Sugoi Smartphone
Super Smartphone

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- Overall (6/10):
The best way to describe ‘Super Smartphone’ would be: It’s like ‘Death Note’, but in a friendlier package and with a way more heroic and plain protagonist. The smartphones instead of the death notes and information instead of murder gave a modern touch, but lost its psychedelic and dark aspects. It still tries to add these, but without enough impact. Meanwhile due to the limited time, because of the cancellation, we get a few plain characters. A very soon introduced main villain, some almost unused side characters and a solid, maybe too good, protagonist. So altogether, an appealing manga, which I wished had ... more time to unfold the mangakas ideas.

But let’s see the specs of this ‘Super Smartphone’!

- Processor (6/10):
The core aka the processor of a good manga is a good story (at least in my opinion), and we get that. The premise is that our intelligent, but bored MC finds a ‘Super Smartphone’, which can search for ANY information (within the rules). These can be used to do a lot of crime, like the villains, or as our protagonist, to solve them. And as soon he finds out there are more of them a mind-battle begins.
I’m sure that a lot of you will think, ‘wait a minute… this sounds very familiar!’... Yes, it has many similarities to the concept of ‘Death Note’. However, this modernization appealed to me, but I can understand who thinks why should they read that, if they could read the original instead. On the other hand, which I prefer, why should I read something that I already know, if there is something similar and also interesting. Of course an information battle is not that intense as fighting a murderer. And while ‘Death Note’ definitely tested the Shounen genre’s boundaries, this manga moved within a safer zone, but it was still good. If it wouldn’t have been canceled and it could unfold its own story more, it would have been a solid 7. However, especially at the end, it was way too rushed…

- Display (6/10):
Now let’s see the screen, the resolution and the colors… I mean the tones. And to be honest, the art was nothing special. Not per se bad and still good, but not great either. The character designs were modern, nothing flashy, except maybe the main villain, but maybe also looking more like children/teens than necessary. Solid lining, shading and the backgrounds were rarely empty. Again, the art was good, flawless but not extraordinary.

- Extras (3/10):
The manga’s weak points were definitely the extras, also called characters, which were mostly really nothing more than just some extras. For example, the childhood friend of the MC is just there to be saved in the first arc. The fellow Superphone user is as fast gone as he came. The genius female detective, which was a fan favorite, had almost no impact on the story and was rarely present… It is common that a canceled manga doesn’t have the time for the side characters, so let’s focus on the pro-and antagonist.
Our MC is a bored guy with high intelligence, a kind of cheap version of Yagami Light (‘Death Note’). But with his newly achieved powers he tries to solve the mystery of his missing little brother and to solve as many crime cases as possible. Very noble and straight forward, but nothing that catches the ready immediately. Simple, he is too plain. The antagonist is a famous, rich and powerful adult. His goal? World domination… Of course. Repeating myself, way too simple, even if he is a bit crazy and egoistic. At least his character design is nice.

- Battery (7/10):
To have a good phone a strong battery is indispensable, and this manga has a strong one! To end all these metaphors, how long you can enjoy a manga is the same as how long a phone can be used until you recharge it. And I really enjoyed it, and I think it could have been even more if it would have lasted longer. All these information battles and mind-games were nice, the mysteries good enough to stick around. But it is totally understandable that you need characters with more impact, a story which is more original and not just a cheap ‘Death Note’ version.

However, the only reason why I wouldn’t recommend it, even if I enjoyed it, is because it was canceled so the end was way too rushed and destroyed a lot of the fun.

When Super Smartphone began I was interested, but not hooked. I only kept up for a month or two and then dropped it. The premise sounded cool, but wasn't used in a way that kept me reading weekly. On a fundamental level, I liked the plot. At times I even felt that the story had some nice suspense accumulating. Alongside the plot, our main character's motivations built satisfyingly through the series and I feel that with enough time Super Smartphone would have become a good manga, rather than just fine. The cancellation definitely had a negative effect on the manga's pacing near the end, but ... this is inevitable. Beyond the writing itself, the art of Super Smartphone is nothing incredible. The character designs are definitely the best part, as the art style and environments are just okay. It's always a bittersweet feeling to finish reading a manga after it was cancelled recently. Super Smartphone wasn't the best manga ever, and it could have been more interesting. To say I disliked any part of the manga would be incorrect though, some elements just weren't as good as they could've been. But, by the time I finished reading I was intrigued and left wishing I could learn more about the world.