Ranked #380

Psyren (Manga)

Psyren - one of the best shounens.
Story: It is all about Ageha in the beginning. Typical shounen lead character. Loves to fight, strong and with big heart. Taking request from his fellow classmates that varies from "trashing" to "find my cat". All for 10,000 yen. Almost like a commercial. Almost like Yagami Light he thinks that the world is dieing and that the future is if not black, very, very dark. Then the "damsel in distress" appears. She is cold, almost (very) scary and is a friend to the hero. He accidentally finds a card with "Psyren" sign. And the girl disappears after a while. Well she does comes back, but injured and despaired. So he starts investigating "Psyren". One evening he hears a phone and answers it. He is interviewed about his opinion for the world, mankind and everything else. The last question is, if he wants to change the future by traveling to "Psyren". He refuses, but after all gets a "psyren call card". Almost personally handed to him by Nemesis Q. And there starts the adventure - traveling to the future, psy-powers cool art and character development.

Characters: Almost all of them are cliche shounen heroes. But not the typical cliche. Amamiya is like...tsundere/yandere, but without the gentle part. She is either cold and cool or crazy. Ageha is not so dumb as Naruto to begin with. Hiryuu Asaga isn't just a sidekick - he has very important role in the party. He is keeping the balance between the weird personalities of the other ones. And is like a tank. A dragon tank. Matsuri sensei is just as weird as it can - a star, but with some very bad habits and power. And rides a motorbike! Mochizuki Oboro is the playboy-bored-of-the-world-with-hidden-sadistic-side guy. Film star almost all girls are his fans. Including Ageha's sister. The most important thing is that as the power of the characters grow, so do their mental development. They grow more mature/cocky/greedy/etc.

Similar - well, you know, GANTZ. And I like both of them.
I think that Psyren has something more. Well being shounen limits the pure violence, blood, gore, nudity, sex and etc., but Psyren has the almost unlimited psy-fi fantasy setting. So if the mangaka has a good imagination (it appears that he has) it can be very interesting after the first year.

As and end to this review (not very good I think) is

READ THIS MANGA! Far better than the other trash that comes out regularly. read more

Edited.

After finishing this review, I realized I compared Psyren to Gantz a lot. Sorry 'bout that.

Story: Psyren's story isn't exactly the most original of sorts. I'm sure that if you've read Gantz, you wouldn't like Psyren (unless you prefer Shounen over Seinen). Psyren is about your typical, cocky, rebel, Yoshina, who wants to change the world. Rumors start going around about this weird world called Psyren, and people start disappearing if they find the Psyren calling card. As you might have guessed, Yoshina gets a Psyren card and gets transported to Psyren, a world in which they have to fight monsters to survive. After overcoming whatever obstacle awaits inside Psyren, they have to place their Psyren card inside a phone booth to get themselves transported to their own world. Like Gantz, they can be free from going back between worlds if they use up all of their points on their calling card (they get points for successfully completing a level/mission/whatever you wanna call it). It is so similar to Gantz that it is almost scary. Like in Gantz where they get a super-suit when they get transported to the new world, in Psyren they get a power called Psi. Aforementioned, the story isn't the most original one, but it can still be interesting enough to hold the reader's attention. Also, it is a weekly release so if you enjoy it, you won't have to wait so long for new chapters.

Art: The art isn't bad. Sometimes it can be a bit confusing as to what is going on, but it is pretty much straightforward like most Shounen manga. (or at least most that I've read)

Character: Development isn't that great. We do get a brief background on some characters, but not in-depth descriptions. There will most likely be more background stuff later on (hopefully). The characters can be like able as well. You've got the average main group...2 guys and a girl...the cocky, "I can't lose" guy, the smart and strong girl, and the strong, but softy guy.

Enjoyment: Well, my enjoyment for this manga is pretty good. Sometimes it can be a bit slow, but at other times it is quite an enjoyable manga to read. Overall, Psyren may look like a Shounen remake of the Seinen manga Gantz, but it is still a decent manga that is worth giving a shot.
read more