Batman: Death Mask Review

Posted on September 21, 2024 by dreager1

Batman is one of those generational heroes who has been beating up on the villains for decades. He’s been in every kind of story there is so it’s fun to see him in manga format. Death Mask throws in a fun plot and it’s all self contained within these 4 issues. No hopping between different titles, looking for tie-ins and all that. You just read it cover to cover and you’re all set. That’s what you like to see here, Batman is really at the top of his game at all times.

The story starts with Batman having another nightmare about how his Bruce Wayne mode is actually a mask. It’s all pretty disturbing but he has places to be. He heads to a big exhibition by a Japanese company that is trying to get big in Gotham and there he meets a nice young lady. Bruce has to keep up the facade of being a lady’s man, but then someone puts on a mask and goes crazy. We also find out there is a mass murderer who is slicing apart people’s faces. This is all rather off and reminds Batman of his childhood where he trained in Japan to become the world’s greatest fighter. At one point he nearly gave into the darkness there. It looks like someone else failed where Batman succeeded.

Such a thing is not uncommon, Batman is on a tier beyond mere mortals. Still, he has to protect Gotham at all costs and gets to work on stopping this guy. It’s a fairly quick one shot volume so we get to the bottom of things right away. It makes for a good fight to see Batman duking it out against this mysterious villain. Since this villain has supernatural abilities, he is a tough match. Batman can take anyone down in hand to hand combat but does that apply to specters? Since a lot of the volume is about dealing with corruption and power, the spirit is in the same kind of theme. You can’t really beat it physically, you have to try and get the host to see the light and stop being so easily manipulated.

It’s all in the midst of a pretty dark conspiracy so things definitely aren’t easy but that’s part of what makes all of this a pretty compelling story all the way. I do have some doubts about Batman even being close to being tainted by the darkness initially though. It just doesn’t feel like him but I’ll grant the manga the fact that it is most believable in his younger days when he was still getting over the death of his parents. So that was a smart writing choice.

Batman nearly getting knocked out by some thugs in a dark alley is a bit more inexcusable though. Fortunately one of the heroines was there to save him but even though the thugs were amped up and it was a surprise attack, I’m just super skeptical. It’s the only real loss Batman has in the volume though.

The main heroine is pretty good. I do tend to mix her up with the girl from the flashback a bit but in this was that was actually intentional. So I’ll give the artist a pass here because one of my mild taboos is when a character looks too close to another one. As an artist you should be able to make everyone look reasonably different even when you have a big cast.

The art is pretty solid here. I think the only character that looks rather awkward at times is Batman himself. The proportions aren’t always perfect but this could just be that I’m too used to him in comic format. Beyond that the fight scenes are all on point and it does nail the atmosphere really well. Dark things are happening with people’s faces being cut off after all. I give the manga credit for not going the ultra dark/violent route on this since you easily could have made this extremely grimacing.

It’s still a violent title but I would say it doesn’t go over the line here. Really my only main complaint is this story should have been longer. I dare say it should have been 3 volumes at least. The first would introduce us to Batman and the mass killings along with introducing the heroine. Then you’d have the second volume be the main flashback with Batman remembering the demon from the old days. Finally the third volume would wrap things up with the big fight.

The series being relegated to just one volume means things have to move extremely fast. I would say the story still holds itself over pretty well but it definitely could have gone into even more detail. They should adapt this into a movie at some point. I’d say it’s very new audience friendly and the whole topic about Bruce Wayne being a mask is something that is talked about often in the real world anyway. Different authors have always had different opinions on this. To me I’ve always been of the opinion that Bruce Wayne and his personality is a complete mask and there is only Batman but the continuities where they’re both him work well too. There are a lot of ways to tell a Batman story after all and Death Mask can be counted among them as another solid one.

Overall, Batman: Death Mask is a pretty good title. We get some solid fights and background for Batman himself. The series tells a good story in both the past and the present. I probably didn’t care about the characters themselves as much as the series was hoping but either way it’s not like that was a huge story emphasis anyway. So in the end it all works out pretty well. I would recommend this to any fan of The Batman.

Overall 7/10

Mega Man (1992) Review

Posted on September 15, 2024 by dreager1

There isn’t really a subtitle here but I figure it’d be almost impossible to search for the title otherwise. The year seems like a good way to do things. Mega Man has had tons of different manga titles over the years and it’s always good to discover more. This one goes by very quickly with just a few chapters but you can still feel the vision. I’ve yet to see a Mega Man title that was just downright bad after all. Chan may come the closest as a goofy gag title but I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve finished it. Maybe it picked up later on.

The plot basically follows the first game. A bunch of robots have gone rogue across the city and it turns out that the nefarious Dr. Wily is the cause of this. He has caused them to all go rogue in his mad quest for power. Mega Man is quickly transformed from a nice house bot into a combat machine in order to stop them. Dr. Light did his best to make Mega Man as powerful as possible but does he really have what it takes to defeat these guys? It is always fun seeing early Mega Man though before the personality was completely cemented. For example he’s not your average peace goer here, this Mega Man is absolutely ready to crush his opponents.

He does offer them a chance to surrender of course but after that he immediately jumps into how he’s going to destroy them. It’s definitely quite brutal but hey they’re robots so they can always be rebuilt. That’s the general idea at least. It is nice to see Mega Man taking time to strategize and consider what to do next though. Ordinarily the fights aren’t long enough for this but with 4 chapters, we get a really long fight against Guts Man and a few of the other robot masters also get extended battles. Mega Man has to find the weakness each time and make use of it.

One detail this manga also adds that a lot of others forget is the energy meter. In this manga, it’s a real thing so the more he uses his special weapons, the less energy he has. At one point he runs out of the ice weapon when against fire man so he has to improvise with his mega buster which was pretty fun. That’s definitely happened to me in the past while playing the game because sometimes you just need them for those pesky minions. Sometimes the minions are harder to get around than the bosses to be honest.

The art is also really solid throughout. It’s definitely one of the better looking Mega Man titles that I’ve read. I’m not putting it at the level of Gigamix or anything like that but it is really easy to read and is pleasant on the eyes. The fight scenes work really well and you can always follow the action. It definitely helps that the fight scenes were extended so the artist could really show off here. It would have been a success either way but really getting to show off the art during the action scenes made this a real win.

There isn’t a lot to discuss in the manga though in part because of how it’s a straight adaption to something that didn’t have much of a story regardless. It’s Mega Man tearing his way trough all of the robot masters after all and that’s about it. It’s still a really fun read though, you just don’t have to go into too many details here beyond the extra attention to the gameplay as I mentioned before. I suppose another thing you could mention towards that is it’s nice to see how they even factored in how the copy Mega Man will always be slightly slower since he has to wait an instant to copy the original’s movement. So Mega Man used that against him and took the guy down for the count.

Another addition to the realism here is in how Mega Man had to take a while to figure out what Yellow Devil was weak against. I mean to a video game vet like me you always go for the eye but otherwise I can see how you would just keep trying different moves until something worked. That’s something that happens to me with regular robot masters since a lot of them aren’t really obvious on what they would be weak against. What would you use against someone like Drill Man right? It’s a really tough thing to think about and often times you’ll lose by the time you figure it out so then you better hope you had more lives at the ready. (Yes, they even factored that into the manga. The 1 Up seems to work as some kind of senzu bean so that was pretty fun)

Overall, This is a pretty fun title. It’s over very quickly with just 4 chapters but at the same time that’s still longer than some of the Mega Man oneshots I’ve read. The story itself may be one that you’re super familiar with by this point but it was a good bit of fun either way. The art was sound and the writing was good. You can’t really ask for much more than that in the end. I’d definitely recommend it to all Mega Man fans and hopefully we get some more Mega Man titles coming soon. You can never have too many of those.

Overall 7/10

Blue Giant Review

Posted on August 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a story about Jazz. It’s not a music genre that I’m super familiar with to be honest. I’ve certainly heard my share of Jazz music over the years and I know the general style of it but I couldn’t break it down into any of the sub genres. Forget telling you if someone is in tune or not. So with this series would I really be able to pull that in? Eh, not really musical stuff isn’t really my cup of tea. I love listening to music but analyzing it is a bit out of my wheelhouse. That said, it’s real good stuff all the way. This isn’t a series you follow for the explosive moments or anything like that but it’s a very chill series all around.

The manga starts off by introducing us to a guy named Dai. He’s initially just your average kid trying to find his place in the world. And one day he finds it, the guy loves Jazz. He decides to be the greatest Jazz musician in the world. This is a fairly lofty goal as Jazz isn’t huge in Japan and everyone tells him its a shrinking industry. It’s also not something that you can get good at in a day. It takes years of skilled precision and timing to get good but Dai is willing to risk it all. He will pour his whole life into this, no matter how much money and time he has to sacrifice. Can Dai pull this off?

Blue Giant makes no illusions about the amount of sacrifice you have to be willing to put in to really gain ground like this. It’s almost painful seeing what Dai and his teammate Sawabe had to do for this. Sawabe basically gave up all of his growing years of hanging out with people and going to clubs to work on his piano playing for his whole life. Dai basically sacrificed his relationships and his chance to hang out with his family for this. They’ve made their decisions and stick to it no matter what. Is it worth it? Well, it all depends on how they feel because it’s not so much about the achievements here as it is that they lived their lives free of all barriers.

The series puts a lot of emphasis on how Jazz is very free music. When you do a solo, it is unscripted. You just play from the heart and play whatever you want with all your strength. Now, don’t take that too literally as it still has to sound good of course but generally speaking it’s not like they’re reading off a sheet of music. You have the main song and then the solos. Dai has a lot of raw talent as he’s great at shooting off his piece but initially he’s not so great at the sheet music so he has to put in the work.

Blue Giant is one of those series that I would say is aiming for hyper realism. Generally speaking I wouldn’t say any of the characters are super likable but none of them are bad guys. Like you wouldn’t see them in competition with any average Shonen lead who tends to be larger than life with a personality to boot. These are people you might run into down the street. You might get along and you might not. They have a lot of flaws, can be combative, and are hard to work with. At the end of the day though, you know they are serious about playing Jazz. So if you watch them on the stage you should have a good time.

Like I said before, Dai sacrifices a lot for this dream of his. I do feel like he made mistakes in how all or nothing he was about it though. Dai fully explains his rationale so it’s not like it’s a mystery or anything. Whether you agree with it or not, at least he is up front about it. Specifically I think he should have gone back home at least a little bit though or talked to the girl that he liked rather than ghosting her for ages. Although in this business, it seems like having a girlfriend probably wouldn’t have worked either way since he wants to spend all of his time practicing and studying. It’s basically an obsession for him. He lives only to play and live Jazz.

Meanwhile Sawabe is very similar but I do think he has the work life balance down a bit better. The guy plays with several bands and has grade A talent all the way. It has unfortunately caused him to be extremely arrogant the whole time though. He doesn’t have the best personality like when he was rude to some girls for no reason or denying someone an autograph. Sawabe does start to get better towards the end though. He is a fun jerk to have on the team though, he absolutely elevates the series with his rivalry with Dai. Sawabe is the only one who can really push Dai to this extent. Perhaps at home, Dai’s teacher Yui could but he can’t do anything during the show. Sawabe was the guy for this and I can’t say I liked how his character arc ended at all. That was definitely not satisfying at all.

Then we have Tamada who joins up with the crew late. He is several leagues below the main two characters since he has only been practicing for months while they’ve been doing this for years. The drum may seem simple at first glance compared to the other instruments but it does take an incredible amount of technical skill and ability. It’s not something you can learn super fast either. The series does make sure to mention that he is several tiers below even to the end but his skills do increase real fast so that he can play with the others. I give the guy props for really going after this even if by the end we do see real clearly that he doesn’t have quite the same drive as the other characters. He was nice enough to let Dai crash with him for a while.

There are also several supporting characters around although they all tend to cycle out after a bit since Dai is always on the move. We have Dai’s older brother who is a great guy. No matter how tough things were, he made sure to look after his little bro. Buying Dai a top of the line saxophone even though it meant going into debt for years was really cool. He doesn’t appear very often for sure but the actions speak very loud. Dai knows that he can always count on him no matter what which is awesome.

Then you have the teacher Yui who is a harsh critic but definitely thinks that Dai has potential. He really helps Dai a whole lot in getting started and rolling the ball over. Without him there then Dai definitely would have taken a lot longer at best or completely fizzled out at worst. You have the bar owner who let Dai and friends practice at her place which was super helpful. There is the girl that Dai liked quite a bit although he definitely messed that one up by choosing Jazz over her. Ultimately you can’t have everything.

Between volumes we get flash forwards where the characters talk about Dai and how they enjoyed meeting him. Usually I wouldn’t appreciate these fast forwards because they’re like spoilers to what is going to happen but since this is a non action series I can let it slide. It’s not as crazy as if this was Naruto or something like that. It’s also sometimes the author’s way of letting us know that a character will not be coming back. Whenever they say something like “I never saw Dai again but I can’t forget the first time I met him” then it’s curtains. A lot of these characters won’t be back and it’s interesting to keep track of that. I bet someone out there probably has a list showing which characters are confirmed to be gone or something like that.

