Zetman

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Zetman is a Devilman derivative (or in the case of the original one-shot, an obvious pastiche) that fills the niche of those looking for a darker, sexier superhero comic while retaining some of the camp of the genre, along with character duality reminiscent of a reversed Batman/Superman dynamic. Fans of the slow-burn will enjoy the steady build of the plot, while others may be frustrated at points where it seems to move *too* slow.

Its strongest point lies in its artwork, which will likely keep people reading despite bumps in story construction. The artwork is beautiful and polished, with immaculate attention to detail and anatomy put ... into the character designs and settings, which is impressive during extensive fight scenes with highly detailed characters. Those who appreciate the hyper-detail that goes into works like Berserk will likewise also appreciate the effort put into Zetman's art and design.

Storywise, Zetman is a familiar sci-fi take on a classic subject and becomes fairly meta as genre-specific anime origins become integrated into its plot. While slowly paced, the story is full of timeskips and flashbacks, at times becoming incoherent or suffering from superfluous dialogue when the priority should be "show, not tell." The attention to detail is extensive, but the storytelling would benefit with streamlined editing. While the overall soul of the story is meant to be in the internal conflicts of the main characters with a "nature vs. nurture" subtext, it remains weak by being largely driven by plot points, with the main character remaining fairly static. While a hit-and-miss for some, Kouga's character arc remains the most dynamic thus far.

This lack of dynamism extends to the female characters to a great degree - most lack dimension and serve as plot devices to create conflict for the male characters. It's worth mentioning that this manga could be called "Fridged Women: Zetman Edition." Those with a low tolerance for this trope will quickly become frustrated by the constant sexualized peril and exploitation of the female characters, which appears so fetishistic it can border on guro. While tolerable the first few times, the constant recurrence can quickly become redundant and exhausting. Those discerning of well-developed romance will probably crinkle their nose when the first major one comes out of left field, feeling jarringly hasty and uncharacteristic. The motive for the shoddily constructed romance is blindingly obvious, which will leave some with a sour taste.

For all its flaws, Zetman has its poignant moments and is worthwhile for those looking for a niche seinen with retro superhero vibes. This story could also satisfy anyone simply looking to read something with beautiful art. It is committed to retaining suspense and tension, which makes it an exciting read when all the elements flow smoothly. With the action only now seeming to truly kick off, it could still have time to iron out its flaws.

A manga with great art, but that's all it has to offer.

An uninteresting story with a shallow development that doesn't seem to go out of place.

Apart from the characters that are very one-dimensional. Seeing Kouga screaming "justice" all the time is so irritating, and development around this theme is nil.

The art is beautiful, that's a fact. The fights are also very well done.
But that's not all that makes a story good to follow.

Anyway, it wasn't a good read. But the main point that led me to drope was because the work had an open ending for an act 2 that never came...
I see no reason ... to follow a work that has no conclusion, frustrating any use of history.

TL;DR: It starts off well but gets annoying and pointless after the second half.

The first part of the work is good, seeing the two childhoods and origins of the main characters until the point where they meet becomes very interesting, seeing how Kouga's perfect sense of justice clashes with the difficult reality that Jin lived, seeing the disagreement of both until a friendship and partnership begins. Up to this point the work remains good and interesting, but it starts to go downhill from there.

After this, the story just gets messy, mainly because of the character named Seiji. The manipulation he does at first is mysterious ... and interesting, but it goes on until it becomes irritating and gets worse and worse. This character makes no sense and you won't understand it even at the end. Who he is, what side he's on, why he acts the way he does, no one knows and there's no way to know because it doesn't even make sense.

Another bad point in the story is the uninterrupted sequence of plot twists. Almost every character has their dark secret that makes them switch sides, act against expected or he was manipulating everyone all the time. Most of them don't make any sense and the reader doesn't get any clue about their actions, for me it's just a cheap and poorly done way to impress the reader, but when you stop and think, you realize that it's just bad writing.

The worst part of all is the ending. I can respect an author's choice not to deliver a happy ending or one that most of the audience expected by the author's own choice, as long as it is well written and makes sense, which is not the case here.

The actions that one of the characters takes at the end were very drastic and unforgivable. I could understand it due to the fact that he was being manipulated, but even after the control is lost, the character changes so much that he is not even the same person. There is no feeling of remorse or guilt. It seems that the whole story that happened between them never existed. Their actions from that point on completely change the course of the story to a terrible and bad written ending.

What I can praise about the work is the art, it is really well done, it really conveys the emotion of the events of the work, which I would have appreciated a lot if I wasn't frustrated with the story.

To conclude, I do not recommend this work, and even though it says that there could be a sequel on the last page, I wouldn't read it because there is no way to fix the poorly written story.

Obs: I don't speak english very well, so mostly is Google Translated