Black Bird

Posted on January 28, 2015 by dreager1

It’s almost been a year since I started this series and I can safely say that it never got better. I’m surprised that it actually lasted to 18 volumes and wasn’t cancelled sooner. This is easily the worst manga series of all time and it would be very hard to actually lose to this one. At least, as far as manga series that I read go. It basically falls into all of the holes and there are no positives to be found. That’s right…there’s really not a single good thing to say about this series, which is why it’s just so awful. I can safely say right from the start, I do not recommend checking out this manga.

Misao is the main character and she lives next door to a powerful demon. He is the tengu and his name is Kyou. Demons are uncannily similar to vampires in this series and they are just as awful. Misao quickly falls for him and then the series is about them getting closer as they destroy the other demons that lurk about. A prophecy says that Misao may die, but that won’t stop our cringe worthy heroes. Let’s see if Misao can survive in an area that is filled with demons.

Man, this series was terrible. Misao is one of those super unrealistic characters as bad event after event happens to her and she decides that it’s still in her best interests to hang out with Kyou. Misao gets threatened, loses her memories, is attacked, almost dies numerous times, but none of that deters her. The fact that Kyou has to hypnotize her parents sometimes so that they don’t find out about the demons doesn’t bother her either. Misao is in this for love and that’s all that she cares about. The main villain kidnaps her more than once and she still believes that he’s a good guy deep down since he’s a demon who is related to Kyou. Really, there is no hope for Misao and I definitely didn’t like her.

Kyou is no better as he suffers from many mood swings. He’ll be nice to Misao one moment and trying to force her to use a spell to knock herself out of time the next. It was for her own good and all that, but Kyou was really doing it for his own goals. Kyou is strong sometimes, but he still gets beaten up by the villains during other moments. One of the volumes that I rented from the library had been read by someone who also didn’t like him as his face was messed with in every panel. It’s just impossible to like this guy.

Black Bird is one of those series that is so awful that it isn’t even a lot of fun to write about how awful is. That’s why this review really won’t be that long. I could go on and on about the negatives, but they’re all just huge errors that were irreversible right from the start. One of the huge parts that made this an instant loss for me is that it’s a total romance. I’m talking Twilight levels here and at the very least, it did help me breeze through the volumes. I was able to finish one of them in about 10 minutes because of how many scenes I would skip.

Unfortunately, the series plays out a lot like Twilight. There is nothing explicit, (No nudity, etc) but those kinds of scenes are definitely not something that I want to see in a manga series and I just skip them all. Hence, why reading each volume proved to be a very short experience. It’s a negative that you can’t really get past and the series was doomed to get a 0 right from one of the first volumes. Maybe even the very first one. It is simply terrible.

There isn’t much fanservice since this is a Shojo series unless you count those scenes in and of themselves. In that case, this one definitely has some of that in it. It’s just adding more fuel to the flame at this point and the series couldn’t get much worse. The main villain is pretty terrible and I never liked any of the characters. They’re all unlikable and do whatever they want when they feel like it. You definitely can’t trust any of the characters here and Misao should have gotten away from the Tengu when she had the chance.

The art isn’t bad, but I can’t really say much for it. The characters don’t all look the same like some other series, but most of the fight scenes are quickly skipped over due to the nature of the series. The art would probably still be the highlight for the series, but that isn’t really saying much considering how bad the rest of it was.

One thing that is also pretty bad is that the series uses the classic blood subplot. Misao’s blood can naturally make the villains stronger so everyone is after her. The blood shenanigans is why I don’t like anything related to vampires so that certainly wasn’t going to make me like any of the characters here. The Tengu all lack will power most of the time and it’s something that they need to work on. They won’t of course, since they’re busy betraying the team and making partnerships with the enemies, but they should move on.

I could talk about each of the characters, but they’re all pretty unlikable so there wouldn’t be much of a purpose now would there? Power level wise, the series is pretty low tier. One character does get a laser blast though and some basic super speed, which helps his case a little. As expected, he is quickly destroyed without really being able to put up a fight. He turned his back and Kyou figured that this would be the quickest way to win. Honor has no place here.

Black Bird forgets the most important part of being a manga and that’s that it is supposed to be entertaining. We never get any resemblance to a good series here and it’s really a dreary story. There is always something to darken the mood and it’s never fun. You could really just call it a tragedy story that most of the characters are not even aware of. The covers were probably a good tip off of this though as they are all pretty bad. This is a series that I will definitely put out of my memory as soon as this review is done. Now, onto the final paragraph!

Overall, Black Bird is really terrible and it’s one of those series that I’ll never even look at again. I would never flip through the pages of any volume because there is no reason too. If I want to re read a series, I’ll check out Megaman NT Warrior for some quality entertainment. This manga is best left forgotten and if you want a fun Shojo series, check out Kitchen Princess or Angelic Layer. (Layer is close enough to a Shojo anyway) Those are series that retain their composure and tend to provide us with some good stories. That’s what we expect when we read a manga so that’s why you’ll want to skip Black Bird. On the bright side, the next manga review should be significantly more positive. (In theory, that will be the Naruto review unless I finish another manga before that)

Overall 0/10

Barrage Review

Posted on January 27, 2015 by dreager1

Now it’s time to look at one of the shortest series yet. This one only made it to two volumes before it was abruptly ended with loose ends all around. In a way, it does end before the story can even get started so depending on how you view things…you could say that it didn’t have many loose ends. It definitely depends on the cup “half full” or “half empty” thing though. It’s decently fun and it showed promise, but I don’t see this series making a comeback.

The world (That is essentially Earth) used to be peaceful until many alien races decided that they would have fun conquering it. The humans fought valiently for their land, but defeating one alien species would be tough, let alone a few dozen of them. Now, we only control a very small kingdom and aliens have taken over the rest of the land. A young boy named Astro is trying to make ends meet since he has to take care of a lot of orphans. He is let go from his job and doesn’t know how he will be able to provide for them when the prince appears and decides that Astro will serve in his place. The prince is conveniently destroyed and Astro looks just like him so the main character goes along with this. He now has the strongest weapon in the universe and he will need to quickly get used to it as he starts to liberate the planet. Can he really defeat all of the aliens?

The plot is pretty good and it had the potential to be a long running series like Naruto or a relatively short one like Dragon Drive. There are many aliens to face and I’m sure that we would have gotten more supporting characters as the series went on. As it stood, we had 3 main ones by the end. There weren’t a lot of big villains, but I’m sure that would change since we had only just begun to take back the planet.

As a main character, Astro isn’t bad. He’s not great though as he is quick to cry and his comic relief tendencies can go a bit far at times. That being said, he is obsessed with keeping his family safe and that’s a pretty good thing to be obsessed with. He strongly believes in the concept of a family and will do whatever he can to keep them safe no matter what. His strong ideals are what lead him to unlocking the powers of the Orgue. The Orgue only works when the user recognizes someone as an enemy so there’s no chance of friendly fire. This can also be dicey when Astro doesn’t realize that someone is an enemy, but he’s typically a good judge of character. His character design seems to be a mix of Simon from Gurren Lagann and Rin from Blue Exorcist.

Astro is not a great fighter on his own, but his determination and ethics help him bring out his very best. He learns quickly and he is skilled in using the Orgue. That turns him from a sub par fighter into a great one. The Orgue can destroy any alien in a single blow and its abilities may be limitless. It starts out as a spear and turns into more of a Monado (Xenoblade) by the end. It’s definitely a handy weapon and one that can be very versatile in combat. It’s safe to say that there are few opponents who can stand up to Astro by the end and the hero just needs to work on his speed. Once he gets a little faster, he’ll be virtually unstoppable.

Astro typically travels with Tiamut as per the King’s orders. Tiamut has a pretty good reputation and he can take dozens of aliens out in a single motion. He may seem to be human, but the series hints multiple times that there is more to this character than meets the eye. Whether he is human or not, Tiamut is definitely loyal to the crown. He’s a capable fighter and he teaches Astro how to be a good fighter during their journeys. He’s pretty likable and he would be very likable if not for one quirk that can be quite annoying. He’s extremely shy around ladies and he can’t even look at them. Luckily, he’s so skilled that he can beat many opponents with his eyes closed, but it’s a running gag that I would definitely take out. It’s unneeded and a little generic as far as jokes go. It doesn’t help his character and this means that he wouldn’t be of much use against a female opponent. His shooting sword is a pretty cool weapon since he can use it as a gun or as a normal sword. It’s not as good as the Orgue of course, but it’s useful.

Tico is sort of the main heroine. It’s hard to say for sure since we don’t know whether she would have been travelling with the heroes or not, but I’d say that it’s very likely considering that she came to the palace with them. She wants to avenge her family so she definitely has a vendetta against the aliens. She’s pretty outmatched right now since she’s just a girl with many guns, but I’m sure that this would change eventually. Even if she never gained super powers, I’m sure that she would have gotten some kind of super weapon to tip the scales. It’s just the sort of thing that you would expect at some point. She’s a pretty good character and I’m glad that she’s always eager to fight. She could have ended up being one of the better Shonen Jump heroines.

Black ends up being the big villain of the series. As you probably guessed, he used to be one of Astro’s friends and he started out as a really nice guy. Black doesn’t like when people make crooked decisions and he punishes them accordingly. The problem is that his definition of “crooked” is very dicey so he basically wants to eradicate all life on the planet. Astro slaps him silly for a while and he sees the error of his ways. He would presumably be a hero in the upcoming volumes as he gives Astro advice from his prison. Black is meant to be a very emotional villain, but you really can’t buy that since he only gets to appear for a couple of chapters. The change from hero to villain to hero is too abrupt. Black seems like a cool character, but I’ll say that he’s underdeveloped and fairly uninspired at the moment.

The art is pretty decent although it’s a little rough around the edges. I think drawing the eyes seems to be a little tough for the author, but it may be because most authors don’t bother with too many things in it. Here, the main character has a star in his eyes at almost all times and the extra details may be what makes the eyes seem a little off. The art still does work for the fight scenes and that’s definitely the important thing in a battle manga.

The main story luckily avoids the whole fanservice angle. Based off of close scenes and unfortunate bonus stories/cast interviews, the short run of the series may have saved it here. It seems like this could have been an issue if Barrage had become a long running series so this is probably the silver lining in the series getting canned. There has to always be a silver lining somewhere right?

The series ends with the heroes basically stopping one band of villains and still having to liberate the other 90% or more of the planet. I’m sure that they would have met many tough opponents and the heroes would need more power ups. After all, it was already discovered that the “Dark Power” may be a match for the Orgue. The dark power can be used to amplify an alien’s offense and defense as well as create constructs to aid them in battle. It may be a little generic, but I’ll overlook that since it’s always a cool concept. The dark power gives the aliens a great edge over most of the fighters since they become almost indestructible. It’s too bad that we couldn’t see more of this.

There is one plot twist that is extremely convenient and throwing it in the series just makes things a little too good to be true. You know how Astro is not the prince since he is just taking his place? Well, let’s just say that he looks identical to the prince for a reason! I definitely could have done without the twist since I thought that the development was pretty crucial to the series. Having the old prince randomly sniped added to the drama as well since I didn’t see it coming. (Although it makes perfect sense in hindsight since the prince can’t blackmail Astro later on)

It’s hard to say how powerful Astro is in comparison to most of the other SJ protagonists, but it’s safe to say that he’d be pretty low tier. His weapon is amazing, but he’s physically only slightly above meta human. His speed seems to be decent, but he was thoroughly speed blitzed by one of the aliens. Astro’s durability also seems to be fairly normal so one good hit would probably take him out. The strongest villain in the series is probably the alien who could hop a lot since he had very good speed feats as well as some of the dark power. Black is theoretically stronger than the alien since he was the leader, but his speed is pretty sad and the constructs are too slow to really help him here.

Barrage is pretty easy to get into, which helps the beginning. The intro had potential to be boring since it’s just Astro living in the slums and trying to earn some money. Luckily, the plot moves quickly and seeing Astro trick everyone is pretty intense for him. His first action scene was fun and the series as a whole is pretty entertaining. The chipper tone helps to add some hope for the characters amidst what is technically a sad series since humanity is essentially toast. It does remind me of Blue Exorcist in this regard as well or you can compare it to Buso Renkin. The volumes go by very quickly and it does have a lot of replay value. I could see myself reading this again someday, but pretty far in the future considering all of the other titles that are around.

Overall, Barrage is a pretty fun series. It’s really over when you’re just beginning though and I’m sure that the author had many ideas for its future. It’s always sad when a series is cancelled, but this just means that another series gets to bloom in its place. Hopefully, whatever replaced this series was a good title. It would be fun to see a movie for this manga since it’s short enough and maybe it’ll make a comeback someday. I really don’t see it, but it’s always possible. If you want to see a story about humanity fighting back against alien oppression with a good ole Shonen lead, this is the story for you. It has action and drama. The series never takes a break and you can really see the potential here. Just remember that it is only 2 volumes.

