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May 3, 2013
If you’re charmed by the miko outfit (yes I was… too…) I suggest you turn back at once (for now), because you probably won’t be seeing it anytime soon. Go away you bunch of pervies.
If you are still following the lines however, welcome! Tokyo Ravens is a nice find with a story of onmyodo reinterpreted onto modern society. There are schools created to train young onmyoji, the most gifted 12 are given title “Heavenly General”, there are ranks and government are relying on these arts, dispatching curse investigator to subdue the unlawful use of onmyou arts.
[ Story - 9 - ]
About half a century
...
ago, an onmyoji who was hailed as the greatest –Tsuchimikado Yakou failed an onmyou art of soul transfer “Taizan Fukun”, perished, and brought calamity upon Tokyo. Tokyo is then terrorized by evil spirits, even until today.
Moving back to the present, there are people, seemingly related and closely bonded to the national onmyoji agency, believing that Yakou hadn’t failed his spell, that Yakou had succeeded in transferring his soul – They are Yakou’s disciples, forming the Order of the North Star’s King.
“Yakou’s soul must have lived on, through his bloodline!”
What will happen to the now targeted Tsuchimikado Natsume, a crossdressing girl who is believed to be Yakou’s reincarnation? What about her clueless, bonk-head childhood friend and human shikigami -Tsuchimikado Harutora, whom she seems to be very so in love with? Why does he hold such strong, albeit with little control of a spiritual power despite only being a branch family of Tsuchimikado? There seems to be much in store to this pair of master and shikigami, not only from the threat of those who yearn for the King’s return, but also from idiot of a shikigami’s inability in reading the obvious.
[Analysis]
For the uninitiated, onmoyodo is Japanese term for the Art of Yin and Yang, a concept originated from Chinese philosophies. In anime and manga culture, an onmyoji would be able to do divination, spells of Five elements (Wu Xing), and summons of Shikigami (familiar). Tokyo Ravens instead centered heavily on the shikigami part, so it’s sufficient for you to know only of this -Harutora is Natsume’s human shikigami, a tradition practiced only in Tsuchimikado family.
Mainstream? Very much so. The plot is set on modern Tokyo, give it a background story, which in Tokyo Ravens’ case, Onmyodo, ayakashi, ma mono, mononoke, oni, magic and spiritual power, school where you learn the art of onmyodo, also a place where girl meets boy and “Hey didn’t we meet before when we were young?” sort of situation. Even then, the story is very well done. Tokyo Ravens has a pacing that doesn’t give a break, it is upbeat yet every events are meaningful and seems to point towards future happenings. One way the story carries itself is the casual conversation between characters, all of which contains many hints to the background and facts of someone, something, probably due to the fact that this is orginally a manga adapted from light novel.
Subtlety is one awe-inspiring part of Tokyo Ravens, call it cheekiness if you will, but they are perfectly executed. I find it lovable how the stories doesn’t exactly tell you about itself, but instead through a light chat, hinted by flashbacks, then present. One of these examples would be Hokuto, a girl who resembles an idol Harutora admires, its significance, her wanting Harutora to become an onmyoji, her death, her being a shikigami relating to Natsume, and later, Natsume’s haircut. I wish not to spoil further. Try read for yourself!
[ Art -10- ]
I am not so sure how do I describe the art of this manga, if I have to say, it just perfectly fit to the story. The art is modern, and slightly cute-ish, very similar to Nisekoi (by Komi Naoshi), set on modern Tokyo with clearly drawn background and buildings, clean with enough shadings. Another thing I may as well point out here is the dynamic placing of Koma (panels), it’s quite unique, really.
The characters are drawn cute-ish as well, with tons of different, slightly exaggerate (but never over the top) emotions shown on face befitting situations (mainly Natsume). I find myself enjoying these very much! I’d smile, just because of a weird face from Natsume. I hope you’d find it cute as well.
[ Character -7- ]
I actually, for once, do not have much to elaborate about characters of a story, as it is still a little early in the story. All I could say is Tokyo Ravens suffers a little In terms of its cast and characters due to its generic nature, that Harutora holds power greater than norms, that he commands unique shikigami unlike most others, but lacks skill due to his ignorant days, or that Natsume is Tsundere (well quite), who is the most respected student of talents in onmyoudo of her class. They do come off as cliché of a contemporary anime/manga characters and setting but it does look promising indeed and there could be more that we have yet to know. Anyway, what I find may interest readers are future elaboration on Toji, a friend of Harutora who is a little mysterious and isn’t as normal as his vibe would suggest. Also we’d want to see more from Kurahashi, a girl who mistook Natsume as the boy she met when she was small. Other than that, there’s of course the relationship between Harutora and Natsume that is the main attraction.
[ Enjoyment -10- ]
I ENJOY THIS ONE A LOT.
