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While technically this show is a sequel to the 2018 show of the same name, these 12 episodes repeat the same formula of the previous season. This is a positive in that the show is very easy to digest but at the same time, it also makes this season inferior to the previous season’s episodes. Especially by the middle of the show (episodes 5-8), the recurring formula of Nishikata challenging Takagi to contests in which he inevitably loses begin to feel like a gag, his bone-headed nature in refusing to admit to his feelings for Takagi starts to grate on the viewer and some skits ... are weak. On the positive side, it is Takagi who is the star of the show and how she plays Nishikata like a fiddle all the while trying to be as clear as she can be about how she feels (through playful banter and teasing, of course) can only be described as superb.

The final four episodes, thankfully, more than make up for the lack-luster middle section of the season. As the tension between the two leads simmers throughout the first eight episodes, Nishikata is finally forced to make a choice and the payoff is nothing less than stunning. So much so, that if a viewer purely desires to just get closure while eschewing all the character development and comedy – I’d recommend skipping the first eight episodes and jumping directly into the final four episodes.

So, would I recommend this show in its entirety? It depends. Much of the enjoyment of the show rests on how much the viewer can relate to Takagi while simultaneously tolerating Nishikata’s ineptitude. If the balance is in favor of Takagi over Nishikata, sure go ahead – you’re in for a ride. If not, this show is a dud. I personally found the final four episodes to be brilliant and it is for those episodes alone that I give the show a 7. Otherwise, this would have been a 5.

Now, if you would excuse me – I’m off to read the sequel to this series in which Nishikata and Takagi are married (finally!!!) and have an adorable four year old daughter.

If I were to best describe the Karakai jōzu no Takagi-san, it is like a serving of an extra-large triple-sundae strawberry ice-cream. With its warm animation, cute chemistry between the two lead characters and wonderful voice-acting, the show has the capacity to hook the viewer with its sweetness. And like strawberry ice-cream, the series is sweet and oh-so-delicious. However, by the time a viewer has seen 3-4 episodes in a row – that same sweetness is like the third scoop of the strawberry ice-cream. It begins to overwhelm the taste buds, makes you more likely to get diabetes and the viewer either ends up disgusted ... with the sweetness or ends up chucking the last ice-cream scoop in the trash-can. The show suffers from the same problem – if you end up binge-watching this show, the formula becomes easy to predict and it ends up becoming repetitive.

This is because Karakai jōzu no Takagi-san is ridiculously simple – Takagi and Nishikata are 12 year olds who are in love with each other. However, while Takagi is upfront about her feelings, Nishikata is not. The entire show is how Takagi spins circles around Nishikata, teasing him, enjoying him see blush and in the process make him realize how he feels about her. That’s it. That’s the entire show. There are no major dramatic flash-points, no unnecessary love-triangles, not even a major confession between the two lovebirds. It’s just sweet – and one-dimensionally so.

Now, in the defense of both strawberry ice-cream and the show – I will have to argue that the limitation lies not with the product but how the product is consumed. Admittedly, the day I viewed four episodes back-to-back, the final episode began to feel annoying. All I wanted was to Nishikata was to be honest with himself and admit that he liked Takagi, especially when she had been dropping hints about she felt all through the series. But when I paced myself and limited myself to a single episode a day, the enjoyment factor increased considerably.

What makes it enjoyable is the chemistry our lead characters have with each other. Nishikata is hilariously inept but an innocent-lad while Takagi is clever, charming but never manipulative. Where the show shines is slowly developing the chemistry between the two main characters. Takagi is relentless in her teasing but knows to never cross the line. After all, the teasing is simply a cover so that she can spend time with him. At the same time, she helps him out with his Math exam, his summer vacation homework and his tandem-bicycling skills. In return, she gets to hug him while sitting on the back of his bicycle. It’s a win-win for our characters and a win-win for the viewers to see their wholesome interactions. My only advice would be to remember that this show is like a palate-cleanser that is meant to be consumed after a long hard day at work. Like a palate cleanser, it is designed to leave you with a sweet aftertaste. And remember, one doesn’t binge on the palate-cleanser!

