radrachel3

"Average" is exactly the word to describe the feeling of reading Solo Leveling. As much as it's fun to read some parts, a lot of things ended up annoying me and that took off most of the excitement of every new chapter. Here I will try to briefly say some positives and negatives of this story so far. Hope it will be helpful.

The first few chapters start up really good. We're introduced to a character struggling to survive as a hunter, a professional that raids portals filled with monster that appear randomly in the world, despite being one of the weakest in in his rank, that's also the lowest. Sung Jin-Woo's problems and fears feel very real and it's easy to sympathize with him, until a certain incident happens while in a mission inside a portal.

After the incident, Jin-Woo receives a unique power never seen before in his world and things go pretty much downhill from there. The personality he had is slowly lost while he becomes more and more powerful, falling into the very old trope of "mysterious gloomy character that somehow everyone likes, specially at least 3 girls that have a crush on him". In the latest chapters Jin-Woo doesn't even break a sweat in the challenges he faces, and while it's exciting seeing how powerful he is, it takes a lot of the thrill of the fights. He met his original goal and his other smaller objectives are easy to deal with, he doesn't need to fight to survive anymore and is strong enough to defeat enemies with ease, so what *is* the point of the story?

I ended up being more interested in secondary characters like Baek Yoon-Ho, Min Byung-Gyu and Choi Jong-In, who had different views and personalities, and that's what truly kept me curious about where all of this is going. Specially in the last chapters the author introduced us to a lot of interesting characters with great designs that intrigued me quite a bit, but in the end neither them nor the main character are really explored well so it's kinda disappointing. Specially with Sung Jin-Woo as he has a lot of opportunities to grow and change psychologically because of all the risks and problems he had to face. Ultimately nothing of this happens and we just have a shallow main character and even shallower secondary ones.

The worldbuilding is ordinary, with some engaging notions but nothing too impressive. As for the plot, whilst having some really cool original concepts that weren't really explored in anime in general, at a lot of occasions I caught myself thinking "wait, I'm sure I've seen this somewhere before" with a lot of events in the story, which was kind of boring sometimes. Of course, nowadays it's pretty difficult to come up with a totally original concept and really, that's okay! Because what truly makes a story fresh and captivating is the narrative: the way the author shows the information and makes us think.

And that's something that also disappointed me a bit with Solo Leveling. Important information being shown only at convenient times, a lot of relevant characters appearing in the span of a few chapters that we end up forgetting about shortly after and some really, really poor attempts at plot twists. It's not terrible writing, but so average that these small things make us notice other frustrating parts, specially the same overused tropes of basically every fantasy manga/anime ever.

All in all, it's actually not so bad. I enjoyed a lot of characters and moments, was awed by the eye catching art, but as time passed it became just really bland and forgettable. As each chapter is released I notice more and more the tons of clichés and questionable narrative and this just tosses in the trash all the emotions I initially felt with the story. It's a good webcomic (now manga I guess) for those who don't really care for plot details as much as I do and enjoy really cool fighting scenes, but at the same time I think some parts could have been done differently and maybe better than it is.

I usually don't review manga, but I'm making an exception for this one since it is so popular.

When I started reading this manga, I was tired of seeing the same shounen anime tropes, especially the strong female character who also serves as fanservice and unrealistically strong male protagonists. While I can enjoy shounen anime and manga despite these tropes, I really craved something different. Full Metal Alchemist satisfied that craving.

This manga is set in a steampunk world where some people rely on the power of alchemists, people who can destroy objects and reconstruct them into something else. Some of the alchemists are military officials known as state alchemists while others are just everyday people. As described by the manga's synopsis, alchemy is at the heart of the manga's story. However, there is more to the manga than this.

While alchemy was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the manga, other amazing aspects included the use of automail, the characters, and the themes woven within the story. Automail is a type of metal used as prosthetics body parts. It looks cool and is so functional I wish it were real. My favorite characters that use automail are Edward Elric and Paninya.

Speaking of the characters, they are the most refreshing and relatable characters I've ever seen in the shounen genre. The lead shounen protagonist Edward is a realist when it comes to personal faith, but also optimistic, caring, and considerate toward others. A particularly touching scene with Edward occurs when he is yelling at someone (can't spoil who) and he talks about how hard it is for a single mother, speaking from his own mother's experience. Another scene I liked was when he used alchemy to fix the damage he caused with his battles. This was the first male manga character I've seen do this and it was nice to see.

