‘Platinum End’ is the third big collective creation of the Authors of ‘Death Note’, Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata. And just after you read this sentence your expectations rise higher. To not compare this manga to their world-known work is almost impossible, especially because this title has a lot of similarities to ‘Death Note’, so I will compare to it, but I will try to remain objective as much as possible. Before that I want to mention at the time I write this, I am currently re-reading ‘Death Note’ and reading for the first time their second big hit ‘Bakuman’. So my experience with their past works are relatively fresh.

Short version
- Overall (7/10):
Story writer Tsugumi Ohba dived in really dark and complex themes again. This makes on the one hand so amazing, but on the other so bad for “normies”. ‘Death Note’s theme (killing/crime) is way easier to understand than ‘Platinum End’s topic (God, death and more) for an average person. So a lot of people will think chapter long discussions about God and the World are boring, and that’s totally okay. This is just not for you. However, the first half is more action packed and less confusing. So if you liked ‘Death Note’ give it a try and if you are hooked, nice, if not, drop it. Because it will get way more complex nearing the end. And if you are one of the few who don’t know the mangakas first big work, start with that, before you try this.

Long version
- Story (8/10):
The story is definitely the mothership for this work. If it’s not for you, you shouldn’t read it. But what is the main story? Very simply said: God is dying, so a new one has to be selected. For this task a handful of angels choose a human, give them two god-like powers, and start a battle royale. Sounds simple and very battle shounen like, but don’t be fooled! This topic goes way beyond and turns to a deep dark philosophic theme, especially in the second half. “Second half?!” think some triggered ‘Death Note’ readers. Yes, some of you may assume, that just like the second half of their first work, here it also turns out to be way less attractive than the first. As I mentioned, I’m currently re-reading it, and yes, the second half has way more plot holes, illogical actions and forced twists. However, while some rumors say, the second half of ‘Death Note’ wasn’t really planned, I think in this work it definitely was. But let’s go deeper!
The first chapters start with portraying our protagonist’s circumstances of dead parents, shitty step-family and no will to live… So, yeah, you immediately know, this will be dark and it gets darker and darker! We get themes like “Is suicide okay, if you don’t have a will to live?”, “Is the desire for might rightful?” or “Does God exist? And if it does, what is its meaning?” etc. I would say, this work is not for super optimistic happy people at all. To really understand such topics you have to or had to be a dark minded person or at least an open-minded (hobby) philosopher. But let’s go deeper again!
Tsugumi Ohba gives us not just the questions, but also tries to answer them. While many other titles that I know fear to influence their readers with their viewpoint and skip or solve them mysteriously, Ohba tries to tell us his/her view. (Note: here I can see the developing from ‘Death Note’ clearly) However, such things you can’t just smash in front of the people. So at first, you start way simpler. Introducing the powers, the characters, their motives and the conflicts between them. Then you experience the first “battles” (which may not be that twisted and logical than in ‘Death Note’) and you may think “Hey, it’s like a darker almost-battle shounen! Nice!”. But soon after, you learn you were completely wrong. But we need to go deeper!
While the first half nears to end, and it seems like a heroic live-or-die battle between our protagonists and our main villain, the author slowly turns everything bit to bit darker, until the first half ends with an unexpected twist and introduces the second true “evil”. For this enemy half-assed answers are not enough and this semi-darkness too. So we smash all the lightbulbs, jump right into the darkness and listen to the deepest monologues of Tsugumi Ohba packed in this manga. All the questions get answered, but it also needs a lot of time and you may feel it stretched and very confusing… But let’s go back to the surface and take a big breath!
I tried to imitate the author’s step-by-step diving, and of course I’m not a successful story writer, so to 90% I failed, however I hope you understand what awaits you. Such complex themes you can’t just answer with “yes” or “no” nor with defeating the main evil with the fist of friendship. You need 3-5 chapters of monologues and dialogues, but that’s how you talk about such things with friends and family too. You try to tell your side, while defending it, and the same goes to your partner. Of course something like that doesn’t seem interesting for an outstander, so you have to go in and be a part of it, or just ignore it. On the other hand, a writer has to be as clear and understandable as possible and at the same time remain interesting. You can’t assume that everyone is so deep in this meta/philosophy or intellectual to understand such complex worldviewing. For example, I needed to read some parts twice or three times to understand what the hell he was trying to tell me. So yeah, it’s not easy at all and very confusing, for a lot of people stretched at the end, but also really interesting, dark and philosophic.

- Art (9/10):
Takeshi Obata is definitely one of the best manga artists I know and maybe in the world too. Drawing such realistic scenarios, dark fearsome shinigamis and then impossible funny sketches like in ‘Bakuman’, where he also shows a big diversity, is really amazing. Such an artist can perfectly catch this dark deep feeling of the story and take it on the paper. The designs of the angels are one-to-one unique, some seem lovely and kind, some are handsome and some are really horrific. This goes also for humans, however some characters may be a bit too similar to other ones of ‘Death Note’, but that’s not a big problem. You will never feel “emptiness” like a lot of other manga (especially in most of the weekly publications), because the backgrounds are alway packed and detailed. The only little stain which gives a 9 and not a perfect 10 is that a lot of monologues and dialogues happen in this story. Indicates often the hiatus of the dynamic of Obata’s extraordinary art.

- Characters (4/10):
Now we have arrived at the main weak points of this work, the characters. Yes, the story is extremely deep, but not its characters. Our protagonist is nihil and understandable due to the circumstances, which makes him individual yet boring. Sometimes he shows emotions, but these are shown very poorly. Our support characters are either “I do everything for our protagonist” or “I do everything against our enemy” and are very easy to manipulate or just too naive. Our 2 main villains are extraordinary, but! The first one desires a new world according to his view where he can stand on the top. Sounds familiar? Hmm, strange… The second is a complex genius, way too complex to understand him 100%. He is perfect in everything (sport, science, literature, just everything!), but still lacks sympathy and empathy. Sounds familiar? Hmm strange... I really don’t want to say it, but these 2 extraordinary characters are nothing more than Kira and L from ‘Death Note’ in a different situation and designs, or at least for me they seemed like copies of them. So altogether, compared to their past works, these characters are really dry and uncreative. If I hadn’t read ‘Death Note’ I would maybe give extra points for the villains.

- Enjoyment (6/10):
It is hard to “enjoy” such a dark deep story, full of monologues and dialogues. The extremely weak characters didn’t help either. What you surely can enjoy are the amazing artwork and the discussions about these topics with your friends or family (or some strangers from the internet). For me I would say I enjoyed it (7 or 8 out of 10), but I’m also a dark person and love to read manga, so I’m not annoyed if I have to read some parts more than once. However, thinking of an ordinary average person, it is too much and/or too heavy to call it “enjoyable” (so giving a 5-6).

- Comparisons and recommendations:
For such a manga is hard to compare or to recommend with similar stuff. I could name ‘Gantz’, ‘The Promised Neverland’, ‘Tokyo Ghoul’, just to name some of the most famous ones, but none of them are really similar to this, or at least I don’t know any (so recommend me one). However, one work is of course similar and that is ‘Death Note’. But I don’t believe that there exists someone who read this manga, but not the other one…