Megaman Star Force Tribe Review

Posted on October 11, 2025 by dreager1

It’s been a long while since I got to check out a Star Force title so it was nice to be able to read this one. The oneshot has a pretty interesting angle to it but the story is ultimately too short to take full advantage. It’s a pretty good title but it definitely left a lot of meat on the bone and at times the tone shifts could be a bit jarring. If you thought some characters went easy on Eren for massacring millions of people in Attack on Titan, get ready for how the Mega crew handle this crisis!

The story begins with a flashback as the narrator explains how there was once a tribe of Megamen. They all lived in peace and harmony until Bly showed up. He massacred all of them and so the tribe was no more. None of the Mega Men could stand up against him and why did he destroy them all? To prove his own power! Yes, Bly simply wants a worthy challenge and will destroy everyone in his way. In the present we find out that one Mega Man survived, his name is Berserk and he intends to avenge his fallen comrades. Consumed by vengeance, he marches on to Bly’s castle.

This would actually be the perfect story for one of those old school 2D beat em ups. Berserk really isn’t holding back and the way he is drawn makes the guy look constantly psychotic. It’s pretty fun to have a main character like that and since his character’s revenge is portrayed as really justified, you don’t have to have any reservations about rooting for him. Stopping Bly is important because the guy will never stop murdering his opponents to achieve true power.

Alas, this probably seemed a bit too dark to the editors so very quickly we run into a “Last Kryptonian”/”Last Saiyan” kind of angle. Turned out other Mega Men survived the purge. One of them works for Bly now. He’s not mind controlled or anything, he just figures there is no way to fight back….or he might have a plan. Either way, Berserk has to prove himself and show why he was always the most powerful. I like the little detail that each Mega Man is based on a different form from within the Star Force games. The main 3 are naturally the 3 main forms from the second video game.

Where the tone problems come from is how the characters will goof off during battle. Now you may say this is just a normal Shonen thing but it’s just a bit overdone here. Think about super exaggerated facial expressions and things like that. It can be jarring with how suddenly it happens and this also impacts the story. For example, we actually get a comedic moment with Bly towards the end and then everyone’s joking around as if he didn’t just murder a ton of people. It should just be way too personal for all of that.

Additionally, the manga gets clearly rushed as we are given a traditional plot of 8 bosses who are protecting each floor. Then suddenly Bly shows up and one shots 4 of them because he just couldn’t wait any longer. Yeah I can always enjoy a good subversion but this felt more like the series had to suddenly end. We don’t even get to see the Tribe King form all that much as a result. It does get a lot of respect as being the most powerful form though so that was nice to see.

I also thought Bly was generally a really solid villain as you’d expect. He’s very powerful and is absolutely no nonsense when it comes to battle. He doesn’t get a ton of screentime due to the length of the series but each of his scenes are pretty good. The only other villain with a good amount of screentime is the evil magician but he’s more played for laughs. The guy isn’t a great fighter and has to rely on cheap tricks to stay in the game. He’s not much of a challenge to Berserk.

Berserk makes for a pretty good main character. I liked that he was so determined and wasn’t going to give up, even if it meant being outnumbered and having to go up against a ton of fighters. He was absolutely not going to hold back. He also didn’t fall for the whole “You can’t attack your allies!” strategy that the magician pulled and just snapped some sense into the other Mega Man. You can’t afford to be defeated in this kind of situation and it’s why I’m always annoyed when any hero fall for that. There’s a time and a place for mercy and this isn’t it.

While I enjoyed the intensity of the art, it was a bit rough at times. Almost like it was trying too hard to look intense and at times it just backfired instead. It was still clear enough so I enjoyed it but it’s a far cry from the NT Warrior or Gigamix titles. Megaman Starforce always felt like it got a bit of the shaft next to the other Mega series so either way I was glad to see another manga for it. It technically got more content than I give it credit for with 2 anime, 3 games, and multiple manga but it still felt like there was more that could have happened here.

Overall, Mega Man Star Force Tribe was a pretty good manga. There is only so much you can do in one volume after all. I liked the idea of a whole tribe filled with Mega Man but it does raise some questions on how they could all be defeated so easily. Were most of them just super weak or something? Even by the end, while it’s clear that Bly is stronger than any individual Mega Man, it wasn’t so much of a gap that you could picture him eating a ton of them. I guess you had the element of surprise and all but that’s an area where a longer series would have been able to flesh things out more. One volume titles always tend to be a bit of a tease but it’s fun to theory craft how things could have gone on your own. If you’re a Mega Man fan then I definitely recommend checking this one out!

Overall 7/10

Night Parade of 100 Demons Organizing Committee Review

Posted on September 6, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a quick one shot adventure about how the demons organize their 100 year event. It’s a quick slice of life story about how the process goes while staying nice and uneventful the whole time. I was expecting some kind of a twist the whole time so at first I was a bit confused but in the end it makes for a light hearted story. More on the forgettable side as there isn’t much of a hook or overall message to it but you get to just enjoy the scenery. Sometimes a story doesn’t really need to have a hook I suppose, although it could have made this one more fun.

Neko and two other demons are chosen to be on the Committee this time around. Every demon wants to participate in the event so they have to make sure to pick only the best. Despite the name of the festival, they can choose more or less than 100 demons if they want to. So the story has them talking to a bunch of demons and then they launch the festival. The twist if you can call it that is that despite the suspense, the same thing happens every 100 years. The same 3 demons are always picked, it’s always the same contestants in the event, everyone is chosen, etc. Since the demons are fully immortal this is all old news to them at this point but since it is every 100 years, they tend to mostly forget by this point and that itself is a running gag.

Although it’s also implied they do remember and just enjoy the gag or acting like they don’t. You can interpret it in a few different ways. The chapter is even shorter than the average oneshot adventure because of all the big splash pages and scenes to show off the artwork without having any real text in there. So this is the kind of story you want to read through on a rainy day and just appreciate the vibes. It doesn’t have much in the way of replay value though because there just isn’t much to the story.

I’d say the best oneshots are either ones with a memorable twist, or some kind of an emotional message. Those are probably the easiest ways to get someone to really notice your story. Otherwise if you’re more going for a classic story, there’s no time to develop the characters and everything. This one wasn’t going with that approach but the artwork alone won’t be enough to make this the next big thing. It probably did need some kind of twist.

The artwork is solid enough though. It definitely has that subtly scary feeling about it with how the characters look and of course that absolutely matches up with the fact that they are demons. You won’t end up forgetting that part anytime soon. The main character is fun enough as well. I do like the idea that she acts extra reluctant and forgettable to make the event more fun for everyone. It’s the little things that really count.

Overall, This story was decent but it is the kind of story you will quickly forget. You won’t have a bad time with it but it won’t leave any kind of impact on you. Check it out if you happen to come across the story and se if maybe it can surpass that for you. Obviously you do have to keep your expectations in check for any kind of oneshot as you don’t want to set the goals too high but this one probably could have done more. I can always appreciate a wholesome story though and maybe if they ever made this into a series, they could have fun taking the concept to the next level. The festival to end all festivals or something like that.

Overall 5/10

Detective Conan: Chianti’s Last Supper Review

Posted on September 6, 2025 by dreager1

Detective Conan is one of those series that has really been around for a very long time. It’s had well over 1000 chapters and is still going strong. As a result it has had several spinoffs and then recently it even got a new oneshot. It’s always fun to see another artist’s take on the series. The art here is definitely sharp although it leans a little too hard on obnoxious fanservice the whole time. Without that this could have really been a winning adventure but alas it ends up being really limited in what it can accomplish here.

The chapter begins with Chianti deciding to have one last meal before her next kill. She believes in living life to the fullest and that having a good pre assassination routine is for the best. So as always she treats herself to the best food and watches as every guy drools after her. Chianti is just that ultra attractive and she knows it. Will she still be able to go through with the kill though?

I mean she is a villain so there is no question on that last part. As the main heroine, it’s not like there is really anybody to stop her anyway. In the Conan universe someone dies in just about every chapter so the crime rate is incredibly high. It makes sense that all of these villains are still running wild. The only way they’ll ever be taken down is if another villain shows up since otherwise they will be going straight to prison. Her target is another villain in this case so that actually makes my point.