Other characters I liked were Edward's brother Al (he was badass in the armor & has good char. development) and Scar (who has the best char. arc besides the Elric bros.). All the other characters I liked were female. Almost all the female characters in this manga had major roles and practically zero fanservice. No big boobs or boob gags to be found. The closest thing to fanservice is when one character is sitting in a bathtub, but nothing explicit is shown. This is rare in the shounen genre, but as a female reader I welcomed it.

Anyway, the female characters I liked were Izumi Curtis (a tough as nails housewife, alchemist, sensei, and mother figure), Winry (automail mechanic who built Ed's arm and leg and fixes the arm), Paninya (she has automail legs that are also weapons), and Mei (a little girl who is brave, strong, and funny).

Another aspect of the characters I liked was how racially diverse they were. Ed and similar characters were modeled after Europeans, Scar and his fellow Ishvarians reminded me of Muslims, and Mei and similar characters are reminiscent of East Asians.

All together, alchemy and the characters driving the plot are a part of interesting social commentary on things like goverment corruption, personal faith, discrimination, warfare, and more. Depending on how much of it you notice, it may make you think a bit while you read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series and it has become my favorite shounen manga series ever. After reading and watching shounen manga and anime by men, it was truly refreshing to read a popular shounen manga series by a woman. I don't know if there will ever be another manga series or female manga creator that can follow suit, but other creators could take a page or two from this series.

Omg this was such a wonderful romantic story I've ever read in 2020. Hayden and Gia from since they first met in Prague, REALLY DESERVED each other. It goes to show that none of us should be basing on an individuals look first, but how they are shown as a person themselves. I liked how Jihyo Kim put in wee facts on the locations they visited, it keeps the reading experience feel more like the readers are tourists themselves in these areas (even if we are all in lockdown right now).

As well regarding food shown in this manhwa, I really was fascinated to understand that there's deserts out there called "Caramel Eiffel Tower" and "Cannoli". Seriously this friggin manhwa is making me hungry dude and I already had dinner an hour ago haha.

Also besides the main characters being likeable, I thought the only person that I liked on the trip was Sunni. She's potentially best girl but I really wish she was thought of more in terms of background on why she was travelling . I know she said she's getting away from somebody but it wasn't really clear for me as to shes referring to?

Another thing I hated about this manhwa, stereotypical Hayden obsessed b*ches. I can't tell you how much I hated Jane as well as the others who think they can forcefully make Hayden fall in love with any of them and try to put off Gia just because she's a plain Jane (pun intended but a better Jane).

HOWEVER this manhwa really captured my heart this year. It was just so sweet and honestly felt I was on cloud 9. I normally don't write long ass reviews like this but 100 days in Europe deserves its huge credit so much from me.

I am thrilled we got a satisfying ending. Honestly when you're down, this will pick you right back up. You won't regret reading it! 9/10

REVIEW: from chapter 1 up to chapter 14 (NO SPOILERS)

Story: 10

Interesting, amazing, heartbreaking, many elements are from the Japanese and Buddhist story and legends.

Art: 8

A bit confusing background at the beginning, but it has hugely improved after the first 4-5 chapters and this problem is gone.
You will notice the same Kishi art style...but in the last 5 chapters it has become even better! In the close future it will be even better, I'm sure about that.

Characters: 9

Not many so far, but they are perfectly done. Strong, mysterious, interesting and very cool.

Enjoyment: 10

Definitely the best new manga experience of the year. Samurai 8 becomes better and better after every chapter.

Overall: 10

JUST RUN AND DON'T COMMIT THAT MISTAKE!

This is LITERALLY the worst manga I've ever read. It just take 3 chapters for you to know how bad this manga is, but I'm not the smartest person in the world, so I kept reading and it was just getting worse!

The story is about SOMETHING, I'm still trying to figure it out. But we have a boy who is fanatic about Papico, a porn actress with bigger breasts than a hentai character, and jerks off every single day watching one of her movies. Oh, he also wants to be a director but that doesn't matter at all! Well, he meets her by the end of the first chapter and they start one of the most bizarre relationships I've ever seen. The worst part about these "characters" (if I can use this word to describe them) is that they are NOTHING alike a human being! They act like anything but a proper human being, the scenes by the restaurant and the bath made me regret learning how to read. So, I think this manga is about their relationship, which is terribly written and doesn't have proper development at all.

