Fun With Poo

Yes, dear reader, you did read that title correctly and fair warning, this post will likely be crude. If you think that this may offend you, then please don't read, as it could get a little gross. However, this whole thing is a bit of fun (with a serious point hidden away somewhere) and well, forgive me, but this was composed at 2am when it all seemed like such a brilliant idea.

It all stemmed from a conversation I had several months ago discussing shounen manga, specifically the big three (One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach). Then at one point I came up with an analogy to highlight how the three mangaka often appear to work... through poo. I suggested that if each of the trio were told to incorporate a turd into their work it could go as follows:

One Piece (Eiichiro Oda) - I could imagine the introduction of a character that had eaten the Poo Poo Devil Fruit, which gave the user the ability to turn his entire body to poo, and shoot small (but deadly) fecal projectiles from it's hands. Upon more thought I could also imagine a running gag of this guy slipping over when in turd-form since... well... it can be slippy. Naruto (Masashi Kishimoto) - I'd say that in a story that's generally more serious, this would likely be a little light relief, and would be a "gag jutsu", much like Naruto's Sexy Harem or the Thousand Years of Pain. The Poo-poo no Jutsu, a powerful technique that causes the unfortunate victim to develop sudden, volitile diarrhea. Bleach (Tite Kubo) - My thoughts on what Kubo would do with a turd, was quite simple. I suggested that he would simply dress the poo in sunglasses and make it look cool.

It may seem like a throwaway idea, but in essence it displays how I see the way that the three mangakas work. Oda's One Piece has much more of a humour content than the other two, thus I can imagine that if presented with a ridiculous inclusion like this, he could use it as a starting block for something bigger, maybe a mini arc or something. Oda can take the ridiculous and make it sublimely ridiculous. Kishimoto also has that sense of fun at times, but Naruto is a much more serious story. That said, he does manage to infuse moments of levity some of which that are crude and in your face, so the inclusion of something so gross could be done without affecting the gravity of the main plotline. Finally, when it comes to Kubo, while he does have some moments of decent storytelling, it always comes across to me that he's more concerned with the style of Bleach rather than its actual content. It seems, moreso than the other two series, that it wants to look cool. It has the cool character designs, the stylised fights, and while it contains some humour, it's not on the same, almost puerile level, of the other two. So while claiming that he'd simply have a turd in sunglasses may seem like a cop-out answer (and in truth I couldn't see him ACTUALLY doing that if presented with this challenge), it symbolises more the approach I believe he'd take. Somehow, he'd find a way to make a steaming lump of faeces look cool, which when you think about it, is quite an impressive talent.

On the Third Day of Christmas, My True Love Gave To Me...

Three Shounen Timeskips
Two Crazy Whores
And A Pair of Giant Matrix Boooooobiiiiiiieeeessss!

This year saw timeskips in three particular shounen series (Bleach, One Piece, and Fairy Tail) leap to the forefront of my mind - though two of them I first encountered in their respective manga at the back end of last year. In an odd sort of way the three kind of feel like some kind of arse-kicking Japanese version of the three ghosts from Dickens' A Christmas Carol - Naruto's timeskip is oooold news and just jangles around in the background like Jacob Marley.

Bleach: The Ghost of Christmas Past Interestingly enough, Bleach is the only one of the three whose timeskip I've not actually encountered this year. I read it in the manga at the end of last year and since I stalled on the anime, I've yet to see it there. In a sense that makes Bleach the most fitting to be my Ghost of Christmas Past, especially since the majority of my enjoyment of the series is well and truly in the past. Scrooge reliving the happiness and misery of his past sums up my relationship with Bleach. Everything was all fine and dandy at the end of the arc, so why, WHY did he have to do a timeskip and continue?! As much as I love Renji's smexy new hair-do, I still can't help but think, Bah Humbug, Ichigo. Bah Humbug.

One Piece: The Ghost of Christmas Present

Much like Bleach I read the timeskip in the manga last year, but I did encounter it in the anime this year. When I think of the Ghost of Christmas Present I think of a jolly, bearded man showing everyone having a warm and happy Christmas, and that's exactly how I feel about One Piece. Despite being over a year into the jump manga wise, it still feels present, like it's ongoing an not just a thing of the past. Oda has carefully held back on revealing every change all at once so that it's like we're still living the skip, still reeling from its impact and not just treating it as something that happened a while ago in the past.

