This is most likely whoever's behind Redo of Healer new work. Not just because of the fuccery happening left to right, rather, mostly because the entire approach is super similar to that series.
I have no clue which came out 1st n care not to fact check. However, my bad if u actually happened to come before.
Quite a strong opening, that in spite of all the BS it actually keeps u invested in the plot as it leaves u with the feeling that there's or could be more ahead.....
Now maaaaaaannnnnn WTF. Author-san is off the JUICE.
The best way I can describe is "a BS plot
...
Jan 27, 2022
Pandora Hearts
(Manga)
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Mixed Feelings Preliminary
(10/107 chp)
Might be an epic series seeing how high up is ranked out here on MAL, but one thing I also learned from the MAL rankings is that, not ALL top/highly ranked series will grasp my interest.
Main reason why I dropped this is the character design as well as the silly and gag relief moments the author randomly throws at you. I does not suits my taste and I find it very annoying. Which is a bit funny, cause in fact this was my main issue with the anime adaptation of Vanitas, but now that I started reading it, it somehow became more bearable. Has a sightly ... intriguing mystery surrounding the plot, but nothing too heart racing nor thrilling enough to make me stay and ignore the annoying "comic relief" and bland art. The art department is very lacking, like a whole lot. Not enough backgrounds and the art style along with the overall character design is just not for me. I did not enjoy a single thing about it. As I mentioned before, the story might pick up further ahead but too bad I won't be there to witness it. The 5 chapters of Vanitas I have read so far, have been far more entertaining than the 10 chapters of Pandora. Even though I've finished the 1st cour and have an idea of what lies ahead, I am still very thrilled by every single page I go through. I have noticed minor similarities in both works so I might get back to this in a distance future for a speed reading just to compare both series, n see how much the author grew.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Nov 3, 2021
Kuroko no Basket
(Manga)
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Mixed Feelings Spoiler
Hi there MAL is time for another review n today we got Kuroko no Basket.
First got into this series from the anime, but the use of powers made me drop right after episode 1. Since I'm on a manga journey I decided to look past it n gave it another shot. If there's something I like n respect about the author of the series is 1 his honesty n 2 how well he knows himself. On the author's note section of vol6 Tadatoshi Fujimaka wrote n I quote " This isn't something I typically broadcast, but I often find myself irritated while working, thinking 'Why can't ... I draw better?' or ' Why can't I come up with a better story?' But I believe that satisfaction means the end of passion, so I'll probably keep being irritated. But I like drawing manga." STORY Kuroko no Basket is a Basketball series about the Miracle Generation. A title given to 5 players who were basically undefeated throughout middle school, n amongst them there were a 6th player known as the "phantom 6th man" who happens to be Tetsuya Kuroko our MC. In high school each member joined a different school n new team, so we follow Kuroko at this new team aiming to defeat his former teammates. Kuroko no basket is a bad to decent series, if u r someone who actually cares about and mind the details. But if u not, then this is a series you'll most likely enjoy. It has, good comedy, martial arts, power of friendship, special abilities with names, determination(never give up mentality troupe). 5/10 ART The art had a nice decent glow up. At first you get some very boring panels with some average background details. The character design is as basic as the word basic can be. Nothing stands out at all, they all look the same only minor different in sizes, hairstyle n glasses. If I were to sum it up, I'll say that it had that early 2000's art style that every other anime had. The art actually looks a bit decent during the games. You have some slightly good dynamic poses, n he actually knows how to add sweat to the characters. When I started reading the manga I questioned myself y did Furudate Haruichi asked him for help when he has the better art style by far, but I later on understood. In later chapters Is when we start seeing some changes n progress in the art. The characters now have more details n actually look like persons. During the games the art also improved quite a lot n you get to see more dynamic poses with good expressions. For some reason I felt like that the art resembled a little bit Kubos art style, cause the characters started looking quite a lot like Bleach characters. 