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Dec 21, 2010
Not an overrated masterpiece but clearly a hollow one.
I have to admit I couldn't remove my bias even before I completed the first arc/chapter/plot event. (The way the story is told is via one huge epic. This could just have easily been a Resident Evil type of game, a film directed by Kubrick or a crime thriller novel and thus normal manga reviewing aren't as relevant to grasping the quality of this series)
In that initial bias, I so wanted to shout "overrated" and how this was another fake Hollywood made serial killer story. Monster's plots are more unrealistic, unlikely and forget forced - the characters
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literally are supermen who don't die.
Truth of the matter is though, it does hold a certain charm. A certain finesse. It's probably even a better researched or recreated world than your average quality manga. The artist or the writer isn't very shy in creating the type of epics that would sell well towards those seeking a more defined taste of entertainment in their medium. In that sense it's very high quality work in the sense that the locations and the places are all different and the characters literally move everywhere in the world and they were able to avoid the repetitiveness of focusing on only one or two generic characters. In that sense, keasty might have undersold the idea of a mature Ash Ketchum hovering around the world. This is not your typical rpg or battle manga setting, every new location contains detailed minor characters.
I do however disagree with his review when he says this is more mature. No, the good doctor doesn't help solve anything. Your typical dark Batman strip or even Pokemon attempts to solve more mature problems than the main character in this series. Where it's able to disguise itself as a mature manga is by utilizing many of the same caricatures Award-winning Hollywood films utilize when creating a dark tortured character. Maybe slightly more original but not too much. Think Rambo + Jason Bourne + a doctor that's on par with Black Jack or House but dealing with less mature medical events and mostly involving him using his skills to win over common friends (who happen to be not so common)
It's this element that makes Monster a disappointing manga for those who are looking for a mature themed manga. The Emperor's New Clothes are there but in the end the main protagonist could just have easily disguised himself as the antagonist and the only difference in their heroics is his medical ability. (Which believe it or not is his trump card even at the end. You could even consider this manga a how to guide on how to conquer the world via reciprocity. It's all very Hollywood propaganda-ish like that - although I'm not claiming this manga is maliciously made - it's just cheap like that. The type of pseudo-intellectual inducing scenario that makes it sound original until you realize the lack of depth/strategy or actual background behind any of the events)
What makes this "un-overrated" though is that despite my complaints above, the middle point of this manga is mostly revolving around a conspiracy theory and in that aspect it's very good at playing with the whole Hollywood scenario. Think of it like a dual paradox. What I just wrote above complaining about is at the same time what the plot is addressing on the mystery side of the issue. It's very "plot within a plot/complaint within a complaint" like that and for that it is able to paint an epic semi-realistic dark fantasy that is only broken by the overall merging of all the elements.
In the end, read this manga only if you are planning to complete it. Regardless whether you hate the beginning or the middle or found this to be too long - you've just wasted your time if you don't do this. Treat this like a movie - if you're not willing to watch it till the end - you'll miss out on why you truly hate or love this and all you get is just one whole filler manga. Not because the ending ties things all up but because like a movie the first two stages are worthless unless you reach that 3rd stage of the plot. If you're not able to do this, well I'm not saying the manga couldn't be better in your eyes as the final product does take away many charming elements but suffice to say you won't really be able to fully understand the "canon" of this manga. (although honestly I was bored to tears by the whole series that I didn't bother to check out the novel with the epilogue interviews)
For those still unsure, my hint for why the latter parts of Monster are necessary revolves around a certain dark fairy tale artwork. If you like puppet master types of conspiracy - Monster doesn't have the detailed bite but it does possess one of the better barks. A bark that's good enough to judge this as a whole regardless of how silly/immature/disappointed you are with the series so far. Think of it as finally witnessing the "Monster" although not in a scary but interesting manner.
