The Fool’s Progress

They finally realize the Fuhrer is somehow connected to the Homunculi and also how they are choosing their sacrifices. Meanwhile, Havoc has lost his legs and it’s possible he will be paralyzed for ever. Also, Scar has arrived at Central.

So, they try to find Marcoh to see if he can help Havoc but, he’s missing. Meanwhile, Ed takes advantage of Scar being in town to devise a plan to catch the Homunculi. Relying on the fact that they want him alive and Scar dead, he’s purposely making his position known so Scar can attack. He’s expecting the Homunculi to interfere. Ling and Ran Fan are already prepared to deal with the Homunculi once they arrive.

Roy Mustang is let in on the plan and they start. Scar appears and starts fighting. Roy gets lots of false reports around so the normal military can’t find Scar. Of course, the Homunculi find him easily with Glutonny’s nose but, Ling and Ran Fan interfere. But, Gluttony is not alone, Wrath has come and he quickly get Ran Fan. Things don’t look good.

The next chapter doesn’t look the action-packed type, which I was expecting. It seems it will mainly deal with Scar’s past and Winry’s vengeance.

Really cool episode. Dramatic and exciting. Although pretty fast forward, still managed to build up nicely.

• Next Episode: Distant Backs

^Call.84
Hiryu

Nemesis’s creator tries to show Oboro to Ageha but, something’s interfering. She realizes he has been "reborn", not sure what really happened to him yet. And she shows him Hiryu. Ageha has the chance to talk with him.

Hiryu and Tetsuo have been saved by some Tavoo guy who’s also against the Tavoo. He’s been trying to open holes on the thing covering earth’s surface and he wants to destroy one of the special towers the Tavoo are constructing to close those holes.

If the sun could come through like before, the Tavoo would die. So, in order to save Tetsuo and Kusakabe, they also need to go to the W.I.S.E. headquarters and figure a way to revert them to human form.

They don’t even try to ask Ageha for help. Although, with the children, it would be really easy. Anyway, Tetsuo is probably much stronger, as is Hiryu too. I’m curious to see how their mission will go.

By the way, that scene with Kusakabe dancing was crazy lol. Nice chapter. Not sure Ageha will just let this be, maybe he will be able to join Hiryu anyway.

• Personal Enjoyment: 4/5

^Reset
Dystopia

This is Tsutsui’s first published manga, unlike Duds Hunter which he made available for free on the net.

It’s an interesting story that discusses how virtual reality may affect our life in the future. If a game was so believable, that made you think it was the real world, what would happen when you died in that game?

The story is mainly about a game, Dystopia, not commercially sold, that someone made using a really powerful source engine (hence the realism) and made available in a lan where he lived.

People from that apartment complex, where the lan is established, begin committing suicide for no reason. Nakajima is dragged into it when her husband dies too, Yoshioka has a student attempt suicide and Shunsuke is an hacker purposely trying to find the connection between the game and the deaths.

But, how to prove someone’s purposely killing people using the realism of a game, the way it is setup and subliminal messages?

From there, I can’t say much more without ruining the plot, even though it wasn’t it’s strongest point in my view.

Well, this manga was really cool, there’s a bit of mystery and some action but, nothing much. It’s short but, it works well. I didn’t like it as much as other Tsutsui’s works, because it didn’t have as much of that "dark/scary" feel his mangas normally have, because the overall mood was lighter. The plot in itself wasn’t something too much out of the ordinary but, the characters were cool enough and the ideas about psychology and reality were really interesting.

I specially liked the whole death/awakening thing. If you’re so immersed in a game that you take it as reality on your subconscious, what will happen to you when you die in that game and suddenly "awake" in your own body again? And more, after something like that happening, you may start to disbelieve true reality for yet another game. And how can you know if you’re in a game or in reality? Well, kill yourself, if it’s a game, you will "return" to your body.

Of course all this is based on the idea of a person totally 100% immersed on a game, almost like the Matrix. Something that seems well unlikely to happen in our age. Still a frightening idea of what the future may hold.

Overall, nice read, really cool art. Was expecting a little more, like some romantic development at the end lol. It will also please game and pc purists, in the way that terms and names are all well used with it’s true meanings.

• Personal Enjoyment: 4/5

Art!

Deidara uses his masterpiece. Sasuke realizes that by it’s size, if exploding, it will probably take the whole land with it. He rans away but, Deidara sets it off. But, it’s not what he’s expecting. It dissolves into countless nano-sized bombs that can enter the body and destroy it from it’s core.

Still, the sharingan allow Sasuke to avoid almost everything. They end up both exhausted. It kind of reminds me a little of when Nejo fought the spider-guy.

Sasuke finally gives Deidara as defeated and relaxes. He asks him about his brother. Deidara is just more pissed at the fact that the sharigan users are so conceited and ignore him and his heart. He decides to his final most powerful attack, himself. His exploding body is ten kilometers in radius. There’s no way Sasuke can escape. Even Tobi will supposedly die if he’s still in that radius.

Deidara goes off. I didn’t remember how he exploded anymore, it was cool seeing his body transform. The animation on this episode wasn’t much but, it served it’s purpose. The art had some nice moments and the final explosion was really well portrayed, showing a very famous artist’s art. Much from Deidara’s characters is based on this artist and serves as a tribute to him.

Nice episode. I remember the manga being more intense in this part but, the anime still did a nice job.

