Fumetsu no Anata e
To Your Eternity

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The manga should've stopped after Chapter 116.

Everything that happens after Chapter 116 should've been a spin-off.

I would given the manga a solid 9, if it wasn't for the post-116 chapters.
Chapter 116 was a great ending and should've stayed that way.

Now for everything before chapter 117...
[SPOILERS]

... Story:8
Very unique premise.
The main character starts of as a semi-conscious rock made by a higher being.
Ends up turning himself into a wolf after it dies.(we later find out he can turn himself into anything he feels a strong emotional connection towards, he learns to control this ability and also learns to [create] stuff)
Overall very gripping and emotionally driven. Shounen with some psychological elements mixed in.

Art:9
The art is like what you would expect of the author of Koe No Katachi

Characters:9
The most interesting part of the manga imo.
The characters feel very similar to Fire Punch by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
They are weird in a mostly non-cliche way.

Enjoyment: 4
This would've been a 9 if it wasn't for the post-116 chapters which I feel are like one big filler.

The manga can be quite "weird" at times, but overall I'd say it's a worthwhile read. (pre-117 at least)

When originally writing this, upon seeing that this very interesting manga had no reviews I couldn't resist posting one. I'll try my best to not reveal too much information as you have to read for yourself to find the reasons this manga is unique.

Story: (8/10)
Basically some sort of magical object made by some over powered being takes form of other objects in its surroundings. I know, it's weird at first to think about but hear me out. What if this object takes the shape of a human? What if this inhumane immortal being learns to become a human? Well, of course he does. The main ... protagonist, pet named Fushi, may look human but is far from it. Through the immortal's journey to find his purpose he crosses paths with many strangers who become a part of who he is and will become.

There are plenty of arcs that slowly unravel Fushi's true self as he proceeds into the hardships of the human heart. He may be the only main character but he wouldn't be Fushi without the flawed and troubled side characters that show Fushi what it means to be alive. Just like Ooima's other manga, Koe no Katachi.


Art: (9/10)
I love the art style, the characters are what you expect from the creator of Koe no Katachi. The scenery is amazing like a masterpiece. Even more than enough to paint the perfect picture. Almost like her other manga, yet this one seems to have a more elaborate look to it, proving that an artists style is ever changing.


Character: (9/10)
You might think this immortal magical object is a mindless, boring, inhumane creature that is supposed to learn how to be human. Well, you may be right but nobody knows anything about Fushi. His past starts at the very beginning as the reader knows just as much as Fushi knows about himself. In fact, it is odd to refer to Fushi as any gender because they aren't human or mortal. It is a true mystery to who they really are while we are slowly discovering along side them.

Each arc of the story is filled with many side characters that teach Fushi an abundance of new skills whether they be the hard labor everyone has to go through or simply learning how to eat like a normal human being. Along with each characters own hardships are lessons for Fushi to remember.

As Fushi transforms from a mindless, mysterious, inhumane, humanoid freak to a mindful, wholehearted, cunning young man on his journey he finds himself through others. But this is far from a spoiler, there are many mysterious things I bet even Fushi wants answers to. Like, how can he create objects out of nothing? What other cool abilities does he have that even he doesn't understand? That we might never understand if not for Fushi's self discovery.


Enjoyment: (10/10)
How could I not enjoy such a unique and interesting concept. How the main protagonist transforms from the first chapter to the most recent chapter, it is like watching a child grow up. Some moments made me laugh, most made my heart ache with sympathy and compassion for the hopeless and lost. Just like Fushi I can relate to trying to find myself, especially when you are gazing into others expecting something else yet you see your own reflection.

Finding yourself is like finding a good manga, this is that good manga.

[MINOR SPOILERS] Chapter one and general story-line.

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The Main character is immortal and can transform into others. His existence is a mystery.
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STORY: (9/10)
... -------------------------------------------
The story is one that I can’t really describe, its basically a journey for this being, and his thoughts, emotions, actions and relationships throughout. The manga for the most part follows a storyline that rotates through side characters, each side characters/plot bring something new to the main character. A majority of the story is about the development and the growth of the MC, as he develops you get to see his emotions, feelings and dilemmas more. It is a drama based story, the author also wrote 'Koe no Katachi''.

