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Jul 9, 2015
Aliens. Plenty of sci-fi fans love them, and so stories involving them can get popular very fast if done right. There is some charm to be found in this alien story, but it's not quite enough to lift this to the heights of fame.
The story is simple, and actually reminds me a lot of the Star Ocean video game series, in that there is a large space federation that is not allowed to reveal itself to planets that are considered underdeveloped. The story never goes anywhere new, and there are no plot twists to speak of. Everything that is going to happen is painfully obvious.
There
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are three alien species that we meet in this manga. The species that the main heroine belongs to, the species that the antagonist belongs to, and some little green men looking species that is wreaking havoc on Earth. The little green men are never explained properly. We see them do some stuff, but all the sudden the mangaka drops them and they disappear from the story without any explanation. It's like the mangaka forgot about them.
I did find the relationship between the main character and his brother to be interesting, which is the part that I payed attention to the most. Aside from that, the characters don't get more than a small dose of shallow development, if any at all.
Fortunately, the art was gorgeous. It was very crisp and clean, with good character designs and splendidly drawn special effects. The only qualms I have are that the backgrounds were plain, and most panels didn't even have background in them. Still, the rest of the awesome art mostly offsets this.
While this manga could be worse, it's hard to find a reason to recommend it. It isn't bad, but doesn't try to explore any new ground in relation to aliens. It comes off as a pretty, yet generic, sci-fi manga that can't rise above the realm of mediocrity. While I don't recommend this, if you do find yourself wanting to read it there are worse ways to spend your time. If you are a major sci-fi fan you might even get a small dose of enjoyment out of it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 8, 2015
If you've read any of my reviews, you know that I put a lot of stock into story concepts. The concept of immortality, reincarnation, lucid dreams, and basically any concepts that I, as a reader, find interesting. The concept this time is evolution, and boy did they mess this one up.
We'll start with characters, because they were almost as disappointing as the story itself. All in all we have three main characters, and a handful of side characters. Some characters develop(not all), but they do so very artificially. We don't see the development slowly happening over time, or through actions. Instead, the characters that develop
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pretty much just say "Wow, I think I changed and here's how" but we never really see that change. Also, a lot of those changes don't make sense. In one instance, we have a character who shows up and is never explained very well. Already a strike against him. Then he completely 360s his opinion and thinks the exact opposite of what he was dead set on for no apparent reason. As a third strike, quite a few characters do the exact same thing. The characters are just sloppy and not relatable, or even believable.
The story itself was decently interesting, if not a bit generic, until the start of volume three. I had found myself cursing how generic and lackluster the series was, but about halfway through volume three I wished I could take it back. The story goes from generic to borderline nonsense, and basically everything stops making sense. I'd take generic over whatever the hell that was any day.
The art was pretty good, all things considered. There were a lot of animal drawings, and they looked very nice and realistic for the most part. The character designs were plain, but not terrible. The background panels were also decent, so I'll give Tadano Nobuaki a pass on his art. I just hope he works on his storytelling.
If I were to rate this on its first two volumes, I'd give it a 5. It wasn't anything special, but it wasn't bad either. Sadly, there are two volumes following those, and they were rather horrendous. I do not recommend this to anybody, and advise to spend your time on something else. Hopefully Tadano takes heed of her interest in evolution to evolve her storytelling skills.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 8, 2015
*This review was originally posted for Sakuran and has subsequently been merged into Kagamigami*
Yet another oneshot released in the hopes of getting serialized, but ultimately failed. Usually I can determine why something wasn't serialized, and I can at least understand that reasoning even if I don't agree. This time I'm baffled. I've read another of Iwashiro Toshiaki's oneshots that didn't get serialized, and I easily determined why. This time I just can't understand it.
The plot, while not necessarily unique, was intriguing. I was interested in learning more, and was very attentive the whole way through because of that. Iwashiro was obviously hoping this would be
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serialized, as the ending raises more questions than answers. This is a pretty normal tactic for oneshots, it's just too bad that those answers won't be delivered.
