I wouldn't call this work "pretentious" because I don't think Hideo Yamamoto is a good enough writer to be called pretentious. I would, however, call it a rambling, messy attempt at philosophising.
The art in Homunculus is fantastic, and the story is intriguing, but the manga loses itself when Yamamoto slows everything to a grinding halt to have two characters repeat lines of nonsensical dialogue to each other in an attempt at driving home some "deep" message. "We get it. We got the message 10 chapters ago. There's no need to repeat yourself." I found myself saying that (in my head) nearly every chapter.
When the manga
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 Alternative TitlesJapanese: ホムンクルス More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 15
Chapters: 166
Status: Finished
Published: Mar 17, 2003 to Feb 21, 2011
Theme:
Psychological
Demographic:
Seinen
Serialization:
Big Comic Spirits Authors:
Yamamoto, Hideo (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #2682 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #81
Members: 135,998
Favorites: 7,155 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 7 / 54
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May 3, 2012
This manga bothers me. The story is very unique, deep, and very memorable. But not in a good, happy way. It still haunts me after a year since I read it, and the reason is its honest portrayal of human nature, good or bad. Mostly bad, though. The main character strikes me as a very superficial individual, not to mention narcissistic. While the idea of trepanation itself is disturbing, the ending is simply painful to watch. I am not saying this is not interesting, it is definitely interesting, but I cannot give it a high rating because of the dark and tragic storyline.
Feb 24, 2015
Homunculussssssssssssssss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What-what? 600 people favorited this one? Are you freaking serious? Damn, Ya'll are crazy motherfudgers. I picked this manga up out of curiosity thinking like what's up with that manga cover, and I haven't read the synopsis that time. Yeah, I know stupid me, and I remember It was really terrible year for me, aanddd that's a different story. Anyways, so here I go flipping through the pages, and boom he drilled his freaking skull. I'm like whaaaaaaaat! To tell you the truth there's lots of stuff in this manga that I do not understand what's going on, Its like me having a brain seizure ...
Jul 20, 2021
After finishing Volume 5 I just couldn't bother with this anymore. An intriguing premise, overall great art and a very strong, well-written start didn't make up for all the drawn out pseudo-philosophical dialogue that would follow, as well as symbolism that varied between blatantly obvious and just exhaustingly weird and uncomfortable. The author approaches interesting topics, but tries way too hard to make them seem deeper than they actually are, killing off both suspense and enjoyment in the process. This manga went in a completely different direction from what I had expected and in my opinion it turned out very disappointing.
Mar 20, 2020
I don't really know how I feel about this manga. The concept and art is unique and refreshing and gripped me in from the beginning but the further into the manga I got, the more of a chore it became. I feel like it was a messy train ride from about chapter 4 till the end. A lot of repetitive bs and just down right weird sexual rapey scenes that tried and attempted to be deep, meaningful and philosophical but failed. Some parts of the manga were done really well and got the point across nicely but that was rare.
In hindsight I would have ... 
Apr 25, 2024
Homunculus is a manga that believes it has more to say than it actually does.
It's not bad, by any means, but it insists upon itself (thanks, Peter) so much it really does feel like the author thought he had more to say, when all he does in most occasions is scratch the surface of what could be done with the premise. There is a feeling permeating the manga; a feeling that keeps you reading because it looks like, at any turn, things are going to get a bit stranger, its themes a bit deeper. Spoiler: they never really do, and while the ride is by ...
Sep 20, 2023
The manga started very promising and unique. To unravel the mysterious symbols that represented the supporting character's past was very clever and satisfying. The movement of the homunculi were very fluid and interesting for each representation. All characters were very well though out and multi-dimensional. However, when we've come to the main character's own personal history towards the end, the pace felt very slow and repetitive and the ending very meh for the tension that's been built up. It just didn't come all together at the end, and it left me wondering what the entire story was supposed to leave me know or understand.
Absolutely loved ... |
