GodotCoffee4

Hajime Isayama might be one of the greats. Honestly, it sucks hearing about people who still don't get just how genius Attack on Titan is, but I'm writing this review to perhaps eliminate such notions that this manga/show is just another mediocre, mid-tier shounen.

I'd rather not make a broad complaint the focal point of a review in which I hope to change the mind of the group I'm bitching about, but if you did find yourself to be one of the many who dismissed the anime back in 2013 when people wouldn't shut up about it, I beg you to pick it back up and try again.

Attack on Titan's genius doesn't reside in any one component of storytelling; it isn't just the characters, it isn't just the story, it isn't just the art, etc (you get the point). Nay, Attack on Titan's genius is in its presentation as a whole. Foreign literature and television is one of the most challenging mediums to master, especially when specifically considering anime and manga. Much of the world already harbors some unfortunate preconceived notions about the medium, making it difficult to communicate through it effectively outside of Japan -- this is exactly why some shows flop outside of Japan, yet excel in the homeland. When it comes to American viewers specifically, you need a fine balance of two fundamentals to effectively reach your audience: accessibility and complexity. Attack on Titan might be one of the first shows to perfectly hold these two tenets of storytelling in perfect equilibrium, as this show has one of the widest fanbases on the planet.

Attack on Titan's popularity is no fluke either. Sure, the character work in season 1 was mediocre at best, but it succeeded immensely in laying down important groundwork and worldbuilding to appeal to all audiences whilst still working towards a more complex world with increasingly layered plot elements and setups. By season 3, it hooked many who stuck with the show, and managed to demonstrate its prowess as far as stories with rich lore and complex characters are concerned. Finally, Attack on Titan had hit its real stride.

So, where do we stand now? Well, the "final season" (LOL) is being animated currently, and the manga is coming to and end in a mere couple of months. Despite the lack of focus on the manga in this review, I feel as though I have adequately communicated the strengths of the manga. Yes, some moments of Attack on Titan are just made for the big screen, but as far as worldbuilding and character development are concerned, the manga is still managing to find new ways to innovate.

To prospective readers, yes, there are still plenty of twists and the writing only gets better. Though the themes might be pretty common and relatively prevalent in nearly every work, the characters and the circumstances in the world enrich the ideas presented to the audience, in a way that feels ever so refreshing. I am confident that Attack on Titan will do down as one of the classics in just a few years, and deservedly so. Isayama had one of the most calculated and planned stories in existence, and knew exactly how to present it to the world. Hopefully, he doesn't find a way to ruin everything in the next three chapters.

I really think that attack on titan has a great plot and a amazing world building. However, the reason that stopped me from give it a 10 is the complete lack of character building until the most recent chapters. Eren, the main character, takes 90 chapters until he finally do something to move the plot by his own decisions and is more like a plot device than the main character. Mikasa only say Eren and fight to protect him all the time, and other characters are either defined as psycophats, cowards or people that are decided to do anything for what they believe. In fact, i could say that 90% of the cast are more plot device than characters.
However, despite that, the mistery is really interesting and the fights are well done.

Based on a light novel, set in a fantasy world vaguely based on British nobility (as is super common these days), once again with a stupidly long title explaining the whole premise. This time it's that the protagonist named Viola is from a noble family saddled with debt, so she instantly agrees with Cersis's proposition to get married as part of a trade: her family gets bailed out, and she serves as cover for him to dally with his mistress unimpeded.

A lot of these types of manga just feel really bland and same-y, but I really enjoyed this one for character of Viola, and the humor. Contrary to how this sort of "marriage contract" set up normally goes, she's not bothered by the idea at all, and plans to follow the rules to the letter. After all, that's what they agreed to right? She just doesn't get why people seem to think it's kind of weird. The overall tone is supposed to be cute and silly rather than smoldering drama. It's by no means groundbreaking or deep or anything, but I definitely found it much more enjoyable than most manga of this type.

On sort of an interesting side note, the basic premise is a bit like "Beauty and the Beast" in that a woman is sold off to a boorish man and forced to live with him the rest of her life, but because she really is totally cool with this arrangement, it's no longer really problematic.

