- Story (6/10):
The story is kinda like a mainstream shounen like. We have our male protagonist (Iori) who doesn't really want to do the ‘Hero stuff’, but our female main support character (Aibetsu) drives him into it though. Just like in similar shounen classics like Bleach (Ichigo/Rukia) or Dragon Ball (Goku/Bulma). Additionally, it is the millionth exorcist/shaman(/jujutsu sorcerer) type of story. So, yes, the wheel didn’t get reinvited. However, it didn’t even have the time to build a unique story, but it laid a solid base for the interesting characters (mostly antagonists) and a good development, also the fights were well written too. Nothing special (yet), but good.
- Art (9/10):
What truly makes this work worthy is the art, which is amazing! Starting with the horror aspect of ‘Phantom Seer’. For example, we have some good exorcist series like ‘Blue Exorcist’ or ‘Twin Star Exorcist’ but all the monster-like beings are not scary at all, or at most a bit. Even the currently (2021) hyped ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ is not that fearsome. And this is where this manga collects its points.
Great character designs, which even for such a short time overwhelms you with an arsenal of different looks and style, especially for the supernatural lifeforms. Puppets, witches, demi-humans, all of them are drawn in a really creepy way which gives you a chill down your spine! On top of that, it looks way more darker and finer than ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’, which is often too plain and rough. While the lighter parts hit the funny spot which lifts the intense cloud before it shocks again with another great scary monster.
- Characters (6/10):
The characters are like everything I said so far, they look amazing but the inside is very mainstream. Overcoming your loss or curse is nothing new in Shounen Jump, of course, but it sets a strong base for a great character development just like in ‘Naruto’ (where the character development was definitely the best part). Sadly within 30 chapters you won’t experience that much, but the potential was there.
It was also positive that you get a really good female side-character, which is unfortunately rare in shounen mangas, and the villains have their own deepness and twists, which put them over the average.
- Enjoyment (10/10):
At the end, it was more than just enjoyable. I was really on fire to read the next chapter week after week, and yes, mostly due to the art. But also I liked the characters and their chemistry, the story development, which had an enormous potential, and even if it was similar to ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ or ‘Bleach’ it was still something different which might get you excited. So everyone who likes these kinds of mangas will absolutely enjoy these short manga.
- Overall (8/10):
The manga was sadly too short for a great big story, and everyone who doesn’t like sudden ends maybe shouldn't read it. Also some of you might get disturbed because of the similarities to ‘Jujutsu Kaisen’ or ‘Bleach’, but to be honest, this is nothing new. Everybody gets their inspiration from somewhere, and even if it has parallelisms it still could be good and different.
But for everyone else, this title is amazing! Especially the art. So the artist, Kento Matsuura, absolutely deserves a long series and I hope they will get it as soon as possible, because I need more of it!