6/10 CHARACTERS Tetsuya Kuroko our MC. Is a very quiet, subtle n expressionless teen as intended by the author. Has a very strong sense of justice (in basketball terms at least) n is as basic a shounen MC can get. Has the ability of going unnoticed, he calls it misdirection. Taiga Kagami our MC bestie. An arrogant "confident" guy who bashed Japan's basketball as being weak cause he studied n played in America. However, he himself when it comes to basketball can only jump n dunk cause he's tall. His dribbling skills are average at best, n can't shoot 3 pointers to save his life. His ability is that he's strong n good at playing basketball I think. Also has the typical hidden potential since he's 1/2 of the MC duo. Ryota Kise 1/5 of the miracle generation. A pretty boy who's basically good at everything he ever tried. Pretty chilled n is quite surprising how humble he actually is. Very friendly n has the ability to mimic every move he saw to a perfection, n sometimes even better than the owner of said move. Only takes one glance. Shintarō Midorima 1/5 of the miracle generation. A very serious guy, composed n quite educated. Has a thing for horoscopes n is a lethal shooter in the court. This guy can pull off 3's from anywhere in the court with no effort. He can hit a shot from one rim to the other basket rim using a regular jump shot. The best part about is that is ALL NET. The ball don't even smell the rim. Atsushi Murasakibara 1/5 of the miracle generation. A very lazy or no effort type of guy with a high appetite for snacks. He's highly skilled in defense, knows how to make great use of his height n power/strength to dominate the game. But gets fed up when the opponents don't give up n try too hard. Defense is his skills. Seijūrō Akashi 1/5 of the miracle generation. He is a very calm n composed guy, even more than the lethal shooter Midorima. A guy who's all about wining, attaining exceptional results n being at the top. He was the captain leading them throughout middle school, n most likely the most cringeworthy character I've come across to in manga. Made me cringe harder than Hinata Shouyou. For some reason, some authors think that is cool to have characters showing killing intent on a sports based manga, just cause it is a shounen manga thing. His ability is a major spoiler, but since he was the caption of an elite team u can get an idea of what he's capable of. Daiki Aomine the Ace of the miracle generation n arguably the best character in the series. Aomine is a guy who's basically suffering from success. The guy is so damn passionate n good at balling that he completely annihilated the competition. He broke the opponents spirits with his plays that they literally gave up on trying to guard him. He's the only character I connected it with, n I don't blame him for taking that stance seeing how wrong they did him. His ability is being way too damn good at balling. The guy can do everything. Junpei Hyūga captain of Seirin High. The high school team Kuroko is now enrolling. The guy is just ur basic team captain who plays his role of captain quite efficiently n besides that he has nothing going on. He's the shooter of the team, not as lethal as Midorima tho. Shun Izuki just a player from Seirin high who's part of the main roaster. Likes to consistently drop puns which in fact some r funny n others not that much. He specializes in defense n has this Eagle Eye ability who helps him see the court from a different angle. Rinnosuke Mitobe a super quiet guy with almost as less presence as Kuroko. Doesn't talk at all, but on the other hand is a great cook. Got nothing much going on n his specialty is Hook shots. Teppei Kiyoshi an a pull character that the author came up with to give Seirin High more power. He's actually the founder of the basketball club who unfortunately got injured during their game as a 1st year. Very good at rebounds n his ability is focused on that. Riko Aida the coach of Seirin High basketball clup. She has some special eyes that can Scan a person n extract their stats. Going from how strong they look, to how much stamina they have, endurance, n basically everything. Too bad she does nothing coach like. Don't even know y she's the coach of the team, cause it seems like her specialty is towards body building. Most of the game plans n strategies were developed n suggested by the players themselves mostly Kuroko btw, n all she did was come up with workout plans focused on building muscle n endurance that actually r nothing special. It usually resolved around extensive workouts like playing basketball on the beach sand (that's serious tho lol) to benefit from playing on a less solid n more unstable surface. Nothing new, is just a basketball version of something that is already overused. There's also some standard basketball workouts that were pushed steps n steps further to attain better rESults, but that's just overworking. Rest n a great meal obeying to a specific diet r essential for recovery n muscle