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So I just finished reading Steel Ball Run and I think the JOJO community hyped it up way too much. While I did enjoy many aspects to SBR, personally I wouldn't award it as the "Best Jojo Part". I'll try my best to tip toe around spoilers (for those of you who haven't read it) but here's some pros and cons I had with SBR without getting too deep into details.

Pro's

1. Funny Valentine- Arguably the best Jojo villain (although personally I'm a Kira fan) and everything he wanted to achieve.

2. Gyro Zeppeli- Without a doubt the star of SBR and thats a great thing. His personality, why he competed in the race and everything about him was fantastic.

3. DIO-Great addition to the cast even if he was a secondary character in Part 7.

4. Story- The location of being an ongoing race across America is fun.
The themes of fatherhood and patriotism and how it affected our 3 main protagonist Gyro, Johnny, Valentine were stand out moments.

Con's

1. Stands- This is where it becomes divisive because it really is a hit or miss with me. The aspect of what they did with stands in general in part 7 weren't really exciting to me.

2. Villains- Many of the villains are throwaway enemies that I just found plain boring. Stone Ocean may get a bad rep but at least every villain in Stone Ocean were entertaining and fun to watch. I mean hell, Pesci in Part 5 was more entertaining to watch than many of these villains in part 7. Yes Sandman and Ringo were great villains but many of them were just lame.

3. Story- You saw the pros but here's the con. The setup for SBR and how it ended I was okay with it however it is PAINFULLY slow at times, especially the beginning. While the last third of SBR was exciting with nonstop action and great set pieces, the overall package was really a chore at times to read through.

4. Johnny Joestar- I always loved every Jojo protagonist in each part for their unique backstories and abilities but Johnny was the first Jojo character where I told myself, "wow if I had to rank Jojo characters he would be in last place". Yes I felt horrible about his backstory and became sympathetic towards him as the series went on but I couldn't stand Johnny at certain moments in SBR. I mean hell (minor spoilers), there's moments where Johnny is outright killing people while pursuing Valentine and Dio and has no remorse over it. If it was Gyro in those same situations you know it would weigh heavy on Gyro's conscious.

Anyway there's plenty of things I can go on about but this is already become a long winded post. Steel Ball Run was great but its slower paced story, what they did with stands as whole and finding Johnny annoying really doesn't warrant Part 7 as "THE BEST JOJO". That best Jojo is a toss up between Part 4 or Part 5 but that's a different discussion for a different day.

This is definitely one of the greatest, most intriguing and enjoyable light novels I have ever read. I started with watching the anime to get some kind of idea of the feel of the story. The anime itself was pretty good and made me read the light novel. Now compared to the light novel the anime is a 7/10, because the light novel is a definite 10.

FOR ANIME WATCHERS: I recommend reading from the first novel if you have already seen the anime. First you will probably notice that Ayanokouji's personality is a little different than in the anime, more normal-like. This is for most of the first three novels, but even during the first three novels you see small slips and clues of his real personality, which you anime watchers will probably appreciate. His True personality comes to light by the end of the third novel. This development literally BLEW MY MIND. It made me appreciate Ayanakouji as a character a whole lot more than in the anime and made him seem even more badass. Also a bonus, in the light novel you'll get to see some other character development from the real best girl of class D (SPOILER: Her initials_K.K. and it isn't Kushieda or Horikita).

Now on to my personal review of the light novel:

Art 8/10: okey I will start with art because that's easiest. So, the art is pretty good, it illustrates the characters well and gives you a good idea of the situation. It isn't what this light novel is popular for, but is still good.

Story 10/10: The story is about a student Ayanokouji Kiyotaka who just entered an unusual high school. It is later revealed that for the next three years of high school life they will be in an all out class war to graduate as the best class, class A. The classes are ranked from A-D, and Ayanoukouji is a student from class D, the lowest class. The school determines the rankings for Classes based on school points, which also form the basis of their allowance. School points that each class receives are determined by merit, such as exam scores, behavior, sport clubs,..
Ayanokouji hides his true abilities to not stand out and lead a peaceful high school life, but soon is forced to help the class in secret. He becomes something like the puppet master of Class D while he makes sure someone else in the class gets all the credit for his achievements so he doesn't stand out. This light novel isn't some kind of isekai action packed story. It is a story of mystery, action (in some ways), and suspense. The story of each light novel is great and keeps me longing to read the next one. That's why it is most definitely a 10.