Like I said in the intro though, the only issue here is that the fanservice is really high. The artist wanted to really prove that Chianti is the most beautiful character ever and so all of the outfits and camera angles try to reflect this. I can appreciate some high level confidence like this but you can still have all the dialogue without the art going for the low hanging fruit here. The main series is actually pretty good about not having too much fanservice so this one really stands apart in that area. Definitely a shame.

The food is definitely drawn really well though so I can give the story some props there. I wouldn’t even say that it’s food which would tempt me very much but the quality was on point. I can also picture some really solid action scenes with this style. Ultimately the story didn’t have time for that but it would have been fun. Just look at the shockwaves when Chianti punches a bag near the beginning of the chapter. The potential is right there.

This is a fairly short story and it’s a complete one from start to finish. You know Chianti will succeed from the start and the main point is to generate some hype for her character as you ponder how Conan can possibly defeat her. It won’t be easy, that’s for sure. If you are not already a fan of Conan, you’ll still be able to understand the story without a problem though. It’s not reliant on references or anything. The concept is rather simple. In fact, Conan doesn’t even get a cameo in this one. Gin, another villain is referenced but the main characters are completely out of it. So that makes this even easier to appreciate as a stand alone story.

I’ll give Chianti this, I appreciated that she was a real professional about this. She makes sure to destroy her target but nobody else. It’s professional pride for her. Yeah she’s still a villain and I’m not saying this changes anything about that but I always like when a villain has at least some kind of standards on their side. It just makes them that much more compelling.

Overall, Despite the fact that this is new audience friendly, I would hesitate to recommend the oneshot. You’re better off checking out the main series as a whole since it is quite different. While this may not have been a big hit for me, I would like to see them generate more Conan stories every now and again. There is really a lot you can do with the franchise since the cast is absolutely huge. Maybe Jimmy Kudo will get an appearance in one of these.

Overall 5/10

Vampire Knight: Memories Review

Posted on September 1, 2025 by dreager1

Vampire Knight was never one of my favorite manga titles. Trust me, it just wasn’t all that good but at least it wasn’t boring. Memories is basically what you get if you decide to take a rather underwhelming cast, remove all of the interesting characters, and then do a ton of world building and politics. The end result is that you don’t really care what is going on. Throw in a bunch of time jumps all over the place and it makes the whole thing feel even worse. Yuki’s inaction also means that the romance is absolutely terrible and all over the place. You will not be feeling satisfied by the time you finish this series.

The series jumps across a bunch of time periods but for the most part it’s in the future. Kaname was sealed and his heart was lost so he was in suspended animation for 1000 years. When he awakens, he now has complete amnesia and so his two daughters gradually tell him more and more about what went on. Additionally he also starts to get some memories of his own. Whatever happened to Yuki, the queen of the vampires? They had kids together but Kaname never got to spend time with them before and at this point they’ve been around for ages. Of course when you’re immortal it all gets to be rather relative. The world appears to have gone the way Yuki hoped, with coexistence between humans and vampires. Perhaps this is a good future.

A lot of the themes within the series have one main connection which is that vampires and humans will always have a tough time connecting. For example there’s a guy named Hanabusa who ends up liking one of the heroines but of course she never ages while he does. At first it looks like things could work out well enough but then in 20 years it’s a different situation. The way the vampires look at relationships also ends up being really different as a result.

In effect, they’ll humor the humans and have fun with them but it’s just not the same. How can you have true love when a human will only last around 80 years and you still have 4000 years to go? The whole relationship will just be the blink of an eye. That kind of time also does a whole lot of damage to their very emotions. To a point it gets impossible to read the vampires and that’s also why a lot of humans fear them. How do you interact with a being that has existed for hundreds of years before you and who will continue to exist afterwards? There is also the power difference as they can crush you with a single motion.

Fortunately Yuki and the human principal did a whole lot to reduce tensions between the two. Unfortunately things still happen as humans have underground fighting arenas and terrorism attacks that continue to happen. Vampires are strong but not unbeatable so there are casualties from time to time. It can be tough to always have to hold back and take the high road when you can feel the bloodlust coming in from the other side. The vampires do well on this but the humans will definitely try your patience.

In theory the plot that is supposed to tug on your emotional heartstrings is the plot with Kaname. He has to come to terms with the fact that Yuki had to live without him for a long while and so of course that meant turning to Zero. The only problem is that he doesn’t really care. He was always okay with Zero taking a secondary spot because while the guy lived much longer than a normal human, he still wasn’t going to be as immortal as a pureblood vampire. This idea of sharing Yuki was just ridiculous though. It makes all 3 characters look really bad.

Kaname got a really raw deal to be sure. The whole thing absolutely sucked for him as he missed out on the best parts of his life. He may have helped achieve peace and make a better future but the sacrifice was definitely far too great. You just can’t find much solace in that at all. The guy feels like an empty husk of a character as well compared to the original series. Although it feels like every vampire is like this here so perhaps it is just the inevitable end. There’s just something depressing about being a vampire here.

Likewise for Yuki, she definitely looks bad here as well. She really needed to pick a guy. Kaname or Zero but leading them both on and having fun was never an option. The hard truth is that even if you’re going to be alive for over 1000 years, you can only pick one person. There cannot be any rebounds. That’s not going to be a good idea in the long run and I’m certainly not going to be able to support it. It was nice to get the occasional action scene for her but this was super rare.

Meanwhile the same negatives apply to Zero as well. When you’re happy being second fiddle then you don’t have a whole lot of self respect. Even if he got to be with Yuki for a while when Kaname was gone, she still had kids with him. Zero was always the backup guy and was completely out of luck. In a vampire series, it’s rare for the human to actually get picked and this one was no exception. Zero always had some cool powers and skills with the gun but in this series he looked pretty bad.

There’s something to be said about how the vampires always end up getting tempted into the taboo as well. One of them falls for her sibling, another falls for her father, etc. I think a lot of it has to do with the immortality part as it completely messes with their emotional regulation and feelings of right and wrong. It just doesn’t make for a very compelling plot and means that all of the characters will be annoying at best and completely unlikable at worst. There isn’t much of a happy middle to be found here. You still want them to survive and defeat the terrorists but it does limit how much you could like any of the characters.

Also as a vampire series you can still expect there to be a lot of blood draining as always. In this series it may as well be a kiss with how the characters really get into it. The vampires are never able to fully control their urges and most of the time the humans are egging them on as well. Now there is a full toxic relationship. No other way to get around that.

As far as the artwork goes, it’s not terrible. I would put it under average though. It’s got a very old school Shojo look which means that a lot of the characters are easily to mess up. The pages can get cluttered really quickly as well and any action scene quickly becomes near unreadable. As long as you read through the series slowly you will be fine, but it’s certainly not very streamlined. The series actually made it over 50 chapters so you’ve got a good amount of content here. Factor in how each chapter will take you a little while and you’re totally set.

If you do enjoy the series, I doubt it will feel too short. Memories covers a lot of events within that time-frame. While the flashbacks and flash forwards mainly drove me out of the story, I imagine they will have the opposite effect on a mega fan. There is a lot of world building here after all. It’s the kind of series that would probably end up being a whole lot better in anime form which tends to make scenes more dynamic. That can fix some of the boring elements but it will have time fixing the poor characters.

Now his review has seemed pretty negative….but I’m about to double down. This is the kind of Shojo that people assume they are all like. I wasn’t the biggest fan of Shojo back in the day but I’ve read a lot of good ones since then. They can be a lot of fun with well written romances and a lot of light hearted moments. I will admit that a romantic drama will always be hard to pull off but a romantic comedy can usually be a lot of fun. The first problem is that this series decided to go full on drama and the second problem is that none of the romances are properly built up.

Yes this goes back to the main characters being vampires again but the series could have still had a good romance if it really wanted to. I don’t think this had to be an impossible endeavor at all. Ai for example could have been a good new main character if the series hadn’t given her odd romantic subplots and also kept switching to other characters. It’s why most series pick an actual main character and then develop supporting ones.