Blue Giant is a very somber series at its core though which is fitting for Jazz. Jazz is a very somber kind of music after all that should move you and some types can even bring you to tears. Throughout the series bad things tend to happen to the characters. It’s not always dramatic things but they do add up. You have the dramatic type moments like a physical injury, the emotional ones like finding out the girl you like has moved on, and then mild ones like flunking an exam or having your instrument break. There are always setbacks and Dai has to get through them.

You are left feeling like this risky lifestyle will come back to bite him though. He can barely make enough money to survive and there is no retirement plan. Can he continue to play music when he’s in his 70s? How will he afford rent? You’re thinking about all this stuff when he’s playing and I would say that’s probably the saddest part of this series in a lot of ways. It feels like a lifestyle that’s unattainable and perhaps that’s why the fast forwards are necessary. We at least know that he won’t be poor with the money he’s making but there’s still the twinge of sadness in that we don’t actually see him in the present. How is he really doing? We just don’t know. Then the manga hits him when he’s down at random points like when someone stole his wallet with his entire life’s savings. That was a heavy blow.

The art is good overall. At times it can be a bit hard to make out and some characters look really similar but it does nail the grit of the songs fairly well. You can feel the effort they are plugging into every play. There are a lot of close ups too. I remember for the accident the scene was surprisingly violent as well to really hit you in the feels. Expect a lot of crying as well with Dai forcing himself through things. We even do get a pretty good fight where Dai knocks someone out so that was cool. I’d imagine he is in really good shape from all the running he does to practice for Jazz.

Of course there are sequel series to this one so it’ll be interesting to see how that continues. There are a lot of ways you can go with this of course but in terms of pacing I wonder how long they want to go before he is considered a true pro. Even by the end of this series, everyone calls him a prodigy with a lot of potential but nobody would call him a pro yet. And that’s considering that he is really playing his heart out right now. How much farther does he have to go in order to cross that precipice? There are only so many ways the artist can draw the intense music after all so I’ll be curious to see how they depict this. Maybe his solos will go on for even longer periods of time with his increased lung capacity or something like that.

Overall, Blue Giant is a pretty good series. I had a fun time with it despite how somber it can be. A lot of the pages don’t even really have much text on them as you’re meant to enjoy the music so they make for quick reads. I imagine that the anime version would be a little more immersive since you would actually get to hear the music. You can try and imagine it of course but again since I’m not the biggest Jazz expert that is a bit difficult. Everyone’s always talking about how loud Dai’s Jazz is and I’m definitely not used to that. Either way, whether you enjoy Jazz or not you should be able to have a good time here. Jazz may be the medium for the story but the themes about trying your best at a near impossible task are fairly universal.

Overall 7/10

Pulseman Review

Posted on August 29, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for the world to once again remember the world of Pulseman. This game was pretty fun when I got to play it through the Nintendo Switch Online but I didn’t realize that it got a manga adaption. So that was definitely pretty cool. The concept is really unique and this could have been a proper ongoing but the one shot does its job of getting you interested into the franchise.

The story starts off boldly as a guy falls in love with his computer program. He turns himself into data and they get together and have Pulseman as a kid. In a way he is the link between humanity and the digital world which is a lot of pressure. He is determined to do a good job in this role but then an evil scientist shows up who wants to cause a bunch of trouble. Why is thus doctor evil? Well as he says himself, he just likes being a bad person and as far as villain motivations go, I would say that works well enough. An evil version of Pulseman who takes everything literally will be the hero’s toughest adversary to overcome but defeating him will still still be a walk in the park.

For a oneshot story, there are definitely a whole lot of storylines going on. You’ve got the whole villainess turning good plot, the rivalry with the evil version, betrayals, etc. I’m impressed with how much the story was able to cover in a single chapter like this. It focuses on the critical elements and so it is able to adapt a ton of things without any fluff. It would make you eager to go and play the video game although of course there isn’t a ton of special effects or cutscenes going for the original game. So if you’re playing it for the story then that’s probably not the best idea you could have.

I’s why they should make a remake of Pulseman or make the manga into an ongoing someday. There is just so much potential here. The action scenes were definitely good and the artwork was on point. Each of the character designs were solid and it was easy to tell what was happening. Some of the pages could be a little dense with how much text was on screen the whole time but even with that you would never get lost or anything. The fights do have to go by a bit quickly due to the page count so if we got more chapters then this issue was fixed. The manga smartly decided to just focus on one boss battle here instead of a bunch. Otherwise it wouldn’t have had much time for anything.

I’ve read quite a few Mega Man titles where they try to cram all of the fights into one chapter and ultimately that just means each fight will get maybe one panel with a big splash page. Instead, having one fight that can get more pages is definitely ideal. Either way the story works well with or without context of the game so it’s an easy one to recommend. There’s really no downside to reading a oneshot because of how fast it is. If you don’t like it, then you only used up like 5 minutes tops anyway.

Overall, Pulseman was a good story. I had fun with it and the concept of the character is pretty cool. Some elements I would need to be explained further to really get like exactly what allows a character to materialize in the human world. We got some emotional stuff later on with one girl no longer being able to appear in the human world but she is otherwise uninjured and doesn’t seem to be in danger so just how bad is it? Since Puleman can freely go between both worlds, either way he should be able to visit her, at least that’s how I interpreted that. Perhaps there is more of a downside that I am not considering though. So yeah, definitely check this story out and see what you think. It had even more potential than Mighty No 9 I dare say. I know that’s a bold take though….

Overall 6/10

The Water Dragon’s Bride Review

Posted on August 25, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a supernatural Shojo title. There is a lot of romance and drama of course, you gotta have the full blend of emotions here and the series lasted for 11 volumes which is pretty impressive. It gets to cover a lot and has a pretty unique premise. It’s definitely not something that you see very often. You’d almost expect this to be like a power fantasy by the end but that’s not the exact audience it’s going for so this is a little different.

The story starts with introducing us to a normal girl named Asahi who has a loving family. Everything was going well one day until she got pulled into the well that exists in her backyard. This isekais her to another realm where she is meant to be the Water Dragon’s bride. This god doesn’t really have any emotions and thinks the whole ritual is amusing but he still takes offense when she declines him. So he sends her back into the village but without the use of her voice. She must now find a way to escape this world that exists in the past and get back to modern day civilization. Is that even possible though?

She has one ally in the past at least. A boy named Subaru who likes her right away. Unfortunately they are both just kids right now and so it’s not like they can really defend themselves from the cruel mortals that are all around them. Subaru’s mother is one of the key antagonists who wants to sacrifice Asahi and get her out of here. Asahi is just lucky that the water dragon has no interest in claiming her life. If he did then that would have really been it for her. As the series goes on she gradually gets to teach him about the various emotions so that he becomes more human.

There is a time skip later in the series so Asahi is all grown up and can talk again. This definitely helps because while she was always a solid main character, it’s just hard to do anything while you’re still a kid. Not being able to talk is also rough when the whole village is against her. I thought the series definitely got more interesting from this point on. There are a lot of plot elements I would have liked to have seen more of though. We have several gods outside of the water one like darkness, fire, wood, and a few others. The only other one with a big role aside from water is the darkness one who makes for a good villain. The others are more just along for the ride but having a big gods battle royale would have been a lot of fun. Something where we see them all show up to defend Asahi or something like that.

I would say the character who gets the most development by far is the Water Dragon though. Going from emotionless to super emotional by the end is always a pretty big leap but the series took its time with this so it wasn’t all that rushed. Now was the romance still any good? Ehhhh I always have some issues with the whole immortal romance. I mean they grew up together the whole time ever since she was a small child. Yeah he never grew up so now it works a bit better and with the ending we can say that mayyyybe he’s not immortal? I’m still not feeling the romance either way I gotta admit but at least it’s not a rebound or anything.

The Water Dragon also came through in the clutch when she really needed him on several occasions. Whether it was the humans intentionally burning her or trying to drown her, he was ready. He got quite a few rage modes on her behalf and so the romance was really properly set up the whole time. It’s at least not something that was just thrown in at the last second and that’s pretty normal for a Shojo series. The build up is the important part.

Subaru naturally gets the short end of the stick but you could probably have guessed that based on the title. The series is absolutely merciless to the guy though as he has his big scene where he finally gathers the courage to confess to Asahi so she just immediately runs over to the water dragon to ask him out. That’s gotta be completely demoralizing. What a way to go right? You’re thinking the worst she can say is no, but your courage just being what gives her the courage to ask someone else out is rough.

Subaru also did his best to look out for her all those years too. He was a good friend, ultimately that’s just what he has to settle for though. They were not meant to be anything more than that. Maybe if he had asked sooner or something but he took too long. Asahi also had a lot on her mind throughout the series. She had to contend with the fact that gods exist in the world and that she may never actually get to get home. As the series continues she has to go up against the god of darkness as well. So there’s not a whole lot of down time for her in the series to really be thinking about the romance.

Asahi is a well balanced main character though. She is ready to fight when needed and gathers her courage when talking to big figures like the emperor. She doesn’t shirk any of her duties or responsibilities at all. She also had to make a tough decision later on about which world to stay in. Naturally being with her family is super important and all but at this point she’s lived longer in the other world so saying goodbye to those connections would be rough as well. It’s definitely a tough call. I’d generally choose the world with powers but in this case it’s not like the powers are hers directly so that does make things a little more difficult.

We get to briefly see the parents and they really didn’t take the vanishing very well. How could they right? One second they’re spending time with their daughter and the next she is gone. That’s the kind of thing that creates a permanent mental scar. You just don’t really come back from that and it created some mild resentment for her younger brother who never even got to meet Asahi. Always seeing your parents sad about the whole thing takes a big toll and of course when he sees Asahi is tempted to leave again, that just makes it all the more upsetting. It’s like she’s taking the whole thing for granted. So the brother wasn’t very nice but I did feel bad for him because of all this.

Back in the village, Tsukihiko is one of the first big characters to show up. He’s one of the only people to treat Asahi well from the start and is a consistent ally. His role gets smaller and smaller as the series goes on but he definitely had his moments. I liked him well enough and his drastic plan to fake Asahi’s death was pretty good. It might have even worked if not for Asahi. Kagahiko is a big bandit who shows up for a while but I was not a fan of him. He was trying too hard the whole time and feels real petty.

Yeah he ends up having his reasons and all but none of it really excuses attacking the main village and going after Asahi several times. She could have really done without all of that aggravation. There’s not much to him aside from being a bandit either. I never really sympathized with the guy or anything and wouldn’t have minded if the water dragon just blew him up. We’ve also got the Emperor and I wasn’t a big fan of that kid.

For one thing, he is an actual kid so it’s not like he is very good at running the show just yet. Asahi basically has to take on a mother type role for a while there and really explain why his plans wouldn’t work. He even suggests she become his bride for a while there which of course was out of the question. Even to the end he is getting kidnapped and everything so yeah I don’t think he ever really went up for me. He was more on the annoying side.

Matori is the hardened sword master who shows up later. He has some serious skills for sure but can be rather laid back. He’s a nice enough character. I feel like he came in last enough where you almost could have cut him out entirely though. The series would not have been all that different if he was gone after all. At least that’s the way I see it. It helps that Subaru’s sword skills rarely became a factor in the series. Often times the villains can only be stopped by the water dragon. Perhaps if Subaru got to be the final opponent for Kurose at the end that would have helped justify this.

Kurose is a good villain and definitely someone who felt like a threat. I was glad to have him here to shake things up a bit. Yeah he’s not the smartest guy and certainly gets manipulated quite a bit but I can respect the drive. At his core he wanted to save his friend and that’s admirable enough. He just went about it all the wrong way. Kurose had a really rough backstory so you can see how this really corrupted him from the start. He was only just starting to get rehabilitated when the whole thing happened and he had to turn to the dark side. At least he’s doing better than in the real world where he was really getting beat up and was basically murdered. It was quick but I really did appreciate seeing his back story here. It’s rare that we get to see the villains get Isekai’d after all.

The artwork for the series is pretty good. It can definitely be very expressive at times. The water can be a little chaotic at times though. It may be semi intentional but I also think it can just be really difficult to show a lot of water on screen without it getting at least a little messy. It’s a tough balance that you have to try and keep up throughout. Still, it was always readable so I definitely don’t have any big issues here. The writing was solid and the dark god was a formidable foe and that’s what counts.

I dare say the series was almost going for a bit of an anti human message there for a little while. There are just so many corrupt humans who were trying to destroy Asahi right from the start without hearing her out. The fact that she is just a child makes that even worse. I guess we can assume that the people will be more reasonable as time goes on but I still wouldn’t trust any of them to be honest. With the ending it doesn’t really matter by that point though. It’s a fairly upbeat ending although one character had to do a ton of waiting. I know he had a lot of time but that would probably still have been a really tough wait.

For me the series biggest strength and what I would praise it for is that it’s always interesting. I may not always love the setting but they did a good job of showing us just what a difficult situation Asahi was in. Particularly when she could not talk as she had to try and be expressive to get her point across. Since she was a child, that took extra determination. She was also in the middle of enemy lines the whole time even if the village wasn’t meant to be super evil. So you really get to see her journey through the years and the series did a good job with that.

