elementalcobalt4

Objectively, One Piece is not the best manga. It has it's own sets of problems such as the base structures of arcs being repeated and the characters not being developed. It has a problem killing off characters. The art is decent, not extremely good. However it is still one of the best manga to ever exist. One Piece fleshes out it's world beautifully, with each setting being unique and interesting. The world is alive and breathing and doesn't remain stagnant until the main protagonist does something. The main characters, the Straw Hats, are amazing characters. Seeing the unbreakable bond of trust between them never ceases to amaze me. They do not have drastic changes in character writing throughout the course of the story, because One Piece is an epic about how the Straw Hats are changing the world. In my personal experience, One Piece bought about a spark of adventure and exploration to me. It shows the world is a vast place, and is often beautiful but tragic. The world of One Piece is much darker than it appears to be. Every Straw Hat has their moment to shine and is well written. Often plot points from hundreds of chapters earlier are still bought upon to the current chapter. Seeing the Straw Hats grow from a crew weak and powerless to being one of the strongest crews is amazing. One Piece is often criticized of dragging along but the best flashback and depth of One Piece happened in the 967th chapter. The amount of work, dedication and passion Oda has put in One Piece is truly exceptional and shows at the climax of every arc. It has it's own themes of inherited will which are simply beautiful. No other series has ever reached the high that One Piece has. The Water 7 Arc, Marineford,Whole Cake Island and Wano Arcs are good enought to be shows rated at least a 9/10 individually. Oda loves fleshing out the world and it's wacky designs, it's creative powers and it has the most mysteries present in a series. To me, One Piece's journey is a magical one and the day that it ends will be a tragic one.

(CONTAINS MINOR SPOILERS)

So I've binged this in 2 days. I thought this was reeeeeally good and then I took a moment to think about it... I heard many good things and have seen it everywhere, so I decided to read it. The name popped in my head, and I'm like, "Yeah let's read that. I'm bored." I'd say the only reason I've made it as far in as I did was bc I binged it.

This is my first review so my apologies for bad formatting, etc.

Story 3/10: We follow Sung Jin-Woo, basic main character, in a fantasy world of dungeon conquering, loot-gaining MMORP goodness. Pretty basic. Kinda like SAO but better in... no it's actually very similar to SAO.

Prologue 7/10: In a similar way to SAO, the first arc is actually pretty good in many ways. Not ground-breaking or fantastic, but actually not bad. They get trapped in a super dangerous room, there's rules they have to follow, lest certain death fall upon them. Stakes are reasonably high. Things are chaotic, and the read is intriguing. There's this mystery and dread behind it that drew me in. The creepy smile from the king statue brought back memories of the fish king dude from One Punch Man. That's a good thing. Again, the rules in this double room thing were awesome. Then, the useless MC was actually reliable and used his experience with near-death situations to be useful. I enjoyed it. The set up to the MC and to what I thought was the main female character were good. I'll go more into that later.

However, the prologue and the impact it has are scarcely developed. Early on after that, the fear he felt during the prologue cause him to not have fear during the other dungeons. Compared to what he felt during that, nothing is bad in comparison. But. that's it.

The rest of the stories are so repetitive. you know the formula. He goes into a gate, something unexpected happens, for instance the gate was more dangerous than it seemed. He handles it with ease despite the difficulty change. And then rinse and repeat. That's it.

Art 9/10: The art is really good. Not much to say on it. Anyone who's read it knows.

Character 2/10: Oh boy here we go. MC is a Mary Sue. Basic self insert character for the insecure weebs who are unhappy with their life and want an escapist fantasy to delve into. I say this from personal experience. MC is edgy, bland, emotionless. There is nothing to say bc there is no character. There was a sub plot with his mom that was never developed.

He was fighting so help pay for his mom's medical bills (she's comatose) and pay for his sister's way thru highschool and college. So that's about as much detail into those two things as we're given. There's no development or relation shown between him and his mom, no flashbacks. I could sufficiently describe his mother as this: his mom. There's no character there. She has a scar on her neck that he caused due to trying to... wash her hair with really hot water I think..? It wasn't exactly clear, but that's the closest to development we've seen there and that was about 70-80 chapters in at least. I have no reason to care for this woman because the author hasn't given me one. The sister is bland to. Thankfully, I don't recall any incest implications with the sister falling for MC, but maybe I'd prefer that to the pure nothingness we got. We get clue that she was smart and thought to be a nerd at school, but nope she's just a regular relatable girl at home. She's doing something medical, which is cool ig. Probably related to the comatose mother, but again, no development into that.

