Alright, seeing as it’s finally voting time and a few days until next issue, I suppose I can drop my review of each for issue 52 as well:
Undead Unluck: Wow, was not expecting that Rip maneuver, but I guess this means Victor and Andy are now fully separate beings? Makes me really wonder how the endgame of this will shape up, if they’ll just both cope with staying alive or find a way to die anyways, or what.
Hima-Ten!: Yeah, we’re really ramping up the harem-y tension. I get the sense Himari’s doing the thing where she’s getting feelings and trying to deny it, but also acting based on them, which puts her in an awkward spot.
Sakamoto Days: Woah, this could be a big turning point. Eager to see if Shin will actually go the distance and kill him or if something will happen to subvert it. Also wondering if Atari’s gonna make it out, since she seems confident in her own death or something along those lines.
Blue Box: I was right in predicting that I was gonna love Taiki’s relationship with Chinatsu’s dad, the fact that he’s slowly prying open the dad’s timidness and letting him reflect on his actions rather than tearing into him and making him a villain. Also glad that Kyo and Ayame aren’t too cold toward each other (I still want them to get together… but that’s gonna be a bit hard right now).
Ichi the Witch: Enjoying the contest so far, but I’m very intrigued by this new character and how they caught Ichi’s eye. Are they male, and what could that mean? Do they wield magic and what could THAT mean? A lot of curious things to think about that will (I assume) have a longer term impact.
Kagurabachi: The first page had me laughing, the last thing I was expecting a filler chapter to be about. Honestly a reasonable choice too, a lot of people liked Sojo and he died pretty early into the story so showing off more of him is a logical move. Though, while entertaining, I kind of hope this doesn’t set too much of a precedent for Hokazono being crunched to the point he needs to take weeks off for light chapters. (that’s better than pushing through the pain and getting sick, though, of course. I wouldn’t mind a casual day in the life of Kyora or something.)
Syd Craft: Basically said aloud what many readers inferred from the previous chapter regarding Elio. I will say Luce being a guy felt easy to predict, I wonder if this relationship will keep up since currently this dude is the only guy aware of Syd’s secret identity as a romance reader.
Shinobi Undercover: Clever use of the tactics overlapping with the themes of the battle, a different sort of take on how a string user is representative of their tool from how One Piece took it with Doflamingo.
Akane-banashi: Yup, this about checks out. We can see clearly from here this’ll spur Kiroku to start his own school and take the kids with him, and our other friend will be the de facto Miroku instead (perhaps something he’s still burdened by, that he was a backup or something). Also I missed the part where Urara went from being a random civilian to working in the rakugo sphere? Maybe that’s on me.
Me & Roboco: Classic advertisement-core. I was humored that the Shonen Battle Manga contest was mentioned since that’s something I actually recognized (reminded me of the time Roboco said Kenshi Yonezu in response to someone saying Lemon or something, and I had an epiphany because I actually understood the mainly japanese-centric reference happening for once) and it was interesting to learn about some of the other contests. Also, could this chapter tease Kagurabachi-inspired cover soon?
The Elusive Samurai: Was cute to see Mima getting a proper role and being helpful, and I’m curious to see how long Nagao’s body will last long-term in the drug-fueled state he seems to always be in. Also very random panel to end the chapter on, I’m questioning if Ichikawa’s being serious or if there’s a hidden motive since this feels like very unusual behavior for warfare.
Witch Watch: It’s dawning on me now that the 4 familiars here are kind of repping the typical 4 elements of Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth (martial arts is about as close to earth as we’ve seen, at least). I now feel even more like Kappa dude’s gonna die, maybe pass some of his philosophy on to Kuon to influence where Kuon is now with interacting with people as a teacher. Also interesting to have a legitimate villain presence appear now, am enjoying this backstory (I am hearing that this is the same big villain we saw earlier and I had completely forgotten what he looked like so now I feel like quite the fool). Also, is it just me, or did Kakuraibo’s design change to be less bulky and have a pointier sharper nose? I feel like he looked a bit different last chapter.
Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi: A pretty reasonable end to the fight, although wasn’t expecting Asuta Roth to be that enthused about it, haha. And I almost didn’t realize but my brother pointed out this means the souls are actually staying consumed?! Does that mean 100 people straight up died? Can Kiyoshi even save them anymore? That would make for a pretty serious change in tone for the series. Regardless, I want to say this means the series will at least survive the next cour of axes and such; we’ll see if the story can make it all the way to a year at this rate.
Super Psychic Policeman Chojo: I enjoyed this more than I was expecting to, the new character was kind of like a synthesis of some different characters we’ve seen in the past.
Nue’s Exorcist: Wow, some crazy panels. I’m not really a Nue fanboy by any means but I really liked this chapter. Can’t wait to see how this conflict ends and what happens right after this. (this might be an odd comparison… but with the sheer catharsis of the battles and the life-on-edge feel, Nue gives me very strong Bleach vibes, not counting Gakuro and Ichigo’s casual personalities and relationships with the women around them) ((and no I’m not just saying that because of the blatant visual similarity of the soul gear and Byakuya’s bankai I swear)).
Mission: Yozakura Family: Guess this makes for a good way to not dump stock in Asa’s power/cleverness and still validate their strategy. This makes for the final fight, I’m assuming; I’m wondering how Taiyo will keep himself together after this based on how he described the state of his body. With all the earlier talk about how he’s not gonna leave them behind, I can’t imagine he’ll die; but it’ll be hard to keep him alive without some repercussions.
Astro Royale: That man hung himself! Dang. Probably one of the darkest chapters both conceptually and visually with this eldritch abomination that he’s turned himself into, I wonder how they’re gonna tackle him since all we’ve seen are mostly human-sized or 1-on-1 fights so far.
Hakutaku: That sounds like an extremely difficult game to make, even if you have the natural talent for specific things. In a way it feels unrealistic, but it also feels like a child’s imagination coming to fruition, which is the perfect thing for the use case of the game. Funny that Seo’s still not satisfied, though (that, or just hiding his feelings).
Kill Blue: Using assassin techniques to waft bread is next level, I won’t lie. Depending on how many days there are I wouldn’t be surprised if the other club eeks ahead the second day and they have to wrench back the victory by the end through some other means. That, or the home EC club just outsells the professors’ bonuses somehow.
