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.

Claymore – Irresistable Forces

: ) We’re all gonna die. : )

Both Clare and Priscilla have been absent for long enough that it took a little while for me to get my head around their characters once again. Of course that’s still somewhat difficult, because neither of them have much of a motivation anymore aside from Clare wanting Priscilla dead. She even admits to that herself in this chapter, because in her mind there is no purpose for living other than revenge. She wanted to find Raki after being apart for seven years, but she managed to do that in the previous chapter. Unfortunately, I’m starting to run into the same problem I had with Ganta from Deadman Wonderland. There’s so little waiting for the character after this long battle is over that it becomes harder to care if they live or die.

Rosario + Vampire – Breaking the Game Breaker

Exactly how many levels of crazy does this woman have?

Shuzen Akuha is one of the few characters I know where I find it hard to tell if we’re supposed to sympathize with her or not. Her entire motivation seems to be getting close to her adoptive sister Moka, but she’s willing to slaughter people and erase Moka’s dominant personality to do it. This would make sense if it looked like she had some sort of yandere complex, but her lines and artwork don’t get that across. I’m curious what those of you who haven’t read this chapter think of her from the above page. She’s drawn and written like a normal girl about to break down from the stress of life, but even that doesn’t make as much sense when you look at her recent actions. Remember that just a few chapters ago she was the one who tried to cut Kurumu in half, and it’s doubtful we’re supposed to have forgotten that already. 

Claymore – And Everyone Lived Happily Ever After

“It’s against our laws to kill humans, so maybe I should have explained this first.”

Some of you have probably heard the rumours about Claymore coming to a rather abrupt end. I personally heard it from a tweet by Shonen Beam while I was halfway through the chapter, so there was slightly less surprise then there probably should have been. I understand that this isn’t the actual end of the story and it will be continuing on in a different magazine. Whatever happened, it’s still a lot for readers to suddenly find out at the last possible second. I would have expected some sort of warning from one of the many anime news websites that are out there, or at least for the little “Claymore – End” note to also include “See You In Whatever Other Magazine”.

Rosario + Vampire – Can We Panic Now?

The top half of this page was done with silhouettes. It was still too disturbing to show.

WOW.

Five minutes after reading those last few pages, I realized I had completely forgotten everything else that happened in this chapter during that time. See, I always considered Rosario + Vampire a series that has steadily grown up over time. It started off silly and formulaic, and then became the mature, complex series it is now. However, at no point in that growth did it ever feel like a series that would bisect a main character. We’ve seen some freaky things in this manga, but nothing on this level. Not even the first time Akuha did this, since it was a flashback and the character was tough enough to survive.