Overall, The Water Dragon’s Bride is a good title. It doesn’t keep up with some of the other Shojo titles I’ve read to be sure but I didn’t really have any big issues with it either. It uses the Isekai genre to tell a reasonable romance plot and we get some action along the way. I’ll never turn down a good action scene and this could have made for a fun little anime. I think it would have been even better if it was set in the modern day but of course you would have to do some true re writes to actually get that to work. If you like romance then you should definitely check this one out. The characters are solid and there is a lot going on here. The author really managed to squeeze in a kid section, time skip, Asahi going back home, and a full backstory for the villain. The 11 volumes length was used pretty well.

Overall 6/10

The God of Highschool Review

Posted on August 18, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the greatest webtoons of all time! It’s second only to Tower of God and it was real nice to have the two as rivals for a long time. This series eventually ended though and Tower of God looks like it’s got enough energy left in the tank for at least another 10 years. So I guess this one won’t be taking the top spot but it is still an elite title. There are just so many great fights here and the artwork is fantastic. In terms of power levels I don’t think any Webtoon will ever pass this one. It just got so crazy in a good way. It was really an experience reading through this one.

The series starts off with several characters being invited to the God of Highschool tournament. It’s a big tournament to find out who the strongest fighter is. Naturally everyone wants in on this because it’s a huge opportunity to fight for pride, money, or just about anything really. The world will really open up to you if you are able to win the whole thing so you can’t let an opportunity like this slip you by. The main character of this story is Mori Jin. (The way they say the names it can be hard to tell which is the first name and the last name at times but either way you’ll know who I’m talking about) He loves fighting so this is right up his alley. Maybe he will even get to make some friends as he goes through the matches.

The first arc is really all about the qualifiers to actually make it to the world stage. As you can probably guess, it’s a lot of wins in order to even make it that far which is why this takes up the entire anime. You’ve got multiple rounds and of course this is also where you get to meet the main characters and learn a lot about them. It’s an extremely important intro and even within this arc you have several mini arcs like a wedding, the first battle with the supernatural, etc. This is a very busy series and I can assure you that it only gets busier as the series goes on. You won’t be finding much downtime here but of course that’s just the way that I like it!

As the main character is Mori Jin we will talk about him first. This guy is based on the same origins as Goku so it’s pretty fun to see the similarities. Mori loves fighting and having a good time. He’s generally a pretty easygoing guy who isn’t complicated. Mori says what is on his mind and just keeps it moving from there. He is someone you can easily respect and also someone that you can really count on when the chips are down. There is a whole lot to the guy. As the series goes on we learn more and more about him. There are tons of twists about his true character and for fans who read the original legend, it’s fun to see all of the references. It’s played a lot closer to the original source material than Goku ever was.

As the series goes on they incorporate more and more of the legend and Mori’s character gains more and more depth. This does unfortunately mean he has to be reset quite a few times in connection with the legend. It’s a series where I highly recommend reading the comments after each chapter because it adds a whole lot of context and depth to each scene. This is one of those series that won’t really spoon feed you the information. You either know it or you don’t and you will get left behind. There are really no negatives to be had with the character though, he is an amazing lead and a complete credit to the series.

Then we have Mira as the main heroine. As the series goes on there are a few other characters who try to steal that slot but nobody ever quite comes close to her. She has a really good character arc as she initially starts off as the weakest of the trio. She loses a number of fights and has low confidence but this gradually changes as she fights more and gains experience. Mira consistently gets stronger as the series goes on and she is an absolute top tier threat by the end. It was always fun waiting to see the big 3 team up again as the series went further and further. Since Daewi and Mori are always super focused on the fighting, she helps keep them grounded when there needs to be time for some emotion.

Finally Daewi wraps up the main trio. He has a bit of a rough start as his friend gets injured and so he really goes all out against Mira. In the show especially they made a big deal about how violent he was but this part I never fully understood because it was a tournament match. All of his attacks were well within parameters and Mira had no complaints about this either. Sure, in a normal situation he may have gone easy on her but that would have probably just been plain insulting. So I didn’t have a problem there. As the series goes on Daewi does make some really questionable decisions though.

Aside from Mori who tends to see things in a black and white view, most of the other characters get corrupted and have to sacrifice part of their morals. So I didn’t agree with some stuff here but for the most part Daewi was doing his best to help stop the villains and save the world. He also gained quite a lot of power by the end of the series and is one of the only characters who is really a main character in every part of the series. It was always fun to have him around.

Go Gamdo is one of the first tournament fighters to show up and unfortunately for this guy he is really just used for hype. He is dismantled rather easily and unfortunately for him he had to fight a particularly brutal opponent. It’s why you should really only enter tournaments like this if you are absolutely crazy because there’s always one jerk who’s going to try and torture you there. I give Go props for not giving up right away but he definitely needed more experience.

Ma Miseon is another early tournament fighter and she was pretty fun. What I really appreciated about her is that she was a strong fighter who had a good honor code. She would stay in there and fight fair all the way to the end. That’s something I can really respect and her fighting style was fun to watch. She may not have gotten to appear a whole lot in the series but she did end up being memorable as a result.

Baek Gang is one of those characters who started out really minor but really got big by the end. Uma helped keep him relevant for most of the series. In a way he started to even take over Ilpyo’s role as the strategist. His fighting style is fairly simple but effective and he has a good share of emotional moments. He even gets to use Charyeok. Wait, what is Charyeok you ask? The most underdeveloped power system you can think of. It barely even matters to be honest so I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t dislike it or anything as it leads to some good twists but I feel like it didn’t have much of a reason to exist by the end. You could skip it and nothing really changes about the series. At least nothing significant except that it is used as good foreshadowing. So I guess I’m sort of talking both ways here. Hmmmmmm, okay in the end I suppose it’s good that we have it here…I guess. It is a way to have some good cameos from historical figures and everything.

Byeon is one of those characters who is technically really strong but had the unfortunate luck of having to fight Mori Jin. So he’s basically used as a hype tool although I can appreciate that he made it pretty far in the tournament. The guy clearly has skills even if he was doomed from the start. He seemed like a likable guy for while he was around.

Ilpyo Park is one of those characters who started out as an extremely awesome character but got a little dicey from there. He made for a super good rival with a terrific backstory who helped Mori get better. He stole the show in all of his scenes in season 1. Unfortunately after a point he became like Shikamaru where he was willing to get super corrupt and go through with some bad plans. I know we had a ton of twists with the guy but I still felt like he went way too far the whole time. Also he didn’t keep up with the power creep as well as you would expect and really stopped doing things early on. I would have preferred he got less of a role if it meant he could have been less of a yes man though. He sort of got stuck with the worst of both worlds the way that it all turned out.

Seungah was a good supporting character and she definitely did a good job of following Ilpyo’s orders. She is a strong fighter in her own right which is how she was even able to execute on his plans. Her role isn’t very large but she is an earnest fighter and it was fun to have her around. She definitely had a rough time of things during the series but still didn’t give up. Ma Bora is a fighter who showed up early on but didn’t do as much as you would expect. Her sheer physical abilities are impressive but she doesn’t have a lot going on for her beyond that. I’d say she entered in one of those awkward spots where she was really strong at first but couldn’t keep up with the power creep and ultimately got overshadowed before she could show up for more fights. Not really my kind of character though so I didn’t miss her much.

Taek Jegal is the first really serious villain in the series and he was a lot of fun to have around. Yeah he’s basically your classic kind of villain and the guy has no honor code. That said, he has a cool design and his shark abilities are absolutely brutal. The guy is obsessed with power and continues to hone his skills a whole lot. He may have gotten power creeped rather quick but while he was in the spotlight you were always guaranteed a good time. He had a lot of aura and it’s always important for your first big villain to be memorable like this so I was really satisfied.

Gang is another one of the early villains to show up but he’s not nearly as impressive. Basically the guy is super petty and one of those bully type characters who likes picking on the weak. Once it’s time to fight a strong opponent he breaks down and it’s all over for him. I was surprised when he returned at one point but he never really made it to the top of the verse. There’s nothing to really like about him either. He’s just an obstacle for Jin to take down.

Jugok is a character who got a little too desperate and it cost him. He needed to be stronger in order to protect his family and his friends so he effectively sold out his soul and that still wasn’t enough. I suppose that touches into the darker side of any universe where there are massive power imbalances. The depressing thought here is that Jugok could train for the rest of his life or even 1000 years and never come close to the rest of the characters. He’s not a god or demon so he just can’t bridge that gap. Replicating the steps that someone like Mujin Park took would also likely be impossible. So you feel bad for the guy when he starts to lose everything but there isn’t much that can be done for him.

Hyangdan is just one of many characters who gets a raw deal as a result of this. It’s why there is always so much tension and characters wanting to murder each other here. The villains are absolutely ruthless the whole time. If you get in the way then you will be destroyed, straight up that’s how it goes. Jeon was at least a more powerful character who was able to indirectly get some revenge. As one of the Six (That group gets a ton of hype but it’s not always earned) he has a great amount of magical ability. I think he referred to it more as alchemy but the conversions let him summon giant rockets and things like that. The fact that he could stand up against angels and everything showed off his power well. I would have liked some more direct revenge but yeah this was a good character.

One team that felt a bit like a waste of time was Jang, Jin, and Na. Basically one of these characters was a dropout from ages ago so he decides to get back into high school. People mocked him for a while but he never took it to heart. Jang ends up falling in love with him over this but the age gap is way too crazy for that to ever work out. They get the emotional moments and everything but this group was absolutely doomed from the start. You knew from the jump they would never be relevant either which is why it’s borderline a waste of time. You can’t win with all of the teams of course but yeah I didn’t miss this group when they were gone.

Gwum is one of those characters who is a victim of always fighting powerful opponents. The guy is a beast in his own right but is just completely dominated when it counts. I liked the confidence at least and he grew on me a little bit but just not enough in the end. There are so many characters in the series that you have to be more than decent to really stand out. He’s yet another character where just one more fight could have helped to push him over the top. Marin Lee is one of those random villains who is so petty and off putting that it’s almost funny. He uses beach tanning cream to keep opponents from hitting him. I mean it’s crazy silly but it actually works so I guess I have to respect the hustle here. It would have been nice if he could have been a little stronger and more competent though. Give him more to do beyond just being a random villain to be taken down you know? His whole group were basically scrubs though and cheap shots and hostages were the only things that kept them in the game for a while there.

This pretty much wraps up all of the big characters from that opening arc. From this point on the cast would only continue to expand more and more as the series went on. The story had 6 main sagas, each one being fairly long considering that the series had over 500 chapters. I’ll go into some of the later characters now but considering the tournament style of the series there are also a bunch of characters that are basically one shots and never got big. Others are fairly big but it’s been long enough where I don’t fully remember them. It’s definitely the kind of series that has tons and tons of replay value whenever you want to read it. It’s what I love about a long series like this. The better it is, the more replay value it gets automatically. Now lets jump into some of these characters:

Mori Hui is probably the most tragic character in the series. You knew all along how his character had to end but he was just so awesome the whole time. The series does a great job of making you real attached to him all the way through. I won’t say he is higher than Mori Jin or anything like that but you could sympathize with him more. It’s hard knowing that your existence is really just that of a replacement. In a lot of ways he reminded me of Roxas from Kingdom Hearts. Through it all though, no matter how many times things got tough or discouraging, he never gave up. Mori Hui fought for his friends all the way through. I’d definitely like to see him return some day in a sequel series or something. This series has so many different magic abilities and supernatural elements that you can’t tell me it’s impossible.

Dante is definitely one of the big standout villains who came in later on. He felt like a hero in the way that he would adapt and get stronger after every single fight. He was never static and wouldn’t just stay at the same level. So he would lose and keep on coming back. It was done in a really effective way so I never felt like he had lost all of his hype or anything. Gaining more and more strength was just how he fought and it’s a copy style like Amazo. The guy also has a great design which never hurts.

There’s not a lot to say about the 3 America fighters: With Hawk, J Doggy, and Anna but I did like that they were going for a full Supergirl homage with the last one. They each represented different parts of America and I always love how we’re portrayed in any foreign media. They really have a very specific view of us that’s for sure. The President showing up in the first chapter with the nukes was absolutely brilliant. As long as you can have fun with this kind of thing then it’s a blast and I always like to have good fun.

In general I’m not going into depth with most of the global fighters but it is pretty fun. More so than the characters, it’s fun to see how each country fights. I feel like the author actually put in a good amount of work to try and make every country authentic to their fighting style. It is a tournament so naturally a lot of countries do lose in round 1 but that was inevitable. I feel like the author treated them all fairly. Perhaps there are a lot of stereotypes in there but that’s a way to easily recognize each country.

Mori Dan is a really good character. There is some extra context to this guy for sure but the main thing you have to know is that he loves a good fight but is very resourceful and clever. He’s good at not picking fights that he can’t win while at the same time still stepping in if anyone is being too shady. It can be a bit annoying seeing some more powerful fighters trying to mess with him the whole time but Dan never backs down and only continues to get stronger. I tend to be on his side for pretty much every situation.