One thing I thought would be super cool that was briefly touched on was him losing his emotions. It seemed like when he used the full status recovery when he was in a bind, that he'd lose more of his emotion. Or it was as he grew in level. I think they mentioned anger was one he couldn't feel anymore. I thought that was cool, but it was never mentioned again and he's shown kinda having emotion later in the sense that he saves all the female characters when they're in distress... which they always are, only to be rescued by our hero.

As well, his power progression is ridiculous, he gets overpowered so quickly. I thought there'd be development and progression, watching him climb thru hard work. I thought it'd be a struggle. A couple of the first arcs were a struggle, but of course he overcame it after a sudden boost (status recovery reward).

Then probably my favorite character was the B rank healer girl. She had an interesting character set up at the beginning. She was a B rank, but only went on E and D rank missions due to the fear she got from seeing those monsters, the deaths, etc. THAT WAS INTRIGUING. I was interested in how she'd struggle thru it, overcome it, and how the MC would help her. Things were looking good. Oh wait where'd she go? After the prologue she was just gone for awhile. It was mentioned she had worse trauma after the prologue and the events that transpired there, but no development. The MC never came to her to talk, help, anything. Never do we see her struggle. SHE GETS NO DEVELOPMENT. That made me sad. Instead, everything gets pushed aside to put the focus on MC getting stronger That's a common theme.

Then we see her again, alongside one-armed dude. He was also kinda cool, but I could tell he'd get no development, so I didn't bother getting invested. If only I did that for every character. Then she doesn't face her trauma. She retires... Then there's a little exchange with her and MC, and he says he'll ask her on a date next time he visits her, which he never does.

Then there's the little sister's friend. I thought there'd be development there. She was a highschooler who stopped going, bc she wanted to be a hunter. She was an E rank. The principal called MC in, bc he was a hunter and everyone loves him, to ask for advice and stuff. He then didn't talk to her much, but brought her to a dungeon with the White Tiger guild. She was gonna get some experience, but then nope. We don't see any interaction with her after they enter the dungeon. There's no conclusion to that sub plot they started. We don't see what she decided. Is she a hunter now? Is she gonna finish highschool at least like the teacher advised her to? No idea. Everything gets pushed aside to focus on MC getting stronger.

Then there's the rich kid. He was kinda cool ig. Wish there was more development with him. Again, a common theme. Near the end of when I last saw him (idk if he's mentioned again after chapter 107) his father kicked him out, bc the kid wanted to be independent and join MC's guild (thought MC would make a guild. So far he hasn't). So he goes to MC asking to stay, MC says no, and we find out the kid slept in a hotel. He drops MC at the demon tower dungeon, and we never see him again. Did he find a home? Did he progress with the guild thing? What happened to him? No idea. All got pushed aside to focus on the MC getting stronger.

Then there's that one s rank who could smell a difference in him. She fell for him bc: he's strong, he's the Mary Sue MC, and he was different. He has never had a legitimate conversation with her. I think there was brief interaction between the two in a group setting. That's about it. She was a damsel in distress that seemed cool but did nothing.

Then there's the demon girl. Again, she had no character. I had my last hope for development in a female MC in her, even tho it was already like 90 chapters in. Course there wasn't any. It got pushed aside to focus on the MC getting stronger. She was just there to be another character for weebs to lust after.

All females are cute, clumsy, damsels in distress. They all seem strong at first, but are brought to their knees in helpless powerlessness before our MC once the two of them interact.

Men in the story are usually so unappealing for various reasons. I mean duh. We don't want there to be any potential that MC isn't the BC (best character).

Enjoyment 5/10: This will probably get lowered the further I go on in my life. I enjoyed it kinda. It is NOTHING groundbreaking. It's a bad self insert shounen. Like a really bad one. But it looked cool. Fights were cool. Seeing just how strong he got to be was kinda cool. Just seeing the army was pretty cool. Usually the focus is ONLY on the one guy, but it slightly dispersed to the shadows when they were brought into action. Course only slightly tho. Don't want to distract from the MC. That'd be preposterous...

Overall 3/10: This manga is bad. If you want something pretty to look at, and only just that, then this is ok. I heard ppl being like "Yeah ToG had a bad anime adaptation, yeah GoH had a bad anime adaptation, but wait until Solo Leveling gets an adaptation. It'll be WAY better." I don't see it happening at all. It's gonna be rushed. It's gonna be bad, too. In this case, third time will not be the charm bc this isn't a good manga to work with.

