Category Archives: Manga

Assassin’s Creed: Awakening Review

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Assassin’s Creed is a series that I still can’t say I’m super familiar with but now I’ve watched the movie and read two of the manga titles (Haven’t finished the second yet) so slowly I’m becoming a bit of a veteran you could say. Typically manga based on another product don’t tend to have the best art and I’d say that’s true of this one too, but it’s good enough. It’s definitely better than the average adaption title at least and it makes for a fun read.

The story starts with Edward Kenway barely surviving as his pirate ship is downed. It’s a shame for him because he had been gearing up to be a great pirate with lots of influence but that’ll be tough now. He does come across a mysterious guy who is dying though and after evading the man’s last strike, Edward takes his gear. Edward now appears to me a member of the Assassin’s Creed but in doing so he has made enemies out of the rest of their members. Additionally while he sides with the pirates, they are slowly being outnumbered by the government and people who have defected from the pirates. Can he find out a way to thrive in this new non-pirate era?

Then in the present you have Masato who is living out these experiences through a fancy VR machine. The developers say it is a video game that will be released to the general public soon but the whole thing seems rather shady. The only reason Masato even agreed to this is because apparently his mother recommended him as a tester and his parents have been distant at best. Now maybe he can actually connect with her but part of him is still bitter so he’s not even sure what he really wants to do.

Of course it seems like the VR machine is always just a tool for the enemy to find out about the Creed’s secrets in the present. At least from what I’ve experienced so far that always seems to be the case. The two scientists don’t act too shady at least so it’s not super obvious but since Masato is already on edge that at least gives him a fighting chance in not just blindly obeying them. The way the machine works is also clever since Masato thinks he is the one actually in control, not realizing that he is just following a series of predetermined steps. Since in a way he becomes Edward during his play time, he naturally acts in the way that history ordained even if he doesn’t realize it.

I like that he actually did provide some nice criticism of it though. He makes for a solid main character and ultimately does get with the program pretty quickly. Partially because of how he’s always upset, Masato doesn’t trust anyone naturally. The ending of the manga is a bit abrupt in the present timeline as his father shows up but it does make for a pretty hype ending. We see exactly what Masato can do and exactly why the VR is a double edged sword for the villains.

On one hand, through the recordings they get to see exactly what happened through Masato’s eyes but on the other hand he retains the combat experience so eventually he will grow up to be one of the deadliest fighters. In a way it’s a shame that the manga ends so soon though because I think the most interesting aspect of the series would be seeing what is happening in the present. The old era with the pirates is decent and all but the scenes in the present have a lot more gravity to them because you really don’t know what will happen. It’s an open book and I’d like to see how the two factions are operating in the present with current tech. In theory it should be a lot harder for them to run around without causing attention.

Lets talk about the past though since that is still the majority of the series. We follow Edward Kenway and he’s not nearly as likable as Masato but he’s decent. The guy is a bit rough around the edges and certainly no hero but I do like his confidence. The guy is a quick learner and even becomes a true member of the Creed by mastering the fighting styles and trials. He’ll do whatever it takes to win and doesn’t shrink away from fights where he is outnumbered. A lot of the pirates end up taking the easy way out later on but not Edward, he just keeps at it.

Ultimately you feel like he will be captured at some point because the enemies of the pirates are just too vast but at least he’ll go down on his terms. Blackbeard also made for a fun ally who held his own in the fights. Edward doesn’t have too many friends that he can rely on so at least he had one there. While this plot gets more screen time tan the present, you still feel like you’re just at the tip of the iceberg with his adventures. I’m not sure if the manga adapts the whole game or not but I’m assuming that it does end early so this is more of a preview to get you hyped to play the game. I’d be really surprised if it ended on this note at least.

As I mentioned earlier, the art’s not bad. It’s actually a little better than I was expecting. The action scenes work out pretty well and the only times where you can feel the weakness a little tends to be in the character’s facial expression. They can be a bit shaky but the style itself works out well enough. You’ll be breezing through the pages either way so the art won’t be slowing you down there.