Then we have Dean who basically ends up being his rival. Dean looks real impressive all things considered. The guy starts out as basically a nobody but keeps on polishing his skills until he’s a top threat, at least for the portion of the series that he was in. He helped to keep Dan sharp all of the time. Unfortunately Dean would usually be on the wrong side of every debate which did not help him out at all. I would usually lose quite a bit of respect for that guy.

All of the original judges tend to be pretty fun. Judge O had a cool dragon even if it didn’t get a whole lot of screentime. Judge P was one of the only people who could actually talk to Mujin Park openly without fear or having to mince words. They had a good dynamic there even if Mujin often looked pretty bad by the end of the scene. The guy just couldn’t be honest with himself all the way to the end.

Judge Q is definitely one of the guys to get the biggest role here. His cards were fun and the guy was always looking pretty good. I would say he never struck me as being quite as strong as the story wanted you to believe but to make up for this he did get several super forms. They at least helped to put him in the conversation more than he would have been otherwise. The guy also had a lot of confidence the whole time which I always like to see in a character.

The real standout hit was definitely Judge R though. His powers were absolutely crazy by the end and he had some good plans. Obviously he is rather insane like a lot of the other villains but he would really flaunt this and the way he went about his goals was good. He was definitely extremely impressive when he first showed up even if he would eventually get surpassed as most characters do.

All right Mujin Park is one of the central figures of the series and easily one of the coolest characters of the series. He made for a super excellent villain all the way as he just kept on grabbing power up after power up. It was super impressive and one of the things I liked about him is his versatility and resistance. At some points he had absolutely no shot to do anything and he knew it so the guy would just buy his time. He wouldn’t worry about anything until the time was right. He would team up with Mori and anyone else as needed. His ultimate goal was to protect humanity and while this had some holes poked into it by Mori and the others over time, it was a good goal at its core. Humanity could easily be wiped out with all of these powerful threats around.

He’s a villain through and through with no real wiggle room there. You absolutely can’t make any kind of case for him being a hero or even an anti hero. He wouldn’t even dispute that. The whole idea is that he is being a complete villain in order to unite everyone. Mujin Park believes that only an extreme route like this will allow the humans to survive and the series makes some compelling points in his favor. Ragnarok is a huge one for example as the gods show up and start murdering humans in the millions in only a few short hours. Humanity was completely defenseless without Mori Jin showing up to help. The thing is, it’s hard to just have one hero be the only thing standing between you and complete obliteration. So Mujin Park wanted to eradicate all non humans and at the same time do whatever he could to make humans perfect. This involved a lot of really dangerous experiments and unethical actions. His origin story also ties into this.

In a way it’s an inspiring story about how a normal human literally surpassed all of the gods due to his own creativity and determination. It’s an absolutely insane feat and I don’t think anyone else has even come close to what he pulled off here. So he is a villain to be sure but you can definitely admire the strategy that went into this. It’s why even Mori Jin respected the guy a lot even after he nearly murdered the hero’s friends like 20 times in a row. There’s just a big difference between respecting someone and actually agreeing with what they do. You want to be careful about how you do that though because people who can’t handle nuance may come at you real quick.

Kim Ungnyeo was a fun mentor figure. Unfortunately due to the way her powers work she doesn’t get to appear as much as I would have liked. In her true form she could definitely deal quite a lot of damage but I suppose the series had no shortage of top fighters. Na was another mentor type figure who didn’t get too many fights. He definitely helped Mori get stronger though so he did his job. You know that he could fight really well as one of the Six even if he wasn’t one of the main starring roles though. Seo wasn’t too remarkable though. He was good for his connections and intel. He could get a whole lot of people to rise up for a fight but on his own I never thought he was all that.

My favorite member of the Six was definitely Kim Dooshik. This guy was always ready for a fight and had a ton of guts. He definitely would not be hiding behind anybody or anything like that. Whenever he was on screen he was going to be taking names. There was one fight in particular later on where he was clearly weaker than his opponent but he just kept on getting up over and over which was really impressive. Definitely a good way to show how determination is key here.

Taejin gets a ton of hype when he shows up. After all, he’s related to Mori and this guy has insane amounts of power even without a summoned spirit or being part god. He just relies on natural strength and that kind of character is always a lot of fun in any medium. The more gimmicks and supernatural powers you have, the more it becomes easy to really celebrate a character who is just fighting on his own and still doing well. It’s just really impressive and speaks to his absolute power. I would have liked him to have done more though. The amount of hype he gets from his first appearance is impressive to be sure but it’s maybe a bit overplayed. By the 20th time we see it referenced, you feel like you just get it already and want the whole thing to move on. I would have liked even just one more big fight for him.

The King is one of those guys who may be old but he’s still a super strong fighter. The guy absolutely mastered all of the various elements to the point where even the more powerful fighters had to respect him. He stayed relevant for a very long time. I may not love him as a villain but I did love the moveset. So when a certain character became the next king I was definitely stoked because we got to see the attacks used in a more dynamic way. Yeah that was definitely a lot of fun!

Sujin Lee is a very interesting character. She was absolutely awesome for when she first showed up and was a super threat for an entire season. She gave Mori some killer fights and was an amazing rival. Then out of the blue she put on a ton of weight and became more of a comic relief character. It was easily one of the most disgraceful things I’ve seen happen to a character. I thought they couldn’t be serious but she never recovered her former hype. Instead she would talk about food and get wrecked. This kind of plot is never fun to me. Do that to one of the lame characters but not the cool rival! So even though she fell off rather hard, I remember her good moments very fondly.

Then we have Mandeok Sang who was like a weaker version of Mujin Park. One thing I appreciated about this guy is that he kept on returning over and over again. He was extremely persistent and actually kept up with the power levels for a while before he was ultimately shut down. So I give him massive respect and props there. It would have been nice if his goals were a little better though. It felt like he wasn’t truly thinking for himself and was more of a puppet by the end. It weakens the whole premise of his group to be honest but I did enjoy having him around as a wild card. He stayed relevant for a very long while.

Xiaochen is a pretty fun villain who really got a super big role as the series went on. Not only was she really powerful but she was a loyal friend. She was doomed to a large extent because she fell for guy who already liked someone else though. Still, she remained chipper the whole time and never let herself get down about anything. She’s one of those side characters who really made a name for herself despite the smaller screen time.

Drake is a character who does better than I would have really guessed. He’s introduced as what I can only call a two bit villain the whole time but surprisingly he does some real damage. With a last name like McDonald it’s easy to poke fun at him as well but I suppose in the end it’s undeserved. Still, I never quite ended up liking the guy. He’s just not my kind of character I suppose.

Saturn is a lot more fun although you may overrate her abilities based on the title. Most of the other planetary characters are incredibly powerful but she just happens to have the name and is a normal villain. She’s definitely got a mean side and really starts cursing at random points once she is done eating. It’s an amusing gimmick and also one that makes her memorable so it was definitely smart of the series to do this to keep her relevant the whole time.

Axley was the most interesting of the villain trio but as bad luck would have it, he was also the one with the smallest role. It’s a shame because he had a great intro and the most interesting abilities so I wanted to see him use more of those. He’s consistently around but never really the focus if that makes sense. I still liked the character though.

Dan Ahan was a really good supporting character. She’s not a big fighter like most of the cast but she really provides good help to Dan the whole time. I don’t really care for how the series ended her character because it went in a really weird direction but beyond that she was solid. There aren’t a whole lot of human characters who left a mark on the series so that was already impressive.

Mori Jung is another rather tragic character. In some ways you could say he is even more tragic than Hui because they have similar character arcs but this guy had no kind of support network to help him out. So he ended up really being all alone which sucks. The guy is strong and held himself together well but ultimately was not in a good spot from the beginning. I liked the guy, he made for a good wild card.

Uma is a character who got introduced fairly late into the series but was a lot of fun. Her power level was just high enough to stay relevant even as the series started to approach the end. She ends up doing a lot more than I would have expected, especially considering that the rest of the fighters in her group didn’t get to do much at all. It’s always good to have at least one member repping a group pretty well though so she definitely did good there. When Uma shows up you always know somebody is about to get clubbed to death.

It’s really telling just how crazy the series is when you have Satan showing up as one of the more hype characters. I remember people cheering in the comments when Satan had his big return. People were stoked to see him and he ended up being the big ray of hope for the heroes. It certainly underscores how fierce the new opponent was. God of Highschool loves to really increase the power ceiling and what better way than by having a villain absolutely dumpster the previous strongest in the verse right? Get used to it because this happens a whole lot. Yes, the power levels go so crazy here that I often have power level issues with the series. It almost goes without saying but yeah whenever one of the old characters shows up and takes a hit from these guys, they should be dead instantly. That’s just common sense imo. Satan is unironically a pretty fun character here though. He just loves having a good fight and constantly evolves as he fights. His fighting style is crazy and his battle with Mori is still one of the best in the series. I may even have that as the absolute best fight in all of God of Highschool to be honest. The name of the series gets funnier and funnier as the power levels go higher and higher to be honest.

Odin’s character here was definitely a lot different than you might have expected going in. For starters he seems more like a complete demon than one of the gods. The guy is absolutely insane much like all of the other cosmic characters in this series. You really can’t trust any of them but he does stay as one of the top threats throughout the series. At no point does he get power cliffed too hard. I suppose excluding the final battle of the series which power cliffs everybody by a wide margin. You can’t really count the final fight in these things as they always make sure to go all out.

Beelzebub is another real powerful guy but lets talk about Zeus. One of the fun things about Zeus is that he’s easily one of the more emotional villains. This guy absolutely hates humans and isn’t afraid to say it. He wants to put the absolute fear of god into them and goes around murdering people like crazy. Out of all the gods this is probably the one that you want to fight the least. It’s also unfortunate for the heroes that he is easily one of the strongest as well. So if you go up against him, odds are that you are not going to be walking away. He is just going to decimate the competition.

Michael is another one of those really strong cosmic beings and naturally he’s rather twisted the whole time. It was fun seeing him show up even if by this point he was quickly getting surpassed by the others. The guy loves his cheap shots and is definitely not the type to play fair. He has a killer design though which really helps to keep him memorable the whole time compared to the other fighters like Uriel.

Tathagata is one of those villains that was hyped up for a crazy long amount of time so you were really looking forward to seeing him get some action. His power levels are also crazy high. It’s no exaggeration to say that this guy could solo many different manga and anime verses. The series does not hold back with him at all and that’s part of what makes the fight so much fun. There is also this constant back and forth with him and Mujin Park on who the actual final boss is. They keep you guessing all the way to the end with both characters getting massive amounts of hype. You will have to read the series to see who ends up getting that spot though.

Okay so that was a lot of story and a lot of characters! Definitely feels like you went through a full adventure there and I can assure you that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Read the whole series yourself to really see all of the characters and events. When you’ve got hundreds and hundreds of chapters like this series does, you can see how it’s easy to squeeze a ton of content in here. The series definitely had its low moments as well but that’s where the length really comes in. There are scenes and even arcs here that could have doomed a lesser title down to a 2 or worse.

When this series fell into a slump, trust me when I say it was a huge one. Definitely like nothing I had ever seen before or at least something only in very rare circumstances. In a series this long, you’re not surprised to see it making all kinds of mistakes. That’s just bound to happen to pretty much any title of this size. You had babies getting murdered, some animal violence, and generally a lot of terror. The series goes out of its way to show that when the villains win, the universe really goes to a bad spot. Even when the heroes are winning, there is usually something bad happening. The main important thing is that the positives outweigh the negatives for the series though and they definitely do here. The sheer hype from each of the fights and arcs is just insanely impressive to the point where it’s just hard to top.

The final fight went on for months and the series even throws a few fakeouts in there. There were different points throughout the series where it felt like the whole thing was ending, only for a whole new arc to start. I will admit that sometimes this could feel like a bit of a waste with certain plot elements being incredibly overdone, but deep down I was just happy to see the series continuing to go on. As long as you don’t mind Mori getting nerfed a whole lot throughout the series then you should be good. Also, I do get why you would want to nerf him at times because otherwise it would be hard to write around his power. The guy really does Goku proud by the end of this.

The art is also really solid. It’s definitely not as detailed as something like Solo Leveling but it makes up for this with incredible fighting choreography. The battles all look amazing and you can really follow the movements. Each battle is something to be taken real seriously and because the series has such a global element to most of its plots it is nice to see the different fighting styles go up against each other. You’ve got karate, taekwondo, etc. They all get their shine which I appreciate. Of course Taekwondo tends to look the best since that’s what Mori uses but that’s to be expected. He’s the best in the business after all.

I also really like how the series changes backgrounds a lot. What I mean by that is at first you have people fighting within a stadium, then they’re jumping through the city having fights outside, finally you have battles in outer space. With the exception of Mori Jin, you tend to feel the power levels gradually rising as the series goes on. It also rises by enough of a sizable difference where it’s fun to compare the past with the current. The series really has a good balance there. Now as a whole there are a ton of power level complaints I would have. As the series gets higher and higher this is yet another inevitable thing to an extent. Nothing that would hurt the score but yeah I was skeptical for a lot of different outcomes.

