Chinomi-san6

The story is intriguing and it keeps you gripped. The pace is great and there are no boring parts. It has fairly original twists and is more suitable for an older audience because of the blood and deaths that are present in the series. If you like fantasy and games, this will probably be a good read for you. 8

The art is nicely done and pleasing to look at. 9

The characters don't offer that much psychologically but they serve their part of the story well. There is a lot of wasted potential for character growth and deeper exploration of their personality. The only person who changes is the MC and in a very typical from zero to cool guy way. 6

Enjoyment... a solid 9. It's a very, very fun read with nice twists inside the story. The way the MC fights is nicely thought of and is not just about power levels and being stronger. So it's nice to read through a fight that uses a bit of brains and technique rather than something flashy.

Overall, a healthy 8

Story: 5/10. I have to say, the overarching metaplot of One Piece is actually quite interesting, and each arc contributes to adding another piece into the puzzle to allow the reader a deeper view into the world and end-goal of OP. Unfortunately, that interesting plot is hampered by abhorrent pacing. Not to mention the repetitive formula that is employed 90% of the time: sail to an island -> find the people are oppressed -> crew fights main bad -> some character has a dramatic backstory -> crew wins and saves the day -> rinse and repeat.

Some will say "formulaic is fine because there's a ton of different elements behind that formula". No, not really. If you read a single One Piece arc you'll know how all of them go 70% of the time. The other 20% might be changing how the side characters look, or changing the locale, but it's more or less the same. Moreover, there's no variety in how these situations play out; it will always end with a climax of the strawhats getting separated in some way, the minor ones fighting the minor villains and Luffy fighting the main bad and (probably) winning, and if he doesn't win the first time, he'll win in the near future after some deus ex machina powerup. It's a shame because if One Piece actually dried to diversify its arcs and not have them play out the same way every single time, it could easily skyrocket in quality.

The other 10% of the time is the actually interesting backstories we get, but they don't really add value because the character who gets the backstory ends up becoming a bland set piece as soon as the arc is over.

Art: 7/10. Oda is clearly a good artist, but the art style itself doesn't resonate well with me. I find it goofy and hard to take seriously.

Character: 2/10. I find the characters of OP unfortunately bland. They have moments in the spotlight, and each one typically gets an arc in which they're the main focus and get to shine. Outside of that arc, however, they are just a caricature of 1-2 personality traits; one likes to flirt with women and cook, the other likes to just lounge around and say a cool line once in a while, etc.

Moreover, once I was like 200 chapters deep into this series I realized, these characters don't change or offer anything interesting at all. I've read 30 chapters of manga with more character depth, exploration and nuance than these guys. None of them are memorable, charismatic or interesting in any way. Around 400 chapters in is when maybe ONE character got some interesting development, but then again...when it takes 2x some other manga's runtime to stuff some barebones depth, you're doing something wrong and your manga is bloated to all hell.

Enjoyment: 5/10. It was ok. I really only enjoyed a handful of arcs out of the 500+ chapters I read. I'd say the best were Arlong Park, Skypiea and Water 7. But it never captivated me like it seems to do with everyone, so I know I'm in the minority. Perhaps it's because I didn't grow up with the series and don't have those rose tinted glasses.

Overall: 5/10. One Piece is one of the most mediocre shounen I have ever read. It has tons of potential: great art, coherent and expansive world-building, and a very consistent passion behind the series that has persisted for decades upon decades. However, it really holds itself back with shallow, static characters, a repetitive formula that has lost its luster and an unfortunate tendency to always play it safe.

This volume compiles several unrelated stories, all dealing with supernatural horror.

Story, 6: While several chapters had interesting premises, I was fairly underwhelmed by their execution. Plot twists came from seemingly nowhere for the most part, but they were at least entertaining to an extent.

Art, 6: The art seemed a bit dated, even for the '90s, but it was fine. There were some nice pieces. The series had a few ecchi panels in the middle chapters, so avoid this if that isn't your thing.