Admittedly, the prologue is like a 7/10 imo, so if they don't at least rush that then it'll maybe be decent. But seeing the other two adaptations, I have no reason to have high hopes for it.

For this manga, the reader needs to be a super active reader. One has to pay attention to every page, panel, behavior of the characters, even random stuff in the background needs your attention in order to understand what's going on, and to make smart predictions/theories of the storyline.
One on the best pieces of literature that I have read in a long time.

*SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW also DONT READ THIS GARBAGE unless you want to laugh at bad manga this is the one*
At the start of November, a dear friend of mine had recommended me this manga to read and he simply said: "My brain hurts from reading this". Already its a red flag to me to read if your brain is hurting by trying to interpret a story. But I assumed this must be a complex story or somewhat like Berserk with confusing character development and world-building.
But overall from reading just 15 chapters of this garbage, I am thoroughly impressed by how such a good looking artwork is wasted upon the story it is terribly awful. The story is all over the place without any consistent storyboards it is jumping to one thing to another. The start of the manga is confusing as hell to comprehend characters are introduced left and right and we aren't told anything but we are only shown that our main character is a slave to the "heroes" even though he's a damn hero himself. What makes no FUCKING sense is how contrived his powers are given every single chapter he has a new damn power I'm gonna list what he can do within 5 chapters.
* He can heal
* He "reverse" heal and instakill anyone when he touches them
* He can change his appearance to any face or form without any effort
* He gains resistance within 3 panels example was he ate poisonous shrooms that almost killed him and he just suddenly has gotten better
* HE CAN FUCKING REMOVE LEVEL CAPS IF YOU BANG HIM
Now the story overall is riddled with rape scenes or just pure sex which is fine for ecchi manga but it shouldn't be riddled within every 5 chapters and it just makes no sense of the reason why it's just left for the reader of how or why.
For example, rape is just splattered all over the place our main character got raped he rapes 2 girls and then his friend got rape. It's like RAPE RAPE EVERYWHERE and its just for shock not even used as a plot device to further show a character greif it is only used to just get the readers attention by how boring as fuck this manga can be with its contrived bullshit that our main character pulls out rabbits out of his ass faster then the enemies are dying.
But people are gonna say "yo its an ecchi manga it is supposed to be stupid" which is fine but the plot of the story is trying so hard not to be and it even fails at being an ecchi manga. This would be better if this was just dojinshi because the story is so fucking bad that doujinshis would excuse for the sex parts because the artist is amazing at the visual scene. Also by what I mean, it fails at being an ecchi even if you focus the ecchi part and "read for the plot" it still blows because half of it is censored and you can barely tell what the hell is going on. Like Highschool dxd looks better than this piece of garbage I am profoundly offended by how this manga got a 6 and a half rating.

The story is actually pretty interesting if you read it in a particular way. It is definitely not your average shoujo romance.

You know how you get creeped out by Hannibal Lecter and it's kind of awesome? That's the way you need to approach Creepy Yandere Stalker-kun (my name for the "love interest", "Stalker-kun" for short). It's so absurd just how creepy someone can be. It's even more absurd that he's supposedly popular in school even when he gets all creepy *at school in broad daylight* seemingly without concern for whoever sees him (not that any students or teachers are shown except for the plot relevant ones).

Anyways, reading this manga is an "experience" that can be moderately enjoyable if you approach it the right way. My only real complaint is the ending which made no sense at all. I mean, MC-chan disturbingly developing emotions for that boy she once knew in his childhood (in spite of his overwhelming creepy yandere stalkerness) is believable (seeing as how Stockholm syndrome exists in real life), but the way she resolves her feelings for him at the very end is just baffling.

This manga is seriously fucked up. And strangely, that's actually what made it interesting. If it had ended differently (perhaps if MC-chan had turned Creepy Yandere Stalker-kun down one last time with Stalker-kun either going axe crazy or full creepy stalker always-watching-in-the-shadows mode at the very end), I probably would have given this manga a 6. With the ending as it is, I think a 4 is appropriate.

p.s. The genres used for this manga should change in some way. It's technically "shoujo" (I guess) and it's arguably "romance" (in a really fucked up sort of way), but it's deserving of at least one more tag to attract the right crowd for this type of story. I don't know if this is "psychological" per se, but it's definitely psycho.