There are only two characters in this oneshot. The main character and the mysterious alien known as Sakuran. The main character is far from unique, but his attitude is endearing, and as we learn about his past a little, I couldn't help but feel sympathetic for him. Sakuran doesn't have a lot of depth, but quite obviously if there had been a serialization then the mysteries surrounding this character would have served as character development as the manga progressed.
The art is the only thing that doesn't suffer from this incomplete work. Iwashiro's artwork is hit or miss for me, and this oneshot was a "hit". Very crisp, interesting character designs (especially Sakuran), and some very nice depictions of sakura petals.
If you read my whole review, you may have noticed that I said things were obviously heading somewhere IF this had been serialized. That "IF" is what brought the score for this down to a 7, because, sadly, thats all this oneshot can amount to by itself. One big "IF". Worth a read if you enjoyed Iwashiro's other works, as he is in top form here. Even if you've never read anything by Iwashiro there is value to be found here. Just be prepared to be disappointed when you realize the questions this oneshot raises will never be answered.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 8, 2015
Oneshots usually have one of three purposes. Some are created to add supplementary information to ongoing or completed manga. Others are simply made for competitions, and the winning oneshot usually appears in some sort of magazine. However, the most common type of oneshot is made to measure interest in a subject. If the oneshot is received positively, then it may get a serialization and become a full blown manga. When I find a oneshot like this that didn't get a serialization, I enjoy trying to figure out what held it back. So why didn't this one make the cut?
First off, the story is dull and
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overdone. Mysterious neighbors move in, hijinks ensue, etc. There is nothing here that separates this from any other manga with this premise.
Furthermore, the characters are generic. A hunky vampire, a naive succubus, a weird mascot character, and a hot headed young boy. Add onto this an utterly boring main character, and we are left with... not much.
The art is as close as this manga gets to a high point. In some places it looks pretty appealing, but all in all it stays rather simple. With a story and characters as generic as this, the mangaka needed to have flashy art to distract away from those failings. Unfortunately, he did not.
This oneshot isn't bad per se, it just doesn't prove itself. It doesn't try to be much more than a generic shounen, and that's all it ends up being. Still, there are worse ways to spend your time. If you like Toshiaki Iwashiro's other works (also the author of Psyren) it wouldn't hurt to read this just to say you have. Otherwise, I don't really see a reason to bother with this. There's other, better, things out there to read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jul 7, 2015
I read Hoozuki no Shima a while ago, and I found that I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm very into the horror genre as a whole, so it's not surprising I forgave it for its issues. Today I was browsing the manga list trying to find something to read, when I saw Hoozuki again. I decided to check out the author, Sanbe Kei, and it led me to this manga, known in English as "Cradle of Monsters".
Zombies in general have always been an iffy subject for me. They are hardly ever scary, and are instead used when the "horror" aspect refers to gore, which
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I don't feel is true horror. Luckily, the author made the right choice by not really making the monsters zombies. Instead, they are normal humans who get infected and slowly get consumed by bloodlust. They can still talk and act rationally, which led to some decently horrific scenes.
Unfortunately, there isn't much more good I can say about this manga. The characters were pretty standard for a horror survival situation, with a few exceptions. Those exceptions can't really make up for the rest of the cast as a whole, however.
The art was, in my opinion, passable. The gore was pretty detailed, but nothing else ever stood out to me much (except the fact that the women weren't sticks, which I enjoyed). Also, the story is supposed to take place in an upside down cruise ship, but the author messed up a lot of details with this, such as surveillance cameras on the ceiling, which means they were originally on the floor, and stairs going up, meaning that the ship had stairs on the ceiling. Those details weren't a major issue, but were jarringly distracting when I noticed them.
Even though I didn't have much good to say about this manga, in the end of the day I found it vastly enjoyable. The characters that were interesting kept me going, and for once in this kind of fiction I wasn't sure who was going to survive. This lead me to pursue the story to the end, and if I enjoyed it, I guess that's the whole point. I'd recommend this for horror or survival fans, but if you aren't usually into those genres it could easily be a hit or miss. I'm on to Sanbe Kei's next work!
