Fantastic week overall, probably the best batch of chapters since spring 2020 when
Haikyuu!!,
Demon Slayer, and
The Promised Neverland were all running.
Me & Roboco is thankfully back at its best this week with a valentine's chapter that manages to bring the most hilarity out of most of the main and supporting cast. This chapter managed to get one or two laughs a page out of me. My low expectations for
Nine Dragons' Ball Parade turned out to be for the best because this was my favourite chapter of the new batch so far. It's a good example of a template premise executed very well - though the main character's personality is quite different, and I like how his analytical way of thinking affects the rest of the exposition in a way that doesn't feel forced. The main duo work well so far, and it was a nice first chapter with a great ending. Been waiting for a sports manga back in WSJ since my all-time-favourite Haikyuu!! ended so I'm glad this first chapter connected with me.
Other than that there was so much great stuff this week.
Sakamoto Days had its best chapter yet, the sketched art page and the final page were just bonkers.
Jujutsu Kaisen has me hooked again with the beginning of this new arc, interested in all these developments.
My Hero Academia, while not as exciting as recently, is doing a good job with this flashback, and
Undead Unluck is back to tugging heart string while delivering some super cool double spreads. Some other standaouts are
High School Family and
Ayakashi Triangle; the former which had maybe It's funniest chapter yet thanks to the parents being the best characters, while Ayakashi Triangle delivered a
shockingly emotional flashback void of fanservice, I'd also say it was best chapter of the series so far.
Even though I'd ranked them lower in order of how much I enjoyed them compared to others, there were plenty of others really good chapters.
Mashle did a nice job carrying on the excitement from last week.
Mission: Yozakura Family had a sick chapter this week with those action moments delivered on their impact.
Phantom Seer initially had me worried but a mixture of great creepy art and spotlight on the supporting characters made this chapter feel more refreshing.
Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin feels like its pushing towards the end but this chapter was undeniably cool as hell. And even
Black Clover delivered on what I wanted it to do, it just didn't stack up to the rest of the excellent developments this week.
I'd say my take on the most recent batch at the moment is: I'm enjoying
The Elusive Samurai way more than I thought I would, this chapter again has me excited again for where the series will go;
i tell c is getting slightly more enjoyable each week but still nothing special and I'm wondering how long before the main character's personality quirk gets tiring;
WITCH WATCH needs to go to the school setting soon and expand its cast/world because this second chapter did little for me; and
Nine Dragons' is off to a strong start and is filling that spokon sport very nicely.
On real dud this week was
Build King. To quote random character #12: "What a ridiculous test."
Lots of great chapters - here's my ranking of them compared to last week:
- (+4) Me & Roboco
- ( - ) Nine Dragons' Ball Parade (NEW)
- ( - ) Sakamoto Days
- ( - ) Jujutsu Kaisen
- (-4) My Hero Academia
- (+5) Undead Unluck
- (-5) One Piece
- (-4) The Elusive Samurai
- (+1) High School Family: Kokosei Kazoku
- (+5) Ayakashi Triangle
- (-5) Mashle
- (-4) Mission: Yozakura Family
- (+1) Phantom Seer
- (-7) Black Clover
- (+1) Hard-Boiled Cop and Dolphin
- (-4) i tell c
- (-8) WITCH WATCH
- (-1) Magu-chan: God of Destruction
- (-1) Dr. Stone
- (-4) Build King
This third chapter of i tell c would have already been fully drafted/completed by the time the initial chapter came out. We don't know exactly but you probably won't see reader feedback directly affecting the chapters until closer to the chapter 7/8 point depending how many weeks ahead their production schedule is.
