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Utter garbage.


The background is Hiroyuki, a high schooler whos just started living alone, finds Milky Way, a demon, inside his house. She asks him to become his servant and, out of a desire to not be lonely he agrees. This should be the start of an interesting plot that explores the unique servant-master relation between Hiroyuki and Milky. Instead, this relation is forgotten within two chapters and only brought back as a convenient plot point. Although, calling anything in this story as "plot" is being generous.


Plot is non-existent. No character develops in way way throughout the manga. There is no underlying problem throughout the series. ... Even the romance and harem aspect is only teased as a problem until the last five or so chapters. Each chapter of slice-of-life develops little off the previous chapter. Any time the story looks like it picks up on plot, the next chapter will ruin that tempo.


Every character is either unlikeable or boring. Hiroyuki is an ass. Milky Way has no personality. Makoto is annoying and forgotten halfway through the story. And so on, there is no character one can genuinely like and root for.


The art is appaling. Few pages have background. Character expressions do not match their faces. Half the time, the emotions shown by characters and their dialogue do not match. This feels like a draft piece rather than a good copy.


The only thing this manga has is that the ending is half-decent. This series is not worth the readers time; it certainly wasn't worth mine.


2/10.

Suashi no Meteorite begins as an action comedy, but evolves into a nice small text of philosophy.


The manga sees Ariyuki, an average high schooler, get blessed with Darumiru, supposedly God. Over the course of tha manga, the two explore Ariyuki's wishes and meet others while battling an entity, The "Star Eater" that seems to go after God.


Character development is good. Ariyuki improves himself as the story progresses, with hints of the climax beforehand. Darumiru becomes a cute character as the series progresses. By the end of the manga, every character has become a better person. The weakness is a lack of background development for Ariyuki. ... While his life is implied to be better by the manga's end, its never shown why his life before was particularly bad. 


Romance in Suashi no Meteorite is small. It is not a plot driver of the story. The romance by the end is good, if never explored in depth. 


Where Suashi no Meteorite excels is its philosophy. It argues that only when one confronts their inner demons can they truly succeed in life. The manga contrasts this with a life of hedonism or a life of pain. Darumiru, as a God, grants many wishes to Ariyuki. However, all these wishes are empty in that they distract him from his inner demons. Despite being able to wish for anything, he remains bound by his inner demons to sorrow and unhappiness beneath his outward appearance. Likewise, the antagonist of this series, the Star Eater, goes the other extreme. It offers a life of constant wallowing and misery in one's inner demons, using their continued existence as an excuse to free oneself from responsibilities for those around us. God and The Star Eater are two sides of the same coin. Only by confronting one's inner demons by accepting them as a part of one's identity can one truly find a happiness God could never grant. 


This thesis is supported by the story arc of every character. Those characters which rely solely on God, such as Kamikura, are never able to overcome their deep insecurities, holding them back as people. Those which turn towards the Star Eater, such as The Doctor, also don't solve their insecurities. Only characters like Saika, which confront their inner demons, are able to find happiness. By the story's end, each character has not only improved themselves but also the lives of others around them, making for closer friendships in the process. 


As a thesis, this may seem obvious. However, its not when applied to the real world, where life may find ways to mask this thesis. Through the multiple examples of average teenagers presented in this manga, identifying problems this thesis can help solve becomes easier. Likewise, the manga also shows how people can still live normal lives even with inner demons inside them. It argues that life can be more than just normal. 


This, along with a very personal connection I have with the theme, makes it a personal favorite. It is a must-read for anyone who feels as if they keep running and running from a serious problem or fear.


8/10.

Watashi no Messiah-sama is a grand fantasy (isekai even) story based on melodrama between friends. Like Minazuki Suu's other works, it follows an average schoolboy (Yumiki Shinya) getting caught up in a world of angels and intrigue.


Th story's main theme is betrayal, with the main plot points being moved by one form of betrayal or another. It ultimately argues against using betrayal as an excuse to commit evil acts. Each character motivated out of revenge for betrayals ultimately suffers dearly in the from of insecurity or lost friendships. Rather, the characters who do not fall for the allure of revenge when betrayed are the ones ... who find happiness and belonging by the story's end.


The manga is harem, but its obvious who wins from the start. The harem members retain personalities independent of Shinya, so the reader doesn't feel sorry for them when they lose. Mostly.


