Ciguatera

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This is the first review I am every righting and the reason being how disappointed I was, don’t get me wrong I LOVED this manga. The last chapter on the other hand was utter trash. The only reason I rated this a 8 is Because of the last chapter. Otherwise I would have put it at a 9 or 10. I really feels like the author just stopped caring.

The characters are amazing and the intricacies of the characters was amazing. The art-style may be bland at times but It has its own special touch to it that makes it really enjoyable . There may have ... been one or two chapter that I found not the best but I definitely recommend this manga.

Ciguatera is a very half-baked manga.

While reading the first "arc" I was pretty entertained. The aku no hana type weak main character that has niche interests gets himself tied up into some shit while also having a love interest. I thought from there on it would really just continue being an enjoyable slice of life type thing with the self-deprecating main character. Buttttttttt

The story began having these separate arcs with new characters and struggles. There is nothing wrong with this conceptually, but the writing was too mediocre to keep up with itself. The characters introduced would literally never be seen again most of the ... time after the arc finished in some mediocre way. One arc in particular has this random side character do something god awful to a main cast member, and afterward it is completely cast aside. You never see the guy again and the main characters to not touch on it remotely. Most characters will do some bat-shit idiotic stuff and literally never feel any repercussions for it.

It sucks because I think this manga had potential. I really liked the main character, his love interest, and the bully guy at first but the story dragged and just didn't use them well. If you want to read this manga because you thought sundome or aku no hana were amazing (because they are) you will be disappointed.

To give it a little bit of slack, it was kind of funny occasionally and the art was really good, reminded me of beck (except beck is really fucking good). Also the twist of the last chapter I actually kind of liked, but most of the comments on the manga disagreed.

I think this series is lost. At times it seems to be approaching a realistic look at fears and relationships of a growing teenager, but paired with every question posed is a mumbling answer that doesn't teach and really doesn't improve the story.

Ogino is undeniably weird and awkward, but his passion for motorcycles helped to redeem him. He had set goals and was willing to work hard to earn them. It convinced me that it would be worth watching him have a cathartic win over his bully because I felt like the author would have a commentary on ... his situation. I found his position in some ways to be relatable, which made me curious what his journey to escape it would be. But there weren't any. The author seems to have nothing to say. The bully was a far more complex and interesting character compared to Ogi because we see things move towards a logical progression for him. We see moments that develop him as a person.

Thematically it can't seem to figure out what it wants to do and so it stands still. I'm all for realistic outlooks in fiction. If you want to be satirical go for it. If escapism is your thing there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. This is what happens when you mix the 3 primary colors equally. It's listening to a stranger talk about how much they love their girlfriend and every so often mentioning that they were in a gang, or have a rich relative but moving on soon after to talk about their girlfriend more.

Were the author to remake the series, I'd suggest they say more with less. There were a lot of moments that felt like they were going places, and ended up being filler.