There’s not a ton you can do in two volumes but I would say the series did well with what it had. There surprisingly isn’t really any kind of supporting characters beyond the two developers and the father who appears at the end so if this kept on going I assume that a bunch of characters would show up. Then in the past I’d like to see more of the Assassins because I think the group has a lot of potential. There are clearly members whose skills match and even exceed that of Edward’s so they can give him a run for his money. Throw in the fact that the other faction should be just as strong and there’s a lot of lore to enjoy.

They’re both looking for a certain treasure that will apparently grant you a lot of power. I forget if it is knowledge of all things in the form of an apple or I might be mixing that up with a different title. Either way this is something that the Assassins have to protect and the villain group want to find. One group wants to maintain order while the other one wants chaos. Since neither one of the groups appear to be purely good, it would be interesting if the villains try to turn Edward at some point. I’m sure each group has a lot of dirt on the other and Edward’s nearly been murdered by both sides after all.

Ideally Edward needs to build up his own group of strong pirates to stop either side should they try to get in his way. It may be easier said than done though given how skilled they are. Most of the pirates seemed rather weak the whole time which is why they were so quick to side with the government. Speaking of which, the government would be a nice third party but something tells me they’ve been infiltrated by both sides anyway.

Overall, Awakening is a good manga but it’s one that ends as soon as it has begun. It almost feels like a cancelled manga in that sense where the adventure ends but there are so many open plot threads and lore to get into that it could have just kept going. Maybe one day it’ll get a sequel or something because manga onlies should still get a complete experience here. If you’re looking for a solid pirate manga then this is a good one to check out though. The action is almost nonstop as something is always happening and you should find the present plot to be very intriguing. The series knows how to keep the suspense high and right now I would say it’s the best Assassin’s Creed title as it is currently beating the other series I was reading. Of course, that could change depending on the other one’s final volume.

Overall 7/10

Saint Seiya: Next Dimension

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I definitely have my share of issues with this series like the power levels making no sense and formally making Lost Canvas not canon but it’s still a great Saint Seiya story. It’s got all the action and fights you could want after all. I’ll have a review up for this series when it finishes someday.

Overall 8/10

Komi Can’t Communicate

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This series definitely seemed to get pretty big once it became an anime. It’s got an interesting premise about making 100 friends although I can’t say that the main heroine is very solid and the near anthology style of the manga holds it back for now. We’ll see if the friends amp this title up as their numbers grow and I’ll have a review up for this series once it’s over.

Overall 6/10

Undead Unluck

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Definitely one of the rougher starts for a Shonen Jump title although not in a violence kind of way. The series has started to tone down some more of the iffy elements as the series has gone on but one thing that’ll be hard to get away from is that the two main characters are really below average. This is a title that will live or die on the supporting cast. I’ll have a review up for the series when it’s over. If it can just double down on having a lot of cool fights with no time for much else then this can definitely hit the next level.

Overall 5/10

Star Wars: The Legends of Luke Skywalker Review

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Anthologies usually aren’t my thing but I suppose it is a way for everyone to show off their stuff in how they would draw a Star Wars story. With Luke Skywalker being the main presence here, it’s a nice way to give him some more action. The guy is probably the most recognizable Star Wars character aside from Vader so it’s good that he gets some time to shine. The stories are solid and I would say this book is pretty good. Perhaps it could use some more action but I really don’t have anything negative to say about it.

The first story starts off with the Empire getting absolutely devastated by the rebels to the point where their Star Destroyer is blown up so the main character is forced to get on an escape pod. He’s near death right now and pretty scared because it seems like Luke Skywalker is the one who downed the ship. Fortunately a cloaked stranger appears and starts to drag him off. Perhaps not so fortunate though depending on what this guy is doing here. Throughout the story the guy begins to think that this could really be Luke Skywalker but why would he help out in the first place? The guy’s motto is that they are all Luke Skywalker and by the end the empire guy says this too as he rebels against the crooked villains.

