Categories
Hipster Hotline Manga

Hipster Hotline: Spy x Family

To prevent a war, a spy must have a family. Yep, welcome to the manga called Spy x Family.

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Tatsuya Endo’s Spy x Family, as I said, stars a spy codenamed Twilight. He’s your typical super-spy, tough, suave, a master of disguise. If you’ve seen it done in a spy movie, he can do it. Twilight quickly gets what could be his most important mission yet, preventing a war between the East and West. And, all he has to do is form a family so get can get close to the guy behind it all. Easy, right?

This is where things get interesting. See, Twilight can usually don a disguise, plays the role, then bam, he’s done and off on the next mission. But now, he has to play an everyday father and husband for however long it takes. And, that includes getting a daughter.

Anya, is a little girl Twilight adopts from an orphanage to be his daughter. She’s also an esper possessing mind-reading powers. Using her power, she quickly learns who Twilight really is and despite not being the super smart and capable child Twight was looking for, is able to get Twilight to adopt her. What makes Anya such a strong and fun character is her knowing her dad’s secret mission and even secretly helping him at times without revealing she can read minds.

Categories
Manga My Hero Academia

Good Doggy! Now, Play Dead! [My Hero Academia 235]

All For One is the pettiest mofo since my jerk 6th Grade teacher gave me a 50-page book report assignment simply because I told him his wife left him because he smelled like peanut butter.

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Shigaraki can now destroy energy attacks! Eat your veggies kids and you too can be a superpowered badass.

Welcome Shigaraki’s backstory! While I guessed correctly, along with half the internet, young Tenko wanted to be a hero, I wasn’t expecting to see All For One so early in the flashback. Looks like he and Tenko met prior to the alley after his family died. So what happened? What did All For One do? Honestly, I don’t know. Considering Tenko has been itchy for a while now, I doubt All For One implanted the quirk at that time. Now, it’s possible if that wasn’t the first time the two met All For One could’ve switched out Tenko’s original quirk for Decay, but we’ll have to wait and see. It could be just as likely All For One befriended the boy to lead him down a dark path slowly over the years, with or without his family. The guy’s immortal, he’s got the time.

Kotaro’s an asshole. Again, as predicted, thanks to Nana’s actions, he has a mad hate-on for heroes. So much so, you can’t even mention them in the house! Tenko’s mom, sister, and maternal grandparents feel sorry for him, but no one truly sticks up for Tenko when the crap hits the fan. They just console him and move on. As we learn, that itself is a problem. They console but even then don’t go against Kotaro’s wishes and tell Tenko, yes, you can be a hero. That is what he needed most of all.

Later, Tenko gets busted for looking at Nana’s picture hidden in Kotaro’s study, and Hana throws him under the bus saying it was his idea. Traitor! I can’t blame her too much, their father is such a rageaholic when comes to heroes, she would’ve gotten five across the eyes too.

Categories
Manga My Hero Vigilantes

The Right to Bare Arms [My Hero Vigilantes 57]

Did I once say Knuckleduster was equivalent to the Marvel’s Daredevil? Because I take it all back. He’s the freaking Punisher!

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Ragdoll loses her quirk, becomes Pussycats assistant. Knuckleduster loses his quirk, buys a shotgun.

This chapter picks up right where the last left off with Knuckleduster blowing up the building. His plan works, No. 6 can’t run in midair and is at his “mercy”. To make sure things stay that way, Knuckleduster pulls out a shotgun and unloads into the guy’s limbs!

And, if that’s not enough, Knuckleduster then starts kicking and smashing his face with the shotgun handle. You know, it’s just a theory, but I think Knuckleduster’s a teenie bit upset this guy has his quirk. Well, after getting the ass whoppin’ of the century, No. 6 just brushes it off. Turns out, he’s got some kind of healing ability. Either he was literally built like that or he’s got more than one quirk. I’m sure an artificial human could handle more than one. Hell, that’s probably why No. 6 was created in the first place.

Categories
Manga My Hero Academia

Shigaraki Remembers His Youtube Password [My Hero Academia 234]

Woo doggy! What a chapter! Originally, I was going to start by talking about Re-Destro but screw it. I’m diving into my Shigaraki talk.

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What my boss said at my last performance review.

