iridi12

First of all, I’m going to start off by saying that I think YKK is amazing. Not just amazing. Absolute genius. It possibly the most thoughtful, beautiful, and well crafted story of any manga. It takes real skill to create an interesting manga, essentially, about several people living their 'run-of-the-mill' everyday lives. From something as simple as a friend visiting, or going to the beach, its creator, Ashinano, crafts a wonderful, detailed story with equally as beautiful art to match.

I'm not going to bother going through a detailed synopsis, but basically, YKK follows Alpha, a robot looking after a coffee shop for her owner who is away on an indefinitely long trip. It's set in the future after an ecological disaster. Sea levels have risen and a lot of towns have been submerged. The dwindling humans have reverted to a simpler life; living alongside these exceeding human-like robots. Alpha's coffee shop on the far coast of Japan is out of the way of most people, and her weekly number of customers rarely enter double figures. Alpha interacts with the few local people, other robots and her surroundings and each chapter show a new adventure normally from her perspective.

Where to begin now? The characters. Alpha is a lovely character, and instantly likeable. She’s kind, friendly and most of all interesting. The small number of humans and robots that make up the primary characters are all excellent too. Oji-san, Takahiro, Makki, Kokone, Ayase, Sensei and others leave you wanting to know more about their history as pieces of their past are shown to the reader asthe story follows their lives in these slower, more reflective, years.

The story is slow. Very slow. There is no action. No rapid character development. And none of the usual plot points that make up a generic shounen manga. But, of course, that is in no way a bad thing. It’s perfect for the audience it's try to reach and the mood it's trying to create. The peacefulness is shown in the characters, surroundings and story. Reading it is a calming experience and even though the subtle melancholy that is left after each chapter is sad, there are plenty of happy moments, bound to make you smile.
In fact, the overhanging story is very subtle itself. Its better described by the genre, 'Slice of Life'. Because that’s the obvious thing there is to it; watching a period of the lives of the characters. You see how the times of changed and how the remaining humans, and robots, are living in this time.

The art also suits the story perfectly. The landscapes are beautifully drawn and the characters appearance and expressions tell you more about their personality. Its some of the nicest art I’ve seen in a manga. Simple, but it's perfect for the mood of the story. It flows excellentlyl and isn’t full of ruled boxes and panels; adding to the relaxing appearance. Also, the art tells a lot of the story. It requires your full attention to take note of the hints that it gives. The story doesn’t explain everything. But links and answers can be found in the artwork.

All in all, YKK has won me over. It really is a classic and although I can see why a lot of people would not like it (the lack of action, drama, etc, will put people off it), it's something everyone should give a chance. It's cemented itself as my favourite manga, if not favourite story ever. Mainly because I was sad when it ended. More so than any other book or series. Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to follow the life of Alpha and her friends anymore is quite upsetting; yet the ending provides suitable closure for the series and draws together a few of the loose ends to provide a nice ending to the mysterious world of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. And I think it’s kind of sad that I got attached to the characters so much. But that’s what the series does to me. And I hope if you give it a chance, it'll do the same to you, because, if it does, you'll find a real gem with Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou.

~Maltos

This is not good. Only read it if like me, you want to read everything related to Crows or Worst.
Its basically a collection of short stories. Only two of them are enjoyable:
The one with the armament is pretty cool
The Hokuto no Ken one is funny because of sheere absurdity, transposing HnK characters into Housen academy
The rest is aweful

The art is pretty good, but nothing to write home about. The story is abysmal
Most chapters are boring (but you read through them very fast)
I don't recommend you read this, but if you really want to, I suggest you just read chapters 2 & 5 and skip the rest.

Art : 6/10
Story : 3/10
Character : 3/10
Enjoyment : 2/10
Overall : 3/10

Just from the first pages, anyone with experience with Isekai story will want to throw it away.

NOTHING makes the protagonist stand out, I almost mistook him for about 3 other fantasy stories.
NOTHING that happens to him feels natural and coherent, everything is for the sake of: "Oh look at the cool things that happen! Look how nice he is!".
NOTHING makes me feel attached to anything this world gives off.

The only thing with a semblance of originality is the disdain given to the protagonist. And even this is becoming something we are getting used to in other stories.

The early encounter, the reveal of his abilities, the reactions of the hero... All of those are brought up in the most cringy, pathetic, predictable way.

