11eyes: Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shoujo

Much like many other manga based on visual novels, they become mysterious beasts that become hard to define as to whether they can be considered 'good' or not.
I am writing this review as someone who has seen the anime adaptation and read the manga but not played the original source material, 11 Eyes the visual novel.

The manga follows a specific route of the visual novel, the Kusakabe Misuzu route.
As such certain plot points and characters are completely glossed over in the manga, as to understand the entire story one must play through all the routes of the visual novel.
The first chapter or two can be a real chore to get through, as it seems to throw concepts at you from the get go and you have to accept that things are happening blindly in order to enjoy it. However after struggling through them, you'll probably start to enjoy the weirdness of the situation and the characters involved with it.
Aside from the hurried beginnings, the story is more of a puzzle trying to work out why these characters have been thrust together into this situation, and what can they do to survive it. Almost nothing is explained until the last 2 chapters, where expositional dialogue will try and help you muddle through what exactly the hell is going on.

The artwork is above average in that for the most part in manga today i see little to no shading, vast amounts of white space and little to no detail. 11 Eyes will not disappoint with it's array of distinguishable characters, detailed fight scenes and a surprisingly heavy use of shading.

The characters are the real meat of the manga here, and in some parts this could be considered the best or possibly the worst part for other readers.
As previously mentioned, this follows the route for one character.
As such the character that you follow is well fleshed out, revealing backstory and seeing the emotions that she displays at any given time and her plights, hopes and dreams.
However the rest of the cast is left pretty much in the dust.
Aside from knowing who they are, the rest is left to either watching the anime or playing the game if you want to fill in the gaps.

Overall i'd say i enjoyed reading the manga, but mainly to get a different perspective than what the anime provided.
If you are already a fan of Kusakabe Misuzu's character, i'd definitely recommend reading it!
However for the rest of us i'd recommend watching the anime at least, to get a better understanding on what's going on with the rest of the characters and story. And for everyone else,including myself, 'id say play the game if you can and if you enjoyed that you'll probably enjoy this too.

I read the manga before watching the anime and while comparing both, i can safely say that i prefer the anime solely because of Misuzu. She is such an amazing and strong character and i was very disappointed that the anime went with that psycho Yuka.

The manga provided me with an ending that I thought was the best out of all others possible and I am very thankful for that.

The art or concept or even the story telling isnt groundbreaking but it's a good and short read if you just want to pass the time or are looking for something that won't take up too much of your time.

イレブンアイズ - 11eyes -Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shoujo - Surprisingly, I caught myself re-reading the manga with its mixture of harem, action and drama in a beautiful school setting, combined with a parallel world scenario, even though I just wanted to dust it off. Because the manga has seduced me to watch the anime again, I would like to give it a little credit despite its weaknesses. Although I opted for a manga review because I think the manga is less confusing and therefore funnier. However, having seen the anime again, the review will also reflect my opinion about it, as well.

Story: Cliché, but with potential, sadly both Manga & Anime leave much of it unused (6/10)
The fragments of an emerald tablet bestow various magical abilities and tremendous spiritual powers. For a small group of students, the idyllic city of Ayamegaoka, where they live and go to school, is transformed into a nightmarish fighting arena with the emergence of a parallel world, the so-called "Red Night". In order to survive, they must fight for their lives and at the same time find the explanation for the phenomenon, hoping to cross an end to the nightmare. That doesn't sound so bad, does it? On the contrary, have you ever wondered why the prologue of the anime is spoken in Hungarian and even the episode titles like "Red Night - Piros éjszaka" are translated? I will return to this thought in the context of the character description. Unfortunately, much of the story's potential remains untapped or at least not fully exploited. Ironically, although Manga and Anime were created in parallel, they have different deficiencies in their implementation depending on the medium. As already mentioned, the manga follows a path of the visual novel, which, while not innovative, is less confusing due to its more thoughtful structure. However, it lacks essential background information on the characters, and the reader remains in the dark and has to guess why. On the other hand, the anime is missing a red thread and moreover, the brutal entry to the anime, followed by a short filler, is already confusing or even discouraging for an audience unfamiliar with the story. The confusing narrative style unfortunately continues in the anime, this has a strong influence on the character development and is also perceived as disturbing. What's tragic about it is, that you notice the disturbance, but due to the lack of explanation you can not say exactly what bothers you.

