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Sep 7, 2023
Against all the other canceled Shounen Jump titles, this one has at least a proper and good ending. But let’s talk about why it never could rise above the mediocre level.
- Overall (5/10):
In my opinion it had 2 big issues, a very weak MC and an art with a lot of errors. And even with a decent story, due to a lack of a proper written comedy or action the enjoyment could never hold strong enough to reach a big stable audience. It was just like the fabricants in this story, they were patched together with better or worse parts, but they could never be
...
good enough.
- Story (6/10):
So let’s start with the brain, the story part, the strongest one. A supposedly evil doctor who created superhuman monsters, with one goal in mind to get better and better parts for themselves and reach perfection. While on the other side we have an organization who hunts them, with (not so well described) superhuman powers as well. As you already may think, the story behind the monsters is way more interesting. Especially the little arcs with the outstanding humans whose body parts they hunt and their backstories.
So altogether, one half is the basic Shounen story, while the other interesting characters and their pasts.
- Art (5/10):
Now we are cutting deeper in this patched body. The art had many flaws. Not so wisely chosen paneling, not so detailed nor varied Character designs, weak dynamic by the action and a lot of errors. For example giving an important character one body part more, in a story with patched superhumans… Yeah, that was really unfortunate… At least the author could have made the error to a big story plot, regrettably that happened neither.
- Characters (4/10):
And so we arrived at the heart of this manga, and the main reason why it failed, a terribly weak MC, Ashibi. His logic and actions were just too childishly pure. He really was like a child, not just in the looks. While the other MC, the name giving Fabricant 100, was just a superhuman mother-like figure, who beat the crap out of the enemies. With that Ashibis whole role was to be the maiden to be saved or giving obvious orders. And yes, later he gets more power, but it was already too late. At least Fabricant 100 was true to her character until the end, but I don’t want to spoil anyone, so check it out.
And as for the handful or side characters… They were there… We got one, I repeat, ONE backstory. And with that they were the only side character with some flesh on the ribs.
- Enjoyment (5/10):
Looking at our patched corpse, the story was enough to be hooked, however the poor action, comedy or the weak MC broke the flow bone way too often. And with that the enjoyment was always an up and down.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Apr 12, 2023
- Overall (5/10):
If you ever asked yourself, what would have been if One Piece had ended within 30 chapters, then Ginka & Glüna will answer this. It has a great world building, epic scenes and good story concept, however, the pacing was so fast it crashed into itself!
- Story (4/10):
Don’t get me wrong, of course the Story is not even close to One Piece, it’s just like every shounen adventure manga ever. A young protagonist (Glüna) meets their strong master (Ginka), who teaches her magic and together they go on an adventure. As the story goes on, the party increases, antagonists will be fought and
...
the story develops more and more. But here comes the problem. The story is told so fast right from the start, that it’s hardly enjoyable.
For example:
The story is building up to a strong antagonist, our heroes are preparing for the fight and now you think: “Yes! The next chapter will be epic!”, then you turn the page and the battle is over…
Another example:
After we get a new member, a new goal and dungeon to explore, you may think: “Yes! The next couple of chapters will be epic!”, then you turn the page and see a fast forward to the goal…
And that’s exactly why this manga is so disappointing. You get a good build up, likeable characters, but at the moment when it’s getting interesting, the conclusion arrives immediately and rushes to the next plot point.
- Art (7/10):
On top of that, this fast pacing spoils the art as well. When we arrive at the almost epic scene, the art concept, the character design and the creativity of the fights is really top! But again, it is so fast over, you could have barely enjoyed it. At least the paneling, backgrounds and tones are solid as well.
- Characters (5/10):
Sadly, the same does not go for the characters. At the beginning we get 2 side characters, with a proper introduction and a short development. After their first arc, they’ve gotten put to the bench and are totally forgotten as party members. They are no more than background characters. And as said, antagonists come, are almost immediately defeated and we are rushing forward.