Going for an ensemble cast is going to be more of a risk if you aren’t ready for it and I can tell you that this series was absolutely not ready for the challenge. Also, there can’t be any stakes for the various stories that take place in the past because we know the main characters are okay in the present. Not that this is an action thriller story or anything like that but there are still some attacks and thriller elements so why spoil the ending right in chapter 1? The amount of questionable choices here will have your mind spinning the whole time.

Finally, I would say what keeps this series from being an interesting intellectual thriller like Liar Game or Kingdom Hearts is that there are no interesting concepts to debate. For example the vampire stuff I talked about earlier. Their lack of emotions and how they view romance is tragic but also completely negative. There isn’t really a debate on how this could be a good thing or a way to solve the problem. It’s why this series can be as complex as it wants, it still won’t generate any real discussion. I wish the series had focused more on a war between humans and vampires because at least that is always a fun thing to talk about.

The closest we get to that is a few characters asking if the current dynamic is really a good thing but it never ends up being a central focus. It would change the whole series but this one should have dropped the romance tag entirely and just focused on the politics. If it did that and had a human MC and a vampire, then we could have filled the series with ethical debates which would have been infinitely more interesting. You would have to make the humans be less overtly evil though as that defeats any remote chance of making this an actual debate. It’s just not going to work when it’s so one sided.

Overall, Vampire Knight: Memories is a pretty bad series. Vampires have never been my thing so throwing in a spinoff to a series I was already not a fan of? That was not going to be a recipe for success. It lasted a lot longer than I expected it to be but it never ended up being all that good. On occasion you would get a good chapter like Yuki infiltrating a terrorist stronghold to fight them or Zero getting an action scene but most of the series is just pure melodrama. If the series had been completely chronological then it probably would have been better but even then I admit that it probably would not have been great. I expect that there still would have been issues left and right. If you’re a mega fan of the original Vampire Knight then you should check this one out, but otherwise you will definitely want to skip this one. The only disclaimer I’ll give on the series behalf is that with a story like this, it can sometimes be better read as a marathon. If you do that maybe you’ll find the series to be more enjoyable but at the same time a great story is great no matter how you read it.

Overall 2/10

Lonely Castle in the Mirror Review

Posted on August 31, 2025 by dreager1

I can’t say I was familiar with this story back in the day so now I finally get to see what it’s all about. With 5 volumes it is a fairly short adventure but a good one nonetheless. It’s really about a group of characters who all have their own struggles and it is just long enough to see what they are all dealing with. Although not quite long enough to go into details here as they have to blast through the last volume really quickly.

The story starts by introducing us to Kokoro who was badly bullied in school to the point where she has become too traumatized to even leave her home. Her parents have done everything they could in order to support her but the fears are only getting worse. They hope that giving Kokoro space will help out and they are considering other schools. Part of the problem is that Kokoro won’t come clean to them about what really happened. Well, one day a mirror in her room glows and stepping through it takes her to a castle with 6 other kids.

A little girl named the Wolf Queen announces that somewhere within the castle is a key and whoever obtains it will be able to make a wish. This wish will come true but afterwards everyone will lose their memories of this whole situation and the castle will vanish. Each of the kids have some issues at home and so they all agree to not use the key even if they find it until the very end. It will stay open for the whole school year until March. At the same time, will the others actually stick to the plan or will they look for this in secret?

A key that can grant any wish is very tempting after all. It can really turn your life around without a doubt and each of these kids can use it. The castle is also not particularly large so it shouldn’t be too hard to find the key. I would say this is the only part that does require you to suspend disbelief to an extent because when we find out what the location was….it ended up being incredibly easy to find. I would argue it should have been found on one of the first days. I suppose almost any spot would have been hard to picture the characters not finding.

The characters all being able to finally have someone to confide in is definitely a solid way to address the pain they’ve all gone through. Where the series really succeeds is in showing you very convincingly how bad the characters had it. I certainly wouldn’t say it was completely equal or anything like that but they all had a tough time in different ways. The stakes were also rather high in a lot of cases so you can see why they might be willing to risk their lives.

Yes, one thing I neglected to mention is that if you stay in the castle past 5:00PM, then you will be eaten by wolves. Additionally, they will eat anyone else who was in the castle at any point during that day. So all it takes is for one kid to mess up and then they will all be dead. At the same time, if you may die by going back to the real world, then of course you may as well stay and fight. The Castle makes for a solid retreat for the characters but of course not being able to stay there is a rough weakness in itself.

The art isn’t all that good so the story does have to survive on the writing all the way through. It’s just not very detailed and at times almost feels a bit abstract. The more intense scenes like the Wolves showing up tend to get a whole lot of detail but the average scene isn’t quite able to match up to that. It does make the volumes take a bit longer to read since the art isn’t super clear.

I also appreciated that some of the adults were allowed to be really helpful. Sometimes in these things the adults are all clueless or unavailable but here you had a mixed arrangement. Kokoro’s parents were on the ball from the start after all and only got iced out because of Kokoro herself. Otherwise they would have been able to have gotten involved a lot sooner to help out and make a difference. The main teacher from the hearts school was also good and trying to make things work. She never gave up. The other teacher wasn’t as good and easily manipulatable, but I also don’t think he was downright terrible. He was just out of his depth.

Of course then you also have some really bad adults who are active antagonists. It can come from parents who neglect their children or more directly from a predator in one of the character’s trials. Those get quite bad of course and you also have the bullies on the kids side. It definitely shows how much trouble is right around the corner and the characters aren’t really able to help each other out no matter how much they try. While the mirror united them, it also ends up making them more alone than ever before.

Now lets talk about the main characters. First up is Kokoro and as the main character we definitely see more of her journey than anyone else. Basically the bullies put her as a target and even went to her home to further threaten her. Kokoro felt that her life was in mortal danger at that point and just got lucky that the doors were locked or they would have gone in and murdered her. Kokoro’s only friend at the time did not step in to help at any point and so a large gap between them widened. As a result Kokoro was completely isolated and worried that ever leaving the house would be fatal.

I don’t feel like Kokoro was even exaggerating this. When bullies are in a group they will naturally get a lot more confident and bold. They will do things that they wouldn’t have even contemplated when they were all alone. In the heat of the moment, it would have gotten really bad. I do wish she had told her parents though. That would have moved things along a lot sooner and they would have no reason to think she was lying. Of course that isn’t easy, coming clean never is. It’s just rough that Kokoro basically had to just stay home and take it for so long. It’s not the biggest or smallest challenge among the main 7 but it was a considerable one.

Kokoro did well in trying to stay strong throughout this. It’s also clear that because of all the isolation, she isn’t quite able to act as naturally around others as the other kids. She tends to overthink it when there are problems and gets really awkward while the other kids just make up and keep it moving. This does ultimately help her to finally be at peace and gain her inner strength. It leads up well to the climax and so she was a solid character.

Subaru isn’t one of my favorite characters but basically he begins to act out because nobody really gave him any attention. He was neglected by his family the whole time through and only had bad influences around him. This definitely caused him to grow up rather jaded compared to the others. It means that for most of the series he isn’t the most sympathetic character to the others but it’s not like he’s a bad person either. Subaru still does help out when it counts, he just has more guards up than the others. I’d say he had it a bit easier than some of the others but not having any bonds certainly does hurt.

Akiko easily has the toughest backstory and I’d say it’s not close. It’s why she is afraid to even go back home each time. She has to deal with an abusive step father who is constantly trying to get to her and her boyfriend ditched her when it counted. She needs to find a way to leave the house but doesn’t really have any path out of there. She easily tries the hardest to get the key because it is really a matter of life or death. It’s hard to scale trials as everyone has their own troubles and would each handle them differently.

Still, it’s fair to say that Akiko’s troubles were the most time sensitive and so I couldn’t even blame her for wanting to stay past curfew at the castle. At least with a wolf you’d figure it would be a quick end and potentially the whole situation would be over a lot quicker. She wasn’t always the nicest kid in the castle but she’s dealt with a lot so it made sense. I’d also say she would try to mend the bridge with the others as quickly as possible.