All the rest? Well, here's a summary of what makes Monster fake and Hollywood only:
-bad psychologists (not even if you don't know anything about psychology)
-super doctor (with little to no medical drama scenes to justify this)
-unrealistic mystery (literally it's one whole chase scene - the mystery revolves around the antagonist already being established in the seedy underground even though it's very unlikely that he should have gotten that far already even by fantasy standards)
-Hollywood minor characters (if you thought Hollywood protagonists were bad enough, the minor characters often edge them via doing some of the most ludicrous ways of surviving and I'm not even referring to those who get lots of return cameo scenes. Even those who died, you can't help but feel after the first couple murder scene every death becomes more and more stupid)
-It could have been way way better and more and more mature if only... (Again going back to MW, part of why it seemed realistic in MW despite it being fantasy was the viciousness and unpredictability of the deaths. Anyone who knows anything about serial killing knows it's the unlikely candidates that make the killings that much hard to locate. Even in terms of fantasy morality, Light Yagami of Death Note fame for example had more caution and strategy than the antagonist of this series even though there's barely any fictional super-weapon in this series and yet the antagonist is able to survive this far and this long. Finally characters are too sensitive despite their hardened background. If MW was preachy because of Tezuka trying to hone in on the severity of the events happening on the characters, Monster is preachy in the opposite manner. Guys have life changing moments despite the scenes being generic and yet they shit on their own revolutions one arc later once the plot doesn't call them to be relevant towards that previous scene anymore. It's like three dimensional fictional characters becoming two dimensional because instead of fully continuing character development - it's all this arc - growth - stop - next arc - growth and then stop and there's no rinse or repeat. It's all intended canon ending up being fillers not because it took too long but because it kept resetting the character's development.)
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 3, 2010
A 10 if you're looking for a case study of shonen, a 4 if you're expecting a high quality battle manga.
What separates MAR above other battle manga is that it cuts through the heart of what shonen is.
There's no filler here folks but neither are you going to get the type of 'faux' unique quality often praised from series like Naruto.
You'll definitely spot the hot blooded hero, the traditional cliches and at first MAR looks like your generic battle manga only if you read through the entire series excluding MAR Omega the sequel you're guaranteed to see a sort of elements of "battle manga
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compendium lite" that makes the artist seem more like he was making a subtle serious satire of the genre rather than striving for mediocrity.
It's all hard to explain but suffice to say what MAR does best is that it is able to contain all the stuff you love and expect from battle mangas but it slices it so thin that instead of getting a quality manga with no filler - you get even less of that while having the whole package intact. There's really nothing quite like it that I've seen. It's like a master musician stopping at the exact point of the crescendo to the point that it feels flawed but you get that he could easily have continued just one sound further and it would have been great.
This holds true for all the plot elements but it stretches further towards the art which is what makes this manga seem poor. You'll see stuff that on hand you'll think cliche or generic and yet when you really think about it, it's original but it's explored at the surface. One of the best scenes to notice this is in a fight with a pinocchio like character later in the series. It's a minor battle but if you pay in particular to how that character speaks and how he attacks and then you re-read that scenes and ignore the elements of the character - you could swear the artist could have easily add one extra sentence, back story or prolonged battle stance and that fight would be more memorable than it should. I'm talking literally "in-your-face" details here even if you're not an artist, a critic or an otaku.
That is the secret of MAR but alas it's not an "official" statement - plus you're probably looking for mangas to be entertained or actual tutorials and official announced satire to be thought provoked and in that element, MAR doesn't fair as well especially with more hardcore audiences who think believe they know the cliches and non-cliches of shonen or believe they can just get that info from TV Tropes or other wiki sites.
Also one thing to keep in mind when considering MAR, it does this so well because it lifts up the rules without breaking them. Example the titular chain ball character is both a follower of the cliche generic battle manga design which seems like it's trying to follow the rule of cool but breaks it horribly but even as the backstory is rushed up until MAR Omega - the thing is able to grow on you while again constantly breaking the rules that should appeal to your taste.
