Rankings for Issue 35:
I tried a new thing where I wrote my thoughts on a chapter AS i read it rather than just coming on here and writing my thoughts down from memory of how I felt reading them a few days prior lol. As a result, it's ended up being a loottttt of words, more than I thought, so let me know if you guys think it takes up too much space on the page and is too big, if it is, I'll just post my top 5 and put the others in a spoiler tag lol. Anyway:
Tier 1 (Great):
1: Kagurabachi – Welcome back to peak. Very very good chapter, hit me right in the feels. The fire being the moments of Kunishige’s life that he treasures and water/liquid being the moments he hates is good symbology. Chihiro summons fish for his powers, which are ofc water based, I’m sure that ties into it all somehow too lol. Also that’s a lotttt of black ink being used, I know WSJ are stressing and Kubo isn’t even back yet either lmao.
2: Akanebanashi – Fantastic chapter, and if there’s one thing I LOVE in manga it’s villain vs villain fights. More series should do it. I know this technically isn’t a fight, since it’s not an action series lol, but it basically is. Hope Issho kicks Zensho’s butt! Speaking of Issho, the whole bud line from him to Kaisei was great, he’s still keeping it clear to Kaisei that he’s not the finished article and still has a ways to go; he still has potential to fulfil. Even if it’s for his own personal gain of furthering the art of Rakugo, it’s still a very rare nice moment of him being a teacher towards his apprentice.
3: One Piece – STOP HE’S ALREADY DEAD! Interesting lore on the 20 (or 19, I guess, since Lili left) weapons. Zoro and Sanji are probably feeling Luffy’s Haki dwindling but need to lock in for their own fights. Gaban….awesome, but I’m worrying for you man, I know you said you’d see them at the end of the arc, but that screams death flag in or itself lmao.
4: Ichi the Witch – Mayoi just telling Fujimine to f off was humorous. Wasn’t expecting Mayoi to be a Seven Stars member, thought they were just Hakari’s assistant lmao. Hakari seems like a right laugh, rockstar vibes. I do kinda get why Hakari is doing what he’s doing to the humans, if they can use Majiks how they want, then why not use humans as you want? The difference being most Majiks are treated nicely and are happy to help their human masters out, kinda like Pokemon. Also their base reminds me of a Tall Neck from Horizon: Zero Dawn lol. Anyway, let’s GOOOO KUMUGIIII DEVELOPMENT!! She’s entering her strategist era and is strongly implied to maybe acquired Hakari? Would be ALL down for it, can’t wait! And lol at the last page, blud thinks he’s on the team.
5: Witch Watch – Nobody expects the vaguely European definitely not Spanish Inquisition! They do lowkey look cool though ngl. If this were a more typical battle series, I’d suggest that this wasn’t the final arc and that the modern day version of these Inquisitors would be the next main villains lol. Anyway, insane move from Rose, all because of love…a dangerous thing. I really didn’t expect to actually see the execution by fire tbh, really brutal. As was the murder of everyone there by Shikimi, especially Rose’s and she deserved it! Honestly? Overall a very valid crashout lol. Werewolf man was a surprise lol, I don’t think we’ve seen a full on humanoid animal like that before in the series lol, even Wolf wasn’t that much animal. Excited to see where this goes next!
Tier 2 (Good):
Hunter x Hunter – Never before has a phone call between one of the main antagonists and a complete side character been so gripping lol. I really like Furykov’s power. Though given how It’s now been proved that he is actually loyal to him, I don’t get why he didn’t at least give Benjamin a heads up first before fucking poisoning him lmao. Maybe he was afraid Beyond would negate the curse if he told Benjamin, but I can’t see any evidence of that (yet).
Someone Hertz – Legit the exact same thing that happened to Mizuo here where she raised her hand by accident and is now participating in some bullshit sports day thing happened to me. Except instead of the relay race, it was the 100m sprint. And also, I was at least above average in speed. Anyway Mimei has a bit of an admiring youngster under his wing haha, nice.
Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi – Boom, title drop…actually it may have dropped before, can’t remember clearly, but still lol. Quite impressed how much that first demon still has a positive effect on Kiyoshi till this day, good consistency. Good chapter, I liked seeing more of Kiyoshi’s inner thoughts, even the strongest can be scared of losing people. I love love love the little flashback we got, even though this series is done by an ex-Oda assistant, Kiyoshi is more Ichigo than Luffy in his goals – he just wants the power to protect those he loves and cares about. I really liked the overall message of the chapter.