And they DARE show child nudity only in order to attract the eye ? That's messed up and disgusting, shame on the creator.

Keep away from this uninspired mess.

Do you need to spice up your daily (i assume) manga reading sessions with a dose of MANga? Are recent shows/JoJo protagonists just not scratching that itch for extremely burly MEN duking it out? Then you'll love Bakudan!

Bakudan comes to us from mangaka Akira Miyashita (creator of the more well-known Otokojuku) and follows Baku Ryosuke, nickname Bakudan (bomb) an arrogant, foul-mouthed and absurdly well-built 18-year-old delinquent in the tradition of Jotaro Kujo whose aspiration is to reach the summit of the Yakuza hierarchy by the power of his own two fists. After being discovered by, and inducted into the gang, Bakudan proves to be cocky and unwilling to bend to the rules. To keep his ego in check, he is sent on an assignment that unbeknownst to him, will change the course of his life.

The story is shonen sports manga fare, nothing special, but still interesting enough to hold your attention, with some rare creative ideas and some unexpected, genuinely touching moments. But the villains are all brawn and characters generally get off the hook pretty easily, which cheapens the stakes a bit. Add to that a very abrupt ending (which I can only assume was due to cancellation) that ruins the pace, and you've got a pretty decent, but not good, plot. But the story is not the main appeal here, as long as you keep your expectations in check, you'll enjoy it. The appeal lies in the art, and in the character of Ryosuke.

The art follows in the 80s tradition of imposing, sometimes comically large muscular characters as seen in Hokuto no Ken, early JoJo, and the author's very own Otokojuku. An artstyle which, full disclosure, I absolutely love. The characters (and their muscles) are detailed, actually have noses (!), and the faces are a bit static but they give you the information you need to know. My only problem with the art is that the punches don't "hit" as hard as I'd like them to, mainly due the lack of speed lines on the faces that are being hit, and the rarity of "face craters" (as I like to call them) resulting in many of the hits looking like the target turned his head and the punch just whizzed by. The sound effects do their best in selling the brutality of the punches, but the visuals still don't "click".

Now to talk about the main draw of this series, the Bomb himself, Bakudan (who kind of looks like a roided up version of Yusuke from YYH to me). This is a really interesting character, and one I'd like to see more in manga (maybe I just have to read more sports manga?) His foul-mouthed, cocky demeanor results in some unpredictable and extremely badass moments and his mere presence elevates any scene. The true reason I like him though is that he develops, not by a lot, but convincingly in the extremely limited length of this manga but still manages to keep his spontaneity and unpredictability untouched. He's generally really fun to watch and is the engine that keeps the series going. Only two of the side characters are given some depth, and are lightly developed, but we're really not given enough time to grow to like them.

All in all, if you enjoy MANLY MEN fighting, definitely give this short 2-volume series a read, it won't take long. A series tragically after its time, published way after readers have seen all the sports manga tropes and moved on to slimmer, less absurdly stocky characters. If it'd been published a decade back, who knows, we could've had a long-running sports manga classic. Anyway, just manage your expectations and you'll enjoy it just as much as I did.

6.5/10

Please take into consideration that this series was not my style and this review is simply to explain why. Many others seem to enjoy it; unfortunately, I did not.

So it's about a boy who winds up having a cute girl for a roommate...except the girl is really a boy. What I expected to find was a romance coupled with a bit of difficulty and lots complex emotions. What I got was a very basic plot with shallow and flat characters.

Contrary to what the synopsis says, Yuki is not a crossdressing boy who enjoys wearing womens' clothing. He is a biological male who self-identifies as a female. He doesn't simply dress like one, he lives the lifestyle of a female and wishes to be accepted as a female. This alone should be enough to build a spectacular story around, but there's simply not enough substance and it only plays a surface part in the overall storyline.

Masato has to cope with his emotions while he lusts after two girls he likes (and any character who will show him their panties). He is constantly wavering between whichever character is currently showing him attention. The relationships aren't very fleshed out and contrived. Ultimately, it was a light/quick read from start to finish.

If you are wanting to read about the complexities of teen romance, the social difficulties of being genderqueer and the search for understanding and acceptance, look elsewhere. If you want to read a typical school life ecchi comedy that's almost-sorta-not-really yaoi, then you'll probably like this.

