Psyren

Finally found how to edit my review.
Psyren - one of the best shounens.

Story: It has almost no connection to the beginning, but is very strong and interesting. How is the future changed, a little more about parallel worlds, about reality. And a little more common, than what it used to be. However, the timeline is very good, everything falls in place perfectly. And follows the cause-reaction pattern, witch is very rare these days .

Art: Bleach-like, shounenish, bloody brutality! "Oh, no! He breaks out!" is what you think, when the evil mastermind escapes. You can feel the Doom oozing out of every deadly Psy power! And we have a candidate for Shounen Double Page Whore Award here. When the mangaka gains enough exp (by killing n00bs and drawing manga) we will see OP/GANTZ-like pages. 200+ chapters I think.

Characters: Forget what I wrote, there is an entire new development. It is so intense, that every word I write will be a major spoil. The only cliche that is left is "I will protect you/change the future!". The most important thing is that as the power of the characters grow, so do their mental development. They grow more mature/cocky/greedy/etc. And there is no flashback power ups, no hidden reserves of hidden power. Only the character, his brain, guts and ability to fight/survive/adapt.

Enjoyment - good, very good, the best! The manga is not flawless, but it gives a satisfaction comparable to reading Bleach+Naruto at the same time. Even more. There is no manga that I ENJOY more. Just to be on the safe side - I mean enjoy as "happy, optimistic vibe". There is darker types of enjoyment, but they have no place here. It is rare, but you can't hate even "The bad guys".

Similar - well, you know, GANTZ. And I like both of them.
I think that Psyren has something more. Well being shounen limits the pure violence, blood, gore, nudity, sex and etc., but Psyren has the almost unlimited psy-fi fantasy setting. So if the mangaka has a good imagination (it appears that he has) it can be very interesting after the first year. The story is getting more and more twisted. Same goes for the characters.

This manga is out of this world ... and i am sure we will never see anything like it not even after 1000's of years.

No matter how many people say that the story is confusing i would say they are wrong and this story is one of a kind, the only thing that disappoint me that many other bad manga's have been made to anime while this masterpiece is left like this for long long time.

I just wish that i can raise a fund to make this anime myself ... am sure it would be better than those ugly, boring animation that we see on regular basis which dose not make any sense.

We live in a weird world unfortunately... :(

Story: At first, the story seems like a typical shonen. A guy who spends his time fulfilling requests and doing various jobs gets sucked into a game run by the character Nemesis Q where he is teleported along with several others to a world where people gain supernatural powers and fight monsters. I admit that this plot sucks so far, but you must read on for the plot to develop. The plot develops rapidly after the main characters find out the secret to this other world and it becomes a legit save the world scenario. (I give this a 10)

Art: I typically don't pay attention to art. I enjoy the artwork of this manga and it was always clear during battles unlike some mangas. (9)

Character: The character development is rather poor since you meet many characters at once, but it doesn't detract too much from the plot. As the series still continues, more personality is being developed so stay tuned. (8)

Overall: I really like this manga and it is one of the top 5 mangas that I currently read and anxiously wait for new chapters. Overall, I think this deserves a 9.

I like to keep my reviews nice and short, I dont often make refers but i had to after finishing Psyren.

Story: Read the synopsis. I liked the story it was very straight forward nothing to complicated but I believed that the creators linked all the characters/events together nicely.

Art: Not much to say here, good for a manga.

Character: Ah without going into depth the charcters worked together well, all the main/side characters got development and the relationships between everyone was well put.

Enjoyment: At first it was a bit slow but hey most anime/manga are. As i progressed through I was at work and couldn't help myself from wanting to continuing it, so finished the last half or 3/4 in one sitting which i don't do unless it has hooked me

Overall: Im really glad that i read this one, I highly recommend it but I would've liked a little bit more romance but im happy with it. If this gets an anime adaption I will be sure to watch it every week ;)

For nice and simple reviews I am the one and only, B_Raiden_.

Psyren is one of the best mangas I've ever read.

Story: The story starts simple enough and gradually changes into a more complicated and deep story, but the pace in which it changes is good as it doesn't arouse any confusion.

Art: The art fits perfectly with the story, serious when needed and light & funny when needed.

Characters: Each character has their own personality, so there aren't any recycled personalities. Also the designs fit perfectly with their personality.

Psyren is a truly perfect manga throughout the story and would also make an awesome anime; I've enjoyed it enough to read it twice and highly recommend anyone to read this.