As for the 2 MC’s, Glüna is a fresh female shounen protagonist. Nothing wrong with her, well written, good background story. But she jumps from totally powerless to overpowered as hell within 1 chapter (at the very start).So every dilemma she faces will be shrugged off. She doesn’t get any development except for the first chapter…
Meanwhile Ginka’s role is the funny mysterious master. Like the cool uncle, which makes you laugh and plays with you, but you don’t know if he even has a partner, what he does or what not. He is definitely the stronghold for the story, and gratefully we get his outstanding backstory. 80% of the really good chapters are thanks to him. So without him, the title would not just be “Glüna”, but it would have failed at the beginning.
- Enjoyment (5/10):
Altogether, the rushed pacing destroyed the fun massively. It has some highlights and the world building is interesting, which may be worth a try, but at the end you will be disappointed. At least the final chapters give you some compensation.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Mar 26, 2023
- Overall (6/10):
High School Family is definitely a hidden gem if you are searching for a good slice-of-life comedy. Yes, if you see the overall points of 6/10, you may not believe me, but even with its flaws it is way more complex and funny than you think at first look… Just like I made this mistake at the beginning! So give it a chance!
But before that, let’s talk about the details.
- Story (6/10):
What is High School Family anyway? A boy starts to go to high school. Very basic, nothing special. But this time, his whole family, his 40+ years old Dad and Mom, his
...
almost 10 years old little sister and even his goddamn cat! Is going as well!
Okay, this stupid madness will scare away a lot of people. It almost got me as well. However, as time goes by, we get a well-written love story, hilarious sports drama, funny twists, gang fights, David vs Goliath shogi championships and and and! The list goes on and on, and believe me or not, these story parts are really good! Nevertheless, the absurd comedy added sometimes 1-3 plus points, but also destroyed an almost perfect written story a lot of time. So it swung between a 4 and an 8 all the time.
- Art (3/10):
On top of that, the biggest weak point, which may drive away a potential reader, is the terrible art style. It is very simple, very basic and somehow ugly. I needed at least 10-20 chapters to get used to it. And even if it became better with the time, including backgrounds and paneling, it was sometimes still very off or abstract. For visual media, that’s a hard pill to take. But it is worth it!
- Characters (8/10):
And that’s due to the cast of this manga! It has a lot of characters, and a lot of the comedy manga fail exactly because of that. They are including more and more running gags, forcing a laugh out of you by at least one of them. But at the end, none of them has even a tiny bit of backstory or proper reasons. High School Family does not make this mistake. Every new character, be it a running gag or not, still has their own story, their own developments. Sometimes just 1-2, and sometimes over 10-20 or 30 chapters long. Meanwhile the MC’s, the High School Family, don’t come short either… At least almost. The mother and the cat are barely there. They have a few moments / chapters, but that’s all. There are side characters with way bigger impact. And the, call it true MC, boy is often outshined by his father or little sister. For a manga, with shounen as the main demographic, it misses the target. While for an older reader the comedy could be too crazy.
- Enjoyment (7/10):
In the end I have to say, I recommend this manga! I had a lot of fun, because of the great sport aspects, the well-written romance, good character developments and of course the outstanding crazy comedy which hits sometimes out of nowhere, but also misses completely probably too often. It is hard to get used to the art, yes. And the premise sounds stupid, also correct. But as I said, even with its flaws, it is a hidden gem of all these slice-of-life comedies, so give it a chance. If you join this madness, you will enjoy it!
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Nov 10, 2022
- Overall (9/10):
I’m relatively certain that ‘Kaguya-sama’ is one of the best RomCom of all time, and not just talking about manga/anime! Most of the RomCom’s that you may know, always repeat the same couple of jokes until you get bored, totally forget their side character, don't even consider writing at least a stable story or add fanservice after fanservice until you ask yourself if you are still reading a manga or softporn…
And none of these are true for this manga!
But what is then the missing point? To answer this, let's go to the details!
- Story (9.5/10):
You should already know the synopsis, but if not,
...
let’s say it is a mind-battle manga just like ‘Death Note’, but in the RomCom genre. The two MC’s try the wildest plans to get the other one to confess. This sounds silly and interesting (at least for me), but probably you are thinking right now: that doesn’t seem as special as you earlier mentioned. Yes, that’s true… I thought the same at the beginning. But after chapter and chapter you get more and more invested, and this results from how great it is written.
