Tag Archives: Manga

Joker: One Operation Joker Review

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The title feels a bit redundant. I’m used to just saying One Operation Joker but everyone seems to list it this way so I suppose I’ll follow suit. It’s a fun miniseries, I don’t think it’s quite as good as some of the other superhero mini titles I’ve read like Superman’s food adventures and the Spider-Man Fake Red title but you’ll have fun here. I think there was even a lot of potential here for future developments if they had made this a long running title but not every series is meant to stick around forever. At the end of the day, this one still explored the concept fairly well.

The story starts with Batman and Joker fighting as always but a freak accident happens during the fight and Batman regresses back to being a baby. He has no memories now and Joker can’t let the situation stay like this. He really believes that his role as a villain is pointless without a Batman to fight against and so he vows to raise the baby back into being Batman until he can find a cure. It’ll be difficult since he is such a villain but the Joker is nothing if not determined. He will be the greatest role model that Batman could ever have. Will the baby grow up into the famous crime fighter though or will be turn out differently?

One of the more interesting angles here is of course that this happens in the present. It’s not an AU or any time travel involved so to the rest of the world Batman just vanished randomly. Of course the same is true of Bruce Wayne as well and so we have Alfred and Robin having to wonder what happened. At least in the background, they don’t show up until we near the end of the series. Crime is likely back on the rise as well although with Joker not committing many crimes, it tends to balance itself out a bit.

What will be the make or break point for this manga in terms of how much you enjoy it will of course be the humor. This is really a slice of life title with the main gag being that Joker is super serious but always has to do responsible things. He will be thinking about bombing a bank and then suddenly he has to worry about getting Bruce to daycare instead. He’ll think about beating someone up but instead bows/apologizes to someone. This kind of thing happens a lot to the point where the gag will be appearing in just about every chapter. It’s a core part of the gimmick of the series after all.

I do think the series can be a bit repetitive on this angle mainly because there are only so many ways that you can approach it. That’s how it is in most titles like this though. There’s a Detective Conan spinoff about the world’s worst murderer who wants to be a criminal but never succeeds. That title replays the same gag over and over as well. There are plenty of titles that hitch the wagon to a single gag so it’s not out of the ordinary, it just means that the gag itself ends up becoming super important to how much you enjoy the series.

For me it’s fun enough. The series never gets laugh out loud funny or anything like that but it’s harmless. The series actually avoids the easy crude humor type jokes which I really appreciated. I also think the Joker makes for a good main character. I’d have liked it if he kept a little more of his edge though. Have him still be happy and goofy around Bruce but make it so he still has a scary aura to everyone around him. I think that contrast would probably have made the gags more effective. His transformation into actually being more of a decent person does lead into the climax of the series but I’d just have tweaked that a bit.

As this is more of a comedy title, there aren’t a lot of fights anyway but you sort of wish Joker could have done better near the end. Now while the series is light hearted, there can be some dark moments. I was pretty surprised at how beaten up Robin got once the Riddler showed up. The Riddler is probably the most imposing that I’ve ever seen him. Definitely a far cry from his portrayal in the latest movie. He does really well here and I was glad to have a real villain at the end. That’s the part of the climax that I would have extended though. Also, I’d like to have seen some more actions from the aftermath but I guess we’ll have to just imagine how it would have played out.

Robin looks good here even if he doesn’t do great in the fights. His loyalty is always impressive and the guy did his best in finding a lead. Alfred also looks really impressive here as he connects quite a few dots on his own. Ultimately he overthinks things but his instincts were on point. On the Joker’s side, we naturally had Harley Quinn show up as well. Playing family is something you figure she’d be into, so naturally this situation works for her rather quickly. Even Joker’s minions are okay with this since a lot of them have families too and now they won’t really be in danger of getting murdered so quickly.

The artwork for the series is actually really solid. There’s a lot of detail all the time and whenever they throw together a scary moment, I have to say that it looks really impressive. The artist would clearly be able to really nail a serious action title. You’re not likely to forget the big splash pages that are scattered within the title. The few fights that we do get also end up looking really solid.

There’s a time skip that happens near the end of the series and I would have liked to have seen more from that era. I actually think it lends itself even better to a lot of shenanigans and fun plot scenarios because at that point Bruce is actually old enough to talk and everything. You could have a reverse Spy Family situation set up where the Joker is a responsible parent by day and a villain by night. It would fit in fairly well as a dark humor kind of plot that you would expect here.