One of the big debates/topics that keeps coming up in the series is about which side is truly good though. You have 3 main groups: The humans, The gods, and the demons. You’d think this should be pretty straight forward but it’s tough. The humans for example have tons of villains all over the place. We’re talking domestic terrorism, psychopaths, mass murderers, etc. Basically the humanity you’ve all grown up with. The series is not subtle about its critique of humanity and how they will always be starting new wars and are ungrateful. No matter how many times Mori saves them, they continue to try and hunt him. Additionally, humans are particularly cruel with their experiments. When they capture a god or a demon, it’s usually a fate worst than death.

Then you have the demons led by Satan…obviously they’re pretty evil. They tend to just murder everybody so it’s not as dark as humanity. At the same time, survival of the fittest is the only way they have ever known how to live. They all keep murdering each other until they rise to the top. They have to keep their strength up or they will be destroyed by the gods or humans. I wouldn’t say they ever get sympathetic though, at the end of the day they are probably the worst of the 3…maybe. I would rather get caught by a demon than the others as my death would at least be quick but there really aren’t any heroic ones.

Then you have the gods, well they really don’t care about anything except their own greatness. They like hunting humans for sport and pick a lot of the fights. Like the demons there don’t seem to really be any heroic ones. They’re just perpetually bored and their idea of a good time is just murdering the various humans and causing a lot of problems. So in some ways you could say they’re the worst because a lot of the issues are their fault. Since Mori Jin basically represents all 3 forms at one point or another, he gets to make nice with some humans and demons (Not really any of the gods though tbh) which leads to some interesting plot points.

All in all, I thought the series did an excellent job with the world building here. After all, no group is ever purely good when it becomes large enough. There will inevitably be some traitors within or people who just get tempted by the dark side. These people are often very motivated to keep moving up the ranks while the kind ones get content. That happens again and again here so you really can’t trust anyone in the series. We even get the Superman type debate here.

Mujin Park feels like Mori can’t be trusted because he’s just too powerful. As the series goes on Mori can throw entire planets. He could eliminate Earth if he has a bad dream and gets up the wrong way. With that kind of power, Mujin feels like there can never be peace unless they are all terminated. He’s big on the whole “Earth is for Earthlings” thing. Ultimately he becomes a complete dictator as you can probably guess but he made for a very compelling villain. I tend to love it when villains really have a whole misguided sense of justice like this. You can root against them while totally getting how they came to this spot. He was really a true highlight in the series.

The series had so many “endings” as things kept ramping up again that it’s hard to say which would have been the best one. I don’t love the actual ending we got because unfortunately I would say they chose the wrong person to be with Mori in the end. It doesn’t really work even when you look at it in the best interpretation. Still, the characters mostly all got closure so the series definitely has that going for it. You can’t say that it was rushed, I remember a bunch of people kept begging for the series to be over for months and months before it finally ended. Meanwhile I was just enjoying how comically large the fight was getting. Look, the best kind of final fight is where every cast one by one goes up against the main villain and gets crushed. That’s always absolutely epic and this series had such a massive cast by the end that it makes sense how long it all was.

Overall, I could go on for sure but that’s enough for now. This is absolutely the kind of series that has a lot to say even if the fight scenes are the top priority. I would definitely recommend checking out God of Highschool as soon as possible. It may seem like a daunting task at first glance but once you get into it then the series will really go by quickly. It’s got a fun tone to it and especially in season 1 there is quite a bit of comedy to balance out the serious moments. It never totally goes away of course but the latter half of the series tends to be so serious that there just isn’t as much time for the comedy. So definitely enjoy it while you can but the series excels in both tones.

Overall 9/10

Noragami Review

Posted on August 11, 2024 by dreager1

Noragami is one of those action titles that actually lasted for a long while. I felt like it would just quietly keep updating with new chapters even though almost nobody really talked about it. At least compared to the bigger titles. It does have a solid fanbase and they’re always waiting for the anime to return but the manga just felt really quiet. It’s a good action title but one that is held back by having one of the weakest supporting casts for a long running title that I can think of. Seriously I didn’t care for just about any of the characters which is absolutely crazy. Most of them were forgettable or annoying.

The series focuses around a god named Yato who is in a bit of a pinch. In this world gods gain power based on how many people believe in them. They need humans to build shrines to them and give them gifts. Nobody knows who Yato is though, the average person can’t even see him. So that’s definitely not a good thing. One day he meets a girl named Hiyori who accidentally hops outside of her body. She now has an astral form and is fully aware of the supernatural. It’s an inconvenient power though as she’ll jus randomly fall out of her human body which causes everyone to just think she fainted. It’s also dangerous for her because she can now be attacked by any number of creatures. Yato vows to protect her and get her back to normal condition but he’s no exactly the most reliable guy around. Can he actually pull this off?

Of course that’s the pre arc plot and as you can guess with 27 volumes, that’s going to change real quick. There are a lot of other dangers out there and people who would have the gods be dethroned. The main villain even hits close to home as Yato’s father ends up being a rather big player in all of this. We definitely cover a lot of ground but this is a series where the anime really helps to elevate it a whole lot. The manga itself is less impressive as a whole but still a good time without a doubt.

As a main character Yato is pretty solid. The guy jokes around a lot but he has a good work ethic and really tries hard. The guy’s entire existence is at stake and yet he still finds time to joke around and have fun. He started the whole small businesses thing in order to stay alive and at least get a little recognition. He’s super desperate but never gives up so I can appreciate that. As the series goes on he is tested a whole lot but rarely falters. It’s not a perfect performance, sometimes the villains do get to him but most of the time Yato pulls through. He’s the kind of guy you can count in and a great main character to follow.

In some ways he reminds me of Kenshin and other older main characters like that. Yato has been around for a long time and seen many things. He has vowed to not be an assassin anymore and it takes a whole lot of perseverance to stick true to that path. He’s one of the stronger characters in the series but in a way Yato has to nerf himself so that he doesn’t just murder everybody. It can be a lot harder than it looks.

Hiyori is a solid heroine as well. I appreciate the fact that she doesn’t lament her fate of being stuck to the spirit world all that much. She guilt trips Yato at times but for the most part isn’t worrying about thing. Hiyori even tries to fight once although she quickly thinks better of this after how the first attempt went and I don’t blame her there. The most important thing for her is to stay safe with how many crazy fighters are all around. It would have been nice if she could have learned how to fight a little mor but at least she has enough abilities to run and get out of trouble.

Yukine is a character I never ended up liking though. To be clear, the kid does have it rough since he has a super tough background. It wasn’t an easy life/death but as a ghost he keeps getting in the way. I should explain the spirit system a bit more here. Every spirit master is a god like Yato and they can use familiars which are people who died. These ghosts are given a new name by the master so that they can fight and turn into weapons/items. It is forbidden to tell a spirit about their former life because it will often end up driving them crazy.

The spirits are basically kept in the dark on this. It’s a reasonable enough system. Naturally I don’t agree with this and think the spirits should be told straight up but unfortunately there is a ton of evidence within the system to support that this doesn’t work. Even the best of spirits will inevitably turn evil or panic and get destroyed. So Yukine goes through this drama more than once. The first time he takes a dive is before we even learn about his prior life. He starts perving on Hiyori for a while there and even becomes a delinquent where he is breaking windows. All of these things start blighting Yato of course which nearly goes to the point of no return.

Yukine was definitely way too crazy there and he’s lucky that Yato is so lenient. Most of the other gods would have absolutely destroyed him by that point. The very fact that this was so close was annoying. Then when Yukine starts to learn about his prior self, he really goes off the deep end and becomes a full on villain. Hey I could overlook part of this the first time, but twice? Nah he was on the hot seat by this point with no way off. Then he started falling for Nora and her advances which was not a good look for him. Yukina was just way worse of a character than I expected him to be.

Yukine’s struggles were a good way to end the pre arc though. While he never became a good character, it helped to finish setting up the main cast so we could really get going. At this point in the story we had mainly seen Yato tackle easy cases and beat the occasional monster. Now we would really see him going all out against some real opponents and what better way to start than with Bishamon. She is a powerful god who is a master of combat and so the idea of Yato beating her is definitely tricky. Or at least it should be right?

In a lot of ways Yato reminds me of Archer from Fate. Everyone tries to gaslight you in universe that he’s super weak and yet he seems to be able to hang with anybody. That’s the case with Yato as well, half the time he isn’t even trying to fight. You actually get the impression that he would completely crush Bishamon if he was fighting seriously. Technically I don’t think that’s even what the author was going for here but it’s definitely what it felt like to me. Yato also had to go through a lot with murdering Bishamon’s army a while back to save her and having to come close to doing it again. Yato’s job really is a thankless one and if anything just creates more enemies for him.

Bishamon also ends up looking a little naive here. Like I mentioned before, getting stung can be absolutely fatal. If the spirits continue to do or even think bad thoughts, then the master get injured and can eventually die. So it’s a huge deal and Bishamon needed to do more about it. Instead without Yato she definitely would have died for a second time. She really lost sight of the forest for the trees which was not a good look. She was also too quick to take Kuguha’s side and banish Kazuma despite the kid being her most trusted advisor for years. That just made no sense. I do happen to like Bishamon though. She definitely has her large set of flaws but she’s a great fighter and is less of a government stooge than most of the other gods who just follow orders. I would like more rule breaking from this series because too many of the gods show that they just don’t have any internal ethics and do whatever they’re ordered to.

I also can’t say that I like Kazuma all that much. He’s a little too arrogant at times and while he respects Yato, he could probably show more gratitude as well. Then he allows himself to fall for Bishamon which is not a good idea since she is literally his god. Kazuma is at least reasonably strong and he was at his best when he joined up with Yato. Still, he’s not really one of the better characters. He’s useful in a fight but that’s about all that I can say for the guy.

Kuguha made for an interested villain but the guy got way too lucky the whole time. I don’t get how everyone trusted him so much considering he was basically a newcomer next to most of the other characters. Sure he was a good healer but that’s about all that you could say for the guy. It’s definitely not enough to be putting him on a pedestal. His plans just didn’t feel all that great even though he got pretty far. Fairly underwhelming villain all things considered and his ultimate motive didn’t help him.

Tenjin is a supporting character who shows up a lot but he tends to be super annoying. This guy pretty much always gives the wrong advice like telling Hiyori to cut ties with Yato. You can feel free to skip all of his dialogue because the guy is nuts. Now granted, he is knowledgeable of course so if you want an info dump then he’s your guy. If you want quality advice and good vibes though? Definitely avoid this guy and he’s so old that he can’t even fight.

Kofuku is a lot more entertaining at least. She brings bad luck to those around her but she never lets this get her down. I appreciate her optimism. She can be a little shady at times like with how people waste their money on her but I do get the logic of it being their choice. Either way she’s a fun supporting character and does step in to help Yato when she can. I would think of her as a good friend without a doubt.

In the next arc Yato basically gets blackmailed by his father into going on another mission. So he takes the stray Nora and heads into the underworld. The god Ebisu is there as well for knowledge and now they have to contend with the ruler Izanami. She is a powerful shapeshifter who really just wants to be loved and the whole thing is pretty rough for her. Nobody ever ends up wanting to stay with her. Personally I feel like she would find a ton of able volunteers if she checked the real world a bit more though. Considering she intends to use force though, you can really only be so sympathetic to her plight.

This arc is fairly big because it starts up a ton of subplots. For one, this is Ebisu’s final appearance as an adult since he is reincarnated back to being a kid after this. That was annoying because he was very interesting as an adult but I didn’t really like him as a kid. He just didn’t have that air of being distinguished anymore and I felt like he lost a considerable amount of his skills in the process. There was just no going back after this point.

We also got to see the stray Nora finally show up in a real role. She’s actually a lot of fun but unfortunately she has basically been brainwashed by Fujisaki into being the ultimate murder weapon. She has tons of names so any god can use her. She really wants to be close to Yato and is jealous of Yukine but he wants nothing to do with her. I do feel like Yato should have found some way to try and bring Nora to the light side though. For the most part I feel like she is always on her own and it’s tough because there is no way she can escape on her own. She absolutely needs some help so can’t anyone show up and actually try to help her? That would have definitely been appreciated.

She is also one of the stronger fighters in the series so she would have been a real asset to the series. If she was a good guy then the final arc would play out way differently. Ah well, things definitely aren’t easy for her but she sure keeps things interesting. It was a pretty solid mini arc and there were definitely some good action scenes while in the underground. You could even argue that Yato is near the peak of his power here since I would still argue that Nora is more powerful than Yukine despite his blessed blade status.

After a pair of arcs we get to one of the biggest arcs in the series where the heavens show up to take down Bishamon. I would say this is around where we see just how weak willed most of the supporting cast are. The heavens are insanely corrupt and yet so many of the characters just watch or decide not to help. I don’t know about you but if the characters aren’t stepping up to help then they are basically accomplices. There’s no easy way to slice it, that’s just how it goes. In this arc Bishamon looks really good though. After Fujisaki murdered one of her guardians, Bishamon has decided that she wants revenge.