For example, take the jokes. Many manga/anime tend after a while to repeat its comedy, but put it in a different setting. However, this one has a huge amount of different gags. And of course, not every single one hits your funbone perfectly, but all of them are funny. And yes, there are repeats, like Fujiwara’s ramen eating, but everytime it gets an extra or a development so it will feel fresh.
Then the other part of a RomCom, the Romance. How well written that is, shows that the 3rd season of the anime, which adopted the absolute peak of romance from the manga, was (even if just for a couple of days) the highest scored anime on MAL! Even if at the beginning it feels a bit lame, after piece by piece you will get the great big picture. Not to mention that the story doesn't stop by confessing. It goes way beyond (even if some of them just show up in the epilogue), including break-ups, forgetting old loves, modern day area slice-of-life, pregnancy, same sex couples etc. Believe me, you will get a lot!
On top of these, the other strong point is, as the story goes on and we get new characters, the author takes his time for each one of them! There are a lot of side stories, some of them goes so deep that the story changes from a funny cute manga, to hardcore depressing drama. This natural flow, how it goes from one genre to another and back, is damn special and outstanding!
The only tiny bit of a problem and the reason why it doesn’t get the full 10 was that at the final arc, before the great epilogue, you can feel how the author got burned out. It feels a bit empty, stretched and rushed all at the same time.
- Art (6/10):
Now we have arrived at the biggest weak point of this manga. As you may know, the author Aka Akasaka announced they won’t draw manga anymore… But don’t worry, they don’t give up the writing, which is clearly their strength, so check out his other manga ‘Oshi no Ko' / ‘My Star’ which they write.
Why is that information important? Now you may get that this manga will not seduce you with its backgrounds, designs or style. The backgrounds are several times just blank or simple. The reactions and emotions look often the same compared to previous chapters. There are characters that look so similar that I was confused during some early chapters.
Why is it then above average? It still delivers. The author has a picture in mind and can mostly give you the right image for the scene. Also the character designs change over time which you don’t see in every manga either. So Aka Akasaka is very creative, but due to their lack of skill, the manga sometimes fails to give you the exact image as wanted.
- Characters (10/10):
Back to the strong points, or to be exact to THE strong point, the characters! As said at the beginning, I’m sure you have never ever experienced a RomCom that focuses so much on the side-characters without stealing the screen from the MC’s. Every character, even if you may think there are just some nuisances, gets a whole backstory, development and conclusion over the time. To underpin this, you get 2 whole volumes for the epilogue for every semi-important character! And even after that, the author said that the unfinished storylines, which I wouldn’t even call unfinished, will be done in the future in one way or another!
It’s amazing how this human loves their characters so much, and you will definitely feel this!
But let’s take a step back, and talk about the title giving main character, Kaguya-sama. How she is written as a fragile caged girl, but at the same time overpowering existence and silly cute lady is such a huge spectrum, that other titles' characters all together don’t have this. Not to mention it still feels believable. These wide characteristics are also true for the other main characters. You don’t just get a one-trick pony, you get the whole farm for each one of them, that’s again outstanding and unique. Personally, my absolute favorite was Ishigami’s story from beginning to the end, as well as his development and growth.
I could of course continue this for every character, because as said these are real personas and not just filling material, but let’s slowly end this review…
- Enjoyment (9/10):
As I mentioned at the story part, within this huge amount of jokes you get a couple of chapters which you won’t enjoy as the rest. The art can be stiff as well and ruining a great chapter by showing poorly the right emotion/reaction. And sometimes a misplaced joke destroys a very good drama chapter. So yes, it isn’t perfect, but altogether, you get a variety of amazingly written characters, comedy, love stories and story in general. If that isn’t worth a shot, then I don’t know what.