It’s a solid way to start off the volume and shows just how big Luke has gotten. At this point in the verse he is considered to be more of a mantle than a person. He inspires the rebels to such an extent that they all believe they can be Luke Skywalker as opposed to just being ordinary joes. It’s rather inspiring and they even got an Empire soldier to join the cause as a result. Of course the Empire should be embarrassed at how easy they make it for someone to want to join the rebels. Interrogating their own people and torturing them for barely any reason? Not a good look when they claim to be the good guys. You’ll notice that nobody had names in this story to help show the main character’s transition from a random person to another Luke Skywalker.

Next up is a story about a droid named Zeta. He is a robot who works the mines and is pretty horrified at the rough treatment down there. Droids are worked to the bone until they melt or are discarded. All of them are controlled using chips so that they must obey these commands and there is really no hope in sight. Fortunately Luke Skywalker shows up and offers them a way out. Here we get to see the real Luke Skywalker who lives up to his legend as he saved almost everybody. He does whatever he can in the force and then some. It’s easy to see why the rebellion has got his back.

This story was certainly darker than the first as we got an inside look as to just what kinds of things the Empire is up too. They really do make life hard on the droids and the toughest part is that the robots are aware of this but can’t really do anything about it. They’re effectively being mind controlled every step of the way so that’s game over for them. If Luke hadn’t showed up they really had no other alternatives which is really a sobering thought.

Next up is much more of a lighthearted story. Princess Leia befriends an alien flea named Mote who is rather full of herself. She tends to talk very big and has no shortage of confidence which is always fun and so Leia asks if she can watch over Luke. This takes place during the famous intro where Luke breaks in and saves Leia from Jabba the Hut. Turns out that rather than the force being what led Luke to victory, it was Mote pretending to be the Force. Perhaps this is a bit of a retcon but it’s a fun enough one to consider.

Mote is a nice character and really shows that big things come in small packages. I wouldn’t say it’s quite as strong as the first two stories but perhaps they felt the volume was getting a little too dark so this would shake things up. Either way it was fun enough for what it was and we also got a little more action in this one since Luke had to fight his way out so that was handled really well.

Finally you have a story where a biologist gets a ride from Luke Skywalker but they are trapped inside a giant monster. This one ends the collection on a fitting note. See in the other stories Luke was more of a novice or at the very least he wasn’t super settled in as a Jedi Master yet. In this story that has changed as Luke is one with the force and really knows how to use his powers. He’s not afraid at all here no matter how dangerous things get. I liked to see this level of confidence even if he might be taking it too easy at times. While it’s true that they won’t disintegrate for many years, they’ll have to eat eventually right?

Still, the two get to learn a lot about the ruins, the Force, and the monster itself thanks to getting eaten. They are definitely glass half full kind of people that’s for sure because I think a great many characters would not have taken this so well at all. At the very least you typically feel like getting eaten is a very bad thing and not something that you sneeze at. There’s no action here so it’s a pure adventure story but an interesting one nonetheless. You don’t get to see the experienced Luke so often after all.

The art changes for each story of course but I wouldn’t say any of them are very solid. It’s all about average at best which tends to be the case for big franchise titles and anthologies. I guess maybe the big established artists always want to do their own volume so in the anthologies they naturally do not tend to look quite as high tier. They aren’t bad but definitely are not at the top levels.

The anthology lives or dies based on how much you enjoy each individual story. There is no ongoing plot after all so you can’t be waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel or a big cliffhanger. You have to enjoy each of the stories as they come in and they are good. I definitely thought the writing was satisfying. A little more action could have taken things to the next level but I suppose that’ll have to be for another collection.


Overall, This was a solid volume. The stories are all pretty self contained so there isn’t a ton to talk about but none of them are weak. They are quite varied and stay interesting for the whole duration. You’ll be finishing each story really quickly too that’s for sure. An ongoing plot will always win but you will walk away from this one feeling satisfied. Star Wars has definitely gotten quite a few manga as of late so the franchise is in good hands. If you want some good Luke Skywalker adventures then you’ve come to the right place.