The art may look pretty at the beginning, but it's nothing special. Actually, it gets even worse, since the author uses a computer to repeat THE SAME DRAWING over and over again! He didn't even tried a different angle or composition, it's literally the same picture copied and pasted. And it's not even beautiful, I honestly don't know why people think Oku's art is that great, it may be good, but nothing special.

But the worst part must be the author referencing his other works throughout the manga. He makes his characters say: "Hey, have you ever read Gantz or Inuyashiki? IT'S REALLY GREAT!". This scene insulted me as a thinking creature, it's one of the most shameful things I've ever seen...

So, plot? There isn't any;
Characters? Terrible, they act like the author wants them to act, not like people would act in those situations. In fact, they just REACT to things happening around them, and not even this they do it properly;
Narrative? Horribly written, there is neither sense of progression nor evolution between the "characters";
Antagonist? THERE ISN'T ANY.

If you really hate yourself and wants to make your soul feel violated, this is the manga for you!

To start, this manga is kind of old. It was made in 1999 so there are already dated references (Y2K, the excitement over a Playstation or a Playstation 2) but it does make the story work in a way. Most of the problems could be solved by a simple cell phone call but because of the time period, it wouldn’t really work very well.

The art is fine but it looks really off a lot of the times. When it works, it looks amazingly beautiful and it really sets the appropriate tone but when it’s off, it’s really awkward and just bad. Often, it looks as though that it wasn’t actually finished and it looks just plain ugly. It’s very distracting when it gets like that.

As for the plot itself, well, it tried its very best. It’s only one volume long with a handful of chapters so, yes, there are pacing issues. In fact, there’s a whole section that’s confusing.

In the beginning, Makoto was drunk and was unlucky enough to fall off the bay and into the ocean, only to be rescued by the rich and handsome CEO. She mentions, before she falls in, that she was dumped and had lost her job on that day so she didn’t care if she died. However, after the CEO rescued her, he gave her his number and she went on her merry way.

After that, she managed to find a job at the video store and as she reflects her encounter with the rich man. As luck would have it, that’s when she gets swindled out of her life’s savings and got fired due to plot convenience. That’s when she goes with the CEO, who takes her in and, not only proposes, but tries to teach her how to be a “proper” lady of the house.

Until one day, she starts wondering to herself if this was all worth it and she wanders off to some club and has sex with some guy three times. As it turned out, it’s her future runaway son!

There’s already an age gap going on – the CEO is 39 years old, Makoto is 24 years old, and the son is 19 years old. Quite an age gap, wouldn’t you say? Then you mix in infidelity when she has sex with the son along with more than a few handfuls of crappy family drama (including a suicide) and you’ll get this manga. Oh, let’s also throw in some rape for the hell of it too!

This manga isn’t very good with pulling twists because you can smell it coming miles away. Honestly, the best character is the grandmother who apparently never leaves this little cottage somewhere on the property.

The fact that it’s a single volume hurts the plot the very most and it doesn’t give the reader time to soak in the revelations that just came out. This would have been better off serialized instead of a single volume, especially when it would come time for the family’s truth to come out.

There’s a strange part in the manga, though, when the son and Makoto decide to run away from it all (because that’s what you do), Makoto manages to get kidnapped only to find herself handcuffed to the bed and it’s revealed that the CEO wanted a child of his own (the son isn’t actually his son; he’s another man’s child) so, hey, let’s try to handcuff her to the bed!

The CEO and the son duke it out and then suddenly, everything is okay because the son finally called the CEO “dad”. It then cuts to the son’s and Makoto’s wedding day.

Okay, so I have a lot of questions about the manga.

Why is Makoto suddenly okay being around the CEO (or even allowing him to walk her down the aisle) after being kidnapped and handcuffed to the bed?!
Why did the son’s friend poke a hole in the condoms he gave them? Seriously, what’s the point? If it’s supposed to be funny, that joke was clearly lost on me. And it just wasted time. It’s dumb and endangering to them, especially since those two were poor as hell!

Did the son and CEO ever resolve their issues? Probably not. The son was always talking about how the CEO always ignored him and never really treated him like a son (when all he was doing was shuffling his feet, wondering if it’s okay to do that for another man’s son) and, even though the son was clearly calling him dad even up till the fight scene, why was this particular instance important? To answer my own questions: no, no reason. The author just couldn’t be arsed to and no, they never did resolve their issues.