Overall, This Joker manga was fun. It can be a bit repetitive so that keeps it from reaching the next level but the series is also fairly short so it’s not like it’s dragging on for a long time or anything like that. There’s certainly more positives than negatives here either way. The core premise is so out there that you’re just curious how it’ll work out and the series gets very wholesome. You naturally have to overlook the fact that the Joker’s still evil but regardless it’s still fun to read. Definitely check this out if you want to see the very surreal image of Joker trying his best to be the best Dad ever.

Overall 6/10

Dr. Stone: 4D Science Review

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It’s time for the return of Dr. Stone. After the series ended a while back, it returned briefly for a 3 chapter mini series. That was a pretty nice surprise particularly since it actually does add some more context to that controversial ending involving the time machine. Retroactively it adds a lot to the lore as well although this may have been a bit too ambitious for a 3 chapter series. The first chapter has a massive cliffhanger after all and the second one ends with some mysteries but the third has to wrap things up rather quickly. I’d say it feels rushed but I’m at least 99% confident this was meant to be a 3 chapter miniseries from the jump so I suppose that was intentional.

The series starts by having Senku remember his first time trying to make a time machine. He was a kid at the time and so he knew he couldn’t actually build one but what he could do was test to see if a certain event would happen in the future. For example, hypothetically if you built a time machine and did find a way to travel through time, the best way to prove it would be to leave something for your past self to find right? Well nothing happens so Senku gives up on it but in the present they decide to try again. To their surprise something does happen…they discover a message from Senku’s father implying that he was able to master time travel but how is that possible? It’s time for the scientists to work on one last case!

I do want to say that this experiment is the most logical way to test time travel and it’s also why I’m confident that it will never be discovered. In theory there would be some evidence at this point from people going back in time. I know a few counter arguments for it is that they’re really careful about changing time so that only the outcomes are noticeable and since that’s our present reality we would not be able to tell. I’m not sold on that but time travel’s always an interesting subject. So for the heroes to get a message from Senku’s father, that’s pretty big.

It’s a great hook from the first chapter and the only problem is that there are a ton of really fun scenarios you can make from that but the series doesn’t opt to go with any of them. It’s a shame because I think that would have been great. Perhaps a little “Jump the Shark” in nature since it would be way less science based but it would be fun. Instead the series opts to go with the cop out ending as in it ends before we see exactly what happened. The series allows you to decide for yourself if the time travel worked or if it didn’t. Me personally? I’d rather know one way or the other. The author needed to take a stand here and just tell us. Putting off the decision of what happened feels like the author was just playing it too safe.

Perhaps one day we will get a sequel to this that explores the ending because at least if the ending goes one way then there is plenty of room for a sequel and that’ll definitely change things in a big way. Beyond that the art is really solid as always. I like the realistic style that is always used for Dr. Stone. The writing is also good as you would expect with all of the characters making plans and it’s good to see that Senku really hasn’t changed a bit. He’s still a super logical person who doesn’t let anything get to him.

I did appreciate that Ryusui also got a really big role here. He’s the first one to pick up on something and the series hasn’t forgotten that he can compete in intelligence with everyone else. Perhaps not as a pure scientist, Chrome, Xeno, and Senku are definitely superior there but in overall intelligence and picking up on things, it’s hard to beat him. He was also doing his best to shield Senku from taking any emotional damage which I appreciate. The characters are really a close knit group at this point and even with society back, you figure they will always stay great friends and won’t drift apart.

There’s one emotional subplot in here that sort of comes out of nowhere though. At best you just don’t really care about it and at worst it feels like just a way to nerf a character. The all powerful alien cube beings apparently have emotions and just hide them behind logic. Why is this even a thing? It just doesn’t make sense to me and it has this whole emotional goodbye to everyone before going back into its emotionless mode. So why is his basically filler? Because if you skip that chapter, the status quo hasn’t changed. It’s back to being emotionless and in theory the emotional outburst will never be mentioned again. So…..yeah there just wasn’t much of a reason for this. I can’t say I felt bad for it either since the being creates a lot of the drama in this miniseries for no good reason. If it just talked things through with Senku that would have been way better and Senku would have understood since he is a scientist at heart. There are some twists of course since this miniseries is part mystery so I won’t go any further into the nitty gritty of what’s going on there.