Characters 10/10: This is a completely story-and character driven series with its main character Ayanoukoji Kiyotaka. He is my favourite light novel charater ever. His personality is mainly cold and manipulative, but strangely understandable in the later novels. He also shows rare moments of compassion to certain characters.
(NOTE: Light SPOILERS rest of paragraph)
The two most noteworthy characters other than Ayanokouji are in my opinion Ryuuen and Karuizawa Kei (AKA Best Girl). Ryuuen is the Tyrant of Class C who rules the class with an iron fist and uses backhanded, lowly methods to advance in the class rankings. He is quite interesting as a character and fun to read about. Then you have Karuizawa Kei, the leader of the girls in Class D. She doesn't do anything noteworthy for the first three novels but really starts to shine as a character after volume 4. After volume 4 she and Ayanokouji become close and develop the most interesting relationship Ayanokouji has compared to the other classmates. But I won't go too far into that because that will spoil the story a little.
Other than that you have Horikita (who I personally dislike) the somewhat "leader" of Class D who Ayanokouji helps to benefit Class D in the class wars.

Enjoyment 10/10: As I said, this is one of my all time favorite light novels with great characters and a gripping story. I couldn't resist but write a review of how great these light novels were/are to me. I highly recommend this novel for almost all light novel readers.

No need to introduce SnK, the most popular anime and manga of this last decade.
Everyone at least heard about it, everyone watched the anime, but maybe not everyone read the manga?
At least I did, and really, it's one of those success I can't explain. Now I'm not attacking the general opinion, but the general arguments people give. Because a lot of what is heard about SnK is plain wrong.


STORY
SnK is about a group of humans, surrounded by Titans, living inside walls that Titans can't break. Then it's about a battle between this group and a group of humans turning into Titans. Then it's about a religious group reigning inside these walls. Then it becomes a f*cking western cowboy show. Then it comes back to survival. Then it's about an all-out war.

Let's be real, that story is a HUGE MESS. I'm not talking about the storyline, but about HOW IT UNFOLDS.

- Things get repeated twice in a row.

- On the contrary, other things come out of nowhere, then there's a flashback or a dialogue explaining what the reader should already know.
It's like you try to tell a joke, then in the end your buddy doesn't laugh and you say "oh, I forgot to tell you that dude is Irish, that's why it's funny!".

- Then there are major revelations thrown out without any kind of staging.
Sometimes it's like Darth Vador told "Oh, btw, I'm Luke Skywalker's dad" in the middle of the movie. A revelation is a MAJOR plot point, it needs to be a MAJOR moment.

- My biggest personal issue with this story is the amount of BS thrown out through the entire manga. So, Titan powers can manipulate everyone's memories, huh? SO easy. I put it at the same level as the Dream theory: it's just too easy.
The same for all the other Titan powers. It can do pretty much anything the story needs. I suspect there's a Titan able to cook spaghettis somewhere...

- But the biggest problem, as I wanted to put in evidence above, is the LACK OF PROPER DIRECTION. First it's a survival story, then it wants to be an investigation series, then it's western, then it's an all-out war, and so on. It just keeps changing its course!

It's just bad storytelling. Now it seems the author knows where he is going, and THAT is really praiseworthy! Clearly the storyline is not improvised.
BUT clearly, he doesn't know how to properly tell a story. The manga is full of moments where it seems the author tells "oh, I forgot to tell you this" or "crap, I forgot this scene, let's put it here as a flashback".


Now, a word about the philosophy. You'll here many fan(boys?) tell how deep this story is. It's not.
It's the classic "racism is bad" message, good morale but that's not something you'll LEARN by reading SnK.
Not only that, it doesn't go any deep into anything. There's a part about religion, but it tells so few about it. Also, obviously, the manga wants to show human cruelty. But it's made in such a simplistic way ("bruh, look how bad humans can be, booooooh!"), it can't even be called philosophy, that's just insulting. Something is deep when it dives in the subject, but SnK stays vague about its themes.

