Alright, my thoughts on some other series:
Yeah, Alien Headbutt ain't really it. I think the premise of the series kind of falls apart because Shirokiba is already a world champion wrestler in Japan before he goes back to the island. If he's meant to be the "cares about his family" type of MC, you can't tell me he hasn't tried contacting them at all for five years, has no remote clue what's up with his family (does he not even send money back home or something to help support his established as poor household?), or not even hear about an entire Japanese island being off the grid (even the most news ignorant person in the world could not avoid an entire part of their country being blacked out for three months) and then act like he does care about his family.
In New Japan Pro Wrestling, when you first start out, they call you a Young Lion and you go out there and are stripped of everything but the most bare essentials needed for wrestling (black trunks and black boots. No kneepads, no elbow pads, no personalized accessories or logos, you don't even get to keep your hair at first). You train in the dojo all day, do chores to get used to how the wrestling ring works, appreciate all the work the people before you put in to become a main eventer. During this time, while you aren't barred from contacting your family, you're still pretty isolationist from everything else. You rely on your senpai and your fellow Young Lions to help you grow and be your support when things get tough. A few years later, NJPW sends you out to another country on excursion so that you can learn other wrestling styles or polish up what you learned as a young lion, so that when you come back in two or so years, you'll be the complete wrestler NJPW wants and that's when you start actually getting pushed. Other Japanese promotions aren't as drastic about it, but they have a similar concept of a newbie to the industry having to start from scratch, devoting themselves to just learning how to be a wrestler, and they go out of Japan to expand on their repertoire eventually.
Basically what I'm trying to say is: it'd still be exaggerated of course, but if Shirokiba was a new wrestler as opposed to already being the champ, I can at least attempt to suspend my disbelief enough that he wouldn't be able to figure out what happened to his home and family before chapter 1. There would at least be ways to more believably keep him separated from his family then him being prideful.
Someone mentioned they don't care about Sihrokiba's family because they didn't really show them enough. That's fair, but I also think that's not inherently bad. The reason why I don't care about the family is because Shirokiba has shown me nothing but he doesn't care about his family either. If he showed me how much he cared about them, then I'd be able to feel it by proxy. Hell, that's even how it works in wrestling. I'm never going to win a title or suffer the heartbreak of getting close but failing to win it, but I can still be invested and care for a wrestler's success if they manage to demonstrate why the title means so much to them through their promos or their matches. I'd run through a brick wall for them, and all that.
Aside from that, it feels like the author's intent and the setting are at odds with each other. The author wants to do a high adrenaline, constantly pumping violent action thriller that's high stakes but not somber. However, the setting is a survival abandoned town with aliens everywhere. Humans are in hiding, being captured, being brutally murdered. The MC doesn't know if he can actually save his family, he's been infected by a parasite, and he's slowly losing his humanity. All this while having to be a beacon of hope for survivors as demonstrated this chapter with the little kid. It's the kind of premise that needs more than simple action to properly convey the emotions and sense of dread the setting calls for if it wants to be serious (which for the most part Alien Headbutt still wants to be).
Actually, things being at odds with each other is a common thing throughout the chapter:
- I can somewhat accept the kid knows what a Dragon Screw is doing to the opponent's leg (it's not that unbelievable that a commentator might have explained it during Shirokiba's matches since it's a signature move of his), but I'm more questioning why is it doing the same damage to an alien that it would a human. Nothing shown in the series has shown that the aliens have a similar body structure to humans, so how does the kid know that the alien even has muscles in the knee to twist. How does he know alien legs have joints? how does he know the physics for a human's punch strength is the same as an alien's? Shirokiba can be waved off as he doesn't know, he's just going off instinct and heat of the moment, but the kid is so sure that an alien is the same as a human biologically and I don't know why.
- how did a ten year old kid survive on his own for three months? If the twist is supposed to be he's an alien too or something, nothing in this chapter foreshadowed it so if that twist happens, it'd feel like an asspull. It's not a "dire anyone can die" situation if one kid can hide in a store for three months and be safe.