Once again: One of the best RomCom of all time! So give it a try, or the anime, if you like this genre.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 17, 2022
- 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.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Aug 18, 2022
This mediocre work swayed between totally unnecessary/empty chapters and great emotionally story chapters. And their average would be mediocre work... But I think it is below that. In short, you get a kinda nice fantasy drama, however, at least half of the manga is boring (for me, and maybe for you too) or unnecessary. But let us dig deeper!
Story 4/10
The story has a good basis. 2 countries at war, an abandoned son (who made a big mistake and suffers from his trauma) of the current (old) king, brothers and sister who want the throne and a little bit of magic. Sounds interesting, of course. However,
...
almost none of that gets really relevant... and this is due to a terrible pacing and focusing.
3/5 of the story is so damn slow, there are literally chapters you could skip and you wouldn't miss a thing! But the worst is, these 3/5 was kinda the introduction. Than we reach a point where the 10 siblings have to fight for their rings and who collects all of them gets the throne (which would be really interesting and it was), but the pacing gets so fast, that in the next 1/5 of the story our main character gets almost all of them and shortly after the final last battle begins for the last ones.
Also, the war will be just slightly mentioned with 2-3 chapters to show the readers that the war exists, but we just don't care about it! That's one of the main reasons why our protagonist does what he does! His trauma, which results from fearing to use his own power, will be solved in maybe 2-3 chapters... So literally he doesn't use his magic, but then thanks to some talking and a little bit of training he can suddenly control the strongest power in this (manga) universe...
I think you already get what I wanted to tell you, most of the time you get unnecessary dialogues, which hold the story back, but when it needs time it just goes so fast or skips things, that it totally breaks the flow... And that's really sad, because it has a lot of potential.
(And I don't even mention the total nonsense unbalanced magic powers)
But not everything is bad. Sometimes the focus and pacing is good and gets really interesting, as well as the basic story. You want to know what will happen, especially due to some plot twists you maybe don't expect. Also it has a touch of good working romantic and comedy which gives you a bit of lockering during all the tragedy and lifts you up.
Art 5/10
The biggest problem is the almost totally empty backgrounds. I would say 90% of the manga is just talking, what's not bad, however if 80% of the backgrounds are nothing or almost nothing it gets boring. Especially with long and slow dialogues. On the other hand, the character designs are nice, a bit shoujo like not so detail rich with thin lines. Also there are some events in the manga with really great illustrations, which really seems cool. So altogether it's a solid "okay", 5/10.
Character 3/10
The characters are strange... They change so suddenly, you think you are missing something. For example, the very first character who confronts our protagonist and treats him like shit, gets his almost best friend in the next chapter out of nowhere... I really don't understand it, maybe I'm still missing something, I don't know, but as I read the comments, I wasn't the only one. And this happens with almost every person who confronts our protagonist. It's kinda like the usual shounen hero superpower (he makes everyone his friend), however here, it doesn't match in the big picture. Then we have the character developments... As you can maybe assume from the story pacing, our characters change from 0 to hero from one chapter to the other... Also we have a character named Judas... Maybe not everyone, but at least 99% will already know what this means...
So yeah... Suddenly changing plain characters... They are not terrible and everyone has their own kinda backstory / reasons, and at least they have a character development (not as many successful shounen mangas) but they are just too simple, too poorly written.
Enjoyment 4/10
3/5 of the story is unnecessary. The characters are poorly written while the art is at most just mediocre... So what can you enjoy? I wouldn't say nothing, because even in the first 3/5 of the story there are at least 2 highlights, and the last 2/5 are really good. But it's everytime the same problem. Something enjoyable happens, they solve the problem and conflicts so fast that at the end it's no more than a peak. And even if it was mostly boring for me, for others it could be interesting. Also all the tragedy at the beginning gets resolved at the end (in one way or an other), and you may feel this liberating happiness (not me because I'm not this type, but maybe you).