Without spoiling anything, let's just say by the end of the manga, the upgrades to the weapon would all fit the rule of cool quality and would probably make this manga more recognized had the artist designed the sidekick those ways originally but in a masterful stroke, if you reach that far, you'll be more empathic towards the original lame design. An effect that may on the surface seem obvious in that it's clear which design gets the most appearance and is branded into our memory but still as an ingredient of a recipe this is how this manga is able to "tell by showing" the heart of what a true generic shonen manga is and thus in my opinion it is more a valuable tool for the beginner artist/storyteller than everyone else and can't be removed from a high rating in every other criteria except the overall.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Nov 17, 2010
Although this reads like a repeat of the synopsis, I'm writing this review because I feel none of the current reviews nor the synopsis highlighted this important key for those who read reviews before checking out a manga: Aoi Destruction is more competition against magazines like Shonen Jump than it is with a traditional mangas.
If this is a turn off to you, the manga would seem enjoyable but under-represented maybe even over-rated by the reviews. However at the same time this is not a typical collection of personal things made by the artist. It's not just the overall quality that makes or breaks this manga,
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it's the choice selection. First 3 chapters sounds interesting but they can also come off predictable and too lacking to be more than inter-connected one shots. It gets worse with the other 3 chapters.
However at the same time, sure enough these aren't epic showcase pieces but Inoue Kazurou is up there in introducing a great manga plus the tweaks he's made (opposite as one review describes them) makes this the potential definitive template for those artist going into online self-publishing. This potential alone forces this manga to be rated differently depending on how you feel the overall choices and format is when you are consuming the chapters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 17, 2010
Could have been the definitive ecchi shounen, too bad it ended prematurely.
You don't have to look far to spot how many in the forums are complaining about the premature ending. Where I would like to provide my alternative view is in the parts that are understated about this manga.
First off, I disagree with Master_M2K when he says:
"What makes the story interesting isn’t really the predictable romance but the exciting fights and hilarious comedy."
The key word that alienated me from his review was: predictable romance; exciting fights. Worse: hilarious comedy
Obviously different people have different tastes but if you merely come in here expecting an ecchi, you'd
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probably like it but you'll miss out on a lot of the subtle factors that could have made this the Ranma 1/2 of this generation.
First off, the setting. Ring Girl knocking out Street Champ is no typical setting and I avoided all the spoilers after that. Like Rumiko Takahashi's famous manga, this is the type of setting that makes the guy getting beaten up by a girl in a comical manner tolerable: it's all within the rule settings of shounen but transferred unto the female to male interaction.
The fights? They are typical. Maybe exciting to some but like Jackie Chan movies - they're part of a newer style that makes the older ones seem better. It's even worse when the comedy bits come to play. That's when the events are really rushed out and it goes into a more "one shot" type of shounen style.
What makes the combat work though is not only due to the romance but the added elements that are still underrated in combat. Specifically a shounen take on "move prediction" and (finally!) an exciting take on mixed martial arts that contains the heart of a sports manga minus the technicalities - an issue that normally would take away from other sports mangas but in this case allows the situation to explain the complexity of mixed martial arts.
Finally the ending. The ending is a deal breaker, no question about that. It's short and abrupt too. That said if you understand why the manga ending of Hikaru no Go is conclusive enough then the ending shouldn't make you feel like you shouldn't have picked up this manga at all.
For those who haven't read Hikaru No Go, what I mean is that the ending could easily be interpreted as creating a down to earth realistic conclusion of how far the character could actually achieve despite his skills. Clearly most shounen fans would have preferred such endings to be done in the same veins as Ashita no Joe's ending and I doubt you'll hear many who would say they'd rather the manga end this way - however - if you really analyze the situation the characters were in, it's still no mythology breaker.
The characters, considering their skill level and motivation and growth, all could have realistically failed in their universe right after the ending and the manga instead is a culmination of that short golden year.
