Well, I don't know how to feel about that...
The writing here is decent, and as you'd expect from Kamachii, there's some pretty original content here, setting it apart from other works that would look ridiculous if they tried that battle bikini "mecha outfit" shit again.
Before I spew my hatred for certain parts, let me point out a little bit about the premise and some good philosophies!
It's the apocalypse in an age of plenty, although the premise at the beginning, resonates more like a copy of "The boys", but full of ecchi and with more uninteresting characters, although with some better texts for the script
The theme
...
of the "strongest" here is also managed for the constitution of revenge, which in reality turns out to be the main theme and the title of "the strongest" is just its subtext, which is ethical revenge.
The strongest system here is governed by the conspiracy system, that is, without a freedom permit, because "Either you are the strongest governed by the rules, or you are the strongest that distorts the rules".
Here, the work represents that distortions of rules, normally mark the end of a civilization, for the beginning of a new one governed by new distorted rules, being then polished like a crystal until they can be sold in the most beautiful ways possible, at least , so that the most unfortunate population can understand like this on top of the cloths
-Humans are not the dinosaurs that met their fate and are no more. Let's not just tremble with fear! However pathetic, ugly, or lame it may be, we can learn from tragedy. Pain leads us to claim something greater in return! The greater the destruction you place before us, the stronger we will become! Therefore, we will not let it end with our defeat. What you brought to that boat was undoubtedly doom, but that's exactly why we have to keep going so it doesn't end there!! (Usagi Karuta)
It has also been concluded that destroying the position of the strongest for its revenge on the weak, in the end, you will only realize that the top of the world is just an easier place to be targeted when it comes to revenge. It's like a leader of a criminal faction using his own power to abuse his home, and as revenge, he decides to destroy the strongest, without thinking about what it means, destroying that podium and what from the shadows, hides an eternal cycle of revenge of subordinates, thus, the exchange of eras for the stronger (Again, this is only the first type of revenge, will be covered more ahead).
For example, Omotesandou Kyouka's words about his revenge, similar to British dinner and sweets. By themselves they were nasty and didn't sit well in her throat and seemed to hate her very soul, so she thought she'd stop before she destroyed someone, but when she realized that, much like British cuisine, she was disgusted by looking at it the wrong way. ... The desserts were made to accompany with tea and the dinners, accompanied by a beautiful whiskey.
It meant that even though she wasn't going to achieve anything and just destroy herself when she was alone, when accompanied, everything would go down so much easier and she could revel in her own madness, because the nothingness that was in her was filled by another emptiness..... And so, a certain terrorist group was born, filled with hatred for having nothing to protect (Actually, what made them different, was that they were supported by justice, thus, their ethical revenge)
And then the prophecy comes true and we meet the "impostor".
The scenario being then, probably about the post-revenge cycle of hate, generating more curses and no time for peace, although there is happiness and ecstasy in observing the emptiness of not achieving anything with your revenge, known also as self-affirmation of what you just lost (It is also worth mentioning that the work portrays self-destruction, but it also does not deny its reactionary revenge, like Amaashi Marika for example)
"But once they started their revenge, that's how it ended. None of your hated enemies were gone, and your good friends ended up killing each other. Guns, money and intelligence weren't the most important things in seeking revenge. Above all, you needed trust, friendship and unshakable feelings"
"Lying and empty as a shell, the imposter raised his arm, thinking he could achieve something, because even if he failed, he would still have left something behind, right? Ah... But this something, it was also revenge"
"The imposter hoped to succeed in the future, no matter what the cost, and therein lay his mistake. Not looking to the future, but looking to the past, sinking into his deep ties rather than superficial revenge."
-That doesn't make sense, but that's okay... I never looked for that kind of reason in my revenge. Because if you decide it's not worth it, that's where the fear comes in. So I won't change what I do, goodbye (impostor)
-I'll stop you... I know it's selfish and hypocritical coming from me, but I'll stop your revenge no matter what! Before you end up like everyone else who choked on the blood of your vengeful self-mutilation! Fail your revenge and you die, but even if you succeed, what you see in front of you is all you get!!! My hands are already stained with blood, I know very well what I took from you, but for that reason, although I can't give you anything, I can stop you here and now, so that you don't lose anything else! I will end the chain of loss and violence here and now, even if I have to stoop to any level to do so!!! (Usagi Karuta)
When the title that justice wields is turned against the strongest, they are cast into their sins, and it behooves them to either accept or flee in self-assertion their lack of real strength....
