nick_mitchell6

To me, One Piece is a fantastic exercise in creativity and imagination. It is exactly the type of series that someone as out there as I would fall in love with. Although, I admit that it's bar of entry is higher than most series as One Piece is unconventional in pretty much every meaning of the word. However, for me, I was hooked from the very beginning of the manga and remember my first read through as one of pure enjoyment and comfort in some areas, yet sad and heartwarming in others that culminated in an overall experience of pure joy that I still find in the ongoing release of this manga years after my first experience with the manga. In all, the world, characters, comedy, art and many, many more elements of the manga are a direct outcome of said creativity and imagination of Eiichiro Oda.

(just for the record, this is a slight alteration of my anime review)

One Piece was for many years unnoticed by the majority of the anime community. Many claim that the first arc is boring but I disagree; for a perpetual on-going shonen series One Piece is fine since the very start. But hey, it takes more than that to have a good show and it does deliver elsewhere as well. For example, its characters are quite colourful and likable for shonen material and they are constantly making lots of jokes with their personality quirks. Seeing each one of them individually may seem like very little but seeing all of them together interacting in various ways is just wonderful.

The setting is also quite imaginative as it seems to blend all sorts of themes and eras, with each area having its own unique features and climates, style of life and social standards. It even makes various tributes to fairy tales, real life pirates and actors and historical cities. By the time you get fed up with the same jokes repeating in one area, the cast is sent to another place, where you are again kept interested just to see how they will adjust there. In a way, this hides the fact of the cast being the same since the first arc they were introduced, as it constantly introduces many more, who also have their own quirks.

The show does have its problems of course, the most obvious of which are how the pacing has dropped considerably and how later missions seem like rehashes of the first. All that are explained better when you get to see each arc individually.

- The first arc is called East Blue and it is pretty much the introduction with the main cast. The main hero starts alone and along the way his core crew joins one after another, for various reasons. All that happen in a rather small amount of time and you also get all sorts of villains standing in the way of their journey. It may feel like it is simple at points but the amount of time it offers on each character makes it all worthwhile. Very few parts feel like they were pointless action or aimless strolling; most are about the characters getting to know and trust each other. It is a fine arc as far as shonen shows go. Mark: 9/10
- The second is Baroque Works, where the crew is thrown in the midst of a grand-scaled conspiracy, set in motion by a shady organization that seems to work for the good of the world but in reality it is nothing but a bunch of heartless thugs. This arc drags the plot pointlessly at times (especially during their stroll in the desert; that part is overkill). If you take out those boring parts, this arc is also very good as we are introduced to various political and social notions of the world, and how the journey is not about dealing with random autonomous villains but with organized multinational hidden agendas. Mark: 8/10
- The third is Skypiea, where the crew is now taken on a world above the clouds. This time we are introduced to mostly idealistic notions that are not exactly relevant to the main story. For example, many pirates are now planning to create a new world were the sensation of a journey in order to find treasure and adventure will be obsolete but this part is thrown to the side as the heroes pretty much beat everyone and move along. Then it is about some sort of world in the stars and weapons of mass destruction but again nothing is shown completely, as most are hinted but never shown. Some say they are foreshadow for later arcs but leaving them aside for hundreds of episodes feels kinda weak. Plus this arc did not introduce new crew members or sides of the world. Skypiea is pretty much isolated from the rest of the world and it seems they don’t even care about the land bellow them. What was this entire arc about is kinda blurry. I did like the setting and the broken powers of the main villain but it is otherwise a kinda pointless arc. Mark: 7/10
- The fourth is CP9. The themes are again about a shady organization but it is hardly as interesting as the one in the second arc. They were never mentioned before, never mentioned again, and were just there to flesh out one of the characters in a fashion that felt similar to the last part of the first arc. So in overall it was a just above average part of the show. Mark 6/10
- The fifth is the Whitebeard War. Although it spiced thing up by making the crew get separated, as well as killing important characters for the first time (yeah, it took all these chapters for that) it still felt like a dragged to infinity plot with lots of pointless action. And bringing most of the old secondary characters together while introducing a hundred more only made it look like a poor gathering of cameos. Mark: 5/10
- The sixth is Fishmen Island. A completely pointless arc that exists purely to show off the new powers the characters got after a 2 year time skip. Other than that it had no interesting stories or characters. Mark: 4/10

It is still an overall very above average show but it is not like they couldn’t speed up things. The characters are another point I would like to address. I definitely like them for their weird looks and weirder behaviours; they are very humorous and memorable. That still doesn’t hide the fact they hardly evolved since the beginning. And I am not talking about getting stronger or changing clothes; these don’t count as development of personality. The show doesn’t even bother killing them, no matter how injured they are. And we are talking here about a whole lot of injuries! A few days in bandages while eating meat is all it takes to be completely healed. And sure, I know, many characters die in flashbacks and two major ones died in an arc, all of which happened just because the author felt like building some drama and not because they couldn’t possibly have survived.