The story is kinda confusing sometimes, and contains minor plot holes here and there. The story has a systematic way of progressing through arcs, it makes the story telling easier to follow.

[Pacing]: not too fast, not too slow. There are a few parts that you might find to be slightly slow.

[Unique]: The story was unique, although predictable at times, but still very good to read.

[Story-Telling]: Since the character can transform, sometimes it gets confusing. Many times it switches to another person's view and tells their story suddenly. Although the story is progressing systematically so far, making it easier to understand.

[Themes]: What is left of you after death? To kill to improve one’s self?

[Other]: It references many words that people may not understand, such as "stimuli".

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CHARACTERS (10/10)
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[Side Characters]:
-good personalities
-Likeable
-Relatable
-Don’t fall under normal stereotypes too much
-Good backgrounds, mostly/ all sad
-Containing both flaws and strengths
-Even though they have some MC material, they are there for support

[MC]: Talked in Story section

[Antagonist]: The nature of the antagonist at this point is unknown. Not too much to say about them right now.

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ART(7/10)
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[General]: It was fine, nothing amazing, pretty basic. It was fitting for the series. Most others seemed to enjoy it a lot more than I did.

[Character Art]: Most have good designs making it easy to recognize.

[Panels]: personally felt the panels a bit small sometimes so it was hard to tell what i was looking at (eg. what part of the body that was, whether it hit or not.

[Action/movement]: There were some points that I found difficult to follow, but I am also pretty bad at following.

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ENJOYMENT: (10/10)
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All the emotions and themes of this manga I heavily enjoy. It has calming, sad moments, also accompanied by moments of happiness and MC OPness. The story sucks you and gets you to want to read more, and not even by using cheap cliffhangers. Truely a memorable series.

If you like drama based stories, then you'll like this.

[FINAL THOUGHTS]: just read the first chapter! If you don’t like it then don't read it, but its pretty good.



[Similar anime/manga]:
Mushishi. Both have interesting concepts with them (mushi and the immortal’s existence) while using a single character as the MC. Both follow a somewhat systematic approach to the story making it easier for the reading, although this series is a lot more story based.

*This review contains only spoilers of the first chapter of the manga, also, english it's not my native language, so I apologize for the mistakes.*


''Fumetsu no Anata e'' it's, easily, one of the most weirdest mangas I have ever seen, and I don't tell that because it's something weird in a bizarre or crazy way, no, I'm talking about something with a premise and plot so... new, that it's so fascinanting to find.


History starts with someone sending this thing on Earth, and the Thing takes with the time, the form of objects like a rock, moss, and even a wolf. When the thing transforms ... into a wolf, it goes to an abandoned town where it only lives a kid withouth name. The kid seems to knows this wolf who calls it ''Johann'' (later called Fushi), and they make a travell to leave the town to go to a better place, where people seems to live better, with food and family.

Sadly, things turn complicate for the protagonist and the wolf, because they see that the people who made the same adventure like him, have died because the cold and the hungry.

And worst, the kid and the wolf decided return to their house, and then the kid died because of a injury that he made on the travel. Next night, the Thing decided to take the form of that kid, to make the travel that the kid couldn't made.


It's nearly impossible that the first chapter won't make you cry, or at least, make you feel really sad for the characters. This manga it's from the same mangaka who made the famous and polemic manga ''Koe no Katachi'', so yes, this manga has a lot of dramatic and depressive scenes.



Our protagonist it's a ''Thing'', that can take the form of something dead, and this can be an animal or person. The manga shows how this ''Thing'' takes, with the time, conscience of itself. The Thing will learn, as expected from the premise, emotions of humans and animals. This is something really original that can bring us a lot of posibilities of how our protagonist will be in the future, if his mind will change, how it will percive things, etc.


As for the art, it's very, very nice. Way more detailed that the art on Koe no Katachi, You can actually see some progress in the autor style.The designs of the characters are really atractive, and the face expressons are also more expressive here, and you can clearly see more emotions through their faces.

Overall, if you love drama or you saw the manga Koe no Katachi and and want to see more of the autor works, you have to read Fumetsu no Anata E. It has an amazing story and concept. I really hope this manga to get the same popularity as Koe no Katachi did.

This might contain light spoilers.

