Plunderer

Plunderer, series acceding Sora no Otoshimono series with Fantasy world , taken over with Sci-fi genre, with the gentle stroke of tone for the art is the manga that tell us about another heartwarming story, parallel with Sora No Otoshimono.

As the story started with taking place in world that being ruled by number/count that character had in their body, and how it could affect their life, with the primary story focusing on the legend of Red Baron. As the story progress, there is a hint of seriousness, despite the overwhelmingly indecent act of the world, as similarly with Sora no Otoshimono, with the development of story,though not deep, but enjoyable to made us reader intrigue to read more of the story.

With this, the graphic and tone of art is quite gentle, as how the character looked nice to look, made the story charming in a way. Though not deep enough for character, they're still let us wanting more for it, as the character development happen in every chapter, or more likely revealing, with the hint of background story.

Then, for it, i'm feeling satisfied , although there is still a little chapters for it and overall it's quite good feeling after reading this.

This is a preliminary review for final chapter (based on what I'm speculating based on the manga's pacing so far) should be number 77.

Warning: Will have a bit of minor spoilers and a very long review for you know why if you know me...

Actual rating by me

Vol 1 - 11 = 8
Vol 12 onwards = 4

As much as I'm frustrated & disappointed with the anime adaptation, I'm shocked that the manga's version of the first 10 volumes exceeded my reading experience, if not, it has "good animation quality".

Though there are questionable & offensive scenes, especially regarding to how the female characters are being badly-written & ruined by the gender stereotyping regarding quick-thinking abilities, the intense foreshadowing weren't interrupted by the misused fanservice that plot twist happening in volume 3 is well-executed. Not to mention, the manga author has drawn the action scenes with the right amount of blood & gore & the fights' light flashing & punching has been detailed in stunning artwork.

What's more important is that there are necessary & important info/details regarding about the Legendary Aces' origins & the reason their appearance look like that. Thus, there wasn't any confusion like what the anime adaptation did. I'm also shocked that the manga author showed the plot twist reveal in this version has amplified the emotional impact to anyone reading it, especially the part where the country Alcia's origins' way of being revealed hits a million points in how to apply shock value in storytelling the most appealing way.

Though the reason why I said the number of volumes here is because I'm encouraging you to purchase them because if you can get through those questionable scenes of the female characters, then it's worth your time & savings to have the 1st 10 volumes in your own hands literally or digitally.

Now, here comes the bad news on why I rate this series as it is...

Volume 11 sees a plot twist that's predictable, but still expected in a good way that I admit I liked how the main heroine gets to do something on her own. And that's the problem...you see the characters are like plot devices (with the exception of a glasses lieutenant who surprisingly has consistent character development), nothing more, nothing less.

Because there are so many plot twist reveals happening at a fast pace, almost all of the characters are underdeveloped or worse, badly-written for I get we've backstory on some of them, but the way they're written is inconsistent especially given most of the time, the manga author seems to depend on tired & overused stereotypes (especially regarding the "Gropers are Heroes" trope) existing in Japan's otaku subculture at most times.

For the first time in my life, the main hero is one of my least fave characters along with any of the female characters I'm reading about. Not to mention, there are new characters appearing suddenly that I can't seem to care any of these characters, especially when one seemingly killed his comrades, but turned out they're alive when they became a Deux es Machina for him.

Speaking of said new characters, this includes newly-made villains that just appeared to be the problematic typical & predictable villain who just love to torture people for no reason, but for the sake of embracing their sadistic side without remorse. This can be jarring & grating that they'll make you wished they just "disappear" in the next panel already.

There was a group of them who are like that; given the latest chapter showing them looking unenthusiastic about fighting the heroes' side...

It's like there's inconsistent personalities within these said villains. I know "off-screen" is possible explanation for that, but this is a reading material. Not all readers are gonna accept that said villains turning into good guys all of a sudden or worse, they get the "wake-up punch" or get all sorts of abuse they get from the actual Big Bad.

Not to mention, there's a sudden romantic development between one of them and one of the heroes' family that it's quite drastic, making the romance aspect feel forced/unnecessary. I mean, did the author's fans ever ask for another romantic couple? If it has proper romantic development, then I can accept those two in latest chapter.

