Manga - The Other White Meat


Why hello there. What’s that? Where have I been? A few factors conspired against me this past month and a half to keep me off the site, although these are things I plan on rectifying going forward. Not only will the weekly recap of Naruto and Bleach be returning…I think I may start gently working in some video game recaps into my usual slate of reviews. That doesn’t quite explain why the relatively easy task of reviewing the manga has gone on hiatus. How about I propose to you a three pronged reason why things have fallen by the wayside.

First off, a little Thanksgiving and holiday travel put me into a food coma – simply restated as I got a little lazy. Then, right when I was ready to make a comeback, both Naruto and Bleach went on a three week break. Finally, my wife and I had a baby right when they both started up again. So things have been hectic to say the least. Now, I COULD launch into a 7,000 word article catching us up to the happenings in Bleach and Naruto, but I’ll try to keep things simple and bring you up to speed. Typing out that many manga names would likely cripple me and cause your head to explode anyways.

Onwards to the very general recaps!

BLEACH

Bleach is at the start of a new arc, so the story has been pretty slow moving and not much has happened. Ichigo is back home and a year has passed. His powers have faded, but his friends – particularly Ishida and Inoue – have noticed that there is something dark within him that is still there. It is something that feels strangely like reiatsu, which should be impossible.

Soon after that some mysterious humans appeared and began to ask Ichigo questions about his family. They are insanely strong, but are not shinigami or vizard. They are a group called Xcution, and consist of humans with the hollow-like power to pull the souls out of objects and bend them to their will. They also desire to give up their powers as they feel they are more of a curse, and apparently through giving up that power they can restore Ichigo’s shinigami power.

That is really about it. Ichigo has just agreed to work with them in Chapter 433 and found out that Chad is actually involved with them. Chad always felt his powers bordered more on the hollow side of things than the shinigami side. Could the motives of the group be that simple? Are they REALLY willing to give up what to this point has seemed to be amazing powers for no real reason?

You know it isn’t that simple, but that is where we stand. It is an interesting new twist in the story, but so far I really enjoy not having the shinigami involved. Their powers and abilities were getting old and something new may be just what the doctor ordered for this series.

NARUTO

What can I say about Naruto? The Fourth Shinobi World War has started and is in full swing. The major revelations thus far seem to revolve around Kabuto and his Impure World Resurrection technique. He has mastered it on a level that Orochimaru never dreamed of and has gained a more powerful grip on his clones after the recon group was easily defeated.

This unfortunately has left Kakashi and his division up against a very formidable group of fighters, the Seven Legendary Swordsmen of the Hidden Mist village. Even by himself Zabuza Momochi and his protégé Haku would have been a huge problem for the group. Kabuto has summoned them all, and most of them have their swords as well. I honestly have no idea how they are going to beat these guys as their fighting styles compliment each other perfectly.

Kabuto is allied with Madara against the allied shinobi force for now, although Kabuto clearly is after something. He is going to turn at any moment and things will get very interesting. Madara in the meantime now has possession of the Sharingan and the Rinnegan and is looking to gain another eye type from Naruto.

Naruto in the meantime is still training with Bee to use the full force of his nine-tails power and has already developed – or at least come close to it – a new technique that is a variation of the rasengan which uses the nine-tails chakra. Naruto is still unaware of the war raging all around him and will no doubt rush off to war when he finds out.

As chapter 523 draws to a close Kakashi misses a killing blow on Zabuza due to a familiar problem, Haku blocks his attack, sacrificing herself. Kakashi looks like he is done for but I’m sure he will use his sharingan to escape this time. If the first encounter was an easy victory for the allied recon team, this second major battle of the war is NOT going well for the good guys. We’ll have to wait and see if they can gain the upper hand.

That’s all for now, we’ll get back on a regular weekly schedule going forward. Thanks for reading!

Comments

  1. Tom,
    We lost Naruto here about 2 years ago when it left Cartoon Network. What channel is it currently running the episodes now? My son loved the show and I started getting hooked just as we lost it.

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