I have been waiting for a long time for this manga to update. However, recently I found out that the author has discontinued the series due to not working with the publishing company they were with. So, the manga just ends at chapter 36. Honestly, the manga sucks. I only wanted to see what would happen after chapter 36. The art is fine, average pretty much. The story was average, nothing over the top. I thought it was mediocre enough to continue reading. I didn't really like the characters, especially the main girl. They all felt flat and too angsty or whatever. Idk it was such a mediocre read.

This is my review up until the latest chapter, so the arc might change as time moves on.

So this manga, at least for me, has been decent, UP UNTIL THE LATEST 2 OR 3 CHAPTERS (in which case I had to control my frustration).

This manga blatantly sees itself as a harem with a twist(as it says in the absurdly long title). Disappointingly, this harem twist has another twist of it's own. In this case, we're back to square one.

And my deadass thought it was going to be a question of "who is who" like nisekoi.

Story 5/10
Typical harem plot

Art 6/10
The art doesn't really stand out that much. I've seen this artstyle multiple times.

Characters 4/10
The characters are why reading this manga in a short amount of time could be this frustrating.

The MC is dense asf. Someone you would expect off of a harem manga. I just pity for him.

Shiro is plainly decent and one dimensional.
The loli is the imouto type.
Best girl jack of all trades.

Then there's Kuro...

You see, if you really love someone, you don't play with their emotions. You don't try to justify your selfishness as your love for someone. You don't manipulate the situation because you know better. Kuro is the antithesis of that.

[SPOILER WARNING]
The reason why the recent chapters were weak and frustrating to read is because of Kuro. When MC genuinely confessed to her, knowing full that she has feelings for him, REJECTED him in front of the crowd. Great job. Your crush is the laughingstock of the century now. I could go back to how she would encourage him to confess to Shiro and say it out loud how a manipulative asswipe she is.

Not to mention the MC's sleazebag best friend. How could you call someone a best friend if they did nothing but badmouth you and humiliate you in the internet?

And now in that latest chapter clearly shows that birds of a feather flock together.


Enjoyment 5/10
I hope the story recovers though. The first chapters were good to read right before the recent chapters when it just became very trashy.

Overall 5/10

Nekogahara

Cliches and disappointment.

For me I feel like the author is going with a unique plot, but mediocre world/character building. Yeah Cats as characters? Why not? But there's also humans, hmmm, how to solve this little problem, nahh who cares, is what I think is what in the author's mind.

The cats were introduced as pets, with masters which are humans. And then cats also live in the country as a society. There are cities and villages that are populated with cats.

Now what do you thinks will happen if humans and cats have societies? Yep, totally nonsense.

You would see a big cat holding a club and smash cats. How are the humans not involve in this?

Art, contemporary ok, but I feel like the author is going YOLO on the art. Fight scenes were really not clear, character designs are wack, and othet drawings are like calligraphy style which is hard to decode and understand.

Oh what about the cliche part? Hero lost someone precious goes into an adventure to find that person. Villain is much more related to our main protagonist.

(Spoiler for this paragraph)
And on the final chapters, the main characters suddenly have a op power boost. The balance of the 2 parties gone from - 50:50 to 10:80. Yey hero won, laziness.
(End of spoiler)

Do I recommend you reading this? Absolutely no, don't waste your time on this **, even if you are a cat lover.

Its a very cute story if you can handle a cold male lead at first then your good to go~! Yes it was short but it had a good story and i loved the girl lead because she was adorable!!! This is good for those who like cute romantic one-shots.

Story-9
Because it has a good plot and background to the story. Even though i was kind of lost at first it all starts to make sense.

Art-9
They are all dressed in unique clothing i think. Has good details and cute additional items!

Character-8
Even though i was not a big fan of the male lead at first it all fits in nicely.
They are the way they are to make the story perfect. :)

Enjoyment-9
It was really fun to read even though at first the name of this manga made me un-certain if i wanted to read it. But it had moments that made you want to scream and one's that made you want to aww.

Overall-8
For a short story its pretty good. It has cute characters and an awsome style! This is defintaly a good fast manga to read.

