Aschleeep3

It’s my second time reading One Piece and i have to say "It’s one hell of a manga!", the story is outstanding, and The characters are good written and developed...

I like one piece because it talks about the facts of our own world, about (Racism, and war for Power, and what happens to those who have power), I just don't like One Piece because of the fights, I like it because of the Politics and how it is shown in the manga

If it was the Anime i was giving it 5/10 because of the pacing and the quality... but the manga is totally on a different level

In the end all i have to say is " One Piece is manga that must be read before you die! "

Un respiro de aire fresco para la franquicia, y una obra excelente en la mayoría de sus apartados. un increíble mensaje lleno de reflexiones en una aventura extraordinaria, en cada arco, sientes impotencia, felicidad, tristeza y un cumulo de sentimientos que lo hacen inolvidable.

Jojo sigue siendo Jojo, pero lo que antes era un Ora Ora Ora se ha convertido en un homicidio en defensa propia, y es algo con lo que me alegro que Araki experimentara. Steel Ball Run tiene varias de las mejores peleas de toda la serie, pero no son las batallas los que se quedan en la memoria.

Lo que realmente perduran son los pequeños momentos entre Gyro y Johnny, y todo lo que deben perder por alcanzar sus sueños.
Sin mucho que agregar que ya no se haya dicho, sinceramente, el día que Araki toco el cielo y rozo la perfección.

Seeing there ar and many 10s on the manga version of Shingeki, I get quite curious and got thinking back in day I loved reading the manga and reflecting when it lost me.

So to begin with, I wanna say that people get some things wrong, the concept of a story not being "your typical shonen" is quite silly, first, because "shonen" is demography refering to young male audiance and therefore it has nothing to do with what you're usually reffering to, the right term is either battleshonen or action manga. Second, because there are plenty of "seinen" manga (that is, manga aimed to adult male audiance) from different genres that share many of the same writing flaws and rely too much on cheap shock value and gore to seem more "mature", it's just a writer choosing to tell things more suited for adults, it doesn't mean his actual skills have a power up or whatever.

It doesn't matter if you grew up reading battleshonens and got tired of some of the same tropes, it doesn't automatically makes a manga with adult themes and gore an automatic masterpiece, there're many things to take into account to judge quality beyond the shallow "I've see this trope before".

Having said that, I used to like Shingeki, mainly because of the anime adaptations, even back when I got into the manga I did like it for what it was, the world was cruel, the setting was interesting and creative, the titans were and still are quite scary and creepy, and we see the consequences of mankind greed and apathy, and that was nice.

But then as the time passed and I learnt more about art and writing and some of its flaws started getting more and more visible to me.

STORY (poor)

The story is quite messy, it had plenty of potential from the get go, but Isayama goes different places and it's clear he didn't plan everything through, his foreshadowings aren't quite actual "foreshadowings", they are more of a "I'll let this loose ends so that I may think about what to use it for later" and that wouldn't be a problem IF ONLY these loose ends were tied in a natural manner afterwards. The manga changes its genre constantly, first a survival manga, then it gets tossed aside (almost completely) to give place to a political internal dispute, then it changes itself completely in the post time skip into a rather weird and irresponsible use of sensible historical symbology that definetely doesn't fit the "there are always two sides" narrative.

Other aspects of the story also aren't properly handled, like the power system, that is completely convoluted, badly explained and with new rules taken out of the blue, some of which aren't bring up again for convenience.

There are important plot points that are closed/ solved offscreen with no impact, there are pacing problems, plotpoints always take the fallacy of false dillema route, dialogue are just bad writen there are plenty of text to read with little personality that ignores "show, don't tell" approach, etc.

Also, it gets pretty confusing to understand what's going on and what characters are talking about, people usually say that it's like that because it's too complex and that maybe things will be "explained later" or that they're a "mistery, but when this feeling is that constant it gets obvious that the author is not good a a storyteller.

It's a story that is trying to go into dark yet human territory like A Song of Ice and Fire books or Breaking Bad, but the author doesn't have the same skills tu pull it off in a deep and meaningful way.

Also, it's not the main focus of the manga, but Isayama tries it anyways: jokes.
They are awful, he is not good or clear enough for it to be funny, sometiimes they take more panels than they deserve and doesn't make me laugh once.


