So, I guess I'm (almost) up to date now. I just need to re-read chapters 390-392, which are the "new" ones, right?

This arc is the wordiest arc ever, I knew that, but around chapter 370 it spirals out of control. Chapters 388 and 389 in particular are literally insane, but the thing is, they're not exceptions to the rule, just exaggerated versions of what Togashi has been doing for such a big part of the Boat Trip Arc. And this is what I had feared the most: the monologues, both internal or in dialogue form ALL circle around "who is using what ability and to what end". And this is where characters are murdered. They are no longer characters, they become avatars of Togashi's monumental ego. It's him grabbing you by the neck and shouting in your ear "see? see? I'm so smart! in every situation I cover all the scenarios someone might ponder about and I don't just make characters magically come to the right sollution!". Problem with that, as I said, is that characters stop being characters. Second problem. . .is that 90% of the times, Togashi told us beforehand what really happened: who did it, how, and why. So when we go through, literally, 40+ pages of nothing but text of people having their takes on what happened. . .it gets exhausting.

The other thing is, there should be at least a modicum of action. Of movement. Togashi likes action scenes, he's even kind of good at drawing them. The Chimera Ant arc is proof. You can't just leave everything to tell, you have to show. You have the Spiders just talking. you have mafia guys acting all cocky to their faces and the spiders are like "let's partake in some talking, yes". It gets to a point where my senses become numb and I crave something else.

Again, the arc ain't as bad as I thought it'd be, and I wanna see where it goes. . .but will it be told entirely through text? All of it? New chapters seem to have a slight more variety to them and are not entirely relegated to insanely long winded (and, let's face it and be honest, mostly inane and inconsequential) monologues, so maybe I can hope a bit. But I won't lie, the last couple of chapters have been the very definition of rough, and I would never, ever go through them again.

For the record, I'm not saying no character has any personality anymore. Tserriednich is most definitely an intriguing character, he is menacing but he's not a mindless villain, he's a perfectionist, he's chill, but we also know he's sick in the head and that, combined with his super creepy nen beast, translates into a constant feeling of danger around him. He's definitely a highlight right now.

These group of guards being introduced to give further depth to Tserriednich is ok on its own, nothing wrong with that. As I said, my main problem lies in how they circle around issues in a way too similar to dozens of other characters. As someone said, that is the mark of them being competent at their work and their way of covering all bases, but I would welcome some variety that's not just super subtle and language-adjacent.

This bring me to my main issue, which is that it gets tiresome. I like my comic books to have cool shit in them, and Togashi is very much capable of providing that and crafting exciting scenarios. That's why it's kind of a bummer to me, personally, to see him comiting to these long form "let's analyze this situation" dialogue / monologue chapters 90% of the time, which I'm sure add depth and even flavour to the current conflict, but push aside the visual stimulation, the action and the violence happening around the ship (which Togashi keeps talking about but is sadly not yet translated into panel form). I say this cause, believe or not, I think Togashi is actualy a pretty talented artist, which was super evident during the Chimera Ant arc, so not seeing more of that in exchange for the other stuff is a detriment for me.

I'll keep reading it cause it is an interesting scenario with the potential to blow up spectacularly, my main concern is, will it blow up? And I don't mean will it literally blow up as some people are speculating this arc will end, with a bomb going off and killing 95% of the cast, but blow up in a blaze of fights, kills, chaos and nen abilities being used left right and center.

If anyone wants to know where those weird ass lyrics are coming from:

Edit: This "new" forum makes me feel so old. It's too complex for me.

I don't wanna sound hyperbolic or anything, but is this the best JJK chapter in. . .months? A year? I won't say ever, but. . .maybe ever?

No, seriously - this "fight" is kind of incredible. I seriously thought Gege was all out of juice at this point, but he still has it.

@Daz I re-read PH relatively recently, and I think we can label it the LAST Straw Hat centric arc of the series,at least up until now. Even with Law in there, it's still mostly the Strawhats interacting and doing their thingie. A lot of this SH moments won't be talked about because they are not "huge", but I was surprised, for example, about how much Brook is just in there doing his thing for a sizable chunk of the arc and I was like "Brook is kinda cool, isn't he?". There's a lot of that during the arc, and it's nice (as long as you can tolerate Sanji at his absolute worst). Chopper and Nami are really invested in the drama, too. Even Usopp gets his "don't disrespect my captain, assholes!" moment.