Listen I wanted to like Psyren, I really did. I was really taken in by its setting made more interesting by the mystery. But I’m starting to think that the shonen market is all about the vending machine effect, where what’s predictable sells. This made me a little sad because the author had a lot to say about books he reads and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt that he has the taste to pull off a good story. Yet though either the pressure of his publisher or overabundance of characters to lasso a plot around, Psyren falls into the broad demographic of drab shonen that doesn’t impress me.

If it has one thing going for it it’s the premise. Psyren’s setting and stories are nestled between the venn diagram of Bleach and the Matrix. Except all of the action is Bleach and none of the thinking is the Matrix. Yet the mystery that’s initially set up of the contemporary world being so different from the Psyren wasteland was really compelling and hooked me to the story. I was at first impressed with the characters fixing time in the past present and present future, but that quickly waned after the characters had less of a reason to do it more for the sake of the plot than for themselves. And the semblance of characterization that was there consisted more of archetypes than substantial players of the game. The character models and designs are all really sharp and cool but didn’t add much more to the story, and that’s the story that was squeezed between explosions that took up whole and chapters.

The severe lack of motive is something I found made the books really flat overall. Save the world because you should save the world. Yet it sets up a whole mess of characters you don’t care if Ageha saves or not. Everyone he’s fighting to save he shared a comedic moment, brodown, boob grab or info dump in response to a question. The books never give the characters time to simmer and build on each other and the point of the series seems moot if that’s what we’re given. It had potential all the way through to elaborate on some interesting storylines, yet the final result is so top heavy from its characters it’s hard to say any of them were worth reading. I would say it’s worth reading if you’re looking for something different in shonen, even if it isn’t super different. But it certainly didn’t show me that the genre has mature or thoughtful stories to tell, but just gave me more pointy-haired high school sword flingers saving the world.

Psyren is one of the most unique and mature series I have read from Shonen Jump. With a creative premise and fast paced yet methodical battle system. Sadly however, like many Jump manga this one was rushed due to the unpopularity and low physical manga sales resulting in the manga coming to an abrupt end.

The story focuses on a boy named Ageha Yoshina who after witnessing his elementary friend Sakurako Amamiya disappear decides to investigate in the strange game called Psyren. After arriving in the world of the game he discovers that the massive wasteland he was transported to is actually the future of Japan. Together with his companions, Ageha must find a way to prevent this future destruction from occurring using his new abelites of PSI.

The mystery presented makes for an engaging read, as new details unfold of the coming downfall of the world. This allows for slow build up of events and characters as the coming dread of the end slowly creeps up on them. This is accomplished due to the limited time and rules place on them by the seemingly omnipotent figure named Nemesis Q. Q makes it harder for the group to accomplish their goals. This is due to the rule that anything talked about in the present about Psyren will turn that person to ash instantly killing them. The rule makes the series more tense, since the group cannot tell the people who are in danger of the coming travesty about to befall them. Leading to a griping narrative where the truth of the world is left with only a small group of people fighting to change the future.

Like many Shonen manga this one contains many high action battles, and Psyren does not disappoint in this department. The fights are based on a PSI system specifically three types called rise, burst and trance. Rise, boosts the power of a persons senses and reflexes giving them greater speed, strength and awareness of their surroundings, Burst, allows the user to create mental images and turn them into psychical things like fire or a weapon. Trance is the manipulation of another destroying them mentally or controlling their senses or even body. These three types can also be combined leading to some compelling action scenes that fully utilize the ideas of the systems potential.

Even though Psyren presented a compelling story and great action the series was rushed due to low readership. Due to this, many of the setups presented in the beginning either never came back or were gone over with little explanation in order to give the series an ending. Many new characters and abilities are also thrown in in order to give the manga an ending before it was pulled from the Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine. This sadly lead to a rather lackluster ending which didn't fully deliver on the ideas presented in previous chapters.

However, Psyren is still an amazing manga. Many of its faults were due to the competitive scene of manga creation and the sad reality that many amazing series fall into. Even with this Psyren still is able to deliver a more mature and unique story with themes of incoming devastation due to the treatment of those different from regular people. I hope many more people read and enjoy Psyren and maybe one day we can see a truly realized version of this story.

Edited. The story really switched gears so I decided to basically re-write this review.

