Masamune-kun no Revenge
Masamune-kun's Revenge

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I've decided to read this manga after watching the anime to know the full story as many things were left unanswered, and I wasn't disappointed. The manga wrap up everything nicely with many plot twists and develops the characters much more.

The story is the same as the anime until the karaoke meeting after the Snow White play, and the anime was surprisingly really faithful to the source. For those who watched the anime, the new story starts with a field trip to Paris. The start of this arc was pretty boring to me with the introduction of a french weeabo girl and some shenanigans with ... her older brother's mafia. I didn't like this character and the premise of this arc, but it got a lot better later and its end was beautiful and dramatic, creating depth to Makabe, Adagaki and Koiwai's characters when their relationship got more complicated and entangled by lies. After that, the story keeps developing the characters and their relationships and showing a lot of plot twists, it never gets bad from that point. I particularly enjoyed Adagaki and Yoshino relationship development, when they finally question their placed as master and servant as their wishes conflict but they still care for each other. And I even like the selfish attempts by Fujinomiya at getting closer to Makabe, or how she responds clueless to Kojuurou flirt attempts.

Everything is great until chapter 48, so I ask: why did the author decided to ruin everything with chapter 49? The problem is not that Adagaki won, I always loved her character and liked her and Masamune together, but the problem is how it happened. The last chapters until the 48 were some of the best in the manga with many emotional scenes and a beautiful conclusion to Yoshino, and it was a chance for the author to surprise the readers and go for an unexpected route. But instead, in chapter 49 we get to know that the Yoshino and Makabe's end was just a joke and then Makabe and Adagaki end up together, end of the story. It was so bad that it made me question if the author was compelled to end the story that way for some reason and couldn't do things how he wanted. For some reason, the sequel "Masamune-kun no Reven After School" is included in this entry. It's an after story, each chapter focusing on a different character. It has some really funny chapters and shows Masamune and Adagaki together as a couple, which is really cute, it even made me glad that they ended up together. It's good that After School exists because I was thinking about giving this manga a 1 after chapter 49, but this made me look at the good sides of the story again.

The art is beautiful, I love Tiv's artstyle and character design, and I'm definitely looking forward to see more from this artist. There were many memorable panels, and each page was nice to look at.

Masamune-kun no Revenge was an enjoyable romcom manga and I recommend it to people who likes this genre, knowing that the story is not really serious and gets absurd sometimes, and that the common tropes are present here. I would give it a 8 if it was not for what happened in chapter 49, but still a really good manga overall.

SPOILER FREE.
How hard can it be to write a decent story with a decent ending. Up until the last 5-10 chapters. I would’ve given this manga a solid 7 maybe an 8 out of 10. This is my first review and I just need to express my disappointment.
The story starts out with an interesting unique premise in romcoms, a story of revenge. The MC starts out seeking revenge on the FMC who humiliated him long ago when they were children. Now an unrecognizable attractive high schooler he seeks out the FMC and wants to cause her the same pain she caused him, but ... as he spends more time in his quest of revenge he builds real friendships with the students around him.
This is pretty much where the uniqueness ends, the situations and scenarios the characters find themselves in feel pretty generic. Despite being generic, the manga managed to hold my interest as new details were revealed about the past. New love rivals are introduced, and the MC is forced to confront his conflicting feelings of seeking revenge and accepting the new relationships he’s built.
Everything seems to be going well, although it feels very rushed, progress is being made in the story and then BAM! Big twist in the plot right towards the end. I was completely caught off guard, “What ? No way the author would do that!” This twist was not something I wanted, but it is something I welcomed. Right as the story was getting boring he managed to surprise me and hold my interest. I was looking forward to where he was going with this sudden twist and then BAM! Two chapters later and he takes it back.
Why even tease the readers with the sudden revelation and then take it back ? The author makes it seem like our MC will take this new road no one knew existed and then closes it once again. It makes no sense how these characters flip flop between their feelings. One chapter they feel a certain way then the next they feel completely opposite with no context to explain it.
I enjoyed this manga but the ending feels rushed and characters have no explanation for the decisions they make.

I originally wanted to type "what" and be done with this review, but since there's apparently guidelines to follow, I suppose I'll elaborate.

I'm a big fan of romantic comedies. Dish them with an original concept, cute art, and a side of enemies to lovers; I'm sold. Masamune-kun had all of these factors, but after reading the first few chapters, I didn't feel particularly satisfied. The stars were closely aligned, but outside metaphoric language, all that spells is an astronomical disaster. The first sign of warning was the cast. Each is fueled by their own enigmatic and conflicting motivations, with potential for development and overlapping histories. ... However, the author never seems to know what to do with them. In an attempt to create a multifaceted lineup, the author routinely creates miniature twists in the place of character development. This isn't necessarily an issue in itself, but the constant resets between chapters and anticlimatic plotlines leave the cast feeling inconsistently depicted. Although I left with a sigh of disappointment, I begrudgingly continued on. At the very least, I was enjoying the upbeat art design, and I still held partial hope that my favourite tropes would become realised. Unfortunately, these inconsistencies were only a sign of the overarching direction that followed.

It's difficult to explain why the narrative is frustratingly poor while avoiding spoilers, but I'll begin by noting that all of those minor criticisms become larger and more prominent as the series progresses. The author never seems to be able to make up his mind on where the plot and cast will progress. Characters with hidden identities and mysterious motives are introduced one by one; each exchanging references to dark pasts soon to be revealed. But amongst those that aren't immediately sidelined or removed entirely, rarely do these threads add up to anything. The main 'antagonist' has their ploys unraveled by the lead in a two-page gag; the rivals immediately give up; and most commonly, the manga pulls a double twist. Credit to the writer, some of these narrative turns are both unexpected and exciting, but almost all of them are followed by a character denouncing their truth. As soon as a plot point is introduced, it is immediately invalidated. Perhaps most egregiously, the final few arcs retcon development in exchange for longevity.

Towards the conclusion of the manga, there are four points where one might expect the story to stop. The 'defeat' of the rival antagonist, the confession, the twist, and the retcon double twist. The story continues on. When I opened my review with "what" I was referring to the experience of reading past the logical ending. What was the point? Each of the final arcs leads to the exact same conclusion, so the story effectively meanders around for 15-20 chapters. The exception here is in the character twist prior to the conclusion, which for what it's worth, at-least justifies the hesitation. Unfortunately, as per previous examples, it is immediately and groundlessly ignored - this time, off-screen. By the time the final arc arrives, there is little payoff or excitement; just repetition and confusion: a single "what," if you will. For whatever reason, whether it be indecision; magazine influence; popularity; or minor loose-ends, the manga continues on. Even after the narrative has technically concluded, extra chapters are thrown in with last-second gags, side-character 'arcs,' and a minor time-skip where the heroine's personality 180s.

I didn't enjoy Masamune-kun. After initial disappointment, I expected to eat popcorn and blush to a pretty trope bag of mediocrity. Instead, I was left confused as the story plot threads consistently led no-where, weekly retcons muddled an almost entirely linear arc, characters were introduced and immediately sidelined; and the narrative refused to end. The question of why I felt so inclined to write my first MAL review at 5AM was then because I was baffled and disappointed. The writer has genuinely interesting ideas, but a lack of will or ability to follow-through with them. I'm optimistically excited to read their other work, if only in the hope that those ideas shine through more thoroughly.