I would read this if you like unique clothing and cute/cold characters w/a short story and a good plot.

I found the manga at a second hand book store for around 2 dollars so I bought it. The manga wasn't that bad to be completely honest. I mean it didn't bore me to death but I felt as if it needed a bit more flavor. I recommend it to anyone who likes an older style of manga and likes a different fantasy based story. I honestly wish it had more than like 7 books to the series and was easier to find. I love the fact it was based off of tarot cards because when was the last time you heard someone have a fantasy based story with tarot cards? like honestly the story was very unique and has potential. Just wish I could find more of the physical manga and it was more widely know but since it was a short series and not many know about it, it kinda died. Seriously though it's just a simple manga of a girl trying to find out more about herself and past.

This is a manga adaption of a novel interpretation of the real life events of Junko Furuta.


Story:
It's hard to say this is enjoyable due to the subject matter, but a good way to describe this is a manga episode of 'Criminal Minds.' The benefit that 17-sai has over virtually every episode of Criminal Minds is that 17-sai wasn't created to capitalize on people's morbid interest in all things evil, but to memorialize an event that should have never taken place. (if 17-sai WAS originally conceived for the sole purpose of making a profit, than damn the original writer, Seiji Fujii)

Morals aside, the actual story follows Hiroki who was roped into Miyamoto's gang. He second guesses very quickly all the actions Miyamoto does and soon enough is tied to the terrible events that take place after Miyamoto abducts a young girl. From them on out we see the terrible atrocities they commit, as well as the girls family work with the police to find out where she's been taken from.

There's nothing particularly revolutionary about this story. There isn't a speck of philosophy used (despite the narrative having enough weight to include it) and the events that unfold aren't astronomical, but the helplessness of the events that take place are very, very real.


Art:
Decent. Nothing special. It's not bad, but it's not super good either. I never felt as though proportions were off, and I also never felt as though the art was trying to shock me (most notably during the abuse). It was tame, which is nice considering the subject matter. Like I mentioned above, this is a memorialization, not glorification. Even still, the art is pretty basic, there aren't overly detailed locals, and most of the events take place inside, so there isn't room for impressive scenery.

That said, the art itself isn't abusive to the reader. It's good to note that the art doesn't glorify the horrific events within these pages. It's careful to expose what's necessary as it takes place. I really appreciated this sense of self-awareness from the artist. It's what kept the Art score from being a 6.


Character:
Some of the things Hiroki does and says are really, really stupid. I found myself questioning why he did them. This is something that a story should never have. It's not a "Woah!" moment where it took me by surprise and I was happy, more of a "What!?" and I was like, "His character showed no signs of this at ALL!" This happened twice.

None of the other characters are all that compelling or have these personal arcs that take place, but the ferocity of the delinquents was terrifying. Considering the topic of this manga, it was surprising that I was continually sickened despite the desensitization that takes place while reading (or perhaps you're already quite desensitized. This will test those limits.)


Enjoyment:
A strange category for this manga, but I can't deny it being a fairly well crafted narrative. Like I've mentioned in other reviews, I can't turn off my critical lense, and it's my critical lense which dictates how enjoyable a work can be. With very little issues (but also, virtually 0 spectacles) I found this to be a devilishly pleasant 7. Not everyone will enjoy this, or handle this, but because the artist took care not to over expose what took place, it was clear that a lot of love was put into not only the narrative but the imagery as well.


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THIS MANGA PISSES ME OFF AND THATS THAT!
I mean seriously, a person can be needy and helpless to a certain degree but the girl protagonist in this manga is NEEDY AND HELPLESS to point where it MAKES ME CRY OF ANNOYANCE!! I mean crying is fine, yeah yeah BUT crying her head off every two pages!! I liked her sense of justice BUT, yes once again BUT bawling her eyes out everytime she does say her point of view just makes me WANT TO STAB HER~ you don't feel like shes right, there is absolutely NO TENSE FEELING.

The storyline and art to me was great but the character itself just kills it WHICH THEN KILLS MY ENJOYMENT OF IT. FULL STOP.