The moment they realized that justice was no longer on their side, they were on the devil's path, giving up justice and understanding that it was only their group's worth, and nothing more.
When confronting the threat, it seems to behave as a kind of simulation of the theme of revenge, being mysterious for not knowing even its own feelings, confusing humans, validating its existence by continuing to consume others to achieve its revenge, and realizing that in the end , has not fought for anyone but himself, for humans themselves to realize, how little rewarding this journey is, although, it is necessary when it threatens your life and those you need to protect, thus, ready for the consequences of stealing evil and claiming justice as "the strongest"
-Do you think every action has a purpose behind it? Human beings are full of inefficiencies. How we master these inefficiencies is what shapes our lives. Perfect efficiency would make the dullest kind of stronger imaginable. That would only lead to a dystopia... You are putting all your strength into the pointless and pointless act of revenge. You've learned everything there is to know about how we humans enjoy our inefficiencies.
(Usagi Karuta)
"What if that was the true identity of their crystal flower? What if they were ruled by a clock like the Menace, could they still be called human? If you looked beyond the ribs and sternum, you would find the crucial component known as heart?"
"This was a battle between two different types of clock – tuning fork and crystal."
Supported by the crystal embryo, they were different from the threat that were managed by the justice and honor of their own revenge, it was just that they were stage where there was no turning back, following only their premeditated functions, like a robot (One can see the threat as a simulator of revenge for a being that does not have a heart or is not naturally supported by the world, after all, it would then be the crystal embryo that the threat is chasing).
It's like proving that they would just rest their materials on the ground, without reflecting any crystals after they broke. On the other hand, from crystal magicians, one brings the essence of the will of the dead, not mechanically surrounded by honor, but reflected in a heart that was born of light, even if sunk underground, they were warmly close to the center of their lives (more once, crystal embryo and revenge)
When themselves, surrounded by ignorance of their existence and the trust that lay in the world, they break without understanding the path of a demon that was inherent in mistrust.
"No, maybe it was Karuta's group that was naive. The human string pullers have been waging a real war against the witches of the apocalypse since the beginning."
Referencing the path of light that turned into flames for his mistrust, causing a cycle of hatred among his group, not attacking anyone but himself.
The witches of the apocalypse would be none other than man himself when he caused the destruction of the embryo in his despair.
"They would confess to a crime with the biggest smile on their face, not realizing that what they did was wrong"
It is about a perception that one should trust one's friends for revenge, but never, in the world that betrayed them, even once, could it be at this very moment, that the self-mutilating despair arising from a mad conspiracy, would appear and it would devastate everything.
So when Karuta sets out to fight off all disaster in his final tournament match, it's in a dance of self-devastation, brilliantly represented in his final battle!
-Come up here. Only part of the truth can be conveyed verbally, so if you want to know more, start by clenching your fists. There is a future and a truth that we need to confirm. If the puppets stopped, the music stopped, and if the music stopped, the dancing couldn't continue, but we still have our bodies here. Our fight to the death is nothing more than a divine dance we offer to a god to get something in return... It's not about a dark revenge story! Let's just shed our bodies and tear our flesh to reach the world we want without extra worries (Pendet Denpasar)
Brought together between good and evil, "Barond and Rangda", these "were not backup dancers, they were the band, an indispensable part of the musical performance, and if they were injured there would be extra worries".
It was about forgetting all the hate for revenge and reveling in the dance that will offer your peace to your departed friends. For if there were all kinds of vengeance scattered around the world, there were also all kinds of diversions to forget about it all and create an honorable battle for your own happiness and justice.
In short, when the balance between good and evil was upset, there would be hate, and it would be up to you to remember the music of destruction and salvation that brought you here, and dance to your own tune, forgetting hate and remembering honor , not pursuing the path of the devil, but varying between the just and the unjust through the difficulties and types of revenge that resonated through his life (In a way, although misused at the beginning for reasons that I will explain later, the path of the angel and of the devil intersect here, and from him, such an artistic dance is born)
The threat does not hate the man, it is only natural that the threat wants to learn more about the man, after all, they hate him, and nobody wants to despair to the point of not being interested in the meaning and direction of such hatred. The fact that they persecute the strongest is just also the reaction of a cycle of hatred that was difficult to define between good and evil, but very easy between allies and enemies. As also stated in the precise definition of the threat...