That comes with reasons. The main reason why this manga, I enjoyed so much, is because of its formula and chemistry. The art support the story telling of the manga, its casual conversation, all of which were carefully planned, full of hints to inform readers in a clever (?) and mischievous way. The characters are in the midst of this obviously, the dunce-head Harutora is dumb and failed to notice the obvious, but it is this reason why subtlety works well between him and Natsume. Other than that story is enticing and you’d want to hope for more, even with all that each chapter is so full of development that it doesn’t seem slow. Sometimes the panels are of the light hearted, gleefully done that calms the progress that is yet to deliver, but when it delivers, it comes off with nothing less than attention grabbing.
[ Overall -9- ]
With all said I have nothing else to add here except that it seems an anime is coming soon! Otherwise I really am looking forward to more releases, glad that I found this hidden gem, a gem that may be polished to shine even more.
I thank you for reading this lengthy review (haha… for a 17 chapters…). Good Reading!
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 1, 2013
After 86 chapters I can tell that the author has fetish with sparkling sunglasses and weird hats. Period.
Joke aside, oh oh OH Witch Hunter, what a slow-paced manwha but surely you have grabbed my interest. Must you have patience getting into this manwha, lest you end up hatin’ it for not tellin’ you nothin’ at ol’. (damn is there really the need to differentiate between manga and manwha?)
Story: 9
Long long time ago there were human, and there were witches.
They lived happily together, if not for a new formed religion.
Snared at stakes, burnt were these witches.
This is witch hunt, led by human of power and
...
might.
Oh ohh proud human, they are the Witch Hunters!
And of course human lost, that was the setting of this story. Sorry for that dramatic introduction as well, felt like doing it (teeheee). Witch Hunter centered around a human witch hunter named Alan Wal.. I mean Tasha Godspell. Tasha is a black class (second highest class) Witch Hunter (abbr. WH) who is in search of his sister, Aria whom was turned into a witch, and apparently killed Tasha’s master. Story so far mainly revolve him being caught in between the concocted plan by great witch, the North, WH central headquarter (which is infiltrated by South’s personnels) and lone wolf, the East.
Witches are once normal females who heeds to the whisper of a hat. “Do you wish for power?” Such is how they become one, and there can only be females who can become witches (duuuuh?). Therefore, only females/witches can generate mana and their hat is their mana storage; their hats are far more important than their lives. One trait of being a witch is having a supporter, which can be in any form (Elmar’s Thirving – a sword, East’s Sutr – a giant, Monica’s Parvati – a third eye on her forehead). It seems acquisition of these supporter are not always immediately after one becoming a witch, eg. East – 1500 years and Monica – immediately after becoming one.
Mana is poison and drug. All but witches could withstand the use and channeling mana through their body, doing so otherwise would drive one to madness and get drunk in power, however of course that’d be boring. As the manga/manwha rules stated otherwise- our MC is one of the exception! Tasha is able to channel mana, initially with the help of his gloves, later being able to generate mana after a seal broken placed on him by his dearest master, Edea Florence. What fate awaits Tasha and his supporter, Halloween/Mordred, who is in fact a mysterious girl and not a pumpkin? Will Tasha be able to control his mana, being only one of the two males ever having to learn to do so?
[Analysis]
Witch Hunter is a perfect example of a story that is bandaged with ideas and development. What I mean to say is that the story is only thought up when it is time to deliver, it is obvious (even the mangaka himself stated so – Bairong’s arc). In a way the story hence becoming inconsistent, and there are disconnections between story development. What the story truly lack is foreshadowing of events, if the author is to make it better. There are many instances where the author simply throw in a characters out of nowhere in the middle of a story or a fight, that or an event just occur with no foreshadowing. Take for example a well done manga in this respect would be, say Attack on Titan, there are images, conversations that connects to the unknown.
One strong point of Witch Hunter however is its many yet unknown info. That intrigues the reader’s interest into continuing the manwha. But it is depressing because after 7 years of publication, all that increases is the sheer amount of questions and unknowns that are yet to be disclosed, or maybe that is author’s way to attract readers, or maybe to prolong the lifespan. Many things were stated as facts and were never been bothered to have explanation to be done, maybe not until much much later. Some of these question marks are for example, who exactly is Edea Florence, death of Edea and its connection to Aria, North, Ryuhwan, the significance of Halloween being Mordred, why bother doing fights between Vihyungrang and East only to have him gone from the picture for so long, why the hell would the author bother to put Guinevere into the story only to have her spout “Ah” um twice?. . . . . . . these, I am sure are questions some of the readers may come to think of. So far, the only thing I can say was concluded is Emperor Yue (originally Xing) arc in Bairong, who wasn’t even a main character, and took up 13 chapters (1 year materials).
