#me and Roboco

[demifiendrsa]

Weekly Shonen Jump 2025 issue #22/23 cover

[raamitsu]

KAIZOU JUMP FESTA '25 ⭐

NOTE: JUMP Festa is an event where your favourite series under Shonen JUMP will be getting a lot of content prepared to the audience including special news, updates and announcements for next year's projects.

OFFICIAL VISUAL ⬇️

‼️ LINE-UP OF SERIES FOR THE EVENT THIS YEAR + STAGE COLOURS ‼️

YOUTUBE LIVE STREAMING LINK : RED

CHAINSAW MAN

SPY X FAMILY

JUJUTSU KAISEN

ONE PIECE

MY HERO ACADEMIA

KAIJU NO.8

DRAGON BALL

PRINCE OF TENNIS

BLUE EXORCIST

RUROUNI KENSHIN

YOUTUBE LIVE STREAMING LINK: BLUE

BLEACH

GINTAMA

SAKAMOTO DAYS

DANDADAN

WITCH WATCH

BLUE BOX

DEMON SLAYER

HAIKYUU!

WORLD TRIGGER

MISSION: YOZAKURA FAMILY

YOUTUBE LIVE STREAMING LINK: STUDIO

AKANE BANASHI

MORIARTY THE PATRIOT

UNDEAD UNLUCK

ELUSIVE SAMURAI

DR. STONE

ME & ROBOCCO

GAG MANGA BIYORI

FYI, the event will begin from 21st until 22nd December this year. Please look forward to it! Your favourite series might get some interesting news 👀

+ADDITIONAL YOUTUBE LIVE STREAMING LINK: JUMP 10TH ANNIVERSARY.

[rratpower]

[wickedsick]

Kagurabachi wins "ooh, I tricked ya!"

I'm gonna be honest, I did actually think that they just got killed off there.

Every week, RoboCo challenges my conviction to read every series

Ichi The Witch wins "the nefarious twink"

'right to choose the Challenger' is interesting, and also doesn't make sense... Couldn't he just decide to not choos a challenger and prevent his acquisition indefinitely?

Sakamoto Days wins "best one-liner"

Osaragi and Shishiba are fun side characters, I like this examination of them.

Spy X Family wins "guy who sucks and is bad"

Fuck this guy.

Shinobi Undercover wins "freak on a leash"

This is an actually good romance, to be honest. I like it.

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi wins "aura farming"

It's interesting how angelically Roth's being framed here, for being a demon. Also, his feet look dumb in the left page.

Blue Box wins "couple's spat"

This is cute, but also yeah, octopus works best.

The Elusive Samurai wins "sad to see"

It's strange and sad to see characters posited as such bastions of strength fall in this way. Both Tadayoshi and Takauji.

Akane-Banashi wins "category 10 Yuri moment"

God, I love how blatant Hikaru is. This extended sequence of chapters without Akane's perspective is an excellent way to see how she and her absence shaped the world.

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, Issue #15: Cuck Week

One Piece: The God's Knights use some kind of nightmare power to kidnap the children of Elbaph; Loki slams Ragnir, his hammer, into the World Tree, summoning lightning to strike the trunk and start a fire. Got some neat powers this week, though I'm curious if this means that Killingham ISN'T a Kirin Zoan and is actually some kind of dragon-man with a dream Devil Fruit OR if the dream power is a demonic ability like what the Elders seem to use

Roboco: A royal friend of Motsuo's visits from overseas, and despite Motsuo's failures to protect him from harm, he manages to have a great time and gifts Motsuo his old house back. I don't know how property tax works in Japan, but having a mansion definitely doesn't make him rich again, so I don't know the point to that bit

Sakamoto: The team escapes from the prison, only to be confronted by The Order, who reveal that they've allied themselves with Slur and have left JAA chairman Asaki undefended for Uzuki to kill; Uzuki publicly declares that he's establishing a new JAA. I'm so unclear on whether or not the general populace has even heard of the JAA, but I assume that either way this is going to have dramatic ramifications for the setting

