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May 12, 2019
YOU ARE MISSING OUT SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!
Spy x Family wonderfully exploits dramatic irony(when the audience knows something characters don't) to put forth a hilarious, thrilling and entertaining story. 3 Characters, a spy, a hitman, and an esper, each with their own agendas, flaws and secrets, are pushed with the common goal of needing to come together as a family. Will they ever find each other out? Will they stay together after their goals have been accomplished?
What drives this story so well, is how the characters compliment each others flaws an needs. (the scene with the lady and the purse)
-The spy is a very strict
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perfectionist, more rational than emotional, who is seen struggling between the choices of doing short term right things at the cost of standing out and compromising his job.
-The hitman is less rational, and more emotional, struggling with how to keep in disguise and not stand out too much, something a spy excels at.
-The esper is lacking both rationality and managing emotions, and is the symbol of what the spy and the hitman want to protect, mirroring the spys childhood and the hitmans sacrifice for family.
Combine all three and you notice that the spy lacks connection to attachment, the hitman lacks connection to romance and people, and the esper lacks connection with parents, coincidentally making them perfect for each other and I can't wait to see how they develop together.
MINOR SPOILER-ISH, This is what brought this series from a 10 to a masterpiece: later on Loid's boss lady talks about the horrors of war, and its 1-2 pages of ALL DIALOGUE in very gruesome detail of what she has witnessed and how she survived, the author didn't draw it out and its left for you to painfully imagine, it was amazing. What's even BETTER is it's ALL questions directed at the reader starting with: "Have YOU ever...", and it left me thinking wow, I'm spoiled as hell! This is mastercraft in dialogue, when a manga reaches out of the pages puts you into frame, you know its good.
The author is very capable of dark themes, according to an interview with his editor(https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/web_pages/263/): That’s why I wanted to make SPY x FAMILY a bright and cheerful manga. I remember banning him from drawing anything dark (laughs).
I can only hope he is allowed to do a lot more of darker themes in this series.
My main criticism is Anya's school life is somewhat mundane and uninteresting at times to me, but this isn't a hard thriller series, so I'm not gonna hit on it too hard.
Overall great pacing, superb art, cross cutting characters, 10/10, READ IT NOW! I used to be an atheist until I read this manga....but this series is god.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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May 4, 2019
One Piece, but samurai and soldiers instead of pirates.
Story:
The plot is about finding gold by collecting the skins of escaped convicts as they create a map of sorts. It's centered around a wonderful cast of characters exploring, questioning and exploiting one another yet still managing to get along for some comedies sake, like eating, and this doesn't take too much away from the underlying plot itself.
Character & Enjoyment:
Oh my god, the cast of characters are just oozing out coolness. I was burning and still am to see Sugimoto and Hijikata go at it. The collide of opposing forces chasing the gold is super thrilling, I
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haven't been this engaged when it comes to character dynamics since Death Note. Overall Golden Kamuy manages to combine action and wits into an explosive adventurous thriller.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 15, 2018
THIS HAS GOT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST SOL, LOVE TRIANGLE, DRAMA'S I'VE EVER READ
I am a crazy action shonen fanatic, so I normally dislike the "slice of life" genre(unless its very comedic) because the characters and plot moves too slow. This series is the golden standard on how to do drama and SOL in a way that keeps the fire hot. Every panel, every chapter, every piece of dialog just flows like butter and contributes to actually developing the characters or moving the plot along.
I just can't put it into words but the author captures very very subtle movements that convey large amounts
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of information without dialogue. I don't need to read internal monologuing to tell that a character is nervous, anxious, lost, just tell me through how a character moves in action!
Examples of this are littered throughout the story, e.g: the small panels that show Futaba fluttering, and little pauses everywhere.
The authors ability to stitch together panels without tons of overbearing dialogue is something I will constantly praise throughout this review! I couldn't stop turning the pages.