Overall 4/10
Altogether, you get an almost empty story and art, with a bad pacing and focusing... Is it worth it?... What should I say? Everything under 5 (out of 10) I can't fully heartily recommend. For me, it was mostly boring, with some highlights, that's all. However, I saw some people who really enjoyed this. So if you are into a slow paced story with some magic as well as some romantic and funny moments, and you are an emotional person, give it a try. Everything else, just skip it... you can waste your time better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 29, 2022
In my opinion, the only reason why this manga has been canceled was the complete failure of the editorial department. And yes, Yuji Kaku did not create such a great manga as ‘Hell’s Paradise’, but to cancel this one over completely mainstream shounen manga, which even had worse sales than this, and that they ran this manga before the Anime of “Hell’s Paradise’ even started, showed me how incompetent the current JUMP editorials are –just look at ‘Red Hood’ or ‘Phantom Seer’–. But enough about JUMP, let’s talk about the manga and why the editors thought this won’t be such good work like his previous
...
work.
Short version
- Overall (6/10):
‘Hell’s Paradise’ catched the reader immediately with great artwork, designs, mystery, mature action and as the most important, 2 extraordinarily interesting main characters. Meanwhile this manga failed in every aspect, compared to the other work. This does not mean that ‘Ayashimon’ is a bad manga, but it was definitely weaker than the author’s previous one. The artwork and designs were still good, but due to its own story limitations the action was way too one dimensional, the mystery aspect was slightly noticeable and we got a female protagonist which is just there to be protected, while the male protagonist is so plain, dumb and one-hit k.o. strong that it gets boring fast.
This sounds harsh, but don’t forget: COMPARED to ‘Hell’s Paradise’, so a lot of fans are surely disappointed. But on its own it is a solid action manga, which had a lot of potential if they would have given more time to extend. So let’s get into the details.
Long version
- Story (6/10):
The plot is a typical revenge story, but with so-called Ayashimon, which are demon/ghost like creatures. The ayashimon girl (Urara) wants to avenge her father and for that she wants to take over the yakuza like ayashimon syndicate. This is of course not all, because we also have a male human protagonist (Maruo), who is so strong that he lost his purpose in life. So a lucky accident brought them together, and Maruo gets the bodyguard of Urara. Together they literally punch through ayashimons over ayashimons to solve mysteries like ‘who was the traitor?’ or ‘how this weak and plain guy got the most badass antagonist ever?’, but the start was maybe too slow to catch every reader and at the same time the pacing was too fast (meeting the final boss within 5 chapters).
The other negative in the story was the ayashimon’s ritual fights, which were a 1-v-1. Because the male protagonist was too plain, dumb and strong at the same time, the fights get boring fast. This also improves later – at the end the amazingly choreographed mass fight in a hotel without catching the attention of the guests was definitely the highlight –, but again it was potentially too late. Also they tried maybe too hard to ride on the ‘Tokyo Revengers’ hype with such a darkish yakuza like revenge story, which did not fit very well with the Shounen JUMP’s demographics – which the editors should have known… –
So the story had potential, it just started to unfold the mysteries and the power levels, unfortunately it was too late and the limited 1-v-1 fights + the simple protagonists decreased its own chances to fully evolve.
- Art (7/10):
I gave ‘Hell’s Paradise’ a 9/10 for art, so how can this be just a 7? The artstyle of an author should’n get worse in such a short time and mostly it even improves further, so why? The answer is simple, I think Yuji Kaku is not so suited for a weekly series (‘Hell’s Paradise’ ran in Shounen JUMP plus, where he had every 3 weeks 1 week break). The designs of all the different ayashimons are great again, but they weren’t as much in focus as could be, and we mostly just saw the plain protagonist. On top of that, the whole style felt rushed. The lines were more shaky and here and there I missed 1-2 more panels to get a more smooth dynamic. And again the 1-v-1 fights took a lot out of the fights, especially if the protagonist’s full fighting repertoire is a strong punch… I mean, it works for ‘One-punch Man’, but that also gives you way more build-up and/or comedy. And of course it had the faults from the past of felt like missing backgrounds.
Here and there we get a glimpse of the author’s creativity, like the mentioned hotel fight, but probably after he got the OK to do what he wants due to the cancellation. Which again showed that the editors limited him.