As of this writing, hardcore MMA fans may get their share of contextual love from this manga too. Currently not only has the Machida Karate Fighter Lyoto Machida proven that karate can excel in MMA if certain Karate values were heeded but he has also been beaten by Shogun Rua in such a manner that many feel Shogun didn't beat Machida because of a gameplan but because Shogun had a "Shogun Rua" gameplan. If you've read both this manga and know who Shogun Rua is, this will make sense.
Not only that, things may change again if Quinton Rampage Jackson beats Lyoto Machida this upcoming UFC 123 and vice versa. Although the skin color of the main antagonist isn't dark like Rampage, the gameplan and mindset he's going to employ would seem similar to what the main antagonist had to have taken. Equally one could say the main protagonist's actions although it caused him to be accepted in being trained by an elite mentor could just as easily stand for an analogical metaphorical loss in which in our reality or in an official combat reality be interpreted as a fighter losing but getting to fight again because of how he fought and how he is employed in a contract.
Nonetheless, I do hope this review convinces you that this manga is worth a check for almost everyone except those offended by how ecchi manga degrades women. Not only does this manga go only as far as panty shots and accidental groping but it is still one of the freshest manga entries in quite a while or at least it could have been if it were continued. There really is no excuse to not check this manga out. I can't guarantee everyone will think it's a 9 but certainly whether you analyze it deeply or see it only for the ecchi scenes there's a quality to this manga that hasn't been done often in a single package in quite a while. The manga world really suffered a loss when this series was discontinued.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Nov 7, 2010
Grittier than your average Itou manga but still nothing to write home about if you checked and weren't shocked by his other horror mangas.
The first thing that may surprise you when checking out Mimi is the fact that for like the first time (at least this was for me), Itou starts the character not only in an urban apartment but the first scary monster is actually portrayed as deadly to the main character.
I'm talking Michael Myers or Freddie Krueger deadly here.
Those who haven't read Itou's other works may wonder what the big deal is when mentioning this tidbit but just so that I don't
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downplay my own critical impression of Itou for those who like these type of horror manga - it's just a case that Itou relies more on village folklore than unstoppable monsters to shock his viewers and even here you will see a sharp decline in the series of short stories after the first one because Itou goes back to his bread and butter.
Other than that, the ending could have been great as it seems Itou tried to gamble with a bad ending but unfortunately at the last minute, he went back to creating open-ended good endings. Had he done so, this might have gone down as a manga better than his most well known work, Uzumaki. Especially the first creature. It is worth picking up just to see how the creature captured the Mary Sue protagonist but again, if you're not a fan of Itou, there's not much else to look forward to until the climax of the last story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 7, 2010
Imagine the concept used in Angel Dust but written like a harem manga.
First off, I'm just writing this review because the other review didn't really went into detail with this manga except for it being incomplete.
Normally this is a sour point except for the fact that even Angel Dust is incomplete.
This just has less of a conclusive final scene. It also loses some of the yuri sweetness in the original Angel Dust but what it replaces it with is a very good short harem manga.
How good?
Let's just say since I have the torrent version, I was thinking of just reading the first chapter. (Each
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folder is separated by chapters)
Unfortunately the final panel always knows when to show something surprising that I ended up viewing the entire thing in one sitting.
This doesn't mean there's anything original happening though. In fact, you could say it's fairly cliche even for a harem plot twist but this is how enjoyable Neo is. It is Oh My Goddess! without the long arcs and I highly recommend anyone who has gotten some enjoyment from a general harem manga to check it out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 6, 2010
Perhaps the Penultimate Sequel to the Exorcist, .REC or any of Stephen King's classics.
Perhaps the Penultimate Prequel to Death Note.
The hallmark of a true heavyweight manga is to leave the reader out of breath before they finish it.
For MW to do this before hitting it's 3rd volume just speaks volumes for how good Tezuka really is.