Roku – This new Tenkai guy is pretty funny, expert rage baiter. He kinda reminds of Don Kanonji from Bleach actually lol. Also when he got cursed and the thing covered the top half of his face I was weirdly reminded of Tsurumi from Golden Kamuy lmao. Anyway, thi series always had potential to become a battle/serious series as we’ve seen from previous chapters. It probably won’t ever become FULL battle (nor would I really want it to) but it can be something like Witch Watch for example, a blend of battle/serious stuff and gag/slice of life/comedy stuff.
HAL Formula – The double page spread for Miharu successfully making the turn is nuts, really really good art. The engineer, Dan, getting some credit is nice too. Looks like we’re building up the rivals, which is nice. Can’t have a sports series without them of course. Tbh I though the new guy at the end was a girl at first lol, but hey.
Cannon Master – Please let this one survive and get a good reception and sell well etc, because I’m really enjoying this a LOT. Some more worldbuilding with the Wind Clan and Bharat and Rhaio passing on their rivalry to their apprentices and watching over them is endearing. The design of the world continues to be amazing, just look at that page introducing Brijeet, fabulous. The minister seems like a good dude, despite being shaded like he’s a villain lol, I thought maybe he was the demon but that doesn’t make much sense? Since he could just take the info he learned without doing all of this, unless he’s really dramatic and likes setting stuff up like this lmao. Anyway, the set up for the arc is done, so let’s see what we have in store!
Shinobi Undercover – The mud is still stuck to Yodaka? Lol. Anyway, some panels in this chapter reminded me of a delinquent type manga, like Beelzebub or Tokyo Revengers. Also there’s one random dude in this chapter that looks like Tristan/Honda from Yugioh lol. All the fanclub members instantly bowing with the whole “m’lady” shtick was quite funny, fun chapter all around! But of course the kids just can’t have fun fully, now the enemy is here to interrupt, shiiiitt.
RuriDragon – Solid enough chapter, it’s cool (heh) to see Ruri’s powers in action in a combat sense.
Nue’s Exorcist – No matter how much flack I may give this series, I will always give it two things. First, the action has been stellar for a while now. There used to be a time where the action was lot messier imo and it was hard to follow but at some point it got much clearer. And secondly, the designs. The designs from everything to the weapons, to the characters, to the forms, are all top notch.
Drawn to the Fire – Their away kit looks sick, ngl. I do like the idea of them acknowledging that they’re the weakest team and using it to go out there and play with nothing to lose. Also that double page spread was insanely creative with his cutting off the pass, followed by an insane drawing of Uba looking like a demon trying to make the block…where the HELL has this kind of art been in the series up till now, what on earth? Lmfaooo. Purely because of that I think this was this series’ best chapter so far lol, at least from an “action/game” pov.
Tier 3 (Ok):
Under Doctor – Oh shit, a longer arc perhaps? Or maybe just a two parter? Either way, good to see big eyebrows Ishiguro return. I like that this uhh..two parter (at least) seems to be more medical focussed than what came before.
Me and Roboco – Of course it would be a Blue Box tribute chapter! Now Roboco can finally dominate as WSJ’s number one heroine…but at what cost?!
Sakamoto Days – Yeah I guess that makes sense, the final opponent is…Sakamoto. And that will fulfil the prophecy of Sakamoto dying. The finish line is clearly there, just need to get there in a satisfying way now. Dunno how Uzuki/Slur is even still alive though. This whole final fight has been kinda mid.
Class 2-B – Uhhh? Didn’t the last chapter still have them in the dungeon? Why are we back in the school all of a sudden? Felt like we were in the middle of something? No? Lol. Anyway, not really a chapter for me, basically just a gag chapter (which I’m not really sure if Sorachi can afford to be doing right now so early and with the ToC placements being what they are, but hey).
Kinato’s Magic – The gag of Kinato basically being like “nah, I ain’t fighting you” was pretty funny tbh. Unfortunately, you can definitely tell this is speeding through. Either it got the axe notice or the author isn’t good at pacing things; both are bad outcomes.
Animal Signal – Cute chapter, full of animal facts as usual. The kid being a Porcupine Fish was surprising but hey, he fulfilled his dream of flying! Lmao
Very good issue of the mag imo, lots of good things. I also think the return of KGB also helped, I didn't quite realise how much I actually missed it until it was gone lol, it adds a lot to the overall health of the magazine, to me at least.
Btw I know it was a few pages ago but I'd like to put Undead Unluck and Yugioh forward for good Shounen endings. Although Yugioh was ages ago but still. Undead Unluck, some people had a bit of a problem with it being rushed but in general I think most people enjoyed it.