Overall 7/10

Psychic Power Nanaki Review

Posted on January 24, 2015 by dreager1

This series is only three volumes so it’s definitely pretty short. At least we can call it a trilogy now right? It’s not bad, but it’s one of those series that definitely takes a major hit because one of the main characters is unlikable. In a small series like this, you definitely want to like all of the recurring characters. It’s a decent manga, but you can see why it was shortlived.

Nanaki was having fun being an ordinary teenager when he dies in a dream and gains ESP abilities. He’s an “attack” type so all of his abilities are related to fighting or ones that can help in combat. He can teleport and blow things up from a distance. Basic mental resistance to telepathy users and levitation are also granted to him. An agency quickly forces him to join so that they can keep an eye out for him. After all, they don’t want people with psychic abilities running lose right? Nanaki is paired up with Aoi, a healing type whose abilities are purely defensive with the exception of his ability to transform his metal stick into any object that he wants too. Given time and practice, that ability should be able to evolve at some point.

They have a few one shot adventures before the series is already in the final volume. The author quickly decided to do a mini arc that takes up the volume so that’s pretty neat. A vampire has appeared and he wants to take Aoi down. If he destroys him, he may be able to become immortal and gain absolute power. Well, Nanaki isn’t going to have any of that and the ultimate battle for survival begins!

So, it’s a decent series. It’s fairly interesting, but you could never call it a page turner. A lot of the stories feel a little generic and you can’t help but feel that there isn’t much of a point to the agency. They help out once in a while, but nobody takes them seriously and it sounds like they barely get any work. Supernatural occurrences must be rare and even when they do happen, the agency seems outmatched. I don’t know how they survived for so long without Nanaki since they are sorely lacking in offensive power.

Of course, that goes into one of the plot lines that is never developed. Aoi had a partner who was actually pretty tough like Nanaki. Unfortunately, he went over to the dark side and became a freak. “Freak” is an interesting way to say villain, but it’s the official name for what happens when you go from a hero to a villain in this series. The sad thing is that the guy never actually gets to appear aside from flashbacks and that was a fairly huge plot. You could tell that the author was leading up to a big fight between him and Nanaki, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The commander also has a sob story that never gets to appear about why he can’t fight that much anymore. Aoi obviously has a troubled past and the other members probably have stories to tell as well.

This is why you always want to start a series out strong. You’ll never be able to get to show everything that you wanted too if you don’t take the opportunity when it arrives. The author made the mistake of thinking that an episodic beginning would be enough to capture the attention of the readers and he paid for it with his series. Starting the series off with some big battles and Nanaki being told what the situation is as he goes would have certainly helped.

Nanaki is a pretty decent/good main character as I’ve mentioned. He’s hot headed and he never backs down from a fight. The hero shows nothing but contempt for the agency as he still does what he wants whenever he pleases. Naturally, he was sounding too good to be true so the author also made him a flirt. He will flirt with someone even if he knows that she’s evil and it goes way too far. He failed the same simulation three times because of this and it’s a computer simulation!! His abilities are impressive, but also hard to deal with since his abilities will typically destroy an opponent. It’s hard to blow someone up without fatally injuring them so that may have gave him some fun morality questions to solve at some point. Either way, Nanaki is easily the best character in the series and he proves himself to be a loyal ally through thick and thin.

Aoi is the cool and collected rival figure for the series, but he just doesn’t do a good job in this role. He is constantly sarcastic to the point where you just want him to stop talking and he’s exceptionally weak. Nanaki has to constantly save him and Aoi still acts as if he’s in charge. He starts to befriend Nanaki as the series goes on, but his character development never gets a chance to go anywhere and he looks downright terrible in the final volume. He’s a character who will certainly get on your nerves in just about every scene. Aoi’s too full of himself for his own good and he never really helps in any of the fights. He’s simply too powerless and he’s naturally not good at the whole teamwork thing. Rivals need to be strong and independent. Aoi just doesn’t fit the bill and he certainly hurts the series since he is constantly on screen.

The agency randomly gets two other members who appear at one point, but they get even less of a role than the other characters since they appeared late. One of them can kind of see into items to view their past while another one has basic super strength. The super strength girl is all right I suppose, but that power is not going to cut it against a telekenesis user. She’s also a little too antagonistic at first. The other character is definitely not good in combat, but she’s definitely a more likable character. The commander is starting the series off on the right foot, but he’ll never get a chance to fight so we’ll just have to buy the hype for now. He seems like he would ultimately have a role that’s pretty similar to Kakashi from Naruto, but it’s all speculation at this point.

Nanaki’s art is pretty decent. It’s not great so it won’t be winning you any awards in the near future, but it works for the characters. The fights tend to be a little blurred so it’s hard to tell what is happening though. That is definitely its weak point. The art is certainly rough and it looks like an early work by the artist. I’m not crazy about everyone’s eyes becoming squints when they’re playing the straight man in a joke or just doing the joking, but it’s not as bad as other gimmicks that I’ve seen in the past.

Again, this is an aspect that could have been better and I’m talking about the volume covers for the last book in particular. It’s a cover that doesn’t make you curious about the series at all and you would likely just pass it by. The first two weren’t bad, a little generic of course, but they weren’t bad. The third one is a turn off though and it doesn’t do a good job of representing the series. An action packed cover is what we expect to see and that just doesn’t happen.

Nanaki will definitely be over before you know it and we’ll remember this series as one that showed promise, but ultimately ended too soon. What keeps it from a 7 is that it’s not quite as fun to read as the other mini series like Legends and Yugioh R and we don’t get enough action from the series. I can certainly see why it was cancelled so while I may sympathize with the author, I would have canned it as well. It simply wasn’t good enough to keep afloat.

Overall, Psychich Power Nanaki is a decently fun manga to read. A little less flirting from the main character with the clients would be appreciated. Aoi is also just not a good character and I don’t think that the author knows how to write the banter between him and Nanaki effectively. That certainly limits the series potential and we do have a lot of loose ends that don’t get wrapped up. It’s the kind of series that may have gotten better as it went on, but it never got a chance. Well, it’s a decent read if you want to see some action, but you can probably find better titles as you go on through the manga world. Check out Black Cat for a main character who looks similar, but is a lot cooler.

Overall 6/10

Angelic Layer Review

Posted on January 21, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for a classic battle series that may not be the most popular series that Clamp has done, but it makes a solid argument for being their best. The series is only 5 volumes, but it’s essentially comprised of nonstop fights. That’s a winning formula if I ever heard of one and it comes close to 9 star territory, but it does stumble a little along the way to victory.

Misaki is the main character of the series and she grew up in a world that has become engrossed in a new game called Angelic Layer. Essentially, it’s like the Bionicle Meta game in real life, but with a bit more intensity. You buy a doll and then you customize her to be a speed, power, or defense fighter. After that, you can buy her equipment and accessories so that she can be a distinct fighter. Now that you’ve completed all of the steps, you’re ready to enter the tournaments! Misaki witnesses an incredible battle between the angels on TV and decides to enter one with her new doll. What’s the harm right? Maybe she’ll actually end up being the world champ by the time this is all over!

You can argue that Misaki’s road to the top is a little more lonely than the average main character. The reason being that she does have two friends who are main supporting characters, but they don’t play Angelic Layer. Most leads get to spar with their friends, but that isn’t the case for Misaki. I don’t mind the fact that the friends can’t fight though because they just aren’t very good characters. One of the friends is Tamayo and she’s definitely very annoying. She’s constantly beating up Misaki’s other friend and talking about romance when there is no need for it. Her over the top theatrics are not amusing and I would be able to take her a little more seriously if she could actually fight. She actually involves the one big negative for the series so we may as well get it over with as soon as possible.

It’s a running gag that Misaki’s undergarments are mentioned when Tamayo or Ohjiro is around. It’s completely unnecessary and definitely not a good way to throw in some comedy scenes. It’s safe to say that this prevented the series from getting 9 stars. It’s not bad compared to most other series since you never actually see anything, (There is basically no fanservice in the series, which is pretty exceptional) but it’s still not something that you want to see in a series. It just helps to make Tamayo even more unlikable than she already is and it also stops Ohjiro from being a good character.

Kotaro is the other main character and he’s much better than Tamayo. He’s pretty generic and he’s certainly not one of the best characters out there, but he tries hard to be cool. He knows how to fight in the real world and it comes in handy at the very end of the series, but he really needs to learn how to fight in Angelic Layer. He spends the series just getting beaten up on so this doesn’t do wonders for his character either.

Misaki is a pretty decent main character. She always fights to the end while never giving up. Misaki’s instincts for battle are typically spot on and she can decipher the weak point of any opponent that she faces. On the other hand, she can certainly be a little on the generic side and she gets flustered way too often. Misaki isn’t going to be the next Ichigo or Kirito, but I’ll accept her as a decent enough lead to hold the series up. If she was a little more hot headed with some trash talking to back it up, I think that I would probably like her a little more. As it stands, she’s pretty polite and she keeps everyone in the friend zone so I can admire that. Misaki’s other trait that can get to you is that she’s way too gullible. The scientist tries to help her get through this, but it’s a difficult task.

Icchan is the scientist in question and he’s definitely all over the place. He likes to make remarks that don’t make sense and he’s constantly ditching his job to help Misaki. He definitely plays favorites throughout the tournament, but it all comes down to Misaki’s cheerful demeanor. All of her opponents end up rooting for the main character after they lose because Misaki doesn’t want to win for the money, she wants to win for the love of the game. Icchan gives her the angel and he also helps Misaki customize her during the earlier stages of the manga. He’s definitely a decent character, but his almost literally all talk as he never actually fights even though he knows so much about the game. Ah well, he’s definitely a nice guy and he knows that ice cream is one of the best desserts.

Hikaru is Misaki’s angel and she’s one of the strongest fighters in the series. She is a speed fighter so she relies on a lot of quick hits and sudden moves to knock the opponents out of the stage. It’s good that she can do this since she usually starts the battle on the losing end. Her health goes into the red zone before she counters and typically she wins with a one hit KO or some quick attacks. She’s definitely a great angel and one who will certainly remind you of Megaman. She may not have a lot of flashy techniques at her disposal, but she gets the job done. She’s definitely the most likable angel in the tournament.

Hatoko is one of Misaki’s friends and her angel is named Suzuka. Hatoko seems to have a pretty good reputation as a very good Angelic Layer fighter and many thought that she would ultimately win the big tournament. Her angel is a powerful defense fighter so she is able to repel just about any blow with ease. Suzuka’s design is definitely pretty good and she shows that defense types can still match up against speed fighters when necessary. Her final fight in the series isn’t very satisfying since she loses in a single blow, but Hatoko made it pretty far. She’s definitely the best friend from Misaki’s supporting cast and Suzuka is probably the third best angel.

Ohjiro and his angel, The Wizard, are not some of the best characters here. The Wizard is actually a pretty good angel and he’s another defense type. He can block an opponent’s attack by reflecting their energy and making a barrier. He is said to have never been hit by an opponent before so his opponents have a lot of explaining to do. Naturally, it’s up to Hikaru to give him a pretty good fight and prove that speed really does trump everything else. The Wizard looks a lot like Syaoran or Fai from Tsubasa, which is cool since Clamp loves borrowing characters and designs from their other series. The Wizard is pretty likable even if he seems to be pretty weak once you get past his barrier. On the other hand, Ohjiro is definitely not cool. He talks a lot from the shadows about how cool he is and on Hikaru’s potential, but it never goes anywhere. Once he starts to make random comments about under garments that have no relevance to the plot, he immediately lost any chance that he may have had on being a likable character. Sometimes, that’s all that it takes to make a character plummet down the ranks.

Shuko and her angel, Athena, are known as the strongest fighters in Angelic Layer. After Hikaru wins the tournament, they have a quick clash. Athena is technically a speed type, but she’s also one of the strongest fighters in the series. I was pretty glad to see that after all of the defense and speed fighters that were featured throughout the tournament, it was a good change of pace. I did think that Hikaru was probably doomed though since attack power is probably the most important factor in a match like this. Not to mention that Athena still has enough speed to match Hikaru’s. Athena also comes equipped with a giant energy blast that really tips the scales in her favor. Athena is probably the second best angel in the series. It’s too bad that I can’t say the same for Shuko. Shuko has a pretty big twist that is pretty obvious once you see her, but I guess I’ll refrain from saying it just in case. It explains why she isn’t very likable, but it’s still pretty overdone. Shuko is incredibly shy so that she’s constantly blushing in just about every scene and she can barely talk to someone without looking away. She gets tricked at the end into finally seeing the main characters again and maybe this will help her as a character, but we never really get to see this.