Another thing I'm disappointed with the series is because this is obviously promoting itself as a problematic shounen battle series because all of the emotional drama happening in vol12 is made because of the heroes' side becoming oblivious beings. When I mean that, they're TOO TRUSTWORTHY to listen to anyone that that said people might be lying/deceiving to the heroes. I mean the fact some of the heroes are 300+ years old & after all the dangers/betrayal they've experienced in the earlier arcs, they trust anyone without thinking ahead or doubting there's a possibility of the enemy disguising themselves literally & directly.

This makes the heroes to fall under the "too dumb to live" problematic trope. Because making the heroes become incompetent and not-so-perceptive beings is grating until their appropriate character development made from the earlier arcs has been thrown out of the window completely. Not to mention that the "power of love/friendship" trope is too cringy, being the most hypocritically best solution to defeats science of the most powerful-made drug that it prolonged emotional or dramatic scenes that it's kind of predictably anti-climatic/unsatisfying closure.

In brief, Plunderer is one of the most shocking series to exist that's questionable & nonsensical yet it's a series where it somehow fits every single genre/subgenre you can think of now.

The artwork is the only thing that's salvaging its trainwrecked storytelling post-vol 11. Vol 12 onwards has become parallel with the anime's scriptwriting; that's for sure...

I only recommend this manga series for those who appreciate stunning artwork (yes, it's consistent & being used to the max post-vol 11) and could careless/ignore the problematic tropes existing in most of the shounen battle series.

If you're into any romance & emotional stuff regardless of how inconsistent development happens in those aspects, so be it.

Though for any newbie fans, I'm glad to encourage you to purchase the licensed FIRST 10 VOLUMES of this series for the anime adaptation didn't do justice for the earlier arcs. From vol 11 and so forth, that's up to you entirely. May you not regret purchasing them.

Plunderer is a hard manga to review, but as most of the reviews are outdated, i figured i would give it a shot.

The story starts off decently enough, but does not really start spinning its gears untill a volume or two in. Once it does though, you are in for one hell of a wild ride.

As aforementioned, it is extremely hard to review because damn near everything good about it counts under the category of a plot twist. I have never read a story with as many fucking plot twists jammed into it as this one, you cannot go two chapters without the status quo getting ballista bombed into the sun. It is virtually impossible to predict what will happen next as the story continues to unfold in the most unexpected and exciting ways.

That being said, its such a rushdown of story that the pacing is a tad off, i would even go as far as to say it is too quick, and the "lets take a breather" comic relief chapters suffer from even worse whiplash then usual despite it being a norm for manga. Luckily, the characters are so strong and the plot is well tied in with the charactes themselves, that it is never too much.

As far as the art goes, there is not much to say about it. It is a very clean and very expressive style that is perfect for action, it looks perfect, although somewhat generic.

In short, this is a fun action story that will subvert your expectations roughly every other chapter.

At first, I just started the Plunderer series when it came out as an anime, not thinking it could have any potential. After around 6 episodes I considered dropping the anime but stayed for the comedy. At around episode 10-11 I started seeing great potential for the series, and after the last episode, I could not resist and continued where it left off with the manga.

And holy cow, let me just say I was far from disappointed. Plunderer really is a masterpiece, the only thing I had wrong with it was the random comedic relief moments that had no overall effect on the plot. The overabundance of these moments in the first few chapters of the manga/episodes of the anime is really what threw people off and caused them to drop the series. However, the more I read the more those moments became smaller and just enough to ease the pain I had while reading this (don't worry though! It's intense but not exactly saddening).

I don't know exactly how to explain how great this series is without spoiling it, so I highly recommend checking it out for yourself! You won't be disappointed! After watching the latest episode of the anime I read the whole rest of the manga and didn't get bored one bit! The scenes can go by pretty fast, but I did not feel as if anything was being rushed.

Although this series is still in the works i cant give you a full 100% review regarding the story. However I will be explaining my impressions so far.