Fuka’s difficulties come from the powerful expectations her mom had for her. She was counting on Fuka to become an incredible pianist and while the kid tried her best, she would keep on hitting a wall. That’s already tough enough on its own but then there is also the economic factor. Her family doesn’t have much money and they are going deeper into debt with her mom slowly cracking under the pressure. Quitting now would make it seem like the last few years were a waste but at the same time continuing to go further into it will just add on more losses. She is also dealing with a global pandemic.

Then we have Masamune who is a big gamer. He loves playing RPGs and is generally easy to hang out with. The problem is that he tries a bit too hard to fit in and so he tends to spread little white lies to boost himself up. He overplayed his hand and it got bad which led to a lot of bullying. Compared to the others it doesn’t seem nearly as bad as most but of course when you’re in a rough situation, it’s really not going to give you any solace to hear that others have it worse. You just want to be in a good situation.

He was definitely one of the best kids though. Masamune rarely stirred up trouble and would try to help the others out as much as he could. He was a nice kid and so you could really appreciate that. If he could just find a way to not slip in little lies here and there, then he would really be al set. It can be easy for them to become second nature if you don’t keep your guard up.

Haruka is my least favorite kid by far. Yes, he definitely had it rough by getting bullied a lot but it really didn’t make sense how he would always be crushing on all the girls. The story tries to show that he’s just really honest with his feelings but it makes him come across as flaky. It was good that he stopped lending money and stuck up for himself even if it made things tough. I think we could have used some more context on exactly how this would lead him to getting beat up though. I get maybe once but after that you’d think it would be over.

If the story had removed the flirty element then he would have just been a much better character. If you ask me, that’s what they should have done as otherwise he would have been very sympathetic. It’s not a character trait that needed to be in there at all. Finally we have Rion. Rion seems to have it all together compared to the others as he is outgoing and very friendly. So why would he be in this castle of troubles? Well, we find out that his sister died and his mother couldn’t really handle this and essentially began to resent seeing Rion so healthy. So she pushed him out to move all the way to Hawaii.

Rion wasn’t bullied or anything but effectively being told that your own parents don’t want to see you is pretty rough. It’s definitely not something that the parents can really come back from and the husband definitely takes some blame here for not doing anything about it. He really should have helped Rion when it counted. So I would still say Rion’s struggles are fairly high on the list even if there was no physical component to it. That would create serious emotional scars.

Of course we also have the Wolf Queen and there are a lot of twists about her or at least involving her presence in the story. The series does a good job of setting things up. You’ll probably at least guess the connection between all of the characters as the series left a bunch of clues on that. Guessing her true identity would be a lot harder even if you might suspect things later on in the series. Either way she was a solid character. Her rules may have been harsh but she did give them all a home. She also helped Akiko when she was in a real jam even though there was no obligation to do so.

On the whole the series is balancing being well natured and good fun for a lot of the journey with all of the struggles making this more of a tragedy at other points. You’ll certainly feel bad for the characters, particularly because they’re so young. The series definitely makes sure of that. Even with the ending as certain things may have been wiped away, but they still happened. It is a rough ending for some of the characters without a doubt and the body counts gets higher than you would expect. I wasn’t expecting the climax to go as hard as it did.

Overall Lonely Castle in the Mirror is a good story about overcoming your troubles and not giving up. Even when it feels like you are all alone and there is no hope, there will be a way to persevere. Of course it’s much easier said than done. Try to find a way to let someone know if you are nearly at the point of giving it all up. Put your faith in God to resist the trials and when things are being pushed too far, calling the cops and other authorities is something you need to be able to do. If you do nothing and let the bad things happen to you, like excessive bullying or being attacked, you will eventually reach your limit. It definitely makes for a heavy series and while this one won’t have a ton of replay value or be the happiest story you’ve read, it was written well. Probably could have just used one more volume to space out all of the characters and their origins a bit more though.

Overall 6/10

Fighting Girls Review

Posted on August 24, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to look at a recent one shot from Shonen Jump. It’s always fun when these come out to see just what kind of story can be concluded in one shot. I can safely say that this was a pretty good one all the way through with a fun parallel between the two characters. Naturally you could do a whole lot more with this one if it was a full series but the story still wraps up well enough here. The fights are mainly off screen but I guess that would have taken up a lot of pages.

The story starts by introducing us to Koume who wants to be a great fighter. She is really good and the best in her school until a girl named Tiara moves in and goes on an undefeated streak. Koume finally has a rival and does her best to surpass her but this seems like an impossible goal. Can she really accomplish it? Meanwhile the second half retells the story from Tiara’s point of view. She really wants to be a great fighter as well but unlike Koume, she gets 0 support from her parents. If anything they act as an active obstacle in her way by not getting her equipment and constantly discouraging her. Naturally this starts to affect her confidence and Tiara wonders if maybe she should give up on this career.

This makes for a solid contrast as both characters really have the exact opposite circumstances on their side. They’re both likable characters as well, although I’ll give Tiara the slight edge. It’s hard to root against a character who had the deck completely stacked against her and still managed to make it near the top. That takes a lot of grit and hard work. She also goes through a pretty nasty injury and is able to keep on going.

Tiara is a great example of how perseverance can really carry you a long way. She also worked really hard in order to have the level of talent needed to rise all the way to the top of the rankings. That certainly wasn’t easy. I also appreciated that she didn’t just randomly become the mean rival type. She was still kind the whole way through and never went out of her way to belittle Koume.

Of course Koume is also a solid character as she remains the hopeful underdog the whole time. She is extremely talented as well and only isn’t satisfied because she never wanted to just be second best. We’ll have to wait a while for her to get a proper rematch with Tiara as pros but the gap between them has certainly been reduced a great deal. It’s anyone’s guess who would win in the fight now.

The art is fairly good. It’s a bit rougher than you’d see for most of the big ongoing series but for a one shot that makes sense since it’s not like the artist has been able to draw the characters for a long time. It’s not like the art is bad either, it’s still clear enough to easily read and that’s the important thing. The oneshot is around 70 pages so you can read through it pretty quickly since it isn’t overly wordy. The page count also does let the series get to do a lot within this one chapter.

Now while I did say I understood why we didn’t get to really see the fights here, I do think the story would have absolutely been elevated by having some. When you have a story about fighting, you would expect some level of action right? Often times we just see the aftermath of a fight or maybe the first blow at most. That’s not exactly what I’m looking for when I’m talking about full fights. Seeing the danger up close like that would also help you better understand why some would be against the girls getting involved in such a tough career.

Of course that wasn’t the logic that Tiara’s parents had, but they were mainly just antagonists the whole time anyway. It would have been nice if they could have been more reasonable but sometimes you’re just going to have people who are very two dimensional like that. Tiara could have spent time complaining about it, but instead she just kept on going to work and improving herself.

Overall, This story achieves its objective of giving you an interesting premise for this self contained adventure. You can sympathize with the plight that the two girls have of deciding if they want to continue being pro fighters or not. It’s not as if this is the most popular career in Japan after all and so it’s certainly a risk. However, any job is a risk when you think about it so you might as well go for one that you’re interested in. Aside from Tiara’s parents, the supporting characters are all pretty supportive as well which is nice. Nobody is judging them too harshly for wanting to live out their lives on this path.

Overall 7/10

Magilumiere Co. Ltd. Review

Posted on July 20, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a magical girl series that is using a very scientific approach to the whole thing. It’s definitely a unique way to present the series but in this case a traditional approach probably would have worked better. It was interesting but you know how that word can sometimes be used negatively? That’s how it felt with this one at times where it was an interesting approach but probably should have just gone with a standard one. Still, I would say it was still a good series and it’s one that does flow better if you marathon it. The characters just weren’t given enough room to really get out there and take over.

The series follows a girl named Kana who has been job hunting for a long time. It’s really hard to enter the magical girl business even though she has a fairly strong resume. Well, one day she meets a girl named Hitomi who works for a small startup company. They don’t have a whole lot of frills or resources but they are willing to give her a chance. Kana agrees and now she has joined the quirkiest group out there. In fact Hitomi is the only magical girl there and the group is very small in general. Can Kana learn what it truly means to be a magical girl and save the day?