Overall, This was a fun mini series. At only 3 chapters long it’s really a blink and miss it kind of title. You’ll be done with it so quickly that it almost feels like a one shot but in volume format it’ll be a fun way to see the cast again. Each character gets a quick moment to contribute and we also get a classic building roadmap which was always fun in the series. It’s a little too short to really go into too much detail on this but there’s still enough for you to feel the nostalgia. Outside of the cop out ending which is a little iffy, there’s nothing bad here so there’s really nothing to dislike. Particularly within the context of the 3 chapters limit I’d say it did a good job.

Overall 7/10

Monsters Review

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Lets take a look at Oda’s original oneshot! One Piece has become one of the most recognized franchises in the world and yet before that he had already written a quick story here. You can tell that his art style is a little rougher around the edges from back then but it still looks clear enough. It’s a fun story and you can bet that I was inspired to check this out since the new Netflix adaption just came out. It’s a rare case where I saw the adaption before the original special. It’s a very faithful adaption though so it’s just about the same.

We start off with the famous Shirano stopping by a local village and he is recognized by the waitress Flare who was saved by him as a child. She survived a very traumatic ordeal when a dragon murdered everyone and destroyed the village but thanks to his help she survived. Unfortunately a samurai known as Ryuma appears and picks a fight. Shirano defeats him and diffuses the situation but that same samurai picks a fight with a villainous figure known as D.R. who decides to summon a dragon as revenge. Now the village is doomed to be destroyed and Flare wishes that Ryuma had never stopped by. She will have to relive the same tragedy all over again and this time Shirano will likely die as he has decided to stay back and fight it which is a fool’s errand.

Ryuma definitely comes across as really irresponsible and not the kind of guy you want to have as your hero. Picking fights for minor things is a bit much no matter how he tries to justify it. Yeah I put no blame on him for the D.R. matter because villains will do what villains do but he shouldn’t have picked a fight at the restaurant. The guy does have a good rage mode in the story though. Seeing Flare break down and jumping into action was definitely the right move. The scene showing her trying to keep it together was really good.

I give her a lot of credit there because trying to put on a brave face is a really tough thing to do but she pulled it off. It may not have fooled Ryuma but she wasn’t trying to burden anyone with her problems. I deduct some points for her blaming Ryuma for everything right away though. D.R. is the one who looks shady and at the end of the day he summoned the dragon so shouldn’t you be blaming him the most? Same goes for all of the villagers who panic as always.

Shirano definitely has a really big role in the story as well. It’s a role you can probably see coming but he pulls it off well. There’s always something scary about a character like this when you feel like you know him but then find out the hard way that you never did. It’s why you have to be careful who you trust and how far you trust them. Trust is not something to be given lightly. D.R. is a very forgettable character though and there’s nothing to make him stand out.

As mentioned the art is a little on the rough side but I would still say it’s good enough. You can always tell what is going on. It really has changed a lot compared to the current One Piece days but hey time will do that to any artist. There is a decent page count to this oneshot but with the wide panels and lots of reaction type shots, it really goes by very quickly. You’ll easily be able to read this one in one sitting. The action scenes we get here are really short so at the end of the day this is more about the adventure. You won’t be bored at any point and it moves pretty quickly so I have no issues there.

I think this could have even worked as a full ongoing if the author was interested in that. It definitely would have been more of a Kenshin type story about a wandering samurai but with the dragon in chapter one, the author already opened the door for a lot of supernatural events which would be different. Dragons themselves aren’t super rare to find in a story like this but if the author went far enough with spellcasters and such this could have been pretty unique. Ultimately I am glad that we got One Piece instead though.

Overall, Monsters is a fun oneshot. It’s a nostalgic trip to the past and an interesting look at what could have been rather than One Piece. It’s a good title which is enough for a oneshot like this but naturally doesn’t have enough in it to pass the average ongoing title. It’s free on the viz site right now so I’d recommend giving it a read. Then if you enjoy the series, it’s time to quickly check out One Piece and begin one of the longest journeys of your life!

Overall 6/10

Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card Review

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It’s time to look at the sequel to the original Cardcaptors series. It accomplished something that is usually very tricky to pull off which is that it’s simply a whole lot better. In my mind it’s not even close as this one had a better villain, higher stakes, and better emotional moments. The series is still fairly low key so I’m not saying it’s a great title or anything but I had a good time with it. I imagine it also works even better when you’re binging it because you can get to all of the story beats quickly. At its core this is a series that is very peaceful and has a lot of wholesome moments. The ending is solid enough and while you may have preferred a more explosive climax, the series delivers when it counts.