Kaguya-sama is what happens when Death Note becomes a romantic-comedy. Two 'geniuses' try to outwit each other to confess their love to the other in a high-school setting. What makes the manga enjoyable is that while the antics deployed by both the main characters may be over-the-top, far-fetched and sometimes downright silly, we as the reader know that the stakes are not really that high at all. Our hero and heroine are just regular tsundere teenagers who are completely besotted with one other and want to revel in watching their crush blush/squirm. Or as one character in the series remarks - "They're not outwitting each ... other, they're actually flirting!"

Now while this setup may be good enough for a few gags (of which there are plenty), what makes the series transcend from good to great is to see the characters develop and transition into new roles. I have always maintained that one of the greatest traps that sitcoms habitually fall into is when their characters become tropes that are then used as crutches to produce gags. Let me explain. Take “Friends” – the famous 90s sitcom. Joey is the dumb playboy, Monica has a cleanliness OCD and Ross is the nerd. Or take “Big Bang Theory” in which Sheldon is the hapless geek. Such tropes are fine, but the trouble with them is that if the author is not careful then the tropes start to write the joke instead of the other way around. So, for instance – in Big Bang Theory – we know that Sheldon will make a socially inept statement in a public scene much to the embarrassment of his friends. Or that Joey will goof-up but yet be charming enough to get a date with a hot girl. When it happens for the first two-three times, it’s funny. When it happens for the 25th time – it’s lazy writing.

I am happy to report that this flaw is not present in this manga. Characters evolve and so do their relationships. For instance, take the relationship between Kaguya (the heroine) and Ishigami (her junior). Their relationship starts off with Ishigami being terrified of her while Kaguya treating him as a nuisance. But over the course of 150 chapters, their relationship slowly transforms. Kaguya starts to treat Ishigami as a younger cute brother/kouhai who she helps in preparing for exams and in matters of the heart. At the same time, Kaguya starts to rely on him when Christmas comes around and she is unsure of which present to buy. The comedy continues to take place but the character roles are now that of an elder-sister (senpai) helping out a younger-brother (kouhai) and vice-versa. Comedy continues to take place but the jokes, instead of making the reader guffaw, make the reader smile.

The dynamics between other characters (e.g. Miyuki and Miko, Hayasaka and Kaguya, Maki and Kaguya, Ishigami and Miko etc.) also change as the series progresses giving all the major characters exceptional level of depth and well-roundedness. The writing too is top-notch and gradually improves as the plot becomes more serious. Single chapters often have scenes that are deadly serious, only to transform into funny one in the span of just 10 pages without evoking a sense of emotional whiplash. Most chapters also have small hidden jokes that can only be observed when re-read – giving the manga a good re-read value. Another positive aspect of the series is that the number of characters is limited to just 8-10 unlike some other series (e.g. School Rumble or Komi-san) where the list of characters tends to balloon into double-digits. The only other series that I know of which was able to pull this off is Maison Ikkoku (and that came out in the early 1980s!)

So, what’s to criticize? For starters, there is a serious dearth of male characters. We have two boys and 6-7 girls and this makes the character cast feel imbalanced. (Note – this doesn’t imply that this is a harem manga). The art in the first 50 chapters is also not very polished. However, it does improve with time reflecting the artistic growth of the author. Frankly, I’d recommend potential readers to watch the anime instead since it does a better job in fleshing out the characters during this part and then transition to the manga. However, none of these drawbacks should hold a potential reader from picking up this manga - there are so many other rom-com manga that are far worse that Kaguya-sama in both these departments.

The mangaka once stated in an interview that he envisioned the readership of this series to appeal to both young-adults and 30-year old office-ladies in Japanese offices. While I'm no office-lady, I am older than 35 and found the series delightfully funny, warm and all-around enjoyable. The author seems to be quite enraptured by India, so let me end this review with a couplet composed in 13th century India by the poet Khusro that perfectly encapsulates what the series is about and why I like it so much:

ख़ुसरो! बाज़ी प्रेम की, जो मैं खेलूँ पी के संग. जीत गयी तो पिया मोरे, हारी, मैं पी के संग!
Khusro! Baazi prem ki, jo main khelu pee ke sung. Jeet gayi to piyaa moray, haari, main pee ke sung!
Khusro! I am going to play a dangerous game with my beloved. If I win, he will belong to me, if I lose then I will stay with him forever!

This is not a good manga. Most reviews here and elsewhere would have you believe that this is the best series since humanity invented sliced bread but I would beg to differ.