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 7, 2015
After reading Hoozuki no Shima and enjoying it, I decided to look through Sanbe Kei's other works. This was my choice as my second manga from him. Why? Because it is supposedly a palindrome, meaning it can be read from front to back, or back to front, interchangeably.
Unfortunately reading it backwards made no sense to me. It was also much more explicit than I was anticipating, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I was expecting an experimental form of writing, and what I got instead was an ecchi bordering on hentai that does not seem to be a palindrome.
Without the palindrome, this
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manga is short, cliche, and boring. It's not even worth it if you want to use it as fap material, because it fails there too. Not much to see here folks, move along.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jul 5, 2015
In a market full of shounen cliches and harems galore, it's nice to see a gem like this get unearthed. It may have a little dirt on it, but once you clean the dirt off it shines all the same.
There are plenty of things that seem rather farfetched in this manga, and it is best to keep your suspension of disbelief high. Even so, the story is fairly simple with a... different sort of twist. Nothing in the story department will blow your mind, though you may contract a case of the feels.
The characters are also pretty simple, yet at the same time seem
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much more realistic than a lot of characters in other things. Some of the romance seems a little mature considering they're elementary school kids, and the main character and his mom have an... odd relationship. Still, the characters felt endearing because of how ordinary they were.
Going three for three, the art was, again, pretty simple. There was nothing fancy, but it worked considering how simple most of the manga actually was. The simple art felt like it fit the story and characters, and I don't believe that exquisite top form artwork was needed here.
If you like dramas or romances, this is a short read that shouldn't leave you disappointed. It isn't the greatest drama ever, but it is endearing and even compelling if you keep a slightly open mind.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jul 5, 2015
To start things off, I'd like to inform anyone coming in off of the anime adaptation to disregard that. It was not a good adaptation, and ended prematurely while leaving out a lot of plot points. The manga is leaps and bounds better, and certainly worth most people's time.
In the world of fiction, having a piece of work involving humans with supernatural powers is definitely not rare. In fact, the market is saturated with such things. This in and of itself is not inherently a bad thing. It's all a matter of how the concept is used, and if the work can achieve something its
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predecessors couldn't. Does Deadman Wonderland bring anything new to the table?
In my opinion, not really. What it does offer is a very compelling and interesting rehash of things we have seen before. To me, at least, this is also not a bad thing. Let me explain.
I'd like to talk about the setting first. A prison that doubles as an amusement park. That is something that I personally haven't seen in fiction before, though I'm sure it has been done at some point. Still, it is a pretty interesting setting. There are some issues with it that I can't talk about too much because of spoilers, but suffice to say the manga doesn't play up its setting as much as I would have liked.
And what of the characters within this setting? The quality and genericness of these characters vary. I found the main character generic, and the fact that he was 14 seemed a little unneeded. He could have been an adult, or at least an older teen, and the story wouldn't have changed much, except making some things more believable. The manga has a lot of gore and even touches on elements of rape a couple times, so the argument that he is 14 in order to appeal to the intended audience is invalid. Most of the other characters were interesting, and I liked that almost every major character (and even some minor ones) rather they were "good" or "bad" got a backstory segment, giving each one a tad of development, even if that development was a little shallow.
The overarching plot had a few pacing issues, but generally it is easy to follow if you pay attention. The pace is quick enough that the reader probably won't find themselves bored at any point. Also, I'm glad to say that most questions are answered by the end of the manga, and the ending wraps things up nicely without feeling too rushed. I found the plot pretty interesting, if not predictable in some places. There are a few good twists that I didn't expect here and there.
The last thing I would like to talk about is the art. The character designs were definitely designed to be "cool", and the powers of most of the characters are drawn very nicely. Plenty of gore too. The backgrounds can be simple at times, but never ugly. Overall, I don't remember ever seeing a panel or page and thinking it looked bad.