I was initially motivated to read this manga because I saw it got an anime adaptation that looked pretty interesting. The story started off strong; I was drawn into the world + the characters and watching how the immortal protagonist developed as a result of the events and people around them. But it went downhill after a particular arc with one of the main antagonists... and then it just kept going downhill because the author decided that antagonist should have decedents that continually harass the protagonist throughout the ages and the protag is like: "Hm, this is kinda weird and uncomfortable ... for me but I'm not gonna do anything about it! This definitely won't be a problem for me in the future."

The current chapters take place in the modern day and it is insufferable at this point. It has devolved into overused tropes and many of the characters who previously had some development have been thrown to the side for... whatever this is. It's a very character-driven manga without actually writing the characters properly and there's no progression in this current arc.

I really don't understand why this has such high ratings when it's this disappointing (for me at least).

Hello, this is my first review. So far, I've made it to chapter 22. Hopefully, my review won't have spoilers.

(POSSIBLE SPOILER? HEADS UP ON WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT)

First, some heads up on what you can expect. Heavy tragedy, more of storytelling through pictures, but that's only because of main character as he/she/it doesn't talk much. IMO, this manga is kind of like a collection of one-shots that come together. So do keep in mind about this, it's like there are several mini arcs.

(POSSIBLE SPOILER? DONE)


Story 8/10
The story was a bit slow at first, but what kept me gripping on was wondering what ... will happen next? You are left with little information at the start, even the description of the manga is vague. You want to know what happens, right? What is this manga about? Overall, the story is pretty good right now, but there are too many questions unanswered. I may change this later as this manga could be the kind of manga that just uses this as an element in the story.

Art 10/10
I absolutely love the art! Some of the character designs aren't my taste, but I still like the art. The art is... kind of like a realistic sketch, and then the characters' faces have a more cartoony(?) look. I really like how the
effects are drawn too.

Character 8/10
First, the main character. He's a blank canvas at the beginning, but over the chapters, you can clearly see he's growing. Next, the other characters, despite the time limit with each character, I grew attached to them very quickly. You get to know the past, present and personality of each secondary character as each "mini arc" progresses. The secondary characters seem a bit stale though, as I'm starting to see the resemblance between all of them, perhaps it's just me.

Enjoyment 10/10
This is my new obsession, haha. I wanted to look for something good to
read and now I want to find a similar manga! I actually wanted to come here for recommendations. Except, all I found on MAL was auto recommendations ._.;;;;. I'm sure I've read something similar before, but that would require me to search through hundreds of unfinished and finished manga. If I do happen to come across something I find similar, I will try to remember to recommend it! The thirst to find out what exactly is happening made me go through them quite quickly, I was disappointed to see there weren't more chapters translated.

Overall 10/10 Everything comes together really well! I hope this manga becomes more popular in the future! This manga will definitely be going on my priority reading list!

This review might contain light spoilers.

For some reason, I have a hard time liking Ooima Yoshitoki's works. The details in To Your Eternity are beautifully drawn (although I'm not a fan of her art style), and she is able to immerse you into her story's interesting world, with her many diverse characters, but I don't think this is my kind of story. I feel like she's overusing tropes that bring sadness and emptiness into the readers. There's nothing wrong with a story that makes you cry and think deeply about life; in fact, I love them, but, to me, this kind of story where the ... main character goes on a journey in which tragedies are used for the sake of the main character's development is not interesting enough for me. This story seems to mostly move forward with tragedies and unexplained supernatural moments, with some human bonding and growth on the side. I know the main point of her story is probably for the readers to appreciate the beautiful part of life, such as friendship and love, as well as the sorrowful ones, like grief and greed, I guess, but I didn't enjoy her manga like I thought I would.

The other issue I have with the story is that the mysteries just continuously add up without any answers or hints. That's fine, many series do that, but I think there comes a point where there is supposed to be some development in that aspect - and we still don't get any of it even after 60 chapters: we just continue to see people dying and some certain problematic characters following the main character around. I don't know if the plot eventually develops in the later chapters, because it might be the kind of story that goes with the flow and doesn't necessarily lead anywhere. Some people might enjoy that kind of thing, but I am not one of them when it comes to taking advantage of dramatic situations all the time to bring intense feelings into the readers, without having a concrete reason there.