Characters & Story:
Being a character driven story, the characters are top notch. Honestly the story seems extremely surreal. The themes of drift between friends as they progress through school,
the restrictions of what society places for boys growing up into "men" (cut off creativity and imagination and get real),
the loss of childhood imagination because of the ridicule on creative works that aren't practical/pragmatic (in this case Tachi having fun making battle pencils),
the gossipy bullying girls experience (as a guy, holy shits),
the thorns and complications with romance, of misunderstandings and miscommunication,
and the struggle of self acceptance.
As they say, "you can only love someone else to the extent you love yourself" and it shows very hard in this manga.
THE MAIN CHARACTERS HATE THEMSELVES
and throughout the entire story, they slowly grow and learn how to express and accept themselves honestly.
Again, I can't commend the art and pacing enough on this, the facial expressions and panels of the characters initially wanting to say/do something, only to doubt it and look away conveys rich amounts of emotion and brings the self entanglement of adolescence to life!
In contrast to other similar series following the SOL POV of an introvert outcast underdog MC in a school full of dramaqueens and assholes, you're often coerced into ALWAYS agreeing with the MC! The MC mutters some "badass" lines about how dumb youth is, how everyones a pain, etc, and proves it by 1 upping people while the audience blindly follows their rationale without really thinking it over. This series says NO! The author actively argues with the main characters, and also our point of view(more on that later). The author actively tries to predict what you'll think and argue and writes in counter arguments to challenge more perspectives, which not only makes the story feel more personal and engaging, but makes growth seem earned. You're actively being challenged to consider that the MC might be wrong to look at things from different angles. Ultimately this series kept on questioning my views, is X character really bad? Am I leaping too quick to judgement here?
SPOILERS ON CHARACTERS HERE:
Kuze Futaba is a ditzy clumsy whimsical anxious character, seen by society and her family as an airhead who isn't capable of much, condemned harshly when making mistakes, and if not only pretending to be clumsy because it's "cute". Seeing her being socially crippled by anxiety to growing out of her shell was remarkable. Jesus the small panels of her fluttering... you can see her try her hardest to be someone else, try to live up to everyone's impossible expectations, and it just hits hard.
Mita Touma, strong, athletic, socially afluent, the all around pretty perfect guy. It's funny how he doesn't want to be himself, but to be more like Tachi who's more crafty. We find out that he's gay, and that society gives him a lot of shit for just not picking a girl. Boys are grimly envious and jealous of him, telling him off that he could have any girl he wants and his brother wants him to be "normal"(don't worry, he's a good guy in the end), so it makes him feel alone with no one to confide with, an outcast who is contradicingly popular.
Ichinose Taichi is a creative crafty person who enjoys things like making his own toys when he was younger but threw it all away due to ridicule because it was "lame" and wasn't as cool as being good at sports, etc. He decides to play everything normal and not embrace his passions, a lost soul wishing to be more like his best friend Mita, athletic strong and liked by everyone. Unable to see his positives, he's always questioning "Why me?" Why does Touma still chose to hang out with me? Why doesn't Futaba just leave me? Wanting to be someone else is something the lot of us have been through and the way the author explores this psyche hits hard.
Yagihara Mami - She is bitchy, she is annoying, she keeps getting in our characters way, but she breaks the 4th wall and shouts at the audience as to why we hate her. We think she's a manipulative bitch who is only with our main characters because she has a crush on Touma, BUT this is only part true! She reveals she's just a naturally playful and that this screwed her over because her girlfriends bullied her because they were being overly paranoid that she was trying to steal their boyfriends. She hammers down the point that once someone is in a romantic relationship, friendships break apart because if you're too playful, you're going to get accused of trying to steal. The author knew exactly what we thought about her. Me at the time of reading thought: Why is she suddenly trying to get close and playful with Tachi when he's going out with Futaba? Oh my god, is she trying to steal him? This bitch...BEGONE! DON'T RUIN THEIR RELATIONSHIP! This is what I thought, but the godly author has Mamim bite the readers. Just why can't she be playful?! Why does everyone immediately jump painting her as a bitch?! Is it because she's seen as preitter than most girls? What if she was ugly?
