WSR 1-13-14

Disclaimer: These aren’t official translations, merely scanlations. Buy localized or original manga to support the author if at all possible. Know the difference between piracy/theft and sharing without personal profit.

So even though this is technically the second Weekly Shounen Rundown for 2014, I’m going to add Seven Deadly Sins to the lineup, which admittedly is putting that much more work on me for the week, but it keeps me occupied and practiced. I hope everyone enjoys this new series and maybe even starts reading it, since it’s the next easiest series to catch up with besides World Trigger, at 61 chapters to World Trigger’s 45. Speaking of which, World Trigger doesn’t have a chapter this week because the official WSJ is on break this week. We’ll be in a consistent schedule by next week, I think. If you’ve forgotten (which I did for a bit), Toriko’s on break until at least late January/early February.

Magi 210

Kouen’s request to Alibaba is elaborated upon: he becomes Kouen’s general and will have full control over Balbadd. Alibaba refuses, saying he won’t betray Sinbad, Kouen inquiring whether Sindria is truly where his loyalties lie, since his goal was to free Balbadd. He pushes Alibaba to answer, swearing loyalty to him, but Alibaba says he can’t just do it. Kouen insists that the longer he delays this, the more he betrays the trust his people have in him.

Alibaba still resists and Kouen moves to leave, saying he should just stay under Sinbad and forget Balbadd. Alibaba says he almost has no choice, Koumei explaining that there are three conditions to become a general in the Kou Empire. First is to cut all ties to Sindria, second is to bring a proposal for Balbadd reform and third is to marry into the Ren family, so as to be loyal to the Kou Empire. Alibaba resists on the third condition especially, since he has feelings for Morgiana. Koumei explains he could have concubines, Alibaba strongly opposed to that. The only marriage candidate he seems to have is Kougyoku, since all the other princesses are married.

Kouen laughs raucously at Alibaba’s being a virgin, his household shocked to hear such a thing from their normally serious master. Kouen smirks, still looking down on Alibaba as Koumei moves him to leave and consider their offer. Alibaba feels divided on this and wants to ask Aladdin for advice, but he bumps into Kougyoku and they start to talk.

Kougyoku says that Balbadd is important to them both, since she was going to be forced to marry into the royal family had things not gone differently, and Alibaba is part of that royal heritage. She also thinks that the Kou Empire and Sindria are on better terms since fighting together at Magnostadt. She explains that she was called to the summit because she’s become a general as well. Kougyoku feels strongly that they can work out their differences and she says that Alibaba can trust her, since she sees him as a true friend and a confidante, since they’re both “illegitimate” in their heritage. Alibaba says he feels like it’s hard to reject her, since she’s a naturally good person, it seems

Meanwhile, Kouen and Koumei speak on Alibaba, both his good and bad points, especially how brave he is at facing those who have power, like when he confronted Kouen back at Magnostadt. They see him as the lynchpin to gaining the greatest control over Balbadd and from there, keeping Aladdin away from Sinbad as well, since they know the relationship between Alibaba and Aladdin is strong.

The chapter ends as Morgiana meets Muu, presumably here as a representative of Reim, who says he has to speak to Morg about something of Fanalis matters.

Seven Deadly Sins 61

Meliodias explains the backstory of his sword (more like a hilt with a bit of a broken blade): it’s a fragment from an ancient relic called the Coffin of Eternal Darkness, used for rituals. The four major races of the world:  Goddess, Giant, Fairy and Human, united and sealed the Demon Clan. Hawk wonders why the Holy Knights want the fragment, since that suggests they want to revive the Demon clan.

Hendricksen, meanwhile, reveals his plan to Dreyfus, his reason for trying to revive the Demon Clan, revealed somewhat before, is to start a new Holy War for the Holy Knights to fight. A prophecy speaks of a guiding hand of light, interpreted as the Holy Knights, and the bloodline of darkness, interpreted by Dreyfus as the Seven Deadly Sins group. Hendricksen disagrees. He doesn’t deny that they’re powerful, but the prophecy is more likely, in his opinion, speaking of an existence that fought equally with great clans of history, like the Goddess Clan. Dreyfus concludes he must mean the Demon Clan, wondering whether he really intends to revive them, but Hendricksen says their plan is nearly fulfilled. They just need one more fragment and they can unleash the Demon Clan.