I'd recommend this manga to people who like the "super powers" concept, or just like action in general. Although there's a little bit of romance, comedy, and quite a bit of drama, this manga is definitely an action manga at heart. Worth a chance if you are looking for a good manga that does a lot of things right, even if it's not anything new.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 4, 2015
If you've read some of my other reviews, you know one concept that interests me is that of immortality. Time looping is another concept I find enthralling. It's almost like being immortal, except you live the same time period over and over again. In some ways, I feel this could be even worse than immortality, since usually the situation that is repeated is an unpleasant one.
Before we dive into the story, I'd like to mention the artwork. It's absolutely top notch. Every panel has a painstaking amount of detail, from the character designs, to the suits, to the environments. Obata Takeshi is responsible for
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the designs, whom some of you may recognize as the illustrator of Death Note and Bakuman. While I haven't read either of those manga, I can only assume his work is in top form here.
Aside from the time loop aspect, the story isn't that special. I won't spoil anything, but expect a typical sci-fi mecha setting. The time loop is what makes things interesting. The main character slowly learns the rules of the loop, and the reader along with him. If you have a scientific mind, the implications of each rule will leave you fantasizing for at least fifty loops.
An important aspect for a time loop story (especially one where the main character remembers the loop) is how the character(s) adapt. Do they resolve to find a way out? Do they learn to accept it and endure for... well, eternity? Or do they lose their minds? There are so many ways for a character to react. Yet, the one that makes the reader's blood boil the most is when a character strengthens their resolve and soldiers onward (literally).
The main character is many people's definition of "cool", and it works for this setting. Unfortunately, not all characters are created equal. The main character and main heroine get some pretty heavy development, but none of the side characters do. It's understandable considering the nature of the story. Not much can change after all. However, we never even learn much about these characters. They're just faces that pop up every once in awhile. This, for me, was probably the weakest aspect of the manga.
People who don't enjoy gore should avoid this, as the artwork is very... detailed. I'd recommend this for people who like sci-fi or heart pounding action sequences. I enjoyed this manga, and it wasn't that long of a read. If you find yourself with nothing to do, this manga won't leave you asking for your time back (unless you're just selfish, then shame on you).
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 15, 2015
Recently, the survival genre is becoming increasingly popular. Some try to be unique (Attack on Titan, Mirai Nikki, Cage of Eden), while some simply try to emulate what has been proven to work (Danganronpa, Highschool of the Dead, Btooom!). Perhaps because of how popular the genre is getting, taking the unique route becomes increasingly difficult as more and more new ideas are used.
Which eventually caused someone to combine Jurassic Park and The Happening. I'm being serious here. This manga is about giant insects and carnivorous plants trying to eliminate the human population. So why am I rating this a 7?
When I started reading this,
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I went into it expecting an Attack on Titan ripoff, and in a way that's what I got. Humanity is brought to its knees by a change in the ecosystem. There is plenty of death and despair as well, like Attack on Titan. Fortunately, the two differ in tremendous ways.
For one, the characters are pretty interesting. A decent amount of them are multi dimensional, and the ones that aren't are probably going to be mulch soon anyways. From what I've read so far, two characters even manage to break stereotypes in a satisfying way.
The plot is the weakest point of this. I can't say much without spoiling things, but the whole plant apocalypse isn't the only thing happening. There's also some sci-fi and what appears to be supernatural elements in this as well. As all over the place as the plot is, it's still quite enjoyable, even if a bit silly at times.
The art is masterfully done. Due to the nature of the manga, the illustrator had to draw all sorts of plants and insects, and be able to believably illustrate what they would look like if they were gigantic. A lot of the panels with just humans or environment look extremely well done too, so all in all the illustrator did a great job here.
As this isn't finished, I don't want to hand out recommendations for it just yet. Once it is over or I know if the plot is going to go in a better direction I will edit my review, but right now all I can say is that I am enjoying it, and it doesn't rip off Attack on Titan nearly as much as one would think.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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