ART (poor)

The art is... bad. There are few shots in which I can see dinamicity, mostly with Titans and the odd artstyle really does fit with the creepiness that are Titans, I appreciate that, but most often than not there are more problems. The paneling is just terrible and uncreative, character designs aren't expressive - to people that somehow thinks that's because they are nuanced expressions, no, they just aren't clear - and it's easier to mistake a character for another, we can't see difference between characters body expressions and sillouetes, composition is messy, characters facial features and proportions are inconsistent, etc.
I can praise background art, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's an assistant that takes care of this department to be honest.

CHARACTERS (decent)

I HAVE to point this out: most characters are NOT deep or good written as people say.
How do I know that? Well, there jusn't isn't much to say about each character, pretend we have a Dnd-like paper describing each individual character traits and quirks, backstory, flaws and positives, goals and etc. There isn't much, Eren doesn't have much to be told besides being one person that want revenge (and that gets even more revengeful with a flop of a switch), Levi is edge and badass (I give him that) but that's it, Mikasa is just.. one-note really, Armin is the smart cautious one, etc.
If I were to point good examples, I'd say Erwin got a nice closure, Jean used to be the most interesting gray character and Reiner is currently the most well developed of the bunch (only after the timeskip).
But aside from them, characters in general are either gimmicky, unninteresting, annoying, and without nuance.
People are impacted for their deaths more because they are gruesome and people get shocked by the idea of getting eatting alive and whatnot, but definetly NOT because the characters have Breaking Bad/ early Game of Thrones level of characterization.
An example in a battleshonen: One Piece.
People complain about OP fake deaths, and I agree they're silly, but when the author does kill a character and wants us to feel for them, he knows how to make us feel for them and how to build up plot and move the pieces in order for it to happen. Same thing goes for HunterXHunter and Fullmetal Alchemist mangas, another examples of oftenly underestimated stories because they're ""shonen"".

ENJOYMENT (fair)

I give it a slight high score because it really works with interesting setting and concepts, it's not perfect, but it actually fun to see Titan dinamics in action, I'll give Isayama that merit.
What gripes me is that the other problems bring it down, because there's just so much lost potential.
I can only imagine what it would've been if other mangakas had their own version of Shingeki no Kyojin past chapter 1.
Imagine Kentaro Miura working on it?

OVERALL (mediocre)

It has interesting concepts and is ambitious, but like I said, being impressed by how different it is and by the fact it plays with adult and morally questionable themes that you haven't see before will only take you that far until you read other stories that have work within the same proposal, at that point, it wont really be only about being impressed by what tropes you didn't see (because eventually you'll realize nothing is 100% new), execution will matter more than what tropes are left to see, and that's why I don't think Shingeki is as great as I thought it'd be, being different wasn't enough for the problems I see along the way.

As the sea assaults continents, slowly but surely, humanity is declining. Telecommunication is no more. Government gave way to local organisation. Quietly witnessing this apocalypse unfold, humans are living peacefully.

Among the many ways fiction depicts apocalypse, "peacefully" is uncommon. We like to think of the world ending in brutal, dramatic and lightning fast ways. Of humans against their fate struggling. But the end of the world in this manga is gradual, slow enough to give mankind the time to accept his fate, sit back, and enjoy the last hour of his age. Whatever will be will be – the die is long cast.

So unfolds the twilight of a transient humanity. And our little humans get many occasions to experience the transience of things – the transience of the world and that of themselves. Time and again, the beautiful melancholy of the dying world touches and overwhelms. The story unfolds at roughly the same pace as its monthly publication; we follow the characters as time passes, and as the curtain falls on the remnants of the world. The sea rises, and the landscapes that were dear to us disappear like smoke in the air. The machines that once served mankind meet their end too: aeroplanes, or engines, are for their last time used. Characters pass away during the series, but death is a fact of life that the living have accepted. As such, death is merely implied, and mourning but hinted at. Such is, among other understated occurrences of drama, what makes Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou a wonderful experience: the lament of its dying world, quiet yet staggering.