- Characters (4/10):
Now we have arrived at the major weak point of this series. I’m sure you got the big picture already, the characters were way too simple and one dimensional. Female characters (not just Urara) whose only purpose is to be protected by others is way too outdated. Maruo’s dumb and plain character could be fun, but it is also often boring and repetitive. Most of the side characters and antagonists get almost zero screen time, so why would you care about them?
But again, after a certain point in the story we get a very interesting side-character – similar to Gabimaru of ‘Hell’s Paradise’ – and his backstory, as well as the main villain get a more proper introduction and our 2 protagonists evolve characteristically. So it is a pity it did not have enough time.
- Enjoyment (7/10):
To be honest, as a ‘Hell’s Paradise’ fan, I still enjoyed this manga even if it was not as good, but had maybe even more potential. Yeah, the characters and story could be way better, but I think with more time it would have worked. The art / designs were still outstanding and the creativeness of the author was really refreshing compared to the current running battle shounens. So give this mangaka as much freedom for its work as he wants and it will be as great or greater than ‘Hell’s Paradise’!
It is very sad that the editors at JUMP seem sometimes really off in their manga predictions and/or limit the author's potential. Giving other series enough time to unfold (like ‘Yozakura Family’), but axe very promising ones (this or ‘Red Hood’) immediately…
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 23, 2022
Fire Force… The second big hit of Atsushi Ookubo. To tell the whole story, when I started to read this manga, I did not know it was the same author as for ‘Soul Eater’. Which is important, because I was literally traumatized by the ‘fist of friendship defeating the biggest evil of the whole universe’ of the Anime… So I have never read the manga, (even if I know it is different in many ways than the Anime), and after I realized it I was a bit shocked, because it was really good! However, I soon experienced my fear was not unfounded!
Short version
- Overall (6/10):
This
...
manga has big epic moments just as often as total trash ones. The mangaka said several times that this will/is his last work. It definitely felt just like it. He took all his positive as well as negative thoughts and puked it in this work… To put it very simply: Completely meta and fourth wall breaking themes, total crazy action, epic art these were the perfectly chosen ingredients to create a great manga, but Ookubo (not so) accidentally added a massive stupidity in it… BOOM! And so was ‘Fire Force’ born!
Long version
- Story (3/10):
To go into the details, let us begin with the most controversial part, the story. Just as usual in a shounen manga, we follow the life of our main hero, Shinra, who literally calls himself a hero. But everybody else says he is a devil because of his evil smile instead of other emotions (for example crying). His ability is to blaze flames from his feet and fights fire demonic creatures. For this purpose he joins the name giving ‘Fire Force’, which is no more than a fire department who fights fire with fire. Soon we get our first antagonists and build-ups for the further story.
Until yet, nothing special, literally very generic and a bit stupid… I mean who tries to extinguish fire with fire?! But as we go deeper and deeper into the building, we see that the author tries to ignite the house… To heat up the story he throws a lot of crazy (e.g. time travel, the number Pi, space fights etc.) and meta (e.g. chapters long discussions about the necessity of ecchi in the world, fourth wall breaking talks with the reader, REAL life pictures etc.) stuff in! This not just creates a bunch of plot holes and unlogical story parts, it scares off (casual) readers, especially with the sheer amount of these. If you know ‘Soul Eater’, which was already partly crazy, then imagine the 3 or 5 times of that. You will totally lose the focus of the story, and it doesn’t even matter, because it just has to be wild and stupid at the same time!
So we get a hard to follow story, full of craziness, stupidness and plot holes. If you like Ookubo’s style or what you read ‘till yet, you may enjoy it, especially the Soul Eater references, but I wouldn’t recommend it.
- Art (8/10):
But gratefully, a manga is not just about a good story, or at least it is not indispensable. How the author infuses his craziness into this work is really artistic. For example, when he throws real life images in the manga, it follows a clear (but crazy) art concept. These make this work partly really artistic. On top of that, we get hell of good character designs, especially the fire demonic creatures, powerful action scenes, dynamic paneling and amazing creative settings. With such joyful visual enjoyment it is hard not to stay until the end, even if the story often lacks logic.