One last thing is that the antagonists of the series are just... weird. The hooded entity is probably not a human, so it's okay if he's odd, but that one psychopath has nothing interesting about them. The only thing is that they're obsessed with the main character, and that's all there is to them, so much that it's ridiculous and boring. Otherwise, most characters in the story are engaging enough, especially Gugu, the true MVP of this story.

This manga is the exact definition of spreading yourself too thin.

The first chapter was like: WOW

The next chapters were like: good

The current chapters are like: ok..

Fumetsu no aiba to me is a very weird manga. It starts off super strong and then just kind of dwindles down over time. Seriously, few chapters in any manga have made me cry as much as the first chapter, but its all downhill from there.

So what are the manga problems. First, the theme. Youve got an immortal who can never die and can bring people back to life. Once that is set, its hard to feel sad when any ... character dies since they are coming back later. Then you have very weird enemies, these little creatures called the knockers who have no personality and are literally just annoying little monsters in my opinion. Then you have time skipping in the range of literal centuries which shrinks the magnitude of actions and events at any given moment. Finally, you got a ton of side characters. Ive always said that having too many characters in a manga is setting yourself for failure. It is just too difficult giving relevancy and screen time to all, so you usually end up with tons of background characters with no relevancy to the story anymore. Think about any successful manga with tons of characters, and think about how many chapters that manga has. Usually, a lot in order to develop them correctly, but that is not the case here.

Tbh, i think this manga is very average now. Not good, not bad. I still look forward for new chapters just to see whats going to happen to the characters that I once loved, but the story is just pretty meh now.

I think this manga could have been masterpiece if it had changed its direction from chapter 2 onwards. I would have liked to see a more serious seinen slice-of-life and honest story about characters, dreams, and the harshness of reality without all the shonen fights and all the time skipping like we saw on chapter 1, not the current product which is some sort of shonen action drama interwined mess.

It's another potential masterpiece from the creator of Koe No Katachi!As a disclaimer, this is my first review.

First of all, the story starts off with a clear and simple concept which is later developed and becomes more and more intricate with more details explained. As a weekly reader, I can honestly say the story is interesting and leaves you wanting more and more... Though, I have to warn you it has it's fair load of feels
as it is a tragedy. The story is suspenseful and emotional although it doesn't rely heavily on plot twists, when they're used they're logical. The story itself is moving ... at a steady pace and chapters aren't wasted.The story makes me think about what makes someone human is it your environment or your genetics?
I give it a 9/10 since I feel the story can still be improved...


Art: The art is great, it suits the manga's story style and it looks realistic to a certain extent.


Character:
Well, this category is quite hard. The characters so far are mostly likeable except in some instances where they come off as selfish.The main character, Fushi, grows as the story does and slowly starts to resemble a human mentally.

Enjoyment:
The story makes me feel a wide range of emotions and is awesome in my opinion.I enjoyed reading it a lot.

Overall:
This manga has a good story to tell and tells it well. I highly recommend it.

A pretty good manga if you end it at around chapter 100 (Modern day arc) would have given it a whopping 8-9/10 even if art was somewhat flimsy.

Story 5/10

The story by itself is fantastic - drama(check), supernatural(check),seinen(check),shounen(sadly a check here too).
Originally it's a shounen manga but while it contained and contains naivety it's started out as mysterious dark and grimm (would not expect from shounen), scenes of violence and etc. Some philosophical inducing questions are questions and are arisen. Development of the story goes on without the end, you just don't see it stopping for the reader idle moments are usually time skipped (time ... skips vary from days to centuries). There simply doesn't seem to be a place for filler chapters.
While i did see some inconsistency and plot holes but i didn't see any major flaws right up until capital Arc and so forth.

Story is about a being a sphere to be exact that with a touch of blood of a wolf awakens and turns in to that wolf with no memory no knowledge simply animalistic instincts with fast regeneration and thus this story begins...A supernatural being with the power to transform to dead creatures that it touches and ability to regenerate quite fast.
Story starts with full on drama and tragedy it hits you from the start but then after some time it's becoming more comedic more shounen like and after some time it suddenly becomes more shounen comedy supernatural with drama and tragedy being a background noise or at least after seeing serious and engaging notions it becomes comedy so any drama after that becomes a JOKE!

