Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 434 (Time for some new playing cards!)

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku 
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 434 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Miki announces to Risa and Izumi that's she's revolutionized playing cards. Risa opens a pack and discovers half of the cards are transparent, which Izumi finds funny since it would mess up a game like poker. Risa suddenly gets how this would revolutionize poker, but since Izumi doesn't get it, Risa and Miki make fun of her.

After a demonstration hand between Risa and Izumi, Miki says that this added level of strategy to the game of poker is what makes it revolutionary. Hina shows up and finds this interesting, so when she agrees to try out the cards in a poker game, Miki decides there should be real stakes. If Hina loses, she has to strip. After being goaded into accepting, Miki decides that Izumi will strip upon any loss of Miki's.

Hina wins the first hand to the irritation of Miki, so Izumi is forced to remove her panties. Hina wins again based on having read Miki's transparent cards and knowing what had been discarded, therefore she didn't fall for Miki's bluff. Izumi is forced to strip again, leading to the third and final hand. Miki draws a full house, but Hina has a royal flush, leading Miki to believe that Hina has to be cheating. To Risa's amazement, Izumi strips completely while Miki challenges Hina again.

Thoughts/Review:

Har! Well, Hata-sensei kept us guessing on when he'd throw down the old gag chapters. Not that there was anything special to this one, but it was OK.

I liked Hata-sensei's admission on the chapter's splash page that this was a blatant marketing ploy for the new playing cards that are being sold with the LE edition of volume 39.

I will say this -- once again, I find myself missing the older character designs for Hayate the Combat Butler. Hina and the others looked much cuter before than they do now.

Beyond that, there's nothing to say. As a gag chapter, it wasn't that funny. It was mildly amusing.

Hayate the Combat Butler is on another break next week as Weekly Shounen Sunday is on another break.  It would be awesome if the manga returned to the plot rather than launch into more gag chapters.

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 33 Review

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 33 Review

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(Note: The LE edition of Fairy Tail Volume 33 is sold out.) 

***SPOILERS***

Highlights from Fairy Tail Volume 33 begin with Fairy Tail throwing a loud party despite having done so poorly in the games. Natsu (Fairy Tail A), Gajeel (Fairy Tail B), and Sting (Saber Tooth) all suffer from motion sickness, the curse of the Dragon Slayer, and do poorly in the next competition. Kurohebi (Raven Tail) defeats Toby (Lamia Scale) in a battle. Elfman (Fairy Tail A) is chosen to battle Bacchus (Quarto Cerberus), where Elfman defeats him by taking on a spiked, lizard man form, causing Bacchus to damage himself to the point of losing. Mirajane (Fairy Tail B) battles Jenny (Lamia Scale), conceding to do a swimsuit competition, then switches it to a battle which Mira easily wins.

Kagura (Mermaid Heel) defeats Celestial Mage Yukino (Saber Tooth), causing Saber Tooth's master to humiliate Yukino in front of the guild before throwing her out. Yukino pays Lucy a visit, offering up her two Golden Keys (Pisces and Libra), but Lucy refuses since Yukino does care about her spirits. Millianna surprises Erza with a visit, revealing she's in Mermaid Heel and that she and Kagura want Jellal, whom Erza had earlier met with, dead. Natsu goes to apologize to Yukino for thinking ill of her, whereupon he learns of the disgraceful way she was kicked out of Saber Tooth. As such, he decides to challenge Saber Tooth's Master Ziemma.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

In terms of content, Fairy Tail Volume 33 provides some interesting stuff, but also some of the funniest stuff I've ever seen Mashima-sensei do.

Mashima-sensei suddenly retconning things so that all Dragon Slayers are cursed with motion sickness is pretty typical for him. In this case, the amusement of having Natsu, Gajeel, and Sting being sick and failing the running race on the moving “chariot” platforms trumped everything. Mashima-sensei does acknowledge the retcon by having Gajeel question why he's suddenly motion sick when he'd never experienced this before, and by having Laxus's teammates say something to him about this. So, I'll let it ride. ^_~

Since Bacchus had been shown to have that drunken fighter style which meant that folks could never lay a hand on him, Elfman's tactic to adopt a form that would cause Bacchus to damage himself is good thinking, but dodgy writing at the same time. At some point, one would think that Bacchus would realize that taking more damage than he was dealing is a losing proposition and would settle for a draw. But, he basically beats himself to death, allowing Elfman to get rare praise from Erza (a nice moment to be sure) and admiration from Evergreen. Plus, Elfman's bet with Bacchus protected his sisters and caused Quatro Cerberus to be referred to as Quatro Puppy, which is humorous.

Mirajane's battle with Jenny caused my eyes to roll since it was basically pure fanservice. That said, Mashima-sensei does know his audience would not be happy with any tournament contest where Mirajane didn't go into her Satan Soul form to defeat an enemy. Plus, her bet with Jenny did lead to the funniest stuff Mashima-sensei has ever done. More on that in a bit.

Kagura's battle with Yukino comes off fairy cliched since Kagura doesn't unsheathe her sword to defeat Yukino. Still, there's something about a badarse babe with a sword who's so badarsed, she doesn't need to unsheathe her sword to get a win.

I liked how Lucy turned down the offer to take possession of Yukino's Golden Celestial Keys. I still think that eventually, Lucy will end up with all twelve Golden Keys, possibly at the end of this arc, but we'll see.

This thirteenth key that Yukino has wasn't part of the deal, which I find interesting. Why would Yukino be willing to part with two of her keys but not the thirteenth. Actually, why would she want to part with any of her keys unless she's in on this Eclipse scheme. But how could she be since Captain Arcadios apparently didn't know there'd be two Celestial Mages in the tournament? Regardless, it just didn't make a lot of sense to me for Yukino to offer two keys. She should have offered them all if she were going to stop being a mage completely.

Natsu going after Master Ziemma is a fairly cliched moment. I can almost see where this is going, and that was without the aid of the spoiler preview of the next volume at the end of 33.

Finally, where Mashima-sensei scores a massive win on the humor front is in the "silent" omake chapter where Wakaba and  Macao buy Sorcerer 3D in order to see Jenny naked in 3D. However, both are horrified when they discover the issue also has Eve, Ren, Hibiki, and Ichiya (front and center) naked. Macao's woes are added to when his son Romeo comes in to see the naked, 3D Ichiya there. A similar event awaits Wakaba, when his wife and daughter catch him looking at the same image.

I have to say, this omake chapter makes me laugh even now. The looks of horror on Macao's and Wakaba's faces after they went from seeing Jenny to seeing Ichiya and his crew is so priceless. While the joke of having others walk in on the guys as Ichiya is out there for all to see is cliched, it just adds to the humor of the initial horror.

As an aside, I'm not sure what to make of Freed's reaction to Eve, Hibiki, and Ren's nudity. ^_^;

On the Kodansha side of things, I'm not very happy. The hybrid adaptation really made my head hurt this time. They might have snuck it over on me had they not used Western honorifics, but the moment I saw Yukino saying "Miss Lucy", it was red alert time. I had thought that a simple -san honorific was replaced with Miss, but imagine my surprise when I discovered that Yukino was addressing Lucy as "Lucy-sama". Further investigation revealed that Yukino addresses EVERYONE with the -sama honorific.

Seriously, that completely changes Yukino up for me. When she's just being casual with everyone, it is one thing. When she's being so reverent to everyone, then that is another person completely. Clearly, Mashima-sensei had Yukino use the -sama honorific as a literary device, but hey, we ALL know that a fantasy title must NEVER have filthy, disgusting Japanese honorifics in them. Sometimes, I'm surprised that Kodansha doesn't just translate names (You know, 'cause Japanese names in a fantasy title? Unforgivable!), except I believe Yukino's name is written in katakana, not kanji (so there's no definition per se).

Still, once my eyes have been assaulted thusly, then the other things that I usually give a pass on start irritating me as well, such as Lissana not addressing Elfman or Mirajane properly (Elf-niichan, for example, rather than "Elf"). Then there was Juvia's fantasy sequence where this adaptation had her saying, "How could Gray do that to me?!" Except Juvia would NEVER, EVER, EVER say "Gray" without the "-sama" honorific, even in a fantasy sequence. Turns out, she apparently never used his name, but hey, up yours reader! "We'll add his name the way it is SUPPOSED to be used because we aren't slant-eyed gimboid gits in America!"