building. However, for some reason the author thought it would be a good idea to make Riko an awful cook for the sake of comedy. So she overworks the players n can't even at least write down a diet plan so their can refer to. All she knows about is overwork n supplements/pills. On the other hand.... Satsuki Momoi does that pretty damn well n she's not even a coach lmao. Momoi is Aomine's childhood friend, was the club manager of the miracle generation back in middle school n is now the manager of Too Academy basketball club. The team Aomine plays in. Her specialty is data collection n analysis. She goes scouting n collects very detailed data on every possible team n player. From type of skills the player has down to the blood type. She literally knows EVERYTHING, n the best thing is that it does not stop there. She compiles the data n comes up with strategies to counter each specific play, skill, n game plan that the opposite team/player may come up with n shares that info with the club. The actual coach from Too Academy doesn't even move a finger (just like every other coach in the series/ Honestly) unless to touch his own hair. She's a happy-go-lucky type of girl, very friendly n caring. 4/10 ENJOYMENT Enjoyed very little of this manga. My main problem with the series were the games. At this point in the series I already had made peace with the fact that they have powers but the games could honestly be better executed. Throughout the games u barely get to see the teams making any plays. Is usually lots of panels on them scoring, some running, then the standard dialogue from the players, n some other characters breaking down whatever is happening in the court, then repeat, repeat n repeat. My favorite game was Seirin vs Too Academy. Now I can't exactly tell if the author was trying to save the best for last, did not know what do add for the previous games, or if it was simply Aomine's style of playing, but the whole match was very engaging n entertaining through n through. Is not only cause Aomine was the highlight of the arc, but also because we finally got to see the players actually playing n not only them scoring points. Another big problem Is their coach Riko Aida, cause apart from doing any coaching her magic eyes scan abilities were just for show for the most part of the series. Seems like the author only added that to look cool, cause not once was she able to use her eyes to tell the conditions of the players. Don't know if the author forgot that the ability actually existed, but some team players kept on playing beyond exhaustion n some even got injured. In ch45 panel15 Riko has the following dialogue " I'm still a little green at this myself. I'm not perfect when it comes to drawing out everyone's potential... That's y I have to rely on you, Kagami, hurt or not...." Maybe her "uselessness" was intentional to later develop the character (which it happened a bit) or the author simply decided to follow the shounen trend of the rest of the team being caried by the MC. Which is something we see a WHOLE LOT in the series. She later on got some highlights n it was at a point where the writing had slightly improved. Although appreciated, it did not had that much of an impact cause around this time the author FINALLY decided to make use of the bench warmers. Characters that although being apart of the MC team, looked more like bystanders than the actual bystanders watching their games. All their did was train n cheer for them. My favorite part of the series was the past arc. Seems like at least every mangaka knows how to handle the typical background story we often get in manga. Here we dive about 4 years into the past n witness the birth of the miracle generation. At this point in the story I feel like the writing was at its peak, cause besides from the good background story the author finally introduced a proper coach that actually deserves the tittle. There's also a bit more on how Kuroko got into the sports but I won't get into it. So... Kōzō Shirogane the head coach of Teiko Junior High, the middle school Kuroko n the miracle generation enrolled. Is a character that had very little screen time n yet every single moment had value. Won't say much about it cause I'll be spoiling way too much, when I've done quite enough already. You just have to get into the series n see for yourself. Conclusion was super predictable, but at least it was the authors vision n what he intended to tell with this story. So I respect that. The core theme of the series is to play your heart out while having fun, cause that's what the MC been preaching about throughout the series. Hence Kuroko no Basket. I'm done. Wrote quite a lot as I got lost in it. PEACE OUT
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 25, 2021
Mugen no Juunin
(Manga)
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Recommended Preliminary
(130/207 chp)
Hi there MAL peeps, Welcome to another review.
