Anime Update o.o

Hey guys, just putting out there where I'm with anime, since I don't talk about them much.

There are a bunch of anime coming out for the fall season. See list here.

I think I will definitely check out Kampfer, To Aru Kagaku no Railgun, Seitokai no Ichizon, InuYasha -Kanketsu-hen- (The Final Act), and Kobato. These will give me a good mix of shounen and romance anime series.
The two series that I am the most interested in are Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini and Fairy Tail. I was a fan of the first season of Darker than BLACK so I have high hopes for this sequel. As for Fairy Tail, I am an avid follower of its manga, so I am definitely excited to see it animated and voiced. I don't know how well they will produce Fairy Tail, but I think I will follow it no matter what quality.

Aside from those oncoming series, I am currently following Bakemonogatari, Bleach, Dragonball Kai, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Naruto Shippuuden.

Bleach is currently in the Zanpakutou filler arc, where the Shinigamis' Zanpakutou souls obtained "free will" from a villain called Muramasa and are rebelling against their owners. The Shinigami must defeat them in a battle to free them from Muramasa's grasp. I liked it initially because of the interesting character designs but now that I am used to them, the only thing keeping me going at the moment is its above Bleach-average animation quality. This is partly because they have to get through all the vice captains first before they move onto the cool captain stuff. I just watched the latest episode and it was Hitsugaya vs Hyourinmaru. I have to say it was perfectly executed: the flashback was not annoying/slow, the combat was intense and good quality, and the conclusion was interesting.

Naruto Shippuuden just spent two episodes covering Jiraiya's past and his adventure with Yahiko, Konan, and Nagato. And of course, to cover one full hour they needed to fill it with extra material. BUT WAIT, the filler material is time is not nonsense! For those of us who have read the manga, the producers included Jiraiya's encounters with Pein's bodies because they died. In addition, they did Jiraiya and Minato's interactions. Lastly, it was cool seeing Naruto's mom and the Yahiko trio animated.

Bakemonogatari (GhoStory) centers on Koyomi Araragi, a third year high school student who has recently survived a vampire attack, and finds himself mixed up with all kinds of apparitions; gods, ghosts, mythological beasts, and spirits of which he call oddities. I just simply love the style and animation quality of this anime. It also has a tremendous amount of humor that is dialogue based. So for non-cultured watchers like me, and bit hard to understand sometimes. And just throwing it out there, Senjougahara has awesome fashion sense and Sengoku is cute as hell. =D

Dragonball Kai is a remaster of Dragonball Z. I watched Dragonball Z from the Ginyu Force vs Goku onwards and then lost free cable around Cell Games. The rest of the storyline I learned from eclectic sources: DBZ Legacy of Goku and Buu's Fury GBA games, couple volumes of DBZ manga that covered Super Buu to the ending, and various downloaded episodes of Vegeto vs Super Buu. I think this is a good chance to find some continuity in this series that I was deprived of when I was young. =P

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a remake of FMA that differs from the first season. Brotherhood follows the ongoing manga closely, unlike the first season, where they created an alternate storyline for the sake of ending the series somewhere. Only this summer have I caught up fully with FMA manga. I have never watched the first season of FMA, so Brotherhood allows me to see my favorite characters animated and voiced. The thing I love most is its animation quality.

Alongside with all these series, I am watching finished series like Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and starting To Aru Majutsu no Index and Fate/Stay Night.

Espada Combat Profiles

Primero Espada - Coyote Starrk
Fought Kyoraku, Ukitake, Rose, and Love; killed by Shunsui Kyoraku
Notable fight: Took on 2 elder captains with their Shikai and 2 Visored former captains with their Shikai

Segunda Espada - Barragan Luisenbarn
Fought Soifon, Omaeda, and Hachi; killed by Hachigen Ushoda
Notable fight: Took on 1 captain with her Bankai, 1 negligible vice captain, and 1 Visored former Kido Corps vice captain

Espada Tres - Tia Halibel
Fought Hitsugaya, Lisa, and Hiyori; killed by Sousuke Aizen
Notable fight: Took on 1 captain with his Bankai, 2 Visored vice captains with their Shikai

Espada Cuatro - Ulquiorra Cifer
Fought Ichigo, Ishida, Grimmjow, and Urahara; killed by Hollow Kurosaki Ichigo
Notable fight: Took on 1 Quincy and Visored Ichigo with his Bankai in his new Hollow form

