Golem Hearts

I recently read the series and caught up to it. Its been on my to do list for a while, because the title and cover seemed interesting. Plus a new shounen is always a potentially great day. After reading it I had wished I did so sooner.

The story and premise is great thus far. Golems aren’t exactly a new thing (what is?), but I’ve never seen a series that focuses so well on them. The treatment of Golems as tool and prospect of a living golem is also extremely interesting. I’m looking forward to seeing where the story goes in a world where everything from the arts to warfare is shaped by golems.

The characters are somewhat cliche as with any shounen, but endearing enough that you still love them. As always the main character is happy go lucky, hard working, kind, etc. And as always it just works. I also personally love how this one isn’t relaly ambitious. Everything he does is for the sake of others and he truly only wants to help. The same goes for his dream. He doesn’t want to be the very best like some 10 year old with his head stuck in the clouds. He truly wants to help and even his dream reflects that (I’d say more, but knowing me it’d lead into a spoiler. It becomes pretty apparent early on what I’m referring to).

Overall this manga has been very good so far. The arts nothing amazing, but nothing cringe worthy either.

The only problem I have with this series is the rival, which for me is often either a hit or a miss and this one was sadly a miss. Though simple on paper the concept of a rival is pretty difficult to pull off successfully. They aren’t the antagonist or necessarily an ally. It’d be closer to say they are a foil to the main character, but wven thats not necessarily true. Suffice to say the rival and main character have a complicated relationship and I’m disappointed to say that here the rival feels to generic and bland. I get the feeling the author added a rival because every shounen manga just needs one and then he (she? I am now regretting not researching the author first) focused too much on having the rival be a contrast to thhe main character. Yes I get that everyone is worse than you. Yes you’re a child prodigy full of talent because of you not your super powerful relative. Yes, you’re a special little snowflake above all. As of right now the rival feels to me like an annoying emo teen. Also why do all of these “genius” child prodigies seem to know nothing about genetics? Its true that learned traits gained from hard work can’t be passed down, but if its a natural talent then it could be a family trait. Luckily the series is still fairly new. Its entirely possible that the author will improve the rival as the series continues, but as of right now he is the worst part of it for me.

I would like to add that I gave the series a 7 simply because its new. It has a lot of promise and potential and honestly if it continues down this path with improvements I’ll happily give the series a 10.

I had such high hopes for this story like it had such a strong start. I thought this would become one of the regular series that I would read but when I entered the last chapter I was so disappointed with the story. People hate long series especially shonen because they tend to be dragged and milked for every last cent.

This series has the opposite problem. If it becomes an anime, I would want filler, lots and lots of it because this series lacked commitment. Not substance, it had plenty of that with its interesting characters and plot. It just felt like the author was rushing through the series to get it done. It could have been at least 15 chapters longer than what it was, maybe more.

The story was definitely of the typical shonen variety but it had an interesting concept about Golems which I didn't think a story about Golems could be interesting but boy did it blow me away. And the main character was so engaging and interesting and I didn't find him the slight bit annoying.

It had the typical main character having a dream about being the strongest except with a twist because the only reason the MC wanted to prove himself was so people could acknowledge the skill of his master who created him as being the best.

It was like the author couldn't make up their mind at what point in the story they wanted to be in. Our MC first appears when he is really strong, helps to defend a village from attack, then we see him in his childhood where we get his backstory, skip to a time skip where he is trying to pass the test that would make him an Arcanist and then another time-skip where he is magically the best Arcanist.....seriously....I honestly don't know how point B going straight to point D while completely ignoring point C of the story.

The journey is what makes a read fun, not the destination...aka...why I'm happy One Piece has last over two decades already, it would have been a boring series if it only lasted 5 years as intended. Not saying all series should last that long but if you have something good, don't blow its potential away after 15 chapters. Develop it, nurture it and it will pay off. Clearly, the mangaka did not get the memo.

I was so crushed by this series....like it could have been something. Like it had an angsty Sasuke like character in it for crying out loud. You know it was bound to be good with just that but nope. All that potential went down the drain. Honestly, it's not even worth reading because you're going to end up sucked in and the next minute its like you're falling from a cliff of "I Wasted My Time For This S***".

Here is my initial impression after reading 2 chapters of the newly serialized manga about golems and golem arts: Golem hearts by Gen Oosuga.

Note: I would be updating this review after the first volume of the manga is released.

Initially, the manga gave me the alchemy feeling of Full Metal Alchemist, the open world of One Piece, and the art of Fairy Tail.

It may seem like a clone of popular shonen mangas of today, but I know that it would not be serialized if that was the goal that Gen Oosuga had set for his story.

The premise of the story is people live in a world where Golems that were created by Sorcery Scholars to serve Human as companion, tool or a weapon of war.

In this world a Humnoid Golem Noah is striving to be the second best Sorcery Scholar in the whole world, only second to his master/creator.

At the moment, I enjoyed the one shot and the serialized 2 chapters of the manga, so at the moment I would give Golem Hearts 8 out of 10.

“In the world of Golem Hearts, creatures known as golems have become integrated with society, performing all sorts of tasks. These golems are created by the widely-respected "sorcery scholars," and obey the commands of their human masters without question. Noah is a sorcery scholar who strives to become the second best of his kind”.

In other words: The world is full of magical golems that each of it has a function. Noah, a golem that doesn’t that limitation, have the freedom to whatever he want in a useless way. He want to become the second best sorcery, below his master. It’s a manga difficult to recommend to someone who is interest mangas a little more different than a generic shonen fighting serie because of how basic to head to toe.

The characters are generic as the story, the main character, Noa, is the typical happy-stupid-innocent-guy like Natsu, but he is a pinch of difference from Natsu. Noah like to presume. Noah is rival, which I don’t remember his name, is like Sasuke but more emo and worst, so childish and stupid. The others characters are unilateral as a bridge with one way. The antagonist are evil because why not. There is one time-skip in the manga, but it wasn’t used in the way I though, Noah got stronger and physically mature and everything, excepting his personality.

The art style is fine. It looks a bit like the art of One Piece in its beginnings with the big hands and it straight drawings. The panels are well used, fluid and dynamic to read, the fight scenes are ok, but I think where the mangaka is good at it is the emotional scenes, he or she put some details to the facial expression of the characters.

It is an average manga, another option to kill time, but that's it, it's just an entertaining manga, it does not stand out at all. That’s why it is cancelled. A manga that doesn’t have nothing remarkable being published in a really competitive magazine is a instant bye bye.