This time around we have the big title Mugen no Juunin aka Blade of the Immortal. So without any stalling lets get into it. STORY Blade of the Immortal is a Samurai/Swordsman's manga based around the period of feudal Japan. We follow Asano Rin and her thrusting bodyguard Manji, as she's set on a journey to avenge her family done in by the infamous Ittou Ryu. A group of highly capable fighters led by Anotsu Kagehisa. Rin and Manji follow leads taking them all across the city of Edo (old Tokyo) in hopes of finding Kagehisa and possibly fulfill ... her goal. Throughout the journey they face several hardships and go through interesting circumstances, from meeting other members of the Itto Ryu to Rin questioning her decision of following on the path of revenge, and meeting people who helped her see things on a different light and growing in the process. At a first glance this manga seems to be a typical story about revenge. But if I had to sum up what I got from reading it, I would say that the story is a protest against the Bushido/Samurai code. 7/10 ART Mugen no Juunin has a pretty enjoyable art journey, which is to be expected since it ran for about 19 to 20 years (1993-2012). In early chapters you get pretty decent to average panels. The backgrounds are not all that which is something I'm quite no used to with in manga. Because, usually even if the character design is not all that appealing, you still cool detailed backgrounds. However, this manga was the opposite, and this is a first to me. Not to look down on the skills of the author cause I feel like he compensated that by giving great the manga great character designs, backed up with some emotional and very expressive close up panels of the characters. On top of that, we have great fighting choreographies and vast arsenal of weapons. Each very unique and with some logical explanation on how they operate. In later chapters the art progressed immensely. Apart from the great feats mentioned before that were taken a step further, we now got nice looking background sceneries a long with some of the best double spreads I've seen in manga. Expanding from the detail of the stances the characters took to the angle or point of view the author chose to show them. 7/10 CHARACTER Mugen no Juunin has a great set of characters. From our MC team Rin and Manji, to Kagehisa and the Ittou Ryu gang, big shots like Shira, Habaki, Giichi, Burandou, and minor but yet equally important such as Shirinjii, painter Souri, prostitute O-ren along many others. Each feeling very unique at their own realm, with very different life circumstances and background, motivations, as well as some being a parallel of our MC team. 7/10 ENJOYMENT The manga may feel quite long at times and very slow paced. As throughout the story the slightly distance himself from the MC team and focus its attention to the surrounding characters. That might be a turn off to some readers as the key plot gets lost in the and you sort of lose track of the events. However, is something that I highly appreciated it cause he flashed out more characters and is actually what led me to conclude that the story was more than just revenge. This was one of the aspects I most enjoyed in the story cause it added more value and weight to the surrounding characters. They were not just characters added as fillers to the story, they all equally contributed in developing the story into something more which it ended up building an amazing experience. Another aspect I liked about the manga were the fights. It already had some very cool looking fights with great choreographies, and as the story progressed the quality was just non stop. Big bangers. Each fight was something to look for, from the strategy behind how to proceed with the attacks, the themes, to stances and techniques used by the characters all backed up with the showcase of different weapons. It shows that the author actually took some time to think and plan out how to play out the confrontations and understands about weapons as well. However, that Manji vs Arashino was one big BS move by the author. So much armor that it was annoying to read through. Guess plot convenience is just something that every single story must have. Like how Rin while on her solo journey to a different city ended up being saved lol. Although playing to a common trend of the witnessed throughout the story, I still feel that it was another BS move by the author, but I actually ended up liking the conclusion cause the author used that to teach and give some experience to Rin. 6/10 I actually recommend this piece of work not only for the fans of Seinen titles, samurai lovers and such, but to those who want to have a change of pace and read something different. It might feel long and throughout it you might end up getting annoyed by Rin or even starting to hate her. However, I do feel like the surrounding characters beautifully complement this story and add a special touch to the storytelling. Therefore, I would say that is worth a read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 20, 2021
Mieruko-chan
(Manga)
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Not Recommended Preliminary
(37/? chp)
Hi there MAL, Welcome to my 2nd review.