Art 7/10

It's good but well you see that from a far art is well made background looks gorgeous but when you have a close up for characters they seem more sketch like, generally speaking it is acceptable because there are many things happening in one panel (various action scenes that are detailed). Panel placement is up to standard but as for speech bubbles i didn't get confused much but lack of pointers of whose speaking was present (maybe due to scanlator i dunno)

Character 6/10

Characters are fun to see they seem like thought through at the start right till middle point......
Our Main here at the start is literally a newborn and watching it grow is amazing but at some point we might start to see authors inclination to make our hero stagnate or degrade even in later chapters (reason being maybe due to it being a shounen so editor might have restricted author).
Next up are our supporting cast they are all mostly teens or kids when we meet them at the start and we actually see them grow which is amazing to see but like i said modern day Arc simply destroyed a hell lot of things for this build up and suspension went up like puff instead of bang.
A lot of characteristics are shounen like with crazy, whimsical and naive personality but that a lot becomes more and more dominating as the story goes on characters becoming more and more childlike or at least for shounen age group auditorium.

Enjoyment 6/10

This was a nice train ride for me if i were to say destination from A to B was majestic but starting from B to C we may start to see more and more bumps and my enjoyment subsided more and more until i went from making it one of my favorite mangas to mediocre at best if it ended before modern day arc i would actually rate it better but still quality drop is a big let down it grades down little by little from the starting chapters from something fun to read to something painful to read.

Overall 6/10

All in all it's a good read.
I would advice, for now to stop reading it after chapter 115 even before that it was dropping quality but at least it ended on a bittersweet tone which would compliment how it started opposed what you would see until chapter 136 (and maybe so forth).
I think author gon an opportunity to be serialized and due to it being Shounen Magazine after each volume editor guided author to change course from more mature theme to more childish theme it's a saddening fact where you see your favorite heroes degrading little by little.
I hope that this arc will be regarded as a joke or that they will change course since it was a big let down for me seeing something great becoming ever more mudded with silly antics.

I absolutely loved A Silent Voice, so when I saw this manga, I just had to read it. After I caught up to the recent chapters, I felt so many emotions, happiness, excitement, satisfaction, worry, curiosity, and many others. While my life was feeling so grey and boring, this manga filled it back with colors. I love all of the characters, every single one of them. The art is phenomenal and has so much detail, and the story never ceases to amaze me. There were several times where the plot progression was slow, but it kicked back into overdrive in a few chapters. If you're ... questioning whether or not to read it, just give it a shot. I promise you won't regret it.

As expected of Yoshitoki Oima, author of "A Silent Voice", her current work is a moving and emotional story that's quite unlike anything else. It's story full of tragedy but it isn't without its share of laughs and heartwarming moments. If you want to read a fantasy that doesn't feel like something you've already seen before, do give this manga a try!

The story follows the life of Fushi, an immortal that we don't fully understand yet. It tracks its growth and development, and the questions it asks itself the more it learns. What sort of actions will a being that imitates humans take when ... it isn't being driven by the one things all humans share: survival?

Fumetsu no Anata e is a fascinating, sprawling journey with no clear end in sight. We follow Fushi as he grows from a speechless, barely sentient beast to an almost human boy, and his developments beyond that. He's guided gently along by some sort of phantom who claims to have created him for the sake of combating similar creatures to him: the knockers. But aside from his ongoing conflict with weird bulbous tree things, Fushi is free to explore. He finds companions that teach him and have him tag along as they live their lives. The more people he encounters, the more Fushi grows and changes. The world that Oima creates is wonderfully detailed, foreign, and well populated and she manages to convey a lot of information without needing much narration or exposition dumps. The reader discovers things slowly by watching events unfold. The art is beautiful, detailed, and light on screen tone which lends it a rustic feeling. At times it can feel cluttered, but it's not too distracting and does a lot to describe the world.

The variety of characters in the story is difficult to express. There's such a wide spectrum of characters with varying moralities, backgrounds in life, age, gender, and missions. There are old men and women, young children, girls, boys... No walk of life is excluded from crossing Fushi's path. There is no good and bad in this world. There are only people who want different things, and they clash and fight against the background of futility in a cruel and undeveloped world.

Fumetsu no Anata e is a story that dabbles in a little of everything. It doesn't have as much action as Full Metal Alchemist might, and it might not wax as philosophical as Oyasumi Punpun does, but it weaves in a lot of different elements into its story. It's the journey of an immortal, and his life interacting with and outliving everything.