Don't get me wrong, depending on what movie, book, synopsis, genre you associate with this book prior to reading the first panel will decide how high or low you consider this manga to be but considering how MW matches up to the above titles - it's safe to
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say that even modern day manga readers will find something that will shock them once they are done with this series.
Shock is the key word here.
I think it's hard to find someone who doesn't know the name Osamu Tezuka but I was one of those people.
Most of my Tezuka knowledge comes from Paul Gravett's Manga: 60 years of Japanese Comics.
The rest came from the more childish Astro Boy that is strongly associated with him and even then it could be said that I've learned more of Astro Boy because of the gba treasure game Astro Boy: The Omega Factor in which I have a first glimpse of Tezuka's ability to portray mature themes from the secret ending since I never followed any of the other Astro Boy anime/manga/merchandise.
Whether otakus consider this sacrilege or not, the reality is that Tezuka's art doesn't appeal to me very much and the fact that he is often highly praised gave me an impression that he was more of a "sweet" Hayao Miyazaki mature theme writer rather than the more vicious gekiga artists. (Where I had the assumption, Black Jack is the most mature themed manga he's ever made)
This is why it took spotting an omnibus of MW that got me to consider acquiring this manga and at the time it was mostly so that I can say to myself that I checked out the "classics". (The fact that I never knew Tezuka wrote a horror manga also helped and the other fact that I couldn't afford many manga series and this was 3 volume cemented my decision)
It is safe to say that from the way I'm writing this review that I've been humbled but let me just help better contextify my humility.
There are always the top names in any type of storytelling genre but they aren't always cut out from how they are hyped.
For every Citizen Kanes that may be "great" if the modern audience isn't bored by the premise, there will always be those certain over-hyped entities that do not "wow" a person either because it doesn't age well, it's too mainstream, it's just flashy, it's just lengthy...blah blah blah other reasons but nonetheless whether you approach it from lack of hype or approach it due to the hype...it's always at best "ok to great" but rarely shockingly "...wow" including the aforementioned Citizen Kane.
This was how I see many of Kubrick's movies, King's books, Miyazaki's animes...I just didn't really feel "impacted" by many of their works even if I try to come at them with lowered expectations. I'm not saying their works are "bad" - just not something I would rate highly of.
MW is an exception to that because in the context of many of the above series, it managed to exceed my expectations beyond what I consider the genre of thrillers or horrors in general can reach.
The closest analogy to any modern mainstream manga series that I can think of remains Death Note.
However where this manga separates itself from that series (going as far as being a series I wouldn't submit as a recommendation for Death Note despite it's structure being perfectly good enough to do so) is the lack of..."rule of cool". Obviously there's still elements of exaggerations in here and there's no convenient book murdering tool but the prime reason why this is more down to earth is because of the lack of "invincible bishounens" in it.
Don't get me wrong, there's a hard to beat antagonist/protagonist/anti-hero here but call it preachiness or some other flaw but the layers of the scenes are very society-connected rather than combat or institution competing. Think of it as more TinTin than Shonen.
If this were it's only qualities though, I would assume many would just claim this is textbook Tezuka but it's really when you consider it from a horror or thriller manga perspective that you may start to appreciate why this book is a 10. (and not a 10 because it's a masterpiece but a 10 because it's outstanding)
Here's another classic I feel is overrated: The Exorcist.
Again, don't get me wrong. I'm not one of those people who feel that the Exorcism of Emily Rose is way better just because the technology got better and is able to produce scarier effects.
Not aging well is but a part of why I consider The Exorcist overrated. The main reason though was that the height of it's "horror" was less due to how the film is made but how people feared "the devil" during those periods when it was first showing.
This is why I feel MW is a penultimate sequel. (Setting aside both the dates they were released since I never check those)
This manga didn't just become a worthy associate of that film - It managed to bring that dread back even if you're a modern reader who may not believe in Christianity or demonic possession.
...and in many ways, it brought that back while having events that are the lengths of a King novel.