- if a boat is able to leave the island and come back, but the captain is implied to be infected...how has the mainland not caught on? It's trying to both be disconnected from the rest of the world, while explaining why Shirokiba could easily come back, but it can't work that way. If this island disappeared for three months, the whole world has to know. You can't hide something that huge for that long. If the boat is still operating, but the captain is infected, then at the very least, rumors would have to be circulating (hey, is this island cursed or something? why is there a weird boat showing up in the port? why isn't anyone stepping in to investigate this definitely suspicious boat or island it goes to?)
- this one is an annoying wrestling fan nitpick, but I think it's valid since the author has shown at least some understanding of pro wrestling: the entire "match", Shirokiba was working the leg. Why did he do a Camel Clutch then to finish the aliens? A move that doesn't damage the leg at all? He should have done a Figure Four or an Ankle Lock if he wanted a submission finisher, or just do the GTH Suplex again. It's annoying in actual pro wrestling when the wrestler works a limb the entire match and then it doesn't impact the finish, it's annoying here (annoying wrestling fan rant over). This also isn't getting into how did Shirokiba transition from an arm grab into a Camel Clutch. A Camel Clutch is like, one of the few submissions you aren't pulling out in a real fight because your ass is getting knocked out as you try.
Like, if the series picked which side to focus on between hot blooded wrestling fighter or super dramatic and dire survival story, I feel like it would excel at either one. It wants to be both though, and this is one of those juxtapositions that can't really be both.
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Kinato's Magic didn't introduce Erza this week; they introduced Amemiya's Sieg Hart!
Kaminagi looks like Togami, the puppet girl from Shadow Eliminators. She was pretty popular, came up a decent bit when chapter 1 of Kinato released, and there's a reference to her puppet in the series, so I'm expecting this design to come back in Amemiya's next series too
Another chapter, another week of smiles. We still need to work on expanding his normal personality, but I think Kinato's shaping up to be a pretty good straight man in these gag routines now. After the two guildmates showed up and were also delightful people, I feel confident that if the series sticks around, Amemiya will be able to develop Kinato into an interesting character too.
As for the story, I think by the end of volume 1, Kinato needs a concrete goal. Being a great adventurer is fine, but now we need to actually build towards something. Everyone says this is Fairy Tail; well in chapter 1, Natsu's already looking for Igneel. Lucy's looking for celestial keys in the first chapter. There's actual concrete reasons to go out there that make it easier to care about the adventures. I hope something in the next two chapters happens that causes Kinato to realize he can't be nonchalant about this: he needs something to work towards in order to become a great adventurer. People want fun adventure stories yes, but fun adventure stories happen because an adventure is most fun when you have an idea of what you're looking for but don't know how to get there. Either that, or they need to start foreshadowing something that could be this series Endless.
And this series is just funny, man. Linae being like me when I play gachas, the guild gag, the transition from entering the guild to Jien getting beat up, the reaction faces. Such a breeze to get through and enjoy. Really hope it resonates with the voters.
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Boy I yapped a lot, after already yapping a lot about Elusive Samurai. Let's do some quick thoughts for other series:
- I don't know how much longer I can take Under Doctor over explaining everything. A dude called the "Thousand Killer" is a mass murderer? No way! The MC says "he knocked Chiwa away in the blink of an eye! He must be really skilled" after we clearly see her thrown out the window. All you need is the last five words (hell, you don't even need must be. Just say "he's really skilled"!). You also didn't need the thought bubble asking "sign language?". You would have gotten the joke across just as well if you just left the panel where she says she doesn't understand it (it would have been funnier even!). It's chapter 4 already, at this point I'm pretty sure if Under Doctor does fix this issue, it's because they heard this complaint a lot and they're desperate, but it'd probably be too late at that point to prevent it from flopping
- The most interesting thing about Mage Next Door lately is that I swore I read this week's chapter to completion, but for the life of me couldn't remember how it actually ended. I bit the bullet and decided to reread it, and it turns out I actually didn't finish it. Oops. I don't think it really mattered though, none of it really made me feel like I was better off now knowing what happened.
- I feel like this Hero Girl chapter, while still pretty good, only really happened because the author knows the series is probably getting axed soonish, so they wanted to get this moment in before the axe. It's not Asuka's ultimate dream, but this was one of the primary reasons why she was interested in making the Demon Lord human again. This series deserved more, but oh well.
It feels like there's still so much to do 