So I mentioned a scientific approach before, let me explain what I mean by that. So in this universe, magical girls fight using computer algorithms that launch the spells and outfits. Think of it like a robotic suit I guess even if that’s not a full 1-1 comparison. So you will be out in the field as a magical girl and then your computer partner sends you the script to activate a spell. Your wand will have some pre set spells as well but they won’t always work on the opponent so that’s where the adjustments come in. There are many magical girl companies across Japan and the whole thing is very organized.

When a situation occurs, the town or company will call the nearest agency and request aid. If the situation is too big for the nearest agency, then they will ask for additional reinforcements. Naturally Kana’s group doesn’t get many calls since they don’t have the professional relationships in place yet. Additionally, they are seen as rather radical in their approach. They go for safer magics and use precision attacks rather than big blasts. This helps to reduce collateral damage but also means that the whole fight can take much longer. The lack of firepower also means that everyone has to play their roles really well or someone will get hurt. It’s easy to see why not everyone is in a rush to hire these guys.

The series even explains why only girls can transform, it’s a genetic thing. Now one guy in the series does try to challenge this and pays a heavy price. It makes for a very interesting subplot though because he actually has some good points but quickly begins to get way too desperate and unhinged to the point where he wiped away all of the good points in an instant. I guess if humanity is in a last ditch battle for survival, at least we know that this would be an option.

The series ends with a lot of interesting plot threads that could be pursued in a sequel. They still have not found a way to prevent monsters from materializing in the real world. Additionally the magical boy program is clearly possible, now they just need to find a way to do it safely. Then you also have the new style of magic that Kana’s team uses and if that can be leveraged across the world, it would make everything safer. The series ends on a very optimistic level which works nicely. You know that the planet is in good hands since there aren’t any big more threats around. They wrapped up all of the huge plots even if some parts are a bit rushed like a wedding that shows up out of the blue.

The romance is intentionally rushed as part of the gag. In a sense that doesn’t make it inherently bad, but I tend to prefer much longer development times for a huge decision like that. Maybe I didn’t mind as much in this case because it was presented as a gag. The series only has one real romance that is set up for a bit and moves slowly. Otherwise the series doesn’t have a whole lot of time for that. It’s a reasonable length at 17 volumes but the series also has to move quickly with all of the monsters so the character work has to take a back seat.

In my mind the series has two main weaknesses. The first is the character roster. Even by the end I thought they were fairly weak. There are some decent characters here, but I would say there was only one great character. The rest ranged from decent to okay. You don’t really get absorbed into their predicaments and hype scenes as much as you would if they had been super likable characters. Likewise, 90% of the villains are mindless monsters that are meant to be throwaways. The only actual big villain leaves a big impact but I wouldn’t say he was particularly likable either.

The other weakness is the very scientific approach to the magic. Like I mentioned before, it’s just a bit too structured. It sort of takes the “magic” our of the actual concept. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as I like a good sci-fi but it ends up being portrayed so realistically that it ends up being boring. It’s the heroes typing in code which launches the spell and it’s hard to make that look super hype. The series needed more action scenes I’d say. With changes to these two elements the series would have jumped up into the next tier, I feel rather confidently about that.

All right so lets talk about the characters now. First up is Kana who is a bit on the softspoken side. When the series starts, she doesn’t have a lot of information on the magical girl process but is eager to learn. She is always very determined and quickly begins to study on all of this. As the series goes on she begins to gain more and more confidence. It’s a solid character arc and what she lacks in overall power, she makes up for in leadership. She can really be relied upon by the end of the series and her perseverance really paid off.

Her partner Hitomi is the headstrong member of the group but she still feels rather sanitized next to the average character in this archetype. What I mean by that is she is plenty strong and talks tough but it all feels rather corporate. She isn’t actually breaking a bunch of rules or being over the top reckless. It feels like they could have done a whole lot more with her character and then by the end when she is ready to move on, it’s a bit too fast. She was still fun to have around but the character was held back way too much.

Kouji is the captain of the group and likes to dress up as a magical girl as his quirk. He’s a good engineer and can deliver code in a pinch. It feels like he could have been doing a whole lot more during the series though. The guy is presented as a genius and yet he rarely takes to the helm except during the climax. We end up learning a lot about his sad past later on which adds another dimension to the character. The events certainly changed him. He’s fun enough but I would have liked him to have taken a less passive approach.

Kaede is an interesting character as he will take you through an emotional roller coaster throughout the series. You never really know what is going on in his head and he gets to be very important to the plot later on. I give him credit for easily being the most interesting character in the series and he had one of the best non action plots throughout the title. He’s super memorable so I appreciated that and he showed that you could have a big impact even without powers.

Kazuo is okay but has the least impact among the main characters. He’s the computer guy and tends to be super oblivious to anything. He takes his job very seriously which is definitely not a bad thing but he doesn’t have a whole lot of personality beyond that. I would have definitely liked for him to have been doing more and maybe get some big drama plot to put him near the front.

Mei is the best character in the series. She’s the top worker at AST, the big rival company in the series. She likes to fight in a very emotionless way as she performs the optimal action at any time. Naturally the optimal route can sometimes feel a bit harsh to the more emotional characters in the series. It’s also not going to win her any friends but she’s the top in her field for a reason. As the series goes on she begins to open p more and this was a solid character arc.

Additionally I liked AST as a rival. It’s not as if they were bad people or anything. They just really saw this as a business and feel that going by the book is the best way to protect everyone. It’s also hard to disagree with that at times. Their results speak for themselves and the series resists the urge to suddenly make them look really corrupt. Throughout the series this makes for a good rivalry all the way. I would also say their president Kei is better than the main group’s.

Kei is always involved with the business and operations. He makes sure that nothing goes wrong and puts in all the extra effort that is needed. Take him away from the group at any time and things would definitely not be going as well. He’s the leader for a reason and I liked seeing his expertise. He doesn’t just show up in the climax of the series, his impact is always felt. An adult who was also portrayed well as Kenji. He’s the father of one of the main characters and they’ve always had a hard time connecting. Not because he’s a bad guy or anything but he’s just not good at communication and they ended up always being at odds. He does make his share of mistakes in the series but they are never in a nefarious way. I appreciated that.

Sho is one of the big villains in the series and he does well in the role. I would say he just starts to crack a little too much near the end. I was hoping he would handle himself with a bit more dignity than how he was presented. Give him some more hype moments and let him stick to his ideals right to the end. Instead, you just can’t take him seriously by the end no matter how powerful he got. The flashback did a good job of making sure you disliked him because of how evil he was and the main story needed to follow up on that. His final form looked cool though.

Hibiki joins up a bit later as another computer whiz and he was a good character. His expertise definitely helped quite a bit and he also left much more of an impact than the other guy. The fact that he even had a bit of a romance with Sakae also helped him be more memorable. Both characters were definitely fun enough and the main characters could always use more recruits. As the series drew to a close, the group was definitely a lot bigger than they used to be but still small overall.

Alice is a big character in the flashback. She was really nice but definitely to the point of being naive. The fact that she didn’t tell her best friends about what was going on was definitely a crucial mistake and one that really ended up costing her. It felt a bit forced because I don’t see why she wouldn’t have said anything sooner. It really put her in a bad spot all the way. So she was good but definitely ended up causing a lot of damage by dropping her guard.

Akane ends up being a main character by the end. She is a solid new recruit who is very outspoken. So in some ways she’s like the lead in that she is a rookie but starts out of the gate with a lot more confidence which I appreciate. Confidence is always a great trait for any character after all. Then we have Iroha who is more of the scientist type but also very confident and outspoken. They were good members of the team and I wish they could have appeared more or gotten more big solo moments to build up their hype.

As far as the artwork goes, the series looks okay but not great. The art can make you read a bit slowly with how detailed it gets. During action scenes it won’t always look clear and some of the characters can look too similar. So the art isn’t bad but it’s definitely lower than other titles that you may have been used to by this time. It’s not going to be the aspect that enhances the manga so you will be reading for the writing and story.