Of course, once the dung starts rolling downhill, it gets larger and larger. After learning that in Yukino's and Kagura's fight, the two basically just said the equivalent of "pleased to meet you" (vs. "Fight well," "And you."), I decided that I better quit looking or I'd just stop buying the manga completely.

Yes, I know this is a dead horse issue and yes, I know that for most, they won't give a rat's keester, but we all have our weaknesses and pet peeves, and the removal of Japanese honorifics and rewritting of text because, "Well, I think the characters should say 'this' rather than what they say 'cause what I came up with is cooler" is one of mine.

I will say that I do appreciate the Japanese attack names being retained as well as the Japanese name of Kagura's sword. I just wish the editorial decision to make the adaptation hybrid hadn't been made.

Otherwise, the usual extras are here, including a couple of pages of translator notes.

Manga-wise, I like this volume. Kodansha-wise, I don't like what's being done.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga - Prototype Chapter Review

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku 
Hayate the Combat Butler Prototype Chapter Review

**********SPOILERS!!!**********

Since Hayate the Combat Butler is on a break this week, I thought I'd go back to the origins of this manga series that I enjoy so much.  Prior to the manga fans of Hayate the Combat Butler know and love being done, a thirty two page prototype manga of the same name (Hayate no Gotoku in the Japanese) was produced. I admit, I'm not too versed on its history (anyone who does know, please feel free to enlighten me in the comments), but it appears that this prototype manga was published in magazine form at some point in time. Whether that was prior to the actual manga's publication, or whether it was published as part of a celebration of the manga series as a way of saying, "this is where it all started," I cannot say.

Regardless, I thought I would compare this prototype manga to the start of the canon Hayate the Combat Butler manga and write a review.

The premise of the story is the same, but there are a lot of differences. For starters, Hayate has the debt from his parents as he's standing at the lot where his house used to stand. He's being chased by the yakuza; he can't get a job due to not having a legal residence; he has ¥120 to his name; and he decides to go into crime by kidnapping an ojousama, figuring that even if he fails, prison has a bed and food.  Naturally, he meets Nagi at the park, where he sends the two bozos who are trying to hit on her packing for going after his target.

This is where things really start to change. After Nagi thanks Hayate for saving her, she then asks him how to use the vending machine. I laughed when Hayate showed Nagi a ¥100 coin, to which she said she'd never seen such a thing. So rather than give up his coat to her (she is wearing one here), he buys her a beverage with the last of his money before proceeding to tell her a lot of exposition to establish the plot (his debt, the yakuza, etc.). Nagi finds him to be a good person, even laughing when Hayate confesses he'd planed to kidnap her. Nagi finds this confession of Hayate's as further proof that he's a good person.

This is where things start getting a little odd to me in terms of plot. Obviously, Hata-sensei wants Hayate to be Nagi's butler, but how he gets the characters to that point doesn't ring true.  For starters, if someone said, "I was going to kidnap you" after they'd bought you a beverage with their money and then showed you how to drink said canned beverage, would you want to invite them over, even if you are super rich?  Yet that's exactly what Nagi does here.

How they get to the Sanzenin estate is not show, but they arrive, Hayate is stunned, and Nagi brings him in. Now enter Maria, who is not happy that Nagi just left a party and has been gone for a while. At Nagi's word that Hayate is her benefactor, Maria immediately accepts him and she too wants to show gratitude to Hayate. This too comes off as an unnatural reaction.

Now that Hata-sensei has Hayate in the Sanzenin mansion, it is time to bring in the yakuza element and kidnappings as Maria warns Nagi to be careful after some yakuza were in the area screaming about selling a kid's organs, so they couldn't let him get away. But how to get Hayate in as a butler? Ah, just have Maria listen to Nagi wax poetically about her savior, Hayate.  So Maria offers him the job of butler, since they just happen to have a position open. Naturally, Hayate accepts. *lol* Yeah, it is pretty silly.

Ah, but in the early days of the manga, there was another person who was supposed to play a larger role -- Klaus!  The head butler arrives on cue and wants to know why she'd hire someone they know nothing about. Her reasoning? He was in trouble and Nagi had fallen in love with him. Her amazing insight tells Maria that Nagi's love will be unrequited as Hayate doesn't seem to be interested in younger girls. Hoo!hoo!

As silly as that notion is, I did find the twisted side of Maria to be amusing. She was looking forward to seeing this drama unfold as Nagi would be troubled by the fact that Hayate never fell in love with her.

So Hayate now is a butler in the Sanzenin household. Maria's twisted nature comes to life again as Hayate confesses to not knowing how to be a butler, to which Maria says bluntly that if he can't hack it, he'll be fired. Hayate's response of working until he dies and Maria's "I'm looking forward to it" response cracked me up though. ^_^

Maria sets the stage for the romantic angle of the manga by asking Hayate to support Nagi's heart. We learn of Nagi's many enemies due to her position, which has led to her isolation. Since Hayate understands being isolated, he can relate, and Maria then asks him to protect Nagi. As such, Hayate tells Nagi that he'll always protect her as that's his new mission, so all she has to do is call his name and he will appear.

After blowing off the idea of really being kidnapped, Nagi is kidnapped, causing Maria and Klaus to be in a panic. Hayate grabs a bike, conveniently parked on the sidewalk, where like in the canon manga, he then goes after the kidnappers at an incredible rate of speed. Nagi is not the composed, sarcastic girl of the canon manga since this version of the character has not been through various kidnapping attempts.  But, she does call for Hayate, who appears as he did in the canon.

Hata-sensei goes for the gag as he has Hayate run over (which is pretty similar to the canon), whereupon he falls on the hood of the car. However, Hayate doesn't have that "I'm going to kill anyone that harms Ojousama" air to him. The two kidnappers simply panic because some bloodied guy that should be dead is on their car asking for Nagi's return.

Having saved Nagi's life, Maria and Klaus arrive. Nagi gets mildly annoyed by Hayate getting excited to see Maria again and his excited explanation to her of why he's so strong and durable.

As I look back, it really is quite amazing how much improved Hata-sensei's canon work became over his prototype manga. Rather than just making wild leaps in order to get the characters into places he wanted and to make certain information known, in the canon, Hata-sensei manages to get the flow of things correct, so that things happen in a logical way. We, the audience, are already expected to believe that Hayate is virtually indestructible as well as incredibly strong and fast. Therefore, adding to that by Maria magically knowing Hayate's feelings for Nagi and the like in the prototype was just too much.

Since I'm a big fan of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga, I'm really glad I had an opportunity to see the manga's origins. Although the canon chapters that superseded the prototype are far superior, there's no denying that for me, I found the prototype chapter to be rather fun.

Genshiken Second Season Volume 03 (12) Manga Review

げんしけん: 二代目/Genshiken Nidaime
Genshiken Second Season Volume 3
Genshiken Volume 12

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*SPOILERS!!!*

Highlights from this volume have Rika play a joke on her Genshiken friends by having her tall, athletic, tomboyish, younger sister Risa drop by to pay a visit and pretend to be a boy. Rika's revealed to be a year older than she appears. Kenji's Hato-chan appearance nearly gets him in trouble at school. Risa, Rika, Kenji, and Yajima have a party at Rika's place. The party eventually goes to Kenji's place, where Risa discovers Kenji is just her type in the naughty area after the girls accidentally see Kenji naked getting out of the shower.

Kenji struggles with how his art changes from when he's in drag to when he's dressed normally. Ogiue struggles with how to best accommodate Kenji's art for the club publication she's working on.  While at Madarame's house to change, Kenji discovers Madarame has a trap-themed H-game, and that it is the one Kousaka had been promoting in cosplay drag. Madarame comes home, where he and "Hato-chan" have a chat about the game and Kenji's art style. Ogiue calls a meeting of Genshiken to discuss the forthcoming school festival and the group's publication, so she solicits stories of high school romance from them, getting what she should have expected from otaku-type people.