The manga starts with an exciting premise. Our 12 year protagonist lives in a town that surrounds an unexplored hole called the Abyss. No one knows how deep it is or its origins or the dangers that lurk in it. She discovers a mysterious robot on the edge of Abyss that has lost its memories. We also learn that our protagonist has a mother who is the most famous explorer of the Abyss but ... has not been seen for the past 10 years. Our protagonist wants to meet her mom and therein lies the plot. Simple enough. We have three mysteries, all of them tied to the mysterious Abyss.

While it starts simply enough as an adventure, the author brings in mystery, horror and thriller elements to keep the reader engaged. And the manga is brimming with creative art which clearly demonstrates the talent and imagination of the author. Sadly, those are the only positive things that I can say about the manga.

My biggest criticism is that this manga’s narration proceeds like a rudderless ship stranded in the middle of a stormy ocean. It zigs one way and the zags another with no sense of purpose or direction. For instance, in one of the most infamous chapters one of our main characters is subject to physical torture. I’ll spare you the gory details but body mutilation is involved. And yet in the very next chapter, this character fights the villains and almost wins! Hmm. So, was the point of that torture-porn simply to make readers squirm? Here’s another – in this same arc the main side character starts out as the villain’s accomplice, switches sides, then switches side again, is killed, then revived and finally ends up becoming friends with our main characters. Wow. In the currently ongoing arc, a character who was thought to have been dead suddenly reappears, ends up putting one of our protagonists out of action, only for them to leave and our protagonist is now back just in time to help out our two other protagonists. And in the middle of all this, the author shoehorns a 200 page flashback so that he can somehow make the plot cohere.

Al this is clear evidence of bad writing. It indicates that the author has no overarching plot and just makes stuff up. He gets an idea, runs with it, only to find himself stuck and then retcons the earlier events when he feels like it. As of chapter 56, all the original three mysteries that were posed at the start of the series have been conveniently forgotten. Our protagonists are in someone else’s adventure acting like pawns in a game of chess that they should not be a part of. Now while adventure is exciting and drawn beautifully, l as the reader have to sit back and ask – what is even the reason for this adventure to exist? How does this fit in with the original three mysteries? It doesn’t. And for me, it doesn’t look like it will either.

I’m dropping this train-wreck. I’ve better stuff to read/watch.

Let me tell you what made me want to read this (long) manga series. I'm really like when a character in a story grows. I also like things which have action, comedy and romance. In comes in Zettai Karen Children - a 20 year old in put in charge of three precocious 10 year old girls who have superpowers, all of them whom develop a crush on our hapless hero. But wait - the series also has three time skips in which the same girls are 13, 15 and 20 respectively. There has to be character development here, right? I was sold! And here is ... what I have to say after I've read 17 volumes so far in the past two months:

Unless Takashi-san (the mangaka) decides to change the tone and pace of the manga drastically in the upcoming volumes, this series will get bracketed among those series which are a good way to pass time on a lazy weekend only if I have nothing better to read or watch. And the reason for this is that this series suffers from serious pacing issues. It doesn't flesh out the scenes or the plots to deliver the knockout punches it could if the author has decided to do so. There are moments of humor, action and slivers of taboo-romance/affection (between a 20 year old well minded hero and three 13 year old girls) but none of these elements takes center-stage.

A single chapter or arc (which usually last from 4-6 chapters) will have moments of comedy, action and drama all rolled into one. Moments of gag are also thrown in for added measure - sometimes in the middle of an ostensibly serious scene to lighten the tone. The end result is a manga that never takes itself seriously enough to become a page-turner. By the 18th volume, the reader starts to expect that nothing serious will happen (like a character getting killed or injured, or actually falling in love) and the next arc will simply reset and begin somewhat 'anew'.

Now, that is not in and of itself a bad thing. It makes the manga fun to read on a lazy Sunday (which is what I ended up doing today) and easy to put down after reading 4-5 chapters. However, it doesn't really impacted the reader how something like Full Metal Alchemist or 20th Century Boys do. It remains fun and puts you in a good mood while you're reading it and as soon as you put it down - there is zero recall. I have an analogy to offer for potential readers of this series - expect "How I Met Your Mother". Don't read this with the expectation to read/watch "Breaking Bad".

