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Jojo's Bizzare Adventure Part 7: Steel Ball Run is not only one of the best Jojo parts, but one of the best manga I have ever read, without a doubt. This part shows just how far Jojo has come, having perfected the formula that we saw used in previous parts. It has everything you could want in a Jojo part: an interesting but bizzare story, amazingly well-written characters, spectacular fights, great humour and of course, stands. The stands are not the focus of this part, in fact I can't even remember half of their names, but this doesn't really matter as they are still used very well within the story. All of this, plus the beautiful artwork, and you have yourself what I would consider to be the peak of Jojo.

Spoiler free review



The art:

The strictly realistic art, sets a serious tone throughout the manga. It never or rarely feels exaggerated, pretentious or flat out wacky. It depicts emotions in a natural, REAListic way, without trying to force them unto readers. Captivating, even from the cover, Inoue’s incredible artistic vision of facial expressions give characters a living vibe. The main characters are laid bare in artistic REALism, drawn masterfully in private situations and strong emotional states. Theres a deep, almost intimate connection made with them.




The Story:

Tough revolving around it the whole manga, wheelchair basketball is mostly used as a catalyst for story/events and also as a stage to exhibit character development. Most of the REAL DRAMA happens outside the court, in the lives of the main characters, how they cope with with REAL life difficult, AWKWARD, Far from fairy tale like, situations. Ambivalence, acceptance(not only of others but of oneself), REGRET, true friendship, starting over, love(in general), are just some of the major themes masterfully explored and expressed in REAL. This story is a down right, in your face reminder of the cruelties of real life. Little to no plot armor here, no magic dragon balls, no sugar coating it for readers, no tears falling on someone to magically heal them, no super emotional screams = flashy power up sequences, no super hero magic powers. The only super heroes you'll find here are personifications of REAL life, flesh and blood heroes. And the only powers here, are the ones of the human spirit, exhibited in true magnificence.
It is NOT as dark!!! depressing or gloomy as one might think when judging the "cover" or synopsis. I would even venture out and say its heart warming and inspiring. The unpretentious, unexaggerated darkness, has a natural “REAL life” feeling to it. A darkness we are used to, for its all around us. But this story isn't about darkness(its no emo manga), its about the radiant light that contrast it, this story is about the beauty of life!

I recommend everyone give this one a try, for the quality is world class.

I have never read a Revenge story manga before but i did thoroughly enjoy this one. If you have a twisted since of justice or kinda sadist nature you will empathize with the MC and hope he accomplishes his goals. At first i was kinda confused since the story said healers cant use any combat abilities so i was a little annoyed when he has a heal ability that can damage/kill people. But his healing ability is kinda special than others so hes exempt from other healers norms. So i kinda let go that he could do damage as a healer since hes special.The art style i did enjoy. i loved all the sadist grins and laughs. And i can really feel the pain and emotions from reading and looking at the scenes.

Since the one-shots in this collection are distinct from one another and written over the course of 6 years, I will review each one separately.

ZETMAN-

Considerably different than the subsequent adaptation, here the protagonist is 23 year-old games programmer Kurono. He possesses a strong sense of justice instilled in him by his mother, who was killed in a hit-and-run when he was a teen. One day, an electrical storm causes the game he programs, "Zetman" to come to life, shades of author Masakuza Katsura's previous hit Video Girl Ai. Thus, Kurono becomes the titular superhero, and must "level up" by stopping various criminals.

As with the later series, the tale is an examination of what constitutes crime, heroism, and the nature of justice itself. The one-shot was well-drawn, with slick transitions, and solid pacing, but proceeding in a predictable direction. However, there is a neat twist near the end, adding ambiguity and depth to what could have been a trite, simple theme. The design of Zetman is also different, as he has horns, a devil's tail, and angel wings.

Overall, this is a good, solid work, if nothing remarkable. Still, it's a fine starting point for what would become an excellent, long-running series. 7/10

WOMAN IN THE MAN-

A silly work that shows off Kastura's love of ecchi involving nubile young girls as well as being heavily inspired by the gender-swapping of Ranma 1/2. While preparing to fight a karate rival, a wimpy guy and a brave girl switch bodies. The humor is as poor as in other ecchi series, and the climactic fight is very lazily done, with bad animation and action lines to symbolize strikes as opposed to clearly drawing them. The ending is anticlimactic and there weren't any real ideas here. This is crap. 3/10

SHADOW LADY-

A timid, unathletic girl called Aimi, with the help of her grandmother's magical artifact, becomes the bold, sexy, acrobatic Shadow Lady, flying around the city late at night. In the process, she crosses paths with Bright Honda, a boy she likes at school who is also an amateur crimefighter.

The work absolutely screams 90's shounen, from the art style to the secret identity (complete with transformation sequence) to the moral about courage and believing in oneself. It's executed well enough, with a couple nice fantasy touches, genuine effort put into the action scenes, and a climax that features a call-back to the beginning of the one-shot. There is even a bit of humor to the ending. It's generic and unexceptional, but done competently, with care, unlike "Woman in the Man". 6/10

Amusingly, this is an instance where merit was rewarded. The wretched "Woman in the Man" never got adopted as a full series. The okay "Shadow Lady" got a series in Shounen Jump but was unceremoniously cancelled after just 24 chapters. Meanwhile, "Zetman", the best of the bunch, went on to be a monster hit, publishing until 2014 with strong sales and getting an anime adaptation.

Sometimes there is indeed justice in this world, whether administered by Zetman or not.

This book had me going through weird places. The suspense in this story is very captivating. Let alone the whole mystery. It was a very good and entertaining book. Things that i would have never thought would have happened did indeed happen. I totally recommend this book. It's not really scary at all. Just a bunch of suspense. The ending is crazy cool.