I think YKK is a story about a people that lost so much that it stopped taking anything for granted and started cherishing the things it has left. And, with its masterful art, atmosphere, and writing, it makes you cherish them too. It makes you cherish life, the characters' things, your own things. Here's a quote from the manga to illustrate my argument: "There isn't as much difference between the seasons as there used to be; however, I think we take greater pleasure in those differences." One common translation of "mono no aware", the manga's driving force, is "sensitivity to things". More precisely, the contemplation of things' impermanence and how it amplifies their beauty.

But YKK isn't only about treasuring what the characters have. It's about losing some of it, too. The characters' everyday life slowly changes, falters and disappears as the slow apocalypse has its way with humanity. And it's okay. The characters already accepted it, because "acknowledgement of the transience of things makes them more beautiful". Because of this peculiar way YKK handles tragedy, the dramatic parts (as well as the blissful ones) are extremely understated. And it makes them all the more powerful – even if it means that more attention and sensitivity is demanded from the reader.

Moments such as two characters' reunion after a long journey convey strong feelings like melancholy, surprise, and happiness. These moments are often handled without words, using panelling, faces and body language to convey feelings. In the saddest moments of the series, very little of Alpha's thoughts is given, trusting the readers to know our main character well enough to empathise with her sorrow, and form their own reaction to the happenings, finding their place in Alpha's journey.

The art is exceptional. Inanimate scenes are like poetry in motion. Alpha loses herself in many sumptuous landscapes, inviting the reader to follow suit. From the still functional lights of a submerged city to the view of Mount Fuji in the distance, mundane situations are made extraordinary and extraordinary ones are made otherworldly. Up the author's sleeve are countless tricks to heighten this experience; one such trick is the sparse, but wise use of colour. For example, one chapter shows Alpha enjoying a nostalgic view, and as day turns into dusk the varying colours make obvious – and beautiful – that a large amount of time passes throughout the panels.

As the characters grow, their design changes. By contrast, Alpha is an android and she doesn't change – the regular realisation that time passed before her knowing is never short of melancholy. Although stylised in design, human characters are clearly of Asian heritage. The inhabitants have black hair and share many features. The androids, thereby, stand out; their outlandish looks become a central part of their characterisation. Often replacing thoughts and speech, the characters' faces are expressive (save for Ojisan's sometimes all too subtle expression changes); anatomy is rendered in a detailed enough style to permit realistic and convincing body language.

Over the years, Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou has enjoyed a small, but very enthusiastic fanbase which I am proud to be part of. It ranks among the most gratifying and memorable stories. For a great number of reasons of which a single review couldn't make a comprehensive list, I enjoyed this manga tremendously and I sincerely believe that you will.

As the sea assaults continents, as governments and telecommunications die out, humanity is declining. Before Alpha's eyes, the world, which once seemed tireless, slowly calmed down...

Recommending this feels a bit strange because that's the kind of work that would only be enjoyed by those who love Garo and underground comics in general but those same people are probably already aware of the works of Sasaki Maki because of how unique and instantly recognizable his style is. What comes out of his mind is almost impossible to describe properly and I believe searching for some of his art online will be a thousand times more telling than anything I could tell you about it but I'll still give it a shot.

His stories are basically as experimental as they can get and he is never attached to one specific style. Indeed, his art is in perpetual mutation and ranges from abstract and surrealist, nonsense, hyper realistic depictions of character and sceneries, collages of news article and celebrities like Andy Warrhol or a style close to the picture books that he also published in parallel.
I used the term "stories" but it isn't the right term to use because Sasaki Maki is completely opposed to this idea of having to have a coherent narrative. Instead, each panel on a same page will be farly removed from each other, in form and in substance, and it will only be up to the readers to establish some form of connection between them or to simply contemplate how harmoniously everything is weaved together.

Sasaki Maki is close to the Modernists in this idea of wanting to break the mold entirely and in wanting to erase the traditional and conventional form of manga instaured by Tezuka. It's actually impressive seeing how Osamu Tezuka felt challenged by his works to the point of wanting to stop his publications (although it seems that Tezuka was jealous of every Garo/avant-guarde authors who dared to stray from his model so it's probably not that impressive).
It doesn't have the political ideas and the whole vindications that were part of the whole Modernist movement though. You will find some stories clearly referencing out the Vietnam War, black segregation in the U.S or the student manifestations but they're less here to assert a political stance than as a sort of stream of consciousness. Just like what Seiichi Hayashi did in his Red Colored Elegy, pop culture elements are spread out in most of his stories, including musical or cinematographic references. You'll notice plenty of elements belonging to the USA rather to Japan which is explained by the sudden emergence of the Beatles in the 60s which was a turning point for Sasaki Maki and made him interested in western culture, in particular the hippie culture accompanied with psychedelic art that can be felt all throughout his work. Saul Steinberg and Robert Crumb can easily be perceived as some of his influences as far as comics artists go but so much is borrowed from so many fields that it's hard to be comprehensive.