I'll be blunt, there is NOTHING TO LEARN from this manga. It won't change your way of life. It won't dive into any subject.


Now, I trash-talked a lot, but there is one UNDENIABLE MAJOR GOOD POINT: the ambiance.
SnK is CRUEL. It's cruel with its characters, it's cruel with the reader. It's epic, serious, violent.
And THAT's what made it popular. Because it's a trend in this century: things have to be dark for people to enjoy.


ART
It's just trash.
- Too many useless traits, it makes it look like a draft and it doesn't make it more detailed than any other manga.
- The battles are a mess on paper.
- But the worst has to be the chara-design. The edges are way too thick and irregular, and so many characters look way too similar. Christa and Armin, despite being different genders, have the exact same face.
Many secondary characters have the same haircut and face as important characters, so when they come on stage, it's easy to miss who it is.
- Finally, there's way too much dialogue, to a point that I seriously believe there's more bubbles than there are drawings on each page.

(Yes, I don't really like the manga format, HOWEVER there are some that I find decent or even great ; take One Punch Man for example).


CHARACTERS
That's yet another point where I'll have to be mean. I hear many people praise SnK for its chara-development and its complex characters.

... Where exactly do you see all that? Most characters are purely one-dimensional!

- Livai is the edgy guy who doesn't care about morales.
- Erwin is the wise strategist, who has almost literally ONE SINGLE FACE in the entire thing.
- Mikasa is a female warrior who cares about Eren.
- Armin is the clever boy who's not confident enough.

And that's them ALMOST THE ENTIRE TIME. Sometimes, a character gets a chapter about their story. It develops them a little, then it comes back to its one-dimensional self. Or they completely disappear from the story.
The only characters with decent development are Eren and Reiner. The rest barely changes the entire time and many of them don't really matter. Well, Armin does get more confident, but it's not like it was any major drift in the character.



Now it's not all bad. The characters are badass, and that makes them cool. But don't let it blind you, they're still one-dimensional.



ENJOYMENT
While I really enjoy some parts of the anime, I can't explain the manga's success. I mean, the arguments I hear in favor of it are so obviously biased.

Now I do understand why it is popular: its cruelty is not something we see all the time in anime. It's fresh, and let's be honest, seeing imaginary people suffer is often a guilty pleasure. That's why violent shows and games are so popular. Sometimes, it's even the only reason, and I suspect it's the case for the SnK manga.

Another villainess story with the premise of avoiding a death flag. However it seems the author forgets about this halfway through the series.

The story is inconsistent and irrational with her characters. It may seem like a fluffy slice-of-life at the start. But it becomes blindingly obvious that the author has no clear "plan" and just starts introducing all kinds of Deus Ex Machina characters to just tactlessly create conflicts.

I especially despise the later chapters where the author starts heavily favouring Ricardo, Britney's ex-fiance but gives him no character development. We are given a long and boring, plain arc of exposition and information dumps on us because the author failed at their job of world-building and went for the "Show, don't tell" approach.

The author decided we needed chapters of exposition where information is told plainly to the MC and then later she is surprised that everything that was told to her was true (no sh*t Sherlock). Long gone is the cute, fluffy, and humorous slice-of-life... welcome exposition dumps and a cast of shallow characters.

I read this series out of pure curiosity and because I'm a longtime Sister Princess fan so something like this would be up my alley. Well I found my Chicken Soup for the Soul and this is Baby Princess.

Baby Princess is an interactive project created by Sakurako Kimino in partnership Degenki G's magazine, both the novel and the magazine exclusive manga can have suggestions from fans in it this is because Degenki G's accepts fan input from readers of the magazine for ideas for the next manga issue or light novel volume and some of this input is applied to the manga which can explain some of the events in both media (these are spoilers so you want to find out what they are, read this or the manga).