There’s no doubt now, All For One gave Shigaraki his families’ hands as a constant reminder of his pain, all to corrupt his feelings and turn him into a tool of destruction. What a dick! It also explains why Shigaraki regained his memories as he lost his hands. Make me wonder if he’ll gather the hands up or leave them moving forward. Maybe he’ll only keep his father’s hand for his face. That should be enough.

We’re introduced to Shigaraki AKA Young Tenko’s mother and maternal grandparents. Shigaraki mentions them not telling him something he needed to hear as a child. Something to comfort him after his father told him (if my theory is correct) he couldn’t be a hero. Remind you of a certain One For All user?

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Tenko and Hana wanting to be heroes is all but confirmed in my book.

But, what about dear old Papa Shimura? We haven’t seen him yet. Well, that’s because Shigaraki’s daddy issues is the meat and potatoes of the flashback. Horikoshi’s saving that magnum opus for last. Shiggy’s hate for his dad is also why I think he’ll only need his father’s hand to fuel his hate moving forward.

Categories
Manga One Piece

Prison Break Season 6 [One Piece 948]

Eiichiro Oda. You were on a roll, but after reading One Piece for well over a decade, I’ve come to expect certain things in this series I don’t necessarily agree with. Doesn’t mean I hate One Piece or anything. I’m just the type of person who doesn’t have to love every tidbit of something to enjoy it. But, for now, let’s talk about the positive.

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A tall, badass woman with a sword. Just putting it out there, Oda.

The Fire Tank Pirates are back, Y’all! They’re getting a cover story adventure, I think. It might only be a one or two-page thing we’ve seen in the past like with the Strawhat Alliance.

Luffy’s still working on perfecting his haki by using Kaido’s crew as punching bags. The Warden orders the guards to capture him and they comply because they’ve lost all hope. As expected, most of them are people who tried fighting Kaido and Orochi and failed. They need to be inspired and Team Luffy’s just the group to give it to them.

We’re introduced to a new type of weapon, Plague Rounds. Guns that contain diseases. Imma let that sink in…

Still with me? It’s a gun that shoots a disease at you. I don’t know what to say. Seriously. One Piece has no shortage of dumb stuff (A fake island in a whale, flying to the moon on a balloon, devil fruits, The Gates of Justice, magical healing bandages, etc.), but I’m still at a loss. Say what you will about Oda, at least he keeps you guessing. It kinda reminds me of the quirk erasing bullets in My Hero Academia, but instead of causing a disease it cures it (If you think of having a quirk the same a having a disease).

Categories
Manga One Piece

Queen, Employee of the Month [One Piece 947]

How do you stop one of the strongest pirates in the world? Easy, you bait her with food then drop an anvil, or whatever heavy object you have, on her head. Hey, if it’s good enough for Wile E. Coyote, it’s good enough for Queen.

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Queen can’t believe his plan worked.

We get a flashback referencing the first time Luffy saw the advanced haki technique he’s trying to master. Hyo explains it as penetrating the enemy’s interior, destroying them from the inside. Basically, haki mastery is as overpowered as having a powerful devil fruit and that’s why “normal” humans can fight them. Good ‘ole Oda creating BS haki to counter BS devil fruit users. We all caught up? Good.

Luffy’s plan to master the destructive technique fails as Big Mom tries turning him into a pancake. I really thought Luffy would figure it out, but alas, it’s not to be, yet. My question is how will Luffy figure it out? Will Jack show up and become Luffy’s punching bag? Or, will his training fall on Kawamatsu or one of Wano’s Underworld Bosses? Hm.

Categories
Manga My Hero Academia

Spinner Saved Me 15% Off My Car Insurance [My Hero Academia 233]

Hm? Could it be…

Anyway, about the chapter, we learn Hanabata AKA Trumpet, indeed has a quirk that power’s up his allies through the sound of his voice. The louder it is, the more powerful they become. But, from what Trumpet implied in the chapter, this power-up takes a toll on those affected. Which explains why he didn’t bust out the megaphone mask in the beginning.

Spinner! He has an animal quirk called Gecko, which allows him to cling to walls. Oh, sweet, Horikoshi. You can’t fool me. If wall-crawling was all Spinner could do, it wouldn’t be called Gecko. Like, Froppy’s Frog quirk, I believe Spinner will unlock more lizard abilities in the future. All he has to do is train his quirk. Wouldn’t be surprised if he discovers a new ability in this very arc! Oh, yeah, it’s definitely coming.

