REVIEW: This Week's ALPHA

 

Cover
art by Jyuuzou Kawai
Another new series joins the SJ Alpha lineup! Welcome Takama-ga-hara! We could have never done this in the print magazine, it would have been impossible to run this much manga! I have to say, this fellow looks rather tough. Could this be a fighting manga?

Takama-ga-hara
by Jyuuzou Kawai
I think this is a fighting manga! What a great setup—a family of tough guys with an oddball who wants to draw manga and win the Tezuka Award! In case you're wondering, the Tezuka Award, named after manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka, is a highly prestigious award given to new upcoming artists. Somehow I get the feeling the main character Yamato will stop drawing people and start punching them soon. Just a feeling!

One Piece
by Eiichiro Oda
This kooky arc keeps cooking right along! This is one arc that's going to be amazing as an anime. Especially all the body switching stuff! Can’t wait to see how they do it. I wonder if they’ll give all the characters each other’s voices. That would be really funny. Oh, and what a shocker at the end of the story!

Barrage
by Kouhei Horikoshi
This series just keeps getting better and better! I really like the new character, too. The story needed a strong female character. I’m also intrigued by the new story arc, a town overrun by scheming aliens! Have I mentioned how much I love Horikoshi's art? His aliens and creatures are really fun to look at. Space whale!

Naruto
by Masashi Kishimoto
Wow! Totally unexpected plot twist! I did not see that coming! Oh, and Naruto makes a brief appearance in this chapter. I’m looking forward to seeing how his battle plays out!

Toriko
by Mitsutoshi Shimabukuro
This story’s also taken a bit of a twist. The four Gourmet Beasts against the four Gourmet Kings! With millions of humans caught in the middle! This is going to be one helluva battle!

Bleach
by Tite Kubo
This story is really picking up! Ichigo’s on his way to the Soul Society to help stem the losses of Soul Reapers! And new details about the Quincies have been released, including their ability to steal bankai!

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by Urian Brown

Comments

Submitted by jkphantom on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 06:22

Takama-ga-hara looks promising, a mixture of Bakuman with Fist of the North Star.

I'm starting to pick up on Barrage, pretty cool Star Wars-themed kind of story.

Naruto remains to be my favorite (as always), and I'm looking forward to the future chapters.

Next week: Blue Exorcist joins the lineup!!