ONE PIECE
by Oda Eiichiro
Started in #34, 1997 (6 volumes available)

Overview: Refer to the review in this issue for details. In the current arc, he is trying to save the restaurant-ship Balatie from being taken over by a fleet led by Creek so he can ask them to be his cooks.
In this update: Gin stands with Zeff as his hostage, asking the restaurant crew to get off the boat. Sanji tells Gin to point the gun at him and not Zeff. Gin wonders why Sanji is putting so much into saving the restaurant; Sanji replies that Zeff treasures it. The cooks wonder what happened between Zeff and Sanji...
9 years ago. Sanji was assistant to the cooks on the restaurant ship Orbit. The Cook Pirate Fleet, led by Red-Footed Zeff, lands and loots the restaurant. Sanji stands against the fleet all by himself, but a wave sends him overboard. Zeff tries to save Sanji, but both ships get swallowed in another wave. Two days later, Sanji wakes up on a deserted island. Zeff tells Sanji there is enough food in the bag for 5 days, and that they shouldn't approach one another until one flags a ship. On the fifth day, a ship passes by, but Sanji's shouts can't be heard over the storm. Sanji runs out of food on the 25th day. Seventy days pass. Sanji peeks at the other side and sees Zeff's bag still full. When he opens the bag, he finds only treasure. Sanji realizes the pirate gave him all the food and ate his own leg to survive. Zeff says that if he gets off of this island alive, he will build a huge restaurant on the ocean. On the eighty-fifth day, the ship that passed by eighty days before came back....
Sanji says he has to pay Zeff back for sacrificing so much to let him live through those eighty-five days. Pearl attacks Sanji again, and puts the ship under fire. Another fight begins. Gin succeeds in cornering Sanji but realizes he can't kill the first person in his life that was nice to him. Creek replies that Gin is no longer a member of his fleet, so he must throw away his gas mask and die with the restaurant crew when he launches the MH5 (Creek's chemical warfare bomb). Gin throws away his mask, and Creek shoots the MH5. Ruffy manages to grab 2 masks from two pirates, and throws them towards Gin and Sanji. He looks around for a third mask; none are found... but luckily, he finds one on deck. When the poison dissipates, Ruffy realizes that the mask he found was the one he threw to Gin. Gin falls from the poison. Ruffy tells Gin to live it out until he defeats Creek. Creek asks who will die if Ruffy doesn't—as he lands his shield into Ruffy's body. Ruffy's reply is that Creek is the one on the way out, as he jumps past a cannon blast and lands a kick into Creek's face.

I"S
by Katsura Masakazu
Started in #19, 1997 (8 volumes available)

Overview: I"s is Katsura's latest manga. With Itsuki now gone, Ichitaka can focus on his pursuit of Iori more than ever. But neither Ichitaka or Iori can be honest to the other about their feelings, and when a fourth I, Izumi, enters the picture...
In this update: Izumi suggests everyone tell the truth, with rather mixed results and a lot of hurt feelings. Ichitaka is met by Izumi and a package of fireworks; she tells him that while she picked him as a summer fling, she was wanting something more. Ichitaka agrees to be Izumi's one-day boyfriend. Back at school: Ichitaka decides to be slightly more on the offensive. He asks Iori to help him look for study guides, and she accepts. During the shopping trip, he tells her that he wants to talk. She offers to talk over tea. In the tea shop, Ichitaka ponders asking her out—but overhears the girls behind him saying that today's horoscope for Libra (Ichitaka's sign) is the pits. As he fumbles for words, Ichitaka gets in a worse predicament as Iori grills him about what he saw in the bath, and how he was doing with Izumi. Ichitaka decides to tell Iori that he likes her, but gets interrupted when the girls behind him get noisy again—and then Iori gets a phone call. He turns around to tell the girls behind him to shut up, and finds that one of the girls is Izumi. Iori hurries out of the café when she sees Izumi.
The next day at school, Iori asks one of her friends what she should do, and she and is told to be more honest to her feelings. Meanwhile Izumi barges into Ichitaka's classroom to announce that she is trying to win Ichitaka's heart. Ichitaka pulls her aside and asks her what happened to her ex. She replies that the ex was an ex. He walks away in disgust, and bumps into Iori. While thinking of what to say, he sees a guy dragging Izumi away—and asks what he's doing. The guy says it's none of Ichitaka's business; but Iori chimes in that Ichitaka was Izumi's boyfriend. The guy, Kensuke, tells Izumi that he refuses to break up with her. Later, Iori tells Ichitaka she had thought that Kensuke would pull back if he heard Izumi had a new boyfriend.
Ichitaka gets a request from Izumi to swing by as they prepare for the school fair. He arrives at the scene just as Izumi was changing; to make matters worse Kensuke overhears Izumi saying it was nothing compared to what happened at the bath. While Ichitaka tries to explain that nothing happened, Izumi adds fuel to the fire by implying a deep relationship between her and Ichitaka. Izumi yells to Kensuke that she was hurt because it was okay for him to cheat but not her, because he gave his ring (which matched Izumi's) to a friend. Ichitaka says he understands how Izumi is feeling, but also understands how Kensuke feels.

