mangoseller1

Most people say death note is a brilliant game of wits.
They say its morally grey.
This is both wrong. All the mindreading is unrealistic. Even if you are the smartest person alive you cant make predictions about other people with 100% accuracy because in the real world you deal with incomplete knowledge. All those "i know that you knew that i knew that you knew..." stuff is entertaining but not "brilliant".
That the series is morally grey is absurd. Yes there are a lot of Kira followers in the manga but most of them are depicted as imbeciles. The only important characters that sympathize with Kira are Misa (who is portrayed as dumb, superficial), Matsuda (also dumb) and this greedy sakura journalist.
In the end Light gets mad. And even in the beginning he starts killing nonmurderers, its pretty clear that almost everyone finds that wrong.
The story is also build on a lot of conventient coincidences, for example that the police chief is the father of Kira, that Misa is in love with Light, that Rem cares way too much for misa and so on.

Light is an empty character, he has no hobbys, no interests,is asexual, he just does what you should do in japanese society, study for school. The only personal thing we know about him is that he played tennis in the past. I dont find it plausible that such a conformist would try to change the world so radically.

The thing i really liked about death note is Ryuuk.
We live in a world where everyone tells us how important it is that we personally take action, that we go vote, that we make the world a better place and such.
Ryuuk just watches, he rearly gets involved in the plot. He doesnt judge. He just enjoys the moment. In the end both L and Light lose, both lived not in the moment but in the future, in their worlds of anticipation. Rem let herself in in lights sceming, that ended in her dimise. We all should be more like Ryuuk and less like Rem. We shouldnt take life too seriously. We should stay in the present. In the end all the planning will be in vain.

It's not very often that you have a manga - or manhwa in this case - where it's in the guy's point of view. 3 different one shot stories. 3 very different endings. might i say get ready for a feels-trip? i can't really say anything other than that else i might give away spoilers.
i definitely recommend this if you're looking for a quick read.

This manga tries too hard to be edgy, and at the same time throws boatload of "shocking" content at reader. Meaning extreme violence, gore, sexual content, villainous characters that don't have any shred of humanity, and dramatic shouting.

It is similar to "Kaifuku jujutsu" and "Fukushuu wo Koinegau Saikyou Yuusha wa". Except there's no revenge, just a nutty protagonist with an excuse to brutally murder insane antagonists.

The art isn't actually bad, but, the game has too many panels where something is thrown, moves rapidly, which creates a mess of "movement lines", and it gets so bad that it is barely possible to understand what is going on in some places. When characters are standing still, they're quite detailed.

By chapter 3 it seems to completley degraded into some sort of mess with a hint of possible harem elements in the future.... and frankly past that point I don't feel like checking it out past that point. Character motivation is shalow, portrayal is poor, the story premise had some potential, but they certainly didn't realize it.

Basically, there are mangas that do not have a very complex story, but throw boatload of gore and "shocking" material with tons of drama, and this is one of those manga.

Not recommended, unless you're into this stuff.

Ratings:
3/10 Story
5/10 Art
2/10 Character
3/10 Enjoyment
3/10 Overall.

This story is nothing original, it's not clever or funny. However, the art, in my opinion, is fantastic. This is my first manhwa, and it is just beautiful. This is the reason I liked it, and actually the only reason I did so. The story is barely readable, but because it is so beautiful to beheld, you read until the end. It's short, too, so it doesn't get long and boring.

Let me preface this by saying, "Yes. I have played the game."

Final Fantasy Type-0 is a relatively interesting manga when you first look at the foundation it is built upon. Both the artist (Takatoshi Shiozawa) and scenario writer (Hiroki Chiba) had virtually no experience in the art of manga during Type-0's creation. In fact, apart from Shiozawa's incredibly obscure 2008 manga "Full Moon," the two hadn't even scratched the surface. Now, this doesn't necessarily mean the manga is doomed from the get-go. I mean, plenty of mangaka out there have had their initial creations take off. The thing is, most of those creations didn't attempt cramming an incredibly convoluted story into just four chapters. So, if you go into this manga without any knowledge of the story in the Type-0 game, you will have an exceedingly difficult time trying to figure out just what the hell is going on. That being said, though, this manga was aimed at the pre-established fanbase and was not meant to be a standalone title...At least I hope not.