On the other hand, shades were almost non-existent so missed the depth in the images. Backgrounds were a bit too often just empty. The unnecessary ecchi scenes disturbed me too. And sometimes it felt like the author had a hangover so he just did half hearted work.
- Characters (5/10):
To the characters there is not much to say. Most of the female characters are there to be saved or to show some boobs. Or if they have some kind of use, their part concludes too fast. The male characters are all strong, but somehow stupid. The villains never felt like a real threat and missed substance for their stories. So, they are all very generic. And yes, they all get their backstories and developments, but even if they wouldn’t, nothing would change, except for the mc.
But there are 2 highlights: Arthur, the kind of rival of our protagonist Shinra, and Benimaru. Due to Arthur’s silliness he brings extremely hilarious moments, while his backstory is way too dramatic and funny at the same time. And at the same time his chemistry with Shinra works very well. So every time he successfully refreshed the tensions in a good way. A really excellent character for Ookubo’s crazy manga. But a warning! He could be sometimes too stupid to bear.
Meanwhile Benimaru is the character for totally epic fight scenes and to give us the insight for the power-levels and system. The kind of teacher for this shonen manga. But while in other manga the senseis/masters are somehow restricted, this one is full power and still balanced! The author used this character very well for his story.
- Enjoyment (6/10):
Altogether I have to say, it is hard not to enjoy and not to hate it at the same time. For the epic and hilarious moments it is definitely worth a try. And including the great art and action it seems to be the logical decision to read this. It is a truly crazy and enjoyable manga. However, as I said, the story is way too weak, way too stupid and sometimes it could be down to trash, especially with the fanservice scenes/chapters. What I can say, if you liked ‘Soul Eater’ you will like this one too, and if not then you should miss it. And if ‘Fire Force’ would be the first manga you read of Ookubo and you like a wild, crazy action story, then you may enjoy it, but be aware of the high amount of stupidness.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Feb 8, 2022
Short version
- Overall (5/10):
‘Magu-chan: God of Destruction’ is a wholesome comedy slice of life, which remained behind it’s expectations. The author clearly missed adding some kind of goal or a redline to bring out the full potential of his/her great characters. 60-70% of the manga are boring/generic one-chapters, but the monster designs and the bigger, wholesome arcs definitely helps to enjoy it until the end.
Long version
- Story (3/10):
To start with the worst part, let us begin with the story. Our protagonist, Ruru, finds a supernatural being similar to an octopus, Magu-chan, at the shore of the little island where she lives. From this moment
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on our two characters (and later more) explore the daily life of a demonic creature learning about humans and their creations. And to be honest, that’s all. Of course, from chapter to chapter their little microcosmos is expanding, by adding new characters (humans and supernatural lifeforms) and situations, but after a while you get the feeling it’s heading nowhere.
Yes, you get some great arc’s, really feel-good ones, partly sad ones or funny action ones. But without a clear goal all these just happen to introduce maybe 1-2 characters to the plot, which later get their own (not so) funny one-chapters. And these comedy mainstream slice of life chapters are 60-70% of the whole manga. Most of them are not or just barely funny (of course, there are exceptions) which you probably will totally forget in a couple of weeks.
The mangaka definitely knows how to introduce characters, build up a story and create dramatic arcs, but this manga has just too little of them. So if 60% of the story is meaningless cliche one-chapters then it’s hard to enjoy and you will get bored.
- Art (6/10):
On the other hand, the character designs, looking at the cute demon gods, were outstanding! Generally the art was mostly sloppy, yes, but every time a new character got introduced it was refreshing. It was like experiencing a new Pokémon game and every time you encounter a new mon, you get excited. But as I said, everything else was most likely average. The designs of the humans, paneling, shading and background were all good, nothing disturbing or extraordinary. The lining is slacky which sometimes dims the dramatic, wholesome and/or serious moments, but works good at the funny parts. While the action scenes were not so well choreographed either.