Its really good, the only people who are saying it falls off or thinks the rest as filler; don't like it because it changes tone and pace after reaching the climax and cant follow the rest of the narrative and realize that its actually still telling a story and isn't finished... that its only leading into the final arc. It's not perfect and can be a bit corny at times, but its really good and doesn't try and take the same boring bleak overdone attitude of eternity and life that other story's and themes do.

The Art is great.
The Characters are amazing.
And as an adventure manga ... it is realllly good. At least enjoyable, most manga's don't know how to balance their tone and they lean into being way to serious or grim, or too action packed and sensationalized. And To Your Eternity again doesn't do it perfect, but does a really good mix of both while trying to talk about concepts of life.

Review mainly consists about the first 116 chapters.
I should start off by saying that this is my first published review on this site and it won't be the most detailed.


(Spoilers ahead)

Story, first arc only aka until chapters 116. (9/10)

We can call it the first chapter charm. The first chapter was beyond perfect and it reflected exactly what it wanted. We follow the story of a form that was sent to earth. It is able to be anything it wants given enough stimuli. It's a sad, bittersweet story focused on existentialism, grief and emotional growth. As the story goes we are ... presented with the "antagonists" which are called knockers, an unknown entity who presents a dangerous threat to humanity. Faced with knockers this form, which ends up being named "Fushi" or "Immo" ( in the literal english translation ) starts fighting them in order to preserve his/her/their sense of self, his/her/their friends and his/her/their memories.


Art (9-10)

The art is beautiful, fits the atmosphere and we couldn’t expect any less from the same artist as Koe no Katachi.

Characters (9/10)

Being the most important part of the tale, the characters are far away from being disappointing. As the story goes we are introduced, after the encounter with the nameless boy, many iconic characters that end up shaping the story in a way i would never imagine, they are unique and all of them have their own individuality. March, Parona, Hayase,Gugu Pyoran, Black hood, Hahak, Tonari, Don, etc, are characters that stick with you. They are well written characters who develop along way with Fushi.

Enjoyment ( 8/10)

I discovered this manga randomly because i was bored and wasn't expecting the feels ride at all. It was an enjoyable experience that made me cry, laugh and overthink about existentialism. The concept is interesting and the world building fits the tale. The characters were griping and the pacing was just about perfect. On the other hand, we need to understand it's hard to make a perfect story, i noticed some plot holes and things that could have been explored that ended up not being talked much throughout the manga. Ex. : What are knockers after all and why did they started showing up so much after Fushi gained consciousness, are they related in a way that we don't know about? Fushi is almost 600(?) years old by the end of the first arc but he still seems pretty naive even though i feel like it's due to the fact that Fushi will never be a real human like Black Hood said. The whole "protect his humanity" could be an interesting idea to develop etc.

Overall ( 8/10 )

Regardless of its little flaws, i highly recommend the reading of this manga. It will make you feel all sorts of emotions and it's interesting from start to finish. It touches a lot of topics that may make you overthink.
I didn’t talk about what comes after chapter 116 because personally it feels like it's a letdown so far compared to the amazing build up that were the first 116 chapters. but honestly. Don't let that stop you from reading it.


.

I hope this review was useful.

This review will just be whether or not you should read this manga. Other reviews go over the plot and whatnot a whole lot better than I do, but I want to address what you might have seen about chapters 116 and beyond.

There the story takes a huge shift in setting and characters. Having read up to the most recent chapter I could find, chapter 141, I can say that I can still thoroughly enjoy this manga as it continues on. Now there is a lot of stuff going on that is a bit difficult to understand, but that's sort of part of the ... underlying mystery about the "antagonists" of the series that we still don't fully understand.

I think staying for this ride will be worth it, though I can see how some people aren't as big of fans of this part of the manga, I enjoy it.

Before you read this manga, you need to know why you want to read manga.

If you simply want to be entertained and expect a good laugh, this manga is DEFINITELY NOT for you.

On the other hand, if you want to know the importance of life and values with a bunch of ANNOYING ONIONS in nearly every chapter then this is DEFINITELY FOR YOU.

