Animewolfguy7

Some people may say this is your typical Shonen that becomes op and undefeatable, in fact i think that is the opposite. The main character faces challenges that could get him killed deep into the Manhwa. Overall this Manhwa is pretty good I rated it a 9 because the fight scenes and art is outstanding, but the characters start to get bland the more they fawn over the main character, sometimes it gets even tiring. (except Beru, he's an exception) Also the Manhwa is pretty anti-Japanese for like 2 arcs which were definitely the best arcs. I overall think this is good as a Manhwa AND only a Manhwa, I personally think no Korean/Japanese studio would touch Solo Leveling with a 10 foot pole, but even if they do I don't think they would go past season 1 into The Raid on Jeju Island I don't want to spoil but what I'm trying to say is that it might be a pr disaster plus the way Manhwa is built is too linear its hard to explain if you never read one before but its like the interactions are only there to push the story forward i cant find any extreme example of this but id of definitely of given a 10 if this Manhwa had more back story to side characters and more side talk, I think this will become more prevalent if it got a adaptation. but I hope I'm proven wrong I'd love to see a Solo Leveling Warrior adapted to an anime.

Spoiler free review.
Story (10/10): Anyone can enjoy One Pieces story, it doesn't matter if you're a casual fan or someone who likes to analyse every little thing, you will be blown away. There are many layers to the story but it doesn't feel overwhelming because its usually so relaxed and natural you'll rarely find yourself questioning plot elements. The story is a joy to experience and there is so much to love about it.

Characters (9/10): The characters are simply brilliant, as you would expect all major characters are written extremally well, you genuienly care for them, they're goals and their happiness, espically as the vast majority come with a heartwrenching backstory. However Oda has managed to fill his world with equally as amazing minor characters that make it feel the world of One Piece is filled to the brim with interesting people no matter where you look.
Unfortunatly with this amount of characters naturally some characters (even main ones) can have a lack of screentime and not be doing much particularly after the timeskip as their main character arc has completed. However this doesn't stop them from being lovable amazing characters.

Worldbuilding (10/10): The worldbuilding is some of the best I've seen in fiction, every loction has a unique history, culture, is full of new characters, and some ones that are less connected to the world at large have their own currency and technologies. It's sad but I think I understand more about the world Oda has created than our own world.

Art (8/10): Odas art is extremally expressive and that adds wonderfully to the drama and emotions of the story and characters, the designs of locations is top notch and character designs are mostly amazing but with a couple notible exeptions. The panelling is largely very good but there are some scenes that are slightly confusing upon first reading, but those are very rare.

Enjoyment (10/10): Everything I've already talked about and some stellar comedy comes into effect when making One Piece one of the most fun to read and enjoyable manga out there, there's so much to enjoy on every level of the story, the characters are all unique and fun to read about, and the art comes in to enhance the experience.
The pacing of the manga does suffer a little at certain point but it barely detracts from the experiece.

Overall its a 10/10 from me and it's honestly my favourite piece of media out there.
If you haven't read of watched One Piece I cannot recommend it enough, if its extreme length puts you off let me just say that theres nothing rushing you, read at your own pace and enjoy it as you go.

I went into A Silent Voice with an attitude of equal parts interest and trepidation. Interest because of the high praise I had heard for the manga, and trepidation because the subject matter of childhood bullying seemed ripe for disaster. There are a million ways to make a story about bullying into a preachy PSA or a melodramatic angsty train wreck. What I ended up getting was a marvellously written story that completely shattered my fears that this manga was going to paint by numbers or take the easy way out.



STORY

If there's one archetype I'm an incurable sucker for, it's 'The Atoner'. A high school boy tries to make ammends to the girl he bullied in 6th grade, but also needs to learn to forgive himself and others. A Silent Voice covers the subject of bullying from multiple angles, covering not just the main victim and main bully, but also delving into how bullying can affect large groups even if only a handful of people are directly involved.

As for the actual sequence of events that make up the plot, those are fairly simplistic and straightforward. The plot focuses more on simply putting characters into normal situations and letting them go to work, rather than than creating grand setpieces or throwing lots of curveballs from out of the blue for the cast to react to. It has a couple moments of perhaps excessive drama, where emotion seems ramped up for the sake of 'feels' rather than logical progression. But overall the story is solid.