• Next Episode: Disappearance

^One-Shot
Awakened Dreams

A real little gem. This is one of the best one-shots I’ve read. It’s story ir really simple and plain if just explained but, here it’s presented in a real clever way that makes you "discover" the truth yourself.

I’m not even sure the above information is correct. This manga divides it’s plot in seven different characters, and goes through all of them one at a time. Every character comes with different art work, some of it is even colored, and as there’s not much info on-line about it, I’m not sure it’s all from the same artist.

Anyway, really interesting read about a murder. Won’t take much of your time, maybe 5 minutes. Really interesting and intelligent.

• Personal Enjoyment: 5/5

Kingdom Of Hollows

This chapter was mostly a flashback into Barragan’s past. And I really liked it, this really made his character much more interesting and also a little of what was going on Hueco Mundo.

So, Barragan really was the "king" of Hueco Mundo. Once Aizen came and purposed to give him more power. He laughed and tried to kill him but, Aizen and his two shinigami’s quickly showed their prowess.

I think Barragan had to swallow his own pride and let himself be rullen by another forcefully, so he could stay alive. Still, he nurtered quite some hatred for Aizen and was planning to one day kill him and get back his kingdom.

Aizen, of course, was conscious of this. His last look towards the dying Barragan was really cool. Not even sure what feeling it passed through but, still a really nice touch.

The end of the chapter focus on Stark. I guess his fight will come up next.

Cool chapter, I wasn’t expecting this.

• Personal Enjoyment: 4/5

Kumogakure Vs Taka

Awesome chapter, even though things haven’t truly developed and this still felt like a building up chapter. First, Sasuke rushes to the Raikage. His two guards are really powerful and skilled. They push him back quickly and find out he’s lightning natured, which confirms that their other intel is true too. Still, they probably don’t know about his mangekyou abilities and that will probably Sasuke’s greatest strength.

Next, C uses genjutsu to throw Sasuke off and allow for Darui and the Raikage to attack. Suigetsu and Juugo save him. Suigetsu’s sword breaks facing the Raikage. C compliments the sharingan but still, this really doesn’t make it look like much. With the gengutsu abilities of the sharingan, Sasuke should have been able to stay completely focused after the attack. At least, I think that’s how Itachi would have managed to face it.

About C again, it seems his good with gengutsu and feeling chakra. They ask him to search for more enemies.. Karin has no real fight abilities so, they have to keep her hidden and Juugo decides to take out C. He lets the curse consume him totally and adopts a very cool form. Not sure what abilities this physical form boosts. But, can’t wait to see him fight. Until now, Juugo has only done minor things, like using animals for tracking and intel. His fighting abilities didn’t really seem like much when he fought Sasuke and Suigetsu. I hope he gets a chance to prove himself now.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage conference room. I wasn’t sure of this before but, now I know Danzou really used his gengutsu abilities. Anyway, Ao confirms he’s not doing it anymore. Danzou also lets everyone know how he doesn’t want Konoha’s abilities falling into another village, he kind of makes a threat that he will kill Ao and recuperate the byakugan. Although, with everyone aware of it now, it will be hard. The Mizukage also has a new interest in the sharingan, since it’s probably the same power used to control their 4th.

Their discussions continue. At least, now nobody trusts the Hokage anymore. Once more, Gaara makes really smart interventions and finally leaves the old Tsuchikage in a bad spot. It would seem the Mizukage is also taking Gaara’s side, in case something happens..

Anyway, one of the Tsuchikage guards, the girl, will be coming to watch Sasuke fight, she seems interested in him but, she’s advised not to interfere. Danzou, Fuu and Torune will surely also intervene in the fight sooner or later, either if Sasuke dies, to collect the sharingan, or if he lives, so they can kill him themselves. Also, there’s still one samurai alive and requesting backup, although I think he knows well he can’t possibly compete in that fight. Maybe they have some more powerful special samurais..

All in all, really awesome chapter. The small fighting was really awesome, and it really seems to me that this will be one of the best fights in Naruto and certainly the most diverse, with everyone that is taking part in it. The other situations are also really intense, and we can’t forget about Naruto. I wanna see him kick some ass, I’m sick of him being talked down to when he’s maybe the strongest guy there.. Can’t wait, I’m loving this arc.

• Personal Enjoyment: 5/5

^{Duds Hunt}
The Network Survival Game

Basically, this guy enters a game to earn some money. Every one has a marker, the opponent has to take his marker and report it. That way, he wins 100yen and the guy who loses the marker has lost. They can take it however the want. He kind of enter the game in a stupid way, without even knowing what it’s about. Anyway, he’s kind of in the edge, so it’s understandable. He’s used to fighting, working for a loan company, so he has no problem taking care of his first target who wasn’t expecting this.

This guy, used to be a delinquent and he was probably arrested due to one person he almost killed, Natsuki. This guy was a responsible person who just tried to save someone from Nakanishi and his friends. Because of the beating he took, his family underwent lots of money problems. His story is always told as a flashback, and focus much on his daughter. How she loved her daddy and how she found out Nakanishi’s name. She starts seeking revenge.

This short manga was really cool. The art is really nice, with a sketch like look. The story and characters are really interesting, even though they speak mostly through action. There’s no big plot but, the characters keep it interesting, the fight scenes are cool and there’s a really nice twist at the end. There’s also no real good and bad, just some characters following their goals.

I really like this kind of seinen manga. Unusual and worthy read.

• Personal Enjoyment: 5/5