Fairy Tail: The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come This year saw Fairy Tail become the latest of the big shounen series to throw in a time jump, and this series ends up as my Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I know I will have this to come in the anime soon enough and I've yet to experience that, but mainly, I look to the future with it, because I'm still unconvinced as to whether this skip is genius, or utter folly. It's an unknown quantity for me at the moment and I look to the future to see where Mashima takes this and just what I'll make of it.

Two Years Later...

Warning: As much as I'm trying to keep them vague it's not always possible, so this post contains some spoiler information for Naruto, One Piece, Bleach, Fairy Tail, Usagi Drop, and Death Note. Each manga will have its own paragraph so if you don't want to risk finding anything out that you don't know, then please (time)skip ahead to the following section.

Last week, within the space of twenty-four hours, I encountered time skips in two different and wholly unreleated manga. Plus, with the One Piece anime having recently reached its own temporal leap, it fels like the time skip is the order of the day. Certainly, when it comes to mainstream shounen manga in particular, it seems that jumping ahead several months or years is becoming the thing to do and it's certainly an effective hook. Time skips offer up the chance to completely revitalise a manga or change its dynamic often following a climactic event, and as such prove to be a turning point wherever they feature.

Back in 2005, Naruto started the recent trend with the two-year leap following the events of the Sasuke Retrieval Arc. Having come to a definite conclusion it offered up the perfect chance to power-up the protagonists with each member of Team Seven walking their own paths to train. Sasuke turned his back on Konoha in order to get into the metaphorical bed with Orochimaru, Sakura - fed up of being the useless one - begins her tutelage as a medical ninja under Tsunade and Naruto heads off on his journey with Jiraiya to become stronger than ever. The skip also marks a distinct change in focus. Whereas Orochimaru plays the role of lead antagonist in the first part, the two-year jump marks the switch to when the biggest thread to the ninja world is actually Akatsuki.

In the same year, another Shounen Jump hit also hopped on the time skip bandwagon. Death Note however opted for a six year differenceto mark the beginning of a new saga. With the manga focusing on the game of cat and mouse between L and Light, L's death comes as a climactic event that in no uncertain terms ends what the whole story has been about. The mangaka then take the opportunity to skip ahead to allow the next generation to come to light. Had Near (also known as L-clone) appeared immediately after his predecessor's demise, then all the spiel about how L was the only one capable of katching Kira would have been flushed down the toilet. Likewise, it allows for Light to become more even more confident and complacent. In not being an excuse for the protagonists to simply power up, Death Note's time skip shakes up the pace by similtaneously starting from the very beginning (L-clone's investigation) and continuing the second act (Kira/Light's reign of terror).

While the leap in Death Note proves interesting in it's own way, the "powering up" time skips are what it's all about for me and both the ones in Naruto and One Piece work in essentially the same way. In both series the main characters split off (though this happens forcibly in One Piece) and undergo their own training following a distinct loss (Sasuke's departure from Konoha and the events of the battle at Marineford). By the time that the characters return from their adventures, there's a definite sense of excitement and anticipation. What will they look like now they're two years older? What new moves will they have? How much stronger are they? If done well, the events immediately after a time skip can keep you on the edge of your seat. One of the best examples of this is One Piece where Eiichiro Oda has not only timed the timeskip perfectly but also plays out the beginning of its second act with pacing so spot on that it keeps you hooked.

The two-year leap in One Piece came at the ideal time. The Straw Hats had made it half way along the Grand Line and were about to enter the New World, a sea so full of peril that it supposedly makes their adventures thus far seem like playtime. Additionally, following the Whitebeard War, a distinct singular villain has emerged, which all means that the dynamic of the plotline could shift. As for the anticipation value following the skip, that Eiichiro Oda had split up the Straw Hats some considerable time before, he now hits us with a double whammy of excitement: the gang finally reuniting plus the results of their training. Also throughout the course of the fishman island arc, Oda has only gradually revealed just how powerful the crew have become and with each teensy glimpse of Usopp's toned awesomeness or Zoro's even more deadly slashes you can't help but marvel. While Naruto brought out most of the hero's new awesomeness in one Orochimaru-targetted attack in the arc following the skip, One Piece spreads it out creating several smaller awe-inspiring moments as opposed to that one jaw-droppingly epic scene.