Quinto Espada - Nnoitra Jiruga
Fought Ichigo, Nell, Kenpachi, and Chad; killed by Kenpachi Zaraki
Notable fight: Took on Visored Ichigo with his Bankai, 1 former Espada Tres in her resurreccion form, and 1 captain with unnaturally strong reiatsu and killing instinct

Sexta Espada - Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez
Fought Ichigo, Rukia, Shinji, Ulquiorra, Luppi, Tousen; defeated by Hollow Kurosaki Ichigo and critically injured by Nnoitra Jiruga
Notable fight: Took on Visored Ichigo with his Bankai, 1 vice captain level Shinigami with her Shikai, and 1 Visored former captain

Septima Espada - Zommari Leroux
Fought Byakuya; killed by Kuchiki Byakura
Notable fight: Took on 1 captain with his Bankai

Octava Espada - Szayel Aporro Grantz
Fought Renji, Ishida, Pesche, Donochakka, Nemo, and Mayuri; killed by Mayuri Kurotsuchi
Notable fight: Took on 1 vice captain with his Bankai, 1 Quincy, 2 former Fraccion, 1 vice captain, and 1 captain with his Bankai

Noveno Espada - Aaroniero Arruruerie
Fought Rukia; killed by Kuchiki Rukia
Notable fight: Took on 1 vice captain level Shinigami with her Shikai

Decimo Espada - Yammy Rialgo
Fought Ichigo, Urahara, Yoruichi, Chad, Orihime, Hitsugaya, Renji, Ishida, Rukia, Loly; defeated many times in sealed form, but his resurreccion supposedly makes him the Cero Espada
Notable fight: 1 vice captain level Shinigami, 1 human with Hollow powers, 1 vice captain with his Shikai

Bleach 375

Ok, so instead of a power boost, Starrk's flashback signified his death. Wow ... the Primera Espada failed to impress me. I'm not saying he is weak, for he took on four different captains in their Shikai forms (and Hollowfication). But the fact he didn't get a single one to Bankai disappointed me.

Next we move to Halibel, she is still fighting Lisa, Hiyori, and Hitsugaya. We get to see two more Shikai releases this week: Lisa's Haguro Tonbo and Hiyori's Kubikiri Orochi. Both sword forms are humongous; Lisa's is a gigantic spear with fanned out blade and Hiyori's is a large cleaver with a saw-like blade.



Despite their's and Hitsugaya's combined attack, Halibel escapes unscathed. Apparently this is not enough for Aizen, who deemed her unfit to serve him and puts her down in one slash.

I was also a bit confused as to why Gin is fighting Shinji. Last time I checked, Tousen took a swipe at Shinji, but was distracted by Komamura and Hisagi. Anywho, I love seeing Gin in action.

Finally, Aizen is sick of waiting and says "Gin. Kaname. Let's go." As to where he is going, I have no idea. I hope not back to Hueco Mundo, because there is still a dozen captains and visoreds that he just ignored.

Things to note:
Aizen totally forgot about Wonderweiss.
We never got to see Tousen vs Komamura + Hisagi. Actually for this, I'm glad beacuse they have nothing new to offer.

Naruto 465

Sasuke only used his Susano'o to escape Kazekage and Raikage. However, the activation of it caused him to become more heartless and cold than he already was. The destruction of the pillars put his own teammates in danger, yet he only "saved" Karin so that she could lead him to Danzo. Once Sasuke arrives at the meeting, the Land of Iron mediator dude engages him. This gave Danzo the chance to escape. Ao goes after him, and Sasuke tries to as well, but Mizukage blocks him off.

Thoughts:
Sasuke's Susano'o was pretty useless; didn't do harm anyone except his own teammates and the samurai.
His heartlessness greatly contrasted with the first time he used Mangekyo Sharingan against Kirabi. Back then he was touched when his teammates saved him and to repay them he activated Amaterasu. Here, he totally disregards the welfare of his team and his Susano'o even did some friendly fire.
The fact that Ao went after Danzo alone makes me think he'll die; he has been generally annoying to Danzo.
Mizukage's ability that stopped Sasuke was a kekkei genkai, Yoton no Jutsu. It is probably a mix of fire element and earth, as the name implies Lava Release.

In any case, Sasuke is about to face off with Mizukage, and I think we will get to fully see her skills next week.

