Masamune-kun no Revenge

Masamune-kun suffers from an interesting phenomenon, something I like to call the "Guilty Crown Effect". At the beginning, we start with a very unique plot with tons of potential, and several different characters with what looks like room for development. However, after a short feeling of general oddness it takes an absolute dive into the abyss.

In the beginning, there are several very interesting characters. Our hero is very handsome, but also extremely narcissistic. Our heroine is beautiful, but a terrible tsundere. As they draw closer together, we see that there is some depth to these characters that is making their interactions more interesting. The side characters are slowly introduced, most of them contributing an interesting and unique something to the plot.

The first few chapters are quite good, and set it up for an excellent story. As the manga continues, there begins to be a slight air of indecision, as if the author doesn't know where to go from the beginning. Characters will have important dialogue or realizations, that will then be completely forgotten by the next chapter. In spite of this I foolishly kept reading.

There was an important reveal about one of the characters, and the manga looked like within a few chapters it would reach a very satisfactory ending. And that is where everything went to absolute hell. For absolutely NO reason, new characters and a terrible plot began to be introduced. The only possible reason for this that I can think of is that the author realized he wasn't quite ready to butcher this cash milking machine.

I, being young and naive, continued to read, still holding on to that desperate hope that somehow this would all fix itself. Alas, I just got to watch my heart be broken further as the story continued to sink into the dregs of manga that exists as some sort of capitalistic, never-ending hell. Like someone in an abusive relationship, I just kept thinking that maybe next time it will be different. Spoilers: it wasn't. I eventually dropped it.

I rated this a 2. Some people may think that this is harsh, but stories like this are far worse to me than any "Mars of Destruction" catastrophe. I can easily detect poor writing, but I can't detect good writing that becomes terrible. Maybe some lucky souls are capable of sensing this sort of thing before it comes to pass, but this review is for everyone else. I implore you, in the name of good stories everywhere, do not read this manga. If you're so desperate to read something, read the first five chapters or so and then make up your own ending. Literally anything would be better.

TL;DR Starts promising, goes to shite.

Masamune-kun no revenge. A story about a boy who, after being heartbroken invests his following 8 years into reshaping himself into every girls wet dream, and then proceeds to serve the cruel girl her own medicine, making her fall for him, then leaving her heartbroken. The story ends with the boy realizing the vanity and emptiness of revenge, and going out with the girl seriously.
EXCEPT it doesn't.
This manga starts out interesting, with a decisive, determined MC, and actually cruel rich girl. MC sacrifices his chances for friendships, relationships and fulfilled love only to achieve his revenge, slowly learning of the pain and hardship the said girl is actually going through.
And then, at the ending, it's all just denied.
YEAH, JUST LIKE THAT. All his effort is DENIED,the whole story becomes worthless! He could remain that fat kid that bought acquitances with his dad's money and the hot girl would go out with his regardless, BECAUSE IT TURNS OUT SHE'S COMPLETELY INNOCENT and loved him all along, and the one that broke his heart was actually not that girl, but someone else that IMPERSONATED that girl and dumped him out of spite.
Seriously, that ending is just such a filthy, obscene pile of deus ex machina shit I regret reading this far.



TL;DR/ SKIPPING THE RANT/ THE MOST IMPORTANT PART:
It's a fun manga. That ends at chapter 36. Anything beyond that point that's not a filler is a shameless changing of the main plot to an insult to anyone who faithfully read previous chapters. So don't.

In one sentence, this manga proves you can ruin whole manga with one single chapter.

My little review here just finished the manga today and the afterschool chapters too. Personally 9/10 I can respect the opinions of everyone who thought it was rushed or missed a lot of plot points and I agree the random deviations from the plot were annoying but I felt it was a great ride with enough closure for an ending. Loved the development of the characters and main conflict especially towards the end and the art is basically perfect.

<----WARNING BIG SPOILERS AHEAD---->

Couple more opinions here regarding the ending. Throughout the whole manga for me it was Yoshino best girl and Aki x Masamune best ship. I slightly had my hopes up for Yoshino winning throughout the manga since I absolutely loved her interactions with Masamune and was really hoping for it during the last couple chapters when it began to be hinted but in the end we all knew that couldn't happen since it was obvious from the chapters before 48 that he loved Aki and his relationship with Yoshino was a great friendship but platonic or at most a small crush. Few romance manga like this can make me love nearly all the characters to the point that even when my ship (Yoshino x Masamune) didn't fly I felt happy for how Yoshino's character grew especially towards the end of the manga as we discover what her true intensions were from the start and see her become her own person outside of just Aki's servant.