The casual reader will probably see in this a mumble-jumble of random sketches thrown together but anyone sensible to underground comics will awaken to new sensations he hasn't experienced before. Opening a book made by Sasaki is like opening a gate to another world, a world out of time filled with wonders and curiosities that will never cease to surprise you.



Side note: this review was based on the French anthology called "Charivari" which gathers everything that Sasaki Maki published from 1967 to 1981 and the almost entirety of Sasaki Maki contribution to the comics medium, the English anthology called "Ding Dong Circus" only gathers his publications from 1967 to 1974 which means you won't get access to every chapter of Umibe no Machi but should be well enough to grasp what he's about.

Alright. I just gave this one a go. Do take this review with a grain of salt as this is my first review on the website (and probably my last). I'm not gonna talk about the characters as Tsubaki is just Eren and Murakamo is just Mikasa. This is a prototype after all.

Story 6/10: The story's the exact same as AOT, titan shifters, titans, inner walls, ect. There's some tweaks here and there though, such as the titan's weak spot being the nucleus, and the vanguard corps (survey corps) using katanas. The titans were also a human extermination operation by scientists and religious groups if I read it correctly.

Art 3/10: It was pretty bad...Isayama has come a long way. The entire one-shot just felt like a rough sketch. The art was comprehensible but it was terrible at the same time. In fact, the art is so bad it's actually quite funny.

Overall 4/10: If your a fan of AOT then check this out, it's cool to see the concepts Isayama planned before making the serialized version. It's also nice comparing his drawings from back then to now. Otherwise it just feels like a waste of time, your not gonna gain anything from reading this. That's all I gotta say.

This work is Matsumoto's sandbox and it's up to you whether you want to play in it or not. His style is completely devoid of mainstream boundaries; linear narration is substituted for juxtaposition of almost non-cohesive panels. Effect of such approach is that instead of a passive observer, you feel as if you're inside of character's heads.

There are no moral of the story moments, it's more like sheer realism; you could even call it conveyance of youthful boredom. As such it obviously doesn't pertain to excitement, but mood is set in a masterful way to keep you interested. Positive points for implementation of surreal slapstick which Matsumoto doesn't even bother to throw it in subtly.

Aspects such as development are completely thrown away, these characters simply live their empty and purposeless lives. No justification is provided for their actions nor are there any hints for a better future. You'll either hate their dull existence or consider it comically realistic.

It will feel quite heavy, especially due to abundance of Japanese pop cultural references, lack of vivaciousness, ostensible non-coherence manifested in erratic presentation and simply the fact that Matsumoto refuses to serve it on platter. I'm also sure that his artwork won't appeal to many, especially since it's not consistent, albeit really shines here and there.

Aoi Haru is a dichotomic work, it's perfect in its imperfection. It's definitely not a masterpiece in every sense of that word, but for its attempt to tackle such a risky theme and present it in such an experimental way, one could consider it as masterpiece in its own standards.

I come across this manga when I was looking for something thrilling. The poster and synopsis really caught my interest and I tried reading the first chapter out of curiosity. And I don't regret I did.

This manga provides a really good mystery. You will start to guess what exactly happens and who is behind all of the events that happen in the manga as you read it. You'll be confused and start to suspect everyone in the manga including the main character. That's said, you'll feel twisted more and more as you read it. Until the recent chapter, it's so intense, interesting and lots of people still die killed.

The art is really good. it's well-detailed drawn and the expression of the character feels real thanks to it.

There are a lot of gore-violent scenes. I mean a lot. And it tends showing human body parts cut into pieces. So I won't recommend this one unless you really like such a scene. If you are into gore you'll find this manga amazing.

I really enjoy this manga and I hope it will be as thrilling as it is now till the end.
It's one of few manga that I will give a 10/10

I'll try to write this review without thinking about the game this manga was based on, because the game did the story FAR better than this manga.