Case 1: Naruto - I'll become the strongest Ninja ever *rasengan!*
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Case 2: Bleach - I'll become the strongest Soul Reaper ever *getsuga tenshou!*
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Case 3: One Piece - I'll become the strongest Pirate ever *gomu gomu no!*
Wash. Rinse. Repeat.
Case 4: My Hero Academia - I'll become the strongest Hero ever *detroit smash!*

It's the same old wine, now in a fancy new shining bottle. Standard main characters. Standard side-characters. Standard villains. Standard relationships. Standard power-ups. Standard plot. To justify this critique further, I encourage you to do a little thought experiment for me. Replace the Hero world with Ninjas, substitute Midoriya, Bakugo, All-Might ... and Akatsuki with Naruto, Sasuke, Jiraya and Villains respectively. Ta-daa! New manga series!

This isn't to say that the mere presence of these shounen tropes makes Boku no Hero Academia so mediocre. Far from it. If that was to be the case, then we wouldn't have so many versions of Shakespeare's Hamlet. What makes this series mediocre is that the author doesn't attempt to do anything new with his characters. It sticks to the power-ups and plot developments as if it was being written by an AI machine-learning robot. There is zero sense of anything exciting or new that would make a reader sit up and say "now, that's interesting!" The only place where the author did attempt to do so is with the character of Endeavor - a flawed superhero who seeks redemption. Sadly, given that this is a shounen-manga aimed at 12-18 year old boys - Endeavor is and will remain a side character not getting as much focus as I would have liked.

I understand the popularity of this manga amongst the current young readers who haven't either read or are still exploring older shounen canon like Naruto, Bleach, Shaman King, Hunter x Hunter, Rurouni Kenshin etc. However, as an older reader who has read and watched these series - I can safely attest that (as of chapter 275), there is absolutely nothing in My Hero Academia that is uniquely original or which hasn't been already been attempted in past shounen manga. The only positive aspect of this series as compared to older series is that it is well executed, highly polished and has an excellent marketing push from the Shueisha execs who are desperately trying to recreate the next money-spinner franchise given that the Naruto, Bleach and Gintama franchises are over.

This standard manga deserves a standard rating: 5/10.

I haven't read Astro Boy or seen the series. So, none of the characters were new to me before I started the series.

The story gets off to a strong start. A murder mystery in a robot dominated world. Cool! But unexpectedly, it is also full of pathos, regret and deep sadness. Just in the first 2 volumes, there are several scenes which are incredibly emotional and gut-wrenchingly tragic. And then from the third volume, the story expands. There is a war, a dictator is overthrown, there is an anti-AI league, a horticulturalist goes missing, there is a mysterious teddy bear, apocalyptic earthquakes occur, a ... traumatized orphan is introduced, a melancholic scientist is pursued for his research etc. etc. So many things happen simultaneously that even with attentive reading, there are over 8-9 subplots going on simultaneously. All the while as the plot lines progresses – themes of hatred, love, sadness, forgiveness etc. are bandied about like a ball in a game of soccer. By volume 5, any sense of the original mystery has long been abandoned.

The last three volumes are such that you just want to know what the hell is going on and get the story over with. The main characters Geischt and Atom are still likable but amongst all the various plot lines spread across various chapters, the story gets cumbersome and (at least for me) ends up losing all of its charm and whatever the edge-of-the-seat feeling it once evoked.

When I started the series, by the 15th chapter I was asking myself again and again: why has this not been adapted to a 24 episode anime? Now I know why: the author tries to do too much, in too less of a space, in a very convoluted manner. And that’s disappointing since this manga had great potential which was sadly never realized.

Ai Yori Aoshi is very cute, but not very substantial. In fact, if I were to be critical, it is arguably the most 'air-headed' manga I have read. The plot, scenes and characters are very simple. So much so that the manga borders on the line of being wishy-washy. Most chapters are cute and fluffy and the plot never really goes anywhere. Thus, I could easily finish one chapter in 3-4 minutes and the impact was, for the most part, minimal.

Still, there is no denying the fact that the manga is cute. The puppy love between Aoi and Kaoru can't help but bring a ... smile to the reader's face. Aoi, even though rather one-dimensional, is a "Yamato Nadeshiko" (the ideal girlfriend/woman), and is so earnest in her affection for her beloved Kaoru that it is impossible to not root for her as she fights through all hurdles laid in her path in order to be with him. Add to that, the author does know how to draw her (and the other female characters) sensually, so that's a plus if you are into that sort of thing.