P.S. a lot of people complain about the hives disappearing so just to clarify in the manga his hives were caused by his stress during contact with Aki from hiding the truth that he had been seeking a relationship with her for revenge from the start. In the last couple pages when he tells her the truth.

This series started off great. Then it got out of hand. I enjoyed the very first 2-3 volumes when the love becomes intense and nearly became a heart breaking moment. Then the story STILL CONTINUES!?!? It drifted off becoming one of those thin and long plots where they keep adding more characters to extend character development. What hooked me into this series was the intense hype about some main character's plan in the story to seek revenge.

The revenge plan soon drifted off to some cliche love story when they interact with the new characters and became soft headed. Then the revenge plan completely breaks down and no one speaks of it again after several issues. Literally the word "revenge" is in the title and they couldn't even keep the main theme that long.

Then I realized that this entire story is a bad cliche in a way that no body noticed. Two main characters hate each other and put a fake love interest to spite each other. Both had a secret childhood relationship and became real love with each other over a long ass period of time. (cough Nisekoi cough cough).

So the authors is trying to make a story that lasts long without end.

I started reading this manga because of the anime adaption left me feeling "what the hell is going to happen next?" At the time of this review the anime and manga are still on-going. Needless to say, this manga was quite an entertaining read. We start off with a classic boy gets his heart broken by the girl he loves, but only to come back YEARS later to seek revenge for his humiliation.

Story:
The story started quite strong. The goal was clear, to seek revenge for a traumatized childhood. Masamune with the help of a close ally, devised a plan to make the one who broke his childish heart pay, Aki. His goal was to get Aki to fall in love with him only to break her heart once she does. There was just one problem, how to get Aki to fall in love with him. This is where everything changes. Is revenge all the important? As I continue to read, I realize that Masamune's resolve is being tested. The original plot of revenge and gratification has been hampered with rivalry, misunderstandings and revelations. The true plot has been revealed as a cliche Rom-Com drama. Nevertheless, it was definitely worth reading if your interested in misunderstanding being realized.

I'm disappointed, really disappointed considering the fact that I read this whole manga in a few days just to have everything leading up to one of the worst endings ever lmao.
Story (4): I read the synopsis and I expected a really good story out of this. The thing is though, I put this manga off for a whole year, but that ending made me envy the me before where this manga was still being put off. So let me tell you something, the first chapter gives out a good story, fat dude loses weight and becomes handsome in order to get revenge on the girl who called him piggy. So far so good, as the chapters kept on presuming on, questions are being asked, questions were answered, but the last ten chapters (38-48, not counting 49 and 50 is just a collage of pictures.) were some of the best chapters I've ever read, for me atleast. It was basically a plot twist, a good one for once! So the last ten chapters build up on this plot twist and I can't tell you enough, I was hoping to God that the author won't screw this up.... Incoming chapter 49, the biggest plot twist of them all shows up and fucks up everything, all the questions that we thought were answered became meaningless, because all of those questions came back for the last chapter and ended up being multiplied! So yes, this manga ended up predictable, confusing, fast paced which I'll touch on later, rushed, and that plot twist in those ten chapters?!?! Erased lmao, good job on you author, way to make the manga longer than it should have been, should've just erased those 10 chapters. One more thing before I make this longer than it should have, but it doesn't even come to ships at this point, if you supported the main girl then skip the ten chapters and don't even waste your time and read the last few pages of chapter 49 and enjoy your predictable trash, if you picked the other girl... you'll see what I mean, then the last ten chapters will make so much fucken sense and it becomes the first time where a predictable manga had the side chick win in a harem.... then don't read chapter 49. If it would've been a 7 or 8 either way if it wasn't for that last chapter.

Art (7): It's decent, the art atleast serviceable and the best thing about this manga....

Character (5): It would've been a 8 if it wasn't for the last chapter, all the side characters that needed some questioning just becomes mysteries in the last chapter. We never get good development on them which is sad and none of them left an impact where I can remember their name sadly. I want to get invested into them but nothing leaves a mark and don't get me started with the minor characters... What about the main characters? Everything was good development til the last chapter, everything seemed really force, both of them threw all of that character development out the window in the favor of one more god awful and predictable plot twist.