It was only last year that One Piece skipped ahead, but hot on its heels was Bleach with it's very own leap. Unfortunately, while placed after a climactic battle and Ichigo's subsequent power loss, this time skip is the most underwhelming of the big three by quite some margin. While it has allowed eighteen months for Orihime, Chad, and Ishida to power up, this becomes slightly meaningless as Bleach always has (and seems that it always will) focus on Ichigo's ridiculously strong abilities and the constant power-ups that Kubo seems to yank out of his arse every so often. Instead, it seems that the main funtion of this skip is to make it so that Ichigo doesn't lose his powers only to suddenly regain them immediately after. It also doesn't help that the end of the arrancar saga had a very definite conclusion and the manga felt like it could have ended right there and then and everyone could go home relatively happily. So whereas the likes of Naruto and Death Note promise more and feel unfinished, making their skips more exicting, Bleach's seems to lack purpose by comparison, other than to drag out a series that probably should have been laid to rest with Ichigo's shinigami abilities.

The most recent time skip in a shounen manga - only a couple of weeks ago - is that of Fairy Tail which, following a pretty horrific event that devastates the main cast, jumps ahead seven years. Now with such an epic skip, you would be expecting something great, unfortunately I'm yet to be convinced that this was a sensible move for Mashima. With the Edolas arc and the following Tenrou Island plotline, Mashima had really found his stride and various plotlines were all weaving together. Now, with the timeskip, he's lost all that momentum and frankly, with the latest installment (chapter 255) I'm getting concerned as to how this will all turn out. This week's chapter felt rushed. Everything happens at one hundred miles an hour to the point where it feels like Mashima just wants to get this little bit of explanation out of the way and done with. At the moment it doesn't fill me with hope, but I won't write it off just yet as this is a bit of a timeskip with a difference, and the dynamic between the drastically altered and the unchanging could prove interesting.

Of course time skips aren't just limited to shounen, and one in particular that I'd like to mention is the one in Usagi Drop. This series is a perfect example of how a time skip can completely change a story. The first four volumes of Usagi Drop place strict focus on Daikichi learning how to take care of Rin. It's about his growth as an adult, his development as a parent and the dynamic between an awkward single thirty-year-old and an innocent six-year-old girl. Then suddenly, at the beginning of volume five, everything changes. Without really reaching a definitive moment beforehand, the manga jumps ahead ten years. Now, instead of being a story about a man coming to terms with sudden parenthood, the focus shifts to become more about the romantic entanglements of a teenage Rin. Now a decade-long skip would be pretty epic in most places, but in a story centring on a child it changes it 100%. Imagine if Yotsuba&! did that? Instead of being a manga about a naive and exciteable girl exploring the world, it became a tale about a hormonal teenager trying to date the school hottie. It seems wrong, right? Certainly, I enjoyed the Usagi Drop manga much less after the time skip, since it wasn't the story I'd fallen in love with - that and I still can't help but feel that the final direction it went in was just plain wrong.

Time skips can be the making or breaking of a manga and it all depends on several factors:

• Is the time skip necessary/does it come at the right time.
• How the mangaka handles events following the timeskip.
• Personal preference.

While points one and two are integral, for me it's the third one that will ultimately decide whether the skip has been successful or not. I have not been enamoured with the jump in Bleach but I don't doubt that there are people out there who love it as much as I love the skips in One Piece and Naruto. Similarly, because I personally dislike the direction Usagi Drop takes after the jump, I find myself disappointed by the manga. What I'm going to find most interesting however is seeing how the Fairy Tail skip pans out since I have yet to grasp whether it's awesome or awful and at the moment my stance changes from week to week. But despite everything, I still love a good time skip, as even if there have been times where I've been disappointed, sometimes it's good to shake things up a bit.

An Ode to Oda

Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for both the One Piece anime and manga.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who has seen me around the internet, that I have an unending adoration for One Piece. In truth I was somewhat late to the Straw Hat party, only starting the anime at the beginning of 2009 - nearly ten years into the anime's run and a good THIRTEEN after the manga originally started. Having denied myself the pleasure of Luffy and the crew for several years beforehand due to the crazy episode count, I finally gave in and ended up marathoning all that was available in the space of about two or three months. Night after night I immersed myself in the world of the Grand Line, laughing, cheering and crying my eyes out along the way. And when I ran out of episodes, I devoured the movies, specials and ultimately the manga. But why is it that I love this franchise so much, or more importantly, why have I continued to love it so much even two and a half years later? If I were to pin it down to one specific reason it would be this: Eiichiro Oda knows what he's doing.

