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Book reviews
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist
Fullmetal Alchemist review
Fullmetal Alchemist
Apr 15, 2021
Fullmetal Alchemist review
Fullmetal Alchemist is not spectacular. What I mean is that nothing about the art or the plot immediately strikes the audience as impressive or unique. The art is not flashy or detailed. It gets the job done, but only just. The action is easy to follow from panel to panel, and it is just dynamic enough to be interesting. The characters are all pretty much distinguishable from each other, despite their simple designs, and some of them look kinda cool. More than anything, the art is solid. It never gets in the way of the audience's enjoyment. And sometimes that's enough. The only times I ever took issue with the style were when the characters were morphed into chibis in a weak attempt at comedy.

And that brings me to my next point: The comedy. It's not comedic. Early on, there are many repetitive running gags and the only thing they accomplish is kicking me out of the story. Such a blatant attempt to appeal to the audience can backfire if delivered poorly, and so it felt like a slap in the face delivered through the 4th wall. I don't want to deal with that. But I think that the mangaka realized this direction wasn't working early on, and the manga generally gets more serious as time passes.

Although the presentation of the plot changes over time, the plot itself rarely deviates from a single unified arc, and this becomes more apparent towards the middle of the series. It's clear that the overarching plot was plotted out from inception to conclusion from the beginning. The major villains and major allies are essentially the same throughout the manga, and this helps with the sense of unity and harmony that I get from it. (A unity that reinforces the main themes of the manga, which might otherwise seem to be poorly applied pseudo-philosophy.) There are no major power-ups or ridiculous ass-pulls. All of the plot developments are logical and well-paced.

The action, unfortunately, can be a bit of a weak point. There are several characters who use special alchemy techniques to interesting effect, but Ed's (the main character) fighting style is rather pedestrian in comparison. Still, the idea of equivalent exchange helps the fights maintain an appealing sense of reason and rationality that I appreciate quite a bit. It makes them feel less contrived, something that this genre tends to suffer from severely. Also, nothing was ever dragged out unnecessarily and mid-fight dialogue/flashbacks were never taken too far. Fullmetal Alchemist avoids the major pitfalls of battle shounen and brings in a sense of logic that is very rare to see.

The characters are mostly static, and there is no unexpected development. Sometimes they can feel like cardboard cut-outs. But other times I find myself thinking "wow, a couple of these cardboard cut-outs actually look pretty good in context." Rather than linear development, the characters are developed via increased insight into them and information about them. They are developed from the perspective of the audience. This is a very sensible approach given the relatively short time frame that the series covers; there is some linear development, but it is subtle. Not subtle as in hard to spot, because it is pretty clear when you see it, but it is slight. The characters don't suffer from any about-faces or drastic personality transplants. The most apparent changes that the characters undergo are simply a result of us learning more about them. This makes the manga somewhat reminiscent of a well-structured canvas painting. It is all one unified and unmoving image, but as you look at it, you notice more about it and it seems to tell a story. There are also some irritating imperfections, it looks better from a distance than it does up-close, but these flaws fail to ruin the whole.

The issue with the above picture is that the foreground is probably weaker than the background, and isn't that where our eyes are drawn? Ed's character is mostly defined by basic traits, habits, and general goals; all nuance is absent. This is certainly intentional, to avoid alienating any of the audience from him, but this lack of ambition is irritating for me. Al's character is kind of empty. (Pun retrospectively intended.) His most significant developmental event was his contrived existential crisis that was quickly resolved and never really dwelled on again. These criticisms apply to many of the characters, in varying degrees. Even as we get more in depth into them, they don't ever feel real. That said, they are often entertaining and they get the job done. Ed is not always the focus and even minor characters are established early on and given essential roles. Rather than any individual characters being well-written, what is well-written is their interactions and relationships with one another, and where they are placed and what they do. Every character has purpose and motivation and defining character traits, even if they don't quite feel organic. If you pulled one character out of the plot, everything could collapse. No character is superfluous and no character is forgotten. This says more about the plot than the actual characterization, but it's a positive nevertheless.

More than anything, Fullmetal Alchemist is solid. Most of its imperfections are minor and don't reach the series' core. Nothing about the series is all that exceptional or original in itself, but it adds up into a very well-structured and cohesive work that manages to avoid making a lot of mistakes that are not often avoided. (And, despite its popularity, it never overstayed its welcome and was relatively concise for what it was.) Still, it doesn't really accomplish all that much that I haven't seen done as well or better. It is simply less flawed than most similar works. This makes it feel unique holistically, but not on a more critical examination. It is unique in that you'd be hard-pressed to find a more perfect battle shounen, but this quality is negatively defined: Fullmetal Alchemist is most praise worthy for the things it does not do; what it does do is not nearly as impressive or difficult.