As you say, though, 50 chapters is overkill for what the arc ultimately is. Law stealing the fight from Smoker AND curing the kids with his "magic" instead of letting Chopper shine leaves this huge sour aftertaste. Zoro vs. Monet sucks ass and is Oda doubling down on his own Problematic Road (which seems to have been toned down at least during Wano). Another thing that doesn't sit well with me is that Oda seemed to get a kick out of disrespecting Nico Robin like crazy: she was the only one to contribute NOTHING to the big dragon fight (Usopp got to lend Zoro a trampoline!) and then was caught off guard by Monet and...that was it. Her fight with Black Maria giving her like 2 new forms + Fishman Karate looks like an apology for doing her so dirty during PH and Dressrosa, and I really appreciate that it happened. . .but, seriously, she's supposed to be on the upper echelons of the SH fighters, that respect should've been always there.

The kids are ok, Kinemon got one of the best introductions in the entire series (seriously, they had to collect his body parts one at a time, and when he's finally reassembled he proceeds to cut a giant explosion - how cool is that?), Brownbeard was surprisingly effective as a character no one expected anything from and Caesar is a great villain. Needed more fire side of the island, though.

@Riccardo said in Chapter 1080: The Hero of Legend:

@crlsdc

I keep getting surprised by the collective memory of this community. For those who, like me, had no idea who he is talking about. Elmy is one of the allies of Whitebeard during Marineford;

And she seems to have this unclarified ability. I really never saw it before. Great catch, though I actually don't think it's the same ability.

Fantastic memory right there. It could very well be a case of overlapping powers, like just this chapter we got an island fruit which seems to be an upgraded stone-assimilation fruit.

My question regarding the golem powers is. . .are Prince Grus' posse all golems, or coated in "golem power"? I mean, one of them got their head chopped off, it makes sense for a golem to recover from that, but a guy covered in clay should not be able to. . .

So is this a Charlotte Cracker situation, where he is permanently maintaining a construct, even on his everyday life? Prince Grus has 3 golems around him 24/7?

I liked this chapter, btw, quite a lot! Apparently, Oda stated in 1999 (that's 24 years ago. . .): "In the final saga, I'll focus on not only Straw Hats but also on *events happening in the whole world" (quoted from sandman's twitter account, credit where its due). So, this whole switch around was something he had in mind from the get go, I guess?

Once a week or so I watch movies with a friend of mine, and we have this stupid running joke of "and now this house/castle/Great Wall of China/wathever is gonna turn into a giant Mecha!", which has only become a reality once (Batman Ninja).

Of course, Dandadan is the manga where they suddenly turn a house into a giant Mecha to fight an alien kaiju. Thank you, Dandadan.

Is it too late to chime in? I randomly read the return to Sabaody chapters like almost a month ago, but I guess, in the spirit of the ongoing thread, I should go back and re-read them, considering it's just 5-6 chapters.

I guess I should sprint like hell.

Wait, what is this Punk Hazard appreciation doing in here? Wasn't the consensus that it sucks?

(I'm a PH apologist myself).

Also, what Ivotas said - WCI is so much fun precisely because of the adventuring on strange, fairytale-esque lands. In fact, I could've had even more of that and less Germa (even though the Germa brought their own brand of weird with the snail-lego-castle, that was cool).

Man, WCI is good. Talking trees, rivers of juice, King Kong Big Mom, the mirror world, chess piece soldiers, candy stairs, shouting giraffe juice, people stuck in books, talking doors, musical numbers, Big News, tart battleships and tart tanks with sentient, dumb as hell cannonballs that can be fooled into changing trajectories...We were eating so good and yet most didn't appreciate it.

This. This is the ONE thing about Dandadan I could do without. The whole "every single lady falls for the mundane, nerdy looking protagonist", harem manga shtick.

NOW - I'm ready for the author to spin that come next week and I'll gladly shut my mouth, but considering he's already done it twice, I will not be holding my breath.

Next chapter December 9th, apparently. . .

TCB's version is out. Man. . .

At some point we'll have to discern between Official Strawha - I mean, Official Goldenballers and the Grand Fleet.

So far, we can safely say Okarun, Momo, Jiji, Aira, Vamola and Kinta are the official, core members.