As Yato’s father, Fujisaki’s death would mean that the lead dies too so it is a little complicated there but she’s still got to do it. Also I don’t think she knows about the link at this point in time. So she even wakes up a legendary fighter named Nana to help her in the big battle. It’s a pretty impressive climax to be sure and Nana is one of my favorite characters. Here’s someone who loves to fight and is also super talented at it. That’s what I call a very useful combo here. Nana doesn’t get to appear a ton but makes the most of each appearance. Taking on a whole army of heaven’s finest is no easy task after all.

Meanwhile Yato take scare of Takemikazuchi, another yes man who was annoying the whole time. At least getting absolutely demolished helped calm his mind for a while there so he got better. Even then he never left much of an impression on me which does tend to be the case here a lot of the time. This is probably my favorite arc in the series though. It was real solid all the way through and we definitely got a really solid rage mode from Bishamon. It also wouldn’t be the last time that the heavens decide to make a move.

After that Fujisaki causes more trouble like trying to get Yukine to look into his past so his soul will crumble and he turns into a monster or fades away. It becomes imperative that Yato take him out so he turns back to Kazuma. The annoying thing about this is it does mean that once again Yukine has a lot of loyalty issues and thinks Yato is turning his back on him. Solid communication would definitely prevent a lot of the issues that continue to come up here, that’s for sure. We are deep enough in the series though where I wish that Yukine would just listen more. It’s obvious that Yato is here to help and isn’t trying to hurt him. So Yukine should trust him for once instead of constantly being manipulated with ridiculous ease.

Then we quickly approach the ending here which was long enough where I remember getting faked out a few times. The heavens decide to destroy Fujisaki and do their best but they all get absolutely crushed so the task falls to Yato once again. Fujisaki really looks impressive and deserves his hype because he still does great in the fight here. The guy has so many names, powers, and summons at his disposal. He’s a super versatile combatant and proves why his experience is the real deal here. Yato is consistently outgunned the whole time here and has an extremely hard time fighting. There is also still the fact to consider that is Yato wins, he will still die due to how the system works. He also has to worry about Yukine and Hiyori the whole time.

There’s a super boring subplot about Ebisu and the thunder god going to a village to find the root of why Fujisaki is basically immortal. Turns out the guy is like Voldemort and you have to destroy objects that are connected to him as well. I still wonder what the gods were even doing to let things get this far though. We get some cool super forms in the end and a lot of fights so that’s always fun. The ending had me a little nervous there but ultimately it wasn’t bad. The very ending definitely saved it there because things were looking dicey for a minute there.

As a villain Fujisaki is not bad. The guy wants to change the system and is absolutely crazy so you can go far on that kind of combination. In some ways he is like a budget Aizen but the society here isn’t nearly as corrupt as the Soul Society so what that means is it’s a little harder to really sympathize with the guy. Instead it just looks like he is completely off his rocker. I’m no fans of the heavens in this verse either. They seem needlessly cruel with their punishments and murder each other over the smallest infraction. That said, at least they are protecting the human world while this guy is just indiscriminately murdering everyone in his way.

The art is definitely pretty solid throughout the series. At times it can get a little chaotic, especially near the end of the series with all of the big explosions and wide attacks. You can generally tell what is happening without too much fuss though. The fights are on point which is the important thing but it can also be clear during the comedic moments. At worst sometimes there is just so much text on the screen that it can be a little intimidating. That goes back to one of my issues in the series which is that it can be a little too lore heavy at times.

A title like Jujutsu Kaisen or Hunter X Hunter can get away with it because the dialogue is always very interesting but that’s not really the case here. A lot of the time you just really don’t care about what they are saying. It’s basically inconsequential. Most of the lore isn’t really taken advantage of which is why you don’t even want to hear about it. This just isn’t that kind of series in the end and so no amount of lore could really change that. This is mainly an action title with a lot of good comedic moments and the lore is like white noise in the background.

Then throw in the weak cast like I mentioned earlier and that gets thing trickier. Again, I tended to like them all a lot more in the anime so that should help but I barely cared about the gods in the subplot because of this. Every time it would cut to the characters on the boat I would be shaking my heads. Also, so many of the gods died and turned back to kids/new selves that it was a bit annoying. It may be the same soul but they often have no recollection of the previous life so it may as well have been a new character.

I’m still skeptical as well as how close Fujisaki came to winning here. He was outnumbered so badly by the heavens so why are they so weak and ineffectual? He should have been taken down real quick. Also, it’s all not a great consolation to all of the humans down below as they started getting slaughtered for being corrupted. The heavens were certainly not merciful here as they basically told the gods to wipe everyone out. Now that’s just great. In general I’m not sure that some of the world building here holds up. The whole gods being damaged by their minions even thinking bad things still seems absolutely excessive. They can never be sad or mad or anything without blighting the host. It seems to me that you’d basically have to brainwash them in order for anything like that to be possible.

Noragami should have really kept things a little more simple here. In some respects you almost could have gone the full on comedy route here and it would have worked pretty well. Or have your occasional action scene with it but you don’t need this massive cinematic experience of huge world building and hundreds of characters fighting in a big war. That part really felt like the series bit off a bit more than it can chew. If the series played to its strengths on a more local setting it would just be even better but at least that’s the way I see it. I sort of know what it’s like when fans say that for other series now although I tend to disagree 99% of the time and again I may feel differently there when I read it as a marathon.

Overall, Noragami is a good series. I think it’s one of those series that will also play better on the re read when I can binge through all of the story beats. Any that seemed to drag on a lot like the Yukine scenes won’t be as bad this way and you also get the payoff a lot quicker. This series deserves a lot of credit for lasting so long. I definitely look forward to the next anime season because you know they will continue to amp up all of the fun moments and the action scenes. It’s what the anime does after all, they are always ready to pull this off. It looks like that is going to take a while though so in the meantime I definitely recommend reading this series. In a way Noragami is at its best when it’s having fun mixing the action and comedy as opposed to getting ultra serious but in the end it still does good on both fronts.

Overall 6/10

Solo Leveling Review

Posted on August 10, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about one of the biggest Manhwa out there. Solo Leveling really took the world by storm when it came out for the extremely solid artwork and top tier fights. This was a series that definitely held nothing back there and I would say this was consistent throughout its entire run. Even the epilogue managed to throw in a bunch of battles which was definitely cool. It may not have lasted as long as the other big manhwa I’ve read but it holds its own.

The plot follows a guy named Jinwoo who is your every day teenager. His father vanished a while back and his mother is in a coma though so he has to look after his younger sister on his own. In this world there are gates which appear throughout the planet and so hunters are the people who deal with them. When you become of age you can have your power level tested to see just how strong you are. Your power level can’t really change from that point on so it’s really any deal. For example if you are an E rank fighter then the best you can hope for is cleaning up after the real hunters and picking up materials.

Still, you’re better off than those who have no energy since you can still earn some decent money this way. Jinwoo is an E rank and known as the weakest hunter in history. People mock him all the time but he needs money for his mother’s bills so he keeps his head down and gets the job done. One day a dungeon he is in ends up being a little too powerful and almost everyone dies. Jinwoo dies but is them resurrected somehow. He now has video game status windows that appear around him.

In effect Jinwoo is now the first ever hunter who can actually level up and get stronger. His days of being an E class fighter are finally over! As Jinwoo gets stronger though? He feels his humanity beginning to leave him. Does this absolute power come at a price and if so…was he better off being the weakest guy around? They say it’s lonely at the top…time to see if that’s true.

I’m just gonna say it now, the power is obviously worth it! The whole losing humanity plot really starts to vanish early on as well so it’s not really a big deal. It’s good for some quick drama but that’s about it, I wouldn’t think on it too hard. The only real drawback is that he ends up being in way more fights over and over as he takes everyone on but that’s still better than just being immediately murdered. If Jinwoo had stayed weak then everyone would ultimately be dead so that should answer the question on if it was worth it or not.

The character cast is rather small in a way. Technically there are a lot of characters but many of them are one shots or quickly get written out for being too weak. For that reason you don’t really remember too many of them all that much. There are a select few who really stand by until the end but they tend to be the exception. I dare say this is the smallest cast I’ve read for a series of this length but that’s not really a bad thing. The most important thing is having strong villains and a good main character. Fortunately this series has both of those things.

The artwork is top tier like I mentioned before so no worries on that. Each fight gets better and better and you could really just enjoy this as a top quality picture book if you want. It’s one of the few titles where it can almost be hard to imagine how the anime will be able to do it. Still, at the end of the day you know a good enough studio can pull it off as needed. It does have to be a high end studio though. You’d be wincing if an anime adaption ended up using a bunch of stills or anything like that.

The world building in the series is also great which is definitely key. We learn a whole lot about how the ranking system works, the demon realms and how they function, etc. Then as the series goes on you learn even more like who is behind the leveling up system, the true cosmic/demonic forces at work, etc. You get satisfactory answers to basically every question in the series which is really nice to see. Even with a sequel that started pretty much right away, they didn’t decide to just hold off on you here. The sequel will tell its own story but this is really a complete adventure all the way through. It doesn’t end on a massive cliffhanger or anything like that. It’s the kind of ending that can (and did) absolutely lead to a sequel but it doesn’t have to if that makes sense.

This might sound a bit contradictory but while Jinwoo blows past most of the characters and makes them irrelevant there are times when he doesn’t look quite as strong as you expect. There were a few times where he spared with the heroes and didn’t obliterate them the way I was expecting. Yes, it was sparring but the fact that any of them could keep up at all had me a little puzzled. I would argue Jinwoo surpassed everybody even sooner than the series seems to acknowledge this. Maybe I ended up being caught up in the hype I guess.

Either way he is a great character though. You could say that perhaps he is a bit basic but he gets the job done. He has a lot of confidence in himself and even before that, his underdog self wasn’t bad. His internal confrontations with his old self were pretty good. Jinwoo can at times act a little bit too villainous so I can’t cosign just everything that he does but for the most part he is someone you can count on. He has a whole lot of presence.

We’ll go through a bunch of the cast now and who better to start off with than one of the most iconic characters in the series? Beru is easily one of the standout characters here and he is just a blast to root for. His sheer loyalty is awesome on its own and then throw in the fact that the guy can fight and you have a winner. He’s one of the strongest fighters that Jinwoo has by the end of the series and only continues to improve more and more. The fact that he can wipe the floor with over 90% of the verse is really impressive. When you stop and think about how many fighters Jinwoo has in addition to his own skills then you start to appreciate just how broken the main character is. It’s really quite impressive. There are few characters like Jinwoo and it’s why his reputation is absolutely deserved. So having a great captain of the guard like Beru is important so that Jinwoo doesn’t have to waste time with weaker opponents. Beru really keeps these guys in line.

Now lets talk about the S ranks. You know how I was saying earlier how a bunch of them are completely irrelevant? Well you know it’s bad when a bunch of them don’t even have a photo on the wiki and a bunch of others basically didn’t get to do anything. The term S rank ended up getting cheapened early on because of how many of these guys there were. They just couldn’t keep up and in the end even the strongest ones were quickly surpassed without any real effort. Still, there were a few that I liked, so I’ll go into those guys first.

The first one’s a girl actually. Cha is one of the first S rank hunters that we meet and her abilities were definitely considerable. She has good sword skills and overall movement speed. Her gimmick of finding everyone’s natural scent to be gross aside from Jinwoo is definitely an odd character quirk to be sure but it basically stops being a thing after a while. While her abilities get surpassed early on, she maintains a fairly big role for most of the series and was a fun supporting character to have around.

Thomas is an S rank who really does live up to his power the whole time. This guy is near the top of the charts for good reason after all. He is actually able to give Jinwoo a good fight and is relevant for far longer than most fighters. I liked his confidence and while the guy may not always have the best friends around, he is loyal. He’s someone you can count on to have your back at all times. Without him the S ranks would definitely not be the same so he’s someone to keep your eye on.

Liu is another one of the top S ranks to the point where he was a nation hunter but unfortunately he doesn’t get to do a whole lot. He’s caught in that awkward spot where he was introduced but then didn’t get to do anything until it was too late and he could no longer put up a great fight. I think the series should have given him a key fight earlier on to really establish him among the other characters. There’s nothing wrong with his personality after all. He has everything in place to be a quality character and I still liked him but the guy is very forgettable.

Then of course we have Jinwoo’s father who doesn’t get to appear a whole lot but gets a pretty good role when he does show up. The guy is a top rank fighter after all but I didn’t think the reason for him vanishing was all that good. You feel like he could have done more to prepare Jinwoo and the others for the attacks. It’s a fairly common kind of subplot where the series doesn’t convincingly show me why a character vanished for so long. So he is cool and strong but I wasn’t a big fan because of that.

Then we have Jinwoo’s son who is solid enough. I don’t see him being as cool as Jinwoo to be sure but he likes fighting and is a quick study so that’s a good thing. Definitely a lot of potential for that sequel series. In the meantime he gets enough screentime where I can say that he’s good. We have the blueprint so we can see if he continues to be this good later on.