At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to the very general plot of the Milites Empire essentially deciding that they want to take over the world, resulting in their capturing of the neighboring Alliance of Lorica. This being a huge issue, the other two factions of the country Orience rise up against the Milites Empire and try to show them what they're made of. However, the Milites being the most militaristically advanced nation of the four isn't having a hard time fending them off and continuing to capture ground all over the country. That is until we are introduced to the 14 students in Class Zero. With each one sporting their own unique weapon archetype, as well as a plethora of magic abilities, Class Zero's roster is the most advanced combat unit in all of Orience. But are they going to be able to take down an entire empire?

The Milites Empire eventually moves the concentration of their forces to the town of McTighe, not far from Class Zero's home and school, Akademia. Rubrum and Concordia do their best to fend off their attackers, but it comes to no avail and the cadets must be summoned in as a last resort. Obviously knowing about Class Zero, the Milites have a plan of their own and activate a colossal magic barrier, nullifying the abilities of the teenage super-soldiers. After a few more drawn out and confusing battle scenes, several of the cadets manage to somehow nullify the barrier and the day is saved...Or is it? No, I'm really not sure. It kind of just ends right there after the battle is over with the Milites commander shouting, "I'll get you next time, you rotten kids!" The cadets then pass around smiles before solemnly stating, "Oh man, I wish fewer people died. Good thing we're still here."

If that summary seemed a little frantic in terms of pacing, that is exactly what the book felt like. You have backstory literally tossed at you so quickly that it becomes way too hard to take in all of this seemingly vital information. Even the introductions of the characters are so quick that people not already familiar with them will have essentially no idea what their names were or what their personalities were like after the manga's end. I can't even remember if Trey had a line or not. It feels like some of the characters were just written into frames just so that people could think, "Oh hey, there's that one guy with the brass knuckles!" or something along those lines. It really becomes unfair to the players/fans of the less "Important" characters. The only ones with substantial amounts of dialogue are Ace, Machina, and Rem -- and even their personalities are hard to recognize without preconceived knowledge of them. The whole thing was just way too fast and unmemorable.

Even the elements that shaped a truly remarkable experience in the game seem underwhelming and unimportant. One of the biggest aspects, as far as this goes, would be how Orience is a land where the dead can not be remembered in any way, shape, or form. Yes, this is present in the manga (And actually mentioned quite a few times) but it always feels like an afterthought. The frantic pacing makes it less dark and depressing and more "Oh well. Let's move on," and it ruins something that was once so interesting and unique.

I understand that this manga was made to cater to the pre-existing fans of Type-0, but even when you put it that way, what's the point? Sice was my main character in the game and I absolutely adored her; she was present in four panels of the manga. It just wasn't worth it as far as I'm concerned. Not even the story was interesting because it literally comes at you so fast that you're incapable of building up any sort of care for it or the people of either nation. If the cadets of Class Zero weren't on the cover, it would have been hard to even tell who the good guys or bad guys were.

If you really really like Final-Fantasy Type-0, go ahead and read this, but prepared that it is most likely going to let you down. Far too much is crammed into just under 200 pages that everything comes and goes way too quickly for readers to care about it. Your favorite character from the game will not necessarily be misrepresented, but rather not represented at all. It's actually a little laughable they way some of the characters are introduced. Deuce is literally yanked into one of the frames after not appearing for three chapters and the text that accompanied her was something along the lines of "Deuce is coming too!" If this manga received more than one volume, it was definitely possible for it to be something great. But unfortunately, we have to deal with this single-volume of an underwhelming/confusing story and characters deviating from something that was once beautiful. Go and play the game instead of reading this.

Everything about this manga is kind of ugly: The art, the atmosphere, the characters' personality, the world they inhabit and their future outlook. Weirdly, that is also what makes it actually quite good.

Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko is a fun series that is made in a typical Go Nagai fashion.
Nishikori Tsubasa, Midoro Toranosuke
STORY - 5
The story is the weakest part of Gakuen Taikutsu Otoko. While there's nothing particularly bad about it, there's also nothing particularly good about it. Some of the story during the 3rd volume gets interesting, but it's still nothing to write home about. However, the manga seems to recognize this and doesn't spend to much time on the story anyways.

ART - 9
The art matches up to Go Nagai's other manga in the 70s, it's detailed yet simplistic, and overall it looks really cool, which is important for any series such as this. There's a lot of violence and nudity. If you've read a Go Nagai manga before (which you probably have if you came across this), you know what you're getting into.

CHARACTERS - 7
There are only really three developed characters in this manga: Saotome Mondo, Midou Tatsuma, and Midoro Toranosuke. Saotome Mondo is the hotblooded leader who is also completely batshit insane and loves killing people. Midou Tatsuma is the more cold and calculating type, but is also equally batshit insane. If you've ever read Getter Robo, Mondo is the Ryoma of this story and Midou is the Hayato of this story. Midoro Toranosuke is the main villain of the story. His intentions and reasons are made clear and at times his story will make the reader sympathetic, sometimes even to the point where it becomes questionable who the villain of this story really is. Overall, while there aren't many developed characters in this story, the ones that are end up being one of the best parts of the manga.

ENJOYMENT - 9
Overall, this was a fun manga and I thoroughly enjoyed it. If you like violence, boobs, and cool shit, then you'll probably enjoy this manga as well.

Definitely not the best from Tezuka, but still a nice one. Its themes reminded me of Black Jack, so I advise you to read some tomes of it before Alabaster.

There are some nice ideas and thoughts, especially the concept of Beauty, and the Envy inside everyone. The main characters are well-developed, but others are just completely useless. The art is Tezuka-like, so you will like it if you like his style, I cannot be entirely objective about it.

I advise you to read another manga from Tezuka (like Dororo, Adolf ni Tsugu or Black Jack), and then go back to this one.

It was so confusing, I decided to write my first review.

The art is really nice, but quite typical. There're some nice fragments, but nothing stunning. It's quite appropriate to the story, and that's the biggest plus for this manga.

The rest of it... Oh my.
The first chapter gives good impression. It's serious, it's dramatic and seems to be realistic - that's nice! Besides that, the story touches some really important topic and I thought that maybe finally I found manga which teaches girls that life isn't so nice and sweet. But nope!

I liked the concept, art and the pace of first chapter. However, what came after was quite disappointing. There was too much drama for such short story, events were unrealistic and personalities of the characters were just too unclear for me. Main heroine is quite nice girl, but the boys - especially Yuki - oh my, I can't stand them. Both of them act like lunatics, once they are understanding and overprotective, but later they are not so nice. OK, the situation is complicated, but it lacks consequence and reason. Besides that - for such short story, where author put so much action, there are too many unnecessary scenes. And finally, the ending is so much deux ex machina that it's quite awesome. Really, is making well-balanced story really that difficult?

It could be magnificent. It really could. But it's just decent I suppose - maybe good start made my expectations too high? I'm not sure.

A boy who feels empty. A girl who is despised by all. A world where everyone is blessed with immortality. But is it worth to live forever if you can't be happy? If you can't make others happy?

How much is a smile worth?

A sweet little story that questions everything that we give for a fact. It challenges our fear of death and the everpresent desire to live forever. But it is not a glorification of death. Far from it, this story is still about life. But instead, it asks for a reason. It asks for a ''Why?'' for it all. It is not really about immortality, but about life as a whole. What is it for? Aren't we sometimes so focused on not dying that we forget to live? The final sentence sums it up so well: ''Only two lived, in a dead world...''. This is the all present question of the meaning of life itself. The answer at which this tale arrives, however, is much simpler, much less grand, than one would come to expect for such great questions. For Ringo Uri no Utakata Shoujo, the meaning is in the details. In the little things. Quite fitting for such a short story.

This story is all simbols. An alegory. You can see themes about love, about hope, about passion... You are to make your own conclusions, but i'd say the overall message is clear. And its beautiful.

As short as it is, it will give you a lot to think about. Go ahead and read it. You dont see one-shots like this very often. (I gave it a 9 in the review for visibility)