EluSam: Morofuyu sees how far Tokiyuki's abilities have improved and asks what sort of training he did; Tokiyuki cannot bring himself to admit that he's been getting raucously slammed by three baddies for the last couple years and needed to bulk up just to survive, and tells him he's been training with animals instead. Matsui couldn't get permission to serialize F-Ken, so he had to find a way to incorporate fetishism into his power system SOMEHOW

Witch Watch: Wolf asks Nemu to bear his children, as he's afraid he'll one day fade away when Keigo no longer needs him, and wants to leave something tangible behind; Nemu admits that she loves both Wolf and Keigo, but refuses his confession because she doesn't want to be unfaithful to either of them; using a magic mirror, Keigo confronts Wolf, who challenges him to be more active with Nemu lest he take her first; Keigo resolves to confess to Nemu himself, though it seems he still doesn't quite have the courage just yet. Boo! BOO!!! You better just be cooking, Shinohara, cus if you're seriously going to say polyamory is unfaithful after Tozuka and Matsui went out of their way to make it a major positive plotpoint, I'm never going to forgive you! However, Wolf's motivations are extremely compelling; this is basically The Victor Problem from Undead Unluck, and being a magical setting, it can easily be solved without killing off Wolf

Blue Box: The ransom note turns out to be a ploy by Nagisa, who just wanted to talk to Taiki in private about Chinatsu, thanking him for being there for her and helping her stay in Japan. Very cute chapter, no notes

Akane: After her three years of training abroad, Akane returns to Issho, who asks what she's learned; when she answers that she's come to understand the value of what she has, Issho calls it a mundane, yet valuable enough lesson to acknowledge Akane as being ready to learn about Shiguma's Art. Again, I'm not sure I had the takeaway Suenaga wanted me to have, but I like that interaction; Issho having such an unusually soft reaction, and allowing Akane to come to her own conclusion rather than having a specific lesson in mind, demonstrates an interesting amount of depth to his character and teaching style that I hope will be greater informed in the coming chapters

Kill Blue: Looking back at her adventures and interactions with Juzo, Noren comes to a shocking discovery - although she'd once dismissed the possibility, she is in fact in love with Juzo. ...Okay, so she's definitely an adult that got Conan'd, right? Like there's no way Fujimaki is going to have these two get together otherwise, right? But if that's the case...who is her dad, really...? Are they actually ex's and he's just playing a role? But then why would he stage this whole thing about her getting engaged...The implications of this series are truly mindboggling...

Nue: As Squad 6 attempts to escape from Gashadokuro, Nue helps Gakuro to unlock one more upgrade - his Soul Armor; Gashadokuro is so impressed with Gakuro's growth that he becomes jealous that Nue got him first. WOW that's the dumbest crossguard I've ever seen on a fantasy weapon! It's unique, but it's so impractical!!! You can even see how awkwardly Gakuro's wrist has to bend to hold that stupid thing!!! Anyway, wasn't the current goal to get Gakuro to force a contract with Gashadokuro? It seems like he'd be pretty down for it, why not take advantage of the fact that he's asking for Gakuro to join him?

Kagurabachi: As her memories return, Iori flashes back to her former relationship with her father, and the death of her mother; at the point where they started to get along, the Hishaku appeared with a proposal for Samura. Hakazono's really good at establishing compelling dynamics within one chapter, and Samura's contact with the Hishaku being part of his motivation for erasing Iori's memories adds an interesting layer to his decision to form a contract with them

Chojo: Finally back from overseas, Inukai is confronted with a shocking rumor - that Keinain is dating Ippongi! Traumatized by losing Chojo to her, Inukai panics and accidentally gets himself Me-Too'd; Inukai's fears of losing Keinain are assuaged when he hears Keinain defending him from petty coworkers. It somehow only just sunk in how many ships there are in this series, I wonder if there are any plans to make good on any of them?