The best indicator of you loving or hating this manga will solely be based on the "1st chapter"
1) LOVE IT? Keep reading
2) HATE IT? Stop reading
3) LOVE IT, but hate the fact that you just cried on the first chapter? I don't know ... man... I was on your spot... If I were you, I would continue to give this manga a shot. But please expect more ONIONS and prepare TISSUES.

Story: 10 (Real smooth, with tons of thoughts)
Art: 9 (I didn't like the art of 聲の形, but I see a lot of improvements in this new manga series)
Character: 10 (We can see growth and distinctions from different characters)
Enjoyment: 9 (I give it a 9 because it makes me cry (-1), but death is a part of life.....)
Overall: 9.5 (If I reflect on a manga I just read, I give it a high score. Also, -0.5 for wasting a ton of my tissues)

I have been pleasantly surprised by reading this. At first, it was because it was the work of author of Koe no Katachi, and I just came across of it by accident. But the storyline really drew me in and so I have read.

The first chapter itself is very unique and it shows the aura, the pace and what type of story it will be: filled with loss and tragedy, but also becoming human and learning how to be one. Because, you see, our main protagonist is actually a sphere that's adaptating to it's surroundings. First, it was an orb, then it became rock, then ... it became a wolf, and finally... a human. But does it know how to act or be one? No. Without someone to teach him, he can't become human. Luckily, they come across people in their wanderings. First, it was a wolf called Johann. Now he is Fushi, taking appearance of the nameless boy whose form it took to be human.

The thing is, there are many things left unsaid. Who is actually the one who created the orb now known as Fushi? What are their enemies and what do they want? But in between, we see a lot of different cultures and tribes and human settlements - the character circumstances and their lives. Considering Fushi is immortal, he can't die.


Art is highly detailed, visually stunning and I love how the author drew Fushi's emotions as they were learning of them and going through everything so far.

This is not a beautiful story - rather, it's tragic, very very cruel and frightening. You cannot expect everyone to live happily ever after and the story itself is divided into arcs in which Fushi learns more and more - both about themselves and of what it takes to be a form with feelings and emotions.

Of course, the other characters did not disappoint either. All of them have an impact on Fushi, and all of them are strong in their own way. For the record, there are a lot of wonderful female characters that I do appreciate (considering that I absolutely despise how 90% of females act in media across the world) and these are tolerable.


Final grades:
Story: 8/10 - could use more explanations soon, but it's getting there. More and more we learn something new.
Art: 10/10 - gorgeous sceneries, beautiful and detailed artwork.
Characters: 9/10 - well developed and round up, with their own pasts and ambitions
Enjoyment: 9/10 - it isn't long and it's definitely the one that makes you wanna read more.

Overall: 9/10 - Overall, gorgeous manga, but definitely not for the faint of heart.

Recently while reading manga, I start thinking of what I would score it as I read.


For this, it would be something like this:

Chapter 1: easily 9/10, unique premise, interesting sense of otherworldiness yet realistic/natural-feeling - can't wait to read more. The narration is interestingly fitting instead of offputting, and helps set the tone of the chapter. Even as a one-shot it is an amazing chapter.

2-30+: easily continues to 9+/10, really grasps me with with the story, character development, interactions, feels and unpredictability. Has me truly invested in and worried for the wellbeings of the characters. The character growth of the immortal Fushi is amazing, but ... the other characters that grow as well and shape Fushi really bring out the best in the story.

30-50+: it remains interesting, but something feels lacking compared to the previously amazing ride. Feels like a change in the tone of story and stage of character growth (in an understandable way). The change is not unwelcome as it would be boring to continue with the previous storytelling indefinitely, but perhaps I had invested too much emotionally to the previous characters that newly introduced ones didn't affect me so much. Possible drop to 8+/10 despite being still very interested in the story, just less impactful.

50+-current(87): Feels like another stage of character growth for the main character. Side characters are growing on me, causing me to rethink what I thought about not being invested in new characters. Story turns in a direction different from the previous chapters while remaining unpredictable and interesting. Back to 9/10 for me. I have great hopes for where things are leading and how the characters will change from now on.

-

The reason why I kind of separate the manga into vague sections so far is because of the direction of the manga kind of changes along with the main character's development over the series, as affected by his previous experiences. Looking back, I think it all comes together well, even the middle parts which I thought I didn't like as much when reading, but later felt was important in leading to future character development.