---

Although I've already chapter-blogged everything in this volume, rereading things as a volume is always good.  That being said, this volume did remind me of how weary I am of Kenji's whole story. I really want that to be wrapped up and the focus shifted elsewhere, but that's just me.

Rika's younger sister Risa ends up being the standout in this volume. I like her character for some reason. She's not annoying like Rika can be. Oddly enough, Kio-sensei making Risa have shoutacon tastes, complete with the "slick and smooth" aspects that come with it is a way he could explore the underage fetish (specifically lolicon) without the creepy factor. If Rika had an older brother who was into lolicon stuff, folks would likely not be down for that. But, if it is a girl into the younger boy types, well, that's different.

I do hope that Risa does return in the future as a member of Genshiken. Her presence and interest in Kenji might make for something interesting.

I did like getting a glimpse into Yajima's past and a boy who'd caught her eye after he spoke to her about her art.

I laughed when it was revealed that Kuchiki had a girl confess to him in high school. Granted it didn't last long, but just the idea that a girl would be into him as weird as he is.

The Kenji-Madarame chat was pretty "meh" to me. I know it is setting up what's to come, but still, I'm so weary of Kenji that I just don't care about anything he has to say for the most part.

On the Kodansha Comics side of things, it is the usual stuff. The Japanese honorifics are retained, and thankfully, the more otaku terms are retained as well. The translator notes are good as various parody references are cited. I really appreciate that. The various 4-koma strips are still here as is the 2-page omake manga. I don't know if anything is missing since I don't own the Japanese tankoubon version.

Genshiken isn't what it used to be, but it is fine for what it is. Though I'm weary of the Kenji drama, on the whole, I still enjoy the series a lot.

Genshiken Nidaime Manga Chapter 94 Review (Time to face reality.)

げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 94 Manga Review
Genshiken Nidaime chapter 94 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Kaminaga does her formal greeting to the Hato family while Ichirou joins Kenji (Kenjirou) on the roof to help remove snow.

Sometime later, Kenji is in his room reading when Kaminaga drops by with her adult beverage. When he calls her "Kaminaga-senpai", she teasingly corrects him by saying "neesan" (sister-in-law). She tries to get him to join the gathering below, but he's reluctant, since he knows his parents would not approve of his activities in Tokyo. So, she closes the door behind her to sit with him in his room, but is disappointed when she learns all of his BL materials are in Tokyo.

Kaminaga promises not to reveal Kenji's cross-dressing secret, and he ends up revealing that he may have fallen for another guy. Kaminaga is excited about this and asks him what he's going to do about it. Kenji switches to his female voice to partially blame her for the cross-dressing and the like. She gives him some BL advice, which he's not thrilled with, so instead, she arranges for Kenji to meet up with his female, high school, BL friends Konno and Fuji.

The trio make small talk and the girls promise to not tell anyone about Kenji's cross-dressing. Fuji starts getting frustrated with Konno, since she has feelings for Kenji, but is having Fuji to all the talking. So, Konno manages to suggest discussing BL. However, when Kenji agrees to this, Konno suddenly doesn't want to discuss it with guys. Kenji opens up some on his cross-dressing.

Since it is clear that Kenji is troubled by all of this, Konno suggest him giving up on the BL and cross-dressing, or just leaving Genshiken. After all, one's hobbies shouldn't be a source of trouble. Kenji agrees with this, but has one more bombshell - there's someone he likes, so for now, he's not quitting. This news shocks Konno.

After they leave the restaurant, Fuji tells Konno that it didn't sound like Kenji was dating anyone and Kenji understand that in the end, he couldn't tell them he'd fallen for a guy. When he comes home, he's planning to return to Tokyo. He discovers a drunk Kaminaga "steaming from BL excitement" over some of Ichirou's friends doing judo stuff.

Thoughts/Review:

Although I've long grown weary of Kenji's storyline with his various "whatevers", I did think this was a pretty interesting chapter.

I had hoped that Kaminaga's arrival at the Hato home would be where Kenji (yeah, I know his name is Kenjirou, but since Kaminaga calls him "Kenji" at times, so am I) concedes to having been attracted to her. To me, there were certainly indications of this, culminating in Kenji making himself look like Kaminaga when he went into trap mode.  The closest we came to that was Kenji basically laying the blame for the current mess in his life with BL and cross-dressing at her feet.

Kaminaga's seeing everything through BL lenses makes me wonder what Ichirou saw in her.  Yeah, I'm sure she's attractive to him, but based on what little we know, it just seems like such an odd pairing.

Then again, Kaminaga shows that despite her fujoshi mindset, she can still come off in a very traditional sense, as seen by how she respectfully did the traditional greeting & bow on her knees to her future in-laws. She also made her hair black (presumably its original color) in order to become more acceptable.  So she probably keeps her fujoshi side low key around Ichirou.

It is a shame that we got the tired (though I admit, realistic) setup of someone who has a chance to confess their feelings to the person they like, only to chicken out in the end. I had rather hoped that Konno would express her feelings to Kenji as that would have made for an interesting situation on his part. Alas, 'twas not to be.

So, now Kenji will return to Tokyo, whereupon I expect Madarame to be healed and we'll go from there. Come on, Sue! ^_~

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 32 Review

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 32 Review

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***SPOILERS***

Highlights of this volume start with the ghost of the first Fairy Tail guild master, Mavis, showing up to cheer on Fairy Tail (only they can see her). Fairy Tail gets two teams in, with Team A being Elfman, Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Gray, while Team B consists of Laxus, Juvia, Mira, Gajeel, and "Mystogan" (Jellal in disguise, put in on the sly by Makarov, but approved of by Mavis). Other guilds participating are Lamia Scale, Blue Pegasus, Mermaid Heel, Quatro Cerberus, Saber Tooth, and Raven Tail.

The first contest is "The Hidden", which sees Fairy Tail A (Gray) end up with zero points and Fairy Tail B (Juvia) end up with a point. Next is a battle between Lucy and Flare Corona (Raven Tail) in which Flare attempts to cheat by secretly threatening young Asuka until Natsu stops it. When Lucy is about to bring the pain with the help of Gemini, but again Raven Tail cheats and absorbs all the magic from Lucy. After some other matches, "Mystogan" faces Jura from Lamia Scale. However, when Jellal gets to involved in the fight, Ultear has Merudy use her magic to cause Jellal lose the fight so that his cover is not blown.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, this was certainly not a volume where much of anything special happened, but it was still entertaining.

Having a second Fairy Tail team in the contest is a cheat, but I didn't mind since it brought in some other Fairy Tail favorites. Unfortunately, when Team B is revealed, Juvia looks like a total badarse, but then she turns into worthlessness. *sigh* I don't mind her being madly in love with "Gray-sama", but I would like for her to get a chance to be awesome again.

I had already been told that Mavis would be returning the the series, which she does in this volume. She's a new scene stealer of sorts, with her childlike attitudes about things at times, but with a definite element of massive power underneath. Having her around will be fun.

The other scene stealer, Asuka, got a bit less face time in this volume (more than her parents though), but she played an actual part in the battle between Lucy and Flare. I liked that.

Lucy looked to get a chance to show some real power, only to get it snuffed. I realize that part of what Mashima-sensei is doing is setting up things for Fairy Tail to come from well behind, but it was disappointing to not have her be allowed to come through.

I was highly amused by how Mashima-sensei caused Jellal to lose, via Ultear and Merudy. I didn't mind his loss since it was cheating on Fairy Tail's part to have him there.

Since Raven Tail is pulling out all the stops to prevent Fairy Tail from getting anywhere, I guess I now know why they targeted Wendy in the previous volume.

Otherwise, not much to discuss story-wise.

There are a lot of extras in this volume. There are breakdowns of all the teams in the Grand Magic Games. The only other time I've seen these power charts used for characters was in School Rumble.  I get the feeling they are used in battle manga.

There are the usual extras -- Mashima-sensei's notes, Lucy and Mira answering questions, fan art, extra art from Mashima-sensei, a few translator notes, and a preview of the next volume. Naturally, Kodansha Comic's hybrid adaptation continues.