The bald guy(forgot his name)- He's in love with Mami because of her hot looks. Everyone thinks he's a thirsty shallow horndog but YET AGAIN, the author makes us question really? Just what's wrong with liking pretty people? It made me pause and think... huh... it's actually normal. Yes it may seem hollow but it's human nature and biology at play. Not to mention some people put a lot of effort into their looks so it's nice to have someone appreciate it other than yourself.
Itachi Masumi - haven't seen her backstory yet, but in the progress.
The flustering, the drama of miscommunication, misunderstanding, it all intermingles so well with the characters as they can't accept and embrace themselves for who they are, and live honestly. The author touches upon so many issues without making it too one sided. No full on SJW, no full on ANTI-SJW, just well balanced engaging exposition on varying perspectives.
The character development, the slick progressive flow of the story, the growth of our characters, fricken RIGHT IN THE KOKORO HERE LADS. Puts the "D" in good drama.
Caught up with all 30ish chapters that were out in one night. Curse that it kept me up making me lose sleep but this is how I tell a manga is good. When you can't stop turning the pages, you know!
!!WARNING, SPOILERS ON THE ENDING!!
So the ending just hit, and I need to re-read this series to update this review since its been a while, and reading it monthly is fragmenting. Anywhoo, my thoughts on the ending:
The ending has left many people dissatisfied, including me. Speculations are that the series got axed and had to rush itself but I am doubtful(unless someone gives me solid proof). As stated in the review, the author is very aware of our reactions, and actively challenges our viewpoints. Tachi noted in his breakup with Futaba:
"there wasn't an interesting story behind it, people might have said what they would've done in our place not understanding the little decisions we made".
As like you, I WANT TO KNOW TOO, WE ALL WANTED THIS RELATIONSHIP TO BE SOLID, WHAT THE HECK WENT WRONG?! But what good does it do me if it just wasn't an interesting story? So I can roll my eyes, judge em and say they could have forced it to work out? It doesn't change the fact that I'm still salty about it... but the author put that line there to address the backlash of the sudden break up. Of course I don't mind people really wanting to know the gradual process of how their relationship decayed, especially when it feels like you've read the entire series and this was supposed to be the end goal, that is, a happy ending with a solid relationship, but I think to say this is absolutely bad writing is going overboard.
People want more development on Tachi and Touma coming together romantically at the end, and I'm in the minority that doesn't. Imagine how you would personally write Tachi becoming romantically involved with Touma. Considering Tachis history,
>he never was against gay relationships, just confused because he never thought about it.
>he never was bullied for being gay/bi
>he never was always gay and had to hide it while growing up so he's "not coming out of the closet"
What is there to develop and overcome if he's open to it and he just wanted to try it out? This entire series is premised around overcoming problems, and the author just didn't find Tachi eventually dating Touma an interesting struggle, neither with Masumi dating a guy. Granted for us, it'd be great if we could get some small fan service panels of it in action, maybe of Touma fluttering and doing couple things.
I complete agree that the author should have at least drawn Touma at the end though. I mean... maybe the author thought it wasn't interesting, maybe he looks the complete same, but it still would have been a nice final touch.
In conclusion, I still think this is the best SOL, school life romance series I've ever read. The ending may get a lot of salt but I'm willing to bet if it ended with Futaba and Tachi never breaking up, Touma finding someone else, and etc, it'd get a lot less flack...
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Oct 17, 2018
Debunking some common critiques about Shield Hero I've heard:
> Too edgy
I've read quite the few isekais and watched SAO, etc because these are literally the only types of manga that get translated on mangadex and there's nothing else new to read at times. Given the scenario where an isekai protagonist is framed for something they didn't do, the behavior that follows are:
1: Thinking reaction: Despite everyone thinking I did it, I can't hate them since they're misinformed.
2: Feeling reaction: I hate everyone who is thinking I did it without even listening to my side of the story.
and 99.9% of isekai protagonists fall into #1. Like
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Kirito(SAO), they're bland. They don't hold grudges, they aren't spiteful, and they just give "neutrally correct" responses to the situations they come across.