...and having the premise and staying around the premise of the original .REC (not the poorer sequel)
No shaky cam though but lots of dread.
That said, this manga is still a Tezuka manga and whether you consider that a pro or a con, the bottomline here is that you're not getting several of these:
-the hot blooded eruption of shonen (or cold blooded if you are thinking of Death Note's Yagami Light)
-the willow mystery of shojo
-the boyish feel of seinen (despite the tag)
-the depths of mysteries in thrillers
-nor the psychological nor disgusting bits of horror
...yet many of those elements are still packaged into this series and the combination of it all is what makes it a 10. It would be like enjoying a Golgo 13 except dealing with demonic possession. (Don't let the premise of a schizophrenic monster fool you - unless you're one of those who fear Hannibal Lecter because you think he mimics a serial killer semi-accurately especially the Hopkins version - this is as close to a down to earth semi-realistic demonic possession portrayal you can get from a horror manga)
P.S. Sci-fi fans (those who are less into spaceships but monsters) will also be pleasantly surprised by this manga. I haven't read any quality sci-fi books or manga that deals with this subject matter so let's just say this is like the Outer Limits TV show (the classic as far as consequences go with mixes of the more modern version as far as the horror goes)
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 28, 2010
Normally I tend to write detailed reviews but speaking as one who hasn't read the full Code Geass universe, all I can say is that there are many elements in this side story that makes it feel like a poor rushed adaptation.
Nothing horrifying but in many ways when a work cannot match up to the previous work but tries to be part of that universe, there are just elements that will make the disappoints worse.
However if you're wondering why my personal rating for Nunally is 10 and the overall is 3, this is because I read the scanlated letter of the person who made this
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during the final chapter and it was just... so heartfelt - I couldn't deny a person who tries to make a masterpiece and succeeds at it short of a 10 because I didn't like said person's vision. On the other hand, reviews are still for those who are "curious" about a work and so I don't feel like lumping my two ratings together especially since you must literally endure up till the end for that last message to have such an impact on your perception of this manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Sep 22, 2010
A (highly) unique manga but not deserving the amount of high reviews it has on MAL.
The thing that stands out to me is how far off the reviews are with the actual "overall" definition of the manga.
This can be understandable as it can be quite difficult reviewing a manga with several major character developments without spoiling the whole thing.
This however doesn't excuse how all the reviews read like they are reviewing the synopsis instead of the whole thing.
The two main issues I'd like to contrast with the other reviews are that:
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1) This isn't a twist within a twist manga
There are really few to no clues provided to the reader early on for any of the major shifts to be considered twists rather than sudden event shifts. Normally this is a pedantic issue but for this type of manga, it is important to emphasize how you won't get much of an idea how much you'll like the latter events from the earlier chapters.
2) This isn't a bi-gendered theme manga
Well...maybe it is. I haven't really read any background for this manga to know which things are symbolic and which are not but all I can say is that while the gender issues are brought up a lot in the series, overall it's a non factor and the whole thing is hand waved at the end. This shouldn't bother anyone who's already planning to check out this manga but for those wondering if you should skip this because the topic seems like it would be boring (and in my opinion the manga presents the issue as boring and cliche) it's important to emphasize that if you read this to the end, you'll understand what I mean by this and while I can't say it would definitely be worth reading up to the end, if you don't reach the ending, you won't get to enjoy this manga as anything other than a gender based manga.
Unto the other stuff:
A major part of this manga relates to character's inner personalities but I suggest not going into this expecting any valid psychological analysis thrust unto the characters. Rule of cool is used to justify many of the mental solutions in this manga and while it is a major part of what makes this very unique, it can also be very frustrating getting caught up in the character elements only to have to remind yourself that it's obvious after each mini-arc that the manga doesn't really plan on addressing the character's issues beyond the surface level or maybe even less than that.