Overall 6/10

Nami vs Kalifa Review

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I know what you may be thinking here…DReager1 is reviewing individual fights now? Well, that would be interesting but also a little overwhelming with how many there are so that’s not the case this time. this is another one shot by Boichi which adapts a part of the One Piece manga. This absolutely would not have been my first choice from the CP9 arc but a fight’s a fight I suppose.

Basically the plot is that Kalifa just absolutely devastated Sanji in their battle. He has a rule about not attacking women which is nice enough. I never hold that against him and won’t fault him for sticking to the rule but at least get out of there right? If you can’t fight back then you have to leave or keep dodging with speed. Instead he ate every attack and got wrecked so now Nami has to try and avenge him. Can she really beat someone like Kalifa though?

One issue with this fight has always been that Nami is absolutely no match for Kalifa. I mean it’s not even remotely close. Nami only has the speed, strength, and durability of a normal human. Her main weapon is the clima tact which can simulate weather conditions but takes a lot of time to work. She doesn’t have any real close combat abilities either. Then we have Kalifa who is a professional government agent who knows the 5 methods of death. (Shave, Sky walk, Finer Bullets, Hardening, and the 5th one I always forget) Her speed alone means that she should be able to dodge every single attack from Nami and one well placed finger pistol would end the match in an instant.

That’s not even counting Kalifa’s devil fruit ability which allows her to make people really smooth so they slip and slide while also becoming rather chibi. It’s not a very good devil fruit to be honest but that’s still more than enough to defeat Nami. Now, why pick on this fight out of all of them? Well, it is what I would argue to be the most lopsided fight in all of One Piece. I just don’t see any scenario where Nami should have had even a ghost of a chance. Particularly since this was a 1 on 1 fight with no interference or third parties getting in the way. Nami should have absolutely lost and there’s no way around that.

Now with the power level concerns out of the way, the only real issue here is that the fight is also an excuse for a lot of fanservice. Unfortunately rather than cutting it out, Boichi only serves to enhance this part. The characters are quite exaggerated during this fight with their reactions when the blows aren’t even all that powerful. The chapter is definitely trying to go in a fanservice direction which hurt the overall experience. It’s a shame since I’m sure you could have made the fight more interesting with that effort instead.

Boichi’s artwork is quite detailed so he can do really well on the fights like with Ace and Zoro. There was less hand to hand here but it would have been a good addition. I think he’s worked on Dr. Stone for so long that it has been ingrained into his artwork now though. While the first pair of oneshots looked fairly more like One Piece, lately his characters all completely have a Dr. Stone look to them. It’s a bit on the surreal side. Not a bad thing since the Stone characters have good designs but it feels like they are really barely One Piece characters at times.

The chapter goes by quickly even though it’s so long and you have to give the artwork credit there. The fight may be fanservicey but the action we do get is good. While I don’t buy into the plan working at all, Nami does incorporate strategy into her fighting style. Her illusions really make Kalifa have to work for the victory.

Overall, if you’re a big fan of One Piece then you’ll enjoy this one shot. It’s pretty cool how the series is so big that it can have chapters remade by different authors. I’d like these one shots to keep on coming since it is nostalgic. I like to think the next action chapter will be for a better fight but even if not, I am pleased to have more content to read. Even more than the normal illustrations each artist gives in appreciation of One Piece, seeing a whole chapter/fight redrawn by someone else gives you a good feel for how the series would look if they were in charge. I’m not sure this would be a fair way to gauge the series if you hadn’t read it before though so I would read one of Boichi’s other one shots to start off with. If you’re a One Piece fan then you should definitely check this one out though.