I wont explain how the story is, other than suggesting you read the synopsis. I believe attempting to explain it will force me to end up spoiling the story so ill just hold off on that. LOL

Story 9:
So far as the story goes, it is extremely captivating. It slowly reeled me in once i started reading through the first few chapters. what i mean by "slow", is that initially it just like an average fantasy/drama type of manga but as i read more of the chapters, it got much more interesting and captivating for me. I dont wanna give any more hints or expectations because i believe it just ruins the story.

art 9: overall the art is pretty nice, nothing too unique other than its successful on creating scenes. for those of you who enjoy some ecchi, there is alot of that throughout the manga.

Charecter 8: There are just a few characters whom we haven't gotten a chance to view their pasts or their goals. However, where the manga stands so far all the characters are quite enjoyable. For me personally, i don't have any characters that I despise or I find annoying. All the characters each have their own distinct personalities and are not easily forgettable.

Enjoyment 9: all i'm going to say is that its a pretty solid manga and suggest everyone should give it a shot.

overall 9: overall its a very enjoyable manga, i keep getting pissed off every time a chapter ends and i keep wondering where the hell the rest of the chapters are. Id suggest reading as much as you can before giving it a thumbs up or down.

24 chapters in:
I would first say that the main character is quite the pervert and isn't afraid to show it - but the manga doesn't particularly try to show boobs etc as often as possible unlike something like fairy tail. Still have a fair amount of it though.

Ok, now to the characters. Not particularly good but not really bad either. The main guy is interesting in his own right, but the main girl is quite boring in comparison. Well I hesitate to call her the main because she really isn't, we just see her first. But no matter. Anyway, she takes on the role of damsel in distress at the start, though her role becomes more of a side character later on alongside the other sides. That's fine actually, as I much prefer that she isn't forced into the MC role just because we saw her first. The side characters have their own quirks and have some likeable traits - they're good people and might grow on you as you read more. However, I didn't feel much emotional investment in the characters, but I'm interested to see what happens to them in the story and I also enjoy seeing them interact and go about their stuff.

About the story, I think the overall story is pretty interesting, as well as the way things are revealed. Honestly, there were many moments that got me thinking: ehh, you're really gonna do that? or omg so cliche. when something happens the way I expect it to/good characters act good as expected. You can totally feel the author not so subtly pouring on the badass character points, and I can't help but sigh and just enjoy it despite it's typicalness. I do quite like it though, despite all that.

Anyway, what really interests me enough is the overall story - which isn't really as straightforward as the simple events might play out. It surprises me sometimes, and I read all this way just to know what exactly was going on with the world/characters despite my lack of investment in the characters at the start. There's a lot of potential here, and things can actually get pretty dark and terrible. It's apparent from the first chapter that mysterious things are going on, but it didn't lure me in fully at the start. But it got more interesting as it progressed, and I got more invested and curious as I read on. When I came to the end of the latest chapter, I actually went "omg really?" because I was upset I couldn't continue. All in all I'll say it doesn't always succeed at making the little stories work - but when it start to tackle the big things everything start moving very amazingly and fast.

Overall, I'd say this manga has an interesting story behind it, though the typicalness of the plot at points might delude you into thinking it's just another boring story. I wouldn't say the execution is always good, and characters are interesting enough to fit their purpose of carrying the plot but I don't feel that hugely invested in them (I enjoy them and what they do but I don't love them). But the story might be pretty rewarding if you can skip over some rough patches, and I truly do want to know more about what is going to happen next. I think that's the most important factor. I'd also say the first few chapters are more like a prologue/background and things really start getting better after that.

Edit: 46 chapters in
It's sad to say, but the story really doesn't get better. It gets more complicated for sure, and tries to put in plot twists at every point that it kinda gets tiring to read. Think the later parts of Fairy tail, Shokugeki, Nanatsu no Taizai where a ton of gasp-omg-so-important-reveals-and-cool-stuff are happening but you're just like um okay... I don't even know what's going on now and don't care so just move along, please.

Plot twists are great when they make sense - keep trying to throw them for shock factor or to make things exciting and it backfires and makes one lose interest. Unfortunately, this is the case here and I'm not sure I'd recommend this anymore (even if I never really did in the first place). It's one of those stuff you'll continue to read for flashy effects and to see how it all ends up - I'm interested still in how it ends but maybe not the journey anymore, I'll rather read a summary on it on wikipedia/somewhere but it hasn't ended... and I'll probably stick with it to the end as a sense of obligation. If you're a masochist or just wants to switch of your brain and read a fast-paced, lots-of-stuff-happening-constantly story then maybe you'll want to read this.