Story: The story begins with your average high school student who finds a calling card. The card is one of the rumored "Psyren" cards and supposedly people who find and use these cards vanish. Yes, towards the beginning of the series the story is kind of a mix between Gantz and Hunter x Hunter. Gantz in the sense that they teleport to strange worlds, fight bad guys/monsters, and return at random times. And HxH in the sense that they all have their own unique fighting techniques that they're naturally good at (like Nen).

However, the story really takes a different direction when they begin to learn the mysteries of the worlds they are transported too. I don't wanna reveal too much, but the story shifts off of that "other-worldly" scenario (which is common in the beginning) and begins to grow into a story much more than that. They learn who is sending them to the other worlds, why they are fighting, and much more. It's a weekly release so you don't have to worry about waiting too long for new chapters (it's also scanlated weekly unlike some series who have releases at random times).

Art: The art is pretty good. The backgrounds can be quite stunning and I enjoy the character designs.

Character: The characters are all unique. As the story goes on, they tend to focus on certain characters, however, the characters we meet in the beginning still play a role in the on-going story (which is nice). We keep finding out more and more as the story goes on.

Enjoyment: Well, I was kinda shocked when the series switched gears. I enjoyed it more in the beginning because it was simple to follow. As my manga list grows and I experience different stories, I tend to find it hard to follow some details in Psyren. Nonetheless, I still love this story and hope it doesn't get cut in WSJ. I'd definitely recommend this story. Just try it out. If you don't like it, then don't continue. After all, we all have our own tastes and opinions.

Overall: 8/10

Now where do I start with Psyren? The manga was absolutely amazing! It's highly overlooked due tot he fact that it isn't too popular and it never got an anime (like really?! How did it not get an anime?). The story is very original, the art was great, and it forced you to got to the next page as it gets more and more exciting, I personally found the characters lacking as I couldn't form any bond between them (as reader to character). One major flaw with it was how rushed it was to finish its story, but what can you do if your manga got cancelled...

Popularly, the shounen market is known for being over-saturated with the same kind of average stories and not presenting a whole lot of originality. I hate that kind of view, but I have to agree that the definition of Psyren is average,.

Psyren is a shounen manga serialized between 2007 and 2010. It was created, written and illustrated by Toshiaki Iwashiro.

Ageha Yoshina is a high schooler who frequently gets into fights and always wins. After one of his incursions, he passes by a payphone and it starts ringing. He answers the call but can only hear static. When he hangs up, he finds a calling card with "Psyren" written on it. The next day, he goes to school and a visually distressed girl, Sakurako Amamiya, forgets her wallet. Ageha picks it up and sees that the girl has the same card. Both of them end up getting involved with the game "Psyren" and uncover some incredibly distressing mysteries.

The beginning of Psyren is very promising, but, after the initial wonder, it becomes awfully predictable, for the most part. With the introduction and defeat of a character in the world of Psyren, it is made awfully clear that it would become a much more predictable story than it first seemed.

It already starts trailing off by the middle. A lot of different characters and concepts are introduced early on just to be forgotten for about 50 chapters, until they suddenly appear again as if nothing had happened.a I have no idea what happened with Ageha's original friends, they just disappeared.

Towards the ends, the unpredictability comes back, but not in a good way. It becomes almost nonsensical, with asspulls left and right. The impressions it gives is that the author got tired of writing Psyren and rushed to end it without thinking too much about it.

The battles, with a couple of exceptions, don't include any type of strategy, they are only based on who is stronger. That is actually pretty sad, as the abilities themselves are pretty imaginative and created a lot of possibilities for better battles. The main character's ability, "Melchee's Door" is truly original and also had a lot of potential, that wasn't fully used.

The cast is pretty big, but most of the characters are pretty well developed. However, there wasn't a single character that had an original personal arc, everything had already been done before. It was pretty easy to see what would happen with each of the characters from their first appearences.

Which brings me to the character design. It also isn't any different than most of other shounens. It is extremely easy to recognize everything about a character with just their design, from abilities to the personal arc. It makes everything extremely easy to predict, taking away any tension.

The art as a whole is pretty, but doesn't have a hint of originality. It is the traditional art for shounens.

Psyren was an extremely boring read to me. I knew what was coming most of the time because of the predictability of the story, which made it lose its edge. When it tried to be different, it became extremely confusing. The characters and their interactions were also pretty standard.

If you are looking for a new shounen to read, it is exactly what you are looking for. Yet, it doesn't offer anything different from all the other hundred shounens.