As an aside, the Nibley Twins did the translations here rather than the normal William Flanagan, whom was otherwise engaged and could not do the work on this volume. I think he returns next volume. Regardless, with the adaptations now hybrid, it almost doesn't matter who translates it.

In the end, some fun was found in this volume, but not a lot of plot. Looks like the next volume just came in for me, so I'll have to get around to reading that soon. ^_^

UQ Holder Manga Chapter 15 Review (Time for an idiot to learn something new.)

ユーキューホルダー!/UQ Holder Chapter 15 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

In a jumping contest, Touta jumps far higher than Kuroumaru. Touta is shown to be strong enough to easily lift a large tow truck. In a running contest, Touta is shown to be faster than Kuroumaru. Karin acknowledges Touta is unusually proficient in ki (chi), but she orders Touta to arm wrestle Kuroumaru, in which Touta loses easily. Karin smugly tells him she's next, and she smokes Touta in arm wrestling, meaning Touta is stuck cooking the meals, which the kids appreciate since he's a good cook.

During the meal, Karin concedes that his cooking is quite good, so she suggests he do this for the rest of eternity. Kuroumaru and Karin decide that they should use arm wrestling from now on to determine who will cook. Even though Touta doesn't want to learn shundo, he hates losing, so he decides to take Karin's suggestion to become better at it if he wants to win at arm wrestling.

Touta goes off and practices what he's observed others do, feeling pretty good. However, he's watched by another guy who's irritated by what he observes. He punches Touta, telling him he's got shundo wrong, then tries to explain the basics to Touta. The man points to the dust clouds as proof that Touta is no good at shundo.

After giving a demo, Touta is impressed and decides he has been underestimating shundo. He wants to know what shundo has to do with arm wrestling. After Touta mentions that he's only been doing shundo for a few days after having first seen it a month earlier, the man decides Touta is actually a genius. The man tries to explain how the shundo technique works in regards to arm wresting, but Touta thinks it is a load of crap. The man punishes him for this, then proceeds to show off more uses for shundo, including midair shundo.

With that, the "martial artist Kaito" tells Touta that he'll teach him one of the two shundo tricks for him to master.

Thoughts/Review:

Karin pretty much steals the show when she's doing stuff on panel. Her smug look when she told Touta that she was next for an arm wrestling challenge was pretty awesome. Her laying the smack down on him added to that. Then the way she acknowledged his cooking abilities just dripped of snark while being sincere in her compliment. That level of awesomeness doesn't come about every day.

As for Touta, Akamatsu-sensei had already established that Touta pretty much sees something and can instantly do it. With this chapter, Akamatsu-sensei takes the time to spell it out in black and white -- Touta has an abnormal proficiency with ki (chi) usage as well as his abnormal ability to learn things by watching others rather than go through formal training.

Akamatsu-sensei does appear to be shifting Touta's attitude though. Until now, he'd been opposed to learning combat skills. He has trained in some things, like sword usage, but when he was given a chance to learn shundo, he declined. 

Bring in Kaito, who may be a random so-and-so or may be something specific, who happens to be an expert in shundo, sees Touta doing shundo moves in a poor fashion, then takes it upon himself to educate the mindless moron. I'm too tired to speculate on Kaito's motivation, but as far as Touta's concerned, seeing him actually moved to want to learn proper use of shundo is a new development. Hopefully, Akamatsu-sensei will continue to cause Touta to grow as a character.

Finally, I did notice (and thanks to Hata for alerting me it would show up) that Kuroumaru's compliment of Touta's cooking was the equivalent of a marriage proposal in Japan. Karin agreed with the remark, but though Touta is too thick to get such references, it is part of Akamatsu-sensei's setting up a harem of sorts for Touta.

If I'm not mistaken, the manga will have a break next week due to Weekly Shounen Magazine being off, then a chapter around Christmas before another break because of the manga magazine. So, until the spoilers come out... ^_^

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 433 (What!? There's movement in the main plot?)

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku 
Hayate the Combat Butler Chapter 433 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Yozora, standing on the rooftop of a nearby apartment tower, observes Yukari-chan House in the dark and makes her report to someone that they can no longer use Ruka as a candidate. With that, she returns to whatever her main job is.

Meanwhile, Ruka reports in to her manager, Atsumari.

August 14 arrives and Nagi announces to the residents of Yukari-chan House that she intends to return to her mansion. Ayumu and Hina want to know what will become of the apartment house while Chiharu and Kayura panic as they have reasons for not wanting to move. Ayumu inquires what will happen with the butler service that is a part of living at Yukari-chan house. Hayate assures her that this won't end as Klaus will move into Yukari-chan House after Hayate returns to the mansion with Nagi. This shocks Ayumu and Hina.

Ah-tan asks if it will be that easy to return to the mansion since Nagi no longer has a King's Jewel. After Hina and Ayumu wonder what these are, they are told that they are precious stones belonging to the Sanzenin family, originating from King Midas. Hayate tells Nagi that he's supposed to know where another stone is, based on what her grandfather told him, but he has no clue. Nagi wonders if he's getting senile, however, she believes that Mikado will help them since he doesn't want to die. After all, there's one person in the world he does not want to gain the Sanzenin inheritance, no matter what.

Yozora puts on a maid uniform to return to her duties to Hisui. Hisui asks if Mikado is planning to bring Nagi back as his successor, which Yozora confirms, provided Nagi acquires a King's Jewel. Yozora states that Mikado doesn't want Hisui to have the treasure, no matter what. Hisui is amused by this as Yozora believes that it is because everyone is afraid of her. As such, Hisui decides they should pay the old man a visit.

Thoughts/Review:

Har! Hata-sensei just loves throwing curve balls left and right. I think all of the Hayate the Combat Butler fans were expecting him to launch into gag chapters (I know I certainly expected it), but he then goes and advances the main plot a bit with interesting tidbits to boot.

Yozora's return was a massive surprise, but a welcome one. As I recall, Yozora was last seen in chapter 370, when they discovered the coffin in the hidden room at Yukari-chan House, after which Isumi put up wards to keep Yozora out.

In a weird way, Yozora turning out to be a maid didn't surprise me. In the world of Hayate the Combat Butler, Hata-sensei has primarily filled it with rich and powerful people, as well as those who support them.  Obviously, Yozora worked for someone, so considering this world with lots of butlers and maids, it kinda makes sense to me that Yozora's primary job would be that of a maid.

That being said, having Yozora be the maid of Hisui did surprise me greatly. She first got mentioned by name in chapter 384 as the person who'd likely get the Sanzenin inheritance if Nagi didn't get it.  Her first actual mention (not by name) is in chapter 136 in volume 13. Since Jenny is Hisui's sister, and Jenny was with Nagi in Africa when they found Tama (along with Isumi, whom I believe is the one who caused Tama to speak and think as a human), I suspect that Hisui was also on that trip, considering that Nagi referred to Hisui as a friend of hers.

What's funny about Hisui showing up is that on one hand, she's a new girl in the mix to replace Ruka (after a fashion, mind you). A new character is what I've seen some fans state an absolute objection to seeing in the manga. Yet technically, while this the first time we've seen her, the fact that Hisui has clearly been in the mix for however many years now means that she's really not a "new" character. Maybe that's why I'm not seeing anyone complain about her showing up.

The question becomes, "Why is Mikado so opposed to Hisui gaining the inheritance?"

Knowing Hata-sensei's penchant for tossing important pieces of information into what appear to be throwaway gag moments, this means going back and reexamining Nagi's flashback of Jenny. Despite being depicted as an adult, Jenny is said to be four. Whether that's true or not remains to be seen, but Hata-sensei did mention that Jenny had ninjutsu powers, with which she was able to hear the tiny Tama tell her what had happened to his mother (she died). That led to Nagi being irritated that Jenny hadn't used said abilities to defeat the creatures chasing them (that was done by Isumi without Nagi's knowledge).