Arisu and her angel Alice are the final fighters to face Hikaru in the tournament. It’s actually pretty anticlimactic since I would argue that Alice is much weaker than all of the other opponents that Hikaru faced. (Not counting one shot characters) Alice doesn’t really have any gimmicks and her special trait is that she has great balance. That’s nice and all, but it seriously doesn’t help in most battles. She just gets lucky because the stage is an ice rink so Hikaru’s balance is off for the whole fight. She quickly figures out a way around this though so Alice was doomed. Alice is all right, but she’s not one of the better angels. You could really say the same about Arisu. Arisu just doesn’t have a whole lot of character and she’s simply not that likable. I think that the Wizard probably should have been the final boss.

Sai and her angel, Shirahime, are pretty similar to Hatoko and Suzuka. Sai fights with complete seriousness and poise as she faces her opponents. Shirahime is also a defense type of Angel and her stats are almost identical to Suzuka’s. Their match was extremely close and she puts up a very good fight against Haruka. Once she sheds her protective gear, Shirahime is able to move at speeds similar to a speed type’s, but then she must lose her defensive edge. It’s a gamble, but one that I would definitely make since defense usually doesn’t trump a good speed character. Sai seems to be a little full of herself, but she is a good fighter and I like Shirahime. This is another fearsome pair who could have defeated most of the other opponents in the series.

There are a few other characters like a wind doll and one who could use Hyper Mode, but you get the jist of the series. It’s basically one battle after the next and the fast pace is one of the reasons why the series is so fun. It’s like a good ole Megaman manga and it never gets dull. The action scenes look very impressive and I have to say that it’ll be tough to adapt in animation. They’ll probably tone down the speed feats so that it’s lower tier, but maybe they’ll be able to do a good job.

Clamp just outdid themselves with the action this time. The fight scenes are similar to Megaman NT Warrior and DBZ. The constant hand to hand combos mixed in with the occasional special technique just makes the battles so exciting. The art for them is excellent and I can see why Clamp has such a good reputation. It may not be as impressive for the normal scenes, but they still look good. There’s a rough edge to it that will remind you of their other titles, but you can always clearly see what is happening. I’m not a huge fan of their art gags like the characters turning into octopuses all the time, but they’re not bad either. If they could just tone it down with the blushing, it would be even better.

Angelic Layer is just a very fun series to read. It’s pretty light natured and you could almost picture it in the real world. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we’ll finally have virtual reality games like this one within the next 50-60 years. I may be too old to really enjoy them by then, but it would be pretty awesome to have a realistic simulator like this. It would probably be a bit more complex here and I doubt that a newcomer would become the world champ after a day of practice, but we can let that slide since Misaki may be the chosen one. She has a better battle record than most main characters since she wins just about every battle that she enters. The final battle may be unsatisfying to a lot of people, but you can argue that Hikaru was still battle fatigued. The actual ending to the series is better than most of the other manga titles that have ended and there is certainly lots of room for a direct sequel (So Chobits doesn’t count) if Clamp really wants too someday. That would definitely be exciting.

How does it compare to other toyetic franchises? Well, it definitely loses to Megaman and the Yugioh franchise is too massive to lose here. Aside from that, I dare say that it takes down Bakugan, Beyblade, and most of the rest. It loses to Cardfight Vanguard as well, but it puts up a brave fight. Power level wise, it’s probably above all of them and only Yugioh/Megaman could hope to stand up to them. Angelic Layer’s biggest advantage over most series is just how absurdly fast the angels are. Catching up to them is nearly impossible and their attacks have lethal amounts of power behind them.

Overall, Angelic Layer may only be 5 volumes, but it’s a great series to check out. This is definitely Clamp’s best work as it even takes out Tsubasa. It’ll be hard for them to top it, but it’s always possible. The nonstop action can rival any series since the fights are so good. In terms of speed, you could probably pit the angels against just anyone short of Goku and they could probably hold their own. Most of the characters are pretty likable and the art is solid. If not for the lines of the two annoying characters, this could easily be top 5 material. Nevertheless, I strongly recommend this title if you like action and it could end up being one of your favorite titles.

Overall 8/10

Jaco The Galactic Patrolman Review

Posted on January 18, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time for a recent one shot by Akira Toriyama. I can safely say that it’s more fun than Sand Land even if it isn’t quite up to par with DBZ. One thing that I’ve always liked about Toriyama’s titles is how clear the art is and the plot is also very direct. No beating around the bush here and the DBZ cameos are very much appreciated.

Jaco is a member of the Intergalactic Patrolmen and he is heading to Earth on his spaceship when he crashes past the moon and breaks his ship. He still lands on Earth, but now he has no way of heading back home or contacting his comrades. To start up his ship again, he’ll need a rare metal that is extremely expensive. Since he is a law abiding hero, Jaco can’t steal it. Luckily, he crashes on an island where an old man by the name of Omori resides. Omori agrees to help and a girl named Tights joins the cast as an ally as well. They all must prepare themselves because a powerful alien is quickly approaching, which is the real reason why Jaco is here. Can they defeat such a powerful fighter!?

First of all, it’s great to see the DBZ multiverse getting expanded here. This series takes place at around the beginning of Dragon Ball so you can probably guess who’s in the spaceship headed for Earth. Naturally, this does result in a cop out since the fight that we had been waiting for never gets to happen. The twist was definitely a double edged blade there and I would have loved to have seen a fight scene. I suppose that it’s worth it since we got to see Goku. Bulma and her folks also appear during the story and Bulma’s just a kid at this point. She still shows off the fact that she is a genius and her laser gun is not to be underestimated.

The DBZ references and cameos weren’t overdone. They were pretty much perfect and I wouldn’t have minded more of them. They certainly helped me enjoy the manga more than I would have otherwise. There is even a bonus story at the end about Bardock (Although the volume translates his name in another way I prefer this spelling. This is the true Bardock!) and Goku’s origins. It takes place a little before the OVA as he gets Goku to his spaceship and sends him off before going to confront Frieza and beginning the events of his second OVA. Frieza’s plan definitely seems a little less precise than usual here as he decides to blow up the planet without waiting for the other Saiyans since he felt like it. The author makes sure not to say how many Saiyans were not currently around so they can be used in the future I suppose. It’s interesting to note that the Super Saiyan God mode was mentioned here besides the usual Legendary Super Saiyan. That’s pretty neat since it makes Frieza appear to be in the know. He’ll be popping up in the new film soon and that will definitely be pretty epic. As always, he’s hyped to be Goku’s greatest adversary in this story and it’s easy to see why. There are definitely a lot of narratives for this fight and it’s where Goku finally liberated the Saiyans.

Back to the main story, it’s essentially a comedy. Jaco’s super abilities continue to shock everyone and his lack of knowledge on human culture can put him in a tough spot at times. Some scenes show signs of the old Dragon Ball humor that we hoped to avoid like sea monsters/fish that aren’t very polite and a random chest comment. Those are definitely not the best moments for the series. Luckily, they are few and far apart. Not to mention that the series doesn’t have any real fanservice, which is a big plus.

Omori is the main character and he dislikes all humans. He’s an old man now and he has been trying to build a time machine for a very long time. A traumatic experience where his wife died still haunts him and he wants to change that. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to get it to work and it can only speed up a person’s body so that they can temporarily gain super speed. When Jaco lands on his island, Omori decides to help him so that he can get Jaco out of his hair. As the volume goes on, Omori begins to soften up to the idea of actually having a friend. He’s a pretty likable lead and you can sympathize with him. He’s my favorite character in the series by a longshot.

Tights is the main heroine and she looks pretty similar to the big pop idol who’s going to ride on a rocket as a publicity stunt…intriguing. She believes in the alien story very quickly and she proves to be a very valuable ally to the heroes. She pays for some of the metal and she is the only one who can go shopping in public since the other two quickly become wanted fugitives. She complains a little more often than you would think, but all of the heroes do this a lot. The old man is typically grumpy and Jaco is hyper sensitive so she fits right in. Tights is definitely a pretty likable character and the twist makes her look even more heroic.

Jaco is the alien and his abilities are pretty impressive. It’s hard to tell exactly how strong he is, but Jaco has your basic super strength and speed at his disposal. He can’t fly, but he has jetpacks that are pretty good substitutes. He’s pretty full of himself and he’s actually not a very likable character. Jaco’s heart is in the right place, but he’s way too proud for his own good and he almost fails when it’s hero time. Crashing his ship twice for no real reason is definitely pretty embarrassing as well. I like his design and it will remind you of the androids in the DBZ series. We know that he is a talented warrior so it would be great to actually see him fight. His power level is probably not that impressive since he claims that an adult Saiyan would be stronger than him, but he’s still better than the humans. A normal Saiyan would probably have a power level of 5-10K so his should be somewhere in that range. He also has a weapon that can blow up life on a planet, but it’s specifically calibrated for humans this time so he wouldn’t hurt the Saiyans. It would be fun to see Jaco appear in a DBZ film someday, but mainly so that he can fight. His comedy gimmicks aren’t very funny so I could definitely take a pass on that.

Jaco’s art is pretty great as expected. Few series can really hope to match this artstyle. It’s very simple and yet the designs are all on the mark. The simplicity is probably what helps the fights to be so good since you can really focus on the moves. Most (If not all) of Jaco’s attacks are inspired from DBZ techniques. He uses one of Goku’s kicks and the rest of his attacks can definitely be linked to the legendary series. The energy blasts look as menacing and destructive as in the olden days and the landscapes should feel pretty familiar.

Overall, Jaco The Galactic Patrolman is a title that you will want to read. You’ll get a real nostalgis kick out of reading it. Hardcore DBZ fans definitely can’t pass this up since it expands on Goku’s origins and we get to see that his situation was even more similar to Goku’s than we could have imagined. Finally seeing Goku’s mother is also a pretty big deal. Many fans will be disappointed that it’s a new character and not an established one like Fasha, but that arguably makes things even more epic. Fasha is already a warrior so it’s probably for the best that she’s still on the front lines. If you aren’t a DBZ fan, this can still be pretty fun for you. It’s a lighthearted comedy that stays classy on the whole and it’s easy to read. It’s a fun adventure and it has that 90’s feel that is so hard to forget. It’s just a lot of fun and you may even feel bad that this couldn’t be the next Dragon Ball Z. I’m sure that it would have been great as an ongoing series, especially once the action kicked in. Jaco is one series (One volume series anyway) that you won’t want to miss and hopefully Toriyama can start working on that DBZ sequel manga now.

Overall 7/10

Sakura Hime The Legend of Princess Sakura Review

Posted on January 15, 2015 by dreager1

Sakura Hime is a Shojo story that you may not have heard of. It’s not a completely obscure title, but it’s still not very well known. It tries to delve into the action genre while also keeping the romance in, which makes for a tricky balance. It’s definitely no Shonen Jump title, but I suppose that it is certainly better than most of the other Shojo series. I can’t give it a passing grade, but the fight scenes were pretty cool.

This story takes place in a land filled with monsters and kings. The setting is a fantasy land that seems pretty primitive by today’s standards. There are certainly no electronics to speak of. A young girl by the name of Sakura is found out to be a Yokai. She is one of the legendary monsters that hails from the moon and she is able to wield the legendary Chizakura blade. Prince Oura is sent to destroy her, but he decides not too since he naturally falls in love with her at first sight. The government still doesn’t trust her so Prince Oura is in a tricky spot.

Not wasting any time, the denizens of the moon decide to attack in full force. Their leader is immensely powerful and he seems to have some history with Sakura. The plot developments and twists will give Sakura some doubts as to what side she should choose. Both of them have shady pasts and many people will feel the effects of her decisions. Luckily, she is Princess Sakura (Did the title just spoil the series?) so she is always ready for action!

Sakura is the main character so it was interesting to see how cool she would be compared to Cardcaptor Sakura and Sakura Haruno. It’s safe to say that she comes in third place from this trio. (At least manga wise) She isn’t a bad character though and she certainly has her moments, but she has a tough time going all out. She always feels bad for the villains and she refuses to fight more than once. She is easily one of the stronger characters in the series since her blade can destroy any yokai with a single hit. This just means that there will be many excuses for her to miss the enemy. Her romance with Prince Oura is definitely one of the low points for her, but another one is that she lets so many guys hit on her without putting up enough resistance. She should just tell them to go away and slice them down with her sword if they do not. She has to put up with a lot of negativity from the villagers. (At least she gets to use intro lines that would even make Sailor Moon proud when she does get to fight)

Another problem is that she’s a little too gullible. She lets the government capture her with ease, which was pretty awful. It’s really a good thing that Enchu was there that time since her mind would have quickly broken under the government’s trap. That situation should have definitely been avoided and she should have known that something was up. It’s just sad to see someone as powerful as her be defeated by the government so easily. In the end, she may not be a bad main character and she beats some of her Shojo counterparts, but she definitely isn’t one of the better ones out there.