This manga is weakest in its art. The cast, in particular the male cast, look too similar to echother. This leads to an inability to follow the individual arcs of the main cast, in particular during the middle and end where the story becomes grand fantasy. Its also weak in its fight scenes, where protagonist's mostly win through the power of love and justice rather than gritted training. At one point, this gets tiring. 


Messiah-sama is a grand fantasy melodrama that works best with its message. It is weakest with artwork and action. White not great, it nonetheless works well to invest its readers into its story.


7/10.

Lady luck deals a bad hand!


The story sees fourteen year old ametur doctor Professor (Nat Vittleman) and Maggie, a reanimated zombie known as a "zomviguarna" explore a post-apocalyptic and wild-west style world to stop zombie outbreaks and find out Maggie's past. Over the way, they get into fun hijinks and meet other zombiguarna as they approach the truth about Maggie.


The manga's artwork is fantastic. Each character has plenty of details that immediately make then distinct from each other, like Maggie's eyepatch and nail in her head or Nat's backpack. These details are a complete eyetreat that, more than any other fantasy manga, build a world ... totally different from our own. The combination of wild-west themes and mediaeval are both fantastic to immerse oneself in and for getting lost in this beauty of a world.


The characters are very good. Each one feels developed with backgrounds and motivators that explain how they act in given situations. This leads to most characters garnering sympathy from the audience, such as the main antagonist. The first volume invokes much trauma in the characters, too early in the story as a reader needs more time to become emotionally attached to the characters. However, the next two volumes flesh out each character enough to make the emotional baggage feel deserved. 


This manga's biggest issue was a rushed ending. Most of the issues from the previous chapters were piled on to the last couple of chapters. This is a shame, as many of these plot points deserved complete chapters rather than be crammed with eachother. The first two volumes were clearly building up for more, so an ax was likely the cause of this rushed ending. Even so, the ending still worked fine and, on the absolute, was still better than other manga of the fantasy genre.


The manga's short run was a genuine shame. Its worldbuilding made for a great experience and almost a longing to be transported into the world and experience its details in full. The characters were written well. A rushed ending unfortunately prevents this from being a great series, even if the mangaka was likely not at fault for this. Regardless, Zomviguarna is a must-read of the fantasy genre.


8/10.

The start of the manga feels great. First year student Teiichi discovers he can see Yukko, a ghost who immediately falls for him. From here he founds a paranormal investigation club to unravel Yukko's past.

The first ten or so chapters work great, but the manga takes a nosedive for the next 20 or so as the characters explore paranormal sightings throughout the school. Each chapter becomes a slog to get through, focusing on fleeting characters that contribute little to the chemistry between Yukko and Teiichi. These stories do ultimately contribute to the climax, but drag on for far longer than needed. The intention appears to ... be suspense around the intrigue of each story, but they are too boring to be of much interest.

More on the romance, there's little in the way of devleopment. Its obvious their love is mutual. Despite that they never move on from the teasing comedy for most of the story. Reading for the romance is, as such, a waste of time.

The story's positives are a strong introduction and ending. After the bland middle chapters, the final arcs bring back the suspense and excitement the first chapters brought, giving a satisfying conclusion. Along with this, the artwork on this is really good. The faces are expressive and pleasant to look at, in particular side shots. Shots of dark areas give off unease and anxiety which contribute to the story. These positives save the manga.

While the story's art, starting and ending chapters are great, the repetitive and dull middle chapters are simply too damning.

6/10.

Kimito, a commoner, is kidnapped by the Japanese nobility to be a "shoumin sample," or commoner sample for a school of the children of the nobility, taught in a school cut off from the outside world. The only blessing problem is that it's an all-girls school. 


The story works the best with character development amongst its harem cast. Aiko and Karen become more confident as the story goes on through their arcs, a treat to see. Seeing these rich ladies be near-humilated by Kimito's basic knowledge of the commoner's world gives an almost revolutionary feeling, seeing the nobility's social standing gives them unimaginable wealth the masses can never ... achieve. These chapters are quite funny, in particular the various fads introduced by Kimito on accident. 


Romance development is weak. Despite the many girls circling around Kimiko, their love for him feels more out of the curiosity of commoner's culture rather than genuine romance. Only two characters have what one can call genuine love for Kimiko, even if the other characters superficially love him. Of these two its made obvious who will win. This conclusion is not a problem given the shallow love most other characters have for Kimito, but it is very predictable. 


Regardless of the romance problems, the harem and comedy more than make up. Its not a great series, in particular with a lackluster ending, but remains good in its own right.


7/10.

Cute, but devoid of any real tension better romcom's have.

