- Last OnlineNov 11, 2021 11:10 PM
- JoinedDec 27, 2017
RSS Feeds
|
![]()
Jul 9, 2018
At the time of writing this review, there are only 12 chapters of Jujutsu Kaisen translated. Due to the low number of chapters, my scores will be closer to a 5 (average) because there's really not much a series can do within the first 12 chapters to stand out significantly in any of these categories. As with most of my reviews I'll try to update them once more chapters have been released, provided the series doesn't get axed by Jump & translations are released.
Story: 6/10
As expected, there isn't a ton to the story yet. Only 12 chapters are released at the time I'm writing this
...
review, so there haven't been any very significant arcs in the story yet. However, what has happened is (mostly) well presented. Similar to most series in Jump, things start off very quickly and the first few chapters are taken at a very quick pace. There is so far one relatively significant arc (4 chapters long, 6 to 9) and there have been relevant major antagonists and protagonists introduced, which is a good sign
this early on.
That being said, I think the best part of the plot so far is that the main character has been given a very clearly defined goal. It's one of the best signs of a well thought out shonen battle manga: the successful ones tend to tell you the main character's goal early on (Luffy wants to find the One Piece, Naruto wants to become the Hokage etc.). Even better is the fact that the goal in this case is a bit gruesome, which is typically not the case with Jump manga and helps separate this series from its counterparts.
Currently I would consider the story to be a 6/10, leaning towards 7/10 if it continues like this for the next few chapters.
Art: 6/10
I find it difficult to separate "good" and "great" art a lot of the time, and it's even harder to do that when there have been so few chapters released and translated. Generally though the art in this series is about at the level I'd expect, with the odd panel looking very well detailed.
Character: 5/10
Again, it's difficult to rate how well the characters have been done seeing as there are so few chapters out. What has been done so far is reasonably good, but not stellar. The main character does have well explained motives, but I find some of the side characters that have fallen flat or generally just been average. I'll probably come to like them more given some time, but at this point one of them have really stood out to me as particularly well written (or poorly written for that matter).
Enjoyment: 5/10
I've read a lot of shonen manga, and so far this seems like a somewhat standard one. It's entertaining at times, but I do feel like it'll take a while before I truely begin to enjoy it. I can't give this any higher than a 5 currently because there hasn't been a lot about this series that has stood out to me yet, but I'm sure if it's given enough time in Jump then the series will be able to stand out from the other titles.
Overall: 5.5/10 (rounded to a 6)
Jujutsu Kaisen is a pretty straightforward shonen battle series, and as with all of these series it's hard to judge how good it is when it hasn't gone through a major arc. It does seem like the Japanese audience likes it (Volume 1 apparently got a reprint already, and it's only been available for a week) so I'm sure this series will be able to survive, at least for the forseeable future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
 0
Love it
 0
Funny
 0
Confusing
 0
Well-written
 0
Creative
 0Show all
![]()
May 7, 2018
Unfortunately this series has been cancelled as of a week ago, and it's only translated up to chapter 7. This review still reflects my thoughts on the series up to that point, but obviously can't include up to its final chapter.
I've just read the translation for chapter 5 of this series and thought I'd give my take on it so far. Scores will generally be low because this is a preliminary review.
Story: 6/10
The story so far is pretty straightforward, the protagonists are trying to save the world from destruction. There is a twist though: they know the world will be destroyed in a few years,
...
but not how. They need to figure out how society was originally destroyed by finding clues left by the previous "loop" of people. To make a comparison to a similar manga, Dr. Stone, it's as though the protagonists know that everybody will be turned to stone in a few years, and are trying to figure out how to stop it.
It's all introduced quite fast in chapter 1 and the pace has been kept relatively high for the 5 chapters I've read. So far I've found the premise to be a bit absurd but certainly a change of pace from the typical Jump manga.
Art: 6/10
The art has been decent, but not fantastic so far. If the quality of the art stays the same for the next few chapters I'd bump it up to a 7, since there are a few panels that look quite nice.
Characters: 5/10
At this point in the story there aren't many characters introduced, it's really just Noah and Mirai (the two main characters) that have been followed. I think Noah's character has been done pretty well, and he reminds me of Senkuu from Dr. Stone - Noah is basically Senkuu but interested in history/archaeology instead of science.
Mirai isn't as interesting of a character, at this point her personality is essentially just "airhead who follows Noah" and she's fulfilling the gyaru archetype to a T. I expect this to change somewhat in the coming chapters, but right now she's not a very interesting character.
Enjoyment: 6/10
Though the story requires heavy suspension of disbelief, it is entertaining once you get past its more ridiculous aspects. I find the "edutainment" style of series (like Dr. Stone) to be very enjoyable, and since Noah's Notes seems to be taking a similar approach with history that has made things entertaining.