It may sound like a fairly obvious observation given that he's a professional mangaka with a highly successful and long-running series in Shounen Jump, but being successful and knowing exactly what you're doing don't necessarily go hand in hand. Looking at how the story is progressing, it's clear to see that Oda has a solid idea of where he's heading. He knows in which direction he wants to go and sets his plans in motion early on, scattering odd parts through the crew's early adventures that will become useful as time goes on. For example, the Little Garden plotline may have seemed like a fluffy or almost throwaway arc used only to showcase the extremes of the Grand Line. However, the crew's encounter with the two giants, Dorry and Broggy, becomes essential in the later Enies Lobby arc and greatly contributes to their success. Had they continued their massacre of the show, quite how the infamous 4-Kids dub would have explained those events away after cutting the entire Little Garden arc, I do not know.

This definite sense of direction does Oda much credit, especially since this isn't a trait that seems to be shared by all of his peers. Oda's careful planning is in stark contrast to Tite Kubo, whose manga, Bleach, completely lacks that sense of purpose. Before the end of the arrancar saga, there appeared to be some idea of where it was all going, but considering that the Hueco Mundo arc felt like little more than a rehash of the Soul Society plotline with added arrancar, it still felt a bit haphazard. Likewise, Kubo has openly admitted that when he runs out of ideas, he adds a new character. Again this goes against Oda's style of work, where he adds characters when the story requires it and fully fleshes them out instead of tossing them aside when their shock value or interest factor has worn off. As such, One Piece proudly boasts one of the fullest casts of any shounen series and that characterisation ability makes the already impressive narrative all the more so.

Aside from the sense of direction that Oda's work exudes, the veteran mangaka knows how to construct a story and make it appeal to the masses. For each individual arc he gives enough background information to fully set the scene, which helps to make the following battles all the more epic and shocking. Meanwhile he withholds key information to be revealed at a later moment for maximum shock value. For me, this is most deftly demonstrated in the Water 7/Enies Lobby saga (there WILL be massive spoilers from this point on, so if you haven't seen/read this arc please skip the next paragraph).

Without a doubt, Water 7 and Enies Lobby is, in my mind, when One Piece gets truly epic and that's entirely down to Oda's ability to plan out his story and visualise every aspect of this world. He starts by introducing you to the island of Water 7, an impressive city built on two levels and completely at the mercy of the weather. He introduces you to the Galley-La company of shipwrights and begins on one of saga's mini-arcs - that of the Going Merry's fate. Oda makes you engage with the new characters and helps to immerse you in the culture of the island, and then it all goes tits up. Oda then proceeds to throw multiple challenges in the faces of the Straw Hats to really test them. The loss of Usopp, the approaching, devastating storm, the emergence of a special government assassin group known as CP9 attempting to kill Iceburg and seemingly "recruiting" Robin, and the Straw Hats getting blamed for the attempt on Iceburg's life. Then with the knowledge that Robin in fact hasn't betrayed them, but is sacrificing herself for the safety of her crewmates, the stage is fully set for the epic fighting on Enies Lobby as Luffy et al take on the World Government itself. But even when the battle section of the saga commences, Oda still has the odd trick up his sleeve, rewarding the audience by finally revealing Robin's past, giving the cowardly Usopp some balls as the confident Sogeking, and making links with the previous Little Garden arc thus proving that their past actions have meaning and can affect their future. By doing this and still creating some of the most heart-stopping battles of the manga (the Luffy vs Lucci fight is pretty damn awesome), Oda makes his story wholly engaging. I remember when I watched this saga, I cried buckets at Luffy and Usopp's fight, felt heartbroken at Kaku's betrayal, sat on the edge of my seat at the crew battled CP-9 and laughed my arse off at Franky's "recruitment" into the Straw Hats. I couldn't wait for the next episode and watched one after the other, annoyed that I had to sleep because it meant I couldn't continue watching. And when I got to this story in the manga, I was just as excited if not moreso.