So the series starts off with something odd happening. All of Sakura’s cards end up being depowered and turning back to normal. This is rather concerning but what is even more concerning is the fact that Sakura is having some odd dreams about someone in a cloak. Well, Sakura doesn’t scare easily so she goes about her business and then one day her school gets a new transfer student named Akiho. She looks a lot like Sakura and is also very kind and timid. They may as well be twins and Akiho’s guardian is a nice man named Kaito. He exudes a powerful presence but hey that just means that this guy is legit. For some reason Syaoran has started to keep some secrets from Sakura though, will this cause some friction to develop?

I will say straight from the start it is annoying that Syaoran is keeping secrets like this. Seriously he and Sakura have been through so much already. He should be telling her everything that he can. Yes, there are certain things he is physically unable to tell her because of a spell so I’m not counting those of course. No, I’m talking about the secrets that he does know about and chooses not to tell her anyway. Sakura is cool with this because she’s super understanding and will forgive anything but it’s a bad look for him.

Syaoran ends up getting wrecked quite a lot in this series because he can’t really keep up with the power levels at this point. It is nice to see him act a bit in the climax but for most of the story expect him to stay on the sidelines. That’s also true for most of the supporting characters but that’s mainly expected since that’s usually what they do. At this point they’re there for the school scenes but aren’t really intervening in the plot too much. The series is long enough where those scenes do add up but I do think the cast is one of the weak points of the series. There aren’t many characters that I love. There are some solid ones but not a ton of them.

The character doing the heavy lifting here is absolutely Kaito. This guy is absolutely excellent and really controls the plot. I looked forward to seeing him every week because as long as he was around I knew that things would move forward. His goals are also very noble. He is the antagonist but he’s not trying to murder everyone or anything like that. He’s trying to make life better for one person in particular and is willing to do whatever it takes to help her out. That’s what I like to see in a solid villain. I would even say he is more of an anti hero to be honest.

Basically he fought off an entire council of super wizards to protect Akiho and then he also risked his eternal soul in addition to his life in order to save her. It’s all incredibly impressive stuff. Stuff that you wouldn’t see from the average villain trying to mess up everyone’s day. Clamp has had their share of evil villains too of course so it can happen but I was cool with having a more heroic focus this time around. Self sacrifice is always a great character trait to have and I also liked how powerful he was.

Kaito spent his life trying to be as powerful as possible and learning spells to help Akiho. The fact that he reached such a high level is a testament to his dedication. The two of them had a really strong bond the whole time. Although he really saw Akiho as more of a close friend while she was hoping for more, that’s how it goes sometimes. Akiho is a solid character but she’s too young to really know what is going on. In part that’s due to Kaito though because he really wanted her to be able to lead an ordinary, quiet life. So he succeeded completely in that part.

He didn’t count on her still being worried about him though but there’s not much that he could have done about that. No matter how expert he was in using his abilities, it would still show a little from time to time and when it comes to Kaito, Akiho would be fairly observant in that area.

The manga also has a little fun with the time travel like when the series literally rewinds a few chapters because Kaito used his powers. This happens more than once and it’s a lot of fun. It shows just how advanced his abilities are. Of course eventually that won’t work on a true powerhouse like Sakura. Another thing I liked about this sequel is that it treated Sakura with a lot of respect. This makes sense because at this point in the series she should absolutely be stronger than most of the people who show up. Sakura has been fighting for much longer than them and she has mastered the cards. So seeing her defy time stop and overpower fate was great.

Of course this series isn’t about action like that but when it happens I am always glad to see it. That’s when the series is at its best and of course the general plot with Kaito. Where it tends to be less engaging is in the slice of life stuff which of course is rough since that’s the majority. Again it goes back to the characters because I’ve read tons of Shojo at this point and they always tend to be more engaging. From rom-coms like Love-Com to the more dramatic ones like Arisa, you get hooked on the story. For Cardcaptor, it just feels like a lot of the dialogue is fluff. Like the characters talking about a picnic or a nice dress to wear. It’s all just so down to earth that it goes too far into not being very entertaining the whole time.

I would really love to see the series go full on action. There are enough fighters at this point where that could happen and Kaito could easily take on just about anyone in the verse. It’s a dream of course but it would be really nice. Clamp has shown in the past that they can absolutely do a battle series when they really want to. It would make things more eventful for sure. After all this series is over 10 volumes and yet if you cut out the fluff/filler you could probably adapt the whole thing in 4 volumes. That may be a slight exaggeration but at least to me that makes sense based on how much you don’t actually need to get involved with. It does make for a much shorter review than most titles of this size would be as well since there’s not a whole lot to discuss.

