After taking a 2 year break from the last 3 months of work HXH resumes again. It still suffers the same problem that the characters spend all the time talking about how awesome they are without actually fighting anybody. I think Gin is turning into what TVTropes would call a "Wesley" character, namely someone nobody but the author and a considerable legion of fan likes. I mean he's supposed to be a legendary figure but he's also somewhat of a loner, so the whole notion that Gin has these connections that can fight guys who have political power equal to a head of state is just ridiculous. I think he's supposed to be this wild card guy who you can't predict but if you want to talk about fighting ability Dragon is stronger, and if you want to talk about brains Pariston and even Chidol is much stronger. Even out of just the Zodiac you got 3 guys that are supposed to be better than him in some way, and Pariston is roughly as strong as rest of the Zodiac minus Gin put together, and of course in part 342 we have Gin talking about he's going to pwn Pariston with both hands behind his back, and this is a man who is said to be 'biggest mistake Issac Netero ever made'.
On a similar subject, I also have no idea why the Zodiac minus Gin and Pariston is fighting Beyond Netero, who is basically Issac Netero with an eternally young body and is roughly at least twice as strong as the strongest human that isn't part of the Netero family that ever lived. The Hunter's Association also went from the shadow UN to something like say... the NRA. They started out as an organization that launched a nuclear attack on the equivalent of North Korea because the UN didn't want to openly wage war, and now they're apparently some nobody that needs to lobby their way to keep favorable laws.
Other manga I'm following...
Seven Deadly Sins - AKA 7 Kenshins clownstomping opposition. Melodias fought the 3 strongest Holy Knight with one finger and he still hasn't used his seal's power or even got a weapon better than a regular knife (but it's at least an upgrade from fighting with only a hilt, because he's afraid of accidentally killing too many people otherwise). He also gave King Arthur a lesson on how to use a sword. I still don't see how there's any sense of tension in this story because the good guys are just way too powerful. Melodias can probably defeat the Holy Knights and whatever evil god they're attempting to resurrect by himself and he's got 6 guys who can put up a good fight against himself on the team too. I also think it's hilarious that the Holy Knights keep on say, "Nobody will ever trust The Seven Deadly Sins because of their name!" Well, I guess you probably shouldn't need an organization that fights for all that is good "The Bad Guys".
Chinese Hero 2014 - A perfect example of how piracy could be good, because nobody should ever spend money on this stuff. The hero of the story is Chinese Hero (that's his name, which isn't as crazy as it sounds due to how Chinese name works) who fights for all that is good. An American named Mr. Sage had a secret plot to destroy the Chinese because Mr. Sage fears that a group of fireball throwing martial artists will take over USA, so he combined the power of piracy with Facebook and created martial arts piracy, where you just download some martial arts software as long as Mr. Sage gives you a 'like' you become one of those fireball throwing dudes overnight. Mr. Sage's plan is that if everyone becomes a fireball throwing martial artist then they'll kill themselves. This actually worked pretty well, but Chinese Hero led the fight against the pirated martial artist guys and sent Mr. Sage back to USA packing.
I think it's actually okay if you have manga about how awesome your guys are. It's certainly no more nationalistic than Captain Tsubasa, but at least you should make it kind of interesting. And yes the point of the story is indeed that piracy is bad and you should go out and buy the real stuff.
Dragon of the East - A spinoff from a HK series where every major war in history can be explained as gangster fights. Dragon of the East, a major Korean gang leader, learned the ability to create a nuclear explosion with martial arts (Hiroshima was probably caused by a gang leader too in this world). Chinese and Japanese gang leaders team up to fight him in an epic battle and in the end Dragon of the East fell off a cliff that nobody could possibly survive (yeah right). A small time Asian gang turns out to be responsible for the confrontation and it's all a plot to get the big gangs to fight Dragon of the East and now they'll rule the world because they got err... guns... or something. Apparently it didn't occur to them what if any of the guys who fought Dragon of the East survived that fight, or what if Dragon of the East survived the fight, but don't worry, they got guns against a guy who can cause nuclear explosions. Most of the major gang leaders in this world would easily beat the average X-Men for example. The highlight of this series is always the 'don't worry guys, we got guns' guys trying to fight off guys who can level an entire city. Even though the story is way over the top, it's actually pretty well done for the most part, as long as you get past the fact that the Chinese gang leaders never die and are always the good guys, and the Japanese are always the bad guys. The Koreans hate everyone, and there's usually some kind of American plot behind everything too.