What also really makes the Water 7/Enies Lobby saga is the characterisation, another aspect where Oda excels. The mangaka fully explores his cast with each of the central players having their own pasts. Admittedly backstory isn't a new thing in shounen manga, but what Oda does that not so many others do, is he focuses on the crew's growth equally. Each character goes through their own journey and they're just as important as Luffy's since while the young captain will still be the saviour of the day, the story isn't all about him. While Bleach tends to leave its supporting mains slightly more in the background while focusing on the main hero, One Piece and to a slightly lesser extent, Naruto, plays out more as an ensemble show. In Bleach, the likes of Orihime, Chad and Ishida hide in the shadows and return powered up. Naruto fares much better, with Kishimoto showing the likes of Sakura's determination to not be left behind, Lee's incessant drive to become powerful despite his complete lack of ninjutsu skills, and Shikamaru's transition from lazy genius boy to a dependable and invaluble strategist. However, only in One Piece is the balance of power more evenly spread. While the Konoha ninjas may be strong in their own right, they still have a habit of relying on Naruto to save the day. In contrast, while some of the "weaker" Straw Hats have a tendancy to rely on others to help them, it's not purely Luffy they depend on, it's also Zoro, Sanji, Robin, Franky and Brook. But even then, each and every member of the crew is intent on becoming stronger so they can support Luffy (this is possibly also due to their own desires to achieve their dreams) as opposed to simply hoping that he'll save the day. That Oda allows more than one single hero to shine in the spotlight makes the story all the more interesting as there are infinite opportunities for growth.

As you can probably tell by now, Eiichiro Oda is the one of the mangaka I most admire. His vivid imagination allows him to create fully fleshed out and epic stories that will make you laugh, cry and cheer and you watch or read your way through them. He has managed to keep up the quality for well over a decade now, and as teh story progresses it just keeps getting better and better. Certainly the new Fishman Island arc complete with powered-up Straw Hats has me craving each new chapter, and I cannot wait to learn more about their two-years training and just what Oda has in store for us in the New World.

Shounen Filler: One Piece

Having already looked at both Naruto and Bleach, the next post in my mini-series on shounen filler will be focusing on the final of Jump's "Big Three": One Piece. In stark contrast to it's brethren, One Piece's primary method of padding it's anime out isn't to rely one anime-only arcs - though it does use them, but more on that later - but instead it extends upon the original content. For instance, some final battles can end up being longer than need be, while others that are semi glossed-over in the manga receive more of the spotlight. When you're marathoning it and get caught up in the action, this doesn't prove to be too noticeable, although, week-by-week is a different story.

What is, however, more glaringly obvious is when the anime drags out certain activities that DON'T have that engaging wow factor that keeps you glued to the screen until you completely lose all feeling in your butt cheeks. In particular there are two noticeably painful filler parts that feel far too drawn out for their own good and they occur in the Arabasta and Foxy arcs.

1. Arabasta: So you have a group of pirates who have set sail to an island with a desert-like climate, which they have to traverse in order to further the plot. What better way to pad out the story than to have seemingly endless episodes of the gang trudging through the sand and meeting with its various inhabitants. Unfortunately, extending the crew's experience in the harsh desert terrain ended up somewhat dull. So, while in truth there were only about six or seven of these episodes, it felt like so much more, and what is simply a means to an end in the manga, becomes a mini saga in the anime. Shame as the Arabasta narrative is otherwise pretty damn good!

Are we there yet? No? Bugger.

I'm 99.9% sure that Foxy used his "Slow Slow" Devil Fruit powers to drag out his arc.

2. Foxy: I'm not going to lie, the Davy Back Fight is One Piece's weakest arc by quite some margin. With a contemptible antagonist that you just want to punch for being so annoying and a somewhat weak (at least by Oda's standards) contest premise, I generally found myself willing the storyline to end. The entire plot felt like filler before any padding were even added, so imagine my dismay when I discovered that the anime had actually dragged this story out by adding in a whole second game. In the manga there is one single game of the Davy Back Fight consisting of three rounds. In the anime there are TWO three-round matches. Please, just kill me now. Or better yet, do away with Foxy!

On a more positive note, some of this canon material extension actually works to the show's advantage. For instance in the recent episodes, a reasonable amount of airtime has been given to the individual antics of Luffy's crew following their separation. In the manga this material takes the form of title page illustrations and the occasional mention in the main chapters. Fleshing out these little snippets proves rather satisfying as we get to learn more of the other's escapades, and their experiences (which become pivotal in their development) have a more solid grounding that the viewers can relate to.

