MSR September 2022

 

 

 

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2 new series debuted in September

 

1st is Tokyo Demon Bride Story by Tadaichi Nakama, has a romance/action plot with Jinta, a human boy who promised flippantly as a child that he’d marry Manaka, a girl he met 10 years ago, actually an oni that returns to the teenager in the middle of struggling to pay bills. But it becomes more fantastical when Manaka explains Jinta’s blood attracts spirits and she must protect him with her sorcery and blade. He agrees to the cohabitation contract accidentally and they’re bound for a year

 

 

 

2nd is Ginka and Gluna (pronounced Ryuna) by Shinpei Watanabe, where a young girl, Gluna, lives alone in the mountains, but is approached by Ginka a snowman magically animated, seemingly by her kindness in giving a hat and scarf. She wants to become a magician and Ginka, after years of training her, acknowledges she’s a full fledged practitioner. Ginka insists on staying behind, Gluna learning from other residents that he was a great magician that is unable to leave the mountain because his snow body houses his soul, separated from his human body in a great battle. She decides to help him, using her magic to keep his body stable as they leave the snowy mountains on their journey

 

Unfortunately we also see the conclusion of Earthchild, likely to open up the 2 spots for new series, though this almost felt like a limited series by design, like it wasn’t supposed to be an extended affair in the vein of big name series in Shonen Jump, more like The Comiq by Kazuki Takahashi (who unfortunately passed away in July)

 

 

 

 

 

 

World Trigger 225

 

Katori’s mood doesn’t change much, Osamu and the others trying to get advice from Somei, Rokuro and Miura, but they either refuse to help out of loyalty, like Somei, or say that there’s not a lot that can be done besides trying to distract her, breaking Katori out of the mood, since it’s almost unconscious in a way and based on interpersonal dynamics, not her own individual failures that she can recover from easier. Osamu learns Katori’s a big Karasuma fangirl and offers to set her up on a date, which perks her right up

 

 

 

 

Tokyo Demon Bride Story 1-4

 

Our lead, Jinta, meets Manakadoji, an oni that he made a promise to marry as a kid. He doesn’t seem to remember it though and reluctantly agrees after a contract is signed that binds them for a year to cohabitate.

 

Manaka continues to persist in her duties to protect Jinta and we learn that his family inherited the house from their grandfather, but also the deadbeat father’s debt, only about half paid off at the moment.  She wants to help, a thief stealing a bag from the manager at Jinta’s café job and Jinta agreeing they should team up to stop him

 

The thief, seemingly a pot based creature that also eats flies, is defeated, Manaka explaining briefly about innate and acquired magic and how her innate magic allows her to change the composition of things. She accidentally knocks down laundry from poles while manipulating the concrete to trap the thief, also briefly making him a half human half fly creature when a fly gets caught in the spell’s area. Afterwards, they retrieve the bag for the manager, who tells them they could get money dealing with the monster problems that she’s heard about from others

 

Jinta meets the frog girl who tried to eat him in the first chapter, now working at a place he has a part time job at (using a low level spell to reduce human’s suspicions about them). After seeing the boss be abusive to her, he stands up for her, Manaka intervening afterwards and Jinta having to stop her. The frog mononoke is remorseful and explains that it’s become easier for spirits to get into the human world because of some powerful spirit, another incident reported to Jinta via text message

 

 

 

Aliens Area 13-16

 

Akina explains how she learned about dark cells through the experiments of A3, the Anti Alien Alliance that sought to protect earth by any means necessary. The dark cell implantation was meant to help people, but most couldn’t adapt and died. But Akina then reveals she left because she fell in love with Shogo, an alien fugitive she saved. He’s been missing for years, but the bar is meant to be a meeting place, Sharaku agreeing they can postpone memory wiping, since she’s an informant on A3, something Foreign Affairs 5 doesn’t know much about. Unfortunately, after they leave, someone attacks the bar, possibly Yutaka, a fellow A3 member that helped Akina, setting it ablaze

 

 

 

It is indeed Yutaka of A3 and he attacks, fleeing afterwards while Foreign Affairs 5 is focused on maintaining the scene for civilians. This hypocrisy and conflict frustrates Tatsumi, who’s told by Sharaku they must follow the law as investigators

 

A month later, Sharaku tells Tatsumi that in order to investigate A3 further, they have to get approval to form a special HQ, since this is going to be a high level incident with major risks. All 10 leaders pose individual challenges, some skeptical of the testimony from Akina and Shogo, but Sharaku plans to have Tatsumi testify to potentially show that there’s a link to A3 and implantees like him, since Tatsumi’s parents are on a list of A3 members

 

Tatsumi’s story aligns with what Shogo says as well, the peaceful aliens apparently implanting Tatsumi to save his life when his parents were killed by A3 in a fire. The only objections remaining based on whether there’s an emotional element to why they want to investigate, Sharaku having the same implant. But some of the people that were stridently against it change their vote and it becomes unanimous by the pressure to take on these risks in order to help people in trouble, the investigation HQ formed

 

 

 

 

 

4 Knights of the Apocalypse 75-79

 