Overall, This is a good series. I do think the series could have ended up being better than it was but in the end it was good enough. I had a good time with the battles and it is also memorable enough that I won’t be forgetting it. The art wasn’t the strongest that I’ve seen but in the end I can still say that I was satisfied here. It’s not every day that we get a magical girl series after all so you really want to enjoy them while you can. Now the new one on the block is Dandelion so we’ll see how long that one lasts. In the meantime if you have not read through this series yet, you should do that. It was certainly well written and is enjoyable.

Overall 6/10

Blue Lock: Episode Nagi Review

Posted on July 13, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time to talk about the big Blue Lock spinoff that was running for a while. Honestly it’s pretty sad that it ended so soon because it felt like this series still had a lot of gas in the tank. Did it really need to end this soon? To me it just didn’t make sense for things to be so abrupt like that but maybe one day we’ll get more spinoffs. Either way it was definitely a great title and it’s fun to see the extra focus on Nagi. You can even use this to an extent as a way to cover the events of the original series in a quicker way and then cut to the main series after this one’s ending.

The story starts by introducing us to a kid named Nagi. He really likes video games but otherwise doesn’t really have any hobbies in his life. He struggles to get motivated at all and just lives life one hour at a time. Well, one day he is noticed by Reo, a really rich guy. Reo has decided to take the soccer world by storm and wants Nagi on his team after seeing the kid’s ability. Nagi allows himself to be roped into this as it’ll be too much of a hassle to stop Reo each time. Well, soon he finds out that playing soccer is actually really fun and he wants to keep with it. He is even invited to Blue Lock, a program for finding the greatest striker in Japan. Does Nagi have a chance to obtain this title?

So the plot is very similar to the main title and of course we got to see Nagi a lot in the main story. For that reason, a lot of the fights are actually old with many scenes being readapted but we do get some rounds where we hadn’t seen them before. Additionally for the old scenes, we get to see Nagi’s inner voice this time around rather than Isagi’s so that does add an extra dimension to it. At times I would say the inner thoughts don’t totally match the scene though. The series doesn’t always do a great job of making this seamless to the point where you get the feeling that someone on the staff for the spinoff didn’t agree with some plot points. Still, it’s nothing that takes you out of the experience.

The art is really top tier as you’d expect. It holds its own with the main series and really does great with the inking and showing off the various monsters that the characters are capable of. Additionally, you can feel the intensity out of every soccer play. It’s really something that keeps you excited at all times which is really important. The pages really breeze by but since the chapters are longer than the weekly version, you always feel pretty satisfied. The battles are really able to develop a lot and you see what all of the players are capable. It’s definitely not your average soccer experience.

Nagi also makes for a solid character even if he isn’t quite as intense as Isagi is. When Nagi is at his best he can have those intense moments but they aren’t as automatic as Isagi. Nagi still needs a way to get his enthusiasm at different points which can take time. He also loses his way more than once so it’s good that Reo is around to buff him back up. Nagi is definitely someone who relies on Reo a whole lot although by the end of the series he starts to get around this. It is definitely a long way to get to that point but the important thing is that he made it.

Nagi’s sheer athleticism and dominating plays also make him fun to watch on the field. You sometimes forget just how tall the guy is since he’s always slouching. Honestly if he just got some more confidence and could keep it up for longer periods of time, he would be even better. Still, at the end of the day it was a smart move to make him a main character and I’d be curious who would be picked in another spinoff. Rin seems like the obvious pick but there are a lot of good calls.

Meanwhile Reo is also a fun character. The manga gets teased for all the drama but to a large degree I wouldn’t say that it is Reo’s fault most of the time. If anything, you can blame Nagi for a few of the fights like deciding not to team up during the early founds of Blue Lock. That came as a huge shock to Reo and I think anybody would be rather upset by that point. It’s like being betrayed by your best friend. Yeah this is Blue Lock where the strongest survive but it was still very personal.

Reo spends a lot of time being down in the dumps after that but eventually manages to pull himself together. In his defense, he ended up being one of the more skilled players as well. He may not be top 6 like Nagi, but his copy ability really has a lot of versatility to it. While a lot of focus is put into how much of a prodigy Nagi is, it’s worth noting that Reo went from being a spoiled rich kid to one of the best strikers in Japan. That also makes him a prodigy at soccer if you ask me. Considering he was also good at many other things growing up, he was truly a jack of all trades from the very start.

Meanwhile it’s also really fun seeing Isagi from an outsider’s point of view. The guy just seems like an insane monster with how quickly he improves on the field. He goes from being a regular joe to suddenly making moves against guys like Rin. He’s given a whole lot of respect in the series and nearly everyone either fears him or sees him as a super intense rival. That’s not something you could say about just any character and to make up for the fact that he’s not technically around, we get a shadow version of him in Nagi’s head.

The rest of the fighters are also around of course but they don’t get a lot of added context since they’re about the same as in the main series. Bachira is still unpredictable and Rin is still an absolutely dominant force. Some of the best Blue Lockers out there. It was fun to see early views of other characters like Otoya and Karasu who took a while to do much in the main series. You also get the occasional new character like the analytical poker type player. He was a lot of fun so it’s a shame that he was doomed to be locked off. Ultimately due to the format of the series, that’s the fate of a lot of characters.

Another fun thing about being a spinoff here is that outside of Nagi and Reo’s dynamic, the series doesn’t need to spend much time on character interactions. That means we get to really jump into all of the fights right away. It feels a bit like Dragon Ball Heroes in that the fights would almost be constantly back to back like a marathon. That’s how it feels with the soccer games at times. You’re going from fight to fight and the interactions in there are used for character development. Any downtime is usually for Reo and Nagi thinking to themselves about how they could have handled their conversations better. Not saying there is no miscellaneous downtime but it’s definitely minimal and that’s not a bad thing.

It’s just a privilege of being a spinoff and this series understood that perfectly. Since the fundamentals were so solid like having a great cast and artwork, it also meant that the manga was destined for greatness If it could have gone on longer then I dare say it may have hit the elusive 9/10 score like the classic Blue Lock but ultimately I do think it would have needed more time for that. This is a great manga but I would not be able to say that it is downright elite. That’s a very high amount of praise that you really have to work for. Still, there are no real negatives here. The series is a blast the whole time. The trash talk is as good as you’re gonna see it in any title.

Then there is the occasional future foreshadowing going on here as well. We see how Chigiri’s leg continues to get closer to breaking and it’s heavily implied that one more key moment could take him out for the count. There have always been theories that he will break during the world cup and this series only served to strengthen that. Now will it actually happen? Who knows, but it was an interesting angle. It’s also fun to see just how much more reasonable everyone is when Isagi isn’t around. They all act really tough with lots of bravado when he’s in the room but without him even guys like Barou are open to using teamwork. It’s a subtle way of showing just how much control Isagi has over everyone and their playing styles.

Overall, Episode Nagi was really fun. It felt like the series was over in the blink of an eye with less than 40 chapters though. It’s monthly so that’s still a reasonable length but I would have loved for it to have reached 100 chapters. Either way if you like the original series then you’ll love this one as well. They don’t hold back on the action and it has enough new content to keep you interested from cover to cover.

Overall 8/10

Land of the Lustrous Review

Posted on July 6, 2025 by dreager1

It’s time for a very unique manga. This series is about a bunch of sentient gemstones living out their lives as normal until eventually one of them starts to get a little inquisitive. I would say initially this is a classic slice of life title but gradually becomes one that’s a bit more philosophical in nature. The gemstones angle does sometimes make it hard to recognize the characters since a lot of them look really similar but you could almost say that ties in with the themes either way. It’s an interesting ride and worth checking out.

The series takes place in the far future long after humanity has been wiped out. The world is now inhabited by a bunch of Gemstones known as the Lustrous as well as their leader, a father/monk sort of fellow. All of the characters are immortal so you can expect a lot of time jumps spanning thousands and thousands of years as the series goes by. They will talk about 100 years ago as if it was the previous day. Our main character here is Phos who is unfortunately a very weak gemstone. Each gemstone is made up of different materials and the weaker a gem is, the less helpful they are.