Story 8

Basically the premise of the story is Youtarou an only child or so he thinks ends up meeting his biological mother and ends up discovering that she has 19 daughters ranging from a newborn to an 18 year old assistant meteorologist. The main story ends there and ends being a full heartwarming slice life revolving around Youtarou and his 19 sister harem, do note that the very youngest ones aren't in love with the MC or are in any fanservice situations. Each volume has a different story emphasis that revolves around the brother and 19 sisters with the usual slice of life anime fare such as school, picnics, and such. There's a bit of seasonal emphasis in this and summer has a reoccurring theme. Events are mostly sweet and heartwarming however there's mild to moderate amounts of fanservice in this as well depending on volume. There's a bit of romance and nice amount of funny moments as well. There are also some really cute intermissions before the next chapter that you have to read, they'll warm your heart if you are depressed or make you laugh.

Art 10

Heavily cute and well drawn art that melts the heart and soul. It can melt even a heart made of cold hard steel.

Character 10

Admit it those who are reading this or are even curious of Baby Princess are doing so for the lovable characters. Even the artbook which I got has illustration stories that revolve around specific characters.

You will get cuteness overload from this, if you are allergic to cute in even the slightest sense stay away from anything related to Baby Princess. The moe is off the scale, the loli factor is off the scale, and all 19 are heartwarming to the point of making even the most coldest of heart melt. There's a lot to choose from and span both the typical types and the unique types that are more exclusive to Sister and Baby Princess such as the elegantly dressed loli but unlike Sister Princess, there is a tsundere in this novel. All of the sisters are likable even the tsundere and you will start to love at least 1-2 of them if not more. Keeping track of 19 characters can be difficult so each volume has a sheet that has the list of sisters each numbered from 1-19, (1 being the oldest 19 being the youngest) with a category based on their grade with a newscaster category for Miharu and the toddler category. The numbering is present in the whole novel even with the start of chapters having the portraits of every sister that will be in the chapter, you will need to use the attached sheet often especially if you memory isn't that great.

Enjoyment 10

A very fun read, enjoy it slowly for the best results.

Overall 9

If you have even the slightest liking for moe and loli this is a must, anyone who likes heartwarming stories will also love Baby Princess. This is not for the adrenaline junkies or for those who detest cuteness. This is an absolute must for anyone who is a fan of Sister Princess. Enjoy the cuteness.

School Kill is a very strange manga that lasts 9 pages and it is a trip. It's hard to understand what's happening, but I'll sum it up as best as I can. Warning: there will be 'spoilers' in this review, if you really want to read 9 pages.

Story: 3
It's a love story about a nerd band boy who's in love with a popular girl, but she's dating a handsome guy. During a performance, the band protagonist (who is wearing nothing but what looks to be saggy underwear and a headband where it's words change) sees this girl's boyfriend, so he proceeds to run at him, guitar in hand, and swing a blow. Before it hits, this guy roundhouse kicks him in the face. Then we get a panty shot. It sounds strange and rushed because you can't explain a story in 9 pages goddamnit. Sorry, I mean "because it is".

Art: 4
The art is pleasant to look at, and the panty shot was detailed. I didn't want to see it but hey at least I didn't think "this is amateur".

Character: 1
It's a silent film without the sound, designs without names, nothing to make any of the characters worth a shred of your memory. You'll forget them in a second.

Enjoyment: 3
It got ridiculous, and I was hoping for an actual kill, but it was mostly a waste of my time.

Overall: 3
It's boring, only read it if you want a nice panty shot and roundhouse kick scene.

A very fun gender bending rom com. While some of the characters aren't the greatest, seeing these group of characters go through this is quite enjoyable. Yes, this manga is ecchi and it is one that changes its character's sexes. There is a whole separate conversation about LGBTQ and how it is sorta fetishized here, and in Japanese media in general that can be had. But ignoring that watching the characters come to terms and discover things about themselves is fun. This is very much a turn off your brain and enjoy type of story, all the characters look nice and although the fanservice is very boob heavy. I haven't read the final volume, due to not being able to find a English translation of it (Physical or Scanned), but I have read and watched enough similar shows to know the ending won't sway my overall opinion to much. All in all, the premise and twists make this more worth a read than an average rom com, but it doesn't stray to far, story structure wise, from other HS rom coms. It is very much worth a read, its keeps your attention well and the constant switch ups of the relationship dynamics keep things interesting.