The story starts off well and some interesting characters are introduced. Art is decent and there is even a fair amount of character development. But just as I was getting more involved with the plot I could not help but notice that the manga contains only four volumes.

There are some one-chapter marvels, so the size should not matter, but this is a different case. Whatever the original circumstances and whatever befell the mangaka, this manga stops abruptly, leaves the reader unsatisfied and is incomplete. Worth reading only if you are prepared to be left clueless at the end.

Ugh, well, maybe burn it for real. I have noticed it with other old timers returning to work on new shounen series – they often just can’t or don’t want to grow the story properly, they want to jump right into profitable “coolness”. But the coolness comes from a well-built world, without the foundation it falls flat. Burn the Witch feels way too superficial to me to properly magic and soar in the sky on its broom.

The story is set in an alternative modern world again – this time it’s Reverse London. I have read several mangas with a fantasy London, and none of them were good – neither the mangas themselves, nor the versions of London in them. The same here. The London in this work is postcard-garish and paper thin, like pages of a cheap tourist guide. Some red phone booths, some castle wall textures, a random skyscraper and a coat of arms... Can’t give you more because the backgrounds don’t form a coherent picture – they aren’t even filled on most pages, it’s all just characters striking a pose or cheap action effects. The author tries to play with the characteristic British “cool weird” names – I think – but the end result is Wooly Wally “dragons” eating grass on Ninebrook Pastures, an organization named Wing Bind, and a character called Bang Knife (fine, “Bangnyfe”, doesn’t help) saving the day in a skull bandana.

Speaking about characters, they probably could have worked if they had not shouted and bickered constantly. We have a duo of girls, one red haired, abrasive and loud, the other a black haired ideal Yamato Nadeshiko with Japanese roots. They serve as Pipers – a two person squad of witches tasked with handling dragons, the mystical creatures that inhabit the reverse world. The premise doesn’t sound bad, but the thing is these two lines are it all, the rest is shouting and making faces. The red haired lead is also not endearingly annoying – rude, spiteful, and destructively envious.

The series drops the ball hard with misplaced preemptive humor and bad fanservice. Misplaced humor is, for example, the protags’ lazy boss, who uses them, but can’t do anything without them. I call it preemptive, because I believe you must build your fictional world before subverting anything or replacing important details with jokes, yet here not so good jokes come before the meat, and cream roses before the main dish is a bad dining experience.

The fanservice is ceaseless and corrosive. The third mainstay character, who moves the overall plot in fact, is a human perverted guy, who the witch girls have to keep on a leash and look after because reasons. He has exactly three features: he is creepily obsessed with the Yamato Nadeshiko girl, he is sort of unlucky in their world, he has a cute-dog-with-a-secret he dotes on all the time when he doesn’t beg to see the protag’s panties. And he is on screen a lot, a dated trashy gag, who should’ve left in the very chapter, at maximum in the very arc when he first appeared, but stays for god knows why. There’s also a female character, whose costume is cut out at the crotch in the shape of a heart to show panties, a scarf knotted above and below he giant rack, while everybody else in her group is dressed sensibly. This level of in your face randomness with fanservice is annoying and breaks the little immersion this manga manages to muster.

If I am very honest – I don’t think Kubo is cutting it with Burn the Witch. Bleach dissolved in its later stages, but early on it had a fascinating otherworld full of beauty, strong characters, and symbolism, thriving on Japanese aesthetic sensibilities, spiced up with a bit of Spanish/Latinx detail. And here he thinks he is clever when he shows a bland animal form with a propeller in it and says that witches use dragons for energy or when he adds some flowers on the horns of an otherwise regular poorly drawn deer.

I was stoked for a female-led shounen about witches in a European setting from a mangaka who once shone, but this is a boring mess. The world feels stale and low effort. You can’t just slap the word “dragon” with cookie cutter monster designs on top of a bad caricature of one of the most recognizable and vibrant cities in the world and expect it to work. The action is nonsensical because of the lack of context and because it is random mumbo-jumbo "spells" causing cabooms with no proper system behind it. And the only sympathetic character is the quiet female lead, but she has the worst case of a side kick tied to her hip, quite literally, salivating, blushing, and bleeting “panties” all the time.

They say that the movie adaptation was ok because of its high energy, fun designs, and, mainly, the quality of the animation, thanks to the studio behind it. Maybe this series can thrive as an anime, I dunno. But as a manga Burn The Witch is a bit worse than bland, and unless there’re plenty of people who are very into the specific type of fanservice that plagues it so badly (which I doubt), once the bosses milk Kubo’s name for what it is worth now, I fully expect it to get the axe like Jack the Ripper’s victims and burn down like London in 1666.