Christopher Reed was one of the cooler S ranks but he also got the unfortunate fate of not really getting a whole lot to do here. He’s really used a lot for shock value and to establish just how dangerous these new villains are. He talks tough and puts up a good off screen fight but ultimately that was game over for him. Still a cool scene though and it was hype enough where you won’t forget him. So he definitely made the most out of his limited appearances.

Go is the chairman of the hunter’s association and so for a while there I was worried that he would end up being all talk despite some early hype. Fortunately that is not the case and we actually get to see him doing things later on. He has a really good fight and was definitely a real likable character. I definitely appreciated seeing him around and he was easy to root for. The guy actually talked sense and was willing to bend some rules to help Jinwoo out. This guy properly understands the stakes here and how to protect the world. If everyone was as smart as he was then there would probably have been less casualties in the series.

Goto was a pretty interesting S rank because he was one of the only ones that I would call a straight up villain. He wants to murder other heroes and so there’s no other real way to frame that. He’s not someone that you could trust to have your back at any point. His abilities were still considerable to be sure though and he was a nice wild card. I thought he was a good character for his role and I tend to appreciate having some dark hunters as a change of pace from the monsters. It’s why I really enjoyed Jinwoo’s first fight against the dark hunters so much. It was just really different from what had happened earlier.

Dongsoo is another example of a dark hunter and definitely not a very smart one. I know I tend to enjoy loyalty in a character even when they’re a villain but this guy was just too much of a punk/bully for me to take him too seriously. The guy was basically asking to get absolutely crushed the whole time. He also loses massive points for the underhanded tricks he used when going after Jinwoo’s sister. That is something that will always lose you a whole lot of points for me. Tricks like that show that you just don’t have much of an honor code here. So yeah I didn’t have any real sympathy for this guy.

Min Byung is definitely one of those tragic characters who didn’t really want to stick around in this dangerous world of being a hunter but ultimately came through when humanity needed him. It can be tough having a strong conscious and doing the right thing but ultimately that’s just how it goes. Definitely a fun character all the way around though and he just seemed like a nice guy. We don’t actually see a whole lot of healers in the series so that skillset was still rather rare.

Then we have Baek who could partially transform into an animal. He gets quite a lot of screentime and was really handy in a fight. He may not have quite been in the top echelon of fighters but the guy was persistent and got his share of wins. I know the series would be too long if everyone got this treatment but this is exactly what a bunch of the other S ranks needed in order to stand out more. They would have really become way more full fledged as a character if that was the case.

Finally to wrap the S ranks up we have Choi. His fire abilities were super handy so he was always fun to have around. The guy gets a big role during the insect arc and was definitely super determined. He could really get a whole lot of opponents all at once. He slowly starts to vanish as the series goes on but had a good impact while he was around. There are many other S ranks of course but most of them don’t get as much of a role.

Joohee is one of the characters from the intro who was a good friend to Jinwoo but ultimately stopped appearing. She was nice enough and always healed him no matter what happened in the dungeons. Ultimately he just kept getting stronger while her trauma didn’t really go away and she retired. I definitely get why, unless you absolutely need to fight in order to survive, only the craziest of souls will go through that whole ordeal. Also there will always be the knowledge that there could be a double dungeon so there isn’t such a thing as a super safe dungeon anymore. I thought she was nice enough so I did miss her a little.

Jinah is Jinwoo’s sister and she’s a fun supporting character. She’s always looking out for him and he knows that she’s got his back. Jinah and Jinwoo have a good bond throughout the series and considering how powerful he gets, it’s nice to know that she is well protected. If anything she gets close to danger a little more than you would expect considering how good his reserves are. You can imagine that this doesn’t go very well for the villain. Jinwoo’s mom is also solid although she gets far less to do.

Igris is another one of Jinwoo’s top fighters and I always like seeing him around. He may start to get surpassed more as the series goes on but he just has such a great design. He will always be known for having one of the best fights against Jinwoo and he does it all with pure technique. He doesn’t have a bunch of fancy skills or super powers or anything like that. Igris just focuses himself and launches devastating attacks the whole time. That’s definitely the way to earn my respect real quick.

Then we have Kamish who is a super powerful dragon, the mightiest beast in the land. He ends up being really handy during the series for quick transportation. The guy had a lot of presence when he first showed up as well. In general he is a fun monster and Jinwoo has a number of super solid ones but this one isn’t often used in a combat way. That tends to be the job for the others like the goblin mage.

Esil was a fun character and whenever she would show up the series would actually allow itself to have a bit of fun. Usually everything was super serious with a bunch of fights and everything but she would add some levity to the scenes. She can fight well enough but never really has to. Esil’s the kind of heroine who can make friends easily and I wouldn’t have minded some slice of life shenanigans in the demon world for a bit although I totally get why the series couldn’t really pause there for very long.

Kim is another one of the characters from pre arc. He wasn’t ready for the opening fight of the series but then again nobody really was. It definitely wasn’t fair how everyone was jumping on him for what happened considering that he had the team take a vote first. He was a good leader all the way through and I thought he was solid overall. He may have left Jinwoo but he did it upon the lead’s request and saved the heroine. So even though he feels guilty early on, he doesn’t have much to be down about. He did what he could.

Then we have Jinho who shows up to try and make the atmosphere light like Esil. He’s the main comic relief but I like how the series handles this. He’s never inept or anything like that. The guy is weak but he knows his limitations and works around them with money and connections. He does a lot of work behind the scenes in setting up a base and working with Jinwoo. The two of them actually become real friends and it’s a pretty nice dynamic. Any scene with him was usually pretty fun.

Antares is definitely one of those big villains you don’t forget. He has an incredible design, great fighting abilities, and a good personality. He was a fun character to see fight throughout and he actually stays as one of the top fighters in the series. You can definitely respect him there even if it takes him a long while to show up. He works well in the final boss type spot and is one of the more memorable villains in the series. So stay patient as you read through the series and wait to see him.

Ashborn is another really solid character. His plans were definitely very detailed and convoluted so you could call him a true genius. In just about any other timeline he probably would have come out on top. He’s got a great design and great powers so you really can’t ask for much more than that. Definitely one of those characters that really pops out of the page the whole time. He also gives us a lot of important lore near the end of the series so you’ll want to get that memorized. He really helped to change the whole game of what was going on.

Baran was definitely the least impressive of the Monarchs to the point where I forgot he even counted as one until checking the wiki. This guy’s okay but not as good as he should be. I suppose he was probably nerfed during the fight but even so, Monarchs tend to set a really high standard and this guy definitely couldn’t keep up with that. He’s a solid villain but definitely not one of the great ones. I won’t really be thinking about this guy much after the initial appearance.

Rakan was a pretty solid villain even if he didn’t go out very well. The guy had a lot of strength and he did have the presence of a Monarch. He’s one of those fighters who was lucky to have a true fight before going up against Jinwoo. You never want to fight the hero first because often times that will end very badly. So this worked out super well for him and helped the guy to stay really memorable the whole time. He also has a good deign so this villain really had everything that you could ask for from an antagonist.

Querehsha isn’t super impressive but again it’s a timing thing. She just took too long to act so Jinwoo had the advantage from the jump here. She had some potential and overall I do think she is a decent villain but not one of the top threats to be sure. Likewise Legia isn’t all that great either. I like his attempts at trickery but the fact that he spends most of his time tied up doesn’t exactly help his case either. How is a Monarch gonna be tied up like this? Definitely not the kind of thing that makes the most compelling case for the character.

Tarnak is more of a whiner than a fighter so I wouldn’t rank him all that high. He has a cool design but doesn’t have the confidence or presence that the stronger fighters have at their disposal. This is what will keep him from really climbing to the top. He’s just not that memorable and doesn’t really have the skills to change any of the outcomes either. So in the end he was just really doomed no matter how you slice it.

Sillad was one of the better villains though. I liked his abilities quite a lot and this guy was strong. He lasted a long while and really pushed Jinwoo. It’s clear that he was really comfortable with his abilities and had long term ambitions. He was really a threat from all sides which is what you would expect from a villain like this. I definitely wasn’t going to forget him afterwards, this guy was really cool. Definitely looking forward to seeing his fight animated some day.

The Architect is another really cool villain with a lot of aura. You never forget that confrontation at the very beginning of the series after all. This guy would strike fear into you immediately. He was an absolute beast in every sense of the word. I love the design and he is one of the most iconic characters in the series for that reason alone. The build up and resolution for this guy was absolutely perfect, I wouldn’t change a thing.

Finally we have Baruka who was a really cool ice elf. Definitely a very blood thirsty villain who would destroy anyone in his path. He was a real threat and really brought Jinwoo to the edge during their fight. The fact that he came closer to murdering Jinwoo than even some of the Monarchs was really impressive. I definitely wasn’t about to forget this villain and you’ll be unable to forget him once you see the guy.

Naturally there are even more characters out there but that’s a good amount to go over. There’s a whole lot that gets to go on in a series that is this massive after all. It was really a super impressive series all the way around. A title like this will ultimately run into a bunch of issues along the way like some scenes of excessive violence and animal violence during its run but fortunately manages to overwhelm this with the sheer flood of good moments. It’s a series I could really recommend to any action fan for sure.

Now some do criticize how each arc can get a little repetitive with the format. It always starts with the heroes running in first and getting demolished, then Jinwoo shows up and saves them with ease. Rinse and repeat for every single arc. I get that this could be annoying but the whole point is that Jinwoo is the ultimate fighter. I don’t really mind because in a power fantasy I would argue that this works really well. For sure it will be more on the annoying side if you aren’t a big fan of Jinwoo though but if you like the guy then you’re all set. The series shows us repeatedly just how good the guy is.

Most of the series is really a bunch of action scenes after all and it’s part of why I love the title so much. I wouldn’t say it has a huge plot either way. Yes, with the lore we definitely get more plot heavy for the back half of the series but the action scenes are absolutely the biggest draw of the series and it delivers on that front. I can’t imagine anybody saying that the series didn’t have enough battles or anything like that. That would be crazy. So in the end I didn’t really have any issues here.

At most, I think Jinwoo maybe went up through the levels a bit too quickly. He hits 100 so fast that they have to show levels after 100 later on. It makes things difficult on the power scaling to be sure. Ultimately once the level ups are removed then the series is able to have a bit more freedom again. I did miss the video game elements though as they appear far less from that point on. Also the ending definitely goes in a very sharp direction. Ultimately I wasn’t a big fan of the ending. I get the logic behind it but I never really enjoy any ending where characters within the story can’t appreciate the full thing. I can’t really say much more without spoilers but it’s not my favorite direction is all. At least the epilogue gave us a fan preview of what things will be like going forward.

Also it gave us more fights which is always worth it. I do really need to underscore that this series absolutely understands the rule of cool and uses it in every single interaction. It’s really a smart way to do it. You could probably pick out an amazing panel in every single chapter. There is always something happening and the pacing is really fast. In general one thing I like about Webtoons is how long each chapter feels. It’s probably in large part due to how much you’re scrolling through the series but it makes the experience really last and that’s a lot of fun. There’s definitely more I could say but if I haven’t won you over by now then it’s not happening. This is absolutely a must read and for once I can say that you don’t have to read it for the plot! Although I recommend that you do since the story is still super enjoyable.

Overall, Solo Leveling is a top tier title in all respects. The art really is as dynamic as everyone says it is and you’re really in for a blast here. While the side cast quickly become irrelevant, they still end up being likable while they are around. Ultimately it is all worth it for the big power fantasy, trust me on that. The sequel is now going so I look forward to seeing how long it lasts and if it can match up to the original. To really appreciate the sequel though you will definitely want to read this one first.

Overall 9/10

Spriggan Review

Posted on August 10, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for an action title that I really was not familiar with before starting it. It’s got a pretty unique premise and I tend to enjoy government type stories like this quite a lot so that was pretty cool. Pretty much every government makes an appearance in some capacity here and America in particular definitely comes across as rather ruthless the whole time. Definitely not a group that you really want to mess with.

The series follows a kid named. Yu. He works for ARCAM, a global organization that finds all kinds of supernatural relics and guards the, from those who would use these for evil. Basically it turns out that just about every folklore, superstition, rumor, and historical event is real. You’ve got the Holy Grail, and many other items that have been scattered throughout the world and could end it in an instant. Naturally every government would love to have a weapon like this and so everyone is always ready for action. Yu isn’t just any worker though, he’s a Spriggan.

Spriggan’s are the absolute elite of the elite in terms of overall fighting ability. He is many times faster and stronger than the average person and this effect is amplified by a special suit that ARCAM made him. Yu can take out a whole squad of soldiers and he’s not even the strongest Spriggan around. The toughest part is really just trying to pass his school classes while saving the world. He can only be absent so many times in a semester after all and he also doesn’t have unlimited time to cram either.