This time around we have Mieruko-chan, n before we dive into this I think I should talk a little bit about my relationship with horror. supernatural, thriller titles. ######## I HAVE A BAD RELATIONSHIP WITH HORROR TITLES ######## A younger me was having big troubles falling a sleep after watching The Mummy 99's movie at a neighbors house. Throughout the movie I was actually fine, but when I went to bed the image of the Mummy kept on popping up in my head over n over. I even remember trying to block it with memories of Disney's Tarzan since I ... also had watched it earlier that day or sometime that week, but The Mummy won that fight cause the memory was recent. It was so bad that I went to get a Bible n hugged the verses out of it. It ended up eventually working n that was the last time I remember ever being scared of a horror movie. Which is odd, cause I watched it with ease, however I had trouble getting some sleep. Maybe is a delayed reaction, or things are just different from person to person. So 12 or 13y old me was ish scared n then it did a whole 180. It became a Bliss. Even when I watched movies on cable with my elder brother who's actually 7y older than me, sometimes u would find him leaving the room whenever some ish is about to go down cause grabbing a pillow to cover his face was not enough. Don't get it twisted. That's someone who can lay u down easily cause dude got serious hands, but somehow he couldn't stand horror movies. While me on the other hand, the softy one, was just there laughing while watching the movie n even harder from his reaction. Something I never quite understood. LAUGHTER Since I somehow had become Immune to fear or something, whenever I watched a horror title I would look for that. I mean, I can't even get scared so I might as well have fun laughing about how the characters reacted, the execution of said "scary scenes" n how some of the characters got done in. So big titles like The Conjuring, Annabelle, Halloween, Elm Street, - u name it- became comedy shows rather than horror. Because of this I started saying that ######## I HAVE A BAD RELATIONSHIP WITH HORROR TITLES ######## Sorry for boring u with my long life story, is done. Now we return to Mieruko-chan. STORY The series follows Yotuya Miko, a school girl who has the ability of seeing ghosts. Kinda like Ichigo, but these r more like Zombie looking, nightmare hunting, gruesome type of ghosts. She decides to ignore them as she tries to maintain a normal social life. As the story progresses she considers trying to help those ghosts, but this is something that might come around later on in the series. Cause while 37 chapters into the series, we have yet to get explanation to why she sees ghosts and see her helping them as well. Is something that sort of just happened. In conclusion, the plot is basically a school girl that see ghosts in different daily life scenarios. ART Strongest feat in the series. The character designs are actually pretty basic n one can say that is quite close to the Nagatoro series. Just some digitally drawn characters with not that many details on their features. However, the art really excels with the ghost. There are some really good to decent looking monsters. The author uses a good level of shading n crazy mixes of body parts to give it a eerie n creepy feeling. Has some really cool double spreads with a neatly looking demon ghost on the background. CHARACTER Yotsuya Miko the series MC. A very calm, sort of serious who seems very collected n unbothered. Her name is Miko n if I'm not mistaken is a name or term given to a shaman woman. Usually a character's name, design, coloring, likes n such are used as little hints to what that said character might become. Yotsuya Kyousuke her younger brother. A really nice n polite kid who's a fan of horror shows. Seems like he really loves his elder sister n cares for her. Basically the best younger brother u could ask for. Cannot see ghosts. They do have parents but nothing much is known about them. They just pop up now n then on some panels. Yurikawa Hana the mc best and only friend. Well so far. A school girl with a strong appetite. She's quite cheery n airhead at times, is there to support the MC n is mostly used as punching bag for jokes n help the MC get through the day. Cannot see ghosts. Takeda "The Godmother" Mitsue a coon fortune teller who actually has some real powers. In reality is a vey nice n kindhearted lady, who just happened to be making some cash with minor schemes due to circumstances. Niguredou Yuria a school girl from the next class. Has a tsundere vibe n can also see ghosts, although not on the same level as the MC. Has a one-sided rivalry with the MC n later on joins the party. Toono Zen a good looking n suspicious guy. Just the type of character u need for this series. Shindou Romm a magician fortune teller?? Dunno, just call him the guy of the occult. A very suspicious looking with some very suspicious approaches n actions. ENJOYMENT I got into the series from Instagram. I saw a panel posted by a manga based IG account n since I liked what I saw I decided to save it to later look it up. Shotout to those pages btw since they're out here doing the good work of putting people onto new series. When the anime aired I recognized the title n decided to watch epi1. Disliked what I saw there. Had unnecessary things n I was like "the manga is probably better", so I went on to read it. OMFG After the 1st volume of the series I