Prince Oura is the main guy in this series and he’s definitely an unlikable character. He was terrible when he first appeared, but he definitely got better as the series went on. That being said, he went from terrible to just unlikable as he never became a good character for me. He always seems ungrateful and he decides to keep secrets from Sakura right up til the very end. He certainly doesn’t make things easy for her. He’s a part of the government so he should be trying to make things better, but he usually just goes along with what the higher ups want. When it comes to matters involving Sakura, he quickly stops them, but he doesn’t do much more than that. He just seems like a pawn of the government when he could be an instrumental figure in changing them. Maybe someday…maybe. Either way, he lost his chance at being a likable character a long time ago.

Asagiri is a little snow fairy who helps Sakura out during the series. Things definitely get dicey for her in the climax since she is captured and the heroes are too slow to really do anything about it. By the time they get to her, it’s almost too late. “Almost” being the key word of course and we have Sakura to thank for her rescue. She is definitely a good character and I’d say that she is one of Sakura’s best allies. As with another one of Sakura’s allies, Asagiri has a super form at her disposal.

Byakuya protects Sakura and acts as her mentor. She used to wield the sacred sword and she’s pretty powerful when she fights in her true form. Typically, she fights under the guise of an old woman, but this is just an act to make the opponent lower their guard. She’s pretty good and she has a twist at the very end of the series that is pretty intriguing. It’s definitely impressive for her, but it also does undermine the final villain to an extent. She doesn’t live up to the Byakuya name that we know from Bleach, but she is a talented fighter and a loyal companion.

Kohaku is a ninja who works for Sakura and she places the Princess’ safety before her obligations to the main house. That is a good thing since it means that Sakura can actually trust her. Unfortunately, she starts to develop feelings for two other ninja, which creates another subplot that we didn’t really need. It doesn’t help that both of them are constantly running away and making themselves scarce. Kohaku doesn’t get a whole lot of closure as the series ends, but she does get her own fight during arc 1. That was pretty good, but it was the only action that she really got in the series. She’s a good ninja though and certainly better than her partner.

Hayate is a very confused man who doesn’t really know what he wants. He thinks that he likes Kohaku, but then he starts to like Rurijo before trying to get back together with Kohaku in the final chapters. I definitely wouldn’t accept him if I was her since Hayate can’t make up his mind. Hayate was cursed to be a frog for a very long time so he misses out on most of the series. He can turn into a human when the full moon is out so he does try to get some fight scenes in, but mostly he is just a bystander. I’m glad that he didn’t rat out Rurijo to the corrupt government and the heroes, but he certainly didn’t do it for the right reasons. This is definitely one shinobi that I didn’t like.

Rurijo was made out of tree branches as a clone of Sakura. This way her very existence can remind Enju of the princess and how he needs to save her from the pesky government and Prince Oura. As such, she gets a pretty sad character arc since Enju only sees her as a substitute. She must constantly go to water to replenish her strength and everyone always seems to get upset at her when she tries to destroy Sakura. By the second half of the series, she is still learning to cope with this, but it’s slow goings. Things temporarily grow brighter for her when she gets a new master only for everything to go sour once again. This is one character who never really got to be happy. She can definitely be likable and she was a fun villain during the first half. Alas, she always longs to be with Enju, which hurts her character. She’s oblivious to Hayate, so I’ll give her some credit for that, but she should have stuck to being a great warrior who mows down the heroes.

Enju is the big villain and he lasts for the whole series. He has a pretty traumatic past, which led him to betray the government and become the big villain. Deep down he mainly wants to help Sakura, but he loses sight of this goal from time to time. He’s definitely a villain no matter how sympathetic the series tries to make him. That being said, you could call him a villain of circumstance as the government turned him into what he is today. It’s all pretty tragic for him although his last minute change of heart was more than a little hard to swallow. His personality just did a 180 in the span of 2 chapters. The series was ending so I’m guessing that the author just wanted to wrap that part up. I appreciate his loyalty, but he’s still not really my kind of villain. I do like the fact that he is a great fighter though and he works pretty well as a serious villain.

Shuri is a ninja who really tries to play all of the sides. On the surface he appears to be working for Enju, but this is actually a mission that the government gave to him. He also helps Prince Oura and the others when it is convenient for him so he really can’t be trusted. You could say that he’ll help Kohaku over his obligations to the other places, but I’m not really sure about that. This is one guy that I definitely would not trust. His ending is definitely emotional, but I didn’t care for his character from the start so it definitely wasn’t a big loss for me.

Maimai’s role felt much smaller than most of the other villains. He cares a lot about looks and exteriors, but he’s actually a “tough” villain when things get serious. I really couldn’t take him seriously and Maimai just isn’t a great villain. Maimai doesn’t really have any grand ambition or good reasons to help Enchu. As a result, he comes across as having no real character so he never stood a chance of being a cool villain.

Kaguya is the ultimate villain and the final one to take the stage. It comes as no great shock that she is pretty powerful. She doesn’t have much in the way of character since her screen time is so brief, but she still manages to be a pretty cool antagonist. She’s someone that you can certainly root for and she’s probably the best villain in the series. She also gives us our first fight where Sakura gets a speed feat. It’s not an incredible one, but it’s a speed feat nonetheless. It’s too bad that Kaguya couldn’t last a little longer, but she served her purpose of being a good villain.

The series definitely has quite a few flaws that keep it from being a real contender in the manga ranks. Naturally, the biggest obstacle is the fanservice. Seeing as how this is a Shojo title, it’s surprising that it is so prevalent in this series. Particularly with Rurijo since she is constantly at the hot springs. The plot reason for this is that she has to constantly go somewhere where she can be in the water because she is made of tree branches. Nevertheless, that plot could have been changed so that this wouldn’t be necessary.

Another factor is the romance. For the record, I haven’t actually bashed the romance angle in many of my recent reviews, but this one definitely deserves the harsh treatment. For one, Prince Oura is a really cheap guy, although you already know that from my earlier writings of him. I disapprove of Sakura going to him, especially after his threats and decision to destroy her in the beginning if not for her quick thinking. It goes a little far and this naturally lasts until the very end of the series so it continues to appear no matter how much you want it to go away.

Again, I do have to give the series props for the fight scenes though. For the first half of the series, we get to a point where 3-4 volumes in a row are composed of action scenes. We get to take a break from the typical slice of life moments to actually get a Shonen feel. Everyone splits up and chooses an enemy to face. It’s pretty fun and if the whole series was like that, I think it may have had a chance to creep all the way up to a 6. The characters on both sides were pretty well developed so the throwaway fights felt like real ones as well. The enemies were probably a little too strong compared to the heroes, but such is the fate of the humans in their war against demons.

One thing that’s pretty sad is that the government is pretty awful. They’re totally corrupt and they get away with just about everything. They naturally dislike the Yokai and they force the main villain into a water tank, which repeatedly destroys him until his mind breaks. They are the reason why he is evil and they nearly do the same to Sakura before that same villain arrives to save her. After that, you really don’t want the heroes to help the government, but they do and the higher ups never really get what’s coming to them. Enju takes out quite a few of them, but there are always more. One of the side characters is going to become the next leader of the place so maybe he can help right? The problem is that he’s also pretty corrupt so he won’t be much of an improvement.

With traitors like that as allies, there really aren’t many characters to root for. You can’t root for the villains either since they want destruction as well. It just makes everything hazy and while you can sympathize with Sakura’s desire to help everyone, she tends to make problems even bigger at times with her inability to really make a decision. Imprisoning the government officials and taking the Yokai down seems to be the best bet, but with a prince as one of the main characters…that will be difficult.

The art is definitely pretty good for the series. I won’t call it downright amazing, but it’s certainly better than I had expected it to be. It’s very clear and the fight scenes occur pretty smoothly. It definitely made everything a little more enjoyable than it could have been and I think the author must have read a lot of Shonen manga since the action scenes have the epic zoom ins and classic dialogue that we’ve come to expect. The art perfectly captures these moments and I definitely give the series a big thumbs up there.

Overall, Sakura Hime is a series that is plagued by the fanservice and romantic plots that tend to overwhelm it at times. If the series had stopped after arc 1, it definitely had a decent shot at landing a solid 6. As it is, I think that the second arc basically cut this series in half. You can blame at least 90% of that on Oura, but I suppose that we have to blame the Emperor and some of the other characters as well. How the government is allowed to continue their rule is certainly beyond me. Just about all of the higher ups are fairly corrupt so you really can’t trust anyone on either the human or the yokai side. If you want a romance series with some action, this is definitely the right series for you. As it stands, I can’t really recommend this title and would turn you to another Shojo like Kitchen Princess or Sailor Moon for a better experience.

Overall 3/10

Muhyo and Roji’s Bureau of Supernatural Investigation Review

Posted on January 15, 2015 by dreager1

It’s time to review another mystery series! Muhyo and Roji is a series that I started many years ago and then I finally got to finish it up late last year or extremely early 2015. The final days tend to blend together after a while. The series had an extremely slow start as the episodic mysteries/ghost occurrences took a little longer than expected. It got to be pretty fun during the main arc and then things started to die down towards the end. I wasn’t really sure how I should score the manga, but I’m sure that I’ll know by the end of the review. At the very least, I can safely say that it could be one of the best horror series that I have read.

For some reason I keep thinking of this series as a mystery even though it’s more of a horror. Well, Muhyo and Roji have an office where they field requests from their clients to help out in supernatural matters. Typically, they have to defeat evil spirits who are haunting people or helping nice ghosts to move on. Muhyo is known as a genius and he’s one of the best in the biz while Roji is the opposite. He’s weaker than most rookies when the series starts out and he literally cannot use any spells. That changes as the series goes on, but Muhyo is always the one who does the most fighting. We get a lot of one shot stories and mini arcs until the first big arc occurs.

Enchu was another prodigy, but he turned over to the dark side. He now commands a large army of evil spirits and demons and he wants to use them to destroy the magical academy and everyone. I forgot if he also wants to destroy the world or not, but you get the general idea. Many clerks (Magical exorcists) and trainees will now gather at this school to combat Enchu, but it will be quite the fight. Lots of new characters are introduced for the heroes and villains as the war escalates. This arc takes up most of the series and it’s certainly the best part.

Afterwards, we do get a mini arc with a new villain who is a serious threat. It’s hard to take this puffball (It’s literally a demon who looks like a ball of fluff) seriously though and the ending is rather anticlimactic. After such a big arc, going back to one shot stories and a small final arc is rather dicey. That being said, it appears that the series was cancelled though since it ends with some major loose ends and it’s rather rushed. One of the big villains is hatching his next scheme as the series ends, which could also just hint at a sequel series I suppose. The ending wasn’t great, but it was still better than the average series I suppose. I just wanted some more closure for the villain.

Muhyo is one of the main characters although I would argue that Roji is The main character. Muhyo’s a genius and he tends to be pretty mean to Roji at the beginning. He’s one of those characters who always has a gruff exterior so that nobody can get close to him. Sometimes an author can go a little too far with that, but this series did a good job of keeping it grounded. Muhyo is never too mean to the point where I would consider him to be a bad person as he just insults Roji enough to keep the kid sharp. Their bond definitely strengthens as the series progresses and Muhyo turns out to be a pretty nice guy.

We learn about Muhyo’s backstory as the manga unfolds and he still looks really good there. Suffice to say, Muhyo always has a reason for doing what he does. He never acts without a plan in mind and it’s probably why he is such a good fighter. He seems like he has no compassion for the evil spirits, but his mindgames sometimes do help them to see the light before it is all over. Unlike most Shonen Jump protagonists, he doesn’t have any real physical abilities. He fights using summons, which is a pretty unique way to battle. This is also a weakness since any foe with a decent amount of super speed could probably attack him before he has a chance to bring in any of his stronger foes. Muhyo looks very good from start to finish and he’s surprisingly one of the better Shonen Jump protagonists out there. I wasn’t a huge fan of him during the first few volumes, but it all makes sense once you keep on reading. That is how you use character development to make a character better!

Roji is Muhyo’s partner and he’s a good sidekick. He means well and he always does the problem to improve. You could say that he’s like your average protagonist in that sense, but with a more realistic pace in how he improves. It’s one of those times where the realism factor does not help his character though since it’ll be many years before he ends up being a top fighter. He doesn’t use summons and he can only attack by throwing tags that can hurt the weaker spirits. I’m afraid that this really limits his potential against stronger opponents. He gets depressed pretty quickly, which is definitely another one of his weak points. He’s a likable character, but I wish that he could have gotten stronger so that he could have helped more.

Kenji is technically a supporting character who is typically around the main characters, but I always wondered just what point he had in the series. He never really has any big moments. He does prove useful once or twice of course, but he doesn’t do anything that someone else could have done. It’s nice that Muhyo and Roji have a supporter of course, but he was never my favorite character. He’s better than most little kids though so I’ll give him some props there.