Shield Hero does #2 instead which is just more fun and entertaining given the world he's in. Is it flawed thinking that he's pissy at everyone despite knowing they're misinformed? Yes, and this is the point. Raw emotion reactions are more relatable and more human than "thinking". What thinking implies is time, foresight, and optimism, something that Naofumi just doesn't have given how fast this all happened and how grim the future looks with a never ending cycle of "if I can't kill monsters, I can't get level up, which means I can't get gold to get more powerful items so I can kill monsters".
> Power fantasy
If you actually pay attention, there are quite the few panels where we see lots of studying and experimenting. He got to where he is now because of hard work! Not being a beta tester, not being born special/gifted. I do admit the "dark powers" emanating from the shield is a bit ehhh, but whenever he uses it, it bites him back in the end so its fair
> Loli harem
Ralphtalia and Firo, for the 4-5 times where they are suggestive about romance, ends and gets cut off in 1-2 pages with Naofumi reiterating Ralphtalia is his daughter, etc. 67 chapters in and there has not been entire arcs/chapters, teasing any romantic affection. If there were even 1-2 chapters on it, that's still mathematically 0.02% of the entire series. I didn't actually notice this was a thing because I was more drawn into how Naofumi would survive in the world.
>Cliche
Not about who does it first, its about who does it better. See my profile for an entire essay on why you should avoid "cliche" as a valid metric of critiquing.
What I do agree on:
-Giving Naofumi too many offensive powers... it's a missed opportunity exploring more clever ways defense can be warped into offense.
Overall I enjoyed reading the series. It has a nice flow of action and exploring the scenery of an mmorpg world.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 30, 2018
Relative to the manga, it really could have been adapted better. I found the pacing a bit too fast, not letting me take in the atmosphere of retro arcade gaming and life as someone who's just interested in games.
I'm going to speak of the story in terms of the manga
Story: 10 and Characters: 10
One of the best romance series ever. The problem with romance series is that the characters create needless stupid problems, and overtly makes it hard for me to engage in.
High Score Girl expresses it's romance through a common interest shared by all characters and the love triangle aspect just feels natural,
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believable and realistic(I'll get to why in a second).
The characters are kids going through the boring system of education, and have to chose between
Freedom, to let go and do what you want when you want, not take everything too seriously - Yaguchi
Conformity, to fit in and try to do what is told, not being able to be free - Ono
Lost / empty, not knowing what to do and can't decide between conformity or freedom - Hideaka.
Girls mature faster than boys and it makes absolute sense that Yaguchi is not in tune with romance. People want what they can't have, and the outcome of trying to sway Yaguchi to like you, is a huge wild card, making pursing him more enticing. I'm surprised at the comments bashing this as an unrealistic love triangle and that its the authors youth fantasy? But it reminds me of the series: "Yugami-kun ni wa Tomodachi ga Inai", in a way. The main character lives life on his own terms, doesn't care about trends, and has a genuine passion for something. I'm no expert in romance but passion and dedication in a hobby is a super attractive trait.
There is no accidental hentai moments, no annoying tropes add little to the series, this is just a pure no nonsense romance series.
The world and atmosphere feels ALIVE. The environment of games changing left and right and seeing how it fits into the lives of the characters. I wasn't born in the 1980s and such but the author seems like he tried to capture the historical rapid evolution of technology and big world events
The environment of life, going through the change from childhood to adulthood, and how they impact each character. What more can I ask??
Art: 10
See profile for explanation. It's pass-able, it flows well.
Sound: 8
It really missed out on chances to use game soundtracks and or 8bit OST in a lot of places. There were very good ones that were perfectly timed but I'm ultimately unsatisfied.
Enjoyment: 10 and Overall 10
Is it worth my time? Yes, it was a very refreshing.
tl;dr Relatable realistic characters, shifting environment and strong atmosphere, it's the Shokugeki No Souma of games.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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