This is of course still a shonen series and it still is to its core immature and unrealistic and one should never try to reason it too much. But it also lasted for over a decade and it will last for a lot more, which eventually is more than enough to tire anyone. Especially when it is NOT as interesting or as fast as it began. I am not saying it is now an unreadable show; hardly from it. I could say that for Naruto or Bleach but not One Piece (yet).

I admit that in overall it is still far more enjoyable and well thought of that any other perpetual on-going shonen. Yes, better than Dragonball and Hunter X Hunter too. Its action is full of wacky ideas and interesting choreography and each island is like a world of its own. But I am not going to spam 10s all over the place because it is not perfect and I don’t enjoy it as much as I did. It lost a lot of its magic along the way.

Shizukuishi, has a very strange problem. She constantly wets herself, and one day meet Kouki, the main protagonist. He accidentally drinks her pee and somehow they are connected by this strange light. Now he has to protect her along with his older sister Kaoruko, while Shizukuishi keeps on wetting herself.

Story: 2/10
Iinari! Aibration is a truly strange manga. It is a combination of ecchi and comedy with very little plot. All of this surrounding and involving Shizukuishi wetting herself. Every chapter would have her wetting herself over and over, sometime to a point where it is like a waterfall. Not exactly a pleasant picture. It is a comedy in nature but the gag surrounds itself in pee. Yes, pee. Every comedic scene it has almost always deal with peeing, like someone has to hold it in, or something like that. The story itself is really hard to grasp. It first starts of as slice of life ecchi comedy then somehow it tries to turn itself into an action ecchi comedy with a deeper plot. Sadly there is no deeper plot. It just seem like the story is spontaneous in nature. Whatever that came to the author’s mind was put into the story with very bad connection to the main plot.

Art: 7/10
The artwork is actually pretty good. Probably the main reason I was drawn to this manga was the great artwork it had. Of course with great artwork, comes with many scenes of good ecchi moments. Every chapter would have a pretty detailed picture of Shizukuishi or Kaoruko in a really ecchi scene.

Character: 3/10
The amount of character development is truly lacking. Shizukuishi is the always wetting herself girl, while Kouki is the guy that always tries to protect her. Also Kaoruko, Kouki’s older sister, obviously has a huge brother complex. The story starts off with a love triangle right away as Kaoruko tries to fight for Kouki’s affection, but he is too focused on Shizukuishi, and the fact that she is constantly wetting herself.

Enjoyment: 2/10
Honestly, I kind of regretted wasting my time on this manga. It did have some funny moment that made me chuckle. But the comedic gag was always with pee. So that was kind of disgusting. The ecchi scenes were good, but again, it was pretty nasty at the same time because it always dealt with pee.

Overall: 4/10
Overall Iinari! Aibration is a really strange manga not recommended for the average reader. It is a really ecchi manga with decent humor, but mainly it sticks with fanservice and very little plot. If you are looking for a good romance or comedy with good development, I suggest looking somewhere else. But if you’re looking for a no plot, just plain ecchi and comedy then this manga should work for you.

This is sadly my first manga review on this thing.Now I am a Corpse Party fan girl, and I enjoy a couple of adaptations of manga straying away from there conterparts in a nice AU (alternative universe ) setting. Nor do I mind fanservice as long as it doesn't make me feel uncomfortable. But this manga is a disgrace to Corpse Party and AU stories.

Story~2
Now in a way it is set up like the original at least for the first couple of chapters. Then everything goes down hill.All the characters make very dumb choices, there are very weak back stories, and some of the worst ecchi shots Ive seen thus far. This isnt canon but it really was pathetic. I dropped the manga thanks to Sachiko`s back story as to how she died . Yeah the story is 75% face palm.worthy 20%cringy and why levels and 5% meh.

Characters~1
They changed the good in the characters and made them terrible.There all either bland ,garystu or mary sue like,annoying,angsty,useless ,or all of the above. What made Corpse Party great was that they cared for each other,try to go through thick and thin,develop,and sacrifice for friends. That's what made them great and likable. Here there all selfish and most of the time dont think of others. This is literally one of the worst cast of an AU Ive seen thus far.

Art~7
To be positive the art is pretty and gory. It looks nice and fluent and very well drawn. Even some of the ecchi was detailed nicely. So overall the saving grace is art.

Enjoyment~1
Its terrible! Even though the art is nice and cute everything else was unbearable. Worst manga I read and I dont recommend it to anyone. Stick with the games instead of this garbage.