Let's assume for the moment that Jenny is in fact a ninja, or at least has some training in the ninjutsu arts. If that is true, and it is also true that Jenny is the younger sister of Hisui, then the reason Hisui is feared is that she too has ninjutsu training. Then, taking into account Yozora's abilities, it would appear that she too has ninjutsu training or some other mystical training/enhancement, considering how she's able to battle Hayate, easily defend herself against Isumi's magical attacks, and how she can make one of those ninja-like quick escapes across the rooftops.


As an aside, it really is hard to take any of the ninjitsu discussion seriously, namely because it was a gag moment in chapter 136, complete with youkai, other monsters, carnivorous animals, a unicorn, and even a ravenous panda (which still makes me laugh). Plus, this is a memory from Nagi's childhood, so maybe she is embellishing a little. However, to date, whenever Nagi has had a childhood memory flashback, it is considered as actually having happened as described so...^_^;

Finally, I was surprised that Ruka already received a cameo, but it was needed to show that Ruka had moved out of Yukari-chan House and back to her own apartment. I'm not sure how often Ruka will get future cameos, but I'm pretty sure she will at some point.

Genshiken Nidaime Manga Chapter 93 Review (Otaku with a harem problem.)

げんしけん: 二代目Chapter 93 
Genshiken Nidaime chapter 93 Manga Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Madarame recalls how at New Year's, none of the girls came to visit. He remembers how Tanaka, Kugayama, and Kuchiki had hung out at his place, reading their doujinshi loot, and discussing Madarame's apparent harem.

Madarame is brought back to the present when Rika and Yajima stop by for a New Year's visit to see how he's doing and to make a report on things since the others are away on holiday. Rika tells him that Angela went back home. Sue was supposed to go back to America as well, but ended up attaching herself to Ogiue when she went home. Kenji (Hato) returns to his home to collect his thoughts. Keiko says she might go out with Madarame if he goes beyond begging her (yakidogeza). Regardless, because they feel guilty about backing Madarame into a corner, everyone has decided to back off for now.

Rika wants to know whom Madarame has chosen, but because he doesn't want to choose, Rika asks if he wants a harem. Madarame explains that after a lifetime of not being popular, suddenly having girls interested in him is something he can't comprehend. Yajima understand where Madarame is coming from while Rika asks if Madarame would like her to decide for him. Her choice is Keiko, since Keiko is the most like Saki, right down to the fact that she's the one whom Madarame is most comfortable around, as evidenced by how he has no trouble talking (arguing) with her.

Madarame tells Rika he's surprised she didn't suggest Hato, considering her fujoshi ways. She says she'd support him if he decides to go for Madarame, more so if Madarame is OK with it., However, she says it is up to him, asking Yajima to back her up.

Kenji is back home, taking the snow of the roof of his parent's home when his brother drives up with Kaminaga. Her hair is now black and she asks him to call her "neesan", meaning "sister-in-law".

Thoughts/Review:

Bwah!ha!ha!ha!ha! Madarame becomes the target of his angry otaku friends because three girls and a part-time trap are in love with him. Well, Tanaka wasn't, but Kugayama and Kuchiki were. Jealous so-and-so's. ^_~

(I'm glad Kugayama had a part to play in this chapter.)

Figures that Kio-sensei would cop-out and not have any of the girls or Kenji pay Madarame a visit. It was interesting to choose the usually annoying Rika to pop by as well as Yajima. Rika wasn't annoying here as she laid out what all happened.

The most interesting element in the chapter was how Kio-sensei elevated Keiko up. In all of this shipping discussions I've seen, Keiko is usually put at the bottom of the list, which Madarame even mentions as her being the last choice one would expect. The element that has never come up in the discussions is how Keiko is the closest in to Saki in terms of how Madarame acts around her. That does make Keiko more interesting on the choice selection list, and should Kio-sensei hook Madarame up with her, he has his explanation as to why it would work for all those Saki shippers.

Me, I'm still a Sue shipper. Her forcing herself on Ogiue is just another form of hiding and running away.

As to Kenji, having Kaminaga return to the story means we should see resolution there, and whether Kenji has feelings for her or not. (I suspect he does, but what do I know?)

Beyond that, I'm not finding a whole lot to discuss. I hope I can read chapter 94 soon.

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 31 Review

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 31 Review

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***SPOILERS***

Highlights for Fairy Tail volume 31 start with Makarov making Gildarts the new Guild Master, whereupon Gildarts flees, but not before making Makarov Master again and reinstating Laxus. The Tenrou Island survivors learn they need to train up rapidly to make up for lost time, so they pay a visit to Porlyusica, whom Wendy says has the scent of the Air Dragon Grandeeney. Porlyusica is the Edolas version of Grandeeney and has a book of magic given to her telepathically by the dragon to give to Wendy. Fairy Tail starts a three month training regiment to be ready for the Grand Magic Games, but the Tenrou folks plans are thwarted when the Celestial Spirits have them over for a "night" of fun, which translates to three months real time. Merudy, Ultear, and Jellal show up with a plan to help these Fairy Tail members overcome their weaknesses with the limited time left, but they also warn of possible dark danger coming from the games. Two new dragon slayers make their presence known as part of the Saber Tooth guild.  Wendy goes missing on the eve of the games, so Elfman has to substitute for her in the Fairy Tail team of Natsu, Lucy, Erza, and Gray.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It is somewhat amusing to me to see Natsu and the others from the Tenrou Island incident having only the strength of average Fairy Tail members (or somewhat above average in the case of Erza and Mira). Granted, it is pretty standard operating procedure in shounen manga for the protagonist to need to train up to get to that next level. However, with Fairy Tail, they already started out strong. They haven't been shown needing to train to get stronger. Instead, the members of Fairy Tail, primarily Natsu, Erza, Gray, and even Lucy sometimes, end up in a situation where they reach deep and do things they've not done before.

However, Mashima-sensei decides to continue to eschew the cliched training arcs by humorously having (some) Fairy Tail members that needed training lose all of their time in the Celestial realm. Still, it was interesting to see that realm, even if reading Capricorn using Western honorifics made my eyes hurt. But I digress...

With the seven year jump, I liked seeing Jellal, Merudy, and Ultear again. This continues Mashima-sensei's love of redeeming characters, which I have no problem with. I like the idea that this trio formed an independent guild (Crime Sorcière). I liked the little moment between Jellal and Erza, though I didn't like the cop-out to avoid their progressing any kind of romance. Yeah, I know - this is a shounen title so we can't have much romance beyond that. *_*

I didn't like the dues ex machina moment for Ultear coming up with a way for Natsu and the others to be able to compete with the reps from the other guilds in the upcoming Grand Magic Games.  But, that's the price paid for the earlier eschewing of Fairy Tail training (though some members not in the games did go through training).

I'm not sure what I think about Mashima-sensei introducing two new dragon slayers (Sting and Rogue).  It seems like this is just another excuse for Mashima-sensei to have another dragon slayer vs dragon slayer setup

The cliched onsen scene made me laugh in cliched fashion. Not only did I chuckle at Erza's nonchalant attitude about the guys joining them, but when she moments earlier attacks the onsen privacy fence for intruders, the fact that Droy got hit in the keester still makes me laugh out loud.

Some questions. What is the Lumen Histoire? What is Zeref's connection to the games? What happened to Wendy?

Finally, there's a scene stealer within the Fairy Tail guild, who's not (yet) a member -- Bisca's and Alzack's daughter, Asuka. Man oh man. *lol* Is Mashima-sensei trying to prove that he's not just obsessed with young women with "huge tracks of land?" ^_~  Still, there's no denying that Asuka is a little cutie. I started looking for her in the background of guild scenes as well as the ones where she's more visible, such as when Makarov carried her on his shoulders.

Seriously, it would be awesome if Mashima-sensei did some exploring of the Connel family, but since this is a shounen manga, combined with Bisca and Alzack are B-team members means I won't see this happening. I can dream though.

On the Kodansha side of things, the usual hybrid adaptation is here (I promise not to rant about that here). The omake stuff is all here, from the Lucy and Mira Q&A, Mashima-sensei's two notes, fan art, etc. There are some translator notes too, which I always appreciate.