The lack of originality or risk-taking factors against Fullmetal Alchemist, but the form and presentation of it warrants a solid 7. It's quite good, but not quite great.
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Ayakashi Triangle
Ayakashi Triangle
Ayakashi Triangle
Ayakashi Triangle review
Ayakashi Triangle
Apr 12, 2021
Ayakashi Triangle review
This is a fairly new manga, with 19 chapters as of writing this. I usually don't write reviews for serializing manga since my opinion can quickly change, but I feel as if this story needs more attention. I'm not going to give a brief explanation about the plot of this story since you can read the synopsis yourself, I'm going to write a review, not a summary.

To be blunt, this is a really solid manga. The art is breathtaking at times for a story that updates weekly. The mangakas have a unique way of drawing horror panels which further enhances your reading experience. The clean and detailed art style is satisfying to see on each page. Add this with the eye catching character designs and you're left with eye candy. Well, that's what would happen if the story and characters weren't interesting themselves. That is not the case though, you see we are shown an interesting set of characters in a developing world which leaves us wanting for more.

Each character has a different personality which makes their interactions funny since they may clash a lot. The female characters aren't used for fan service only and I hope it stays that way, I don't want to see fictional tits on my screen even though I like girls. The women in this manga are strong, mentally and physically, paring with the male characters. We don't have a vast cast but I'm sure it'll grow alongside their world.

The setting is still off since the world building hasn't been the focal point as of now. It's too early to judge (at least in my opinion) them for that so I can brush it off now, but if it doesn't change in the future we're going to left with a huge problem.

Overall this is a nice read if you want something generic but executed well.
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Himeyaka na Tousaku
KARE KANO HAJIMEMASHITA
Kodomo no Kodomo
Abara
Abara
Abara
Abara review
Abara
Apr 07, 2021
Abara review
SPOILERS AHEAD! TL:DR: It's bad, but you can read if you want, there is some great art and its short.

While Blame! Manages to create a compelling narrative with little to no dialogue, Abara is too rushed, concepts are not build up, if the white Abaras invaded earth, who are the monsters that activated the tower? What is the tower? Did the city blow up in the end? Did the white Abaras died? Then why there were two out of place chapters about with the two women? What happened?

At the end of the scan I read, there was a glossary explaining all the concepts, names and events that happened in the manga, I don't know if that was in the original manga, but I know that in Blame!, a manga by the same author and that also used less dialogue, didn't have one, that was because unlike Abara, Blame! actually builds up the world, the characters, the machines, the technology, everything, Abara starts with a man turning into a monster, killing another monster, then gets beheaded and comes back in the end, then we see other types of monsters? But what are these monsters? Weren't the Abaras the ones that invaded earth? What was that skeleton-cyborg-man that activated the tower? WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?

"B-But you have to see the symbolism! And you must interpret your own opinions!" Nah Nah Nah, the greatest writers, movie directors and mangakas showed that you can't make symbolism and interpretation the basis of the history, you can add them as much as you want, but they can't hold the entire thing together alone, there has to be characterization, themes, world building, tone… etc.

This was rushed, weird, nonsensical and disappointing.
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PAJAMA NA KANOJO
PAJAMA NA KANOJO
PAJAMA NA KANOJO
PAJAMA NA KANOJO review
PAJAMA NA KANOJO
Apr 06, 2021
PAJAMA NA KANOJO review
Story: 7
The story is not bad. However, it's not a story that you can consider as something that will stand out. Throughout the story uses the cliche: Childhood friend x MC x Popular Women while adding a supernatural element to make it different.
Some of the playful scenes of Makura were hilarious while Yuki's teasing scenes were spicy at first but they died down too fast. There is comedy in it but a comedy that does not standout that much.
The pacing is slow, the portrayal gave off a sad feel and the ending was sudden but it was still enjoyable.

Art: 7
The art is good but not outstanding. The lines are drawn clearly and you can't find any confusing pages to read. Personally I love Hotaru's character design.