Characters, 5: The characters blended together after a while; very few felt unique or developed. This was likely due to the shortness of the compiled stories, but they were rather lacking.

Enjoyment, 5: It was a quick read, but I can't say I'd recommend it.

Overall, 5: Fans of Nagai's other works may enjoy this; as this is the first title I've read by him, I can't vouch for its merits against the rest of his catalogue. I think there are better horror stories out there (Ito Junji has some nice collections of one-shots), but this is a short read for anyone who wants a quick taste of horror.

Story:
Comfortably intelligent. It slowly lets on about certain aspects of the world without making me feel stupid. It's quite sophisticated, but due to the short length, certain aspects aren't given a lot of air to work with. Not only that, it's very swift to completion and feels premature. Perhaps a singular volume would have been ideal. Either way, for the length, it's still quite enjoyable.

The general premise is quite interesting and could have a lot of potential given it had more time to pursue certain aspects, but we'll have to be comfortable with what little content we have. I'm glad Miura went on to work on Berserk rather than pursue any type of continuation with this particular work, since this one probably wouldn't have become anything half as decent as Berserk.


Art:
It's got that retro feel. Proportions aren't bad or anything, but the art doesn't look all that refined. Also, the leads look similar. Almost strikingly so. It's sort of weird, considering the rest of the cast has unique designs. The landscape is underground so most of it isn't inspiring, I don't know much about the setting, but there are 2 cool panels that are both cityscapes, so it's really just 1 cool panel.


Character:
The characters just do things. There isn't much more to it. Nothing is stupid and nothing is exceptional, so it's a moot score.


Enjoyment:
Decent read before I go to bed. Nothing much else I can say on the matter. I wasn't bored, I wasn't blown away. I'm glad I got to see one of Miura's early works before he slaved away at one of the greatest stories ever told for the better part of 20 years. It's neat.


((If you liked this review, check out my other reviews by going to my profile and clicking the 'reviews' tab. I review virtually all anime and manga I find!))

My score is pretty high bec:
THIS MANGA IS HILARIOUS
although I haven't finished it yet, I read it months ago, and sometimes I randomly remember it and laugh by myself, the story is pretty much the summary, the art is horrible but that's what makes it funny, MC is just an ordinary guy, I definitely recommend this :)

discovered this because the author made Aku no Hana,
the tone of the manga is serious but the series of events happening just makes you giggle,
I think the translators dropped this so, I'm putting this on-hold, and I'll be coming back to rate it again

Do you like massive towns? Massive dongs? Well then, I believe you won't like this massive letdown. This manga is centered around a girl named Minami that wanders into a strange town that is mostly vacant except for a couple of strange individuals. This story had a somewhat interesting premise, of which is Minami's life in the city she stumbles across and her past. Sure, the premise isn't all that original, but it is interesting nonetheless.

Story: 5/10

The story is about Minami's life in the strange city she stumbles across and some bits about her life. The story had many plot holes, unnecessary things, and etc. The bits about her life were interesting, and I believe it was your typical "my life was bad" story. Honestly, everything in this manga was typical and expected. Nothing in her made you want to finish reading it. However, one somewhat redeeming quality would be the comedy. Sometimes it makes you just blow a breath to acknowledge the humor, sometimes it makes you laugh out loud (rarely), and basically 90% of the time you just don't acknowledge the humor because the humor isn't humorous.

Art: 5/10

The art wasn't bad, but it wasn't good. The art throughout the manga is pretty simplistic and the quality of the writing is varied throughout the manga. Sometimes the art looks like a novice trying to draw "le cute animu gurl" then failing and sometimes it looks like someone spent at least a bit of time on it. At the very least, the art was bearable.

Character: 4/10

There really is no character throughout this manga. The only decent characterization is about the main character, Minami. She gets a few chapters showing her backstory and that is mostly it. The other characters such as Hagashi and Nishi just have certain gimmicks. For example, Hagashi gains random boners. Many of the characters don't even have names and are just thrown into the story.