Now, in case you are looking for anything deep, hard-hitting or substantive, may I suggest something like Kare Kano, Maison Ikkoku or Fruits Basket? Those are the real intense romance manga that command the reader's attention. If you want something funny with romance (like Ai Yori Aoshi) but with a much stronger plot, I'd recommend Karin. Ai Yori Aoshi is fluff. Good fluff for a weekend afternoon. Did I mention that Aoi is cute?

This has been a disappointing series to read.

The first 5-6 volumes of the manga are the usual "world-building" part of the series where the characters and how Amberground works. A mystery is introduced, a character goes missing, our main hero grows up by crying every 10 pages. The art is gorgeous and there are some moments of tenderness. From the 7-8th volume, the series goes into high gear and until volume 14-15, the series continues to ascend and the reader is drawn in. I read 6 volumes of the series in a single day. It was that good.

And then given how well the ... manga was being written, it was disheartening to see how the author simply gave up after volume 15 which resulted in the manga becoming a garbled mess of shounen hodgepodge. New characters are introduced (in volume 17 of a 20 volume manga!), characters start to behave erratically and the plot implodes. By chapter 90, any semblance to whatever was the main plot is abandoned and random fights start happening. It's a slow moving train-wreck and having finished this series, I can't help but assign it to the pile of garbage manga that I've read.

Don't read this trash. Actually, if you revel in incoherence and good art - read it. But don't say that I didn't warn you. 2/10.

Imagine a society where there is no gender, no race, no scarcity of resources and where beings are immortal. How would such a society function? Would such a society be a utopia? Would members of such a hypothetical society still fight with one another? What could even serve as a cause to fight? And if there is fighting, how would members of such a society reconcile with one other? How does one forgive an immortal enemy? These are just some of the heady themes that Houseki no Kuni (Land of the Jewels) has to ask of its reader.

Set on Earth, tens of thousands in ... the future, when mankind has gone extinct – 28 immortal jewels, all of them equal and genderless protect their small island from mysterious Lunarians who wish to abduct them for unknown reasons. One of these jewels – Phosphophyllite – a good-natured jewel – possessing no redeemable qualities, is our protagonist. The series follows this jewel’s journey as it develops from useless to useful to… well… something else completely. I won’t spoil it.

The first third of the plot can be summed as the “slice-of-life” portion of the series, the part where readers are most likely to drop the series for either being uneventful or for having wacky art. Personally, I’d recommend the anime for this portion (which I have reviewed separately) and then transition to the manga. The second third of the series is the build-up and the last third is the payoff. And what a splendid payoff it is! I won’t spoil it.

Houseki no Kuni is inspired by Buddhist concepts of suffering (dukkha), compassion (maitri) and nirvana (moksha) and is a reflection on how people who genuinely have love for one another can still end up being hurt and causing hurt. With this in mind, the series documents how society, through the suffering of Phosphophyllite, slowly enters in a downward spiral of distrust, anger and violence. And the series does this so well that it is simultaneously beautiful yet tragic, exciting yet foreboding and comic and yet deeply disturbing. While the series gets the ball rolling slowly, it is remarkably well executed. I can safely say that if this series is able to end on what it intends to deliver – the series could end up becoming as one of the finest manga that I have had the pleasure of reading my past 15 years.

So, what’s not to like?

Well, as mentioned earlier, the art is not that great. The characters are often indistinguishable from one another and some fight scenes look downright amateurish. Which is surprising because some manga panels are downright jaw-dropping gorgeous. In any case, be prepared for some sub-standard art. Also, some of the sub-plots (e.g. involving Ghost Quartz) while cohere philosophically are rather jarring (that is to say, that the subplots exist solely to make a philosophical statement rather than to take the plot forward). Finally, if you’re a reader who prefers their manga for fun and light reading or are generally put off by plots that have religious subtexts, this is not the manga for you. I, personally, come from a country where Buddhism has had a presence for over 2500 years, and where it has left and indelible presence on my country's culture, so I can readily relate to what this series has to offer. Highly recommended. 9/10.

*This review stands as of Chapter 90. I will update the review once this manga ends.