Things to note:
Sasuke was going to kill all the Kages, yet...
he got trashed by Raikage, but managed to burn off one of his arms in the process (-1); he blocked Gaara's attack, but Gaara blocked his falling pillars (+0); his goal was Danzo, but Danzo got away (-5); Mizukage made this happen (-1); Tsuchikage is just gonna chill and watch the fight (+0).
Basically Sasuke fails to accomplish any of his goals. It think if he focused on one thing, he could have actually achieved something, but he is trying to do too much at the same time, which puts him in the negative.

Bleach 374 - Katen Kyokotsu abilities

We found out the the perpetrator who stabbed Starrk is Kyoraku Taichou. This week's chapter is the second showdown between Kyoraku and Starrk, except now Kyoraku's Katen Kyokotsu has gotten in the mood (similar to Ikakku's Bankai I guess). The following clash reveals some very interesting abilities of Katen Kyokotsu.


One of its skills is Kageoni, which allows Kyoraku to create a separate dimension in shadows which he can control. I basically picture the shadow as a portal; if he sticks anything in the shadow portal it will come out in some part of the shadow (seen above); similarly if he sends his whole body through the shadow he can instantly transport anywhere that the shadow falls upon (seen below).


Another skill is Takaoni which Kyoraku attempted on Starrk back in chapter 362. Starrk managed to parry the attack with his Cero gun before Kyoraku could pull it off though. Now we learn that whoever has higher elevation gains an advantage in attack power.

The last skill of Katen Kyokotsu that we discovered is Irooni. This power is confusing, please correct me if I understood it wrong. Kyoraku states that when you declare a color, you can only cut that and nothing else. At the same time, this color affects the declarer as well. The trick here is that if you have more risk to yourself from choosing a color (aka wear a lot of the color chosen, meaning you are easier to be hit), you will also inflict more damage to the opponent.


The part that confused me was the declaration of your color, like when you choose a color does it overwrite your opponent's color choice? At the moment I think each individual can choose their own color. This works with the higher risk-higher damage effect because if you were to plan ahead and wear all red to maximize damage by choosing red your opponent can counter by choosing red as well, which will allow him to cut you anywhere. When Starrk chose white and Kyoraku was wearing his white captain robe, Starrk dealt some serious damage to his back. However, Kyoraku took off his white haori and now he's wearing full black, which means Starrk has no where to cut and Kyoraku goes in for the kill at maximum attack power. Here comes the part that my theory doesn't work: in the picture, Kyoraku slashed Starrk across the chest, but Starrk isn't wearing any/much black in that location other than the shirt lining and his hollow hole (which is black from the shadow). So either I completely understood this ability wrong, or Kyoraku managed to cut Starrk in those tiny possibly-existent black locations because he's a pro swordsman like that. Finally, the last thing I don't understand about Katen Kyokotsu is that does it only work with swords? What if Starrk chose black and shot Kyoraku, would that do amplified damage from Irooni's effect?


Two things to note about Starrk:
1. His past was interesting, how he doesn't like being strong because it makes him lonely. But we should know that now we saw this flashback it means Starrk will either gain a power boost or is going to be defeated soon.

2. When Kyoraku attacks with Irooni, Starrk switches to an energy/Cero sword and no longer holds his dual guns. I was wondering what happened to the guns, because isn't that where Lilynette's soul is?

Naruto 464

So I was wrong last week, Sasuke did not shape manipulate his Amaterasu into a cage shield, rather he set his premature Susano'o on fire. When Raikage went in for his Guillotine Drop finishing move, Sasuke counters with his right eye, which morphed (and can extinguish) Amaterasu flames on his Susano'o into spikes that Raikage will land on. Gaara saves Raikage from further damage and also Sasuke at the same time. Gaara fails to turn Sasuke back to the good side, and the Sand team and Darui goes in for the kill. Sasuke reveals his hidden jutsu: full fledged Susano'o with darkness that Shii and Karin both note at.

Things to remember: Sasuke's Mangekyo Sharingan abilities~
-left eye: Amaterasu
-right eye: Tsukuyomi, Amaterasu manipulation/extinction
-left+right eyes: Susano'o

All these abilities save the manipulation we have seen before in Itachi. However, the thing to note here is the embodiment of Sasuke's Susano'o. It is different in appearance than Itachi's. Now we know that, like the Mangekyo Sharingan, the Susano'io is also unique to the individual. Sasuke's has a gigantic claw and a dark aura instead of the light aura that Itachi had.

