By volume two, the story switches entirely to something akin to Hunter x Hunter's Greed Island, mixed with a little Dragonquest Dai no Daibouken. This is not a surprise at all, as not only was Togashi balls deep in his Dragonquest obsession, nor is it a drawback as this is one of the earliest manga to grapple with video games in general. While Dai no Daibouken is a literal video game manga, similar to Pokemon Adventures, Level E takes a .hack, and dare I say, Sword Art Online approach to video games. The main characters are transported into a world almost identical to what happens in HxH, except the mains end up a Super Sentai hero team that must defeat the Dark Lord, with art akin to Chimera Ant aesthetics. This leads nowhere, however, as a gag ends this "arc" of the manga.
Normally these things are not negatives, however, when thrown together this way, and when written in a disjointed, jumbled a-typical format , it makes it hard to really put together a contained narrative. As a result the manga reads more like Dr.Slump or Urusei than it does a shonen like Yuyu Hakusho, or HxH, but not a particularly good gag manga either. The additional gag comedy breaks from Togashi's normal serious tones, which isn't a bad thing but doesn't tend to be one of his strong suits, as Togashi's hallmarks have always been psychological expositions of character through combat. The lack of either of those in this manga ends up weakening the overall story, and prevents you from enjoying the main characters. As well as the convoluted shifts of story, which potentially can be forgiven as an editing decision, don't help with that tonal consistency.
Another drawback for this is that Togashi was clearly still drained from YYH. As a result, those gag stylings which serve to lift up Togashi and motivate him to write the story feel like more of a side show than a well woven story. Overall this tends to give the story a mediocre feel, without a clear narrative there is little to draw a reader into this manga.
Individually the parts of this manga have greatness, but together it's sort of a mismatched effort. As usual, Togashi is a complete pioneer, as video game worlds were a topic many major series would deal with over the next two decades, as well as one of the earliest depictions of a more serious trans character, and homosexual themes. It's not just some "trans character" either, but an entire exploration into the sexual reproduction, soul, and "true gender" of the trans character, woven into the plot in seemless Togashi style. Again, this is not just some "genderless" or confused character, or some "brief homosexual portrayal" like a Hisoka, it is a literal discussion and scientific analysis of the XX-XY chromosome genetics in humans. It's deeper than serious political discussions of the topic tend to be, and it's moments of brilliance and pioneering that really, in my eyes, put Togashi among the pantheon of legendary mangaka. Even when writing a "mediocre" work, completely burnt out from a shonen series, Togashi still manages to have flashes of brilliance that shine brighter than anyone in the industry.