There is nothing exceptional or impressive in this story. A young girl is supposed to go on a one day/week (you are never to clear on how long it's supposed to be) blind date with her friends with three other guys. Her two friends bail claiming they got guys now. And she's stuck going with three other guys. They're all uber cute and seriously look like members of Lucifer from SM's Kaikan Phrase with hair cuts, two members happen to be missing. What makes it even more disconcerting is that the lead guy looks like Sakuya's (lead male from Kaikan Phrase) twin or older brother.

Anyway she spends the day and the story just revolves around her building a very weak and superficial bond with the guys. One is sweet and outgoing, one is studious looking yet masculine, and the last is the dark rebel without a cause who's a teddy bear inside. Who do you think she goes for? Who do you think you'd go for?

Anyway you come to realize rather by the 10th or so page who she's going to hook up with and end up giving herself too. It's rather disturbing because she goes on a trip to the woods with three young men she doesn't know. She then most likely screws the first one that showed the most interest. Can I say how disgusting this was? How abhorent her personality is? Let me say this...I was raised in the US and I really hate when women have one night stands. This is not to say this character is having a one stand. However, she most likely ends up making (since its heavily implied) with a guy she recently met. If you won't let a stranger into your home why allow one into your body?!

I know she wouldn't allow her mail man to come into her home even though he's been her mail man for years. The way she was able to find out her feelings...the utter superficiality of the relationships overall let alone the boring and inane characters. This was a disappointment. It was not stellar and there was nothing special to take from this story except exceptional art.

Essensially, this manga is for those who love gore, extreme nudility, and horror. If you can't take any of these things, stay away from this manga at all costs or you will have wierd images burned into your brain.

Story (6/10): I'll be honest, the plot isn't great. Once you get into it (around 25 chapters in) the story begins to get really repetitive. Outside of deadtube videos and events, the story of the characters in school (without the gore) is seriously medicore. Even Tomohiro Machiya's main goal in deadtube is really not written well (not explaining the goal due to spoilers but yeah). There are a few inconsistencies and questional points in the plot (again not going into details due to spoilers). However besides this cases, the story of the deadtube videos and events are made reasonably well. There are plenty of plot twists in that make you appreciate the author's creativity (or what seems to be mental insanity to some). Overall, the story wasn't great, but it wasn't exactly bad either.

Art (10/10): The art is simply amazing. The art is clearly refined down to the detail and the art quality is really consistent throughout the all of the chapters. The extreme gore and death scenes are all done flawlessly with extreme precision. The art does a great job of displaying the character's emotions such as pleasure, insanity, questional mental states, and anger. The quality of art is so good that it makes me question Kitakawa Touta's sanity. If you can stomach all the gore, I would honestly recommend reading this just for the art.

Character (5/10): The character development wasn't great either. The characters are really only developed through deadtube and gory events. Although the character's fetish's, insanity, and enjoyments where very well characterized, everything else about the character was practically ignored. Thus, I gave the characters a really average score.

Enjoyment (5/10): I believe the amount of enjoyment for each person will vary drastically due to the differences in taste. Personally as someone who doesn't love extreme gore and death, naturally a manga such as this wouldn't give me much enjoyment. My enjoyment mainly came from the amazing art and some interesting plot twists through the story. However, if you're someone who love gore and messed up scenes, this manga would become your favorite very fast.

Overall (8/10): Although my enjoyment wasn't very high, I still have to give it to this manga for the fantastic art and beautifully constructed scenes of mental insanity. The overall high score largely came from the extremely accurate descriptions of messed up sh*t through the flawless art. This manga is most definitely the most messed up manga of everything I've seen.

TLDR - Like gore? Read it. Don't like gore? Don't read it. Indifferent? Read it cuz art is cool.

I had decided that all of Enjouji Maki's female protagonists are misogynists. Then I read this. Wow. This reminded me of Hapi Mari, where the spunky opinionated girl becomes a soulless doormat. This overturns all of that. Of course, this is a fairy tale and the male protagonist is like Mr Darcy, but the girl remains true to herself and sticks to her decisions. This is the first time I have read something like this in a Japanese manga. The heroine is a bodyguard and is to remain a bodyguard after marriage too. The hero like other other Enjouji Maki's male protagonists is handsome, rich, adorable and open to reviewing himself. But the heroine does not make him a monster here.