Now that the manga goes into a battle tournament mode, I'm not sure how much I am looking forward to the next volume, but I'll read it just the same.

UQ Holder Manga Chapter 14 Review (Give a girl a mallet, a sword, and a hard heeled shoe to kick butt with.)

ユーキューホルダー!/UQ Holder Chapter 14 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

Touta is impressed with how Karin dispatched Wrecking Ball, then frets about her cutting him in half. She assures Touta the man isn't dead, and sure enough, Wrecking Ball reveals he's a cyborg, firing a laser beam from his eye. Karin is unharmed, so Wrecking Ball assumes she's using magic apps, specifically a barrier app. He uses a barrier nullifying kick app as his bottom and top halves attack. Wrecking Ball then uses a weapon storage app, where he has nine High Frequency Green Dragon Crescent Blades summoned from, which launch at her.

Karin appears to be pierced and Wrecking Ball is starting to gloat, but he's shocked when he discovers that all he did was destroy Karin's clothing. Showing no shame, Karin moves in slowly, then quickly takes out the cyborg's bottom half before dropping a foot down on the back of his head, taking out Wrecking Ball's top half.

Touta is impressed again as Kuroumaru gives Karin her jacket to cover up with. The kids begin to emerge from the church, as do people from the slums, all clapping for the trio. Karin is given a hat, which she gives to an impressed little girl. Karin explains to Touta and Kuroumaru that her immortality is different from theirs, in that she she cannot be harmed, much less die. The little girl, seeing Karin's face, tells her to not be sad since everyone is happy. Karin smiles, which Touta notices and remarks on, leading to his punishment.

In the city, a werewolf (?) and a man are getting a briefing on the situation from a worried person on a monitor. The two aren't worried about immortals defending the church since the two of them hunt immortals.

Thoughts/Review:

Another good chapter with Karin getting the spotlight. Oh, no spotlight on Touta. Well, no wonder it was good. ^_~

At this point, Karin is like Setsuna at the start of the Kyoto arc. She's pretty much all business.  She doesn't waste time, nor does she worry if she gets stripped.  If she has an opponent that needs to be dispatched, then nothing is going to stop her from dispatching said opponent.

Karin's immortality is rather interesting. Assuming she went through the UQ Holder initiation rites, then her time underground wouldn't have been much of a problem, other than killing the monsters. After all, there's apparently no way any of them can harm her.

That does beg the question though -- if Karin's immortality is that she can't be harmed nor killed, then why did she bother with a barrier?

Other unanswered questions -- why would Eva get angry if Karin literally shredded Wrecking Ball? Why would an apparent government organization want to move in on the slums (PMSC)?

Wrecking Ball's sword summoning looked a lot like something Archer would do from Fate/Zero as well as Fate/stay night.  Just saying. ^_~

Thinking about Karin again, she's got a sword, and for some reason, what I jokingly refer to as a croquet mallet. I keep wondering about the mallet.  When I saw all of the swords from Wrecking Ball, I couldn't help but have a flash thought about the pactio system from Negima! and how that would probably carry over into UQ Holder. With Karin being as attached to Eva as she is, I wonder if Eva has made a pactio with Karin.  That would be something interesting.

So far, this "slum arc" (for lack of a better name) is turning out to be pretty interesting, mainly because Karin is getting more face time while Touta takes a back seat.  I really hope Akamatsu-sensei can work on improving his character.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 432 (Pondering what might have been.)

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 432 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Ayumu invites Nagi to join the rest of the girls on the balcony to observe the fireworks, but she politely declines, citing being tired.

On the streets below, Hayate looks at Ruka's note and wonders whether he made the right decision or not in turning her down. Hayate becomes annoyed when he notices all the romantic couples around. Naturally, one really lovey-dovey couple wants him to snap a picture of them, which he does, capturing the two kissing.

Hayate returns home to find no one else there. Checking his phone, he sees the texts from Ayumu, stating where the group is watching the fireworks. Since Hayate missed it, he looks at Ruka's note, feels depressed, and starts to think about what might have been with Ruka again when Nagi shows up, wearing a mask, and calling herself Life Ender-chan. Nagi makes a failed attempt to cheer Hayate up, then she gives him a present -- a sketch of himself, signed by her.

Hayate remarks on this messy doodle, leading to a retort by her. She takes off her mask and says that it is the first thing she's signed, but while it is worthless at the moment, one day it will be very valuable in ten years. Her earnest attitude actually causes Hayate to feel better and he accepts her gift.

Hayate asks how the doujinshi sales went, to which Nagi says assuredly that she naturally sold out. After acknowledging the help she'd received, Hayate praises her for her hard work in such a short time. This causes Nagi to blush, after which she tells Hayate they need to go to the beach.

Thoughts/Review:

And so the doujinshi arc has now concluded. In some ways I'm glad, but in others I'm kinda sad. I'm glad because there are lots of other plot threads that need to be picked back up, so it will be nice to advance those stories. It is sad because I did like Ruka.

I know some didn't like this, but I liked Hayate's pondering about whether he should have gone ahead and hooked up with Ruka or not because it is realistic. I can't imagine that people haven't made a major decision in their lives, then after the decision wonder, "Well what might have been if I'd made a different choice?"  Let's look at Hayate's position for a moment.

From Hayate's perspective, at the moment, Hayate's in love with Athena, based on his remarks to Hina during the Golden Week trip to Greece. However, Athena is currently an unknown quantity. At the moment, Athena has lost some of her memories and she's in child form. But, assuming that she returns to her young adult form (which I think it is safe to say will happen), there's no guarantee that she would get into a relationship with Hayate, even if he confessed his feelings to her.  There could be any number of reasons for her declining to be with Hayate romantically.  Therefore, Hayate's love for Athena may be unrequited.

With Ruka, there is no uncertainty about where Hayate stands with her. He knows Ruka loves him deeply.  Ruka is a hot, popular idol.  She's witty and intelligent to boot.  So, if Hayate had decided to be with her, even if she wasn't number one in his heart, he'd at least have a beautiful someone he cared about and who truly cared for him. However, if he did go this route, it wouldn't be fair to Ruka because Athena would always be number one in his heart. I think Hayate was very much aware of this.

As such, when Hayate sees the romantic couples, he gets annoyed because he has no one. Naturally, he begins thinking, "well, maybe I should have just taken Ruka up on her offer, then I could be among these happy couples." That's his mindset when he returns to Yukari-chan House, and thinking he's alone again, starts pondering about what might have been as he thinks about Ruka. It was all very realistic to me, and made for a good way to end the Ruka element of the arc.

(As I said before, I think Ruka will get the occasional cameo or name drop, but I don't think she and Hayate will ever speak again, at least not for the foreseeable future.)

Nagi being at the house didn't surprise me since she'd made her excuse of being tired earlier.  For Nagi, she'd not only won the doujinshi contest and accomplished the near impossible, proving she could do things she set her mind to, but she had allowed for Ruka and Hayate to have time together. For her, there's no doubt that this was pretty difficult considering how the initial drive for her to defeat Ruka was to prevent Hayate from going off with her. However, it is moments like this that make me think that when the manga is ending, Nagi would be able, even though it would pain her to do so, to allow Hayate to go with the girl of his choice if it isn't her.

Nagi has grown, and that growth shows in this chapter. Nagi is still Nagi, so she gets a little agitated at her portrait of Hayate being called a scribble, but then she concedes that in fact it is a worthless scribble, but she plans to make it worth something in ten years. I like seeing that her drive to continue moving forward is still there. 

Speaking of Nagi, I did like the little nod to Sailor Moon that she did. I couldn't get into that manga myself, but I liked the nod just the same.

So yeah, I do like this chapter a lot for the closure it brings to the arc, and the realistic reflections on Hayate's decision to not be with Ruka.

As to what's coming up, I suspect gag chapters, but Hata-sensei can often be full of surprises. I'd love it if he actually pressed forward with things. I think last year around this time, he teased the main plot again, so he might go that route this year as well.