This is unfortunate for Phos who likes to be involves with everything and is a real go getter. Phos just keeps on breaking on every mission though and is basically the laughing stock of the group although fortunately you could say the gems aren’t too mean about the whole thing. Part of the gems duties is to protect against invading monsters that show up on occasion to kidnap the gemstones. Phos wants to learn more about this and feels like the leader might be keeping things from everyone. Phos doesn’t really have any leads though but one day breaks to pieces for the millionth time and gets reassembled with some weird alien hybrid creature. Now Phos has regeneration and way more strength than before. Will this allow Phos to perhaps understand the monsters and start to put the puzzle pieces together?

You could say that one of the opening debates here is if it’s worth it to rock the boat. Phos is someone who wants to keep on learning and figuring out more about the world. Not just living the same day every day but trying to change tomorrow. Meanwhile most of the other gemstones are perfectly content. Their lives are fairly monotonous in nature but there is nothing unhappy about them. So whether you agree with Phos or not will likely depend on how you feel about life in general. If your life is really happy but you always do the same things and don’t actually know much, would you be satisfied?

It comes down to what the point of life is. When you are immortal and will never die, it can be weird to think about the future. The gems have lived for thousands and thousands of years and will continue to live for untold billions of years. What do you even decide to do when you have that much time? It’s why I would probably be on Phos side. You might as well use all that time to try and uncover new secrets and truths that will give you something to think about. Unfortunately that begins to turn into an obsession with Phos who really ends up losing a whole lot in the process.

The series also does a good job of showing how life would be way different without the concept of death or even pain. When Phos gets shattered, sometimes the characters will just laugh or be amused. They can just put her back together the next day. Whether they break an arm by mistake or fall down and shatter, it’s just not a big deal. Having an argument? Just shatter the gemstone so you can make your point and restore them later. “Death” doesn’t actually mean anything, it’s like taking a nap and so the characters act differently as a result. It’s a series that actually thought through the ramifications of the changes.

Phos is so different from the beginning of the series to the ending that you can barely recognize the characters. Both in terms of looks and personality, Phos is incredibly different. The same is true for most of the characters who change a lot but Phos is definitely the most changed. This is due to some pretty big plot reasons. Ultimately I would say Phos got the short end of the stick here. It’s one of those cases where making life better for everyone else, came at the expense of Phos. Sometimes you live long enough to create change without actually getting to experience it yourself.

Kongo (The monk figure) doesn’t make any of these easy. Now as the series goes on we get some plot reasons on why this is but it doesn’t make you like the character all that much. My biggest problem with him is just how cryptic he is. You get the feeling that he could have tried harder to help the characters out even within his limitations. I know that he can’t just do the impossible but surely throwing a bone here and there would not have been such a big deal. It should have absolutely been doable.

Kongo also tends to sleep a lot which causes the invasions to be more difficult to stop. Kongo is the person who can stop the monsters but even fails at this duty. The toughest part about being immortal would have to be the fact that this guy won’t just talk to you. During the winter most of the gems go into hibernation so only 1-2 stay awake with Kongo and I can’t imagine that he is the most interesting guy to talk to.

Now there are a ton of gems and this is my biggest issue with the series. It is just hard to tell a lot of them apart. You have a few that have really distinct designs like Cinnabar and Bort, but most of them feel rather interchangeable. Their personalities are distinct but then you still have to wait for them to talk to remember who that is. They may all be gemstones but in the thousands of years of living surely they could have come up with headbands or something to differentiate themselves.

To a degree it’s probably also due to the art which is not all that polished. The artwork is okay but can get rather rough during the fight scenes so the action is hard to follow along. It’s a manga that gets very detailed which is good but at the same time it also means that each page is rather hard to follow so you really have to concentrate. It’s not a series that you can read quickly so that does help make sure the length is really solid.

I still did enjoy the series entering the action phase though. Phos had all of the best scenes there while I didn’t care quite as much about the space plot. There is something surreal about the gemstones doing a 180 and trying to live more like humans. Even that seems like it might not end well long term because with immortality, the life of a human may not be super fulfilling. I do think the series does a really good job of showing what life might be like if you were immortal though. There is basically no wars, no violence, or any problems out there.

It’s a nice change of pace from the usual dystopias where people are still fighting anyway. If you really can’t die and you’ll all be living forever, then why would you bother fighting with your neighbors? You might for the first thousand years or so but eventually you see how futile it is. So in this series, everyone basically just gets along and looks on the bright side of things. There are occasional arguments an disagreements but nothing serious or remotely violent. At least until Phos really started digging into things.

I should mention that while the gemstones can’t die conventionally, they can be taken apart to the degree that it doesn’t matter. For example we see that Aechmea, one of the Lunarians would pound gemstones into dust and scatter them across the planet. They were grounded up so thoroughly that putting them together again would be virtually impossible. The characters overlook this a bit quickly or at least that was my initial thought but since in a sense death means something very different to them, I guess it made sense.

In fact, the goal for a bunch of the characters is to finally die. It’s the only way they can know peace after millions and millions of years. It’s actually a rather depressing thought that you could live for so long to the point where you don’t want to be around anymore but being so powerful that you can’t actually die. This gets into more of the final story elements but there is one method for death. You could even say the series is about trying to convince someone to let them have their eternal peace.

It’s a very interesting goal. The series is at its best with these big questions as you ponder what the right way to respond to that situation would be. The series is more on the weaker side when it’s about the romance between one of the gems and the lunarians. It just doesn’t add much to the story and also seems a bit insane considering the history between the two. They also don’t feel emotions in the same way as a human would and so they’re going through the motions but it all feels rather empty. I think the idea was to make some parallels here but I would have focused more on the story itself.

As for the other gems, they all have to basically decide if they will follow Phos or not. It’s not so easy since Phos path will be going directly against Kongo. So they have to decide if they continue to follow the master they have worked with for thousands of years or with one of their colleagues. Neither path has a guaranteed outcome either so it’s all rather high stakes. It does make for some pretty intense battles near the end of the series though and also shows how far Phos has come from the start.

Bort was a really fun character in the series although in this case I liked Bort the most from the intro volumes compared to the ending. Of course this is because Bort gets a lot of character development as well but the vicious, always ready to fight Bort is my favorite version. Bort served as a solid power fighter for the team and someone for Phos to aspire to be like. Bort wasn’t asking the tough questions or trying to figure out life. Instead Bort would just fight off the invaders and keep the peace.

Meanwhile Cinnabar is a gemstone with a unique poison disposition that meant no hanging out with the other gems or even being on most missions. Just being around Cinnabar was dangerous and Phos early goal is to find some way around that. A way for Cinnabar to be freed but that ends up being a very difficult thing to do. It does show how much Phos always cared about everyone even from the beginning. It’s not like the other gems didn’t care but they just wouldn’t think to try and change things up like that.

Most of the important gems end up looking and acting way different in part 2 than in part 1 after the twists and time skips so get prepared for double memorization. Ultimately it’s actually not too important if you memorize all of them as most are not super crucial to the plot but it is definitely impressive if you are able to keep track of them. The cast is surprisingly big for the series by the end of its run.

As for the ending, I can’t say I was a big fan of it. We get some new characters at the very end and I think it’s again for more parallels but it’s just too late for more characters. I’d argue it also just feels a bit depressing. Now you were never going to get a downright happy ending to this series but I could have made do with something in the middle. I was glad that they didn’t cop out on one big decision in the series but they should have ended it there. I would argue that ending the series one volume sooner would have been closer to the ideal ending and would have just been a perfect way to end off. A bit abrupt to be sure but also very clean on the messaging.

Overall, How much you enjoy Land of the Lustrous really will come down to how interesting you find the series to be. Yes there are some action scenes but most of the series is definitely focusing on concepts and such. You have to actually like the sci-fi ideas that are brought up and find the discussions among the gems to be interesting. If you don’t like them then odds are that you won’t like the series. I thought it was a good title that was perhaps held back a little by the art and the uninteresting side characters. I would have heavily reduced the amount of gems around and I think that would have made for a stronger series. It would have given more time to really focus on each one and let us see more into each of their thought processes rather than throwing so many of them into the fold. It would also show just how desolate the world was.