Here's comparison:

Test Your Anime Knowledge

Lucky Star is known for its anime references and Konata's sugoi otaku-ness. Today I found a wonderful picture of Konata-chan maxxed out in otaku-ness x].


Try and test your own otaku-ness and see how many different anime are represented by Konata in this picture.
Personally, I can distinguish 16 different series =P.
Comment and tell me what you can get!

Anime Wallpaper Update:
As of today, I have uploaded 4110+ wallpapers to Dropbox. The biggest additions were under Chobits, Fate/Stay Night, and Touhou, so check those out! =D

Bleach 373

We get to see Rose's sword release which is Kinshara. It is a whip with with a metal spike ball at the tail. His special sonata attack is an AOE that covers a big area. They both are ambush by additional wolfs, which exploded upon contact. Starrk doesn't give them any time to cover and assaults them again once they escape the smoke. This time the blow was severe because their masks have come off from the previous blow. Love and Rose aren't ready to give up yet, but Starrk thinks he's got them defeated. While going in for the final blow, Starrk gets stabbed from behind by a mysterious blade.

Thoughts: Although Starrk's wolf-ceros infused with his and Lilynette's souls are strong, they are the type of attack that won't ever kill anyone in shounen anime. If the attack creates a huge cloud of smoke, the target is bound to survive with unfatal injuries and parts of clothing missing. Anyways, the interesting part of this weeks chapter was the mysterious blade that stabbed Starrk. This must be a from a high level individual because, if we remember, when Kyoraku sneaked attacked Starrk from behind he easily dodged it. At the moment, i can't think of who this blade belongs to. Its dark and sinister shape along with the unBleachesque backstabbing assault leads me clueless to who this might have came from. Possibly one of his own allies that he trusted?

Naruto 463

The epic showdown between Sasuke and Raikage was really good! At the beginning, I thought it was humorous because in anime characters always call out the moves they use. So in this case, Sasuke was like "Chidori!" and Raikage was like "Elbow!" lol because all he was doing was a simple elbow. Sasuke avoids the elbow with his Sharingan but nevertheless, his Gaara's-ultimate-shield-piercing-Chidori only managed to leave a scratch on Raikage because of his raiton armor. Raikage counters with Raiger Bomb however Sasuke survives this deadly taijutsu with Susano'o after activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. Raikage activates Raigyaku Suihei, which basically looks like Super Saiyan form to me, and is now fast enough to dodge even Sasuke's Amaterasu. However, Sasuke counters by surrounding himself in Amaterasu flames so even though he cannot hit Raikage, if Raikage wanted to hit him he would get burned. Raikage responds with a "fuck you" by doing just that. This seems to break Sasuke's Susano'o shield and sends him flying. The chapter ends with Raikage going in for the kill while his left arm is burning.

Things I did not get:
How did Suigetsu get a sword stuck in him, and is it Darui's or his own.
Amaterasu works by igniting whatever Sasuke is looking at, so how can he surround himself in the flames, even though he can shape manipulate.

Things of note:
Sasuke's Susano'o was really noob compared to Itachi's. It was smaller, amorphous, and couldn't change to attack mode.

Anime Wallpapers (^_^)/

Hey guys, if you didn't know already, I am an avid anime wallpaper collector. I just love a full screen of wonderful artwork from your favorite anime series brightening your laptop background. I have collected over 2000 in a year and some of my friends agree that they are pretty cool and enjoyed looking at them. Thus, I made a Dropbox account full of all my anime wallpapers so that everyone else can enjoy them too. I've stopped updating since May, but after watching a handful of new anime during summer I started collecting wallpapers again.

Currently, I have 3600+ of some of the best, nongeneric wallpapers for popular series including Naruto, Bleach, Death Note, Code Geass, Eureka Seven, D. Gray-man, Gurren Lagann, Suzumiya Haruhi, K-On, Katekyo Hitman Reborn, Air Gear, and many more. Of course not all of them are from anime series, some are just fan-fiction and others romanticized artwork of games and such.

To check out the collection for yourself, click on "Anime Wallpapers" under my header, or click this:


To save a wallpaper for yourself just click the picture you like and hit "save" under it. =]

Now here's some sample/eyecandy ~~~

Bleach 372

This week's fight in Bleach features Love Aikawa and Starrk.
Love's zanpakutou's true form was revealed to be Tengumaru, a metal cudgel with spikes. We can't ignored that it is also twice the size of Love himself. I'm pretty sure this is the largest initial release we have seen yet.