Really the bulk of the discussion points are about Kaito and I’ve already went into that. He was an amazing character with a great goal and I was supporting him the whole time. I know you could say a flaw of his is that he tries to do everything himself without asking for help but it is completely understandable. He’s the one with time manipulation abilities after all and putting anyone else into the mix could put them in some serious danger. So it’s just not that strange that he’s a solo act even with everyone telling him to calm down all the time. He knows what he is doing so they need to let him cook.

I will say that Sakura has had some noticeable character development since the original series which isn’t something that you can say for everyone. She is a little bolder and more outspoken now. She did confront Syaoran when she needed too and also stood her ground with Kaito. She’s still very humble but was ready to fight and knew the length of her abilities when going up against the villains. I’d still like Sakura to eventually get more aggressive but it can’t be denied that she has improved which is always great to see.

The artwork here is definitely pretty solid. At times Sakura and Akiho look so similar that you can mix them up but given that this is actually a story beat in-universe I can let it slide. It’s clearly intentional after all. It’s always easy to read through the chapters and everything is very detailed.

Overall, Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card is a good sequel. I do think it could have stood to be a little more exciting of course but ultimately it was a fun ride. I had a good time at least and while it would not be my highest recommendation to someone, I wouldn’t tell anyone to avoid it or anything like that. You should prepare for a very slow burn though. It lasted a lot longer than I remember and that’s in part because nothing really happens most of the time. The strong art and intriguing plot carry it but in between those moments there is a lot of emptyness. It still has wholesome messages that are fun for everyone and the whole Kaito plot is really written well. The final twists involving some names are a bit underwhelming and dare I say pointless but till the series had a good run. If we ever get another sequel it’ll be interesting to see what happens there.

Overall 6/10

Golden Sun: Dark Dawn Review

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Golden Sun has always been a pretty great franchise and it’s nice to see that this game got a quick manga oneshot. It’s really just an adaption of the intro level so it’s not like it’s very long or anything but I’ll take what I can get.

The story starts with one of the kids trying to show off by proving he could pilot a flying device but didn’t realize that he needed wind powers for that. So naturally he crashes into a dangerous forest. The hero of the Golden Sun event, Isaac heads off to save him. Accompanying him is Matthew and the rest of the next generation. They end up having to fight some monsters though and it’s overall a dangerous mission but nothing will stop them from saving their friend. That is what it means to be a true hero!

Definitely a fun story. It’s also interesting how there are a lot of creative liberties from the game. For starters Isaac is the only adult here so his trusty sidekick is nowhere to be seen in this version. Additionally while in the game this was mostly all part of Isaac’s plan in terms of how to handle finding the lost kid, in the manga he’s caught more off guard. To the point where he actually loses to one of the monsters and ends up having to be saved. This change makes him look really weak so ultimately I don’t think that was the way to go. They should have just had him be in command of everything like normal.

The art was fairly decent. I wouldn’t call it top tier or anything like that but it works well enough to get the story of the oneshot across. Additionally the character cast is on point and this makes for a good adventure. The idea of course is to get you to buy the game and I like to think that maybe this would convince some people. I’ve always wondered just how effective a short promo like this could be but hey I’d say it’s as good an attempt as any. There were really no mistakes in this story. Ultimately I just wish they would have gone ahead and done a complete adaption. That would have been a lot of fun.

Because of the short length there is only so much you can write about for this one though. That’s why this review is fairly short. The characters don’t really have time for intros and there isn’t a lot going on beyond the quick fight because the page count wouldn’t really allow for that. So ultimately this is a pure teaser all the way through but it’s an effective one that will have your interest piqued.

Overall, Golden Sun makes for a good story. As the story in the games is always top notch it makes sense that the manga follows suit. It’s still a little too short to really get invested on this end but at the same time that does mean you can easily read this one at any point. It won’t take long to do after all and then you are all set. I’m currently playing through the actual video game for this story so I’ll have the full review up for that one pretty soon. You could say that I’m in the home stretch already!

Overall 6/10

Tista Review

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Tista is a manga that’s not super well known but due to the success of Spy X Family you should be seeing it around a little more often now. It’s very short at only 2 volumes and you get the feeling that it ended up getting axed be cause there’s a lot of directions it could have gone. It’s definitely an intense story and one with a whole lot of tragedy mixed in. I’d say it works well although I could have used a bit of a stronger ending.