Overall: 5.75/10
So far the series is okay. Not fantastic by any means, but not bad either. Aside from the characters, the series is above average but certainly not at the level of the latest hits in Jump (ie Dr. Stone, Promised Neverland). It'll be much easier to give an accurate review of the series once about 2 volumes (~15 chapter) are translated, and I'll update my review then if the series survives
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Mar 16, 2018
Dr. Stone has finally reached the 50 chapter milestone and I've decided to give it a review. I'll probably update every ~50 chapters or so if I can, to keep things up to date. Tl;dr ratings below
Story 9/10
Art 10/10
Characters 7/10
Enjoyment 10/10
Overall - 9/10
Story - 9/10
...
I'll be upfront, I'm baised here because I really enjoy the survival style, man vs nature conflict that's present in many parts of this series. Nonetheless I think Inagaki has done a fantastic job with the story of Dr. Stone so far, and made use of both man vs nature conflicts and man vs man conflicts to keep the story very engaging throughout all 50 chapters. Each arc in the story has had good pacing, and with every new chapter I've felt as though something notable happened to progress the plot and drive Senkuu to reaching the arc's goal.
The one major issue I do have with the story is that quite a lot of it requires a lot of suspension of disbelief. It's only natural given that the series is science heavy while being set in a post-apocalyptic world, but that's why I've rated the story portion a 9 instead of a 10.
Art - 10/10
I love Boichi's art. There hasn't been a single chapter so far where I'm not thoroughly impressed at the detail and attention that has been put into a lot of the art, especially things like double page spreads. I'm even more impressed considering that Boichi is also doing the art for his other weekly series, Origin, at the same time as he's doing art for Dr. Stone. It seems like a ridiculous quantity of work yet he still maintains that incredible quality as well.
Characters - 7/10
The weakest point of this series is by far the antagonist, who at times seems like he was made to be an extremely perfect and extremely overpowered character. It does set up a very nice ideological conflict between him and Senkuu, however this can also feel a bit forced or absurd at times.
Aside from the antagonist(s), I think the rest of the characters in this series are written well. Interactions between Senkuu and the characters around him are always interesting and there are a lot of lovable side characters introduced. Although very few of the characters in the series have been developed in much depth, it is only chapter 50 so things will likely change as the story itself progresses. This rating will quite likely go up by chapter 100 if more characters are developed well
Enjoyment - 10/10
I really enjoy man vs nature conflicts, post-apocalyptic settings and science driven plot in their own rights. Mashing those together is really a winning strategy for Dr. Stone. It's the manga I look forward to reading every week the most, tied with One Piece. Every chapter is a treat to read
Overall - 9/10
Dr. Stone has a bit of everything - comedy, action, adventure, and most importantly a hell of an entertaining story. You'll be consistently amazed by the art and entertained by the characters, certainly all the way through chapter 50 and likely beyond.
It's well worth a read if you like the idea of a non-standard shonen series that focuses a lot on the adventure and less so on the action, but still has a good mix of the two.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
![]()
Dec 28, 2017
NOTE: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS *SOME* SPOILERS
TL;DR at the bottom if you don't want to read this wall
I've read a few of the other reviews of Black Clover and I'm a little disappointed to see that a lot of the negative (sub-5 star) reviews were written by people who have read 30 or less chapters of the manga. Of course, people who dislike the series would tend to drop it quickly but I don't think it does Black Clover (or any manga, really) justice to review it after less than 50 chapters/1 year of publication.
With that short bit out of the way I'll start my
...
review:
Story: 6/10 (minor manga spoilers)
Admittedly, Black Clover does start out like a very standard Shonen manga. However, I think any Shonen battle manga that will come out in the future is going to be very similar to its predecessors - so much has been done at this point that it is very difficult to be truly unique nowadays. Honestly, it's accurate to say that the first 10 or so chapters greatly resemble what I think I'd get if I smashed Fairy Tail and Naruto's first few arcs together, so I understand where many other posters are coming from.
Luckily, the manga does begin to differentiate itself from those two reasonably quickly, which is the reason I'm a little annoyed that some people reviewed it after just the first "large" arc of the series, or chapter ~20. I'd certainly agree that the first few arcs of the series are not all that great, however after roughly the first 40 chapters they really take a step up in both their overall quality and uniqueness. This series is one that seems to be getting more well done as time goes on, and although the basic premise of the story and some characters' core motivations won't change, the circumstances they're in (and consequently, the story arcs) can and will be different and perhaps more interesting.