RUROUNI KENSHIN
by Watsuki Nobuhiro
Started in #19, 1994 (23 volumes available)

Overview: Himura Kenshin is a swordsman with the dark past who fights with his reverse-blade sword against evil in the Meiji era. In the current story arc, Enishi (the brother of the late Tomoe) claims he will avenge his sister's death with Kenshin's head.
In this update: Kenshin doesn't show up for Kaoru's memorial services. A few days pass. Yahiko says he doesn't feel like Kaoru is really dead. And with Kenshin gone, Enishi and Gein on the loose, etc., Yahiko is angered at himself for sleeping through all of it. One of Sanosuke's guys comes back to report that he has found Kenshin in Rakuninmura (Group of Fallen Ones), a place full of outlaws. They find him sitting against a building with an empty look in his eyes and his sword chained shut. Sanosuke calls for vengeance but Kenshin replies that he no longer cares.
That night, as Yahiko stands at the bridge where he first met Kenshin and Kaoru, he bumps into Misao and Aoshi who were returning from Kyoto with Tomoe's diary. Misao tells him he must show Enishi the diary and make him regret everything he has done. The next morning, Sanosuke tells Yahiko to turn back and never return because seeing Kenshin was nothing but a waste of time. Yahiko replies that he will not let it end the way it did. Meanwhile, Aoshi asks Megumi to describe everything that happened. His reply to the story: "I don't buy it."
Back at Rakuninmura, Kenshin is trying to find the answer. He sees a vision of skulls and bones, with Shishio taunting him from hell. Misao arrives and tells Kenshin to stand to avenge Kaoru's death—but gets no response. Yahiko stops Misao and tells the zoned Kenshin that he was going to find Enishi and make him repent for killing Kaoru, but he doesn't know what he will do afterwards. He leaves after telling Kenshin that he will never come visit again because he will wait back at the dojo. The Old Geezer of Rakuninmura tells Kenshin that it is too early for him to spend the rest of his life in Rakuninmura. The kids arrive at the dojo as Megumi is yelling at Aoshi. Megumi is objecting, but Aoshi calmly tells the kids: "Tonight, I will unearth the grave of Kaoru Kamiya." The group obliges after hearing the possibility of a doll. Megumi still claims the corpse was human. Aoshi proves otherwise by stabing the body with his sword and pulling out a cord from inside the body.
Kaoru wakes up in a western-style mansion. She looks around to escape, but bumps into Enishi who tells her she has no way out. Kaoru asks why she wasn't killed, but gets no answer. Back at the dojo, Aoshi tells the group that they shouldn't tell Kenshin about Kaoru being alive, as the Battousai needed to find an answer within him to come back with any heart. They instead visit Saitou to ask Enishi's whereabouts. Saitou tells the group of Enishi's whereabouts on the conditions that the police doesn't have to look for Kaoru, and that the group doesn't hinder police work. At Enishi's mansion, his business partners arrive to finish their deal. Kaoru takes this opportunity to strike Enishi, but realizes Enishi was unable to kill her because he saw the image of the late Tomoe in her, and the image wasn't smiling. At the dojo, the Geezer visits the two kids and tells them that Kenshin still hasn't thrown away whatever he wants to forget Gein is back to claim his doll, when he is met by Aoshi.