Astro Royale: Terasu's next opponent tries to assassinate him behind the scenes, but Shikaba interferes and knocks them both out of the tournament, making Hibaru the winner by default and allowing him to jump straight to fighting Shikaba. Man, it's almost like there was no point to Terasu being in the tournament in the first place

Kiyoshi: After Bakku's defeat, Jack Joe pleads to spare him as his old friend; as Bakku bids goodbye through tears of joy, he is suddenly killed, seemingly by another Demon Lord; meanwhile, Hydrako lures out Kiyoshi with seemingly yandere intentions. BAKKUUU!!! Wait, is his name Bakku Yoraku or Yoraku Bakku? Weird to suddenly change it like that, I wonder which way was the error...I am legit upset about this development, but I'm also unclear on what it takes to kill a demon considering what Yamada survived in chapter 1

Hima-Ten: The group goes to a beach house, and the girls all fish for compliments on their swimsuits, though only Himari doesn't get one; while she tries to get over her jealousy, Himari gets hit by a wave and loses her contact lenses, only to be saved by Tenichi. I truly don't understand why Tenichi would need to quit working for Himari if he starts dating, that's dumb

Ichi: Gokuraku sees through Uroro's empty promise and flies off the handle, reminded of his nemesis - the local deified Magik, Bakugami, a Human Hater disguised as a benevolent god, plotting to sacrifice his followers as a tribute to the World Hater. ...I guess that makes more sense than Gokuraku fighting Ichi, huh? I wonder if defeating Bakugami will allow Gokuraku to become a Witch, or if he'll accept that he can't become one once his goal is fulfilled?

Shinobi: Kawasemi overpowers Yodaka and reveals that Public Safety are the ones responsible for the death of Aoi's parents; he offers to ensure Aoi's safety if Yodaka joins the Fugitive Ninja, but Yodaka refuses to give her to someone who will make her life miserable. It seems that's the theme of the arc, as Yodaka also refused to give Aoi to Suzume because of her view on relationships

Syd Craft: Misery returns and tricks Syd and co. into entering a haunted house...which, due to safety concerns, has been modified into a fun thriller attraction rather than the death trap it was meant to be. A+. 10 outta 10. Perfect chapter. Misery should be the main character and all the girls should be lusting after her

Embers: Takami manages to receive the ball from Haitani, but cracks under the pressures put on him by everyone's expectations of him to be an ace scorer, especially from his father; one failed goal nearly breaks Takami's spirit, but Haitani's refusal to allow a single failure to define someone resonates with him and gives him the motivation to try again and successfully score a goal. Haitani's entire dynamic with soccer is a string of failures that slowly stacked into success, so he's the ideal person to refute Takami's perfectionism; the theme of second chances is really resonating with me, I wonder how it will be applied to someone like Inanaki who seems so irredeemably nasty

Beethoven: Claude is distressed to learn that Yaso is back to playing piano and trying to transfer into Reiro Academy, as doing so threatens to tarnish the memory of his victory over him two years ago; because the students are set to be the judges for Yaso's audition, Claude preemptively decides that he won't allow Yaso to pass no matter what; with two weeks to practice, Beethoven plans to teach Yaso how to play Apassionata so well that no one can deny his skill no matter how much they want to. Claude's insult game is insane; he's already a great antagonist just from representing the antithesis of Yaso's master's philosophy, but his loony personality and animated movements make him shockingly endearing for someone so downright reprehensible

As if in response to me calling last week's issue Polybait Week, Jump went out of their way to crush my hopes with spite, jealousy and near explicit cuckoldry!

Nemu explicitly denying the possibility of polyamory and Wolf threatening to cuck Keigo, Himari putting herself on the backburner for Tenichi but still acting jealous, Inukai mistaking Ippongi for an outright homewrecker...okay, that last one wasn't based on last week, but still!

I would argue that Nue's Exorcist also played with the idea, as not only was this a Nue-heavy chapter, but Gashadokuro was kinda getting cucked by Gakuro taking away Shiroha AND by Nue having Gakuro as her vessel

At least EluSam keeps leading the pack by continuing to show us the true Power of Love...making...

Top 3 of the Week:

Ichi the Witch for delving into Gokuraku's motivations

Star of Beethoven for our new special little freak boy

Syd Craft for Miseryyy~~~

Embers' dynamic between its leads was super interesting, Shinobi Undercover continues to endear me to Yodaka and Aoi's relationship, and of course Elusive Samurai had one of the funniest gags I've ever seen from Jump, but these three weirdos have all dug themselves into my brain and I need to acknowledge that

[orange-s-mario]

me and roboco is pretty good

[pirapirum]

The Roboco movie and the new Detective Conan movie will be coming out on the same day so I drew this, all rise for our new Barbenheimer!

