MSR February 2022

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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 Magu-chan God of Destruction has ended, a solid run of over a year and likely within intended plans of the author

 

 

 

And Fire Force, after just over 6 years of serialization, has wrapped up at 304 chapters. Linking strongly to Soul Eater with its ending, this may be Atsushi Ohkubo’s last series, though it may mean he does collaborations, not solo series, which is hard on an author even with assistants for backgrounds.

 

Also 2 new series debuted this month in Shounen Jump, lots of activity in February, not unlike in prior years

 

Akane-banashi by writer Yuki Suenaga and artist Takamasa Moue (previously the artist and author of Ole Golazo) tells a story of our lead, Akane and how she admires her father, a rakugo performer (essentially a one man show, generally comedic in nature). She respects him greatly, getting in trouble at school, though he tells her once he gets to be shin’uchi, the highest rank, he won’t be called a deadbeat or disappointment. And Akane herself appears to have a similar talent in memory and admiration for how he can bring the stories to life (like Lucky in PPPPPP with music). But at the exam, while it seems Shinta does well, the head of the Arakawa school, expels him and the others, ending Shinta’s career. However, this isn’t the end, Akane pursuing the same career as her father

 

Earthchild by Hideo Shinkai (who’s done at least 2 prior series in WSJ back to 2010) has our lead, Reisuke Sawada, meet a mysterious girl, Kareri Hoshifuri, who tries to wipe his memory, but her image still remains in his mind. She’s bewildered, but he acknowledges her as a hero, even though she views the job more like being a government agent. Kareri tries to distance herself, but they fall in love, get married and have a child. She tragically dies saving the earth from a massive asteroid, Reisuke only having some closure with the realization he must help encourage his son’s latent talents like his mother and help to protect the world again

 

 

 

 

World Trigger 218-219

 

The special assignment forces the teams to try and prioritize both doing the battle sims and having someone that can be “replaced” in terms of the assignment, since it doesn’t require the whole team to participate unless they don’t have a simulation battle. Osamu is assigned for his and Ninomiya assigns Ema, knowing he wants to go on the away mission. Meanwhile, Jin comments that this is working as they expected to challenge the agents to think differently and heads off to the admins, noting to himself he has to do everything he can here, since he isn’t going on the away mission

 

 

 

The nature of decisions made for who takes on the special assignment is graded by Jin and the other admins, some much more prudent than others. The four points in the scoring rubric for the special assignment are addressed and the teams mostly hit on how the multiple squads fighting in Rank Wars versus simple 2 squad versus allows for more creative ideas in strategizing as well as later points on defense and missions in the Neighborhood itself. Osamu’s squad manages to have improved from their initial string of losses and scoring is about to come in

 

 

Doron Dororon c9-12

 

Hanya Gyuuki is injured and then dies after a humanoid mononoke rips its way out. It nearly kills Dora and Ginchiyo, Kusanagi barely deflecting the powerful attack. But as Dora stands ready to fight, a samurai officer comes in, slashing off the mononoke’s arm before it can unleash another blast.

 

Heisuke Ujii deals a major blow to the mononoke, utilizing a mononoke sealed in his sword (a privilege of the samurai officers) but one of the mononoke’s allies, using magnetic waves of some kind, communicates with him and then pulls him away after he regenerates from the damage, clearly not a normal threat. And when Dora defends Kusanagi, Heisuke agrees to not kill him, but does say he’s taking them to HQ

 

 

 

Dora wakes up, having been out for 5 days and Kusanagi being addressed by the admins. Heisuke vouches for the mononoke’s strength and peaceful nature and Dora bursts in, the friendship between him and Kusanagi inspiring Ginchiyo’s grandfather, Yuusai, the battalion commander of the Izanagi Force, to give them a grace period

 

Heisuke is assigned to monitor Dora and Kusanagi’s capacity for battle, which he tests, Ginchiyo said to be training under another officer to get stronger, which encourages the pair to train hard.  But the limitations we learned about Dora from the start plague him again, since he needs to have supernatural energy defense along with his offense to produce results

 

 

 

Ayashimon 11-13

 

Urara manages to escape with Ten’s help, able to go through any connected ceilings, which also aids them in laying low in the subway tunnels. After she and Maruo recover, she apologizes, but Maruo says he wants to help her, not feeling like she exploited him at all, Urara even granting him a tattoo that resembles hers. They move to take on the Todoroki Alliance so they can build their power base fast to deal with the Enma Syndicate. 