It gets worse once you find out about the ending so try to keep this in check because the characters all have their potential to be great. Some if not many do rise to this level only to fall in quality and rise again but the important thing to keep in mind is that if a certain character gets annoying or boring enough to make you want to stop reading the manga, just read on. This is the type of manga where you lose more by not reaching the end because by that point it wouldn't matter at all. (Not because you have reached the end of a manga but because by the end, without spoiling any major detail, your hate for many of the characters won't matter at all where as stopping at mid point will keep you from discovering many of the out of nowhere character developments that are suddenly brought up.)
In the end, I personally didn't like this manga very much but it has that unique charm that kept me going and I do feel it wasn't a waste of a time finishing this despite there being no event that really made me like this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 14, 2010
"Worth finishing up but don't expect anything much"
This being my first Junji Itou manga, his artwork drew me in because it was either more Western or it had a more conservative action POV panel style than most mangas I'm used to.
It's also the first horror comic I really tried following through and finishing but most of that is due to the blessings of the internet making these types of works easier to find and finish.
This newness is probably what convinced me to rate the art this good and yet be more critical of the manga's story even if it was already touted as a set
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of short stories.
The art first off doesn't appeal to me. It's not scary and it makes these stories feel more like a children's folktale and it doesn't feel like the artist is interested so much in the horror as much as telling a cautionary fictional urban legend.
It's worth mentioning this bit because the plot highly relies on this art style and it's not a case where I'm saying this so that readers might know how the art looked to me as much as it is a warning to people planning to read this to avoid digging on if the artwork doesn't work for them because the rest of the quality of this manga highly relies on the artwork keeping you anticipated for the next page.
This is why even if the artwork didn't work for me I rate it a 9 over the story's 6 because this is the type of manga where the art elevates the interest of the story to the point that the story only works because the art is there and while an art change in my opinion could help boost the quality of this manga, I cannot deny that this specific style gives the manga a special essence that makes it memorable by virtue of being rarely done this way as an overall package.
How the essence stacks up though I have no other similar horror mangas to compare to but this is the core of why I finished this manga. The art is just eye catching enough that even if it doesn't appeal to me, it makes me want to see the whole thing through.
On the flip side though, I can almost guarantee that this is among the more mediocre horror mangas out there even without viewing anything else. The reason I say this is because the theme of the stories attempt to evoke mystery at the end but unfortunately it not only does an abrupt job of doing this but it has a bad habit of mixing the climax with the conclusion.
To expand on this flaw, the plots are so rushed that if you were more engaged with the story unlike me, you'd probably be surprised that at certain points in a story, it was extended when it could have ended and then vice versa, you'd have stories where you're surprised it ended at the point it ended.
This normally would be an issue of lowering the story's rating if not for the fact that the stories are actually interesting. Right off the bat if your experience of Asian horror stories involve more mainstream things like The Ring for movies or Fatal Frame for videogames, you'd at least recognized that all of the short stories here are far far more original, morally superior in terms of a folk tale warning and finally much much more satisfying to consume as far as general storytelling is concerned.
This doesn't mean much though when it's still not scary just like those two examples and yet it's genre and design is supposed to be horror. Compound that with the rushed conclusions then it's really more of an ambitious but poorly done set of short horror stories with good intentions.
But...again this is where the artwork and the plot hugs each other so well that despite these shortcomings, it's worth picking up and had I found this and read it from a tankobon or comic book instead of on my PC, I'd have rated it higher.
It's just the type of guilty pleasure comic that works well alongside a set of weekly American superhero comics that I couldn't afford/be interested in investing in but when judged relative to the type of quantity and information available on the internet (even if one were to assume there was no piracy/online uploading and it's just relative to other mangas being sold online) it just doesn't retain it's quality very well because of the lack of the portable feel mixed with the fact that you could have been better off checking something other than this instead and all the uniqueness of the plot and the art melding together...all it did was just crash you down to a disappointing and unanswered fictional mystery that neither horrified nor made a mark on your soul because of the lack of a certain quality of conclusion, climax or completion to the tales contained inside.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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