was already so over it n concluded that the epi1 actually did try to make the series more interesting and likeable despite the unnecessary service in it. I have read titles like Hideout, Jisatsu Circle, Happiness, Ibitsu, Shikabane Hime, Mushihime, Uzumaki, Tomie n many other titles under Itou Junji pencil. From the panel I saved on my IG I expected something along those series mentioned above, cause the art sort of depicted that. But after seeing ep1 n reading Vol1 I noticed that it was not the aim of the series. The main tags/genres defining the series are Comedy, Horror, Supernatural, n although not added here on MAL Shounen n Slice of Life/School Life. Usually when we have a Slice of Life series, they are mostly either Romance, Drama, or Comedy driven n at times a mix of all those elements. Since there's no Drama nor Romance, Mieruko was supposed to be a COMEDY Slice of Life with Supernatural themes in it, just like Dandadan a series I have yet to read but I've seen panels online n been reading nice things about it (quite familiar ain't it??). I know that we each have our own likes n dislikes, but when u have a good amount of people saying things like "This is soooooo GOOOD" n similar things along the line. Despite our individual likes n dislikes, at best ur impression after reading/watching that GOOD series should at least never be LOWER than Average. Just a personal opinion which I think is somewhat valuable or acceptable. Cause our tastes can't be that discrete. This series failed big time on the comedy department. Maybe I don't get the authors sense of humor or something, but man this was a nightmare. One single chapter of Gintama has way more comedy n better executed jokes than the entire 37 chapters of this series. Quite unfair cause Sorachi Hideaki is a comedy genius, but is possibly the only series I've read that embodies the same themes. I mean, overall Gintama is a carnival, but if we focus on the Comedy, Slice of Life n supernatural arcs so that would be the closest comparison I have to this. I was so done right after Vol1, but with so many positive comments on the series I started reconsidering. Thinking that I might have made a mistake n missed out on something, I went out to ask if this series gets better in later chaps. Someone on twitter actually said that I'll like it since I liked Itou Junji works, so I went back on it. After all 11chap is not that many to conclude that something is BAD. OMFG 37 chapters deep n nothing much changed. The series threw in some messed up back stories n that's it. My main problem with this series is the COMEDY. Only a few chapters made me let out a giggle, but it was like a single circumstance/panel out of an entire chapter. Those were the chapters with Yuria the tsundere girl. She's a bit delusional so her reactions to the things happening were a bit funny, unlike the super dry, emotionless reactions from the MC. Someone u follow through the ENTIRETY of the story. I saw comments online saying that the MC reactions were so cute. Man WTF?!! Nothing wrong with that tho, but I don't get into series to see who's cute n who's not. Yes I do notice it, cause I mean is right there. Is like me looking at a dress n saying "this dress has flowers on it", I see n notice the flowers but I don't make it the core of the dress. There are more things to focus on n look into. The suspense or thrill the author throws into the series could've been handled way better. At least for me, cause it felt flat-out boring. Not a single moment while reading this I felt like "oh ish, what might happen??" "what is that person planning??". I wasn't expecting being left on the edge when I go into this, n I don't think is me cause I remember feeling a bit anxious about what will come next when reading Uzumaki, Tomie, Remima n such. Well, more like curious cause it was entertaining to follow the story. My Gintama comparison was super unfair, cause after writing this much I believe that some of Itou Junji works r much closer to this series. Like, after putting some thought into it, Itou Junji works writes comedy stories with some crazy twisted looking things in them. Is kinda like Jojo cause you'll find all sorts of weird things you can only find in there. Things that leave u thinking "who even thinks about this??". Maybe I'm super wrong for laughing or finding it comedic but Is not spooky to me, so I dunno. My final thoughts on this is that is BAD n it could actually be way better. The author has some serious skills n original concepts when coming up with the monster ghosts. The Spider monster or the one in the barrel was one of the coolest and original drawings I've seen. I loved every single moment of it. The one from Benny's restaurant looked really good, the fox looking twins were cool as well. He has the skiils n creativity to pull off gorgeous panels, he simply needs to polish the writing. So this series is NOT FOR ME. Don't get offended, pressed, hurt or get any ill feelings after reading this. I honestly believe that I have the right to say something about it cause I dedicated time into reading it when I shouldn't. Might have not been the best choice of words or something, but I just wrote it based of what I'm feeling n for what it is. This is a review fresh off reading all 37 chapters released so far.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Oct 4, 2021 Mixed Feelings Preliminary
(270/747 chp)
Hello MAL, Is moOnday here and Welcome to my first ever review.