Starting off, you will immediately fall in love with these characters, because they are all hilarious and great individuals to just see interact throughout the story. If only the story could hold up. Don't get me wrong, it's a decent story, but it's so RUSHED. (Also the fact that the ending deviates from the game so hard that you don't even know why the person orchestrating everything is doing all of this, leaving you severely unsatisfied.) It starts off at a good pace, but it just goes faster and faster until everything all of a sudden happens at once and it kinda kills it. Next is the art. This manga had some pretty great art, and combined with the characters, did have me laughing at times. It's nothing spectacular, but it gets the job done. I did enjoy this for what it was, I just wish it didn't skip so much. Overall, I do like this manga, but without knowing the story from playing the games, it might be a little difficult to even understand everything chapters 17 and beyond.

WARNING: THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS

*I am going to be using the word "weird" many times in this review, and you will see why*

"Chimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko" is a weird manga. I don't think anyone will argue against that. The premise is certainly unique, and a weird take on the fantasy genre in which a couple people (a guy and a girl) battle against mysterious creatures in a supernatural setting. In this case, the setting happens to be inside the body of humans who have been "bitten" by the Fishbowl Man and need to be saved before the goldfish toxin takes over their bodies and turns them into goldfish. See where the story gets weird yet?

But let's back up for a second to the beginning. Kousuke is your average high school boy with nothing special about him. One day, he happens upon a weird girl in a school swimsuit with a plastic gun tied whose hand is stuck in a vending machine. On top of that, she fell asleep there and wakes up as Kousuke tries to leave without being spotted by her. He frees her, and she thanks him by giving him a weird telephone (like you would see in a phone booth) that has a cord connected to nothing. She tells him to give her a call if he ever runs into trouble. By trouble, she means the Fishbowl Man, a mysterious "man" with a goldfish bowl for a head who goes around after rainstorms and turns people who are bleeding into goldfish.

While relieving himself in a public bathroom later on, Kousuke turns and notices the Fishbowl Man standing next to him. He is "bitten" and falls to the ground as blood pours out of the cork-sized hole in his neck. Somehow he is able to use the phone connected to nothing to notify the girl (who is named Ringo) and she comes to help him. Ringo is a "blood diver" which is a person who shoots herself (with the plastic gun) into the wounds caused by the Fishbowl Man and captures the goldfish toxin from turning the person into a goldfish and saves them. Through a series of problems due to Ringo's inexperience and poor swimming skills, Kousuke has to help her, and afterwards they end up teaming up to go around and help people since Kousuke is a strong swimmer.

Aside from the weird plot, the manga also suffers in other categories with the most noticeable right from the start being the art. The art in general is just poorly drawn. Some closer images of the characters are good, but most of the time there is large lack of detail, especially in the character designs and emotions. The Fishbowl Man is about the only character who manages to be well drawn most of the time and he is also the only one with a unique design.

The characters also suffer from being generic and having a huge lack of any kind of backstory. Kousuke's sister who was turned into a goldfish is given a short period where we're supposed to feel bad for her being turned into one as Kousuke goes through the pain of not being able to save her (before getting through it kind of quickly) but she wasn't even shown or mentioned before so there was absolutely no connection at all. Moving on to the main characters, Kousuke and Ringo. They have a weird relationship in which the author attempts to give them a very small amount (so far) of romance, which for the most part falls flat and is quickly forgotten after a couple pages. The minor characters are also pretty generic: a girl with a short "must-get-revenge" period, a boy who gets nosebleeds at the mere sight of girls in swimsuits (and Ringo is always wearing a swimsuit), a "senpai" figure, and a motherly figure. About the only real interesting character (well Ringo is't bad) is the Fishbowl Man, but unfortunately he is almost completely shrouded in mystery at the current time so not much is known about him. Apparently he can still smoke a cigarette even with his weird fishbowl head though, just fyi.

While it isn't horrible, there isn't really anything that stands out about "Chimoguri Ringo to Kingyobachi Otoko." The art is simple, the characters are pretty bland and have basically nonexistant pasts, and the story is just weird. If you want a simple, weird manga than this may be something you enjoy. However if you are looking for a thrilling tale with interesting characters or breathtaking art than I recommend skipping this one.