Enjoyment: 4/10

When I read this manga I didn't particularly hate it, but I didn't like it either. It was just something to waste my time. I felt no need to come back and read in later. Literally 20 minutes after reading this I could not even remember the names of the main characters without going back into the book to see them again. I certainly didn't enjoy this.

Overall: 5/10

In conclusion, I can clearly say that this manga is not worth the read and effort to find the last 3 or so chapters. This manga could have been something decent, but it wasn't in the end. Maybe if you don't have anything to do then you could read this to pass the time, but there are plenty of other great manga that can do the same.

Like many other people, I’ve heard about this manga from Joey. So when I saw that he made an entire video on it, I decided not to watch it and first read the whole thing instead. I’m glad I did. I hate knowing too much (honestly, I hate knowing anything) about a story and in which direction it goes.
Imagine not knowing anything about your favorite manga or anime or whatever and experiencing it for the first time. You’re gonna be way more involved in what’s going on, because you’re gonna anticipate WHAT. Is gonna happen next, you’re not anticipating ‚that epic twist‚ everyone keeps telling you is about to happen etc., and that is exactly what makes horror or suspense exciting to read.
Which is why you shouldn’t read too many review first because what the hell do we know about YOUR taste.

So…I don’t completely disagree with Joey when he says that this is very brutal etc., but in terms of the story or art, it is completely…average. That’s all I can say. Nevertheless, I was really excited reading this. Maybe I’m a boring person but I was on edge the entire time? Something about this manga just made me read it like an addict…or something.
Apparently there is no English translation of the whole Manga, so I don’t know how people are reviewing this who speak only English…but again, even though it’s not a very original concept with mediocre art, I’d still recommend it, but without hyping it as much as Joey did. By the way, I have no idea how many chapters are in the six volumes, so I just wrote 24, assuming each volume has four chapters. Sorry.

The higher your expectations, the more disappointed you’re gonna get. So don’t think too much about it going into this, make it your own experience and see for yourself.

One last thing: if anyone has a theory about the very last pages, let me know.

The Crash Bandicoot games are near and dear to me. Everytime I play them, it's always a good time. However, I can't say the same for the manga adaptation.

Although it was created in the US, it's no secret that Crash was a very successful game series in Japan. So much, that a manga based on it didn't seem too far fetched. Although the concept could've worked, it just wasn't executed well.

The manga adapts the story of Crash Bandicoot 2. Basically, Cortex needs to gather 25 Crystals around the world, so he tricks Crash into collecting them for him. Many of the stages featured in the game, such as jungles, rivers and snowy places, are present here, and a good number of characters from it make an appearance. Doesn't sound too bad on paper, but several things were lost in the transition.

The biggest issue I have is that the tone of the manga fails to represent the feel of the games. While they were cartoony, especially during Crash's death animations, they never overdid that aspect and knew when and when not to use comedy, having a certain charm to them. On the other hand, the manga is very exaggerated; it's full of slapstick humor and constant jokes, one after another, that just fall flat. I admit that some of the gags were a bit entertaining, such as the Crystals being mistaken for other objects, but those were few and far between.

I am aware that the Crash games became more light hearted and comedic as they went on, but this was written during the Naughty Dog era, when there was a balance between comedy and seriousness. Not even Twinsanity, a game known for its emphasis on humor, went this far in the silliness scale.

Another big flaw in is the characters, especially Crash himself. In the original games, he was silent, which was done intentionally to make him more sympathetic to players. While I'm fine with giving him speech and more personality, they just made him dumb and selfish. Crash wasn't very smart originally, but he wasn't a jerk either. Here, he only cares about food, Wumpa fruits in particular, and he always forgets about his mission to gather the Crystals. Aku Aku has to remind him everytime, and even then he only wants them to scratch his ears with them. He's just unlikeable, and not a very good lead for this journey.