On a similar subject, I also have no idea why the Zodiac minus Gin and Pariston is fighting Beyond Netero, who is basically Issac Netero with an eternally young body and is roughly at least twice as strong as the strongest human that isn't part of the Netero family that ever lived. The Hunter's Association also went from the shadow UN to something like say... the NRA. They started out as an organization that launched a nuclear attack on the equivalent of North Korea because the UN didn't want to openly wage war, and now they're apparently some nobody that needs to lobby their way to keep favorable laws.
Other manga I'm following...
Seven Deadly Sins - AKA 7 Kenshins clownstomping opposition. Melodias fought the 3 strongest Holy Knight with one finger and he still hasn't used his seal's power or even got a weapon better than a regular knife (but it's at least an upgrade from fighting with only a hilt, because he's afraid of accidentally killing too many people otherwise). He also gave King Arthur a lesson on how to use a sword. I still don't see how there's any sense of tension in this story because the good guys are just way too powerful. Melodias can probably defeat the Holy Knights and whatever evil god they're attempting to resurrect by himself and he's got 6 guys who can put up a good fight against himself on the team too. I also think it's hilarious that the Holy Knights keep on say, "Nobody will ever trust The Seven Deadly Sins because of their name!" Well, I guess you probably shouldn't need an organization that fights for all that is good "The Bad Guys".
Chinese Hero 2014 - A perfect example of how piracy could be good, because nobody should ever spend money on this stuff. The hero of the story is Chinese Hero (that's his name, which isn't as crazy as it sounds due to how Chinese name works) who fights for all that is good. An American named Mr. Sage had a secret plot to destroy the Chinese because Mr. Sage fears that a group of fireball throwing martial artists will take over USA, so he combined the power of piracy with Facebook and created martial arts piracy, where you just download some martial arts software as long as Mr. Sage gives you a 'like' you become one of those fireball throwing dudes overnight. Mr. Sage's plan is that if everyone becomes a fireball throwing martial artist then they'll kill themselves. This actually worked pretty well, but Chinese Hero led the fight against the pirated martial artist guys and sent Mr. Sage back to USA packing.
I think it's actually okay if you have manga about how awesome your guys are. It's certainly no more nationalistic than Captain Tsubasa, but at least you should make it kind of interesting. And yes the point of the story is indeed that piracy is bad and you should go out and buy the real stuff.
Dragon of the East - A spinoff from a HK series where every major war in history can be explained as gangster fights. Dragon of the East, a major Korean gang leader, learned the ability to create a nuclear explosion with martial arts (Hiroshima was probably caused by a gang leader too in this world). Chinese and Japanese gang leaders team up to fight him in an epic battle and in the end Dragon of the East fell off a cliff that nobody could possibly survive (yeah right). A small time Asian gang turns out to be responsible for the confrontation and it's all a plot to get the big gangs to fight Dragon of the East and now they'll rule the world because they got err... guns... or something. Apparently it didn't occur to them what if any of the guys who fought Dragon of the East survived that fight, or what if Dragon of the East survived the fight, but don't worry, they got guns against a guy who can cause nuclear explosions. Most of the major gang leaders in this world would easily beat the average X-Men for example. The highlight of this series is always the 'don't worry guys, we got guns' guys trying to fight off guys who can level an entire city. Even though the story is way over the top, it's actually pretty well done for the most part, as long as you get past the fact that the Chinese gang leaders never die and are always the good guys, and the Japanese are always the bad guys. The Koreans hate everyone, and there's usually some kind of American plot behind everything too.
