wild beast, which Ichiryuu then says makes him a lot like Jirou anyway.

Acacia notes Midora has Gourmet Cells, which he was apparently born with. His feeling that his special place is being threatened by someone is changed when he sees Acacia, who gives him a similar look to Frohze and Midora realizes they aren’t enemies. The group then eats and they decide on a name for him, since he’s the third and the youngest. Acacia suggests the tiger portion of the name.

Acacia and Frohze discuss the state of the Gourmet War, which still seems to have no end in sight. Pair tells Acacia something, meaning Acacia can speak to the ingredients, since I’m pretty sure Pair is one of his full course items; unless this is some other entity called Pair. It says that the Gourmet Eclipse is coming soon as well as the Four Beast. The Nitro are involved as well, trying to capture a large number of humans. Acacia thinks Ichiryuu should handle this, which we know he does, since he is said to have defeated the Four Beast by himself in the past before we see Toriko and the others defeat it later.

Acacia then says that when the Eclipse happens, God will appear, definitely the final ingredient of his full course and the one that changed things for the Gourmet War. The chapter ends as he says he has to go to the Farthest Land, which has something to do with finding God, though it’s most likely a part of the Gourmet World, which has been said to be much larger than the human world.

Fairy Tail 353

Last time, it was revealed that Atlas Flame was the Eternal Flame in Flare’s village, though it turns out that he’s not actually there. He’s being projected as an image by Wendy’s Milky Way spell. He’s been dead for a while, and his memories are a bit mixed up. Happy wonders why, since Zirconis was much more lucid by comparison. Wendy explains that the magic can be affected by other spells, like the ice magic that froze the Eternal Flame. That has damaged some of his memories, sort of like if part of your brain was damaged, parts of your personality or the like could be altered.

Atlas Flame then begins to explain, saying that it was a single person that changed the village to its present icy form, whom he mistook for someone else. The man mistook Atlas Flame for a demon and froze the entire village. He was an exorcist mage, a demon slayer. It’s like the God Slayer or Dragon Slayer, though the exact target is unknown. Gray remembers that it worked on the beast man, so it’s possible that they are the intended mark for the magic.

Flare begs Atlas Flame to help the village, as the Eternal Flame. Atlas starts to remember, that he created the village. He then begins to burn brighter, saying he will release the village. His spirit is burning away, but as he is disappearing, he explains that Igneel tried to stop Zeref’s most awful magic, E.N.D., but failed.

Apparently, even as a mere spirit, Atlas Flame is able to negate the demon slayer’s ice magic, the giants freed. One of them looks closer at Erza and Minerva, who have ceased fighting in the realization that the village is no longer covered in ice. Minerva retreats, saying she’ll fight Erza another time, Erza saying she has to stay strong against the darkness. But Minerva says she’ll be stronger than the darkness, making her own corruption. The others marvel that the village is free, Natsu noting that it’s the first time he’s heard about Igneel trying to stop Zeref.

Elsewhere, a man called Silver at a grave is being called by a lizard man, who says that all the other members of the Nine Ghost Gate have been summoned. The chapter ends as we see the Ice Demon Slayer fully. Apparently the Nine Ghost Gate is part of the last Dark Guild we haven’t heard about, Tartarus, so this is a big development, even if this is just one of the members.