ART



Excellent background work is the best part of this series' art, with strong character designs to boot. For a series so heavily grounded in realism, it was critical to sell the idea that the story is taking place in the real world. To help sell this idea, A Silent Voice has highly detailed, beautiful backgrounds and settings that are practically reference photos. Combine this with character designs that are clearly distict and have a healthy dose of realism mixed in with the traditional manga aesthetic (body types, faces, and outfits are all fully within the realm of believeability) and it becomes very easy to believe you're seeing something that could happen in real life- which helps the emotional moments hit home. The layout and design of this series very straightfoward, with few gimmicks or tricks in the presentation.



CHARACTERS



This series should be required reading for anyone who wants to know how to make a character sympathetic even while they're not always or even often likable. Characters don't always fall into common tropes, and sometimes it can even take a couple re-readings to decide what you truly feel about a character. It would have been so easy to write this story with a Mary Sue or two for leads, surrounded by nasty bad guys who are just mean for the sake of being mean. The most admirable characters can sometimes make big mistakes and reveal major personal flaws, and the least likable pain-in-the-butt characters can sometimes show positive traits and do a good deed, and in neither case does it feel like a Deus Ex Machina because the writer took the time to properly flesh the cast out.



There are a couple flaws in this area however. In the middle a story a new character appears who is treated like they're super important and have always been there, despite never having been seen or shown affecting the plot in any way. And then just a chapter or two later, that same 'super important' character leaves the story and isn't referenced again. So there are flaws if you take a good look, but dang if the character writing isn't still strong.



OVERALL



An excellent manga, hands down. I give this series a very strong recommendation, a real 'must read' for someone looking for a serious emotional story.

I don't want to say that this is the worst manga I've ever read, but I just couldn't get into it.
The story was too confusing and left me wondering what was going on most of the time. Random people showed up in places and were never explained, and odd things happened in the story that were left unmentioned.
The art was freakish and strange looking. The style for some of the characters changed from one panel to the next, and the style of art made the storyline even more confusing.
The characters were also not relatable because they weren't characterized very well. I didn't understand who the characters were at all. Some showed up and left as soon as they came.
Many aspects of this manga were confusing and just not enjoyable at all. I don't recommend this manga. I think the only redeeming quality it had was that it was short.

Okay.....

I'm a bit of a fan when it comes to manga adaptations of Disney.....but....this....NOOOOO!

I was a kid in elementary school when the movie came out, I didn't like it.

I read the manga out of sheer curiosity,

The only positive thing I can say is the art style is okay being the typical Shoujo style.

It's barely writing. It's only 10 pages and not much of a story.

The only way I can comprehend this existing...is that this was made to catch people up before watching a sequel.

My bias against the films has nothing to do with how I feel about the manga.
This is LEGIT a horrible manga.

So, is there any word as to whether or not this manga will officially release? I’ve never been on a two year one shot hype craze train before! I’m very excited for this work as I believe the hockey market is an untapped industry with high market value and this series is in GREAT HANDS. I’m not so sure that this review will speak the series into existence, but it is certainly worth a shot! I’d love for there to be more from this series just the way that it is. The ice curse, an aggressive monk grandpa, an obnoxious team captain, a potential love interest/best friend, and a nonchalant main character who is unamused by the fact that his entire life has consisted of training for a sport he has yet to actually play. I have high hopes and I really just want this message to reach someone willing to put their faith in this project. It deserves more than one shot (⌒▽⌒)

Truly cute story. The main couple is really sweet and its entertaining to see how they start liking each other.
The art is really good in my taste.
It has a couple of cute and funny moments that will surely make it worth your while
Unfortunately its very short and you are left with the feeling of wanting more. Still its a good read :D

KINDA SPOILERS AHEAD

I was really, really enjoying this series as an alternative continuation to Genshiken. It has some really cool insight into the future of some of our favorite characters, and overall was very wholesome/heartwarming. It is very reminiscent of regular ol' Genshiken, lots of weeby references but more of a focus.
However.. in the latest few chapters, the writer made an absolutely strange plot choice that drags his wellbuilt characters in the mud. It completely ruins the heartwarming feels built up over the 20 chapters, and IMO stains Genshiken. I don't know how I will ever be able to read Genshiken again without flashbacks of this tragedy.. Not going to say I didn't wish I read it, but I wish I could forget it exists.