The manga starts by introducing us to Tista who is a legendary assassin. She is so skilled at sniping that none of her targets have ever even seen her. She can hit someone from multiple buildings away and basically pulls off impossible shots like it’s nothing. The reason for this is because her eyes are natural trigger lens as if from a gun. She can auto lock onto anything which makes her the perfect sniper. As people keep on dying, is there anyone who can stop her? Additionally the more Tista murders people, the more she wonders about the meaning of life in general.

See Tista works for the Church. While most people know the church to be a loving environment that takes in orphans and makes the world a better place, what they don’t realize is they have been training these kids into child soldiers whose only aim is to destroy all evil in the world. Now their reasoning for it is basically that the legal system is limited and there are often a lot of villains who escape unscathed because blackmail and corruption run rampant in this town. The villains have gotten so much influence around here that they basically operate out in the open. Of course this is an argument that most anti heroes/villains make so it doesn’t tend to hold water.

I will grant that it’s always a very interesting villain rationale though and it does tend to make a lot of high quality villains like Light Yagami. In this case Tista was groomed into this role ever since she was a small child so it’s not like she ever had much of a choice. It’s basically like brainwashing and that’s a main theme of the whole series. If you grew up in an environment where you were taught to murder from a young age and your eyes grew into aiming signs from the jump…did you ever really have a choice? Once you’re an adult maybe you can snap out of it but Tista’s still a teenager here.

That’s where some of the darker elements of the series come into play. The town is also such a rough place that you either murder the villains or watch them murder someone else. The cops are unfortunately not going to be very helpful here. We do see some good ones but as always there isn’t much point if the higher ups are involved in shady dealings as well. To their credit, the series doesn’t really go too hard on that area so we can presume most of the cop are good here and they’re just really ineffective in stopping crime. Additionally the country is a huge place so it’s not like you can stop every criminal. There will always be crime no matter how many people you stop. That’s true even with Tista bumping everyone off.

Tista does meet a guy named Arty who she starts to become friends with and that puts her in a rough spot. It actually creates vulnerabilities in her that the villains can exploit since he’s the first one to get her to doubt her mission. As I mentioned at the start one of her big advantages is that she can fire from super long distances so she’s never in any danger. Later on she likes murdering people at point blank range to see their expressions and naturally that puts her at a much greater risk. If there are any survivors then she will be remembered and of course all it takes is a lucky shot and she could die.

She basically becomes super blood thirsty by the end which was an interesting character development choice. It’s pretty easy to see how she was messed up after we see her origin story though. There’s domestic abuse and a close friend attempts to commit suicide. In both cases the culprit got to walk off free so Tista took care of that. That’s really set her on the path to being an executioner because if she can destroy all of the evil people then she can give the victims some peace.

Her broken psyche is represented by a chibi-monster version of her that appears to offer its own twisted input. It makes for a pretty interesting inner voice since Tista herself doesn’t talk much. At the end of the day naturally Tista takes some blame for this since she’s committing the murders but it’s not like she has much of a choice here. If she stops then she will end up being erased by the orphanage. If she turns herself into the cops she will be dead on the spot. If she just runs off and gets a new identity then every time she turns on the news and sees another crime she will feel responsible if the person has any priors since she would have been tasked with eliminating that person.

So there’s a whole lot of interesting themes here but of course the series is only 2 volumes long so it really ends just as it is still beginning. It’s the kind of series that could have been a bit risky if it kept on going though as with the dark themes I could easily see the series taking a step too far. Certain things are heavily implied here but the series mainly avoids being exploitative. Bad things happen and we know about them but the series doesn’t go out of its way to show them or drag them out which I appreciate.

In the end Tista is a very depressing series where characters are put into bad situations. The school side of things with Arty is fairly light hearted and in a way it shows just how alone Tista is. Most people live a fairly carefree life unaware of how twisted the rest of the city is. In a lot of ways Tista helps to preserve the peace so she can take a little solace there. It’s just that after you’ve murdered enough people it makes sense that you’re not really going to see the sunlight anymore.

As the main guy, Arty is a pretty solid character. He can be a little off like with the way that he drew a picture of Tista but for the most part he’s just your average guy trying to live life. He gets a lot of points for never selling Tista out or getting her into trouble. She saved his life after all and it’s always really annoying when the characters falters anyway. Owing your life to someone is a huge deal after all so there’s no room for mistakes like that. It would have been nice if he could have learned how to fight or something though. I think if this series had become a long running one he would have gotten something to do later on but as it is his role is a lot smaller than you’d expect.

