STORY: 7/10
The story starts out similar to Gantz. People are teleported away randomly to go fight mosters for some unexplained reason. The only reward being that they may some day be free from the hell (sorta) that is Psyren. Theres different missions and such, and in the beging Psyren was doing great as my "second Gantz". Sadly, the whole thing changed. I'm not going to go into too many details because i hate spoilers and i hate spoiling, but it pretty much turns into any other shounen. People with special powers fight monsters to save the world. Can't shounen mangakas ever think of anything else? Story started off at a solid 9, but it dropped dramatically after the first couple volumes. My fingers are crossed that alot of the main characters die off, and the story turns more Gantz-like again.
ART: 5/10
I started off not really liking the art. It grew on me a little bit, but not much. It won't really pull you into the story. It has sort of a bleach feeling to it, but not as terrible. The backgrounds are there, but at times they can be very boring and plain. I'm getting bored just thinking about the art so just know that it's very very bleach-like.
CHARACTER: 3/10
Almost no character development so far. Only 73 chapters have been released, and i'm holding out until chapter 100 before saying theres no character development at all, but for now theres none. At least the characters are a unique bunch. Theres a hot-headed, hero main character, a damsel-in-distress romantic interest, a cool guy, and even a never before seen snikering villian who wants to rule the world.....I'm beging to think theres some sort of "writting shounen for dummies" guide book that all the shounen mangakas read. A shounen bible of sorts. All main characters must never give up! When a main character is about to die just give him a super special awsome power to use just in the knick of time!
...but i digress. Characters are just poor. They're overflowing with genericness.
ENJOYMENT: 5/10
The begining of the manga was so Gantz-like it was like the second comming of Jesus...but Gantz instead of Jesus. I enjoyed the begining a lot. I really did. Where the manga is at now, not so much.
And since good + bad = average, I'll give it an 5. But if Psyren continues with the generic shounen thing it's been doing lately this rating will surely drop even lower.
OVERALL: 5/10
If I were to just rate the begining, i would rate it a well deserved 9. Too bad the mangaka stumbled upon the Shounen bible, and messed it all up. I was this close to having a second Gantz. Well if you like Bleach, One Peice, or generic shounen number 3, then you will like Psyren a lot. It will only get better the more you read. For most others, it will only get worse. Psyren was promising, but it's no Gantz.