[doyouknowthisanime]

Do You Know This Anime?

[krispyfuntastemaker]

weekly shonen jump

[redtutel]

My fan roster for a Shonen Jump Crossover Fighting Game Game

I admit the characters from Ruri onward could be assists

[wsjyuyuyuau]

Roboco (Me & Roboco)

Name: Roboco

Series: Me & Roboco

Gender: Female

Status: Alive

Family: The Taira Family (Owners), Robomi (Sister)

Flower Motif: Pomegranate Blossom (Punica granatum)

Flower Meaning: Devotion

Weapon of Choice: Energy Gauntlets

Associated With: Interdimensional Hero Club

Hero Form Appearance: A combination of a devoted assistant’s outfit and YuYuYu’s Hero Form outfits. The undersuit is a solid black so the brighter colors can stand out, and those brighter colors are a gorgeous crimson that fades to a ripe orange when you make your way towards the lower half of the pants, the lower half of the sleeves, and the tailcoat. Accent colors include white, black, gray; silver, gold, yellow, blue, and coral pink. The shoes, gloves, apron, and maid headband all have patterns of pomegranate flowers and pomegranate fruits- and the only other accessory is a pomegranate blossom brooch that serves as Roboco’s tie clasp. The flower’s petal shape can be seen in the collar, sleeves, and tailcoat.

Full Bloom Gauge Location: Left Shoulder

Guardian: Emmy (Based on the House Brownie)

Favorite Food: Homemade Cookies

Parallel To: None

Bio: Roboco is an OrderMaid and the main character of the Me & Roboco manga series. When interacting with the IDHC, she serves as their battle supplier!

[demifiendrsa]

Official English translated author comments featured in Weekly Shonen Jump 2024 issue #36/37

Sakamoto Days chapter 177 - Yuto Suzuki

My Hero Academia chapter 430 [END] - Kohei Horikoshi

Kagurabachi chapter 44 - Takeru Hokazono

Me & Roboco chapter 196 - Shuhei Miyazaki

One Piece chapter 1122 - Eiichiro Oda

The Elusive Samurai chapter 167 - Yusei Matsui

Akane-banashi chapter 121 - Yuki Suenaga

Blue Box chapter 160 - Kouji Miura

Jujutsu Kaisen chapter 265 - Gege Akutami

Hima-Ten! chapter 5 - Genki Ono

Witch Watch chapter 166 - Kenta Shinohara

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi chapter 7 - Shoichi Usui

Undead Unluck chapter 217 - Yoshifumi Tozuka

Mission: Yozakura Family chapter 237 - Hitsuji Gondaira

Nue’s Exorcist chapter 61 - Kota Kawae

Super Psychic Policeman Chojo chapter 25 - Shun Numa

Astro Royale chapter 16 - Ken Wakui

Kill Blue chapter 64 - Tadatoshi Fujimaki

Psych House chapter 13 - Omusuke Kobayashi

Kyokuto Necromance chapter 15 - Fusai Naba

Yokai Buster Murakami chapter 8 - Daiki Ihara

[raamitsu]

HERE ARE THE REST OF THE MANGAKA COMMENTS IN WEEKLY SHONEN JUMP #17.

[shadow-coolness]

She seems familiar.

[wickedsick]

Blue Box wins "audible squee"

I love these two, they're so adorable

Kagurabachi wins "we figured, but holy shit"

This was an understandable and visible path for the series to tread, but it was done well. And personally, I always prefer something predictable but well-done over a sloppy twist.

Sakamoto Days wins "lines that go hard"

Unlike above, this isn't something I could've predicted at all, but I'm eager to see how it goes. This is a quite frankly bonkers way for things to go and I'm so curious about what Slur's problem is.

Spy X Family wins "SatAM Hijinx"

This is some classic, feel-good nonsense. Everyone in this story is kinda stupid and that's a good thing.