 

 

Since the Todoroki Alliance isn’t as involved in the turf war as the other factions, Urara thinks they can convince them, but it means they can’t start a fight like Maruo wants. However, while the leader, Kotton, quickly agrees to protect Kioh’s daughter, he isn’t convinced that Maruo can defend her, a fight seeming inevitable

 

 

Kotton and Maruo agree to a fight, Wakku and Ten joining them in the 2 on 2 duel, the stakes either the Todoroki Alliance helping or forcefully taking Urara and making Maruo and Ten suffer. The sheer speed of Kotton, an Ittan Momen youkai, seems to overwhelm Maruo and Ten is unable to do anything with a lack of ceilings, but Maruo seems to still persist with his toughness.

 

 

4 Knights of the Apocalypse 49-51

 

Fiddich, using his Haste magic, tries to assault Lancelot with a flurry of quick blows, but the teen dodges easily and shows that he can read the Holy Knight’s mind (with his fairy heritage). And as the lone knight flees, Lancelot uses Donny’s knife to send an attack that’s unavoidable, blasting Fiddich and Sleipnir into dust, affirming that no one lives when fighting him.

 

 

 

Lancelot buries the remaining members while we briefly see Arthur contemplate whether he should focus on the Knights of Prophecy or his search for a wife, Merlin saying he should follow his desires. Pellegarde arrives, but Lancelot uses an incantation orb and teleports the group to Liones, who he was tasked to protect and then take to the kingdom.

 

Turns out that the king is out partying (though the guards try to cover that up by saying he’s just doing his rounds at the castle), Lancelot saying they need to kill some time.  Percival happens to meet up with Meliodas while taking goods that Dreyfus was going to bring (his back accidentally injured by Percival not looking where he was going). He doesn’t realize who the tavern owner is until after eating his terrible food and waking up, Meliodas saying he recognizes Varghese’s helmet, pinning Percival as one of the Apocalypse Knights

 

Dr. Stone 228-231

It’s revealed that the Medusa devices seem to be an intelligent hive mind like entity, though more needs to be divulged from them about why they petrified humanity. Xeno speculates, in the line of thinking Gen also brought up, that the Medusa are trying to offer humanity immortality in exchange for them advancing their technology to maintain the stability of the petrification devices long term, sort of a symbiotic relationship.

 

 

 

We learn that the Medusa hive mind seeks out species advanced enough to produce electromagnetic waves and sparrows were merely the first to test out the process relative to DNA. But after the petrification, the hope was that humanity would come back and then seek eternal life via the Medusa, not happening even as Senkuu and others advanced civilization to the point it is, confusing them, which is the reason for their inquiry of “why”

 

 

 

The Medusa sought to preserve themselves, their actions an attempt to show the benefit of petrification. But they were still confused as Senkuu and the others persisted, coming back from stone, not able to understand the limits of human intelligence relative to their assessment that they could easily come out (brain power speeding up the release) and continue a symbiotic relationship. Senkuu offers to negotiate, thinking that they can do something that could benefit them both, a private conversation enabled by the Medusa surrounding them in a sphere, blocking out radio waves

 

 

 

Senkuu manages to convince the Medusa not to petrify Earth, but the majority leave the planet behind to search for more intelligent organisms, a single Medusa device remaining behind, the promise of Senkuu’s ideas piquing its interest

 

 

 

 

 

My Hero Academia 342-345

 

All Might and others start discussing plans for the final operation, Deku’s group going to a mobile fortress, Troy, while we also see that All For One’s plans to foment dissent among the common people is moving forward somewhat. Deku and Ochako discuss how they may still have to fight Shigaraki and Toga, even if they admit they don’t fully understand them and may be somewhat arrogant themselves to think as Heroes they know better. Nonetheless, everyone begins to prepare in earnest, the battle 4 days from now. 

 

 

 

Aoyama and Deku meet up, managing to trick All For One into appearing, who thinks Aoyama is still loyal to him. And while All For One’s forces arrive, reinforcements appear on the Hero side as well through use of Kurogiri’s Warp Quirk, copied by Monoma, the final battle on the horizon

 

We see that Shinsou was the one that enabled Aoyama and his parents to trick All For One, his Brainwash Quirk more advanced as he trained in the hopes of joining the Hero Course. Aizawa is sidelined after losing his eye, entrusting the important task to Monoma, who remembers how he was often told he couldn’t be a hero, but now is essential to the plan. Traps are activated to catch the villains after Dabi and Shoto clash briefly, Monoma activating Warp Gates to shove them into and separate All For One’s army for the plan to work.