One portion of the story that I think many people will overlook is the pace. A few of the manga I've read weekly fall into the trap of dragging things out, or stretching arcs until readers start to get impatient (looking at you, One Piece). Though this is reasonable to do for some manga, Black Clover doesn't do that to the degree others do. Every chapter that I've read after being caught up has felt like story progression is being made, and at a brisk enough pace to keep me really interested in what happens in the next chapter. Very few arcs in this story last more than 30 or so chapters too, so if you're beginning to dislike an arc you can just stop reading for a few months and then binge the rest of the arc in an hour or so. This brisk pacing is a major bonus in my eyes and one of the reasons I decided to give the story section a 6 instead of a 5.
Art: 8/10
By far the strongest point of Black Clover, I find the art to be really fantastic. The level of detail is usually quite high, and many of the larger panels are exceptional. There are certainly points where the art is a little muddled (some fight scenes spring to mind) but that's not typical for the manga. I'd give it a higher score if the times when a concept is being explained there weren't some panels that are just a gray background with text or very low detail, but to be fair the chapters where that happens are usually a bit longer or more detailed elsewhere to make up for it.
Character: 4/10 (spoilers here, obviously)
As opposed to the above category, this is by far the weakest point of the series. Both Asta and Yuno (the main characters) are exceptionally bland. Asta hasn't had much character development, if any, for the entirety of the series up until this point. He's stayed the same, cut and dry stereotype of a Shonen protagonist. Outspoken, stubborn and most importantly never giving up, make up the entirety of Asta's character. Yuno is one of the most neglected "main character" types in a series, and I'm hesitant to call him a main character at all because of it. He's been in about half the arcs in the series though, and since he functions as the rival to Asta, I suppose he is a main character. Very much the same as Asta, Yuno has basically undergone no character development as well and is effectively a kinder, friendly Sasuke (the Naruto comparison is merited in this case). Asta and Yuno are the most basic version of a comparison between hard work and natural talent that two main characters can be. Their backstory is significantly more bland than Naruto/Sasuke's though, which does muddy the comparison significantly. Personally I'd say these two characters are worthy of about 2/10 on their own, for being so straightforward and cookie-cutter in terms of protagonists.
Now, onto the other extremely weak point of the characters in this manga: the villains. I think I like maybe 2 or 3 of the antagonists of any of the arcs so far, and that's about it. They're really very similar, with 2 of the main antagonists apparently being so single minded that they only focus on literally one single thing. Most of these villains, especially the ones in the first 30 or so chapters in the series, feel incredibly bland and forced. This hasn't gotten a whole lot better as the series has progressed either - it's seemingly a perpetual weak point of Tabata's. Like many of the antagonistic side characters in the series, the villains are mostly 1 dimensional "I hate you, die" or "You got in my way, die" type characters whose purpose seems to just be there because arcs need villains.
Now after all that ranting, why do I give this section a 4 and not something worse, like a 1/2? Because there are some very good, well developed characters in Black Clover. Character development seems to be a thing that can't be done right by Tabata every time. For example, I'd consider the side character Luck to have an incredibly well done backstory considering his role in the story. It was about as much as any side character needs and was done, in my opinion, very well. There are other characters in the story who I think are extremely well done characters but since they appear in later arcs in the story I'll stay away from any major spoilers. It's a shame that that's not the usual for characters (especially main characters) in Black Clover, or else I'd be able to give this section a much higher score in line with the others.
Enjoyment: 7/10
I'll shamelessly admit that I'm one of the people often referred to as "shonen trash" and greatly enjoy the typical shonen battle manga. I've read/watched One Piece, Bleach, Naruto, HxH, and many others of this style and very rarely have they even gotten close to boring me. Black Clover isn't as enjoyable as most of the manga I listed but it is still a really enjoyable read, particularly because of the pacing and often entertaining interactions between some of the characters. It may not be a revolutionary story, but it doesn't have to be for me to enjoy it.
Overall: 6.25/10, rounded to 6/10 (alright, conditionally worth a read)
One thing I feel the need to mention that doesn't fit very well into the other sections is how interesting I think the approach that Tabata takes towards fights in the series can be. It feels as though he's trying to fill the "teamwork in fights" niche that other manga haven't covered well if at all, and this is done extremely well in my opinion. Most of the battles in this series are a team effort, usually including Asta since he's the main character (and is very OP) but the ways in which this is done can be quite interesting and this makes the story unique in and of itself.
TL;DR: If you enjoy other shonen battle manga, chances are pretty good that you'll get something out of Black Clover. Many portions are reminiscent of other manga series, but Black Clover does take a few interesting steps to separate itself from the rest of the crowd.
e1 (6.75 -> 6.25): Checked back after about 2 months and a reread, felt I needed to update since my opinion changed slightly. Will probably update at the end of each arc.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|