Nana is the main heroine of the series although her screen time isn’t as impressive as most of her counterparts in other Shonen series. She never learns how to fight so she really is just there as a bystander. She’s a good character, but she is unfortunately used as fanservice on more than one occasion. Nana doesn’t really get to add anything to the series and while she is a decent character, it would probably be for the best if she was not here due to how she is used in the story. The series was pretty decent with the fanservice for the most part so that’s too bad.

Of course, most of the blame goes to Yoichi since he is the token pervert of the series. He is easily the worst character in the series. At least, from the characters who appear more than once. There’s a slight chance that there is a one shot character who is worse, but it’s hard to beat Yoichi. He isn’t a great fighter since he doesn’t summon monsters and Roji should pass him pretty quickly. He proves to be pretty traitorous to the end as he doesn’t care about the feelings of the others. You just want this guy to stop appearing since he brings everyone down.

Enchu is the big villain of the series. He used to be one of Muhyo’s best friends before going to the dark side so you can tell that he is very powerful. Emotional villains like this one always manage to make it to the top of the food chain. His motives and goals aren’t great though since he is really just venting from past experiences. He causes a lot of mayhem and destruction so it’s a little hard to just let it go either. Muhyo wants to save him no matter what, but it’ll definitely be a pretty tough task. He’s a very strong villain, but he’s not really a likable one. As a hero he seemed like a pretty nice guy though.

Rio is one figure who had a pretty sad origin story, but one which had an ending that wasn’t as bad as you would have guessed. The school had a pretty bad principle who thought that Rio wasn’t a good teacher and needed to rely on her looks while an old lady had the opposite thought. Rio was torn between honor and money. Unfortunately, she chose the wrong choice and this started her off on the path to the dark side. Her character development is all over the place, but ultimately she just didn’t make the right choices when they counted. She helps out in some of the battles, but she was never a great character. She’s better than Biko, her partner, but I never liked him from the start. He’s just not a fighter and he acts a little too tough considering how weak he is.

Goryo is a rival who appeared in the series, but was quickly surpassed. He believes that money and status are very important and he loves to rub it in Roji’s face. He takes command of Muhyo’s base at one point, which was a low point for the series. Despite his tough front, Goryo is definitely not as strong as Muhyo and his abilities actually aren’t that impressive. His role was a minor one and he didn’t really contribute much to the series, but at least he gave it his all.

Imai is introduced at around the halfway mark of the series I believe. She’s not a great fighter as with Roji, Yoichi, and Biko. That being said, she does carry a gun with her so she has an instant advantage over the others. She is a professional and she’s been at this game for a much longer time than Roji. That doesn’t always help her out in the field, but technically this makes her more of a threat. She doesn’t get a whole lot to do in the series and she never gets a really big fight, but she’s a pretty good supporting character. Imai probably should have been given more development to make her an interesting character, but she was good enough.

Teeki is another one of the big villains and he was totally evil from start to finish. He has a pretty good design and his mask really gives off a horror feel. He’s a pretty intriguing figure who plans things out years in advance. His plans wouldn’t go so smoothly if other villains had not been as gullible, but he probably planned for that as well. He’s a reasonably cool villain. I definitely can’t say that he is a great one, but he is more of a threat than most of the others.

Mick is probably my favorite villain in the game. Finally, we had someone who could fight in close quarters combat with his swords. Mick is not someone that you want to underestimate even if his role isn’t that large in the manga. It’s great to see a human trading blows with giant monsters and it’s safe to say that only plot hax keeps Muhyo and Roji alive when he appears. He’s easily one of the strongest characters in the series and I was an instant fan.

Klaus is the teacher of Muhyo so he’s a pretty capable fighter. We don’t get to see him fight seriously until we’re almost at the end of the Enchu arc. He definitely puts in a lot of effort and his fight scene is pretty great, but I’m not a fan of him as a character. He’s the kind of guy who is constantly keeping secrets from the main characters and his duties as chairman come before his bond to the main characters. If Roji doesn’t pass the test to officially allow him to partner up with Muhyo, he’ll make sure that Roji is kicked out. It’s things like that which make me not like him. He needs to be a more dependable friend.

Many summoned monsters appear throughout the series. Some are certainly more impressive than others. Unfortunately, their designs typically aren’t as unique and memorable as your average Yugioh monster. Muhyo’s main monster is an old one with a 1 or 3 eyes. He’s pretty powerful although he’s not that quick. He’s a very dependable guy to have. Muhyo’s strongest monster helps him during the climax of the Enchu arc and they did a cross fusion of sorts so that he could fight without restraint. By “cross fusing” it means that the summoner gives the monster his life force by merging their energies. The flip side to this is that the caster will die if the monster does. It’s an all of nothing gambit that almost never works, but it dramatically increases one’s abilities. It made for a pretty good battle and Klaus had a great one of his own. Typically, the monsters aren’t very impressive in terms of speed or power, but the high end ones can definitely put on quite a show. Since we don’t really have any human fight scenes aside from Mick, we need the monsters to definitely hold their own.

The monsters have a decent amount of character. Most of the high end ones are either wise sages whose boosts come from their actions of the younger ones who like to brag as they fight. It makes for some pretty good trash talking and the designs for some of them are humanoid enough so that they can really fight. Most of the final monsters also have instant regeneration so taking them down is tough. That’s why the final boss is pretty anticlimactic. It’s a giant sponge or a sponge ball I guess. It doesn’t look that tough even if it is beating the whole cast. I dare say that he is weaker than the final boss of the Enchu arc since Muhyo didn’t need any cross fusion or ultimate tricks to beat him. A simple sentence sufficed and that was probably sad for the fans.

There is some fanservice in the series, which naturally takes a shot at the series. Mostly, it involves Yoichi just being inappropriate or your generic hot springs scene. As always, these scenes are pretty unnecessary and shouldn’t be around. It seems pretty hard for any series to pass up on this, which is regrettable. Just look at classic titles like Beyblade, Kenshin or Yugioh GX to see how you can do a series without this negative addition. That being said, it’s definitely less recurring than most of the other series on the block so that’s a small victory.

The artwork is decent, but I would probably place it under the average Shonen Jump title. I think it’s part of the reason why I wasn’t crazy about the first volumes. It feels really rough around the edges as you’re reading it and I can’t say that it ever got really good. From start to finish, I felt like something was pretty off about the character designs. The monsters looked good, but they could have looked even better. It may have helped for the creepy tone of the manga, but I’ll take streamlined art any day.

The stakes were only high for one part of the series, but that was enough to make the series feel a little more Shonen. One of the reasons why the beginning was lacking was that the characters were not really likable yet so the one shot stories didn’t work. Those work best when you like the characters so seeing them in any situation is fun. Placing the Enchu arc first would have probably done wonders for the series since the one shot stories after that one are better than the beginnings. The series was pretty fun from the Enchu part and that’s one of the main reasons why it ended on a higher note. The series also ditched most of the horror themes from the beginning starting with the Enchu arc. I’m okay with that since it went for action over spooks. The horror part wasn’t bad though as it was pretty cool to see what designs the author could come up with. They typically just weren’t combat designs.

Overall, Muhyo and Roji is a pretty good series. If I allowed half points on the blog, this title would definitely get a 6.5. I don’t think that it’s quite consistently good enough to get a 7, but giving it a 6 seems a little harsh as well. That being said, a 6.5 is not an option so I have a choice to make. I’m going to have to go with the former mainly thanks to the slow start coupled in with the fanservice. The likable characters and fun fights naturally keep it in the positive area though and I was pretty satisfied with the ending. It would have been cool if the series had kept going, but I guess some series have to ultimately end without breaching the 20 volume mark. I recommend this series if you want something that deals with the supernatural and especially if you like monster fights or want a manga series with a horror vibe. In that case, this is definitely your series!

Overall 7/10

Beelzebub Review

Posted on January 1, 2015 by dreager1

Beelzebub was a Shonen Jump series that never reached the level of fame and popularity that Naruto and Bleach received, but it still ran for quite a while and provided us with a lot of action. Like Reborn, Beelzebub starts off as more of a comedy and then quickly turns into the action manga that we had all been waiting for. It has some flaws thanks to the actual plot, but it manages to get past that and actually turns into a pretty great series. At least some of the credit should go to the main character.

The series starts out with some one shot stories before the first big arc arrives. The school is ruled by 4 strong classmates from the shadows. They are the 4 Emperors (Not the title that is used, but close enough) of the school and they each have their own minions/groups who follow them. Oga has been forced to baby sit Beelzebub, the future king of Hell and possibly destroyer of Earth. Oga isn’t thrilled about this since carrying a baby along with hurt his image. So, he decides that he’ll need to find someone who can be Beel’s (The baby) owner instead of him. Beel is attracted to negative energy so he just needs to find someone who’s even meaner than him. (A tougher feat than he imagines) That being said, peaceful negotiations tend to break down so then it’s fight time!

After that, the heroes are barely given a breather before they are taken to another school. Oga has basically accepted his fate of sticking with Beel by now. Unfortunately, his friends are being picked off one by one by the student council of the new school. These guys are apparently great fighters and one of the members is pretty familiar with Oga. Oga had wanted to make it through this new school peacefully until he could go back to his normal place, but he won’t have this. The arc results in a 5 on 5 fight that is pretty awesome! (I love group fights.)

The most popular arc of the series comes around as the demons finally invade Earth. They make their own school and challenge Oga and his friends. They will destroy Earth anyway so the heroes may as well put up a fight. Oga decides that things are getting a little too dangerous so he heads into the enemy base alone. Things also got personal since they kidnapped Hilda, one of Oga’s allies. He’s coming with a vengeance and this arc is where he finally gets his first super form. You can say that this is the arc where the series finished its transition into the ultimate Shonen Jump battle title that we knew it could be.

The final arc is sort of two arcs in one. The heroes return to their school and find out that a lot of new gangs have popped up. Among them, 6 leaders stand out and each one of them seems to be about as strong as Oga. They all want to defeat him to claim their spot as the strongest and they don’t mind targeting his friends to get him to act. (The friends also target the 6 so it evens out. Even if the allies should know that they’re doomed from the start….) This arc is interrupted as Oga decides to go to America to find Beel’s parents and then he eventually goes back home to continue the arc in more of a horror setting.

The series mainly takes place in various schools or in the city, which is definitely fine with me. There aren’t many big manga series that use such a setting for long. Bleach is one of the few that does this, but then we had to go off to Hueco Mundo for a few years, which wasted that opportunity. Beelzebub takes advantage of this local and it’s a fun setting for the fights. We don’t really get much of a city fight until the end of the series, but fighting inside of a building is the next best thing.

From the one shot stories and mini arcs, Beelzebub actually had a few interesting ones. The main one that comes to mind is when Furuichi got powers. He decided that he would challenge all of the characters in the series and it was pretty intense. A certain punching bag gets to fight Furuichi so the comic relief sidekick finally gets some hype of his own. It was good to see Furuichi finally get some props. He may not be a great character, but you never want to see a character be on the losing side for the whole series right? That’d be 20+ volumes of Furuichi getting kicked around. This mini arc managed to give him some wins, which was probably happy for his fanbase. We also had school plays and even a trip into the demon world. All of the stories were typically entertaining unless they were about Beel.

Naturally, Beelzebub is mainly an action series so the tone is pretty light, but it can be rather sad for the side characters. Again, Beelzebub is like Reborn! in the sense that the character power levels are heavily skewed. Oga is the only real powerhouse on the hero side for a while. Kuneida, Tojo, and Hilda are never far behind, but what about their numerous school friends? They never get any real powers ups until the climax of the series so it can be frustrating for them. They get knocked around so many times that you feel bad for them. They used to be the strongest thugs in the city and now they can’t beat the weakest minion from the villains. They try so hard and even go on the verge of tears. It’s great for Oga rage moments, but it does add an emotional touch to the series that it possibly should have avoided.

Back to the rage moments, Beelzebub does do a great job with those. One can argue that it happens a little too often, but I love those scenes so I’m okay with it. You probably know the type since it happens in most anime at this point. Where the main character suddenly get serious and says something that sounds intense as he begins to fight. That happens to Oga constantly as well as to his friends. Rage moments happen in almost every fight alongside a big double spread so that we can see just how intense they are. It gives you the chills while you’re reading it and it’s one of the main reasons why I like Bleach so much. So, this is going to be a mixed bag for many people, but I say “Go for it!”

One of the negatives for the series would have to be the crude humor. This is an issue that is actually rare for manga, or at least Shonen Jump titles. The problem is that the series technically revolves around Beel’s plight as Oga is raising him and that means that a lot of comedy situations will have to happen. Everything is exaggerated with Beel so when he has to relieve himself, he ends up nearly flooding a city. You can imagine how other baby scenarios can go from there. It’s a little too gross for me and I never really like seeing Beel on screen. He’s a character that I couldn’t adapt too and he certainly didn’t help the series. It mostly goes away during action scenes of course, but it’s one of the few negatives of the pre arc. Now it’s time to talk about the characters and there are quite a few in this series.