-The threat is nothing more than a transmitter of power in essence, so it doesn't create anything by itself, it's just the result of human feeling {hatred}. (Transline)
-Hee hee. No matter how much you celebrate your own prosperity, there is a limit that a single species can never cross. Just as a natural crystal is surprisingly fragile to external impacts!! Ah ha ha ! In that sense, I was right! I wasn't wrong!! It was the combination of carbon-based and silicon-based humans... whatever that was. They had to intentionally accept this impurity into their group to achieve this flexibility as a way of life! In moderation, even a burden or impact can trigger growth. You can't just focus on perfect cleaning in your factory needs!! Hee hee hee, gya ha!! This is the shape the future must take!!! (Transline)
When the world's strongest denied that the threat was trying to protect them, refusing his mercy, the four celestials fought their own hypocrisy and in the end, they fell together.
If you can interpret the "search for new forms of life" transline, as the search for new feelings that gave meaning to life, this type of result and allocation between "hate and love", becomes much easier to understand. That's why it was fated for "hate" to overcome humanity, in an intermittent loop of self-destruction and salvation, it could be identified as the cycle of life, but if it destroyed you more than it saved, it was no different from purgatory
Because I've gone on too long already, I'll just quote not so deeply, the mystery building, strategies, world building and characters, which are definitely the worst points of the series and which throw beauty in the trash and recycle the parts they save, if making a mediocre work......
It is difficult to define a definitive value for the conspiracy of mystery and consecutively of the world, as it is a great confusion. More specifically, the world's various irregularities become conspiracy, which does not mean a lack of explanation or a freedom to plot holes, just that the answer is not certain.
The construction of mystery in this work is like breaking the basic teaching into loopholes so that they seem silly at first glance, but repair themselves over time, until they return to the shape of the original plan... This is not simply how to break the basics, and rebuild just to reach the bare minimum!? It's not a big deal, quite the contrary, it's creating stupid unhappiness and later cleaning it up with an apology. It's beating up someone on the street, then paying for your health insurance and fast food! At least, that's how I felt my IQ was treated, I felt incredibly more homo neanderthalis than I normally am! Or should I say it made me feel smarter about things even a monkey could predict? What a big shit, and as a monkey, I feel obliged to take this shit and throw it in the face of the readers of this, like in a zoo
As it is unfair to work with subjectivity, I will present more detailed examples (still, without spoilers)...
And what the hell was that "agreement" in volume 4? Eliminate one of the 4 celestials for another to command!? Shit, you're talking about the threat here, make 5 celestials and share the power of the world! Even with some conspiratorial excuse bullshit like "The reserve", it's still unacceptable how the population accepted such a factor and how Karuta could easily object to this or just say "And who will control Aine!?", being a pretty stupid script and forced here
Nor could I forget that cursed nuclear agreement and the strategies that were achieved.....
Invading the threat is like invading the headquarters of the main army that will protect the country. It's a little ridiculous to think that just a flashlight, some ill-considered strategies and a crystal waifu pokemon would work.
I mean, in the same way that the human learned about the threat, the threat learned about the human, but the main difference is that there was no scattered information about the threat, while the information of the crystal magicians was all over the place.
If infrared doesn't work, use natural body temperature detection to protect the interior. At least the radars and mines, even if they didn't work, it was in a fair way, albeit very long and boring.
It annoys me how everything was resolved into "peeking" and "flashlight" as if this were an assassins creed rpg game or a cheesy horror game.
And yet, even if the script uses this idiotic "facilitation" as a conspiratorial grind system, I won't be calling anymore until this moment comes!
Oh, and don't let me forget how easy it was for the enemies in volume 1 to track down the shards, since it was obvious who was attacking (especially when you remember that the "enemies" had all the information needed for a search).
Just as irritating is remembering that they were killed before they could pass their information on to the next generation, but the manner was so messy and illogical (after all, they had enough time to live for this), that it seems silly to think how many problems would have been solved. if only the script had been a little more daring to reveal the important information earlier or simply to have better organized the "assassination" group to prevent information from leaking out.
Shit, this conspiracy really is a mess!
