Seikon no Qwaser is a strange manga. The series is probably best for how it involves battles where the combatants abilities are powered by sucking boobs and it takes the whole things completely seriously. More specifically, it involves Qwasers, who each have the power to control an element, sucking something known as Soma, which is what powers their abilities, from their partnered Marias. This may just seem like it’s using fancy words and wording to try to obfuscate what’s really happening to make it sound more elegant and deeper than it really is, and that probably is true to an extent. However, in terms of it’s systems and world building this manga had much more thought put into it than a simply synopsis may lead you to believe.
The term Qwaser is just a random astronomy term used because it sounds cool as far as I know so there’s not much to discuss there. However, the actual abilities involving elements were generally really well done. Characters having the ability to control classical elements like water or fire is pretty normal and easy to work with. Controlling the elements off of the period table on the other hand is much more rare and much more complex. Despite that, I felt that the writing did a good job of actually using each element and not just using the terms as window dressing. Early on in the manga it’s surprisingly grounded in how elements are used, with characters essentially just having the ability to bend them.
As the manga progresses things get less grounded due to the presence of what are called crests and magical circuits that allow for much more extreme abilities, though even then for the most part it felt like it was trying to keep the real properties of elements as the foundation. It’s not as logical at that point with major errors in how things work at times. Still, the manga isn’t supposed to be realistic, so just the thematic use is enough to feel like it’s giving weight to the abilities and if it’s necessary to deviate from reality in order to add more depth to things that’s a worthwhile tradeoff. As a result, I found the action and general usage of abilities pretty interesting throughout most of the manga.
The term Soma is probably referring to a drink referred to in various Hindu scriptures as a drink that cleanses it’s drinkers of past sins. This has obvious thematic significance, though it’s a bit strange to have for one of the core terms as the vast majority of the lore in the manga is rooted in Christianity. And it goes surprisingly deep in that, way more than Evangelion for example, with most of the overarching plot involving very specific aspects of the Orthodox Church. This is interesting because manga and anime that does pull in elements from Christianity usually does it from the Catholic or Protestant side of things with a focus on things like angels and demons. Here however the focus is on things that are more unique to the Orthodox side, such as icons, panagia, and various concepts pulled in from Stoicism such as pneuma. This gives it an incredibly different feel and tone that resulted in things feeling pretty novel and thus much more interesting.
And as the last point in the mangas favor, the art is great. It knows what it’s trying to do and doesn’t shy away from it, being extreme in both the action and ecchi aspects. The result is pretty edgy, but still in general pretty nice to look at. That it’s also willing to just have fun with things and throw in random slice of life chapters results in the pacing and flow being pretty good with the art having a decent amount of variety. The end result is that its pretty enjoyable to flip through for the art alone and thus the art and how it’s used is enough to hold up the manga pretty well.
The biggest problem with the manga was it’s lack of a sense of direction or commitment to overarching plot lines. The plot certainly has interesting twists and turns, but for the most part they’re just pretty random and often pretty forced. There are a lot of interesting and likable characters with wild personalities. But the writing in general had a hard time focusing on any of them properly and how it was constantly jumping around with things resulted in it feeling like they were constantly stealing each other’s thunder. On top of that, there’s a serious lack of proper character or relationship development. There are some attempts at character development, especially with the protagonist Sasha, but they’re written pretty badly and don’t land very well. There’s also minor attempts at romance in this manga, but they’re so minor that it’s actually kind of bizarre how little romance there is and how it never goes anywhere. As a result, the only relationship development in this manga that works is sorta secondary protagonist Katja’s mind breaking, though I certainly wouldn’t call it romantic.
These failings culminate in the last arc which felt incredibly rushed. The action in general was lacking. The plot went off the rails and pushed through too many things too fast resulting in everything feeling incredibly anti-climactic. And then the manga just suddenly ends without a proper epilogue resulting in it overall lacking any sense of closure. I feel that if it had handled the ending and epilogue well enough then considering the type of manga it is I’d be able to forgive how messy all the rest of the plot was, but with those being completely unsatisfying the manga as a whole felt like it left a lot to be desires.