Enjoyment (1): I can't tell you how fast paced this manga was to the fact that it did none of its characters justice. Think of it this way, the side characters never get any development whatsoever except the main characters, so how am I supposed to care about One-Dimensional characters? Every arc seemed so rushed but I didn't mind that all, it was enough to keep me enjoying the manga and trust me, the plot twist in the beginning of the last ten chapters were so enjoyable to the point where I have to get to the end of it! Only to get pranked, all the author did was toy with your feelings and retcon all of those ten chapters lmao.

Overall: 4 I'm not reading it again, til Thanos snapped the last chapter and replaces it with a good chapter, then maybe this manga would've been an 8.

Side Note: I know all about the 'Side girl' and I know she's not everyone favorite because certain circumstances, but those last ten chapters either need to balls up and go with her or just don't have those last ten chapters begin with and have the last chapter just be good for once, it's that simple. And I give you a novel on why she's the best girl compared to the other ones too, and make complete sense while doing it, so fight me lol.

This manga really touched my heart in a lot of ways.
(No, the literally way is not one of them).
Even though there were some problems with nearly every character at some point, the writer always managed to have a way to get me to love them again.

WARNING: Spoilers Ahead.

Let's start with the main character of the story, Makabe/Hayase Masamune.
I've seen a lot of people complain about how his motives for revenge were really childish and immature, but I disagree with that.
Sure, he might be holding a grudge for something that happened when he was a young kid, but that event destroyed his childhood, both mentally and physically.
Also, some people have complained about how the switch from revenge to love was extremely sudden, of which I agree, partially, but also disagree.
It is very sudden that the revenge that he had been holding onto for 8 years had suddenly disappeared, but the manga provides a very good explanation for it. Masamune was, essentially, hating Adagaki Aki for a nonexistent reason, and when he was told the actual truth, his emotions changed.
He stopped viewing Aki as the cruel, tyrannical b*tch that he used to view her as, but instead now viewed her as the kind-hearted person who had helped him get stronger, who had helped him when everyone else was bullying him. It was only natural that his feelings would change.

Next, let's talk about the "heroine" of the story, Adagaki Aki.
Again, she's also quite a complex character.
Her motive for rejecting men cruelly is essentially this: "Men always disappng thear and leave me by myself."
This was caused because, (in her eyes), she was abandoned and left alone not only by one person, but by two.
This is the primary reason behind why she keeps pushing others away.
She is sick and tired of being betrayed by the ones she trusted.
However, she is also shown not to hate Masamune for abandoning her.
In episode 9, near the end, she is shown to be reminiscing about the blissful times that she spent together with Masamune, stating that if anything was love, that was love.
This is further expressed when her joy is shown that Gasou comes, saying that he is Masamune.
She continues her relationship with Gasou, even when he gives the response "Who cares?" to her question of why he had left her alone 8 years ago, even though it had a massive effect on her life.

Her love for Masamune is not unprecedented either.
She fell for him not once, but twice.
First, as a child, and second, in the present.
It must have been a shocking revelation for her when she released the two were actually one.
In fact, her love is so deep that she still loves him after realising that everything he had done for her (in the present) was a fake, and part of his plan to get revenge.

Now, I'll move on to talk about Fujinomiya Neko.
Her character is that of an interesting one. There are so many mysteries surrounding her, as that is the type of character she is portrayed as.
Her motive for "getting close" to Masamune was a very interesting one.
She knew that there was a 30% chance of her dying soon, so before she (perhaps) passed away, she wanted to experience one emotion.
Love.
All Neko knows about love is from what she has read and hear about.
And she wants to experience this blissful emotion before she dies.
Even if that means harming the others around her.
However, after she first gets rejected, she falls in love with Masamune for real.

She is also shown to care(?) about Aki in a sort of roundabout way.
She warns her not to get close to Masamune, as she knows about the truth of his revenge plan, and whether it's because she actually wants to help Aki or because she wants her "out of the way" for her relationship with Masamune, She warns him nevertheless.

She is shown to be very dense about her one personal affairs as well, being completely bewildered by the fact that Kojurou likes her.

Now for the final character I'm going to talk about today, Koiwai Yoshino.
She is Aki's personal servant, always obeying her every order.
She is... a very interesting character.
She was the one who instigated the whole event that eternally(?) scarred Masamune and Aki when they were kids, although she was extremely repent-full and sorry about it in the aftermath.
She does everything in her power to help Masamune and Aki get together, even if it means hurting herself and her emotions, as a way of making up for her... sin.