Dreyfus is incensed, thinking Hendricksen is insane to think humans can fight them, but he responds that he’s been researching the Demon Clan. The new generation, Holy Knights such as Geera and Jericho, is a result of that. He says the Holy Knights are not people who would break the seal on an evil clan, but Hendricksen responds that he’s a hypocrite, since Dreyfus asked him to join in a plot to kill Zaratras, his brother, so he could be the next Great Holy Knight. He asks Dreyfus for his help, but also says that if he resists, he’ll have no choice but to kill him, like he did with Griamor (who, spoilers, isn’t dead, since Hendricksen only heard he was dead by others, not by his own experience)

Meanwhile, Diane asks Meliodas if the Demon Clan has been resurrected already, but he says the seal is strong, so they’d recognize if it’d been broken. Hawk runs away, having eaten too much and needing to relieve his stuffed bowels. But before that, he asks why they’ve been targeting Elizabeth and the sword simultaneously. Someone explains that she’s the last key to releasing the seal.

It’s another Holy Knight, the others moving to get Elizabeth back. The mysterious figure disappears, Meliodas running off in a rage to get her. Gowther notes it was a high level teleportation spell, King telling Meliodas that they’re 40 miles from the kingdom. Meliodas then asks Diane to help him, Ban interrupting to say he’s coming as well. Gowther also joins the group, King still not sure what’s going on.  Diane throws the trio, not sure if she’ll get the location exactly right, but at least is in the correct direction.

The chapter ends as Dreyfus and Hendricksen are about to fight, but a grunt tells them something’s coming towards the castle at great speed and with great power.

Bleach 564

James is shown to be (most likely) vaporized by Mask’s attack, though Mask says that the reason he was able to survive was because he was alive, since the two of them are almost like a single person, it seems.

Renji speaks about his new Bankai as if it’s not named Hihiou Zabimaru anymore. We flashback to his training with Hyousube, who says that he didn’t get the full name of his Zanpakutou, since it didn’t fully recognize him yet. Similar to Yumichika’s Zanpakutou, the full power isn’t unleashed without the true name.

Hyousube’s function and skill he contributed to Soul Society is being able to reveal the true identity of things. He knows the identity of everything in Soul Society, including Shikai, Bankai, even the very name Zanpakutou was coined by him. He says Renji has earned the right to know Zabimaru’s true name.

We return to the present, where the new Zabimaru Bankai is revealed, Souou Zabimaru. Mask de Masculine insists he can’t let Renji live, rushing forward to attack him. But Souou Zabimaru changes form to an attack called Hihiou, which manifests as an arm that throws Mask away after breaking his arm.

The Quincy is enraged now, threatening to kill Renji. He changes the form again, to Orochi Ou (Serpent King) and lunges forward, stabbing through Mask with the blade on his arm. He then uses a finishing move that manifests as a giant spiritual form of Zabimaru’s snake head, Zaga Teppou (Serpent Fang Cannon). This leaves Mask a burning carcass, defeated for good this time as the chapter ends.

Naruto 661

As Naruto falls to the ground after having Kurama ripped out of him, Gaara softens his fall with sand. As he does this, we see the Bijuu being sucked into the Gedou Mazou and as Kurama is finally drawn in, he leaves things in Gaara’s hands with the plan they made before. The Gedou Mazou reacts and begins to change.

Madara is satisfied with how fast he did it, though White Zetsu still taunts him, saying it took more than a few seconds. Madara responds that they’re just failed experiments and White Zetsu explains that they had nicknames that reflect their personalities, White Zetsu’s being “talkative” in Japanese. The fight with Obito is apparently going well, according to White Zetsu

Suddenly, Tobirama attacks Madara from behind, but he quickly counterattacks. It looks like Madara will defeat Tobirama, but he had a Flying Thunder God seal on the kunai that was knocked out of his hand, so he teleports above Madara and attacks again.

Gaara takes Naruto away as Tobirama distracts Madara, insisting that he’ll keep Naruto alive.

Madara, meanwhile, has defeated Tobirama and says he and Hashirama are below him in skill and power now, especially since he’s “nurturing” a new eye, though he’s not sure if he’ll be able to maintain it (implied afterwards to be Sasuke’s new eyes)

Sasuke is flying towards where Madara is and flashes back to meeting Hashirama, who offers him a new jutsu. It’s meant to stop Madara after he’s drained Hashirama of his sage chakra. Sasuke refuses, offering to take out the spikes in Hashirama, but he explains that they’re in his pressure points, so he can’t be expected to fight Madara. He says he’ll transfer all his remaining chakra to Sasuke in the hopes that he’ll stop his rival once and for all.

Sasuke asks him why he’s asking for his help, since he’s an Uchiha like Madara. Hashirama says it’s because he reminds him of Madara’s younger brother, Izuna. He thinks that if it’s Sasuke, they may be able to defeat Madara without violence

Madara is preparing to kill Tobirama, since he was the one who killed Izuna, but Tobirama says it’s a waste, since he’s just a corpse. He asks Madara why he sought resurrection, Madara explaining that he wants to fix the failure that Hashirama made in creating the country system that exists now.  The Infinite Tsukuyomi will fix it, since it’s otherwise a contradiction, desiring peace through war and focusing on loyalty to the village over loyalty to one’s family.