Overall~1
Its utter trash so everyone stear clear of it because youll be doing yourself a favor.

I recommend you not to read this manga, unless you want to read something so awful that it's more comical than scary.

There are 9 stories, each on its own and differing in story, tension and gore. All of them are very basic and most of them are just awful, like they were written by a child, stuff like dead person calling phones and you die if you answer the call. There are few which have only alright start, but that's it, the rest turns into worse.
The art isn't bad, such style is more suitable for horror, but it's still simple and doesn't have much details at all.
Besides terrible story, you get barely existent characters. They aren't on focus because the whole manga relies on some "scary" moments to create some tension. The only chapter where I felt little bit of personality was "Christmas present", which has a good side of showing relations between father and daughter, but everything else is a joke.
Overall, there were moments with some tension, but they were mostly cheap and everything else fell flat. I guess this manga was made for midschooler audience which searches for their first horror stories. Some chapters may look like somewhat promising idea, but they feel so unfinished or the later part came on force and it was just gore instead of some event which would make the story more interesting. On the other hand... Some chapters are somewhat entertaining how bad they are. Just imagine, a paper god which cuts the people who try to steal his statue, or Santa who makes canned reindeer food from bad children. I chuckled a coule of times, if this manga had more comical (and quirky) direction, I think it would become much more interesting. The rest of horror stuff go like this: There's some legend or an event, people die, the end. Nothing more than that.

Zashiki Onna is not much of an interesting horror manga without its downright creepy artwork. That is to say, that's pretty much all it needs.

The art is creepy and well-drawn. The look of the woman can cause nightmares for anyone who dares to read this manga in the dark, alone, without any help in sight.

The story is as straightforward as it gets, understandable since it's only 11 chapters after all.

The characters are smart and honestly kind of likable. They are easy to sympathise with, especially in the case of the main character who seems to be the catalyst of the horror.

My main gripe stems from ending. It's so... abrupt and underwhelming. Maybe I expected too much from it, but the characters involved with the main protagonist didn't at all care about his situation in the end. They seemed... out of character, despite being significantly involved with the monster in one way or another.

I wasn't particularly scared as much as other people claim they were. Maybe it's because I was in a crowded setting and read this on a whim. Probably. That said, if you're looking for a quick, fun read with doses of nightmare fuel, then this is right down your alley.

This was a bizarre manga.

Two things really stick out about this manga and earn it a solid 3/10: the storyline (that ending, UGH!), and the themes/characters.

From the very beginning, the pacing of the story was just...off. Scene changes are very unclear, and chapters end very abruptly. More than that, the storyline was just...so random and difficult to follow. I just spent a lot of time wondering WHY anything was happening. The manga indulged in some cliches and completely skipped over obvious ones. Characters appeared and disappeared at will. There were SO many loose ends that were never addressed. Like, what the heck happened to Julie's sister? And on that note, what the heck happened to Julie? There was literally NO ENDING. I just felt like I was being dragged kicking and screaming in a pointlessly odd confusing direction through the plot.

And, ah. The characters. Ryan represents just about everything I hate in shoujo manga. He's cruel, possessive, disrespectful, and treats the main girl character totally like an object. He gets nicer, but his abusive behavior doesn't get addressed. He slaps her, whines about how she doesn't understand him...he cuts off her hair and sticks it on a teddybear. Now, I don't know about you, but I would be FREAKED OUT by that. Nope; she's just touched. And I'd like to clarify that he's more than just physically abusive when he's still "coming to terms with his feelings". Even when he's "nice", he continues to treat her like an object.

And, boy. Those "plot twists" in the last two or three chapters...real gems there. I mean, characters that were barely introduced COMPLETELY changed their tune. Ryan's life is pretty much in the toilet, and I'm wondering if he's going to turn into a serial killer. Julie is potentially in danger. I have NO IDEA what Ryan is thinking, and Lance is sort of on the way to the rescue...and then BAM. Nostalgic recollection to the bizarre hook of the series. That's IT.

Oh, and it's not terribly important, but the third brother? He's twelve years old, and a sixteen year old girl is after him. That's just...gross. And he's SO IMMATURE and CRUEL about it. "I hate you! Don't ever come near me again!" And tears are STREAMING down her face instantly...just...wow. Gross. Creepy. I don't care about a four year age difference, I really don't. It just depends on how old you are. It's gross for a four year old to like a baby. It's gross for a sixteen year old to like a twelve year old. Twenty eight year old and a twenty four year old? Who the heck cares, right? But there's a BIG developmental difference between sixteen and twelve.

Okay. Off of my soap box, but, yeah.

In conclusion, this manga was just weird. Beyond weird. I have no idea what I just read, or why. The mangaka didn't seem to have a handle on the plot or direction of the story, and the parts she did have a handle on (Julie, Ryan, and the little brother whatever his name is) I am disgusted by. The manga endorses abusive relationships.