Categories
Manga One Piece

A Mesozoic Butt Whoppin’ [One Piece 946]

I haven’t seen an old lady beat a guy down this bad since Grandma Redgreek found out my uncle ate all her Pop-Tarts.

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We now have irrefutable evidence of how the dinosaurs went extinct.

Here it is, Y’all. The fight of the century. Big Mom VS Quee— And, it’s over. That didn’t last long. But, good news to all you Queen fans out there. At least the guy wasn’t knocked out.

Kawamatsu’s cage is broken, so he may already be out if he freed himself from those chains. If not, Raizo and Crazy Eyes Caribou are on the job. Interesting how Wano den den mushi work, the drawback to having such small snails is the need for a boss snail to get messages out over a large area. Looks like Kaidou won’t be learning of Big Mom’s arrival for a bit longer.

Captain Kid and Killer aren’t dead. …Okay. Thanks for telling us, chapter.

Categories
Manga My Hero Vigilantes

The Fastest Maniac Alive [My Hero Vigilantes 56]

And, here I thought No. 6 was your classic by-the-books villain. Turns out the well goes deeper than I thought. How deep? Let’s find out.

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Either he’s an artificial human or the Kids Next Door manga got really dark.

Motivation. A big reveal we got from this chapter is No. 6 having separate goals from the Villian Factory. Well, it’s not official yet, but I don’t think The Doctor’s long term plans involve turning No. 6 into a hero. That’s what No. 6 wants. We knew for awhile he was obsessed with O’Clock, Knuckleduster’s old hero persona, but I had no idea he legitimately wants to follow in what he thinks are O’Clock’s footsteps. Sure, to him that means beating up criminals before they start trouble, but the fact he wants to be some kind of hero at all and he admired O’Clock before receiving his power is shocking to me. Quite a coincidence he got O’Clock’s stolen quirk, huh? Well, we’ll get to that later.

Succession. In the main My Hero Academia series, we’ve seen both All Might and All For One pass their hopes on to their disciples. Deku is tasked to become the next All Might/One For All user, and Shigaraki to be the next number one villain. They found their successors and the successors themselves are taking on that task, for themselves as well as their mentors.

And, then when have Knuckleduster and No. 6. A successor who, unlike my two examples, stole his power from this mentor instead of it being given or having their blessing. And, worse, he wants to kill said mentor to legitimize his actions! It gets even worse, Y’all. The mentor/successor premise is turned on its head a third time because Knuckleduster already picked a successor, Koichi! If he wasn’t before, our main character is without a doubt on No. 6’s kill list.  A confrontation between the two was a safe bet, but given the current situation, it has to happen. Koichi VS No. 6 is coming and no one can stop it.

Categories
Manga My Hero Academia

The Incredible Re-Destro [My Hero Academia 232]

Finally! We have some idea what Re-Destro’s quirk can do. And, boy, it’s a whopper of a power.

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Whether its the Meta Liberation Army or Mario Kart, the League plays for keeps.

While we don’t get the name of Re-Destro’s quirk, let’s review what he did and make a hypothesis, shall we? In the chapter we saw Re-Destro move incredibly fast, take out a Twice clone with one finger, destroy a group of League clones with one hit from an enlarged arm, fight Clone Shigaraki with said mega arm, and survive a fall from a disintegrating tower. Phew! That’s a lot!

Now, what does everything Re-Destro’s done this chapter have in common? Answer: All his attacking limbs were covered by his birthmark. Re-Destro’s birthmark is the key to his powers, a given, yes. But, what does it exactly do? I’d say it manipulates his body on a molecular level. Anything Re-Destro wants his body to do he can do it as long as the birthmark is covering that body part. Strength? Yes. Enlargement? Yep. Speed? Sure. Elasticity? Uh-huh. Defense? Of course. Re-Destro can make his body do whatever he wants, making the Detnerat CEO an easy contender for top 10 quirks seen in the series so far. Top 5 even, depending on what his weakness is.

So, how is Shigaraki gonna beat that? Well, fortunately, the real Shiggy has an idea of what Detnerat can do, so that helps. Other than that, I got no clue. Now, would be a good time for Twice to whip up some more Shigaraki clones after he pulls Giran out the rubble, assuming there’s any Tower Twice Clones left.

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