Aku Aku isn't that much different from the original, but he didn't exactly come off as wise or mature, he just has to put up with Crash's nonsense. And Cortex lost any menacing traits he once had, becoming a goofy cartoon villain. Granted, that is also true in the later games, but not in the ones this manga is based on. The rest of the characters were alright, I did like the portrayals of Ripper Roo and the Komodo Bros. at least. Coco and N. Gin's roles are reduced considerably, while Tiny and N. Brio are absent. This means that the subplots involving Coco telling Crash the truth about Cortex's plan, and Brio telling Crash to gather the Gems so that he can destroy Cortex's spaceship were also dropped.

I can't say much about the art, it was okay for what it was, certainly closer to the Japanese box arts than the in-game models themselves. The chapters were a mixed bag; some were entertaining, like the ones featuring Polar, Penta and the bosses, or the one portraying the jet ski levels. Others were just baffling; stuff like Cortex shrinking Crash and eating him by mistake, with Crash having to climb his way up and coming out of Cortex's nose, or Crash hitting his head and reducing his mental age to that of a baby, that kind of stuff was dumb, boring and unnecessary.

One aspect that I do find interesting is that the manga bothers to explain why Tawna disappeared after the first game; she simply left Crash for Pinstripe. Not the greatest explanation, but better than no explanation at all. This does have some impact on Crash, as he aspires to become attractive for women, and chooses to train in the year between the first two games, with the end result being that he learned the new moves he uses from Crash 2 onwards. Again, these explanations meant to fill in the gaps are not needed, but they're still welcome.

And lastly, I do find it amusing that the manga predicted the direction the series went in, in some ways. Apart from being the franchise debut of Penta Penguin, and having an early reference to Fake Crash as a costume that Cortex wears once, it's common to see Crash and Cortex fighting in a ball of dust, like in Twinsanity, and Cortex's portrayal is pretty close to that of said game. He even ends up being frozen at one point, similar to the intro. Most of these were probably a coincidence, but fans of the series will definitely get a kick out of them.

The manga was cancelled after the second volume and ends on a cliffhanger. Whether this is a good or a bad thing is up to you, as I was starting to get tired by that point. Crash and company barely collected a handful out of the 25 Crystals, that alone should tell you that more time was spent goofing around rather than getting to the point. If the author stuck closer to the game's tone and events, it could've at least reached the Tiny boss fight in the same amount of chapters. There were two more chapters released after the two volumes, they're just bonus chapters based on Warped, and at the moment remain untranslated.

Overall, this manga wasn't very enjoyable to me, as it's too far removed from the game series for my taste. I still think fans should read it as a curiosity. If you're not familiar with Crash, don't even bother with this, it might even put you off from playing a pretty good game series.

Honestly, the story is a mess. It doesn't make sense and you can get frustrated at times. But, I enjoy it never the less. Its an interesting story- the characters are all intriguing, besides the female lead- she can get pretty annoying and sometimes you really doubt her age- which puts her at the same level as the male main lead at the end of the day. Its a sweet pure romance and I love seeing the stories of the side characters. The art is really nice as well- one of the main reasons why I picked up the manga was because of the art style. Its a light read and although it makes seem to make no sense, I would say give it a try! The scenario is not one you would usually see, so its interesting how the author worked with it

The manga comments on and shows us about lives of people who are physically very different from majority of us. Very truly, without any softening they show how their lives are. What they have to do to survive. As it shows harsh realities, it is no manga for children as the bitter reality will be too much for them to digest. It is not obscene, just states the things as they are.
The manga also has elements of fantasy in it. But those things haven't been very well explained. But I may be feeling that because I am an outsider to Japanese culture. It also has heavy nostalgia towards the end. The feeling of nostalgia doesn't sit very well with me, because I think missing the past doesn't do anything much for us, doesn't serve much of a purpose. But my belief doesn't void the fact that we all sometimes miss the past. Even I do.
The manga also raises the question of how things could have been very different from how they are. But that remains for reader to answer. For the plot, as well as in generally.
It is a good manga for serious reading. I would recommend it.