Hitman Reborn: C+
Amano's characterization is just off the wall. She has characters change so quickly. The only consistent character has been Reborn, and that's because of his motives and their clarity. Everyone else? Just weird.
Tsuna's biggest trial was the future arc. This trial was great because it wasn't something Reborn had any control over, yet Tsuna still had to overcome it, and quite a trial it was. Stuff like this that Reborn is apparently pulling the strings behind? I'm not so inclined to. This representative battle is moving at such a fast pace that things are being missed. Suddenly, Iemetsu goes from complete manly badass to getting destroyed easily off-screen? What the fuck? I don't mind quick pacing, but not at the detriment of the battles, which are the only things that matter in this kind of arc where character development/interaction is taking a backseat. Still, I want more plot, so it'll be interesting to see who the fuck these Vindice people are.
Naruto: C-
I expected to give this chapter an F. But I can't completely hate on the first 6 or 7 pages of this chapter. The art was a nice change of pace and the action wasn't totally horrible at all since they were doing more than standing there.
But then it went into "BOND" wtf retcon mode which felt completely forced and totally unnecessary. Kabuto is a pig. Thanks, Kishimoto. How did you manage to make Sasuke and Itachi's reunion so boring after all this time? Not to mention, Sasuke's sudden change of character is a massive problem. Not because he changed, I expected that, but because him and Itachi haven't even talked yet. Sasuke doesn't even know for sure if that's Itachi...Itachi hasn't taken time to answer any questions, nor has he given Sasuke the time of day. Instead, we are supposed to believe that they are the best of brothers once more? Fuck no, it's not believable here, Kishimoto.
Bleach: B+
"Fledglings like us cannot possibly understand the pain the captain commander is experiencing now" - This is coming from fucking Byakuya. Awesome.
If this were any other arc, the entire chapter would've been Sasakibe's funeral, and that's all we would've gotten. I'm still getting used to how much Kubo has improved the pacing for this war arc. Ichigo rounds up his friends (we are already seeing more nakama interaction in this arc than in the last two arcs combined) and Urahara comes and they're already moving to Hueco Mundo. Shit is getting real.
Sasakibe's backstory can be seen as a retcon; "oh, this is just an excuse to why we haven't seen him do shit"...reasonable complaint. I can also see the other side of it. He's kind of like the loyal dude that is never actually on the scene but him being the Vice Captain of Yamamoto speaks for itself. The whole him getting KO'd by Ichigo in one hit is a problem, but I'll chalk that up to Ichigo catching everyone off guard...he did beat Byakuya. But, what's done is done. I think that this is more of a plot device for us to finally see Yamamoto emotionally invested in this war. Which is good.
Ishida and Ichigo's relationship...and its eventual downfall is again foreshadowed. Did it say that "Ichigo
and Urahara" attack Hueco Mundo? What? ALREADY? OH SHIT. This bankai stealing shit is interesting to say the least.