For the most part the series is very episodic. You will have a case that has 3 parts or so, and then a new case after that. Aside from some very minor plot elements, you could jump into any story with no issues at all. It’s only near the very end that it starts to all go somewhere. It works well enough for this kind of story though as the fun is really in seeing what relic will be used next by the different villain groups. As with just about any story, it probably would have gotten a boost if it actually did have a big plot the whole time though.

The cast also remains fairly small as a result. There are a number of characters running around of course but most of them tend to be one shots or maybe return once. Also while the art is good, I would say it is the kind where the author has a tendency to draw some characters very similarly. There are a few guys who try to murder Yu throughout the series who look a little too similar. I would say this issue also shows up for a number of the heroines who appear and I can’t really tell them apart until they start talking and then that works as their introduction.

For example there are two girls at school (3 if you count the thief) and they look extremely similar the whole time. Neither one of them ever get super important but the tougher one was starting to be played up as a potential love interest at one point. Then you have the transfer student who decided she wanted to break Yu’s cover which didn’t go well but her design wasn’t super unique. At least the childhood friend girl looked a little different but maybe that’s because she was one of the first characters in the series. I was surprised she didn’t appear more.

The jewel thief is definitely the one who stands out the most but that makes sense because she is a lot of fun. I like her personality and she’s one of the only heroines who feels like she can come close to outwitting Yu. Typically he tends to come out on top but she still gets her subtle victories in there most of the time. She’s dedicated and skilled which is always a tough combination to surpass. She also had a gun and could actually use it as necessary so then fact that she was actually useful in a fight was a big deal.

Throughout the series we also get glimpses of Yu’s backstory. Surprisingly I feel like we never got to see the whole thing but it’s easy enough to piece together from what we did get. He was basically in a child soldier program that tried turning him into a robotic murderer. He would take out any target and was one of the best in the biz. One day he was rescued from there and recruited to ARCAM where he can use his skills but doesn’t have to be murdering anyone anymore. We occasionally see him fighting with his past but I don’t feel like that plot fully ended. We have a separate plot near the end where he learns to fight as himself and not in the suit but I felt like that was a little different.

Considering that he surpassed the other murder soldiers you could call it an ending if you absolutely had to I suppose. I’m still a bit 50/50 on it myself. Either way he is a good character though. At the end of the day he wants to protect as many people as possible. Yu also enjoys a good fight but is always able to prioritize the situation so he will complete the mission first. The fact that he is able to duck a fight when the timing isn’t appropriate is fairly unique as most main characters will just keep on fighting for as long as possible. So he is a really solid lead.

The best character in the series is his rival Jean though. Jean has the ability to turn into a werewolf type creature which is pretty cool. He had to go through a whole lot in order to obtain that power so it’s definitely not the most fun ability to have but it definitely comes in handy during a pinch at times. He can already fight super well without that ability though so with it he is one of the most powerful fighters in the series. I like his confidence and he’s the kind of character that is just super cool all around.

The actual strongest character is Oboro though and I don’t think it’s even close. Even by the end you never get the feeling that Yu has actually surpassed him in any way. It’s more like Oboro just started holding back which makes sense. Oboro is able to use Qi in order to amp up his attacks, overcome supernatural attacks and also increase his speed. Basically he becomes an absolutely unstoppable fighter and pretty much every fight in the series is one that he wins without any real effort. For that reason the series has to basically write him out of almost every confrontation. If he is around then there isn’t much danger at all. I do wonder why the group doesn’t assign him to more missions but my headcanon is that he probably just refuses them and the government is smart enough not to call his bluff. Honestly that’s a smart move on their part because you don’t want to make an enemy out of him.

One of the big villains is Bo and while I wasn’t impressed with him at first, he got considerably better as the series went on. He actually has some fairly emotional moments by the end and was working on a redemption arc. Considering that like a few of the other villains he was on the neo-nazi camp that seems unlikely but yeah the guy was definitely a tough fighter and at least he had honor in combat. I never took him seriously as a thread to Yu or anything like that but he could definitely fight.

Then we have Iwao who was real tough at the start. He was treated as being semi equal to Yu but his stocks just crashed after that. He became more of a character who was known for a lot of good banter but couldn’t really back it up when it counted. I’m not even sure if he thought he could hang with Yu by the end of the series and it’s just such a large departure from his original appearances. The guy really sank down and by no means am I saying he was a bad character but he was underwhelming. I wish he had stayed as more of a threat.

Sho ended up being more of a final boss threat but even then he didn’t appear a ton. Still he was a good foil to Sho the whole time. He was also raised to be the ultimate soldier and unlike Yu he never really got out. So you feel bad for him because while he may be a villain, it’s not like he had much of a choice about it the whole time. Sho also took his abilities as far as they could go and you could argue that he had surpassed Yu for a while there. He ultimately just couldn’t match him with Qi.

Like I said earlier the art is good with the exception of how similar the characters can look at times. The fight scenes are all on point and there is definitely a whole lot going on there. I should note now that the series can get rather graphics at times. The characters are all working in a war setting after all and the series makes no attempts to keep that hidden or mitigate that fact. Everyone on the opposing sides tend to get blown away. Yu spares his opponents but he’s really the only one to do that. Everyone else just wants to murder the opponents and complete the mission. Nothing wrong with that considering the stakes and situation but it is nice that Yu goes the extra mile here.

The series has a lot to say about government corruption and people jumping ship but ultimately I don’t think it’s harsh enough on this. For example, at one point ARCAM gets super corrupt with the leader trying to murder everyone and he’s basically just allowed to walk away. I know that the group is secret so it’s not like he can go to court but at least arrest him within a private jail or something. It’s a little much just how easily he got away from repercussions here and it didn’t make sense. He really needed to pay for that.

I was glad Yu started giving Arcam the cold shoulder for a while there. Unfortunately they are still the lesser of two evils here when compared with the rest of the groups but he needs to reform the group somehow. They’ve basically become almost as bad as the rest. The United States tends to look the craziest which is pretty funny. Their rep always gets rather tricky in manga/anime but they make for solid antagonists. There are also quite a lot of Nazis running around here. Hitler himself even shows up although I don’t think he was handled very well. Trying to make him sympathetic even for a moment is a bit iffy to say the least.

I do think it’s reasonable to try and make some of the villains more human though. For some of the Nazi characters we get to see them as full characters as opposed to being super one dimensional. I do think this is important because often times the most evil people will be the ones who don’t act so obvious about it all the time. Real life is often complicated and that’s why you never know where the enemies are at. If the Nazi’s were running around yelling about how they were Nazi’s the whole time that would be a bit much. This way you realize a lot of characters won’t even realize this until it’s too late. It makes for good tension.

Because Yu is so powerful, the series also has to come up with a lot of creative ways for him to have a challenge. One particularly effective one was when he had to take down a living computer along with a squad of normal soldiers. The computer was just too strong so one by one they sacrifice themselves to open a path for Yu. It’s definitely one of the sadder stories and a lot of plot armor is used but it was a good example of Yu seeing his limits. Each off the powerful characters (Except for Oboro) come up to a point where they have to acknowledge their limits at different points in the story. No matter how strong someone is in this verse, they are not invincible after all.

Also the environment is often times very crazy so Yu has to adapt quickly. We’re talking time travel to the dinosaur age, alien artifacts, supernatural powers, etc. There’s always something going on and I appreciate the fact that Yu is really quick on his feet the whole time. He always jumps into action no matter what is going on. The series also blends history and supernatural elements really well. We have some characters who can shoot fire, cause instant combustion, and then other suits that mirror his own. There’s a large variety of different weapons and techniques going on here. If anything it’s a shame that the series ended so quickly because you could really keep on going with different relics and adventures for a very long time. After all, there are millions of different artifacts you could play around with.

It’s also a fun relic of the times with the art being rather old school and the main character being a real punk. In some ways it reminds me of Yu Yu Hakusho. Hey demons exist in this world along with everything else so the extra similarities are there. The series also gets to give us some screen time of Yu outside of the ARCAM adventures which is nice. It’s a series that is fleshed out well within the amount of volumes it got. I’d also say it’s got a good amount of replay value with how dense some of the adventures could get. There’s a whole lot of dialogue and exposition here so make sure you have your reading glasses on.

Overall, Spriggan is a very good title. I had a good time with the various adventures and the way the author handled all of the governments was definitely fun. Yeah ARCAM was ultimately always one upping them but that makes sense as the main group. There is a good amount of action and intrigue to keep you entertained the whole time and the series is still long enough to really get to the various storylines without having to finish too quickly. I would have liked a little more time in the plot based area but I can still recommend this to anyone looking for a fun time.

Overall 7/10

Layton Mystery Detective Agency: Kat’s Puzzle Solving Files Review

Posted on August 8, 2024 by dreager1

It’s time for a wholesome mystery title in the Layton universe! This mini series is based on the video game and pretty accurately retells the events. It makes for a good read but I do wish they could have done a little more with the concept. It ends up feeling very by the numbers and I think they could have added a bit more emotion into the end product. If you can’t play the video game (Or just aren’t interested in gaming) then this definitely does the job in terms of telling the story. It’s just not really an attention grabber and I imagine that you won’t really recall the series for very long. It will very quickly fade from your memory and then it will be game over.

The story revolves around a girl named Katrielle Layton who is a star detective! Or at least she sees herself as one but some of the characters are not convinced. She gets called out on this by the pet dog but I don’t think it’s warranted since as far as we can see Katrielle is an expert. She constantly succeeds and is always on top so why would she not be an expert? I’m just a little skeptical about all of this personally. Still, she is determined to make the world a better place and in the process hopefully she can get a lead on the mysterious Professor Layton. Where has he gone and why hasn’t he contacted her at all?

Each story is fairly stand alone and so you really just get to learn a lot about Katrielle and how she solves each case. Her catchphrase of: “This Mystery is History!!!” is pretty great I have to admit. She tends to try and keep everyone guessing by intentionally acting very scatterbrained the whole time. When she obtains a clue she will disguise this by talking about snacks or acting like she didn’t notice anything. It’s not a bad technique in order to keep everyone guessing and lower their guards so I can respect that. You could also argue she is just doing her best to troll Ernest which seems to be a hobby for her.

The main cast is rather small here beyond the main heroine. It’s a short series with only 10 chapters so that makes sense as you can’t afford to develop a whole lot of characters after all. Ultimately Katrielle is already developed really well as listed above so that sets things off on a good note. She’s just fun all in all and sets the manga off on the right tone. Her partner is Ernest who does his best but can never really keep up. By no means is he a bad character though. If anything you feel bad for him because he has a massive crush on Katrielle but she is unaware of it.

Or is she? We already know that she loves to play dumb and with how obvious Ernest is about it, you have to assume that she knows or at least suspects that something up. Such a great detective not being aware of this would definitely be very suspicious. I’m not saying that it is impossible…but yeah I’m skeptical. Either way Ernest always does his best to help. He may rarely be useful but it’s the thought that counts and Katrielle never makes fun of him for this or anything. They do make for a good team.

They also have a talking dog but only the two of them can understand him. It’s hard to tell from the manga perspective if this is supposed to be a serious mystery or just a bit of a quirk. Either way it’s not like he does much. Honestly the Professor Layton stuff isn’t touched upon much either and is treated more like a twist than anything else. You’ll definitely be left in the dark about quite a few things after finishing the series and since a sequel seems unlikely that’s definitely tough.

You’ve also got Katrielle’s rival but she is out of her depth from the jump. I think that’s always the problem about introducing a rival in a mini series like this. There just isn’t much time to establish the rival as a main threat and so what happens is you end up not being able to take the character seriously. After all, she was crushed in her very first appearance so what am I supposed to do with that? Her tough talk will just ring hollow from that point on and being scared of ghosts doesn’t really help her case either. The police detectives don’t get to do as much as you expect here. I felt like they had more of a presence in the game than in the manga.

With 10 chapters that means we get to go through 10 standard cases. With each case being around 30 pages long or less that does mean there isn’t time to do a whole lot here. You will get the start of the crime, an obvious suspect, and then Katrielle saves the day. There’s nothing wrong with the format of course but they probably could have shaken this up a bit more. The best story I would say is the final one. Perhaps that is an easy answer but having Katrielle be suspected of murder is definitely intriguing. That would get you to read the chapter very eagerly. Then of course you have the initial meeting where the agency was formed and that was a pretty good prequel chapter.

The rest tend to be about even and there are no bad chapters. That’s important to note here, this is a series that is very consistent. It may not be winning any awards but it is a very easy read. The art is super clear and I have no issues there either. It may not be super detailed but you can always tell exactly what is happening which is important. I could see this style being an intentional pick to help with the younger crowd who may have a more difficult time with an intricate style.

Overall, This is a fun series but I don’t feel like the author took advantage of the manga medium. It merely recounts the events of the game without adding anything to it. I’m sure there are probably some constraints in terms of not deviating from the story but you could hopefully still get around that with really dynamic camera angles or something. I don’t know exactly the best way to go about that but something to help it reach the next level. Either way it was good though and in the end that’s an important thing. It’s a safe manga that I could recommend to anyone looking for a good time. There is nothing objectionable to be found here and so in the end it’s a good time.

Overall 6/10

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