Oga Tatsumi is a pretty great main character. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan of him since the author tried a little too hard to make him a mean character. Yusuke and Ichigo are rebels, but what makes them cool is really the fact that they aren’t afraid to stand up to any villain. They also fight at the first opportunity. Oga is a pretty likable rebel for most of the series, but at the beginning it acts a little too much like a villain at times. Him messing with Furuichi is supposed to be comic relief of course, but he goes a little too far at times. Especially considering that Furuichi just wants to live a peaceful life, but is always forced into dangerous situations because of Oga. So, once Oga learns the values of friendship and mellows out a little more, he quickly becomes one of the best main characters out there.

One of the qualities that I respect the most in a main character is when he/she is willing to help out a friend even if it means breaking the rules. Oga definitely does that and he’ll always come to the rescue when his friends are in danger. (Which is rather often) His super form may not be the most imaginative one out there, but his fights are always fun. His fighting style of using magical seals is very unique and mixing in his extremely heightened physical abilities gives you a very powerful fighter at the ready. It would be hard to make Oga much cooler than he currently is since he’s just so good at this point.

Furuichi is the most recurring character in the series beyond Oga. He is always around no matter how dangerous the situation is. It’s rather sad for him since he is very weak and he never gets much stronger. He gets some magical tissues at one point that let him become a stronger fighter, but then he just gets beaten up by a new villain for shock value. He never wanted any part of this battle life that Oga has centered his life around, but he can’t desert his friend either. There is simply no winning for Furuichi so his tale is typically sad. He also has a sad origin story as well.

It would be easy to feel bad for Furuichi…until he does something bad and then you don’t feel bad for him anymore. He’s the kind of character who is way too into romance so you stop feeling bad for him since he isn’t a good character. It’s too bad since he has many likable moments and he gets quite a few intense moments like Oga. They’re just spoiled because you know that it’s going to go to his head and he’ll revert back to the character that you didn’t want to see. He has his good moments to be sure, but I definitely wouldn’t call him a good character. There is simply too much material to use against him.

Natsume is one of the only friends that I’m mentioning here, but I had too because he is a very odd character. The author never knew what to do with him so he gets a lot of hype at one point and then he basically vanishes for the whole series. He’s supposed to be very tough, but we never get any confirmation of that since he’ll just go and lose to a random figure when he feels like it. He is still a human so we can’t expect too much out of him, but his power level is never that consistent. He doesn’t take most of his fights seriously so it’s also hard to gauge just how good he is. He’s an interesting character, but you’ll probably dislike him by the end since he is just one big missed opportunity.

From the 4 big fighters of the school, Kuneida probably gets the biggest role. You can argue that she is the main heroine or you can make the case that Hilda deserves that title. Either way, Kuneida steadily improves throughout the series and she gets more training scenes than Hilda. She’s a much better character as well, but I suppose that this shouldn’t really sway you on who deserves the title of main heroine. They both get a lot of screen time I suppose. There aren’t any real negatives with Kuneida’s character and I was thrilled to see a sword fighter appear at last. It is sad that she is partnered up with Koma though since Koma is such an awful character. Luckily, she doesn’t have to actually work with him for most of her fights and she learns how to use some abilities while on her own. By the end of the series, she’s probably in the top 5 strongest heroes so that’s pretty impressive considering that she was just a human tier fighter at the beginning of the series.

Tojo is also a great supporting character, but the situation just isn’t in his favor for the most part. The problem is that he’s like Vegeta or any of your average Shonen Jump rivals. He looks great at first and he’s basically an unstoppable antagonist. Then he turns good and the author realizes that the audience will be shocked if he loses to a new villain. So it happens…and it happens…and it happens over and over again. If a new villain is introduced you may as well start counting the chapters until he crushes Tojo. Tojo always enters the fight with a lot of confidence and tough talk, but you know that he’ll end up on the ground. For extra shock value, he is sometimes taken out off screen or without any effort. He is the ultimate punching bag in the series. That being said, I do like him as a character. He temporarily passed Oga at one point in the series and it stayed that way for a brief while until Oga passed him again. He’s a likable character and he’s nice to animals, which is a huge plus. Unlike most of the other heroes, Tojo was always a good guy. He likes to get into fights, but it’s within reason and he’s a pretty upstanding citizen otherwise.

Himekawa is easily my least favorite member of the opening 4 bosses and he is just hard to like. I was almost warming up to him at one point. Not that he would ever become one of the most likable characters in the series, but I didn’t mind him as an ally. It all fell apart when he pulled a Rossiu on us and decided to wreck everything. We got a twist about that of course, but Oga had to take a lot of extra damage thanks to Himekawa’s rash actions. I couldn’t just let that slide and Himekawa had one of the biggest drops imaginable for an anime character. He was decent and now I consider him to be a downright terrible character. I couldn’t wait for him to get written out of the series.

Kanzaki is the first boss from the series and he must have been pretty popular since he gets to appear a whole lot after that. He’s your average bully who is actually a nice guy deep down and he loves to pamper his little sister. He’s not a bad character per say, but he is pretty generic and he rarely gets to win a battle. He just doesn’t add anything to the story, but his final form was pretty cool for his fans. Things definitely may have gotten dicey for him otherwise. He’s a loyal ally and a good friend to have, but he could have used some more character development or maybe just an epic fight. Seeing him jump into the school with a baseball bat was cool, but we knew how it would all end up. (It was a very frustrating scene though) That was the fate of his character.

It’s time to look at one of the characters who got hit the hardest by Beelzebub’s sudden ending. That would be Ichikawa. He was one of the 4 big characters from one of the final arcs and he got a lot of hype. He was going to be one of the strongest characters out there in theory, but then he went and got pummeled off screen. So much for his tough talk right? It’s too bad since he was a very interesting character and I wanted to see him get a few fights. He was likable in his few pages, but he just got the short end of the stick. We ended the series without really knowing much about him.

The same can be said about Akahoshi, but to a smaller extent. Thanks to a few filler chapters, we definitely know a lot more about him than Ichikawa. He was also a pretty fun character and I would go as far as to say that Akahoshi is probably one of the best characters in the series. He is main character material and it’s probably no coincidence that he looks very similar to Oga. It’s still a mystery as to why he’s so powerful since I didn’t totally buy the explanation, but he doesn’t get to finish his character arc. He came closer than Ichikawa though so I’m glad about that. He’s a lot nicer than Oga, but he’s still the leader of a gang so you should not underestimate this guy.

Hojo is probably the worst member of the 6 big fighters in that arc, but that also meant that she got to totally have her arc completed. She’s the weakest member of the group and you don’t really need any demonic abilities to take her down. She’s not completely weak though as she still gave Kuneida a decent fight, but she doesn’t strike fear into you the same way that the others could. She just felt out of her depths here and her goals of stopping Kuneida and the Red Tails just felt a lot more petty. If not for Beel pulling his tricks, her arc would have been a whole lot shorter.

Nasu is pretty crazy and he gives Oga a pretty good fight when they meet. He’s not one of the big 6 so his powers still aren’t extreme, but that just makes his battles that much more impressive. He beats up on the side characters for a while before getting to Oga, but he’s seriously bad news for most of the heroes. I don’t care for him personally, but his fights are pretty fun to watch. There aren’t many people who fight with their head smashed through a wall for the entire battle. (Hard to describe, but picture someone being rammed through a door and taking the door with them. Then imagine that person continuing to fight while the door is around their neck. It’s pretty surreal)

Takamiya may not be the final boss of the series, but he is certainly the most impressive fighter since he gets a lot of screen time. He really beats up on Oga and his allies even if there are some special circumstances at one point. He may be one of the strongest figures out there, but I definitely do not like him as a character. It helps that I didn’t care to see him beat up on Furuichi for so long since the hero couldn’t fight back. Takamiya is pretty sadistic and that’s why I didn’t care for how his character ending went. I know that Shonen Jump is about forgiving and forgetting, but it shouldn’t happen to instantly. I would have liked to see Takamiya go to jail for a few years to cool off. He definitely deserved that after everything that he did. His character design reminds me of Mukuro’s and it’s interesting since it’s not what you would expect from a street brawler. Likable or not, Takamiya definitely provides us with some great fights.

Fuji is the final boss of the series and he certainly lives up to the hype. His abilities are possibly a little too exaggerated since he’s been lounging around at home for the last few years instead of training. Having a demon to partner up with definitely gives you some added abilities, but the boost was way too big if you ask me. Well, ignoring that, he’s still a pretty good character. He’s pretty insane and he’s evil as opposed to most of the other guys who are simply “misunderstood.” Seeing him take on the entire cast is also a pretty great feat and he’s fun to fight. He has almost no development though so he’s just an opponent to face, but I suppose that this is fitting for the final boss. His abilities are no joke and he probably has the coolest super form from all of the villains. He’s probably my favorite villain now that I think about it.

Izuma is another hype character who appeared in the school challenge arc and you have to wonder what happened to him. There was a time where it seemed like he might have gotten a role in the current arc to help against the demons along with Tojo, but then he just took a backseat and decided to watch. He still got a decent role in the school battles of course, but stalemating Tojo isn’t the feat that it used to be. Since Oga already had a rival, this guy was basically not given the chance to prove himself. He’s definitely a decent villain though, but he seems unaware of just how badly he has been corrupted. He is sticking up for bullies after all so he should consider who the real villains are since he claims to be a hero. Still, he is interesting, which is good enough.

Miki is Oga’s rival and he knew the main character from their early days. Things happened and they grew apart, which made Miki decide that he wanted to beat up/destroy Oga. I can’t say that I agreed with Miki’s reasoning since it was pretty obvious why Oga did what he did during their origin. Even if Oga had been sincere, destroying him is going way too far. I can sympathize with Miki wanting to defeat him in combat. I’m totally all right with that, but he’s constantly going for the permanent solution so I can’t see him as anything other than a villain. It is impressive to see just how strong he got through his training though. It’s just too bad that he becomes irrelevant as soon as the real villains show up. He had a good roll until then though.

Saotome is a mysterious teacher who shows up at one point to help Oga train and he’s very powerful. You just wonder how he got to be so good and his backstory is never fleshed out. It’s cool to have a mentor figure of course, but he just pops up out of the blue and then he vanishes once things get serious. He does have a few good smirmishes with the villains though, but I would have liked to have seen him fight seriously at least once. That being said, he is significantly better than other mentors like Jiraiya and Master Roshi. At least you can take this guy seriously.

Beel appears about as much as Oga so it’s too bad that he’s completely unlikable. Just like how I don’t care for kids being main characters in live action films, I don’t care for babies being protagonists in manga. Beel is really just here for crude humor, which is too bad. He also puts Oga in a lot of tricky and/or embarrassing spots thanks to his actions. Beel gets a lot of hype for being immensely powerful, but we never get to see that since he is always just powering up his partner. That’s one way to show off a character’s strength I suppose, but it’s simply not a great way to do it. I don’t think that Beel had a single cool scene in the entire series and it would have been better off without him. He’s certainly one of the worst characters in the series. It’s definitely rare for a series with a pretty bad concept to actually become a legendary title, but Beelzebub pulled it off so Beel couldn’t really hold it back for long.

En is related to Beel and he’s just as annoying. He’s a little older so he’s more of a kid than a baby, but he’s very spoiled and his mini arcs are never that much fun. He’s not very good at video games and he’s just mean to everyone. He doesn’t mind blowing up the Earth so I think it’s fair to say that he’s a villain. There’s not a whole lot to say about him because he never gets to fight in the series, but he’s simply not my kind of villain. He’s certainly not loyal to his allies so he’s not even a respectable villain.

We can’t forget about Beel’s parents. They get a surprisingly small role in the series, but they are still around nonetheless. The Demon Lord is said to be extremely powerful, but he never gets to fight. He’s actually used for comic relief as he has a terrible memory and he’s always playing video games. He also seems to have the mentality of a little child as he sulks a lot and holds grudges when he feels like it. It’s easy to see why other demons keep planning to overthrow him since he does a lousy job of upholding law and order. I think it’s safe to say that the villains would have easily succeeded in their plans if not for Oga. The Demon Lord is just too oblivious to everything.

I can’t say that Iris is much better. She seems to be a lot more reasonable of course and things are pretty sad for her since she can’t walk. That being said, she is basically being played for her entire on screen appearance. She doesn’t even realize what is happening even though it is only thinly veiled. She also did leave Beel for basically the whole series so I really can’t sympathize with her actions. It doesn’t help that this was during the rushed part of the series. Maybe she could have been a better character with more time…maybe.

