Deadman Wonderland – And We’re Back

Kids, respect your elders.

It’s been a long wait since the last chapter of Deadman Wonderland, so I thought I would give a quick little recap for those who have forgotten what’s going on.

Meet Hagire. He’s a dick. He wants to fully unlock the powers of the Wretched Egg because…I don’t know, science? The other Deadmen have gone back to what remains of the prison in an attempt to stop him, because the Wretched Egg awakening would likely wreck Japan. Ganta and Crow got into a fight with Hagire that left him mostly dead, but Yosuga helped him get back on his feet, albeit in what turns out to be a much more decrepit state than before. The last chapter ended with Ganta putting together a plan to shut down the Mother Goose system that regulates the powers of the Wretched Egg so he can bring Shiro back and stop Hagire. And if I remember correctly, I don’t think the plan made all that much sense even last year.

Hayate the Combat Butler – Who the Hell is Suirenji Ruka?

You’re gonna have to get in line.

Anyone who watched the recent Hayate anime for more than a few seconds would likely have noticed the presence of an idol singer who wasn’t in the series before. That girl’s name is Ruka. She’s like Hayate in a suspiciously large number of ways, up to and including the need to work off a 150 million yen debt her parents dumped on her. Her method for dealing with this debt, however, was to take on the role of an idol. While she has been trained in how to become a successful idol from a young age and seems to enjoy her work, the busy schedule has both given her serious health problems and gotten in the way of her secret goal of publishing manga. So she’s also like Nagi in a suspiciously large number of ways.

Toriko – In Which Four Guys Want to Cook and Eat a Godzilla Sized Creature

Yes, we now have a Spirit Bomb. Made of appetite.

If there’s one thing Toriko knows how to do better than any other series, it’s how to create a sense of scale. I see other manga talk about big stuff, whether it be creatures, places, or just a massive world in general. But Toriko knows how to make things truly feel gigantic. It sends the characters against colossal ruins or monsters the size of the average city to make them overcome what feels like insurmountable hurdles.

This chapter took that to a whole new level. It’s one thing to face gigantic obstacles, but the difficult part is how you get across the protagonists not simply meeting them, but surpassing them. In their own way, they’ve become something grander than the creature that used to tower over them. So the question is how to convey that climactic moment with all the grandeur it deserves?

Fairy Tail – Animal Abuse

No! Don’t hurt the kitty!!

Somehow over time, I’ve gotten used to the level of brutality the members of Sabertooth possess. That doesn’t make the events of this chapter any easier to watch. At first I didn’t respond to the backstory of Sting and Lecter very well, since it seemed to come a little too late and I didn’t think it fully justified his attitude. That was when I thought the previous match between him and Natsu was the last part of his story arc. As it turns out, that was only the midpoint. And while being angry because you made a promise to a friend isn’t a very good motivation, being angry because that friend was just killed right in front of you is a great one.

Invasion! Squid Girl – Isn’t it an Adaptation?

She hunted the meat for those dishes herself. The creature was Capture Level 40.

About a week or so ago, I watched the OVA for Invasion! Squid Girl. It was a fun little episode, though also somewhat saddening because unlike Seitokai Yakuindomo, we aren’t repeatedly getting new episodes added. It had a similar feel to the second season, and a big part of that is because I was able to read the original manga chapters beforehand. You could argue that doing this takes away from the humour, but I disagree mainly because it’s common for the anime to play things differently and use the medium to its advantage. This is why my favourite parts are usually when the characters start hamming it up (“Games are my life!” was nowhere near as awesome when I first read it). There is still a serious issue when viewing the anime this way, though. While it does like to add funny scenes wherever it can, there are also times when it very clearly takes away from the chapters.