Warning: minor spoilers from the introduction of the setting - nothing that should hamper your experience in the slightest though!
————————
A lot of action, a dab of fantasy, a swish of sci-fi blended together with a beautiful sense of incongruity and conspiracy; throw in some ecchi for good measure, some cool character designs and no one who's annoying; and just a very well-executed story weaved together with tonnes of mystery and a sort of “god-complex hard-magic" system (well kind of, without the magic and more like ‘Super Heroes’).

Plunderer is a dystopian world ruled by numbers. Everyone has a number that's attributed from birth to some objective (like ‘distance walked’), and it goes up and down depending on how well they accomplish their purpose. Reaching 0 means death, and anyone with a higher ‘number’ to another has the authority to order them around.

It's a very nifty idea, system, and plot. Unusually, as much as the action and the feel of the manga resembles a shounen, the plot very obviously heads forward with no return in sight. It's completely un-episodic and feels more like a movie or independent novel with a beginning, a journey, and a destination/finale.

The way in which the author keeps the story expanding is brilliant, by continuously adding depth to questions you want answered, and never feeling ‘tacked on’ or conveniently-contrived.

It does have an element of harem, but I'll be honest: it's the best way I've ever seen a harem unfold. Honestly, for a good part of the manga, I forgot it was a harem. Normally female characters have zero personality or importance in the plot, and merely act as a unit of ubiquitous personality-deprived lady-parts. Since each one had a different stake for a different reason or a different desire for their relations with the MC (along with their proximity to other male characters that equally build romances with them for reasons that feel natural and never felt forced), it was at times hard to imagine they were even gunning for anybody and weren't just caught up in the tragedy of a human race that's far overstayed its welcome on planet earth.

The politics are great too. "Good guys and bad guys" are often a shounen way of story telling that makes understanding and coming to terms with the outcomes of our favourite personalities a simple consideration/calculation; but real life just isn't that simple, and neither is Plunderer. The main cast are a mix of political alignments that make the progression of the story and a solution to their world's problems, very complicated.

As I said, the incongruity of everything makes for both an interesting sci-fi setting but also a gripping conspiracy thriller. Is this a hard read then? With the comic relief intermixed between the moments you forget to breathe, it’s got a fantastic pacing to it. The only thing you’ll regret about picking up this manga is just how long you’ll have to wait in between releases once you catch up (started in 2014, only released and/or translated to chapter 38 as of mid 2018)
—but otherwise, do enjoy the incredible charms and personality of Plunderer! You certainly certainly won’t regret it, ~my conviction assures you~! ;3

The world of Plunderer and the system that governs it is memorable, despite being messed up. Very early on we are introduced to a caste system in place based on the number of "stars" or "count" one possesses and see that human society has been broadly stratified into those who live in Althea (i.e. a land of plentiful resources) or those who are sent (often kicking and screaming) into The Abyss. It is a world in which might makes right, a mysterious magic exists, and of "winners" and "losers".

The story is also filled with tired shounen tropes and stereotypes, most prominently, white knight syndrome and a perverted lead male character, respectively. Though the writing improves for stretches, these needlessly distracting patterns keep coming back and definitely influenced my decision to drop the series. In fact, the first panel depicting the main character epitomizes most of what I dislike about the series: blatant disrespect towards women.

From Ch13 onwards, we learn more about Licht's (aka Rihito) backstory, the depth of conspiracy in the government, and the principles underlying the story's world, all of which were, honestly, pretty interesting. I'd even say they make up the strongest writing present in the series.

In terms of gender dynamics, men generally hold the most power and move the story along according to their will and struggles. Body types of all characters are sexualized to the point where women having any fat at all merits scorn from male characters who frequently respond "lose weight". I'm sure this was intended as comic relief, but it immediately left a bad taste. Much, if not all, of the motivation of the female characters is based on their romantic interests making them 1D.

Story: 4
Art: 6
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 3
------------------
Overall: 3