The story has Mahiro, a high school student, in love with Ichijou, a popular and virtuous classmate. Mahiro finds out she's actually a vamipre, then spends the semester getting to know her better and develop romance along the way.

The story is frankly lame. There is little tension. Mahiro nor Ichijou ever find themselves in any real danger. Any dramatic moments in the story get mulled within ten pages. This is an underuse of the supernatural aspect of falling for a vampire. More on that, the vampire aspect of the story quickly wears off to the point ... the resder completely forgot Ichijou was a vampire. The only time one will remember she's a vampire is when her fangs are shown in a panel. Otherwise she feels like a regular girl, generic even. Lastly the story treats the characters like they're much more than what the story has shown us. At multiple points Ichirou or Mahiro will state how countless times the other helped them, saved them, or something of the like. However, we only get a couple of story arcs where these referenced incidents actually occur. It feels the mangaka wants the reader to build extensive backgrounds for these characters rather than do it himself. This comes off as lazy writing.

The story does have some redeemers though. Mahiro is decisive enough to somewhat avoid the "kind guy" MC so many other romcoms fall for. He does go through some development so that by the end he is more confident of himself. This is particularly felt in the last chapters. The close ups of Ichijou in her bloodlust state are a treat and give her some punch that is devoid in her normal state. These positives allow some enjoyment from the story.

While the positives exist, they are outweighed by the nagatives. This manga was obviously axed based on the ending feeling very rushed. The ax was necessary here, as it didn't seem the story was going anywhere otherwise. This leaves for a bland romcom that is helped by being short. Reading it should take an hour or so. I have no strong opinions on whether it should be read or not.

5/10.

Read for the monster (mermaids with monster forms) girls and art. The art was some of the best I've seen in a story, each character being a different sea creature allowed them to be immediately recognizable. The sceneries in the undersea city, the classroooms being bubbles in an etherial sea, the curved bookshelves of the school library as books stretched into the sky, it was all magic. The multiple night sky scenes, both above and under water, are an absolute treasure. This is a series that can be read just for the art alone while disregarding the story. Because damn was the story disappointment.

This is ... a harem series, but its clear who will win from the start. In the first place most of the sea creatures didn't see Minato as a love interest but rather as a tool to get up to the surface. Its made more saddening when Minato cooks surface foods for his classmates and speaks so grand about the surface world when its know they won't actually be able to visit it.

In that regard such an interpretation may be wrong, as the primo's plan seems to be a eugenics project to allow all mermaids, not just the primo, to go up to the surface. This interpretation is optimistic, but gives most of the losing girls a chance to enjoy the surface. And the chance for other humans to date cute mermaids.

These weak points in the story are saved by the artwork, this being some of the best in any harem or romcom manga as a whole. Its not a great manga but still good in its own right a worth a read.

7/10.

The right message for the wrong genre.

The premise is MC is kidnapped into a village of Youkai (monsters) to make babies with them, him being the only one who can. It pits MC and the harem of girls who eventually come to love him against the shadowy institution that is the village mothers and their uncompromising demands on their grandchildren.


One will wonder after reading this why this manga was written in the first place. The MC is given a near-godly opportunity to have his own monster harem, this being the first time any girls took an interest in him, but he adamantly refuses. This seemed ... really silly at first, but sometime around chapter 30 it clicked. Harem is, in the first place, a way to qct out wish fufillment, to have the power of multiple lovers in one's reach. This harem took that power away by making the MC powerless, at the whim of forces outside his control. Thinking about most harem, this is the situation any one girl of the harem finds themselves in. Why so many girls love one unremarkable guy almost feels like they're being forced into the relation by a higher power, in this case the mangaka. As such, Oni ga Deru provides a critique of harem as a whole by making the male MC similar to a female side characters of other harem stories.


Otherwise, the story felt like it really lacked direction for most of the plot. The ending was very anticlimactic, a disappointment really. the MC was a total pain throughout the entire story. The anti-harem message of this harem story is ambitious. But, the story falls flat. By having a weak, indecisive MC like most harem and by having so many girls fall for the MC for no good reason, it falls into the same pitfalls most harem does. As such, its critique of harem provides no good alternative from the story. In turn, this makes the message feel lime virtue signaling rather than a genuine attempt for fix harem. Harem is fundamentally wish fulfillment, specifically a power fantasy over near-helpless girls or ladies. By having critiqued this fundamental without having provided an alternative for harem, it committed self-suicide.


3/10.