Anyways, fitting its appearance and wielder, Tengumaru has a lot of brute power. It could dissipate/deflect several of Starrk's cero bullets. Not only does it have physical prowess, Tengumaru is also a fire-based zanpakutou, as Love shot a humongous fire blast at Starrk.
Aside from this new Shikai we got to see, the fight itself wasn't much. It mainly consisted of Love showing off all his techniques, while Starrk dodges them/gets hit but isn't hurt. Starrk reflects on Barragan's death and summons an army of wolfs - it seems he has finally gotten serious.

There's a rule, I call it rule of plurality, in anime that follows: as the number of homogeneous characters go up, their strengths exponentially decreases
This is my view on the wolf army...

Now for my opinion on Starrk:
Although I still think he is cool as sh*t, he has dramatically fallen in my personal Bleach coolness ranking. I feel like, as Primero Espada, he should have some quality that makes him the best, the strongest, the one that Aizen trusts. For example, Ulquiorra's got loyalty beyond any other Espada, Barragan's got the arrogance because he's the king of Hueco Mundo, and Halibel's got the hotness (another rule in anime: the more attractive the character, the stronger that individual will be).
Initially, Starrk's laziness could have meant he is so incredibly strong that he's just bored with life (the reason I thought he was badass). During his fight with Kyoraku, he pulled off a pose-less cero that perfectly matched his lazy personality. To me, this implied if he had tried, the cero might have been as strong as the Gran Rey Cero or Ulquiorra's Cero Oscuras. Now that Starrk have decided to try by releasing his true form, he should technically be overwhelmingly strong according to my hypothesis, right? Nah, the fight was still even against Shunsui and Ukitake with only their Shikais and now Love with his Shikai. Starrk could hardly gain what you would call an advantage, for he only left negligible scratches and burns on Shunsui that will definitely disappear once he Bankais (if he will even get to).
My point is, although Starrk is definitely strong, being able to fight against three captains Shikais consecutively, he fails to be menacing at the very least. I was hoping for something similar to Wonderweiss's instant pwnage of Ukitake or Halibel's
uber slash that cut Hitsugaya in half (albeit it was fake - stupid popular fanbase character hack, the next cheapest thing to the main character hack). Anyways enough ranting about my unfulfilled expectations on Starrk, hopefully he pulls out some trick that we'll remember for the ages. As for the wolf army, again, I don't expect much due to the rule of plurality. But hey, maybe they will surprise me. =]

Naruto 462

The fight this week between Komugakure and Hawk wasn't that interesting.
Suigetsu vs Darui, broken sword vs meat cleaver
Juugo vs Raikage, Raikage raped, Juugo is not a match but managed to stall time
Sasuke vs Shii, Shii got pwned from genjutsu
Karin vs nothing, she does nothing

Only things to noted from this combat were:
1. Sasuke's eyesight is deteriorating from extensive use of regular Sharingan and Mangekyo Sharingan.
2. Raikage's Raiton chakra heightens his senses and speed tremendously to the point that a regular Sharingan should not be able to keep up (but remember Sasuke's Sharingan managed to even overcome Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingan). It also offers boosted damage and defense, as it was able to nullify Sasuke's lightning-channeled sword slash.

The most interesting aspect of this week's chapter was Madara's explanation of the curse of hatred. It seems the Rikudo Sage of the Six Paths who founded the ninja world passed on his skills to two siblings. The elder was given the sage eyes, which granted powerful chakra and spiritual energy. The younger was given the sage body, which gifts him with nature's life force and a powerful physical energy. However, only one could succeed Rikudo Sage when his time came, and he chose the younger brother to carry on the will and way of the ninja. The elder brother could disapproved of this and attacked in rage. From here on out, a curse of hatred between the descendants of those with sage eyes and those with sage body was born. Uchiha is the descendant of the elder brother, and Senju is the descendant of the younger brother, and they been fated to fight against each other forever. This curse is now passed onto Naruto and Sasuke, thus it seems a second grant showdown between them is inevitable.

Thought? Well I have a lot, but here's just some. First, Naruto is going to break this curse of hatred, after all, what did he learn from Pain (also he has the main character hack). Second, why didn't Rikudo Sage pass on all of his skills to just one person, thus leaving no room for strife. Next, why did he die in the first place if he's got sage eyes and body - Madara managed to stay immortal with just his eyes. Last, how come the Uchiha name has been preserved for centuries while the Senju name is lost (where do you get Uzumaki from Senju, or even Namikaze, his father).