I mean, what the heck! If there were no good guys for Julie, if she had no options, sure! Put her with Ryan. Maybe there's no such thing as compatibility. But Ryan's younger brother Lance is pretty much perfect, and he's RIGHT THERE. He treats her with incredible kindness, respect, and consideration. Is that really so unromantic to just go with the nice guy instead of the guy who calls you ugly and tried to kill you a few times? I mean, come ON!

A solid 3. Poorly executed, hot mess.

By the author of Usagi Drop, there are six stories here, all with the theme of "overcoming age differences", sometimes pretty taboo ones. (If you've finished Usagi Drop, this shouldn't be surprising.) If you can handle that, and don't mind the author's very distinct artwork, then this is very clever and surprisingly deep series of one-shots.

Story (7): The first and last tell the story of a woman who moves back to the countryside and finds herself pursued by her younger childhood friend.

The other four tell interrelated stories: a girl feels cut off from her classmates after she starts dating a cram-school teacher; two chapters about her single mother; and the story of her teacher.

Some of the relationships are a bit creepy (working adults with ninth grade kids in two cases), but all are played like tales of true love. But the author tells the stories well, and interweaving the four helps give an added degree of complexity and interest to the stories.

Art (5): I thought her art style fit Usagi Drop; none of the characters there were really pretty, but they weren't really supposed to be. In a pure romance manga, however, I found that the same style didn't really suit the material very well. The male characters, in particular, all get the same distinct dumb look on their faces that I found distracting.

Character (8): Except for the whole "adults sleeping with middle schoolers" thing, I found the characters very appealing. They felt like real characters struggling with real, messy lives--and it's difficult to get across that impression in such short stories, so kudos to the author.

Enjoyment (7): I liked this series of shorts, but didn't love it. Some of that is bias, admittedly; I'm not a huge fan of one-shots. So if you like these super-short stories, kick this score up a bit. Otherwise, it was quite enjoyable... ignoring the whole "sleeping with ninth graders" thing. (I know, I'm harping, but... ewww.)

Overall (7): Like I said, if you like her art style and don't mind the age difference aspects, these are a great series of one-shots. Otherwise, like me, you'll probably find it a bit hit-and-miss; some of them were great (I thought the mother's story would make a great serialization), but others left me just a little disconcerted.

I have to say that this manga, even though created after the anime was done, actually has much more depth to it. The story starts out with the main character drawing a image of a girl he saw in a painting in the antic store and it feels much more realistic then him seeing the girl in a piece of glass. Not only that, but it’s a painting that was painted with her own blood after Marcello killed her. The painting actually has a background that whoever owned the painting died so it gives a bit more depth to it. It gives the realization that Eiri wasn’t actually chosen out of thin air, although he is still mesmerized by the painting for no real reason.

The manga dives much deeper into these then the anime and Cossette actually seems to have a heart instead of a heartless bitch. She seems to feel sad for the things that her items have done rather then just want to torture Eiri with there pain. And sadly, even though they have a bit more depth to them, I can’t find myself to care about these characters because of the artwork.

Throughout the whole book, we have a sort of Narrator-ish chat going on without any real way of knowing whether its Eiri or Corssette talking. Sometimes it’s a mix of the two though can be just a little hard to figure out how who is. It dives much into psychology of obsession and love with almost a surreal feeling. And yet, it also goes into a rather depressing thought about what it really means to be alive, of course, the only answer this gives is that we live to one day die. That nothing we do means anything in this world because we will all end up the same.

The Artwork is actually really bland compared to the anime, and sometimes feels blotchy. Cossette is the only one that actually is well detailed where as everyone else is bland and uninteresting. The items and background look much more like scribbles a lot of times or are much to detailed for a black and white manga. It’s hard to see many things and so it makes it inconsistent. I half the time have problems figuring out what is supposed to stand out and what isn’t because things that should be in the back, are much more detailed and interesting then things in the front. For a manga where the main character is going to a art school, the manga has a lot of problems with the art.

Cons
I think that this manga deserved a longer story, I would have like to have seen how the main protagonists relationship would have been like and how Aki would have been like as a nursery school teacher


Pros
The story is very cute and I would recommend reading it if you want a short cute shojo manga to read. The art is also really beautiful to look at. I especially loved reading the chapter with Ayu's perspective on everything.


Characters
I really loved everything character in this story I don't think there was a particular character that I disliked. I think my favorite character was Ayu just beacuse she was adorable and I liked her reaction to things.



Recommendations:
Honey by Amu Meguro & Konyakusei by Chika Iwa.
Both of these mangas are really adorable to read and have an art style similar to this manga.