I'll do my very best to try to breakdown all the aspects I've gathered from this manga, in a very unbiased and easy to follow fashion. It might be a little bit sloppy, but as mentioned earlier on. This is my first time so be gentle with me. Might be the wrong approach, but I'll put this manga in contrast with Ashita no Joe since I feel this manga took Major inspirations from it. Story/Plot With Major we have a sports manga based around Baseball. We follow the journey of Honda/Shigeno Gorou. A baseball "prodigy" who ... eats, sleeps, breaths and craps Baseball through and through. There's nothing much to it, is really as straightforward and simple as that. My biggest problem with the Manga is that it's too shounen. Way too much. I'll try to explain further in the character analysis section. Art A positive aspect in the series, and probably my favorite. Throughout the manga we have decent to average panels. Not that many details, yet the panels are filled with some clean and easy to the eyes drawings and very little blank spaces. The highlights are on the action sequences if we can call it that. The level and amount of effects put into the sequence of pitches, running, batting along with the angles presented, it makes up for a very enjoyable and entertaining reading experience. Character Earlier I stated that the series is too Shounen. It could be a problem/influence of it's time since it came out around mid 90's, however around the same period there were mangakas that tried to deviate from this pattern. So, I can't really tell if it's the time period influence or just the mangaka storytelling/cup of tea. So it is what it is. Our MC Honda Gorou who later on became Shigeno Gorou is your typical OP shounen protagonist. He has a high on challenge so his Baseball journey resolves around him challenging stronger and stronger opponents as the story proceeds. Also known as the "static character" Nothing wrong with that. However, my biggest problem with this is that every single character is completely useless and nonexistent next to him. The manga tries to throw in a few faints here and there about companionship and teamwork, but is only to show how better our MC is compared to the rest of the cast. I mean, Baseball is a team sport therefore he needs teammates right, too bad those teammates are simply NPC and the MC does everything by himself. He looks, poses, acts just like Yabuki Joe from Ashita no Joe and is just as cocky. Gorou is very arrogant, egocentric, bad mouthed, and stupid for no reason. Although not my go to type of character traits, is not enough to stop me from enjoying a story. Just like Joe himself, Gorou has an unbending iron will and does what he wants. He goes on to challenge stronger opponents to feed his massive ego (played as testing his abilities ) , does not care about being in the spotlight, and always, I mean ALWAYS gets his way. Even though the said opponents are far more experienced than him, but due to his "hard work" and his "ability to evolve fast" he ends up clearing every challenge just as he intended to. SPOILERS ZONE He got into Baseball from a very young age thanks to his father a pro Baseball player. At age 5 he already was something to lookout for. Around 9 he did pretty good against grown ups. Like, guys that looked they were around 20's or even much older. Not sure if it was a drawing mistakes, but some of those guys had mustache and beards. So I dunno. The only stable character in the story was his said rival but not so rival Toshiya Sato. Someone he dragged into baseball when he was 5 cause he did not wanted to play catch alone. SPOILER ZONE Enjoyment At first I was bothered by how fast paced the story progressed. But later on it became a positive aspect to me, cause the story had not much to offer so it made for an easy and not so stressful reading. There no stakes at all, at least from my point of view. I mean, we usually have an idea that the MC will take the win at the end and then move along to the next phase. However, this manga did not even try to make things hard so it ends up being a very boring and unclimactic experience. Overall This was pretty okay. I've read up to 300 chapters or so which is about half of it. I actually considered dropping it much earlier, but I stuck trough it cause I was hoping for a change of pace since I was told on twitter that is actually a good manga, and since I loved Daiya no Ace I had to be a bit more patient with it. But I've seen more than enough. I can see why some people like it, but is not what I look for and want to see from a story. Is just your typical sports manga. Very baseball centered, there's some comedy here and there. No romance involved, it tries to add in some drama here and there but nothing really too serious. I could be wrong here since I did not finished it and there's even a part 2 lol, but this Major manga is basically Gorou vs The World, and following the pattern of the 300 something chapters I've read, is not hard to guess who'll come on top. Thanks for reading and hoping it was somewhat usefull.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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