Characters: A lot unrevealed, therefore damned to be more or less stereotypes (5/10)
All characters would have had both potential and background, but the desire to learn more about them isn't quite fulfilled.
Minase Yuka:
Let's start with her because she is the most misunderstood character. In Manga she is a normal childhood friend who grew up in the same orphanage as Kakeru and his older sister. The introduction to the anime seeks to reveal that Yuka's memories are concealed by amnesia, since she witnessed the chaos caused by the awakening of her fragment at the orphanage, in which Kakeru's big sister also committed suicide. Incidentally, this is the brutal entry to the anime. Directing and storytelling tried to revive the interest in anime, so that Yuka was unnecessarily transformed into an obsessive Yandere. However, what remains in the manga and anime is the strong bond to Kakeru, either because of a real love or a great sense of guilt.
Verard:
The mysterious man appears in Kakerus dreams. In order to create tension is not immediately mentioned that Verard is a king of the medieval times who ruled the fictional Eastern European country of Drasuvania and which powers he possessed as a owner of the Eye of Aeon. His appearance and name (Verard = Vlad) as well as the period around the 15th century suggest the reference to the Carpathians in Romania. Thus the prologue spoken in Hungarian would also be plausible, since the official language at that time in "Transylvania" was Hungarian due to the balance of power. You'll ask, what does all this have to do with the fairy girl in the crystal cube?
Lisette Vertorre: (the cute, fragile girl in the huge crystal)
Due to historical references the most interesting figure as well as the core of the whole story. Born in the year of the Lord 1195, her fate was overshadowed by the atrocities of a medieval crusade of the Roman Catholic Church against the Cathas, A.D. 1209 - 1229 (Abligenser Crusade). In particular, the destruction of the occitan town of Béziers in 1209, a small reference to this background can be found in episode 10. Verard and the love of his life both look at a burning town that is supposed to be a capital in Drasuvania, but it reflects the silhouette the town of Béziers. The resemblance of this scene to the Gothic cathedral of Saint-Nazaire, which towers over the houses of the town, the Bridge of Pont Vieux, the River Orb and trees on the bank of the water is unmistakable. And of course you are right in saying that this is historically wrong, because the Béziers was destroyed in 1209 and the fictional King Verard lived from 1428 to 1459. This faux pas is certainly due to the tight budget, but it is confusing and does not explain the dramatic change that Lisette had to go through.
Satsuki Kakeru:
At first glance he seems rather unmotivated. In anime, this is compounded by the fact that he is reduced to "I want to protect". His attempt to develop a little is postponed because of the introduction of another character and comedy. His dreams of a former king are important, but he needs too much time to realize that his eye (of Aeon) has secret powers. The name is well chosen, because it means roughly medieval or eternal as a Latin transliteration from the biblical Greek ὁ αἰών. The owner possesses all the memories and abilities of all the previous ones, which in a first step allows the prediction of attacks by enemies. On the other hand, it explains why a king of the Middle Ages appears in his dreams.
Teruya Tadashi:
His character is not so exaggerated in the manga, he also plays the comedian here, but in the anime I found the character a bit annoying. However, this also reflects the fact that, in my opinion, this time could have been better used for characterization or background information.
Hirohara Yukiko:
The lovable and communicative girl has a multiple personality disorder due to a traumatic childhood. A cute accessory helps to control her personality. Her emotional world and relationship towards Takahisa would be very interesting, but is only briefly touched upon in the anime. A small request, if someone knows, from which language the beautiful sentence comes: "Faado sehteio frecse en tora", that I would like to know. It does not seem to be Hungarian, although she is also from the fictitious Drasuvania.
Tajima Takahisa:
Due to the fact that the anime is different, he has to play the role of school hooligan, uncouth, a rowdy but still a good guy. Although he is a stereotype par excellence, the role of the cheeky hothead fits perfectly with a pyromaniac.
Kusakabe Misuzu:
The main fighting force of the small group. In the manga, which focuses more on this character, it becomes clear that she is much more feminine than it seems. Unfortunately, this looks like a sheer weakness in the anime, as the truth literally pull the rug out from under her feet.
To explain the character of Liselotte Werkmeister and the six black knights, on the one hand, it would be too much and on the other, there should still be some tension, but they are interesting too.

Visuals: manga graceful (7/10), but anime adaptation could not reproduce (4/10)
The manga has a certain grace and bears the signature of a professional manga-ka. Instead, the anime shows in this regard another of his weaknesses through a shabby animation and unfortunate proportions. In particular, it is noticeable that the fan service makes it worse, e.g. Yuka's skirt has a damage there, where it gives deep insights. All in all, the adaptation is sloppy and generic. Surprisingly, the only highlight of the animation, and although CGI usually is not my cup of tea, is the implementation of the five swords that Misuzu keeps in her fingernails by using a dimensional magic. This is a successful visual effect and good computer graphics. On the other hand, the swords have some interesting historical references. I will name two swords as an example, and there are even seven if you add the two swords of Kusakabe Misao, Onikiri and Kumokiri. The Tachibana Dousetsu Raikiri is a reference to the legendary sword of Tachibana Dousetsu, a Japanese samurai of the Sengoku period who owned a famous sword called Chidori to Raikiri. The Kannagiri Nagamitsu is a reference to Bizen Nagamitsu, who was a very famous Japanese sword maker and son of Bizen Mitsutada, founder of the Bizen Osafune School.

Sounds: only refers to anime (6/10)
The BGM was composed by Sakamoto Shoichiro, Hosoe Shinjii, Shimizu Tatsuya and Kurose Keisuke, the music is not a highlight, but fits well to the action and does not affect the synchronization. A nice piece of music is "akai yoru", because it is not played on a piano or grand piano as usual, but on a spinet. "Kou ni Tranarishimono" is also a successful composition of organ music and J-TechnoPop.
The OP "Arrival of Tears" sung by Ayane (Hirata Junko) is simply great. The animation is typical, but not bad, putting the audience in the right mood for the anime.
Asriel's ED "Sequentia" has a similar style and fits well to the end of the episodes.
The list of voice actors leaves nothing to be desired, especially the voice of Kusakabe Misuzu, spoken by Asakawa Yû (Shikyûetsu Kitsune), whose voice and skills as a seiyû, I greatly appreciate. Unfortunately, good voice actors can only reproduce what the script says. Here is another big weakness of the anime, the dialogue directing. The dialogues are clichéd and are so overdrawn that it's just a pity. Nevertheless, there is a highlight, namely the narrator of the prologue, Faragó András, whose intonation at the beginning of a series exerts a particularly strong attraction.

The manga has flaws, but is still at least entertaining average, all in all (6/10). The anime, however, can not convince because of its serious mistakes, especially the bad writing and a rather unpretentious visual implementation (4/10).

Thanks for reading and have fun reading the manga.