Overall 6/10

Togari Shiro Review

Posted on April 20, 2025 by dreager1

I knew I had to jump right into the sequel after finishing up the original Togari. This one has the daunting task of needing to wrap everything up in 18 chapters. There were still 3 big villains on the loose so between 18 chapters that should be easy right? Wait….there’s a whole new villain group on the loose? Let’s goooooo!!!! Ambitious times have arrived. Ultimately I would probably even say it beat the first series although it does have the benefit of being able to basically be nonstop action.

The story starts off about 2 weeks after the first series ended. There is just one day left for Tobei and only one more sin to collect. Here’s the problem, there are multiple villains on the loose as I mentioned and when Tobei gets the last sin, he will automatically teleport back to Hell to be reincarnated. So in a sense if he does this too fast, then he will be leaving the world to be defenseless against all of the villains. So Tobei has to try and work this out but it’s a difficult problem. Additionally, the Angels have had enough of this and have decided to destroy the world. Great timing folks…looks like Tobei will be busy.

That’s a whole lot of story to go through here though and I can tell you that by the halfway point we’re basically in the same situation so you’ve really got 9 chapters to deal with all of that. The first half is to deal with Sena’s right hand man. The most impressive thing about this villain is that he has the longest fight in the series and is around for a huge chunk of it but they somehow manage to not even use his name during any part of that. So I’ll just call him the grinning villain.

This guy is really crazy but also makes for a really good villain. His abilities are basic in that he can absorb objects and people and turn into a clay type monster. Yet he is really strong as he really dominated Tobei in their first fight and nearly won the rematch. What I liked about this villain is he fought back against the whole second chances guilt trip and just kept on taking everyone out. He’s not a mastermind kind of villain, just someone who likes chaos. He was even planning to take down Sena for basically no reason. He was a real scene stealer.

In comparison, Sena starts to fade a bit. This villain was a roller coaster because he looks tough at first, pathetic in the middle, and then good at the end. He reminded me a lot of Light Yagami in some instances. He likes to play god with everybody and just be a general master manipulator. His goals may not have been the best and deciding to even temporarily ally with the angels was super risky as well. I don’t really see what the benefit was and by the end it was hard to really untangle his goals. His final scene was really solid though. It made everyone else look absolutely terrible by the way but for him he still managed to get the last laugh in.

I would say in a lot of ways Sena is one of those villains who really works as a good sanity check on why too much mercy is a bad thing. The heroes keep talking about needing to use peace and violence isn’t the answer but then they are opening themselves up to cheap shots. If they had just taken care of business then things would have been easier. You just have to be honest here, some villains are not going to have a change of heart. Sometimes due process isn’t going to work as both the heroes and villains admit the legal system would not be able to do anything. Sena is a mass murderer and they all know it but there will be no proof since it’s supernatural. When you have a glaring flaw in the system like that, it’s time to take action.

So by extension Itzuki doesn’t look very good here. She’s just too passive and lenient as she drops her guard down time after time. The worst decision was going to the house of a murderer by herself without telling anybody. Especially when the guy called for her to drop by. He couldn’t have made it a more obvious trap if he tried. I figured she’d bring a weapon or something but nope, she just came unarmed and figured she would be able to do something.

Ose was a solid right hand man to Tobei once again. By this point he has really come a long way from being a skeptic or just another government stooge. It was nice to see him proactively fighting for justice and having Tobei’s back. He’s a high quality character by this point and really came through. Meanwhile Tobei is also really solid as he finished his character arcs last series. He is fully committed to stopping the villain and helping out humanity. There is nothing selfish or evil about him anymore. He has been a hero for a long time at this point and only continues to get stronger.

I do feel it was a bit odd how he seemed to not have any of his super abilities anymore though. He unlocks a new power by the end but the first series made a big deal of finally becoming one with his Togari. I guess we can probably blame the Togari for that though. It looks awful petty in this series and sure gets in the way a lot. I know it wants a body and to end all of this but suddenly being a sabotage type of character just doesn’t fit. It just felt like an odd character decision.

Ema gets a big role here as she really arrives to help out and balance the odds. It was nice to see her more and she also has a little more fun while in rebel mode. She continues to save the day from the shadows on multiple occasions so I have to give her a lot of credit. You really get to see various characters showing their true colors and not just being yes men anymore. A terrific plot development if I do say so myself. Also she has a real 4D chess moment where she has a conversation with someone that she can’t even see and predicts their responses. Is it maybe stretching disbelief a bit? Yeah but it was still cool and that’s what counts. Rule of cool prevails here.

Sawazaki’s role is much smaller this time though. He sees a vision of his old partner telling him not to die yet which feels rehashed and the villain outtalks him at one point. Eh not his best moments but he gets credit for quickly picking up on the signs of danger and arriving to help out. It was more than anyone else on the force did. Additionally with such a short amount of chapters, it makes sense that some characters had to be sacrificed. I would say the same thing happened to the guard dog Ami but technically he appears a lot. The direction his character went in was just a bit odd.

He basically still wants to cause chaos but is practically a hero by this point. He helps them out on a few occasions and we get a little more closure for his more personal subplot. He ended up being a fun character to the end but it did feel like he took a back seat to the Angels. I would have liked at least one big fight for the guy even though it seems like he wasn’t as powerful as he seemed to be initially.

As for the Angels, I think that whole plot could have been removed. They just didn’t add much to the story and acted just like the folks from Hell. They feel super important and think humans are all chumps. They fly around waving their authority in everyones faces and then run off. You can’t really take any of them all that seriously since they’re not the most powerful guys out there and the leaders seem super out of touch. It is impressive how much lore we have about the series by this point but at the same time I think it was lore that didn’t actively add onto the series.

The focus should have stayed on Tobei fighting Sena. You already had a really interesting premise with the villains launching a bunch of new sins in the world to taunt the guy since Tobei has to avoid finishing any of them off. That had a lot of interesting moral questions that basically had to be skipped by the end. I will say that the ending had me super nervous for a minute there but fortunately the final chapter went the right away. Not fully, I still think the ending could have been a lot better. It just wasn’t as bad as I had feared. I’ll have to accept that.

Naturally the art is pretty good. The fight scenes are on point and you can really feel the intensity in every panel. The artist is definitely operating on a solid level here. Then you also see the cruelty of humanity constantly as they are drawn like monsters. One of the big morals of the series I would say is that most of the humans are just pretty awful. When we get a national day of crime a bunch of people immediately jump into it and then try using legal loopholes to stay out of trouble. What a bad look for the citizens, it really shows why the monsters got so much traction. It must have been easy for the sins to start taking control of all of them.

Then you have both Heaven and Hell being shackled with endless rules and regulations. You would think they would be above such things but apparently not. In particular the Angels keep talking about all the rules they have to follow and all of the restrictions that are placed on them which prevents them from stopping evil. It just feels a bit silly that they have to do all of that. The whole point of being an angel should be that they can do what they want and stop the villains as needed right? If they have to overlook evil because it is out of their jurisdiction, then the whole system is messed up. Which is certainly is but even by the end of the series that isn’t really addressed. It’s fair to say that the world of Togari is super messed up. Definitely not somewhere you would want to live since nobody is really going to help.

The series also goes a bit too far with showing how evil the angels are so you can’t really believe it when they start trying to act nicer later. They literally look at babies as future harbingers of sin. They have no compassion and believe the human race are a failed experiment. They act meaner than the wardens of Hell which is crazy although both sides are shown to be morally bankrupt. Maybe Togari will change the system…but it doesn’t seem like that’s going to be happening anytime soon.

Overall, Togari Shiro was a solid sequel series. It may have been a tad too ambitious by adding more content than it could ever really hope to finish in time, but it was a fun sequel. The battles were long and there was a ton of nonstop action here. It’s a real page turner as you want to see how it all ends. The ending leaves things on a nice note and the series could definitely get a sequel if the author ever wanted that to happen. It does feel like this could have just been added to the main series but I’m assuming there’s a reason why the first one just had to end abruptly.

Overall 7/10

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