I see people comparing this to Bleach. I have little experience with Bleach, watching only 95 chapters of anime (and dropping it then) and barely reading any manga, but it is enough to say that Bleach, Naruto, Death Note and other super-popular series can't compare to this. At least it has little chance to last that long and fall into the trap of fillers and sidekicks.

My review is as cryptic as possible so as to avoid spoilers, but I'll try to make it useful nevertheless.

Based on 118 chapters (frankly speaking, even on just 18, otherwise I would not add 100 more and a strong urge to follow it to the end) I give it a resounding TEN. I am still in doubt about the anime (actually, manga attracted my attention after watching the first episode), since despite my rather ripe age compared to the majority of MAL users I'm not a fan of monster depictions in anime, as you can guess from my list. At that, at least at the beginning anime keeps up to a standard set by the manga, and, hopefully will add to it.

This manga, though, keeps me captivated to the point of writing this review at 4:40 am after swallowing another 30 chapters. Why? THE PLOT TWISTS. Some I can predict, but they are few, and this is a good enough indicator by itself. I'm really sorry for those who had to read it as an ongoing right from the start (or starting from any other chapter), because chapter 118 is critical for the plot as I see it, and hopefully in a good way. I haven't seen such twists neither in Hunter×Hunter, nor in Shinsekai Yori, nor in non-Japanese fiction stories I am partial too. And that means a praise. A huge praise.

So what is it?
1. The setting. Manga and anime seemed to dip into all possible kinds of settings, but this is something new. It is a parallel world — but not an isekai, fantasy, Sengoku Jidai or sci-fi. Nor it is a slice of life, but some people probably can relate. It is not a classic action, but there is enough of those for connoisseurs of this genre too.

2. This thing does have its antagonists, but they are not your average yokai, criminals or aliens. Those familiar with Hunter×Hunter, think of Meruem (the Chimera Ant King) and make him even more ruthless even if less intelligent. At that, sometimes those who look like antagonists are not them, nor all seemingly positive characters are positive... and the authors are masterful in keeping the reader in the dark about their true nature to the last possible moment.

3. The situation the protagonists and their supporting characters got into requires a huge leap of imagination. Yet they have a clear objective and that, hopefully, will prevent the creators from falling into traps of an over-twisted plot that even J.K. Rowling and Togashi Yoshihiro did not avoid.

4. There are a lot of “deus ex machina” (not Deus Ex, of course!) situations, but that's what plot twists and cliffhangers are about.

5. The characters are vivid, deep and charismatic.