It's a little bit ridiculous to see how much influence one ornery woman can have on an entire apartment complex, but nevertheless, drama permeates every part of this manga. Anything gossip that is remotely scandalous is spread like wildfire and affects everyone's behavior; past relationships are brought out into the open and current ones crumble in a few chapters. Romance is fragile, complicated, and at times stupid and incomprehensible. Ah, but that's life, isn't it?

What made Hot Gimmick the most appealing to me was its interpretation of love. The characters attend high school and are not quite inexperienced but also have not experienced real relationships. Upon encountering these new situations and people, they discover the truth about love, that all those songs with sappy lyrics really do express romantic feelings at some point or another. "What is this feeling?" "Why is that that I want this person more than anyone else?" "This is so stupid, so idiotic, so asinine, yet my heart wants this."

It was better in the first half of the manga, though. After a while it was annoying to see the same characters still struggling with their feelings, messing up, and hurting everyone around them in their efforts to come to terms with their own thoughts. But I suppose that just points out how love can be a bad thing when it gets out of hand.

However, coming back the plot, the drama within the apartment complex due to previous relations and just plain nosy neighbors was absolutely immature and made me roll my eyes a lot while I read. It sounds like such a middle school thing to do and it's ridiculous for grown adults to take part in shunning a particular family for a rumor they have not confirmed, though even if it were true, it wouldn't be nice to ostracize a family like that.

I do commend the mangaka for creating distinct characters, but character development seemed very slight for a few of them, especially for the main character Hatsumi. For the majority of the manga she was a crybaby who repeatedly denied herself her greatest desire because it was so different from what she wanted before. While it is a good thing that she is generally nice to others, that can easily be taken advantage of, as it is a lot of times in the manga, which I consider one of her greatest faults.

The men in her life are Ryoki (a bully from her childhood who happens to be the landlady's son and is fearsome, commanding, and cold), Azusa (a childhood hero who moved away but came back later as a handsome model), and Shinogu (Hatsumi's extremely kind brother). They're quite an interesting bunch to hang around, let me tell you.

As far as the artwork went, I thought the men were attractive, but the females, not so much. It wasn't because of the crying, but rather the women's appearances I found not to be as attractive as the male's. Their eyes were so big that they made the girls look childlike, and they just weren't as comely as the men.

The manga didn't exactly end with a bang and I was more satisfied with the first half than the second half, I still thought Hot Gimmick was a pleasant read for that romance. There is a little bit of smut in there, but there isn't a whole ton and is actually kind of unnecessary. It may not be appropriate for people of certain ages, though.

Before I start this review, I'm going to preface this with how I am the kind of person who appreciate and enjoy the journey more than the destination.

TL;DR manga is very funny but not too great in the plot department. Read if you love genderbender comedies and don't mind about unsatisfying ending.


I know comedy is subjective but if you love genderbender comedies such as Prunus Girl, Himegoto, stuff from the now defunct Waai! magazine, etc, then this is easily one of the funniest out there.
This manga was made before these genderbender stories went on some kind of "oh it's exploring deep issues and whatnot ala Hourou Musuko" revolution (circa 2016-now) so if you're looking for that then sorry, you won't find it here. You go into this if you just want to laugh and have a good time.

First and foremost this manga heavily leans toward comedy and it set up jokes or funny situations really well, but it suffers on the plot aspect (even if there seems to be hints at more story later on, it doesn't pay them off). There are some downtime to reflect on some genuinely wholesome moments, but they are usually just there to make you empathize with the characters or it's another setup for a punchline in the next chapter. The main characters, Ochi and Izumi, have a nice dynamic and as the main pillar of the whole manga they're doing a good job.

Now to address the elephant in the room, the ending is not great. It seems more like a sequel bait than an actual ending and pulled off the infamous "we've gone full circle and got back to where we start off" card from slice of life manga. I honestly think this manga would've benefitted from a longer serialization (or an actual sequel), if it was longer it could have easily pay off some plot details that are hinted at throughout the manga and could even be elevated to something great (like an 8 or 9 out of 10).

Of course, that didn't happened so if you don't mind about that aspect then feel free to pick up Boy Skirt for your dose of genuinely great genderbender comedy (I'm legit dying from laughter reading this if you're still not convinced).