Star of Beethoven did a chapter about coming back to the school and the bla bla bla bla process to do it, then just ended the chapter waving a middle finger at the entire system. The utter chad energy of Yaso sitting there ignoring the four-eyes and Beethoven cracking his knuckles for 23 minutes of a sonata is just mesmerizing. There is something to be said about art and how the roads there are hindered by bureaucracy and the talentless pushing down on the talented. How artistic freedom is hindered by the very institutions that hold it in place. And it tells this with some interesting choices in visuals.
These to be specific. The four-eyes dude pressing down on Ichiro is interspersed with a panel of a train commute and its arrival to the station. The commute represents the norm, the average man, the mundane. A system put in place that gives everyone reliable comfort in executing their day-to-day activities but pretty much holds them captive in a box. Which isn't much different to an institution that teaches you. It certainly would develop your skills and talents, but it's a very rigid order that wouldn't encourage you to truly express yourself outside of the grading systems and ideals of their educators. There's an extra layer to it with him telling Ichiro to stand by his decision to give up the piano, and thus, return to that average life, a future of a salaryman commuting by train. The train arrives, here's Beethoven, who expresses that geniuses don't need to hold themselves to the whims of these institutions, that they can soar way above all these things that hold things together, yet also hold them down. The eagle is flying over a mountainrange, but looking closer, it's a city. Just flying over damn well everyone. And it's followed up by a panel of the same eagle flying over the roof of a train station, further emphasizing that rebellion against the institution. Yaso and Beethoven giving less than two shits of attention to the four-eyes completes this rebellion against the order, just ignoring his authority, like the damn eagle flying straight over the station.
Oh, and since Beethoven is about to break it down in a goddamn music academy, pretty much anyone important would recognize him for the genius that he is, even important figures like say a principal or some master pianist. I do think that should lead to interesting directions next chapter.
Y'know, it's nice that Beethoven is told as interestingly as it is. I saw the artist's twitter and thought, yeah, I can make do if he just slaps some big tits in my face and I'll be happy. But nah, this guy's got an interesting eye for presenting the story and characters he wants to tell. Hard call if this is enough to be a hit, but I certainly am indulging in these chapters.
Embers. I'm hundred percent sure Haitani doesn't even know how to play football and only knows how to steal balls. That guy looked so clueless about pushing up to score and seemed so confused about the idea of passing the ball. Y'know, maybe Embers should've been a rugby manga. Haitani's playstyle really translates well to a rugby style... Anyway, not a very interesting chapter to me. I do like how quickly the broody rival guy turned from "this guy's an idiot" to "let's hatch a plan to kill this guy". Usually the broody rival guy takes too long to cooperate. If anything, Haitani's the one who is uncooperative, especially since he don't get this tactical stuff.
Nue's Exorcist upset me this week. I was getting really psyched to see what the top Fujinos can do and well, we just skipped it. I'm sure they'll show up again to do stuff later, but talk about popping inflated balloon. I guess I just like the fights where a bad guy fights another bad guy, but it didn't happen. And Gakuro's already arrived, way sooner than I would've expected. I feel like it's a bit rushed. With these 'save the damsel' arcs, there ought to be a whole lot more roadblock in the way, and he'd have to crawl his way up the steps. But he just fought one guy and he's already got the girl. I seriously wouldn't have minded spending a longer time visiting the Fujinos and fighting a lot more fodder. Oh, but the imagery of the route to the Fujino spirit is pretty cool. And it totally makes sense that they had their roots in the Hyo.
Ichi The Witch found its way around the only female witches clause which would've made its cast predominantly female by introducing an idiot who goes around trying to become a male witch himself. It's smart. But I'm starting to notice a pattern in this manga that everyone in the main cast is some kind of psycho. Like they're all crazy in their own way. It's kinda funny. Not so much when you're splattering brains to walls. At least we have Kumugi. Bless Kumugi.
Shinobi Undercover has a guy who looks way too designed to be a one off. Still, I really like how all the fugitive ninjas have their own silly gags even if they existed to be beat up. The samurai guy who said the cool lines, now this professional etiquette masked dude and now we got a silly guy with an axe. There's no way you could waste a design like this for a villain of the week. There's a lot of talks about kekkais, and I think I prefer that the fights have some groundings to keep things interesting. I don't like that Yodaka just overcame the guy's kekkai by saying it doesn't work on him. Like, Sakamoto Days had a chapter that deal with poison, and that led to some very important plot developments and interesting tactics. It's kind of interesting that the manga with some shonen magic to ground its fighting is less tactical than the manga that has no systems whatsoever and just has people kicking the shit out of each other.
Syd Craft got us an Amelia Watson chapter, which really isn't a shocker, to be honest. It seems there's a formula to it all, just cycling between the girls, doing a chapter with all of them, then maybe doing an arc. I really shouldn't be holding out hope for a fullblown mystery arc, but this chapter is a decent return to form to how I prefer it... That said, the mystery was so out of focus that I didn't realize there even was one when Syd made his deductions. Oh, am I leaving something out? Nah, I save the best for last.
Madhell Misery is the most compelling villain ever put into the page of a Jump manga. Perhaps even any manga in general. The criminal mastermind is comparable to the likes of Johan Liebert in terms of devious intent. The way she refrained from using straight up poison is sheer genius. Poison can be traced, and the bottle and opportunity to dose the drink would've pointed her as the main culprit. Instead, she chose to use methods that are untraceable and unpunishable by law. By inducing high amounts of sugar inside the detective, she can kill him with diabetes in 30 years. Serving a full table of food would've fattened him up, further reducing that interval of death by diabetes to 20 years. And finally, by cleaning the floor till it was blinding, she could've caused an accident that could've proven fatal. I've heard many stories of people who died tripping on their heads. But because it's an accident, there was nothing to incriminate her with. I can't believe 22i could come up with such an intelligent character. Death Note has nothing on the mind games that happened this chapter.
Hima-ten! had a cute chapter and I have little to say about it. It's kinda cute when a girl pouts and gets jealous, and this guy gets the appeal, and based an entire chapter around it. Now, try to reread this chapter and swap all instances of "house cleaning" with "sex" and this chapter still makes just as much as sense. Huh wait, what if I did that with the entire manga? Oh my God, what have I done...?
Kagurabachi made the coolest guy out of the most cringeworthy character trope, and I gotta applaud it. The reveal in the end has me a bit mixed. After many chapters of child prodigies doing insane things they should never do, here comes another one! Still, it's not completely out the basis of logic, and the missing memories was a black box to which anything can be drawn from. I just should've known that characters in this manga don't deserve to have a name if they cannot kick ass.
Hahahaha…….