On the cops side we have Snow who is one of the higher up agents looking into the Tista case. She is good at role playing and getting the suspects to lower their guards but ultimately she isn’t able to find a lot out. Arty gets a lot of credit there and of course the orphanage for having a lot of connections. They know how to shut down a story right away and with their brainwashing it is really hard to touch them. It’s another interesting dynamic of basically working for the villains. Usually you see villain orgs burying evidence and using legal loopholes to get away from the heroes and for once this is what’s protecting Tista.

Proko is one of the big members of the Church and he’s a rather twisted individual. We see how quickly he’s able to entertain the thought of just destroying Tista when she starts to doubt the mission. He really believes in destroying evil at any cost but that also means becoming evil himself. While you could say that the series tries to keep the Church in the grey for the most part, this guy teeters over the line into being flat out evil. The instant you are discussing murdering a child when there is no reason to do so, there isn’t any way to defend you.

It’s already murky enough training child soldiers but murdering them is another step entirely. I’m sure this guy has quite the dark origin story that led to him being so radical but many people have sob stories. It doesn’t give you the excuse to go over the edge and start doing things like this. Down the road I’m guessing Tista would have had to end up fighting the church and assisting the cops. As well intentioned as the group may be, we’ve seen this story many times where the vigilantes end up becoming full fledged heroes. The justifications just naturally continue to escalate which is why in general heroes try not to take a life. It gets a little too easy to keep on taking them afterwards which is why you have to stop that right at the jump.

The artwork for the series is really good. In some ways I’d say it even looks better than Spy X Family but maybe that’s just because this one has a lot of action. We get a lot of impressive double spreads and the background details are really on point. The visuals really pop out at you and go a long way in backing up the story. It’s all got a lot of weight behind it and it shows what Spy X Family could look like if the author ever really embraces the action element more.

Tista not being afraid to tackle some religious themes here also adds some extra depth to the series. After all, the Church is supposed to offer up a chance for redemption and the idea that you always have another chance. So doesn’t murdering these guys go against that? Well, Proko’s feeling here is basically that these guys have no shot of redemption on their own and so you’re removing them from the planet to spare others who actually could be redeemed. It’s also mentioned that this is a mercy in a way although I don’t think any of them actually believe this. The Church isn’t fully united in this mission either as some have second thoughts about this which would probably be a subplot the longer that the series went on. I fully expect a twist that the Church murdered Tista’s father as well since it’s implied so hard that it may as well be confirmed.

I can totally get it if some people are turned off from the series on the premise of the Church potentially being evil here but I just think it’s such an interesting view on the usual anti-hero argument. How bad is it to murder someone who is obviously evil? What’s the difference between doing so in normal peace times vs during a war? The latter is generally accepted by all while the former is frowned upon. Typically there are three reasons for this: 1. Reasonable doubt that the person is actually guilty which is why you need the judicial system and due process of law. 2. The punishment doesn’t fit the crime. For example murdering a murderer may be fine but murdering someone for jaywalking would obviously not be okay. 3. Inspiring other vigilantes who may not have as strong of a moral compass or will murder innocent people by mistake.

All are very logical reasons and why you couldn’t do this widespread. Now if we take this specific example into play, in Tista so far the Church only punished people with such crimes that are worthy of death and of people who we know 100% did commit the crimes. That does solve the first two issues and nobody can really copy their approach because of the special eyes that the Church developed. (We don’t actually know exactly how that works which is something a longer series would delve into. Tista seemed to steal the eyes power right before her friend could unlock them in order to spare her the pain but the whole process is wrapped in mystery) The only weakness is of course if the Church gives Tista a false target she would never know which opens up a can of worms.

So are they doing more harm than good or vice versa? In this case the city is shown to be so evil and corrupt it’s hard to make an argument against them. They’ve destroyed so many murderers and gang members who would have gone free to terrorize people. I think this could be a good editorial for the future about anti-heroes but again that’s why this series is so interesting. Long story short, I don’t disagree with the Church’s actions. I don’t trust them but so far from what we’ve seen they are only making the world a better place and until they actually cross the line of murdering any innocents, whether they be one of the kids or a reporter who is getting close to the truth, I’d be rooting for them.