Athrun is a character who never got to appear much and the author may have forgotten about him. He is pretty powerful and he was much stronger than Oga at one point. It’s safe to say that Oga has surpassed him by now, but it would have been cool to have seen them fight. He’s the cool and calm collected character that you expect to see in a series at some point. He’s a swordsman, which makes him even cooler for me. He should have gotten more screen time! Johan is another intriguing character that I would have liked to have seen more of from the final part of the series. He’s pretty intense and he’s definitely a good agent since he can ride a motorcycle with ease while shooting at Oga. He may be a body guard, but he can hold his own with the best fighters out there. He is also pretty smart and he was one of the guys who tricked Iris for so long.

Alaindelon gives Beel some competition as one of the most annoying characters in the series. He’s always trying to be friends with Furuichi and most of his lines are purposefully suggestive. He acts gay throughout the series and it’s meant to be funny, but is just isn’t. He doesn’t contribute to the series at all even though he is always around and I don’t know how he ever got picked to be one of Beel’s bodyguards. He simply doesn’t help the heroes when it’s crunch time and it’s too bad that he was in the series at all.

Hilda is one of the main characters and she’s pretty decent. Unfortunately, she talks tough for all of her appearances, but she doesn’t get many fighters where she can really show off her skills. She is very tough since she was picked to guard Beel, but her power level is not very consistent. She’s definitely a very likable character though. She gets two personalities as she is usually in her normal one and she acts differently when she temporarily loses her memory. Both forms are pretty good although her normal personality is definitely the best one. She never backs down from a fight and she’s determined to protect Beel at any cost. She should have struggled a little more to stop herself from being kidnapped, but that’s a minor gripe. Through and through, Hilda is a very good character.

Yolda is Hilda’s rival and she’s a character who also could have used some more development. She seems like a nice character deep down even if she typically acts like an antagonist. She’s usually comic relief aside from her first appearances and while she is a decent fighter, Yolda is quickly surpassed by just about everyone after her initial fight or two. I think her character did have a lot of potential though and she is pretty likable. Certainly one of the better villains even if her boss is pretty cheap.

Lamia is the nurse from the demon world and she is good at her job, but she’s not a great character. She becomes friends with Furuichi, which is cool for him since he doesn’t have many friends. That being said, she can’t fight, which really limits her potential in this kind of series. She can heal their wounds, but that’s not the best role to have. She is also used a lot of comedy situations with Furuichi, which is not the greatest fate either.

Behemoth is an old demon who apparently was one of the strongest fighters back in the day. Unfortunately, we never get to see this so he’s a character who literally has to live off of hype. He’s still pretty strong of course, but it’s apparently only a glimpse into how he looked back in the day. He’s decent for an old fighter, but I just can’t take him seriously. I have nothing against the hype…but he needs to prove himself a little more. He just goes along with the villains and he doesn’t even get a say. Not exactly leader material!

Jabberwock is the big villain from the demon arc and he’s definitely intense. I’d say that he’s one of the better villains even if he’s not all that interesting. The series never gave him a whole lot of character development so he fell by the wayside. His abilities are good though. He’s pretty stuck up, but that makes it all the more satisfying when Oga takes him down. His design is pretty fitting for his character and he was a good villain. Jabberwock is honorable, which is more than I can say for a lot of the other villains.

The art is pretty good for the series and I definitely have no qualms there. The author uses a little too much ink with the demon attacks at times, but it also helps to show us just how powerful the attacks are. Most of the characters have pretty unique character designs, which help the characters to stay memorable. Naturally, this also helps the fight scenes since a good action moment needs great art if it wants to survive. The series also manages to pull off a pair of horror themed chapters towards the end where Oga enters the ghost town that used to be his home. It’s pretty intense since the tone shift was so dramatic, yet the art was able to keep up.

Whether a fight is occurring or not, Beelzebub is always fun to read. I’d compare it to Medaka Box in the sense that it is a fun ride from start to finish. There are no boring volumes and very few chapters that won’t entertain you either. Even the filler moments like Furuichi gaining magical powers are pretty fun as well. There are some serious moments thrown in for good measure, but the series never loses sight of what it is. An upbeat fighting manga that will always leave you feeling content with it.

One angle that I didn’t really discuss was the fanservice part. It’s not there a whole lot, but it is present thanks to Koma and Furuichi. Just about every scene in question that is in the series has something to do with them. Koma is the stereotypical pervert of the series while Furuichi falls into that category as well, but he typically tries to be more subtle. It’s still too bad since this is just a cheap trick that most series use at some point or another for quick views. It could have been worse, but what we did get still shouldn’t have been there. I’m still waiting for more series to take a look at Prince of Tennis so they can see how you do a series without any fanservice whatsoever. That series is still a shining example for all to see.

It should be noted that the series does end rather abruptly and it’s not very subtle either. The author handled it with as much pizzazz as he could, but there are still quite a few plot lines that are not wrapped up. An arc starts and then it quickly shifts to another arc before anything had really gotten to happen. When we go back to the previous arc to end the series, we find out that most of the battles already happened off screen. Naturally, this means that we also get a quick power up with a worse explanation than Ichigo’s big showdown at the end of the X Cution Arc. The situation is rather similar as it involves a rooftop battle and a lot of flashy abilities. I do love Oga’s final form so don’t get me wrong, but it definitely came out of nowhere. It did give us some great DBZ references though so I’ll let it slide. The series almost deserves an extra star for the way that it wrapped things up. The final fight was definitely DBZ level and it’s safe to say that Fuji and Oga could definitely hold their own against any fighter. They won’t be beating Goku of course, but their abilities could give most arc 1 guys a run for their money like Frieza or SSJ1 Goku. If you thought that Gintama was the only main character who could steal abilities…just wait. If a series being cancelled means that the author can go all out with super forms and powers, I wonder what Kubo would do for Ichigo in that case. The possibilities are endless!

How do the characters rank tier wise? Well, they’re nowhere near DBZ level (Except for the final fight) and I don’t see these guys taking down Tsuna, but then things get interesting from there. As I mentioned, there are some really powerful fighters, but the majority of the characters would lose to Naruto’s team from part one of the series. I think that Oga and the generals could probably hold their own against most One Piece/Naruto characters, but they would start to hit some trouble over in Bleach. I would consider the series as a whole to be A rank. I think that they could give Bleach a very good fight and they may have been able to win if not for the serious disadvantage in numbers. Beelzebub against Reborn! would be an incredible fight and I think Beelzebub may have the edge. Tsuna is certainly stronger than Oga, but his supporting cast is even weaker than Oga’s. It’s definitely a tough call, but reaching A-S rank is a pretty great feat!

Overall, Beelzebub is a pretty great Shonen Jump series. It has a lot of action and cool characters so that’s really all that you could want in such a series. Naturally, there is some mild fanservice to be found here once in a while, but it’s very rare and this series has less of it than Bleach and possibly even Naruto. The main thing that would have helped the series would have been if Beel had not been in it. I think it’s safe to say that the series could have easily reached a 9 with that. Even if the series kept Beel, then maybe getting rid of all the crude humor would have had the same effect. This series rivals Bleach in the number of “epic zoom in” scenes, which is very impressive. I highly recommend this to all manga readers and try not to enjoy the humor filled beginning toooooo much since the series jumps onto the action train pretty quickly.

Overall 8/10

Bakuman Review

Posted on December 27, 2014 by dreager1

Bakuman is a very unique Shonen Jump manga that decided to try and get some success without the typical action formula. There are no real fight scenes so would this really work out? Well, it manages to be very interesting like Death Note was and the continuity is very important here. I can safely say that it was much better than I had expected and it shows that Shonen Jump can succeed in any format!

Mashiro and Takagi are the main characters of this story. Mashiro had always liked drawing ever since he was a kid and Takagi enjoyed writing stories. One day, Takagi asked Mashiro if he would like to partner up to create a manga and that’s when the whole thing really started. They have to move up the Shonen Jump ranks if they want to catch up to famous authors like Kishimoto and Kubo. Along the way they meet many other aspiring authors and friends. They go through several editors although one of them ends up staying longer than the rest. They even get a rival in the form of Eiji. It’ll be a tough road, but these guys can hold their own!

Mashiro may technically share the lead role with Takagi in the series, but I’d say that he is definitely the true main character here. A large part of the plot is the fact that he proposed to Miho at the beginning of the series and they promised not to speak with each other again until Mashiro drew a hit series that got an anime and Miho got to be the voice actress for the main heroine. A rather lofty goal, but one that they decided to stick too. Naturally, this is an impossible deal that is broken several times, but they try to keep to this throughout the series and it’s a good subplot.

Mashiro is very determined and he can be pretty stubborn once he has made up his mind. He’ll never be the guy to crack first and he’ll hold his ground to the bitter end. His uncle died from overworking himself and it’s a trait that Mashiro shares with him. He ends up working on manga well past his limits and it comes back to hit him several times. He’s a pretty solid lead although he’s not nearly as good as the average Shonen Protagonist. To an extent, he’s meant to act as the reader. So, he has some personality to keep him interesting, but not too much so that you can still put yourself in the manga instead of him. He’s basically just your average joe who wants to succeed. He’s likable though and that’s what counts.

Takagi is more reasonable than Mashiro on most things. He never overworks himself, although he certainly takes his job seriously. He trusts Mashiro’s opinion when it comes to anything manga related and he’ll keep on creating new stories until he makes one that has Mashiro’s approval. He’s the guy who initiated the team up and you can tell that he is definitely more confident in his movements. Mashiro was rather timid at first and he was still known as a pretty quiet person til the very end. (Although he certainly got braver) Takagi was brave from the start although he didn’t gain rivals quite as quickly. He “cracks” a little more often than Mashiro when the pressure starts to get to him and I do think that he probably has the tougher job since he has to come up with a new story each week, but both are certainly difficult. Mashiro just does a better job of handling the pressure and I do think that he is a better character than Takagi.

Eiji is the big rival of the series and he certainly gets a lot of screen time. He’s basically untouchable though since his series manages to outlast just about every other one and it surpasses Naruto and Bleach at one point. Naturally, those two aren’t mentioned by name, but Crow managed to be in 1st place for over 10 weeks straight so you know what that means. I don’t blame the readers either since Crow sounded pretty awesome. Eiji is a fun rival even if his personality does a 180 sometimes. For no reason he’ll just become antagonistic before reverting to his cheerful self once again. It seems to just be a quirk of the author’s here though as characters tend to act a little out of character when it’s not from their point of view. He’s still one of the better characters in the series.

Miho’s the main heroine of the series and she doesn’t get as much screen time as most of the main characters, but she’s always around. The main reason for her lack of screen time during some of the sections is due to the fact that she is keeping up her end of the bargain to not see Mashiro until their goals have been met. She quickly rises up through the ranks of the voice actress ranks so that she can be ready when the anime has arrived. She’s a good character, but not quite as interesting as most main heroines. She’s very polite and also pretty quiet like Mashiro so this unfortunately means that we don’t get a lot of tough lines from her. A “Watch me win this role” 2 months in advance would have been an awesome line to really get the shonen blood going, but it was not to be. So, she’s a good character, but she could have been better.

Kaya is another one of the big characters and she serves as the other main heroine since she’s with Takagi. Unlike Miho and Mashiro, they get together pretty early on in the series. Kaya helps the team out with art and other duties when the heroes are in a pinch, but she usually just tries to remind them that they should have a life beyond just working on manga. Time usually flies by for them so they can basically go a whole day just working after all. She’s pretty nice and she helps to keep the heroes together. She doesn’t have a lot of misunderstandings with Takagi unlike the other pair so that’s pretty good.

Fukuda is a character that I could never really like. He’s decent to be sure, but he’s one of the rivals to the main characters and he just never seemed that talented. His stories had some good concepts, but he could never execute them and the art simply wasn’t there. He talked really big and he got a big following on his motorcycle series, but I can’t really say much for him beyond that. He was probably the most vocal member of the team from the main characters, but he was never really a threat and he eventually just became an ally for the heroes.

Nakai is one of the worst characters in the series and he goes from being a decent character to being downright antagonistic. By the end of the series he has lost all of his morals and he’ll stoop down to just about any level. I definitely grew tired of his plot and I would just wait for him to go away only to see his character return. The author makes sure that you will dislike him so don’t expect any redeemable qualities from the guy.

Aoki almost feels out of place amidst the other authors because she is not loud and determined like the others. She feels more like royalty and she’s very cautious in all of her moves. She simply very polite and she wants to make a nice manga without cheap Shonen tricks like fanservice and action every other chapter. I disagree with the latter, but I’m glad that she avoided the former. Unfortunately, the series does send a pretty sad message since she is eventually forced to throw those into her story. That was pretty sad and I wished that she could have held her ground a little more. She’s definitely a nice character, but maybe just a little too perfect. Considering that everyone is basically in one large drama, she doesn’t really add to it like the others. That’s why she should have defied the authors, it would have given her a pretty cool subplot.