The story of this manga is also amazing.
It weaves all the characters together so finely, so perfectly, that nothing feels unnatural at all.
The ending was completely beautiful, and it was one of my favourite parts of the manga, although I would totally love more of it.
Overall, this Manga is completely amazing, and I would definitely recommend reading it.

I stumbled across this manga quite by accident a while ago, but I found the premise rather interesting. So I decided to give it a go, and I was quite happy that I did. At the time of writing, only 5 chapters of this manga have been released, but I think this is sufficient to produce a fairly decent evaluation of it.

1. Story: 8

I like the premise of getting back at your childhood bully, but having read the specific bullying scenes, I did not think the MC had to be as fixated on his past as he is. Regardless, the story picks up after that and delivers the tales of Masamune-kun in his quest for retribution. Its proceeds at a good pace and the events are both interesting and funny. I am quite eager to read on and find out what happens to the relationship between the male and female MC. As it is, it has progresses quite radically from what it was at the beginning. I especially like the ending of chapter 5 (the most recent chapter at the time of this review), as it hints at a change in the male MC's outlook on the proceedings.

2. Art: 9

I understand this is quite a subjective category. Personally, I like this style and I think the characters and the setting is very well drawn. Both Masamune and Adagaki look great. The supporting characters are also drawn well. I particularly like how appearances can be deceiving. Adagaki's helper looks angelic, but turns out to be quite the trickster.

3. Characters: 8

As stated, I liked the main characters of this manga. I like their way of interacting with each other and think they give this manga a lot of potential. There is room for a lot of growth for the characters and this makes things very interesting. I hope for there to be more interesting characters cropping up in the future.

4. Enjoyment: 9

Without a doubt, I have enjoyed reading each chapter. It truly is a shame that it is released so slowly. It is mainly because I enjoy this manga, that I wanted to write a review for it. If you are looking for a high school love story with an interesting plot and some great artwork, this will be great. Don't expect this to be something to evaluate and analyze.

5. Overall: 8

Since there are so few chapters of this manga and as I don't see this fact changing to a considerable degree for the foreseeable future, I would recommend picking it up. It may just turn out that you will be waiting impatiently for new chapters to come out too.

The boy-against-girl showdown in this manga makes it much more interesting than your average boy-meets-girl stories. Through the course of the story, there is good development between the protagonist and the lead female.

The factor that had drawn me in to reading this manga was obviously the art. It is perfectly drawn, not too flashy, and the way how each character is drawn to make them look extremely attractive is so appealing to the eyes.

I liked the characters of the story. I find the female lead as one of the most adorable tsunderes I've ever encountered. There is a significant level of Aki being dere and flustered in contrast to other tsunderes who come off as rude and uncute for most of the anime. I like MC-kun and admire how he was able to change from his past form to his current one all for the purpose of getting revenge. I wished that they had made his background more worthy of having him get revenge for, because personally I thought his reason was a bit shallow (or maybe I'm just a complete sadist). But anyways, one can overlook that.
I liked the supporting characters as well. The assistant to the nemesis stands out very well, and I like how her presence is bringing about a sort of mystery factor in this story. The trap best friend of the MC and the other characters are all so adorable as well.

The only negative comment I can really give for this anime is that it updates too slowly. It takes about a month at average for a new chapter to come out, which is bad news for the many who look forward to the new chapter. But nevertheless, Masamune-kun No Revenge is one of the very few manga series I look forward to reading whenever a new update comes out and I would definitely recommend one to read it.

**TO ANYONE WANTING TO READ PLEASE READ THIS***

**COPY PASTED MY ANIME REVIEW, BUT THIS APPLIES TO BOTH**

You may be wondering why I gave this pretty high scores for all categories but a 4 overall? Well that's because the show starts off amazing has a fun premise and looks to be fun. As it moves on the characters are shown to be deeper than we thought, some really good storytelling is made and it turns the show into more than a silly revenge rom com.

Here's where it gets bad, after it started getting so good the show takes a COMPLETE 180 and ruins everything they've built up to that point (This happens in the manga as well which is 20 chapters ahead of the final episode as of righting this and it's still an absolute shithole and mess)

I can only count on one hand the amount of times a show has left me with such a sour taste in my mouth after finishing it (So much so that i'm writing my first review because it's pissed me off so much)

TL;DR Show goes from amazing to a shitfest in the last few episodes, and don't bother reading the manga as the shitfest just keeps on going..