Ultimate Exorcist Kiyoshi wins "best sequence"

Hydrako only got one chapter, but she's fucking hilarious. This set of rapid-fire gags, her constant failures, seeing the sound effects literally go over her internal monologue... Failgirl supreme. Awesome.

Ichi The Witch wins "best tone shift"

Going from the gentle tension of Bakugami's backstory to... These two idiots, was hilarious. I hope this causes several problems forever.

Why does this get a chapter, but nothing for the ONE PIECE × the LA Lakers collab?

Akane-Banashi wins "best singular panel"

Issho is such an intriguing character, and this chapter just made me more curious about what his specialty - if he even has one - is. Current theory is that it's going to be the third story, so he has something to teach Akane.

Embers wins "Soft Power"

This is an excellent display both of Inanaki's breakdown and of Coach's power over the team. At no point in this interaction does it ever feel like she's on the back foot or out of her depth. She is in control, and she makes it clear.

Wait, Kawasemi's a dude? I thought this was an awesome lesbian! Dammit!

[tokiro07]

Toki Reads Shonen Jump 2025, Issue #11: Tough Conversations Week

One Piece: While searching for the key to Loki's chains, the crew is approached by Mr. Ya, Ripley's husband, who leads them to the hidden chamber where the key is stored; he is revealed to in fact be Scopper Gaban, Gold Roger's Left Hand, and challenges Luffy to take the key from him. Nice to finally know who that guy we saw hanging out with Crocus that one time was; I really dig Gaban's aged design, and I'm glad that his personality is so distinct from other members of Roger's generation

Roboco: Fujisawa encourages Roboco to start an art gallery, which becomes such an unprecedented success that Roboco tries to sell sculptures of her knees at a huge markup; predictably, this bankrupts her. The only thing I could think while reading this chapter - "Bullshit...bullshit!...derivative..."

Sakamoto: Shin confronts Ando and demands to know why he was abandoned; Ando reveals that he had actually helped Shin escape from the JAA orphanage that was raising him into an assassin, an action that would put a target on his back; while Ando may or may not have done this out of love for his son, the resulting turmoil in his life has caused him to resent Shin; Sakamoto defeats Ikari and arrives just in time to save Shin from Ando. Fans have long theorized that Shin was in Al-Kamar, and this practically confirms it; the nuance of Ando's relationship with Shin is utterly fascinating, and I hope to get more insight before Ando dies

EluSam: Tadayoshi and Moronao's conflict reaches a boiling point, and Takauji backs Tadayoshi into a corner that forces him to either concede to Moronao or commit suicide; the horny trio convince themselves that what they're planning to do to Tokiyuki is completely wholesome and totally not rape, only to find that Tokiyuki was actually waiting for them to arrive so he could discuss their future together. How the hell does Matsui expect me to get invested in this historical drama when all I care about is whether or not he's going to give me canon polyamory???

Witch Watch: Kukumi pens her first original work to submit to Shonen Jaguar with Yuri as her chaperone, but both Yuri and the editor are literally floored by how lewd Kukumi draws women; her one-shot is too lewd for Jaguar, so she literally takes a page out of To Love Ru and censors the bits with smoke. As funny as the idea that a fujoshi can only draw women if they're naked is, I can't help but feel like this is a dig at Yuuna and the Haunted Hot Spring moreso than To Love Ru

Blue Box: Chinatsu manages to finally beat Yumeka, securing her team's spot in the Winter Cup; Yumeka slinks off to cry on her own, blaming her hiatus for ruining her team's chances at Nationals and believing she doesn't have the right to cry in front of them, but Chinatsu comes to comfort her; Chinatsu's dad agrees to let her continue living with the Inomata family. Yumeka's character has been one of the biggest draws for me in this series lately, so I'm a little worried that now that it's over I won't be as invested, but we'll have to see; also, the speech bubbles weren't pointing to anyone a lot of the time, so I was VERY confused who was talking in this chapter