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 30 Review

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 30 Review

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***SPOILERS***

Highlights for Fairy Tail volume 30 start with the aftermath of Grimoire Heart's attack on Tenrou Island. Master Markov has final words with Master Hades before sending him off. Zeref shows up on Grimoire Heart's airship, pronouncing punishment on the surviving members for causing Acnologia to arrive. Cana reveals to Gildarts that she's his daughter, leading to a moment between the two. Acnologia, the most powerful of dragons, attacks the island. Master Markov orders a retreat, ready to sacrifice himself to save his guild, but Fairy Tail rally to attack the dragon. The dragon is too powerful, so they band together to create a barrier, prayed for by the spirit of the first guild master, Mavis, as Acnologia attacks, destroying the entire island as Zeref watches.

Seven years later, Fairy Tail is a shadow of its former self, bullied by a new guild named Twilight Ogre. Macao, the current and fourth guild master, tries to deal with things peaceably, but has no success. A delegation from Blue Pegasus, led by Ichiya, tells Fairy Tail that Tenrou Island is still there. A sortie is dispatched, where the Fairy Tail members find Mavis standing on the sea. The island emerges, and the members of Fairy Tail who'd been on the island are found alive. They return home in time to put an end to Twilight Ogre's bullying. A group from Lamia Scale come by to pay their respects, whereupon Lyon falls for Juvia. Lucy learns her father has died while she and the others were sealed away, but she also learns that he sent presents every year, wrote letters, and even paid to have her apartment maintained.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Well, Mashima-sensei is know for his plot twists, but man, I didn't expect him to pull some stunt so that the main Fairy Tail members are effectively sealed away for seven years while life goes on everywhere else.  I have to say that it was pretty interesting, as are Mashima-sensei's remarks about how in the seven years, everyone has grown stronger while the core Fairy Tail members on Tenrou Island were sealed away. I get the impression that he's going to give a reason for Fairy Tail to have to claw their way back to primo status. I guess I'll find out soon enough.

I love that Bisca and Alzack are married and have a daughter (Asuka). Since the are B-team members of Fairy Tail, they don't get a lot of face time. After the arc where Laxus tries to take over Fairy Tail, that was pretty much the last we saw of them. Mashima-sensei had said that they had feelings for each other, but never confessed, which meant that they'd be like other romantic pairings in Fairy Tail -- going nowhere fast. Now, they've confessed, gotten married, and multiplied. I hope that Mashima-sensei finds a way to explore their family life in the guild, but that would be hoping for too much in a shounen series.

The changes to the B-team members of Fairy Tail was actually pretty funny. Droy having packed on the pounds while Reedus lost all his weight made me laugh. I also laughed at Lyon falling for Juvia. I guess he doesn't have to worry about Sherry any more, even though she was with him when Lamia Scale paid their respects.

I did feel sorry for Wendy when she saw Reedus's artwork of her, depicting what he thought she'd look like as a young adult. It must have been hard for Mashima-sensei not to draw her as a big breasted woman, as he usually does for all his women. ^_^;;;

I liked that after being talked about for so long, we got to see Master Mavis, even if she was a spirit. There's just something about her that's just sweet. Too bad she's tied to Tenrou Island.

As to Zeref, I still have a hard time accepting that this guy claiming to be Zeref is in fact Zeref, but Mashima-sensei keeps pushing it pretty hard. He may well be the real deal and not the latest head fake on Mashima-sensei's part.

I'm glad that Cana got to tell Gildarts the truth of their relationship. That's one less plot thread left dangling. It does appear that Mashima-sensei might start doing a running gag about the over-doting father and the daughter who might regret getting what she wished for. ^_^

Finally, although Lucy never got to square things away with her dad personally, I'm glad to see that in the fine Mashima-sensei tradition of character redemption, Lucy's father did try to do the right thing, even if too little too late. That takes care of another little plot thread as Lucy starts moving on with her life.

On the Del Rey side of things, there's the usual hybrid honorific usage (more noticeable with Romero, but that has always been the case from the start of the English adaptation of the manga), he notes from Mashima-sensei, the fan art, the Lucy and Mira Q&A, a couple of translator notes, and an extended preview of the next volume.

With Zeref hanging around, and the dragon Acnologia's attack on Fairy Tail, I had no clue that Mashima-sensei would decide to just time skip seven years and force the core Fairy Tail members to deal with the changes losing seven years can bring. It was an interesting twist to be sure and I'm looking forward to seeing where it all goes.

Fairy Tail Manga Volume 29 Review

フェアリーテイル
Fairy Tail Volume 29 Review

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***SPOILERS***

Highlights of this volume continue the Tenryo arc, starting with Gray battling Ultear, where Ultear gets a revelation about her mother Ur. Natsu, Gray, Wendy, Erza, and Lucy battle Master Hades. Laxus returns to enter the fray, but ends up transferring his remaining power to Natsu to try to finish Master Hades off. Master Hades gets serious. Master Hades incapacitates the other Fairy Tail magically, though they still fight physically. The cats destroy the source of Hades's magic, restoring power to Fairy Tail as Tenrou Tree is restored, allowing them to take out Hades.

Since I had four volumes of Fairy Tail stacked up on my desk, I figured I'd have to put aside my extreme distaste for the "awesomely awesome" hybrid adaptation and just read. Yeah, every time Capricorn calls Lucy "Lady Lucy" ('cause she's nobility...oh wait, she's not nobility, just a rich merchant's daughter), I do want to claw my eyeballs out since I know Capricorn addresses everyone with the "-sama" honorific. But I digress...

Story-wise, there's not that much special to write about. We have the usual Fairy Tail members at the end to face the boss villain and take him down, so that's pretty much by the numbers, including Master Hades "getting serious" to make things as bleak as possible for Fairy Tail before they rise again. It wasn't boring or anything, but just nothing special.

In the fashion that Mashima-sensei has come to follow, it appears Ultear gets her redemption moment after being defeated by Gray, landing in the water, and making a connection with her deceased mother, who had turned herself into ice to seal one of Zeref's monsters, only to have her ice melted and apparently sent to the sea. It was a way of giving Ultear some backstory and to potentially have her fighting alongside Fairy Tail in the future.

Speaking of redemption, Laxus actually did make a return. I had thought he'd show up, but then Gildarts, Freed, and Bickslow showed up, so I forgot about Laxus. No doubt, this was Mashima-sensei's plan all along. Unfortunately, Laxus makes an impressive appearance (with a weak excuse to do so, but that's part of his redemption path), doesn't do much, then hands the ball to Natsu, under the excuse of not being in the guild (that wasn't expressly stated, but that's the implication I took).

Speaking of Zeref earlier, assuming this dude is Zeref, Mashima-sensei is playing him oddly. He insta-killed Zancrow, so that's supposed to give this latest iteration of Zeref more street credit. Knowing Mashima, this will be yet another smeghead who was caught up in another nutty scheme to make him believe he's Zeref, only so that the real Zeref can be revived. We'll see though.

On the Kodansha Comics side, while I appreciate translator notes, even if limited ones, the page number citations for two of the three notes were incorrect. The last one was for page 194. I decided I didn't want to bother looking up the middle one.

As for other extras, they are very limited. We got the two notes from Mashima-sensei (always appreciated), and some fan art was scattered within the manga. A preview for the next volume was also there. Not sure if anything was cut out (I don't have the tankoubon volume) because normally, there's more to the extras.

OK, I'm going to make a push to catch up on these volumes, so I'll try to do the next volume tomorrow.

UQ Holder Manga Chapter 13 Review (Give a girl a croquet mallet and watch her kick butt.)

ユーキューホルダー!/UQ Holder Chapter 13 Review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis: 

The UQ Holder regulars aren't happy with Touta for attacking them, but they soon start entertaining the kids, who were frightened by Touta's attack. Touta ends up being entertained as well, causing Karin to remark on his childish mentality.

Karin and Kuroumaru are discussing the slum issue when Sister Kasuga arrives to thank them for helping. Sister Miao bangs a pan to summon the kids to lunch, kicking out some older, freeloading folks trying to score a meal. Touta enjoys some soup as the kids warm up to him.