Where to start . . . i guess I'll start at the finale, in the last 15 or so chapters things went crazy, I've heard of religious symbolism, but this is basically a religious deepthroat. The main character is a guy named riki who goes to jail (that's the worst arc btw) and just decimates prison bullies, most of the time big bads have an out of nowhere redemption and then double cross him like "oh wow villain number 400 stabbed riki in the back, what a twist, I'm so incredibly shook" and i think the author has a fetish for swords, one arc the big bad had a meteor sword and shortly after breaking it he goes on a rant and then gets like 3 more swords. There was a gay character, and it felt really really wrong, the author made the gay character into a crazy guy who's obsessed with his dead sister. The beginning arc was incredibly bland, the finale two arcs ended up going at 100 miles an hour and the BBEGs reason for his evilness felt like a huge asspull, did the author think to himself "how can we make the genocidal rapist into a semi redeemable character" and then went and saw starwars and somehow the editors didn't call him out on his B.S.
Tl;Dr read FOTNS instead if you want a manga about manly men punching other manly mens heads off.

Overall it was an unfulfilling ending to a series I really enjoyed. I came here after watching the anime, then reading the first series of which I enjoyed both. However the ending seemed really rushed and it left a lot of loose ends.

You get to meet the new assistant, but since its only 10 chapters long (not sure why mal says 13) you don't get to really learn about this new character. Also since its so short pretty much all the characters except aito and ashisu are only in it for a few pages in total.

This was my first review btw

Story 6
Art 6
Character 7
Enjoyment 7

Overall 7/10, I really wanna rate it higher because of how good the first series was lol

I really hated the artwork on this, and also, why are all the gangsters portrayed wearing converse/vans!! That just really bothered me, (Those companies make really cool shoes) The plot was mediocre and predictable. Meh, overall not a very good manga

The story begins in the small and peacful village of Konron that has a big secret about it. In the village, the boy called Llyod wants to leave his home to become a soldier in the capital. The problem, however, is that he is considered the weakest in the village. The mayor of the village, of course, did not appreciate the idea. Yet, she still agrees to help the boy fulfil his dream. She gives him a crystal that Llyod will need to hand in to the witch that lives in the capital. Upon reaching the capital, Llyod meets the witch, who unwillingly agrees to help Llyod. How could she refuse a request of her teacher? And so the journey of the weakest villager begins.

Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari reminds me of Asterix and Obelix. A small village that has the power to wreak havoc and hardly anyone could stop that. Here, however, Llyod does not have a sidekick and he does not drink a potion to become stronger, but there is still an explanation for his supernatural power, which you will find out, when you read more about his village.

Tatoeba Last Dungeon Mae no Mura no Shounen ga Joban no Machi de Kurasu Youna Monogatari is quite an enjoyable comedy that also has a story about it, which makes it very interesting to follow. Although, it is somewhat difficult to give it a reasonable assessment only after 9 chapters, but this manga has enough potential to be good. On top of that, it will get an anime in October, 2020.

This is a really promising beginning of a rock band story. It shows the reality of how tough it is to break into the entertainment world. Be it Japan or anywhere in the world, being an artist is an extremely unforgiving career choice. This manga feels like a documentary of the arduous initial steps of a rock band. That is both good and bad. It is good because it is keeps the story authentic and gives time for us to see the story develop in a realistic way. It is bad because there are no high points, no cliffhangers to keep the reader on the edge. Storytelling devices are sacrificed in order to keep things grounded. Most likely this manga will never have a wide appeal, but it can definitely enchant its target audience: anyone who loves rock.

The main strength of this manga is the genuine "rock" feeling you get from its story and characters. The characters are all very lifelike. They feel extremely real. In the sense that these are the type of people who you might actually see playing in rock bands. They all have their unique personalities and are continuously being fleshed out.

My main criticism of this manga is something that is extremely hard for any graphic novel: the depiction of music. Animated adaptations of titles like Nana, Beck, and Detroit Metal City are usually praised for having the essential musical element that manga cannot provide. It is a bit frustrating to just see the still images of Mao playing the guitar, Hasekura singing, or Altago playing and just have a few musical notes flying in the air to indicate that the music is there. These are moments that should have a great impact but due to the restrictions of the medium being used, just lack the weight they deserve.

Since the end of Gekkan Bazu magazine, where it was published, Kuuden Noise no Himegimi moved to another magazine called Evening where it is currently published. That is why this stops at chapter 21 and continues as Kuuden no Himegimi.