Outside of any plot-stretching, One Piece does occasionally throw in the odd short filler arc, normally only lasting around five episodes. Like most anime-only fluff, they may not be the greatest tales, but in the case of One Piece these short interludes actually provide a nice change of pace, especially when they follow a particularly long arc. For example, while not a masterclass in storytelling, the escapades on Marine Base G-8 proved a light-hearted and entertaining diversion after the epic battle on Skypeia. Adding to this "cool down" effect, the series often throws in odd standalone episodes such as in the post Enies Lobby episodes where we witness the antics of the crew before they leave Water 7 and head off on their next adventure. Much like in Naruto and Bleach many of these odd episodes are somewhat throwaway and not always to the high standard you're used to. While Zoro babysitting for a bunch of young kids and Sanji having a cook-off with an old drunken chef may be amusing in themselves, they hardly leave much of a lasting impression and to be honest if they weren't there, I really wouldn't miss them.

Of course other anime-only arcs don't fare so well. In particular the short storyline relating to the release of the Strong World  movie didn't exactly bowl me over, especially since the series "did a Bleach" and dumped this fluff slap bang in the middle of the awesome Impel Down arc. Even though it only lasted for four episodes, sombrero-clad pirates are a poor substitute for an engaging and quirky prison break with twists and turns aplenty. Likewise, during the Enies Lobby arc, the series wastes several episodes on semi-pointless and wholle irritating recaps (yes, plural) as well as the inclusion of several "Oyabin Luffy" specials. While the original TV special was entertaining as a one-off these subsequent additions wore thin exceptionally quickly. When it comes to any filler arcs though, no matter how entertaining a diversion they tend to be, by sheer nature of being placed after the climax of an impressive and engaging plotline, they're all going to seem somewhat tame, or even just plain crap by comparison.

You mean I have to do three more episodes of this crap?

Certainly, while by no means perfect in execution, out of the big three shounen fanchises, One Piece deals with filler much more capably than either Bleach or Naruto. Building on existing material, the series lays extra groundwork for its already impressive plots that mostly - but not always - enhance the tale. By doing this they then generally leave any side stories for specials and movies where they belong and let the main narrative speak for itself.

Hiro Mashima: A Cross Between Oda and Kubo?

This evening I was having a conversation with Patches comparing various shounen manga and we got onto the subject of Hiro Mashima, the mangaka of Fairy Tail. This led to an interesting discussion about how we feel Mashima is somewhat of a cross between Eiichiro Oda (One Piece) and Tite Kubo (Bleach) in terms of both art and storytelling.

Much like Kubo, Mashima's narratives are thinner than some of its shounen brethren, but focuses more on getting to the nitty gritty fighting. Since most of Fairy Tail's arcs are shorter than those of say, One Piece or Naruto, it's not too surprising that the storyline isn't as epic as the two aforementioned series. Don't get me wrong, both Kubo and Mashima build their stories fairly well, but they don't weave such intricate plotlines that really pull you in and give the final clashes that massive, shounentastic impact. While his method of storytelling appears to be more Kubo-like, Mashima adopts several Oda-like qualities to make his plotlines more entertaining. The main similarity between the two is the comedy element. Both Fairy Tail and One Piece share a very similar style of humour, with wacky and almost silly humour that can at times border on the slapstick. Likewise, Patches makes a good point when he says that while the battles share a similar level of importance to Kubo's works, the Fairy Tail wizards have such varied and distinctly recognisable abilities that they are much closer to the various Devil Fruit powers in One Piece than the Zanpakutou in Bleach.

The similarities however do not stop at the story. When it comes to artwork, there's no doubt that Mashima's visual language is more akin to that of Oda's One Piece, especially when it comes to some of the wackier character designs (think Wally and Hot Eye). On the flip side, Mashima's art is very bold and the dynamic battles throughout have slightly more of a Bleach vibe to them - though with more comprehensive imagery and fewer action lines of doom, Mashima's fights are generally easier to follow than Kubo's.

Maybe it's unfair tolook at a single mangaka's work and inherently compare him to others, but when you've read and seen a certain amount of work, it's hard to stop yourself. Likewise, all artists and authors will take inspiration from existing works that they admire to the point where noted similarities can be spotted (the resemblance between Fairy Tail's Kageyama and Naruto's Shikamaru both physically and in their abilities still amazes me to this day). Mashima certainly seems to have taken on board a lot of Oda's strong points such as the comedy and visuals as well as Kubo's dynamic battles. Sadly, he also seems to have gravitated towards less-developed plotlines in the same way that Kubo has, though thankfully by going for shorter arcs, he manages to avoid the pitfall of boring the audience with a string of battles centring around one simple and underdeveloped plotpoint. Let's hope he just doesn't pick up any of Kubo's other bad habits...