Overall 5/10

Goodbye Eri Review

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It’s time to look at a one shot that just came out recently and it’s a very interesting one. It gets rather meta to the point where it’s hard to interpret just how it ended although I’ll throw my take in there later on. The one shot is 200 pages long which is crazy but at the same time there are so many pages that are recycled or just don’t have art in them that I can see why it was so long. I’d say the ending goes a long way to making the story as it helped make this one real memorable. Even as I type this I’m still sorting out exactly how good it was in my head but by the end it’ll be clear.

So the story starts by introducing us to Yuta whose mother is terminally ill and will be dying soon. She has asked him to start recording her daily life and eventual death so that she can be remembered. Yuta does this but at the last second he doesn’t have the heart to record her death and storms out. Fast forward many years and he has decided to show the video at school but edited in a scene where the hospital explodes as she dies to make up for the fact that he doesn’t have the footage. The entire student body and faculty are furious at how he handled his mother’s death and he grows suicidal until he meets a lady named Eri.

Eri says that she liked his movie but that he wasn’t very professional in how he crafted it so she will train him to make a new one. They’ll meet every night and weekend to watch a bunch of movies at an abandoned building she hangs out at. Yuta agrees to do so and now he will be recording her but will this really give him peace and is she really just trying to help him out or does she have some kind of ulterior motive?

To be honest if she had an ulterior motive then Yuta was probably doomed from the start since he went along with her plans anyway. At its core this is a fairly emotional story about overcoming loss and grief while trying to restart your life. The story is self contained in this adventure so there is a beginning, middle, and ending. The cast is very small though with Yuta and Eri being the only real characters with a big role. Yuta’s father does get some solid scenes near the middle though which I thought were handled well. He comes across as a very understanding guy and one who made his share of mistakes but does his best to make things right.

So onto the positives, I thought Eri was a solid character. Whatever her reasons may have been, she did stop Yuta from taking his own life which is massive as a start. From there on she helped give him courage and drive to keep on going and find a new path. Even when she was sick she handled it well and ultimately was the kind of character who helped make a difference in the world. To combat that, I did not like Yuta. The explosion at the end of the video was fine enough, I can see how it would be a scandal but apparently that’s how he usually tends to end his videos. He likes putting a fantasy element in it.

My real issue with him is that he’s not a very classy guy. He throws in some crude humor here like filming himself using the bathroom. Really? That’s just taking things way too far and he’s also not very classy about the kinds of movie scenes that he likes. He’s so obvious about it that he even has to comment on those moments. So yeah Yuta’s not a very stand up guy and probably not someone that would be super easy to get along with. I think he could have toned down these parts of his personality. It’s probably to show how comfortable he is with Eri but it doesn’t make him look any better.

The story can be rather dark although you probably guessed that by the subject matter. Even towards the end we get some sad twists about the mother and it all plays into the theme of how people can be very different in real life than they are from the recordings. Even though Yuta is recording these characters himself, it is only a small part of who they really were and anyone can fake things in front of a camera. I thought the twist about the mother was a bit much tbh, particularly as it doesn’t directly impact Yuta all that much. It’s more of an effect for the reader at this point.

As for the artwork, it’s okay. It’s not one of the better art pieces that I’ve seen but it does the job. I’d consider it slightly below average but you always know what’s going on. It’s also partially the style as it’s trying to be very live action-esque which often does not translate quite as smoothly into manga. I also think you shouldn’t even strive to look as realistic as possible. There’s a fine line between coming close in a stylized way like One Punch Man and then just not being visually appealing.

Now I was mixed on how much I should put a spoiler warning for a one shot because either you’ve read it or you haven’t but I’ll throw it in just in case. Skip the next 5 paragraphs if you haven’t read the one shot because there are a lot of twists at the end. As I said earlier, the twists are what make the story after all so you probably don’t want to know them ahead of time or it’ll take part of the fun away. It is the kind of story that could change a bit when you know the twists though so either way you may want to re read parts of it.