Fushi's personality and character development is the most interesting part of the seiries. Other series often also have empty AI or god-like characters, but I found this manga's one the most realistic in how he actually gains his character, especially at the start of the series when he was a blank state. We can really see how he came to be what he is from his experiences, and how circumstances and the people around him shaped his thought processes and values. He doesn't just learn empathy or have a distinct personality and core values all of a sudden, and even this changes over the course of the series and continues to do so. Is he going to be more human? Is he going to be less human? It's impossible to tell how he will end up, which is interesting. The story likewise flows according to what the Fushi at the point wants to do - does he want to fight? hide? run?

And the other major characters - their significance in the story is never limited to just one arc, and they have lasting impact on Fushi and the story. The character interactions are the heart of the story and is also done rather well for the most part. If thought of as a Fushi growth story, the story as a whole flows continuously and nicely rather than being disorganized.

Overall, the strong points of the series is the character growth, interaction, and the general atmosphere of the story (serious, but can be heartwarming and funny too, or sometimes breaks your heart effectively) that keeps you easily emotionally invested. Art is also very good without fanservice and facial expressions are on point. Enjoyment is great but bring a box of tissues. Overall, it's great and definitely recommended and feels worth sticking through to the end.

Edit: Current arc has gotten a little tiring, reminding me of how the series isn't particularly consistent despite its times of greatness. Shall drop it back down to a 8 for now but remains to be seen!

About the period between chapters 1 - 116:
This is art. Fushi's learning process about what is the world around him, about what are the living beings that make up this world and what is in fact a living being is beautiful and very well told. The bonds he forms with humans that become important in his journey are bonds that become part of the reader, especially when Fushi realizes that they are all passengers and that he must draw some conclusions from them that will influence his development as a person and not merely be a mere living being.
This manga period ... has several emotional catharses while showing a charming medieval world with great art.
But what about the second part that follows after chapter 116? It is undoubtedly inferior. It is fun and you, reader, realize that there is a possible discussion there, but what would be the purpose? How will this initially presented "reconnection" that started this arc work with the supposed conflict over "peace" offered to humans who give up living? The second part seems totally lost. For now it has a number of chapters similar to when the story introduced us to Gugu, perhaps the most striking character to the reader on the Fushi's journey, do you understand the difference in "quality"? It is as if the narrative has not developed something.
I believe that it would be better if the author had a hiatus before that, that she could work better this period or had just finished the story during chapter 116, but I still hope for a good resolution coming from her about this conflict between the Reconnection, the withdrawal of the life and the consequent "peace" (which in the previous period was generally associated with the freedom offered by death).
It's a good manga!

This manga has the one of the worst DOWNFALL I have ever seen.

The story started off amazing, we were introduced to the main protagonist, an "immortal" object slowly evolving into a boy "Fushi". We have to see him got himself into different situations along with many interesting characters and how each of them develop him as a human.

But after that first 2 arcs you can just completely forget what I said.

-----MINOR SPOILER---

STORY: 5
No sense of progression what so ever. Such
...
- We learn nothing about the ONLY villain we have for 80+ episodes.
- A lot of meaningless time skips, same town, same villain, same knowledge about the world.

Character: 2
Now this where it got shit, The main 2 characters that stick around have no concrete personality at all and only acts accord to plot convenience.
- Fushi can't be decisive about anything in his life whether he wanna save human, get a friend or be alone.
- Fushi REPEATEDLY got trapped, tricked, poisoned baited by the same type of people over and over again, and at this point he has spent hundreds of years with human. (Basically being that dumb OP MC)
- Blackhood is a confusing butthole. He would turn Fushi around if he see him being unproductive, but when Fushi was trapped for weeks he just ignore. At the same time refused to tell Fushi anything after hundreds of years.

Art: 4
Just meh, no scenes or characters were spectacular while some panel looked lazy or out of place.

Enjoyment: 4
To be honest, I just just stick around because I liked the premise and the first 2 arcs. It was a boring ride since everything is all over the place then solved by plot convenience over and over again.

Overall:4
TLDR: The show heavily rely on characters but they messed up. Read it if you are fine with a short ride in the beginnings and don't care if it flop. Otherwise don't try to disappoint yourself like I did.