Why was it important for the two sisters to follow these men? They never really explained it other than “family duty” and “because my grandfather said so, so we just accepted it, whatever.” Clearly, it’s a dangerous job because both of them fell in love with their guys and one actually married and had a kid with them. Again, what’s the point? Was it to add tension between her and Makoto? Because there wasn’t any.

All in all, this manga really isn’t any good. The tension that does manage to build up is gone as quickly as it came and the characters aren’t really that likable either, other than the grandmother. You don’t really want to root for the main character or any of her relationships but this stems mostly for the fact that manga itself is one volume long and a handful of chapters. Makoto is living the sweet life, but it probably would have gone better had this particular series gotten a serialization that it deserves, not the one it got.

Mod Note: This review was initially posted for the one-shot, In the Afternoon..., and was subsequently merged into Yuri Hime Selection.

A short story between high school students that ends on a sweet note.

Miwa is encouraged by her girlfriend Moriya, who compliments her by telling her that she has a very sexy gaze, before giving her a romantic kiss. The story is interesting because the characters are not clearly opposites, and they still remain distinguishable; it also conveys the feeling of warmth that it was going for without using any thematic elements.

The art is light and there is very little tone used, which gives the manga a dream-like atmosphere.

The synopsis above is quite misleading. Reading it, you might think the focus of this story is some kind of magical bear, or forest, or the aforementioned girl...but you'd be mistaken. In fact, the Japanese title translates to something like, "Escaping Man" -- and that's what this manga's basically about: a man who "escaped", his reason for doing so, and what happens when that reason no longer exists.

Since it was serialized in "Manga Erotics F", I expected to see something naughty but the closest this manga ever came to that was just an implied sex scene. This doesn't affect my evaluation of it in any way (OF COURSE), but I thought I should just mention that, for the benefit of any *cough* pervs *cough* out there.

The plot and characters are fairly simple, and the main draw for me was the art--it too is simple, but effective, and reminds me a little of Quentin Blake's sketchy, raw style in those old Roald Dahl books you used to read as a child (you know who/what I'm talking about right?), except with slightly tighter lines. Unlike a lot of self-taught mangaka out there, Natsume Ono can draw--she probably went to art school or something. I mean, just look at how she does the bear; it's not hyper-realistic or anything, but at least it's unmistakably bear-ish-esque...which is more than I can say for most of us, when trying to draw the same (go ahead and try it yourself--and NO, teddy bears DON'T count.)

There isn't much dialogue, which is how I think a comic should ideally be done -- let the pictures tell the story, otherwise we might as well read a book amiright? NIGERU OTOKO does a fairly decent job of that.

Bottom-line: it's an okay read, something mildly pleasant with which to pass the time.

This manga is pretty cool because it's basically a one volume version of other action manga. There's a supernatural element, a main character with powers and a girl he meets from another planet who knows about the powers, fights, a little romance, etc. It manages to put all those elements together pretty well for a small glimpse into the characters' lives.

The art was nice: simple, reminded me of other early 2000s styles (like flcl just a little bit).

There is a theme throughout of hard work being more important than natural talent. The main guy Kouichi is confident in his belief in this while the main girl Umeko is insecure about her lack of natural ability and need to work hard to achieve things. She also shows some jealousy towards Kouichi in that regard.

I like that Kouichi is kind of the guy who has no time for people being frivolous since he's preoccupied with entrance exams and stuff, but later you see how he really does care about people. On the flipside I like that Umeko is the funny, more extreme one. They complement each other well.

It's nothing crazy or life-changing but if you're ever in the mood for a manga you can read in one day this one's pretty good for that. It leaves a pretty neutral impression.

This is a beautiful story about a twin brother and sister falling in love. Even though some people may not be into that kind of love taboo, this story is so great that you can't help but love the main couple!
Iku, the girl twin, doesn't at first reciprocate her Yori's , her brother's, liking for her and is very confused with his and her feelings... but she doesn't want to lose her big brother who has seemed to be drifting away from her lately. And with her friend Tomoka liking her brother as well, everything is a mess... but that doesn't stop Yori from loving Iku all the more for her slight jealousy...
This really is a must read manga, so if you haven't done so already... READ IT! It's much better then the synopsis and this review!!! Even the anime doesn't compare! (Yes, there is an anime...) so please enjoy the read!