Touta's bluster about protecting the church is silenced when the church takes a massive attack. A large man shows up, so Touta tries to stand up to him, only to get blasted back. The regular UQ Holder members defend the children from the brute's next attack, getting blasted down as a result. Kuroumaru comes in to assist them as one of the regulars identifies the brute as the Wrecking Ball, who uses a very expensive magic application to use compressed air bullets.

Wrecking Ball is about to attack, so Karin comes in to guard Kuroumaru's back. However, Totua jumps in front of her to payback Wrecking Ball for the earlier hit. Touta asks for permission to take down Wrecking Ball, but Karin tells him no as she'll deal with it. Touta refuses to accept that, so Karin flips to behind Wrecking Ball, telling Touta that first come, first serve. Karin battles Wrecking Ball, appearing to end things by telling the brute that no one can harm her.

Thoughts/Review:

Touta the idiot, still needs to learn a painful less. But enough about Thick Skull.

Sister Kasuga (KASUGA Mikan) provides us another name tie to Negima, this time via Misora. It would be cool if Sister Kasuga was the granddaughter of Misora, but that would be rather difficult IMO unless Misora had a child out of wedlock which took her family name, or Misora was somehow of an important enough family to warrant her husband marrying into the Kasuga family. As such, Sister Kasuga is likely either some relation of Misora's, or not related at all.

I do note that the Sister that looked like an older Cocone wasn't around. I was hoping she'd be here and could be shown helping defend the church. Oh well.

Wrecking Ball is just a generic, large villain, though as others have noted, he does slightly resemble one of Negi's opponents in Negima. I figure Karin will finish him off next chapter (assuming he's not already down for the count).

As for Karin, she is pure awesomeness at this point. OK, so she frightens the children, but she used Touta as a croquet ball when they first met to send him to the underground, and she's schooling his butt in the fight with Wrecking Ball.  I'm really hoping that we see more of her and start getting her background fleshed out, including why her "battle uniform" is a Mahora uniform.

As an aside, I wish Crunchyroll would put the effort into two page spread art that scanlators do. Crunchyroll's manga app just takes the two pages and slaps them together for the two page view, meaning the two page image isn't seamless.

Otherwise, this was a pretty good chapter, Touta elements not withstanding.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Chapter 431 (A popular character says farewell.)

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku Chapter 431 Review
Hayate the Combat Butler

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

With Ruka placing her hand on Hayate's, she has a request for him -- buy her some ice cream, and some of the good, expensive stuff.  When Hayate buys Häagen-Dazs, as she requests, which she really enjoys. Hayate is puzzled by her attitude, so she asks if he's seen the Audrey Hepburn movie, which he hasn't. She confesses that eating ice cream was on her bucket list, and thanks to Hayate, she got to do that with him.

Hayate thinks that she jumped the gun on making a bucket list, citing she has 41 years left, causing Ruka to demand to know if she'll die at 57. Hayate tries to look at Ruka's bucket list, causing her to freak out, saying she'd rather he looked at her breasts than see the lists. When he declines that offer, Ruka doesn't believe it, especially when Hayate shakily denies having a desire to see them. She turns it up a notch by giving the earnest but embarrassed offer again, freaking out Hayate. When he realizes she's teasing him, he gets upset.

In all seriousness, Ruka looks at her "get a boyfriend" item on her bucket list and presses her head against Hayate, telling him she could throw everything away for him. Just as she starts to cave into her feelings to truly give everything up for Hayate, the fireworks start, causing the moment to pass. Ruka accepts this, then as she writes a note while having Hayate keep his eyes on the fireworks, she tells him that he must really be unlucky since he could have married an idol like her had she beat Nagi. Ruka slips the note into his pocket, then after watching the fireworks with him for a moment, she quietly slips away.

Hayate knows she's gone, so he reads the note. One side simply says goodbye while the other teases him, expressing her hope that he regrets not marrying her forever. Hayate tells himself he already regrets it.

Thoughts/Review:

And so the first of the Hayate the Combat Butler characters leaves the series. When characters start leaving, the series is starting to wind down, which in Hata-sensei's case, will take another decade probably. *lol*

This was a very touching chapter. Ruka got to scratch an item off her bucket list from chapter 379, which was eating ice cream. No doubt, Hata-sensei had this in mind when he had Ruka make the list, considering how he is on making a point of certain things, then providing a payoff much, much later.

Do I think this is the last we've seen of Ruka?

I think she'll show up in either flashbacks, as a namedrop, or possibly in a cameo whereby she checks in with Nagi, Chiharu, or one of the other new friends she's made. After all, she was asked to go on the trip with the group in the Heaven is a Place on Earth anime (which is considered canon), and she played a small but important role in Can't Take My Eyes Off You (also canon).  That proves she and the girls stay in touch. I don't expect her to talk with Hayate though.

Regarding Ruka's departure, I liked that for a moment, she faltered because of her bucket list. For a moment, she was truly ready to give everything up to be with Hayate, which was a more realistic thing now that her parents took the debt back upon themselves.  However, in the end, she knew that Hayate was resolved (even if he was tempted), and she accepted that and moved on. Even now, her manner of exit still brings a tear to my eye.

As for Hayate, there's no doubt in my mind that he loved Ruka at some level. After all, Ruka is a hot, beautiful idol, and they would be a good couple, as witnessed by how well they work together. So yeah, Hayate loved Ruka, but I think that in Hayate's heart, Athena is still number one. Nagi would come in second, thanks to Hayate's commitment to her. I think that Hina, Ayumu, and Ruka come in third.

I don't know if we get more aftermath or not, but I'd like another chapter with Hayate returning to the other girls as the fireworks end. I'm sure the gag chapters are soon to come, if for no other reason than to get us through the winter holiday season.

So a bitter-sweet, good chapter in which Ruka leaves the series as a supporting character.

Hayate the Combat Butler Manga Volume 22

ハヤテのごとく！/Hayate no Gotoku manga volume 22 review
Hayate the Combat Butler Volume 22

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-->  Purchase from Yes Asia! (Japanese tankoubon)

Since I've already reviewed this volume based on the Japanese tankoubon, this review will focus on the Viz release, then some last moment thoughts.

Although I'm still irritated with Viz because of them falsely accusing me of copyright infringement, my love of the Hayate the Combat Butler manga trumps that, so I will continue to promote it.

Taking a look at the story in the manga, this second volume of the trip to Greece tying in with the omake chapters from early in the series shows how well Hata-sensei plots out his stories. Considering the years between those omake chapters and volume 22, it is nice that he is able to keep on top of things so well.

Also, this volume shows how Hata-sensei can successfully blend comedy elements while pushing plot threads forward, this time Hina's love interest in Hayate, Hayate's and Athena's reunion, and Ayumu's and Nagi's growing friendship on top of Ayumu's and Hina's deepening friendship. Hata-sensei worries too much about losing audience with major plot pushes or long story arcs, but I think he worries about nothing. I'm not sure how much of this is driven by his editor, but I am reminded of how slowly Hata-sensei ultimately progresses with the main story plot.

Still, there's no denying the pleasure of Hayate the Combat Butler, which is why I will promote even the Viz version, which thankfully goes the extra mile on the Japanese honorifics, which I like considering how very Japanese the story is.

The Viz release has the usual extras of Hata-sensei's note, the 4-koma strips (I wish those were in color, but oh well), the "goddess" page at the front of the manga, the dating sim page, and the advertisements for the next two volumes of Hayate the Combat Butler.

This is where Viz disrespects English-speaking fans. They advertise volume 23 as coming out in November 2013, but that is obviously a massive lie. As of this posting, the volume is scheduled to be released February 11, 2014.

The other thing that sucks for we English-speaking fans is that in Japan, Hata-sensei insisted that volumes 23 and 24 be released together so that folks could get the final two volumes of the Golden Week in Greece. We won't see volume 24 until September 2014, assuming Viz doesn't push it out even further. *_*  Isn't that just lovely, eh?

I realize that not enough folks are buying Hayate the Combat Butler, otherwise Viz would sell these on a proper, four volumes per year schedule rather than the measly two volumes per year we are graced with. It really is a shame because this is a really good manga series, combining whacky comedy, romantic comedy, and interesting stories.