- Characters (7/10):
In my opinion the most important part of a good slice of life is the good chemistry of the characters. And to be honest, this worked out amazing! It was the main reason why I enjoyed following this manga until the end, even with the boring story parts. Every character has its own gimmick and bond with another. For example, we have the stupid hero and his non-human trickster master. We have a money/gambling loving seastar (Neputaaku the best!) and his rivalisation with Magu-chan, or the main part: our protagonist Ruru who sometimes scolds and sometimes is grateful for what Magu-chan did.
- Enjoyment (6/10):
Altogether, to fully enjoy this manga it definitely needed a better written story or comedy. However, the strong characters and the bigger arcs (2-3 chapters) save a lot. Everytime a new character appears it boosts the fun for a short time. While the longer arcs always lead to well written wholesome moments, but just too few of them. There were also a couple of really funny one-chapters, but again, 5 out of almost 80 chapters, is just poor. However, at least for these highlights it is worth a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 28, 2021
‘i Tell C’ is one of the most disappointing Manga that I read. It started very strong and interesting, but then turned into some slap-stick comedy… It was like reading the first chapters of ‘Death Note’ (no, even at the beginning it wasn’t that good), but then it switched to the netflix adaptation of it… If this didn’t scare you off, then let us go more in the details.
- Story (3/10):
The whole story is based on the main character, who once got kidnapped and developed a kind-of stockholm syndrome, she gets attracted to criminals. However, she is also a detective, so she fights crimes with
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crimes, or more precisely she tries to convince them (with strange methods) that they are bad and should give up. For example: to stalk a stalker. This not just sounds twisted and dark, it was… at the beginning… But this premise is for a shounen manga a hard one. To show young boys (the target readers) that realistic crimes could be good, work hard in this type of magazine. Conclusion: all the dark and psychological vibes had to be erased…
So to change the course of the manga they drastically modified half of the concept after around 10 chapters with as many plot holes as possible. For example, one character gets shot, but out of nowhere he survived just to save our main character, while another one also gets shot in a similar way and dies... Which definitely changed the concept, but was totally strange.
And after that, they installed a lot of slap-stick and childish humor. For example: one character is (suddenly) a total training junky, so everything he eats are proteins and does weight lifting in every free minute in his life. And random appearing characters whose only purpose is some kind of running gag (focused on symmetry, a gun lover or an overly attached father type). These may have worked, even if at that moment there were currently running better comedy titles, if the whole original idea was to create a comedy crime manga. But after the first 10 chapters, the other half was a total disappointment, and it lost its readers...
- Art (6/10):
However, even if the story was pure chaos, the art was good! Especially in the first chapters it had these nice scary and dark vibes. But also the comedy half was drawn well. The characters were stylish, with changing outfits and different emotions to show off. Background, toning and shadowing were solid too. So with a clear straight concept or better written story it may have been an outstanding manga like ‘The Promised Neverland’ (first third). On the other hand, it also has room for development.
- Characters (4/10):
Despite the good look, the characters are extremely weak. As mentioned, except for the main character, the characters are on 2 legs running gags. They are totally empty, no back stories or introductions, they are just suddenly there. While the villains get way more focus, which is good, but they are there for just a few chapters…
At least our one and a half main characters have a solid back story and introduction. However, due to the circumstances of the manga they also turn from interesting to some kind of joke...
- Enjoyment (3/10):
To turn back to the beginning, a story of a detective who does crimes to solve crimes sounds good, but works hard. The whole police department doesn't like her, but in reality they should arrest her, which makes the complete story illogical. For me, this destroys my enjoyment… You can definitely do this the right way, for example an anti-hero who defeats the villains even if they have to kill them or cause a big uproar or whatever.
And I know, the idea is that (not all) the criminals are bad people… But to cure a serial murder by accepting his ‘weird hobby’ of collecting human hands is kind a ridiculous… While in the first chapters she drove the criminals to give up by doing the same to them...
- Overall (4/10):
Overall, as I said it was a huge disappointment… It started really interesting, twisted and dark, but turning it into a comedy manga and curing every criminal with a pure heart of a lovely lady, ruined the whole manga. At least I can recommend the first 10-11 chapters, but after that, forget it.
Note: The mystery/crime at the very end was a nice one.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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