Overall, Tista is a solid series. It does a good job of showing the amount of psychological damage any sane person would get after murdering enough people. Even if you believe you are doing it for the greater good, murder is murder and will place a heavy burden on you. Additionally that means you are constantly being exposed to the darkness of the world and too much of that is tough as well. I wish the series could have really had time to explore more of the world and the characters even if it could have been a little tricky but ultimately a lot gets done within the two volumes. As long as you’re prepared for the adventure to get a little dark, this is a solid title to check out. There’s really a lot to ponder and discuss considering how short the series is which is impressive.

Overall 6/10

Blue Lock : Episode Nagi

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This Blue Lock spinoff is definitely top tier stuff. It absolutely holds its own against the average sport series and then some. Of course the original Blue Lock is still the best but I’m impressed with how in depth this is going so far. I’ll have a review up for this series as soon as it’s been completed.

Overall 9/10

Mega Man World 5 Review

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It’s time for a quick Mega Man manga oneshot. It’s always nice to see a game get a quick adventure like this and I think all games should try for this. It’s a great way to get people hyped to play the game even if the intended effect is likely not to be found out like 20 years after the fact. Regardless the art is on point and we get some good action scenes so I’m definitely on board with this adventure.

The manga starts off with Mega Man getting some upgrades. They come at a good time because the heroes learn about a bunch of robots causing carnage over in town. They are led by a robot who calls himself….Earth. Earth wants to unveil a new era with robots at the top and so Mega Man has to try and stop him along with the other planetary robots. These may be some of the strongest opponents that Mega Man has ever come up against so he can’t afford to hold back here but will even his best be enough against such dangerous fighters? Only time will tell.

The manga ends early so that the incentive is for you to play the game to see how it all ends. It’s basically a built in cliffhanger and I would say it works well. Earth wipes the floor with Mega Man and prepares for the rematch which is where you as the player should go and buy the game to see what happens. I already love cliffhangers so this really hit the spot for me. It’s just a good way to go about it.

This also means that the rest of the chapter is basically a bunch of nonstop fight scenes and if you know me you know that I really don’t mind that. Just give me as much action as possible. Sure it’d be cool if the fights could be longer but you get a lot of variety here with Mega Man crushing everyone who dares get near him. He’s basically opening a clinic at that point on how to shred through the robots. They all get a tough line or two before being destroyed.

I don’t even remember some of these robots too well which shows that I probably need to brush up on my Mega Man knowledge a bit. At this point there are so many robots that it’s hard to remember them all but I definitely try. The fact that they are all named after planets definitely makes it a bit easier to recall at least now that I’ve read through the manga. I also didn’t remember this new cat sidekick that Mega Man has instead of Rush. Naturally I miss Rush but the cat honestly did a pretty decent job here. He came in clutch for one moment which was pretty good.

The artwork here is on point and very smooth. I don’t know which artist did this one, if it’s someone who did a bunch of others or only worked on this oneshot but he seemed to be very experienced. All of the characters are drawn on model and the fight scenes are very clear. The writing is good as well so this is a very complete story. Of course that does mean there’s not a whole lot to say here since it’s really just one chapter with a lot of fighting but all you need to know is that it’s worth checking out.

Even if just to see how Mega Man methodically takes everyone down. He’s always been a very efficient fighter and I think we’d see more of that if we got some more Mega Man games with actual cutscenes. It’s easy to forget but he’s not quite as compassionate or emotional as X. Mega Man will blow up any robot master in his way because he knows that they will continue to cause a ton of trouble if left unchecked. He will let Light and friends worry about what happens afterwards but his job is to stop the villains and he does it really well.

Overall, Mega Man World 5 is a solid title. You’ll be finishing it in the blink of an eye but the title has no flaws. The art is on point, the characters are solid, and it’s basically got everything you could want in this story. Trust me when I say that Mega Man is absolutely the manga you want to be reading right now. It also reminds me of why we need a true Mega Man ongoing. Mega Man San is tiding us over for now but that’s still more of a mini manga with how short the chapters are. I need a full blown one and that’ll be amazing. Until then you should read this story for a good idea of the kind of action you could expect from such a tale.

Overall 7/10

Pokemon: Liko’s Treasure

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I may still miss Ash and Pikachu but it was time to jump into the next generation. I’m very early on with this series but it seems pleasant enough. The artwork is good and we already have a real plot involving a pendent so we’ll see what happens here. I’m expecting a pretty consistent performance from the series and will have a review up once it is completed.

Overall 7/10