At least, as a vote of confidence, there are really good twists here, like the "impostor" that seems like a confusing and poorly explained mystery at first, but when you realize the context, all the puns above make sense. The relationship between the threat and the space elevator was also very good, while the surprise of the "witches of the apocalypse" and their connection with the "cutters", was just as good! Oh, I can't afford to forget certain good strategies, like using the "threat's" design multiple times against it and plans to avoid its "cannibalism", which really work well
Finishing the criticism route, we have the characters......
It's 95% silly jokes and 5% serious.
The philosophy is good indeed, but there aren't enough complex or deep characters to go with it. Even Aine, which is the very concept of the crystal and the reflections that are assumed after the state of death and its connection with the clarity of the embryo, are much more script than her character, after all, she must have only 20 pages of development and the rest is the comic part of their situations, that's all...
A big mistake here is also to separate the 5 main characters, as truly they shine when they are together, and not in their uninteresting social circles! Seriously, there are only 7 good characters around here, and only one of them is a great character!
So, instead of chase revenge, we should run for the kindness of being alive, at least for Karuta, denying revenge so as not to fall further into the abyss (particularly, the character I least liked)
Marika is the one who just wants to protect her sanctuary, and doesn't mind falling into the abyss to do so, for example...
-I'm going to let the title of strongest in the world consume me, because that way I can also be overcome by the fear of losing the people important to me. No matter what, if it takes cruel action to preserve my friends' crystal, then I will destroy their flesh without hesitation (Amaashi Marika)
Kyouka is the one who accepts revenge and enjoys it corrupting her heart while her friends purify her despicable side, even in the abyss, she doesn't even care to return to the light.
The issue of the crystal embryo is probably the human kindness that is trying to overcome hatred... The fact that the world's own logic says that overcoming the threat, the simulation of hatred, was impossible, is also the reason for looking for the miracle.
Consequently, Aine behaves like the foundation, being the nucleus itself in movement that after realizing that humanity could not overcome the threat, moved towards the individual who did not make a contract with a God and could not see the meteorological lines that they traced your power before the blue sky
STORY: 6 (Good revenge story, good texts, but its construction of mysteries stinks, and as the subtlety of the mystery lies in its conspiratorial conflicts, the construction of the world, even with its poetic sense, is mediocre when considering its mistakes and gaps ....
VOLUME 1: 6.5
VOLUME 2: 7.0
VOLUME 3: 5.5
VOLUME 4: 4.5
VOLUME 5: 8.0 )
CHARACTERS: 5 (Unexpectedly, the best character wasn't Kyouka, Karuta or Marika... But Pendet Denpasar!)
FUN: 4 (It felt like reading Index's NT16 over and over again it was so boring, although I won't deny certain qualities because of that)
ART: 6 (Visually beautiful, but the base of the characters' faces is very easily distorted, in addition to not having much insight into the world itself ..... Oh, and the KING-SIZE mattress that are Aine's thighs, it's divine!)
Finally, I fall to my knees in reverence, for it certainly wasn't a waste of time and it taught me certain things I never thought of before. In clarity, I end my prayer with the question about this whole corruption story....
"After all... Did they become the strongest because they were uncommon or did they become uncommon because they were the strongest?"
EXTRA NOTE: At the end of it all, the senpai who appeared in the first volume Karuta would try to reach, disappeared with an empty trail.... Did I miss something, or was she really forgotten?
Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Apocalypse Witch: To the Strongests of an Age of Plenty Japanese: アポカリプス・ウィッチ 飽食時代の【最強】たちへ InformationType: Light Novel
Volumes: 5
Chapters: 30
Status: Finished
Published: Sep 10, 2019 to Jul 8, 2022
Theme:
School
Serialization:
None StatisticsScore: N/A1 (scored by - users) 1 indicates a weighted score. Ranked: #252682 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #27555
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Your Feelings Categories Mar 5, 2023
Well, I don't know how to feel about that...
The writing here is decent, and as you'd expect from Kamachii, there's some pretty original content here, setting it apart from other works that would look ridiculous if they tried that battle bikini "mecha outfit" shit again. Before I spew my hatred for certain parts, let me point out a little bit about the premise and some good philosophies! It's the apocalypse in an age of plenty, although the premise at the beginning, resonates more like a copy of "The boys", but full of ecchi and with more uninteresting characters, although with some better texts for the script The theme ... |