Akane: At the venue for an upcoming performance, Rien talks smack about Akane as petty revenge for when she humiliated him early in her career; a jet-lagged Akane is picked up by Taison, a Zenza under one of Akane's brothers (I think it's Kyoji?), who's the only one of the Zenza present to ignore Rien's tall tales. I completely forgot who Rien was, I hate this guy, can't wait for Akane to kill him

Kill Blue: Juzo's medicine wears off and he returns to his child body, though through sheer grit he's still able to overpower Oka; just as he prepares to shoot him, though, he has a vision of all of his school friends and realizes that by taking a life now, he would be officially going back to being a hitman and wouldn't be able to continue on as a normal middle schooler with everyone else; however, Noren appears in time to see him holding the gun, making the situation exponentially worse. As much as I love Juzo's dilemma, the fact that his determination to protect Noren is being directly compared to how he once saved his ex-wife from danger isn't helping him beat The Allegations

Nue: We learn that Yoshichi resents Gakuro so strongly because he was ostracized for being Impure and had to prove himself to rise through the ranks while Gakuro was simply appointed Captain out of nowhere; after passing out from his wounds, Gakuro wakes up receiving a lap pillow from a girl calling herself Kyokotsu, the name of Shiroha's contracted Spirit; Gashadokuro appears to raid the Fujino Family compound. Gakuro tricking Yoshichi into self-destructing by trying to drag a shadow clone down with him as he jumped off the bridge was honestly kinda sick, and leaves me with an overall good impression for an otherwise extremely messy fight; Girl!Kyokotsu is...interesting, but I have no idea what to make of her or the apparent cloning facility that she oversees, I wonder if actual fans were able to glean anything useful from this introduction

Kagurabachi: While debating whether or not she should retain her memories of her father or go back to her normal life, Iori witnesses Chihiro massacring a slew of assassins, finalizing her decision to forget Samura again; Hiruhiko manages to overcome the massive skill difference between him and all of the hotel staff as swordsmen and appears before Chihiro. As a reader, I naturally thought the peephole scene was sick as all hell, but unfortunately that meant it didn't immediately click for me that it was supposed to be horrifying and show the tragedy of Chihiro's life path

Chojo: Ten years after his original serialization, Samon the Summoner appears in Chinjuku to help bring people to ruin by indulging their sinful desires; after Samon refuses to grant the desire of a child who wants to stop people who are accosting animals in a local park, Chojo and Ippongi find him actually doing so in secret so as not to harm his bad reputation; Nebiros appears and destroys his business, leaving Samon as the one in ruin for Teshigawara to find and annoy with her kindness. I didn't realize how much I missed Samon and co. until this moment, that series was so good, and every cameo made me smile so much; I hope they get more crossovers, but it seems unlikely

Astro Royale: Two more of the Yotsurugi brothers, Taira and Satsuki, fight in the next round and nearly get some audience members killed, prompting Hibaru to intervene; in a flashback, Kongo suggests that Hibaru and Taira would be great friends, though now they are bitter enemies. Either Kongo's a terrible judge of character, or that's foreshadowing a Heel-Face Turn on Taira's part

Kiyoshi: After a brief rundown of the Thirteen Club's members, Tsurugi takes the initiative by attacking the whole group at once. We got a couple good gags from the Thirteen Club and a cool panel from Tsurugi, here's hoping we get to see more

Hima-Ten: It's parent-teacher conference day, and we're introduced to both Honoka and Himari's mothers; Himari's mother approves of Tenichi because he's been looking out for Himari's nutrition, and Honoka's mother offers Tenichi a cleaning gig since her wrist is sprained. Looks like we're about to get a Honoka mini-arc, hopefully Himari doesn't find some ludicrous way to steal attention from her again

Ichi: Concerned for Ichi's prophesized death, Desscaras takes a trip to the bar for a stiff drink, only to be consoled by Togeice, who in turn compares Ichi to Desscaras' deceased brother, Libro; later, Desscaras sits down for a chat with Ichi to ask how he really feels about the prophecy; when Ichi says he's the type to live in the present rather than worry about the future, Desscaras comes right out and says how she feels - she wants him to live as a member of her family. Between Desscaras' backstory, her and Togeice having gay little nicknames for each other, and Desscaras opening up so readily to Ichi about how his attitude hurts her, there is a LOT to unpack in my upcoming review!