Naruto Shippuuden Update

Like me, I bet many of you have given up on Naruto anime because of copious fillers and slow pacing (further exacerbated by the fillers >_>). However, the anime has finally gotten back on track in the past couple weeks, and I have begun to watch it again.

They did a decent job animating Kakashi Gaiden, the tale of how Kakashi got his Sharingan, in episodes 119-120. In the following weeks, we witnessed the showdown between Sasuke and Deidara, which was animated in above Naruto-average quality, yet still not as impressive as when Naruto and Sasuke fought couple hundred episodes ago. The latest episode (125) this week, titled Disappearance, the anime covered the aftermath of Sasuke vs Deidara fight including the converging paths between Konoha, Hebi, and Akatsuki as well as the introduction of Pain, Konan, and Madara. I was excited to finally hear their voices and their colored anime appearance. Madara did not disappoint, he was cool as hell with his cloak and non-Tobi-comical voice. Pain sounded decent, but he looked too pale and angular. Konan looked great, but sounded like a middle-aged woman, maybe this is what they intended but I'm not a big fan.

The point of this post is not to commend Naruto anime, because it has fallen far too below standard, but rather to show those of you who lost faith that it's trying... =P
Personally, I am excited for what is coming in the following months. I foresee after a week or two of transition material, Shippuuden will head into some great landmarks in the manga such as Jiraiya vs Pain, and Sasuke vs Itachi. BUT, this is assuming they won't drag out the transition or going into another filler. Oh my god if they do the latter, I just won't know anymore...
=D

Bleach 371

Similar to Grimmjow's defeat and Nnoitra's death, we see some of Barragan's history before his final breath. This was very interesting, because it revealed how Aizen took over Hueco Mundo: by dethroning its current king and making him his underling. Of course, someone with as much pride as the king of Hueco Mundo cannot swallow this, and Barragan's final act thus was an appropriate attempt to take Aizen's life.

Seeing Aizen and Gin back in captain clothing was nostalgic and pleasing. Also, we saw more of Kyoka Suigetsu in action. This part sort of confused me though. I was under the impression that Kyoka Suigetsu's Shikai creates a powerful illusion on all who witness its release. However, when Aizen muttered "Break, Kyoka Suigetsu," he managed to wipe out all of Barragan's army. Was this just an illusion to get Barragan to obey him or does Kyoka Suigetsu have a side ability of raping everything in sight on Aizen's whim?

Several things I want to note:
The captains and Visoreds were unphased at Barragan's betrayal against Aizen.
Aizen's coolness caused the axe to disentigrate. =P
Barragan's power is inconsistent: rots away buildings but fail to rot his crown; rot leaves the bone like in Soifon's arm's case, yet it rotted away all of Barragan's own body, which is a skeleton.
Someone thought Barragan's release form seems weaker than his normal form and I agree. Barragan managed to break a captain's arm in an instance in normal form, yet couldn't hurt a vice-captain with his most powerful ability in released form.

Naruto 461

Sasuke attacks Raikage head on with a swift sword slash, but Darui wards him off with a soaking/electrocuting combo. Shii casts genjutsu so that Raikage and Darui could approach Sasuke for a finishing blow, but Sasuke's Sharingan sees through this, which allows Juugo and Suigetsu to make it in time to defend against the Kumogakure team's assault.

Here, we get our first glimpse at Raikage's combative strength as he was able to break Suigetsu's demon sword with pure strength. Furthermore, the torque from his impact was so great that it convulsed Suigetsu's arms into slush. Juugo decides to take things into his hands by fully transforming into killer-mode. Since he no longer is doing partial transformation, his personality changes to that of bloodlust again.

More banter that I have little interest in among the remaining Kages ...

This week's chapter made me realize that all the newly introduced guardians to the Kages are not cannonfodder for the main characters like Sasuke. They are all qualified Jounin that are on the same level as Kakashi and Yamamoto. This is also unfortunate because it means we'll have to sit through all of the guardians' fights before we see some legit Kage action. (I doubt the Tsuchikage is gonna do much more than whine about his hip, but hopefully he can redeem himself through some interesting and unique jutsu)

Lasty, Juugo's killer-mode doesn't seem very intimidating. Judging from his appearance, it seems this transformation is more centered on speed than lifetaking capabilities. Anyways, the jetpacks on his back are cool, but I wish they did more with his hands/arms.