Um....{scratches head}...I'm not sure. I mean it's not bad, but the last 2.5 Volumes are really bad. Volume 4 seemed rushed, Volume 5 was also rushed with jumps, and Volume 6 is super jumped with that rushed feeling and a stupid ending i saw from a mile away. How did this even get made into an anime. Spoilers from here on.

~SPOILERS~

The first three volumes is why i'm "not sure". They are enjoyable and they hold my interest even though it's a bit jittery(the jump cuts again), A school that has sanctioned fights, and named them K-fights, and if you win you get better grades, which it doesn't at all. The K-fights were added this semester, and has no bearing on grades but is used to settle disputes. That's Volume one.

The next 2.5 volumes are backstory and nothing else it jumps forward in time to who knows when and then it goes back four months(?), why skip forward just to go back. Boyfriend get transferred, boo-hoo, s-o-l/high school drama. She loses heart and then needs someone/something to get her out of a rut. She does but then she and her "crew" get ass stomped and...nothing is mentioned about why this is done.

Volume 4 is where it jumps to the "end game" area does it seem like i skipped something nope that's the story goes straight to boss fight. There was no explanation as to what their doing here or why they want to do this, get back the tapes of their defeat, so what.

Volume 5, here's a few lieutenants and one of them(sephiroth looking bitch) who fights the main anti-hero(Shizuma) literally destroys his hand and we never see this guy before, we get one flashbacks after he is defeated. We get sporadic flashbacks on some training and more background sprinkled around here. Lots of plot holes and threads that lead to more questions than answers.

Volume 6, we "win" how when they left the main area, and went back to school leaving all the others there(big ass park) with some magical underground trolley. The the main girl beats the guy(anti-hero) even though he can control elements. She fought now one and went back to school unharmed and he has bone fractures and blood loss and loses(he actually says he lets her win-which is probably true) and then all the other appear out of nowhere wtf, then there's a jump to some dude in a suit saying that some scrub needs to take the fall. This manga keeps losing points as i write. They were [6/6.5/5] but it feel disgusted thinking about it.

TL:DR- Avoid it's ok at first then it gets worse and then confusing.

Overall I thought it was a fine story. Nothing amazing but entertaining.
Time: 2 Hours

Note: This manga has a completely cliched story line with all the misunderstandings and lack of communication that can hinder a growing relationship. It does have a HEA ending which is why I gave it a higher score.

The characters are typical but fun to just read about. The Hero is a genius, billionaire who after getting kicked in the face as his first introduction to the Heroine. He decides he will marry her. (This is basically the first 2 pages) From there you are taken on a silly ride of how these two people navigate their feelings and behavior. It also doesn't help that the heroine is an emotional cannon that just yells when something happens. Which then leads to her running off.

What you can expect is smutty scenes of the couple when they finally make-up. Which quite a few times.

But don't let that stop you! It really is a funny manga just know what your walking into!

I have mixed feelings about this.

The art is absolutely wonderful. It reminds me of other artists at some points, yet has it's own original and unique style. Some characters' appearances, however, can be quite confusing for those who don't pay attention.

The character personalities, however, are well done for those who are brought into depth. The villain believable, blinded by his goals to remember other things. The heroine is strong and confidant, and the leading male is comedic relief with a deeper, darker side. The other characters are just made out to look cool and don't seem to have much of a purpose in the story whatsoever.

Despite these slight problems, I enjoyed the story throughout the beginning and middle. It had twists and depth, but there is one thing that bothers me, and leads to the entire manga's downfall: The ending.

I won't spoil the ending, but I am one of many readers who are far beyond disappointed. It's ended abruptly and horribly, with no sense of reason besides the fact that the mangaka grew lazy and came up with a finale that dropped all of the series' potential. It leaves several important questions unanswered (such as why a certain event did not occur if it was clearly stated it should have happened) and the other outcomes unknown (one character is completely forgotten and never mentioned again as soon as the final battle begins, when they are the main reason the whole battle is occurring anyway!)

I'll tell potential readers this who dare to read this far: There is no happily ever after or romance if you're looking for that sort of thing. It's a tragic story with supernatural elements. The entire story was brought to a premature ending, and it's quite clear that lazyness had taken its toll on the creator. The last chapter finally tells the tale of friendship at its strongest, only for the final pages to tear it all way and wonder why it was ended in such a way.