Tobirama sort of agrees, but uses a final attack, allowing Sasuke to attack. But Madara freezes Sasuke in the air and continues to explain that there must be a sacrifice to achieve the goal he has in mind. The chapter ends as he stabs Sasuke with his own blade.

One Piece 734

The results of the D Block are almost decided, only one person managing to stand after the 20 survivors suddenly collapsed. And it’s Rebecca, barely supporting herself on the hilt of her sword. Predictably, the crowd is enraged at her victory, saying she must have cheated or something to that effect, while the prisoner gladiators are delighted.

Elsewhere, Vice Admiral Bastille explains about an incident that happened in the kingdom of Rommel. A wind that cut people was investigated by the Marines and they managed to find the source, a man named Hakuba, who apparently appears in areas where a certain pirate resides.

Rebecca flashes back to her fighting Suleiman. Cavendish intervenes, seemingly falling asleep and then ambushing the fighters who try to attack him; it almost appears as if he was taken over by another personality. He barely hits Rebecca, which explains how she was able to get up after Cavendish took out everyone else with that mysterious attack.

Bastille explains that Hakuba is the alter ego of Cavendish when he sleepwalks. The connection to Cavendish occurred to Bastille after he was investigating an incident and he notes that the style of fighting is tough on Cavendish’s body.

The other finalists, Bartolomeo, Burgess and Sabo (hiding as Lucy), mull over her victory, accepting it as slight luck, but also her own skill.

Doflamingo is taunting King Riku, thinking he plotted with Rebecca to enter the tournament. He also thinks it’s odd that Violet suddenly betrayed them. Riku says Doflamingo’s deception about stepping down from the Shichibukai motivated him to keep fighting. Doflamingo thinks she’s betting on Law and Luffy’s alliance (though she doesn’t technically know about that, from what I remember, unless Sanji told her). We see Law on what is likely the Heart throne of Doflamingo’s four generals.

Doflamingo has also figured out the movements of most of Luffy’s crew, limiting it to Franky, Robin, Zoro, Usopp (Sogeking) and Kinemon. He thinks there’s no way they could get underground, not realizing about the Tontatta’s planning to get there through a tunnel not related to the Toy House or the Palace, the two places with entrances to the factory.

Kinemon, Luffy and Zoro are talking to Wicca, who explains the interconnected passages to the factory that exist under the Royal Palace.

The chapter ends as they go to the lift and meet Violet, who recognizes Luffy and says she’ll guide them into the palace.

Fairy Tail 367

Natsu is thrown into a jail naked and left. It’s revealed that Lisanna was brought here and is naked too. The two are embarrassed, but establish to each other what happened: Lisanna was knocked out and brought here (presumably after Elfman was defeated) Lisanna is despondent, thinking of the strength these new enemies pose, but Natsu’s confident he can beat them. Lisanna, sadly, is unable to use her magic, though I imagine Natsu is limited as well.

Meanwhile, Kyouka is approached by Sayla, who asks if they’ve discovered where the council members sealing Face are. Kyouka explains and says she’ll soon find where Jellal is. She suggests that Sayla’s Macro Curse could’ve found where Jellal is as well, though she doesn’t elaborate on it.

Jellal is still fighting the Oracion Seis and having some difficulties. Meredy wants to help, but Jellal insists he must do this on his own. The group starts to gang up on him, Midnight explaining that they are truly free, since they were connected to Zero before, but now they can fight as individuals, not related to a plot they aren’t aware of.

But Jellal says they’re still in bondage to darkness, activating his Meteor magic, while it’s shown that Zero is rising to the surface of Brain’s consciousness, as happened before.

Back at Fairy Tail, the others have gotten back together and realize that Natsu, Mira, Erza and Happy are all unable to be found. Their only lead would be Tartaros, but they don’t know where it is. Gajeel says he can’t track them, if Wendy couldn’t do it and the group also is concerned about Elfman and Lisanna not returning. Makarov is bothered by all this, but Happy bursts in and explains things. He says the Tartaros base moves around, a floating cube, but Levy is confident she can calculate its course based on Happy’s flight path relative to it. Happy feels guilty to have left Natsu behind, but Lucy comforts him, saying he did his best for everyone’s sake

Elfman returns, the others rejoicing. But the chapter ends as it’s revealed he’s still under Sayla’s control, wanting to destroy the Fairy Tail guild from the inside.