The knights hold off Melagaland, letting Percival utilize his magic to not only heal fallen knights, but inflict some damage himself on the monster. Isolde is injured, Tristan saving her and telling Hendricksen to get Lancelot, since the Nephilim admits he can’t hold himself back otherwise, tearing off Melagaland’s head growing out of the main body’s side

 

 

 

Tristan’s power is immense, but clearly more dangerous in how he cannot turn it off until the time limit is reached. Melagaland tries more tactics, like summoning hands to drag people to hell, but Tristan pulls Melascula out by force, tearing her body in half. Meliodas heads out to fight as we see Arthur has finally arrived (mentioning Gawain has a step brother), Percival knocked away after attacking him in anger, Tristan moving to clash with his father’s nemesis

 

Arthur knocks Tristan away easily and manifests power that seems to bind everyone’s will, unable to raise a weapon against him. He promises the people who have lost loved ones a world where they will be free from suffering (much like what he promised Jericho in a way), but they must pledge loyalty to him in the pursuit of eliminating all non human races from the world.

 

Meliodas clashes with Arthur, Tristan still trying to fight as well, which leaves Meliodas slightly cut. But as his son persists, Arthur tells the king that his way of ruling, even the desire to protect Tristan, makes Meliodas unfit to be king and he moves to slash him down along with his son.

 

Lancelot arrives just in time, breaking Arthur’s sword to save Meliodas and he seems to be able to deal solid damage to Arthur, even if it’s regenerated quickly, his sword Carnwennan able to restore itself as well, only the arm bitten off by Cath Palug in Seven Deadly Sins not restored by the power of Chaos. And even when Arthur starts to take things seriously, Lancelot has turned the tables on him again somehow

 

 

My Hero Academia 365-67

 

While Edgeshot repairs Bakugou’s injured heart and lungs, putting himself at risk, Mirko and Mirio persist in fighting Shigaraki, who starts to crack under the pressure in some way as his body continues to adjust to All For One

 

 

 

Mirio and Jeanist are struggling as Shigaraki takes on a new more powerful form after his own difficulties against them. And in order to distract the villain, Mirio takes inspiration from Nighteye and makes a joke that occupies Shigaraki for the time to drop the barrier temporarily so Deku can start his fight with All For One’s successor

 

Deku arrives, helped by Star and Stripes’ pilots that stayed behind, but Shigaraki provokes his anger with taunts about the fallen Heroes. Lemillion helps though, telling Deku that Heroes have to persist and the others aren’t dead yet. This lets Deku regain control of his anger, asking All For One if Shigaraki is still in there

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Piece 1059-1061

 

We see Luffy’s crew set off, Marco having left with Shanks and then departed at Whitebeard’s hometown of Sphinx. Meanwhile, Hancock is still musing over Luffy, while Blackbeard attacks during the Navy’s attempt to take the former Warlord into protective custody, using new Pacifista resembling child versions of Hancock and Mihawk called Seraphim. The Amazons fight back, but Blackbeard captures Hancock. Thankfully Rayleigh intervenes, but the outcome appears to have required Koby to be captured in her place to keep Amazon Lily safe from the Navy and Blackbeard, the petrified victims of Hancock reverted as well.

 

 

 

The Straw Hats agree they need to be patient and only act if Sabo or Vivi are in immediate danger, rather than flying off the handle. Meanwhile, Sabo almost manages to tell the Revolutionaries something about the Empty Throne symbolizing the peace the World Government created, but the kingdom he’s in, Lulusia, is wiped out by a massive weapon that vaporizes the entire island. As the Straw Hats get closer to their next location in search of the last Road Poneglyph, they find a bizarre weather phenomenon and save someone inside, Jewelry Bonney of the Eleven Supernovae

 

A massive beast almost eats the crew, made of metal. Jinbe gets Luffy, Chopper and Jewelry, the other crew saved by a mysterious mecha after the shark-bot hits them with a missile.  Luffy’s group is separated, landing on the shore of Egghead Island, where Dr. Vegapunk’s laboratory is. Franky and the others meet up with a young woman who claims to be Dr. Vegapunk, the mecha and the shark their experiments

 

 

 

 

Black Clover 336-338

 

Asta’s seeming death is discussed by everyone, no one but Lucius actually teleported before because the Wizard King retreated via teleport. Yuno arrives, proclaiming he will be the Wizard King, actually one of the only threats Lucius acknowledges, since Adrammelech tells him that Yuno took out all the Supreme Devils when he went to investigate. And Asta wakes up, seemingly in another place, a different continent and likely where Yami came from, given the clothing of the one who finds him

 

 

 

As the Black Bulls, led by Nacht in Yami’s absence, head to find Asta, we see the Black Bull’s antimagic hero is indeed in the Land of the Sun, taken care of by Ryuda, the shogun, his eye, related to some kind of curse (or a devil) saying Asta must train before he returns to fight Lucius

 

Asta learns about the Land of the Sun using youjutsu for their magic, which utilizes scrolls instead of grimoires. And Ichika, Ryuya’s retainer, is one of seven that serve under him, like the Wizard King and the Magic Knights. It’s also revealed she’s Yami’s younger sister