Fighting Saturday 2-11-2012

2:00 PM on 02.11.2012   |   Josh Tolentino

Saturday morning is time for cartoons. Which cartoons, you ask? Given that this column's called "Fighting Saturday", you can guess which ones we're into each weekend.

We're into fighting cartoons, by the way! So much so that we've conveniently managed to recap right here, for you!

So head on below and witness the glorious return of Bleach to print, as well as our recaps of Naruto, Hunter x Hunter, and One Piece!

Anime

Pedro Cortes

One Piece Episode 531 - 534

Oh Caribou, I can't wait to see you get your ass handed to you. The swampy creep catches him a trio of mermaids, which sets the stage for the Strawhats getting blamed for the kidnappings. As the Strawhats are being taken to Ryugu Palace, Fukaboshi orders the crew to be detained until more information is gathered. When the group makes it to the palace, they also find out that the mermaid princess was attacked while Neptune was out. Of course, this means that somehow Luffy gets separated from the rest of the Strawhats and ends up in Princess Shirahoshi's room.

Shirahoshi is quite the cutie, but is also a tremendous crybaby. Considering that she's had the lecherous and delusional Vander Decken after her hand in marriage for ten years, I'd say she does a have a bit of a reason to be consistently fretful. After Luffy saves Shirahoshi from one of Vander Decken's Devil Fruit-aided axes, the pirate and the princess make fast friends. Back at the entrance, Neptune's guards try to take Usopp, Brook and Nami, while the other guards mention that Zoro was imprisoned while knocked out from drinking. Needless to say, the guards have quite a few problems trying to subdue them, especially when Zoro lets himself out to play. Back on the sea floor, Hordy and Decken finally meet and discuss the downfall of Neptune and Fishman Island.

Back at the palace, Zoro takes out Neptune and all the guards without breaking a sweat. Fukaboshi and his brothers arrive at the port to Ryugu Palace, but can't get in. Fukaboshi and Zoro talk over a Den Den Mushi, with Zoro negotiating a way for the Strawhats to escape Fishman Island. Before Fukaboshi leaves to round up the rest of the crew, he tells Zoro what Jimbei asked him to tell Luffy: Don't fight Hordy and that Jimbei will be at the Sea Forest. Of course, this also happens to be the place where Shirahoshi wants Luffy to take her! Around this time the assault on Shirahoshi's tower continues, but instead of weapons, captured human pirates are the projectiles. One of the ministers and Brook head out to investigate and catch Luffy leaving with Shirashoshi…stuffed into her pet shark Megalo. It's certainly a unique way to make your escape.

While Luffy and Shirahoshi make their way to the Sea Forest to visit a particular grave, we see why exactly human pirates are raining on Ryugu Palace. Hordy and Vander Decken tossed them into the palace to get the gates open and to begin their assault on the royal family. Hachi tries to talk sense into the New Fishman Pirates, but gets a knife and a ton of arrows to the back for his efforts. Hachi manages to get to the shore by Chopper and Sanji and warn them of the impending attack. Meanwhile, we see that Jimbei is indeed waiting in the Sea Forest for Luffy, while he pays his respects to Queen Otohime, mother of Shirahoshi and the princes.

Chris Walden

Hunter x Hunter Episode 18

We finally arrive at the conclusion of the penultimate step of the hunter exam, and how satisfying an end was that? I liked that, even though there were more characters appearing than we usually get, we got a nice slice of the episode dedicated to Gon. We already know that the kid is more formidable than he appears, and seeing him do his thing is very cool to watch. He got crushed by snakes to save his friend, ruining his body and getting poisoned in the process, and all on the assumption that the snake guy had an antidote.

There was also a great bit of thinking by him, when he proposes the plan to escape the cave. Ponzu didn't have much of a choice, and Gon manages to secure an exit and enough points for Leorio to proceed to the final round of the exam. I wonder if we'll see Ponzu return later in the series. I mean, she's got a freaking bee hat and it never got put to good use! Think of the potential! A total of nine make it through to the final round, with everyone seeming to be a major concern. No longer are there people that at least look weak. 

Netero decides to interview the remaining entrants when they are back on the airship, asking each of them who they have their eye on, as well as who they wouldn't want to fight. Seems that the old man is drawing up some fights for the final round, but that's just my best guess based on the preview. To top the episode off, we get to see Gon lose control of his emotions and burst into tears, clearly frustrated about how helpless he was against Hisoka. Still, I don't think that'll keep him down long, and it is Gon we're talking about! The conclusion to the hunter exam arc is closing in, and quite frankly I don't want it to end!

[Hunt around for this show on Crunchyroll!]

Josh Tolentino

Bleach episode 359

Earlier on in this show I had professed a hope that the Bleach anime would take a break and establish a bit of filler storyline featuring Ichigo as a Fullbringer. The manga had blasted through the arc at lightspeed and more or less cheapened the entire affair. I figured that they could actually do something with that new design for a month or two.

Then again, if this episode was an example of what they would opt to do with Ichigo's new duds, it's probably for the better that they stuck to canon. The design looks way better in static poses than in motion (though that tends to be the case for Bleach at nearly any point where they stick close to the manga). 

Either way, this encounter should pass soon, and Ichigo will go on to look much less different next week.

Naruto Shippuden episodes 248-259

Ah, there we go. After months and months of soulless filler and otherwise pedestrian plot development, Naruto returns to form as it animates the last moments of the Fourth Hokage and Naruto's mom.

Who knew that not actually attaching any special effects to Minato's teleport tricks would make them look so much better? Dude is fast. I also appreciate the way the show switched to an entirely different art style to depict the opening, kaiju-movie-esque moments of the Nine-Tails' attack on the village.

Cool art can't save poor drama, sadly, so seeing and hearing Naruto's mom and dad go on and on for so long as they deliver their last words feels a little bit off. We can read faster than we can listen, which meant that the manga panels didn't end up lingering as long as they did in animation.

Next week, Guy gets his moment!

Manga

Josh Tolentino

Bleach chapter 480

GASP! It's the final arc of Bleach! The End Approaches! The Final Holy War!

All things considered, the "final" arc of Bleach could be very long, depending on how you interpret an arc. If you consider the Aizen crisis to be "arc" of pre-timeskip Bleach, then we could have another decade ahead of us!

As for what actually happens here, well, nothing of particular note. Ichigo is back to work, and a couple of newb Soul Reapers get trashed by Hollows efore he saves them. Oh, right, that's what Soul Reapers do, isn't it. Powering up and dueling is not technically their job description!

From the looks of things, it's fairly obvious that the main belligerents this time around will be the Quincys. No one else in the Bleach world erases Hollows from existence, and more than anyone else they'd have a reason to throw down with the Soul Reapers again. Will it be Uryuu vs. Ichigo? You betcha.

Naruto chapter 573

Welcome to padding things out. Yes, yes, Naruto's a nice guy. Yes, yes, Tobi is on the back foot. Yes, yes, Sasuke is taking his sweet-ass time getting there. Yes, yes, there's a LOT more happening in this war that we have yet to get a single update on. But hey, Sasuke's making footprints in the mud. It's DRAMA!