Not sure why im taking the time to write this but here we go:

Story 5/10 - Nothing groundbreaking here, it's exactly what the summary says. Man goes back in time, confesses to his hot teach, she instantly falls in love with him and minor hijinks happen because she's a complete airhead. Every chapter involves secret flirting, almost getting caught, and somewhat amusing but never laugh out loud situations. Not bad, not good. Also, the summary makes this seem more leud than it actually is by constantly inserting the word lover. Might change at some point, but as of the currently released chapters, nope.

Art 8/10 - the teacher is drawn extremely well (and really, she's the only reason anyone is reading this), the time traveling MC and his sister are drawn very decently, the side characters are drawn fine to intentionally ugly. The background is fine.

Characters 4/10 - the MC is decent enough for the 22 chapters available, no real complaints. The teacher is a complete airhead, unrealistically so. Very kind and cheerful though. The MCs sister is in love with the MC and is teetering on the edge of being a yandere (her entire personality is based around this), and the teachers sister is probably actually mentally disabled and she gets turned on when a cat licks her face. None of the other characters are remotely important.

Enjoyment 6/10 - its worth sinking some time into if you're looking for a simple romcom with a teacher/ student pairing. If it was like one hundred chapters, I probably wouldn't have finished it if it kept the pacing it's currently going. Unfortunately, judging by how they're trying to make it almost two whole years without getting caught, it's probably scheduled to run more than that. It'll defintely get canceled before that though.

Overall - im giving this a six because it didn't overstay its welcome with only 22 chapters. It's... fine. I wouldnt have made it past fifty chapters at this level of storytelling, even with how short these chapters are. It draws you in thinking it's going to be more risque than it actually is, but it never reaches that point. It's too leud to read in public, but it's nowhere near the level of a hentai with plot.

Since Mugen Himitsu is a one-shot my review will be short. The part that stands out the most in this particular series is the beautiful art work. It's crisp and detailed and contains a lot of the positive style traits one expects of shoujo manga. The storyline is fluid and transitions nicely from one scene to another.

As for the plot, I love how the manga opens up like many of my favorite mystery series and the suspense is nice as well. The interactions between the two main characters is also interesting and the plot flows nicely from beginning to end. It isn't just the pacing of the plot that was good in this particular one-shot but also the unfolding of the romance. The story could have used a bit more fleshing out, but was also quite good for a one-shot.

I also enjoyed the characters. Without going into much details, it was nice to have a feminine character who isn't moping about not having a romantic interest, or even thinking about how she doesn't need a romantic interest because she isn't that kind of girl. Instead, she focuses on what is going on around her and reacts accordingly.

The one-shot was also a nice, quick read.

Alright...First of all, who would you choose?
The asshole who made you his slave and is just generally a horrible person, the asshole who tried to rape you for revenge but, just for the record, it was a total misunderstanding and he's sorry, or the really nice and caring guy..... who just so happens to be your (NOT REALLY) brother.

Hatsumi made the wrong choice. She chose to stay in this situation.
(Btw, spoilers.)
Maybe it's a cultural difference... I mean, I get that women are generally not as respected as men, especially in Japan. But the main character of this manga is a total pushover. How did she fall for Ryoki in the first place? She admitted (even when she was supposedly in love with him) that she was afraid of him. But she never stands up for herself or fights back... she just lets everyone treat her like shit.

And the whole deal with her brother being in love with her, that is such a cop out in so many series. They're not REALLY related. So it's okay! But no. It is not. She grew up believing he was her brother, so he will remain her brother. If your brother confessed his love to you what would you do? YOU'D BE CREEPED-THE FUCK- OUT.

In all honesty, there was a part of me that ate this shit up. I wouldn't have finished it if I totally hated it. I wanted Ryoki to change or Hatsumi to grow some balls and punch him in the face. But in the end, neither or those things happened. Ryoki is still a disrespectful asshole, Hatsumi is still a dumb bitch and everyone is ok with that. Even her now celibate brother. I mean, really? Wtf.

I don't have much to say about Azusa... he has issues that he projects on to other people... and he's an asshole.

Hot Gimmick.... you're what makes me say "What the fuck, Japan?" (Along with many other, much worse, things)

It's a oneshot, so its saving grace is it's a fast read. The premise and character designs are very cute. It's about a spider and a butterfly who fall in love. However, where this short story suffers is that even for a story where the characters fall instantly in love, it feels even more rushed than that. It's hard to explain other than it feels like a children's tale, but I've seen manga with that kind of storybook vibe done much better (Blind Prince and Liar Princess is a great example).

It comes across more like a quick synopsis that was drawn out with several things missing in between to give it life.

You'd probably spend more time reading this than the oneshot.

If you need more convincing, I've seen better stories with the "instantly in love" trope. If the author wanted to use this trope instead of maybe a montage to show some passing of time as they wordlessly get to know each other, then perhaps it would've been better to have gotten into their heads. Also, the best way I've ever seen short stories tackle getting invested in romances is to give the reader a reason to infer the characters "need" eachother to complete themselves. For instance, maybe if we'd seen the spider treated awful we'd guess that's why he spared her as a caterpillar when she showed kindness. But there's plenty of ways to do this. What we got was shallow, but ultimately harmless.

TLDR; Is it bad? No, but it's forgettable. Best for the artwork since the story is dull.

Its a shame that there is no continuation after chapter 3 stage 3. Supposedly its completed. But I don't see no other chapter translations at this point. However I still want to know the outcome. One thing I do like is that the heroine at least is not a cry baby but a spontaneous clueless yet goofy character at the same time which is way better than those that are usually depicted as weak and no back bone female leads in romance manga. Just seems kind of too much though that the male lead is taking it way too seriously for revenge for being rejected.