Hiramaru is one of the more desperate members of the main authors since he doesn’t even like drawing manga. He used to be a professional at something and he was making a lot of money, but he thought that manga writing would be easy to he decided to focus on that. Turns out that he was wrong, but his editor manages to keep him around by promising to get him a connection with a lady at some point. Hiramaru falls for this trick for most of the series and eventually his character arc comes to a close. I don’t agree with him teaming up with Nakai towards the end though and I think that this was definitely a bit much. Nobody should have to work with Nakai after all of the things that he has done. Hiramaru has his charm, but he’s still not one of the better characters.

Iwase was a pretty good novel writer who wondered why Takagi would sacrifice his great grades and writing abilities to join the manga world. She was so interested that she decided to get involved as well and she quickly became a rival of his. She’s also a story writer so she needed to find someone to do the art and the situation intensified when Eiji volunteered to help. In the end, Aoki proved to be more talented at writing novels since manga typically use less text per page, but she held her own for quite a while. She’s pretty proud and believes herself to be above such things and that’s one of the reasons why I would say that she was one of the more interesting members of the group. She eventually learns the value of being a manga writer or course.

Nanamine is probably the only villain in the series. Nakai may as well be one, but this guy makes it clear that he is on the side of injustice from the get go. He comes complete with his own sob story about how he used to be a fan of the main characters. Now he believes that the end justifies the means so he comes with a pair of tricky strategies in order to guarantee his success. They are pretty ingenius methods, but at least one of them is not practical unless you are already rich…and it just so happens that Nanamine is rich so it works out. As a character Nanamine definitely isn’t great, but I was glad that he came around. It brought the Shonen Jump effect on the series to a whole new level and we got some pretty cool cliffhangers out of the whole thing.

Hattori is the main editor for the two main characters and he’s pretty good. He can be a little annoying at times though as he is very cryptic with his advice and he tends to panic a lot. Every series has “that” character who panics about how strong the villains are and tells the heroes that they should quit while they’re ahead. (Brock, Krillin, Chopper, etc) Whenever a new character shows him the manga that they are working on, he makes an incredibly exaggerated face (That is recycled a lot) and he mentions how it may be impossible to top this work. He sticks up for the main characters sometimes, which is pretty good, but he’s certainly not one of my favorite characters in the series. If it helps, I’d say that he’s probably the best editor in the series, although the editor in chief is cooler than him.

The art looks very good throughout the series. The artist has to be able to switch his artwork several times as he showcases very different series from the authors/artists within the series so that definitely takes a lot of skill. The artist is definitely experienced and my only complaint with the art would be that a lot of the characters use the exact same expressions from time to time. It may not be very evident if you were reading this series on a weekly basis, but I basically marathoned through the entire series so I would even read 2-3 volumes a day at one point. At that quick pace, you tend to notice things like this a lot easier. The face expression that I never liked was when the editor’s nostrils would turn huge and steam would come out as he exclaimed how good a series was. It’s a little exaggerated and it makes him look bad since he says that about almost every big series. A random newcomer who turned evil made a series about wrestling and he had that reaction. I can understand him reacting that way for an Eiji or Mashiro story, but that should be the extent of it. For the most part, all of the other characters suffer from this as well and I think that it may just be one of the weak points of such a story. Since the main characters are in a pretty similar setting in similar circumstances many times, it makes sense that it would be harder for the artist to resist using such a tactic. Nevertheless, the overall art is pretty solid.

This is the kind of series that you would certainly expect to get a 7 or less, but it was just too interesting to deny it an 8. Whenever there would be a new batch of manga for me to read, this one got top priority. The only series that I would choose over it at the time would have been Soul Eater and Kenshin. Beyond that, Bakuman was the series that I was most eager to read. It’s a real page turner and that’s mainly because of the big cast and all of the subplots that are going on. It takes the typical Shonen routes and throws some drama in there and there is certainly a lot of tension because of the deadlines and the fact that only a certain amount of series can run in the magazine at once. No matter how you look at it, that means that some of the main characters will have to take a loss at some points when their series is cancelled.

The series does unfortunately have some fanservice in it. Typically it doesn’t have anything to do with life outside of the manga, but some authors believe that you should add it into the series and there is the whole subplot about having Aoki add it into her series. It’s a sad running gag that the guys naturally enjoy seeing those kind of scenes as well, which doesn’t help their case. There are also two perverted characters in the series whose every line is just cringe worthy and it makes you wish that they were not there. Luckily, one of them does get punched…maybe both of them. That was pretty fun and satisfying. So, the discussions can be a little much at times and it’s never enjoyable when they’re talking about things like that. It doesn’t happen all that often at least.

The series certainly has a lot of romance since it is like a drama during a lot of the volumes and many pairings happen. Miho and Mashiro’s is probably the best one since they decide that they won’t even talk until their goals are met. Now, that’s a safe and happy relationship if I ever saw one. Naturally, they break down and allow texts to be sent to each other during the series and by the end they are willing to phone each other, but they stay true to their goals. For the others, nothing unnecessary happens so I’ll give credit to the manga for that. The romance is handled a whole lot better than most other series.

One of the fun parts about the series is getting to see the various series that the authors are writing. It’s cool to see the actual manga artist adapt his style so many times to see what they are like. The best series that we get to see is probably Crow since it’s your average Shonen filled with a lot of fights and cool characters. The main characters created several series, but their best one was definitely the one that they closed out with. Reversi was its name and it was a mix of D.N. Angel and Deathnote. It had a pretty cool concept and the ending was certainly intense. Their other two big series were PCP and Detective Trap. Both of them were mysteries while Detective Trap was played seriously and PCP was basically a kudomo in disguise. Both of them sounded good, but not quite as good as Reversi.

Their rivals naturally had others, but they weren’t quite as good. We had +Natural…which sounded really boring and I have no idea how it lasted so long. There was a Beaver series and it was basically a comedy that I also thought should have been doomed. The Classroom of Truth was a great series and it’s one that they should totally make in real life. The concept is incredible and it could really have a bright future. Road Racer Giri also sounded fun as a racing series, but it was lacking something. Many more series also get to appear throughout the manga so it’s fun to keep an eye out on those.

The series is very heavy on continuity, which is fun since you get to age alongside the characters. Several years pass as you go through the volumes and they make sure to let you know where some of the series rank just about every week. Keep in mind that we are supposed to believe that Naruto, One Piece, and Bleach are around even if we have to stretch our imaginations a little to actually believe that they would lose to these titles…consistently. They lost just about every week, which is kind of sad for them. The series may have been better off just ignoring those titles, but I guess this series is also meant to be pretty informative about how to write a manga so they wanted to keep it in.

It’s one of those series where you just need to read it to fully capture the size and scope of it all. The plot is pretty linear and it always continues from the last point, which is why it’s impossible to mention all of the plot lines. They just keep going and going as they transition into other things. There are also a lot of other characters who come and go during the series. Many of them are forgettable while some of the others can be fun like the other editors. They definitely get competitive with the series. Bakuman is very realistic so just about all of the characters can be annoying from time to time as they try to downplay some series and upvote others with some personal bias, but that just makes the whole thing more exciting.

Overall, Bakuman is a pretty great series. As I mentioned, it will naturally not be as exciting the second time around since that is a weakness for series that don’t contain action, but the first time is good enough. It’s a series that will make you want to keep reading from start to finish and most of the characters are likable. I do think that they reuse too many expressions throughout the series, but I guess it’s tough to not do that when you’ve got a series like this one. I recommend checking out the series because it is not as dull as it may sound. (Although I love these kinds of plots myself) This is still Shonen Jump after all so you can typically expect a high quality piece from them.

Overall 8/10

Smash Bomber Review

Posted on December 24, 2014 by dreager1

Smash Bomber is a series that I had not heard about until about 10-20 minutes ago. I quickly checked out the 3 chapters and I have to say that I can see why it was canceled. The actual concept is great and this could have been the next toyetic elite, but the author made some interesting choices that just didn’t go over well. Add in the under average art and you don’t have the next Megaman NT Warrior. Well, let’s see how it went.

Keep in mind that there were only three chapters and the page count was less than 60 overall. So, this is about half as long as the average manga volume or even less than that. Well, it is the future and a new game has captured the hearts and minds of kids. It’s called Smash Bomber and the rules are almost identical to that of Beyblade’s. You have to essentially use your disc to hit the opponent’s discs out of the arena. It takes skill and tricks, but the big change is that you use your physical abilities to amp up your moves. Like jumping off of a sky scraper or something like that. Each fighters starts out with 5 discs so you have to think strategically about how you want to win.

The main character goes by the name of Binta. He wants to be the greatest Smash Bomber who ever lived. Unfortunately, his friend thinks that this is an unreasonable goal and so does everyone that he comes into contact with. I can understand since Binta is apparently not even that good, but it’s still sad for the kid. He duels Banji, the leader of the bullies at school and then they learn of an evil plot led by BJ. These guys are stealing people’s discs after they humiliate them in duels. Binta won’t stand for this and he quickly decides to team up with Banji’s group to put a stop to this. Will they be able too?

I do have to give the series credit for the fact that it actually manages to end things without a cliffhanger even though there were only three chapters to be found. That takes a lot of effort on the author’s part and he’s probably glad that he hadn’t started adding many characters in yet. Some of them certainly get the shaft thanks to the quick ending, but at least they got to show just how strong they could be. One panel fights can still be impressive…..right?

So, Binta seems to be a decent main character. Naturally, he is super generic though and I can’t say that I’m overly impressed with his skills. He gets a “hardcore” moment after his big training montage, but it’s hard to really feel like he earns one. He can’t have improved all that much in a few hours. I also think that he should have quickly walked away from the training at the first opportunity so that certainly did not help his case either. He’s not a bad main character, but he’s not exactly the next Kaz Gordan!

Banji is the Dex of the series. He’s a bully who quickly turns out to be a nice guy after chapter 1. He’s supposed to be very tough, but he lost to Binta in chapter one so consider me unimpressed. I definitely don’t care for him and he almost put a whole building out of business just so that he could train some more. He has an emotional moment during his duel that is supposed to win you over. Let’s just say that it didn’t really work.

BJ is the main villain of the series and he’s mean to the bone. He wants to duel with the highest possible stakes, but the problem is that the stakes are actually pretty small during the duel. Nevertheless, he decides that he will take his own life if he loses the duel. This causes some tension with the main character. After all…can Binta really try to win this duel if he knows that it will be all over for BJ? BJ’s design is pretty cool and he’s a tough villain. He’s very one dimensional, but you can only do so much in three chapters right? He’s definitely the best character in the series so I’ll give him some props there.

Chie is the main heroine and she’s certainly not passionate about Smash Bomber. She wants Binta to give up on the “silly sport” so that he can become a real person like the others. She must not have heard that everyone in the world loves Smash Bomber, but that’s just the way that it goes I suppose. At least the author finally decided that having everyone’s name start with a b would get old after a while so he went for the next letter. She has her big friendship moment during the last chapter, but she still felt a little overly hostile towards Binta. He has discs to save after all!

The art is pretty sketchy here I’m afraid. It’s very rough around the edges and even the Beyblade manga started out on a higher level in this category. The actual designs are good, but it’s almost impossible to see what is happening. I only grasped the rules once the third chapter had started and even then I have a feeling that there is more than meets the eye. The way that they hit the discs just seems strange. I think the characters throw the disc at the other discs or maybe they just make contact with their staff or body. It’s very interesting and the series definitely could have gone more in depth with it. Binta gets mad at BJ for putting all of his pieces together, but why should he be. It’s like camping or projectile spamming…they’re totally legitimate….

Now, why is this series a 5 instead of a 7? The main reason is the second chapter. To improve their skills, the heroes head to a local bathing house and learn that training requires serious business. They mean that literally btw. Basically, each character poops and then they place the stack right in front of themselves. The others have to throw their discs at the other person’s disc, but if they aim too low they will hit the poop and if they aim to high….that could be painful. Naturally, all of the kids aim too low for shenanigans to ensue until the main character steps in. That being said, it’s still incredibly wince worthy and you will never want to read the chapter again. I’m sure that the series was canceled at this point because that chapter was just sad.

Overall, Smash Bombers is a series that could have certainly been better. Toyetic shows should always be nothing less than amazing and if you aren’t an instant 7 to an 8 then you must have done something wrong. Having an entire chapter dedicated to the main characters using their droppings to train was really uncalled for. That guaranteed that a 5 was the best that it could do and even a 4 was in question for a minute there. *shudder* If you ignore that chapter, then the rest is decently good and you should probably check it out since it’s a very quick read.It does have some neat action scenes and the ending does manage to make things very dangerous very quickly. Also, how many people can brag that they’ve read a 3 chapter manga before right?

Overall 5/10

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