It seems that I hate the story, but it’s quite the opposite. All that I can say is Witch Hunter is definitely interesting, it has rapid development which sadly doesn’t move the story much. But at this point (86 chapters) it seems to me the introduction of casts are finally in place, I am hoping to see more from this manwha. So those of you willing to follow a story like this, be prepared to have patience! I'm guessing this one will last for another 10 years.
Art: 7
The art style of Witch Hunter is best described as clean and tidy. Every panels are just fine with clearly expressed emotions and poses. It’s really easy to follow each panels (and BTW the manwha reads left > right, just misc. info to you). A very distinctive feature is the author’s tendency to draw chibi characters bickering at each other, well, a joke elements that give a few laugh.
To criticize it however I’d say some of the story element lacks design, but that’s definitely not a big deal. I’m referring to Tasha’s gun, colt and desert eagle which, well, just look like a gun. It’s unfathomable to me how a gun look so simple could have blasted out impacts bigger than its barrel. But well, like I mention, it’s no biggie. On the other hand, prepare to see much better design on most witches, exotic dresses, and weird hats. Did I mention that the author loves boob?
Character: 7
I really wish to give more points into this department. But I couldn’t.
As mentioned before, the story seeming only finished its introduction of all casts a while ago, a big casts at that. For this reason, and as of now, the characters aren’t very well developed yet. There a lot to say about each characters however, interesting, unique and more importantly we’d like to see more of them in future development. We’d like to see how Tasha is going to become stronger now, we’d like to see his arsenal of guns other than colt and desert eagle, why is he so obsessed with money and where exactly did those money go (despite being so crazy about earning money, he hadn’t used it on himself), what is going to happen to him and Halloween whom he may have something for, the past of Tasha with his master and his infatuation to her, there are a lot and a lot and a lot that will develop from now on, or at least that is what I am thinking.
Other main chars probably include, from the WH side, Xing and Taras, buddies of Tasha (or maybe not quite). Xing the WH who uses fists and chi, and Taras who utilize mother-earth manipulation: the likes of ground spikes, earth walls, etc.. Others are, girls like Monica, Ran, Linda, three of whom apparently shows some affection to Tasha, Cougar, Words, the two WH who are rivals of Tasha, and may have something in store for future massive development. There are a lot more but you gotta read to know!
From the witch’s side we have the four great witches, apparently all glamorously sexy babes (or at least East used to be). Witches are the main power that moves the story, almost all conflicts in the story occurs due to witch’s invasion and behind all these are plot meticulously planned by North and South. They are the antagonists who are at this point, still mysterious and the extent of their power are yet to be known. Another thing I’d point out here is that, being a witch doesn’t mean they are bad guy (or witches?). It wasn’t clearly explained, but apparently witches who does not agree with harming humans, could join WH instead.
Enjoyment: 8
There are always title that one could enjoy despite some flaws. Witch Hunter is exactly one of those kind. The main thing I like about Witch Hunter is its light mood that are sometimes funny, sometimes engaging (battles), always making you craving for more since there will always be something new in store for you. That but I don’t quite enjoy story that doesn’t move much, and I find that Bairong arc is a bit forced onto the story, these two reason minus 2 marks. Otherwise, the large casts and alluring witches, the background story of each characters being slowly revealed, the under-the-table plots, it’s something everyone can enjoy.
Overall: 8
Hence an 8. Witch Hunter is definitely one with some flaws to it, mainly due to its incoherent plot development (stories sometimes jump around too much leaving you with more questions). Another thing would probably be a big mystery never answered on how WH are using their abilities, since most of them shouldn’t be able to generate mana. There are also fights that sometimes you may find slow and stupid (for example, move behind an opponent and say: HAHA I GOT YOUR BACK WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO NOW? COME ON DO SOMETHING, COME ON DO SOMETHING, PUSH ME AWAY WHY DONCHA’ (it happens so many times)... well it doesn’t make much sense but I guess it’s just a manwha). Despite this, it has a lot of potentials packed into it. Anyone with patience (and I mean a lot here) to follow this manga to its end, which is something I’m looking forward to seeing as well, may give this manwha a try. I recommend you to do so.
Thank you for reading! Again I hoped this may help to shed some light on you who are reluctant in picking this one up, well, Good Reading!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 29, 2013
I first came across Akame ga Kiru (or Akame ga KILL) when I saw my brother reading it a while back then. I only pull it up much later and went on a marathon reading for about 12 hours (35 chapters), and boy, was I left with a deep impression for this title.
Story: 6
Yeah yeah screw the story. I give it a 6.