Character: 7
Both Keisuke and Yuki can be considered as "run of the mill" characters. Makura can be considered as above average but not outstanding. In any case, giving consideration that IT IS a shounen/ecchi manga, there were no characters that can be considered overly annoying.

Enjoyment: 7
The series started off nice but the as the story progressed it gradually went down with a few plot twists. It had potential to be better if only the supernatural aspect was utilized more. With all that said it was enjoyable nonetheless.

Overall: 7
It's not that bad and it's not that good. I suggest reading this as entry level to Supernatural Romance manga, a "pacifier manga" while waiting for your main manga releases or as something to just read for a few hours.
If you enjoy short but not one-shot mangas or anthologies then you'll definitely enjoy this.

Comments:
I really would have loved it if it were given an extra 24 chapters!

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Tenshi no Hane to Akuma no Shippo
Tenshi no Hane to Akuma no Shippo
Tenshi no Hane to Akuma no Shippo
Tenshi no Hane to Akuma no Shippo review
Tenshi no Hane to Akuma no Shippo
Apr 05, 2021
Tenshi no Hane to Akuma no Shippo review
I LOVE THIS MANGA!!!

The story is about this devil prince Luca, who attends an academy for angels. Because of his 'never say lose' attitude, he got forced into making a pact with Haniel to be one of the 'knights'.
Whereas on the other hand, there's this fallen angel, Lilith who is bounded by a curse that he would be eaten by his own shadow. To prevent this calamity from happening, he has to slay devils/demons and feed the 'devil's tails' to his shadow. He's also one of the 'knights' and he gets along bad with Luca despite the fact that they have to work together. Tears appear on his eyes if he's touched by a devil. He seem to get along really well with Chronos.
Haniel is the cute but cool angel. He wings are damaged and she could not fly. She's a mysterious character and Luca gets really suspicious of her. The academy is facing an unknown calamity and the knights are there to stop it. (would love to add apoilers but...)

The art is really good. Even though it's stated that it's a shoujo manga on here but...I've bought the manga and from what I know, it's a shounen manga... ^_^ Or else, how else would you explain the number of 'Boys' words written behind the cover of the manga? And the style seem quite shounen to me as well... I've got a manga of the similar company and it's a shoujo manga, the words written behind are 'girl comic'. But there's the word 'Boy' written behind this manga!!! So, why is it shoujo? I'm confused...

I enjoyed a lot reading this manga, it's really funny to see Luca making fun of poor Lilith and touching him purposely just to embarass him. And Chronos has a really GREAT obsession over Lilith. He even had a 'pillow' resembling Lilith. Luca seem evil at time because he's a devil but he has a kind soul inside of him and everyone is aware of that, even Lilith.

Overall, this manga is AWESOME! It still remains as one of my favourites ^_^
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Okama Hakusho
Okama Hakusho
Okama Hakusho
Okama Hakusho review
Okama Hakusho
Apr 05, 2021
Okama Hakusho review
Okama Hakusho is a manga that explore the thematic of the narcissism though the gender bender genre. I would says that it is a "tragicomic" manga: furiously ridiculous/funny while being at the same time very terrible as you watch the MC loosing touch with reality little by little, especially in the last third of the manga.

The plot is relatively simple:
Okama, the MC, try to find the "true love" of his life, but because of a joke of his pervy best friend, he ends up working at a gay bar as a drag queen. He quickly fall in love with his queen persona: Catherine.
While working, he encounters a girl named Miki that looks like exactly as him-as-Catherine and falls in love with her too. Here starts a very uncomfortable relationship between Miki, Okama-as-Okama and Okama-as-Catherine.


That manga probably would have been your standard "ecchi boy-dressed-as-a-girl meets girl and can't confess to her" if it wasn't for the psychological development of the MC.
The manga use a very fast-paced comedy though ecchi and a very caricatural supporting cast, yet the manga also has very heavy moments where you see the MC loosing touch with reality, either loving or hating himself.
Considering how fast-paced the manga is, the psychological development of the MC isn't done though long internal monologues, but mainly uses visual hallucinations, which I think is a good way to deals with the case of narcissism.

The ending of the manga is on par with the rest of the story: a very surprising ending, both funny and terrible.
And it concludes by an afterwords from a psychiatrist who explains the behaviors of both Okama and Miki, which is a very nice afterwords.


Though, if I loved the manga, it also has its cons. First you have to tolerate/like that kind of humor. And I think that the manga drags out in its middle. Otherwise, it is definitely a very good gender bender manga in my book.
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