Okay so in the end Yuta makes his new movie about Eri as he is able to film her all the way to her dying breath this time. The movie is received very well by the school this time and Yuta goes on to have a family and live a good life. The life has its ups and downs but then his family is in an accident one day and they all die so he is the last survivor now. He decides to take his own life once again and goes to where Eri used to hang out except she is still there and hasn’t aged a day. She mentions that she is a vampire and will never die but her brain resets so she had him create the video so she could remember her old life and never be sad anymore. This gives Yuta a new lease on life so he heads out…and then the building explodes.

So what does this mean? Was the entire adventure actually a part of his movie? If so, when did the movie start and was any of this actually real or was it a video the entire time? Did he actually blow up the building because he was that insane? There’s a lot of ways to read this and you could have fun bouncing it around in your head for a long while. To be honest this was probably going to be a 4 or a 5 without the twists at the end because it would have been relentlessly sad if Yuta survived all of that only for his whole family to have died. If he also died in the end the score would have been lowered even further without a doubt.

Instead, this actually ended things on a more positive note. Whether you think it’s real or not, it’s at least a little upbeat that he got to walk out and the explosion was a nice touch. Still, I’m not going to cop out on you here so I’m going to give you a real answer on how I interpreted this. I was on the fence about the two so real quick here was my runner up theory. At the end Yuta really did blow up the place so this way there would be fantasy in his story again. There really was no vampire (Is what he would rationalize in his head) and the ending would have been true from his story. It’s an interesting theory but I don’t think it’s right.

So what I think is that everything until he meets up with Eri is completely real. Yuta recorded his mother’s life and then he made a movie which was shunned by the school. He met up with Eri in the shed and they watched a ton of movies together. Eri got sick and then she died. This is the turning point. At this point Yuta started recording the extra scenes including the fake ending. The fantasy angle that he always talked about is why he added a vampire at the end and the big explosion. He didn’t actually grow up and have a family. That was all narration from him inside the film. So every scene after Eri dies is a part of the actual movie. It would be easy to fake his being older with special effects and since he discussed with Eri the whole film before hand, they would have filmed the scene in advance.

To me this makes the most sense. I feel like the constant mentions of his wanting to add a fantasy edge to it were all leading up to this. The strongest counter argument to this is how strongly you believe the narration that isn’t within the film panels. Alternately you could just say that the whole thing is a movie to be extra meta but I think doing that weakens the story as a whole. If nothing was real then it’s all a bit pointless. I also just don’t think that’s even a possibility. I’m sure there are a lot of other fun theories you could come up with after this one shot, but this is the one I stick to at least. Eri’s death was the final real scene here and the rest was within the film that everyone was watching. Of course if you play it straight and everything was real including the explosion at the building that would be a really intense way to go. It’s why I was torn on which option to go with and that ended up being my runner up.

Overall, Goodbye Eri is one of those stories teetering on the brink of total destruction and being a good story. I was even a bit stressed for it the whole time because it was hard to tell just how it was going. Fortunately the ending pulls through and in the end this would be a story that I would recommend. It’s sad without throwing this in your face the whole time and while none of the characters are particularly noteworthy, they all accomplish their tasks well enough. The writing is solid enough to hold this all together and so overall it holds its own. It’s long enough to be collected into volume format one day so I wonder if this would ever get printed over here. Who knows, maybe one day it’ll turn out that this was actually the pilot to an ongoing story.

Overall 6/10

Spy X Family

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Spy X Family has proven to be quite the hit so far and it’s easy to see why. The setup is really quite solid and the characters are all a lot of fun so far. I definitely see this being a great light hearted adventure all the way through and hopefully it can keep up that energy for a long while. I’ll have a review up for the series as soon as it’s completed.

Overall 8/10

Black Clover SD – Asta’s Road to the Wizard King

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Black Clover is one of the premier titles of our time so it’s fitting that it would have a comedy spinoff. That said, this one’s not all that great so far. The crude humor can be a bit much and takes away from the fun of the journey. I’m really early on at just one chapter in so far so we’ll see if this improves. I’ll have a review up for this series as soon as it is complete.

Overall 5/10