My impression for the story department is just “fine”. The story follows a pretty formulaic build up for the first few parts, here we see our MC got into trouble, betrayed, and then invited into Night Raid. Then the introductions of our Night
...
raids members for the next consecutive chapters, up until the point where we witness the first DEATH among the Night Raids members (I won’t spoil hey). That is probably the part where the story seems to attract the most attention, at least for myself. Death does seem to play a big part in how the story is going to develop from now on, if my hunch ain’t wrong (we keep seeing the numbers counters of Night Raids and Jagers left). So if you are one who doesn’t mind death of a character, or has little attachment to one, this manga might be a choice for pick up.
Art: 8
Now let me put down a few notes here. The pilot chapter wasn’t exactly great in details, shadings or background but don’t let these put you off. It gets better. What really impress me in terms of this title’s art style is that it improves over the chapters! It’s pretty obvious if one pay attention to it. Another thing I’ll mentioned here as well is that while the art for first few parts of the story was heavy and detailed, it changes over the chapters as the story develops, for better or worse it’s your call here (I only notice the definite changes in drawing style when I reach the part where Tatsumi and Wave went on the tree monster hunting,).
At first the drawing style I can only describe it as being heavy. It was a little too dark with heavy shadings and background. Sometimes it makes it hard to read the fighting scenes without focusing your eye to make out where the arms/head or where the attack is, that is my only complaint here. However all these suit the story surprisingly well, with the gore theme to this title, bloods and swords (and of course dismembered bodies..), they were a nice fit. Continue onwards until chapter where (at least the part where it was noticeable for myself) Tatsumi and Wave were fighting the tree monster at mountain, I realized there were much less shading, more whites and the use of more screentones. This change make the fight a lot easier to read, it was clean while retaining the detailed characters drawing, but in return it may have lost the dark mood to the story.
Character: 9
Characters in this title is probably the one of the highlight, I love all the characters (except prime minister, and his lackeys and son perhaps). What is truly intriguing here is that while there were characters, collectively divided into 2 sides; Night Raid and Jagers; both opposing each other, there weren’t exactly a bad guy among these 2 (again, except for the prime minister). What is justified for one may not be for another, it’s about the narrow view and perspectives one could only see so much.
All the characters are interesting. We have a good-boy-at-heart Tatsumi, mischievous Leone, quiet but caring Akame, Tsundere Loli Mein, Rabac that keeps the team going, Susanoo the good bro and Najenda the handsome woman. All these characters are from the Night Raid, and what ties them together is their ability to kill and assassinate. The other members I’ll mention are Schere, Braht and Chelsea but I wouldn’t go into details for these three for now as to not spoil you anything important. They are the main anchors that moves the story afterall (though a little weak for Chelsea part, and a little distasteful).
What I mentioned so far are the members from Night Raid, but even Jager from the Imperial had amazing casts of interesting fellows. My favorite is Seryuu (crazy, pyscho that takes justice to the extreme end, well just try and notice her face when she’s fighting, it’s really awesome) and of course Esdese, a beautiful sadist even portrayed in her own name: “S”adist “desu”. To give you a little spoiler as to what spices up the enjoyment in reading Akame ga Kiru (after chapters 17), Esdese is the strongest woman in the empire, and shortly after fall flat in love with Tatsumi. It reminds me of Luffy and Boa Hancock from One Piece haha! This mismatched coupling, their mushy moments, I enjoyed every part of it. (FYI Esdese is taller than Tatsumi… and probably older as well) All but of course, they are from two different faction, and I believe there will be time when they must face off against each other, we’ll see.
So I love all the characters, all interesting and with unique design. The only part I’ll further address here is the way the girl’s face feature are drawn, especially the eyes. They are all pretty similar: take note of Akame, Mein, Esdese. If not for the recognizable hairstyle and physique, I’m thinking it may be hard to differentiate between them.
Enjoyment: 10
If anything, Akame ga Kiru is one manga that you can enjoy despite all the plot holes and disturbing development. I find myself enjoying looking forward as to see how the characters will develop from now on, rather than the story itself. For one, there isn’t much to say about the story, but the characters make it interesting. With the good arts and drawing it comes with, I say enjoyment you could find yourself in this manga is top notch. The best part about (for now, and for me) is TatsumixEsdese, the fighting, and deaths to some extent. I am aware that it’s disturbing how DEATHS would make a good manga, but hey it works for the first 2 night raid who died (I feel my heart dropped like hammer for the first death, and you know what that means to a manga that could incur such emotion).
Overall: 8
I’ve only read 35 chapters so far, so there are definitely more to add into account for what may occur from now on. One thing though is that the manga hasn’t lived true to its name yet, Akame ga Kiru (which may translates to Akame is Slashing or Slash! Akame, Akame = Scarlet eye). It seems to me that there may be more to be seen from Akame in the future, which is the one thing that has been bothering me for a while now since we have yet to see much development from her. I hope you may find this review helpful, and sorry for any mistakes in writing this (it’s my first review ^-^)
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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