 

The split up groups pit Todoroki against Dabi, Endeavor and other Heroes against All For One and Bakugou and others against Shigaraki in a part of UA raised high into the sky. However, the plan for Deku to be in that group is thwarted by Himiko, who drags him into the group fighting her

 

 

 

 

Fire Force 300-304 (END)

Shinra managed to revive the world, albeit with a lessened value on life, death seemingly more familiar to people, like Haijiki okay with meeting Orochi, the one who killed him before. He offers Haumea a chance to suggest a change and even brings Charon to try and convince her to shift her perspective, the saint coming out of a literal shell she created.

 

 

 

Haumea chooses hope with Charon’s encouragement and while Sumire and Amaterasu choose death, Inca and Iris come back. The final enemy left is Death itself, who seemingly wishes to destroy the world again.

 

But it’s revealed to be God, taking away the powers of the Pillars and the combustion powers as well, spontaneous human combustion gone from the renewed world. This God leaves (likely referencing Lord Death from Soul Eater in multiple ways, the 52-52-546 phone number an obvious part). Shinra reunites with everyone, albeit Arthur is still in space, the Fire Soldier remembering how being with the 8th Division is when he truly started to be happy

 

We see how the world has changed, many people with strong souls still powerful in their own right, just not having their pyrokinesis as before. Shinra and others are searching the world, dealing with monsters and Shinra is seeking out Inca, who apparently enjoys the chase and pursuit for some reason.

 

We learn Inca wants to have Shinra’s child, since he’s the hero who saved the world, not really desiring a domestic relationship, but gaining new appreciation for life. And yet Shinra refuses, Inca saying she’ll just continue being a witch. Time passes, 25 years, and Shinra is the Supreme Commander of the world army in Obi’s place, who’s now the president. Shinra’s child (with Iris or Inca?) is enlisting soon, that hope encouraging him into the future. And it becomes clear this world is leading to Soul Eater, Lord Death creating Death the Kid and a young Black Star, Soul and even Maka with her parents talking about the legends of the world created without despair.

 

 

One Piece 1039-1041

 

Law and Eustass combine their efforts to defeat Big Mom, who’s pushed herself to the utmost, even resetting her broken bones with her Devil Fruit power. The Emperor is likely going to fall into the sea, given what Law set up with his last ditch attack opening a hole in Onigashima to the ocean. 

 

 

 

Big Mom tries one last desperate attempt with her Soul Soul Fruit, but Law and Eustass don’t give in and with a technique resembling Corazon’s Calm Calm Fruit, negates Big Mom’s sound so she can’t control the Homies. She crashes into the ocean and Yamato, having stopped the explosions beyond one that blew out the bottom of Onigashima with her icy breath, is told by Momonosuke that Zunesha was a companion of Joy Boy and committed a crime 800 years ago

 

Momonosuke tells Yamato how Zunesha is going to help him somehow and that Oden was confident his son would be able to open up Wano, though he’s uncertain he understands it fully. Orochi is told by Komurasaki that she’s been planning his demise, Sea Prism nails preventing him from transforming when part of the castle collapses on him.  CP0 is told to eliminate Luffy, the biggest threat at the moment to the World Government’s stability. Big Mom’s defeat even affects Kaidou’s morale and Luffy, using Gear Four, unleashes a massive attack, Hydra, planning to take the tyrant down and save Wano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Black Clover 322-324

 

Nacht and Asta team up, but Lucifero, in spite of wanting the other devil, Adramelech to help and being rejected, still challenges Yuno and Mereoleona. And the attempt by Nacht to restrict Lucifero fails, Asta seemingly doomed, but Yami appears to assist when Nacht tries to shield Asta and sacrifice himself.

 

 

 

We learn Yami’s new sword was made by William’s World Tree Magic, brought to Yami by Patry. Grey and Vanessa seem to help Yami slightly, though Grey observes Yami’s body has become more like a devil’s in some way. And Lucifero is held off for the moment by Nero and Zora’s combined sealing magic. Nacht and Yami decide to team up, the Vice Captain told by his Captain he can’t give up and die now

 

Nacht and Yami’s combo attack utilizes the synergy of Darkness and Shadows, managing to wound Lucifero enough that he acknowledges their power, planning to annihilate them with his full capacity. Asta and Yuno also arrive with Nero’s help, the rivals teaming up with the Black Bulls’ Captain and Vice Captain to take on the Devil King.