Then, for the rest:

Do we consider Turtle Idol Girl part of the main group? And Turbo Granny? And Baseball Granny?
Boxer Alien
Pervert Store Clerk Alien
Policeman?
Zuma
And now, Pygmies Girl and Queen Sensei

The enemy forces will have to be numerous to stand up to that line-up when the battle for the One Pi - the Dandadan finally takes place.

@Jabra said in Dandadan:

Finished episode 6

It's okay to spoil me, but is this going to be an eternal will-they-won't-they type of story between Okarun and Momo? With those other two characters from the intro thrown in for good measure?

I thought the idea of two oddball teenagers being so socially awkward that the thought of romance didn't even cross their mind was endearing and fresh - especially with their surroundings reducing them to exactly that because "it's just how it goes between boys and girls, there can be no other reason why they hang out". Except the reasons being super obscure hobbies paired with crazy paranormal developments.

Turning this into a love triangle (quartet?) is kinda lame, not gonna lie.

It's not too serious and most of the time the "serious romance" is just Momo and Okarun, but there's, at times, a certain "harem manga" logic to things where every girl falls for Okarun at some point (same with male characters and Momo). It doesn't get SUPER in the way, but expect some of the good-ol' misunderstanding "it's not what you think" scenarios. I feel it never goes too far, but it is there. Sometimes.

But don't let that be a deterrent. It's worth it (at least, the manga is worth it).

Ok.

So this might very well still be a 10 chapter batch followed by an indefinite hiatus, right?

So, anyone has an idea, even if it's just an educated guess (not baseless speculation) as to what the publication schedule might be like going forward?

I know Togashi is doing twitter updates, but those confuse me a little: I thought he "finished" up to chapter 420 or something like that, but now I just saw he very recently sent chapters 406 and 407 to shueisha?

Anyone has a better understanding of what's finished, what's being worked on, and so on?

Someone else linking Kadar and Hound, I'm not alone in this world. And this Hound dude has a. . .Hound Zoan Fruit. He didn't even lift a finger, but he had a DF. C'mon, Oda.

And Head Cannon guy ate the, literaly, Cannon Cannon Fruit. And I guess Guillotine is a rendition to Kid Chichi.

Vice Admirals are cool, they deserved more. Better, yes, but also more.

Oh, and apparently, we're back at chapter 400, timeline wise.

Thank the lord NewWorldReviews exists and gives these indepth looks at every chapter, cause all these details fly over my head Every. Single. Time.

For a second I thought the troupe would use the funeral procession going from tier 3 to tier 2 (and potentialy tier 1? Will people from tier 3 be allowed to go that high?) to sneak in there and royaly mess everything up. . .
. . .but, instead of that, they're going back down to tier 4. Oh well.

Lots of text for what ends up amounting to a mind swap, and yet there's still one thing I don't get: Halkenburg is proper dead, right? So, when this 10 hours go by and Balsamilco's mind returns, where does Halkenburg's mind return to? His dead body? This isn't a sacrifice or a suicide, cause he has a plan to win this war, he just stated that...

@kouch_lee said in Hiatus x Hiatus III: Goodnight, Sweet Princes:

Halkenburg fell ill? Is that a side effect of being separated from his entourage? And there was another rumbling while he's in detention, or is Melody refering to the past rumblings that we already know of?

So, funny thing is, me thinking I was already forgetting something was just a matter of being impatient as f*ck, cause all those questions are answered on this week's chapter.

Which adds another layer of ¿complexity? that is super obvious and something diehard fans probably were already taking into account, but not this dumbass (translator's note: "this dumbass" means me) -> I gotta look at what fcking time and what fcking day things take place on. Cause it just so happens Togashi can just rewind time and explain what happened. Again, such a "well, duh" moment, but I seriously thought he was just going to keep pushing forward in a straight line, and not start zig-zagging with time-stamps.

That said, taking out Balsamilco might actualy be a proper trigger for, maybe, hopefuly, some actual murder happening...but taking out Benjamin "this early" might be, well, too soon. But, regardless, it does feel like some change might be coming our way, either thorugh that or the plan to assassinate Luzurus. . .

. . .even though chances are next chapter is going to enter Thought-Process-Overdrive Mode again as soon as Kurapika reveals the contents of Wobble's letter, which will trigger, I asume, around 6 or 7 inner monologues. Oh, well. Par for the course.