Shinobi: Suzume tries to play wingman for Yodaka and Aoi both through a small prank and by encouraging him to get her a birthday gift; Hachikuma reveals where the Fugitive Ninja's base is, and the team goes to infiltrate, but Yodaka's mind is preoccupied with the gift. Glad to see Suzume back in pants, and her annoying attitude makes for some fun dynamics with the team; while the tension is supposed to come from Yodaka being distracted during the mission, I'm willing to bet that the real turn is going to be when he gives Aoi the present and learns that she didn't mention her birthday because it's a sore subject

Syd Craft: Syd visits his parents to learn more about Zero Craft, but finds that Lulu has somehow become a maid for the house; the two get trapped in a room and need to solve a Twister-based puzzle to both escape and unlock a treasure; Lulu discovers Syd's weakness to women and resolves to seduce him...if only she knew how. I'm glad Lulu's going to be proactive in flirting with Sid, that dynamic is sorely needed from this cast; though the Crafts don't recognize the name Zero, I'm so sure one of the childhood photos from the treasure chest has a hidden clue to their identity, like perhaps the one where Syd is seen crying with a baby

Embers: While trying to return a wallet, Haitani's intensity gets his intentions mistaken for harassment, and he ends up in a confrontation with Bugai, the soccer team's captain; despite Haitani's lack of experience, he manages to force a draw with his exceptional defense, earning Bugai's respect; Haitani bumps into Takami, learning that his rival is now his teammate. Just cus it's predictable don't make it bad - I'm really excited to see how Haitani and Takami's dynamic shapes up from here; I'm not terribly interested in Bugai yet since his interaction was pretty similar to Takami's, but we only just started and I'm sure he'll win me over eventually

Star of Beethoven: After suffering a traumatic loss in a competition, piano prodigy Ichiro Yaso gives up music and drifts through his youth for two years; one day, a resurrected Ludwig van Beethoven spontaneously appears before him; while showing Beethoven a modern piano, Yaso runs into Kahoin, an old acquaintance, who forces him to play again; when Yaso is reluctant, Beethoven accompanies him, and they perform a perfect rendition of Beethoven's Fifth; Beethoven concludes that cosmic forces have brought the two of them together to create a new masterwork, and Beethoven labels Yaso as his new disciple. Not quite what I expected from the author of Life Liar From Hell, but I definitely enjoyed it! Beethoven's design is ghastly and intense, and Yaso's struggle with his perceived lack of talent makes him an interesting enough protagonist for now; I'm not big on the pseudo-isekai premise, but it's an interesting spin on the Hikaru no Go formula to have the mentor be a physical entity rather than just a spirit; my favorite bit though was Beethoven's reaction to being in the future - the modern piano, his legacy, and the persistent power of music as an artform; really looking forward to how this one develops!

Damn, dude, I wasn't able to sum up anything quickly this week, huh? No wonder it took me longer than usual

I'm gonna call this the Week of Tough Conversations, as between Desscaras asking Ichi not to die, Chinatsu comforting Yumeka after defeating her, Tokiyuki giving polyamory serious consideration, Iori deciding to forget her father again so she won't have to live in a blood-soaked world of vengeance, and Juzo needing to explain to Noren why he's about to shoot the principal, there were certainly a lot to be had. That said, the Week of Ghosts from the Past would be pretty apt too between Gaban and Beethoven, wouldn't it?

This Week's Top 3:

Ichi the Witch for delving into Desscaras's vulnerabilities in contrast to a few weeks ago when we saw her strengths

Star of Beethoven for how shockingly endearing I found Beethoven as a character and how much I love his design

Super Psychic Policeman Chojo for pandering to me specifically with the Samon the Summoner cameos

Overall, this was a really good issue for me, as I enjoyed just about everything this week, even including Nue's Exorcist which I'm usually pretty lukewarm on. My top 3 was hard to pick, but I do really like the balance it ended up having - battle, artistic, and gag. I certainly wouldn't complain if my weekly favorites were similarly arranged spread going forward