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Alternative Titles

Japanese: アクタージュ act-age

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 12

Chapters: 123

Status: Discontinued

Published: Jan 22, 2018 to Aug 11, 2020

Genre: Drama

Themes: Performing Arts, Showbiz

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Matsuki, Tatsuya (Story), Usazaki, Shiro (Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.23¹ (scored by 15,917 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #390²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #326

Members: 51,798

Favorites: 1,742

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 31 / 33

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Aug 10, 2020

moozooh

Recommended

Act-age was one of the most promising series in Weekly Shonen Jump throughout 2019 and 2020, and one of my personal favorites alongside One Piece and Chainsaw Man.

It really was a head-turner in many ways: a colorful, female-heavy cast, unconventional topic, plenty of quality character drama, unusual art, no forced romance or any sort of physical fights as a means to move the plot forward—and at the same time it dutifully adhered to the basic shonen sensibilities, such as rivalry and continuous progress on the path towards fulfilling a grand ambition. It was, to use a term coined in Bakuman, an excellent example of a ...

Aug 14, 2020

Xenosaiyan

Recommended

Lets get this straight from the beginning. This story is NOT a masterpiece, nor will I EVER call it a masterpiece.

Act-Age is something much more than a masterpiece.

Act-Age is... unique. Something I never would have guessed I'd call a manga.

This is not a manga to be read casually. In fact, if you enjoy reading manga casually, then do NOT read this manga. That's my warning. This is something that WILL change you, no matter how much you try to prevent it from doing so.

The characters shine brightly, in ways I've never seen before. This is such a complex build up and breakdown of a character, ...

Aug 13, 2020

dadachi

Recommended

Before its cancellation, Act-age was my favorite running manga series and I was excited to see how it would developed. Now we will never see the end to this wonderful story. I can only judge what has been completed, and imagine what could have been.

Story (7/10):
In my opinion, this is the weakest part of the manga but it is by no means bad. The story's purpose is to create interesting scenarios for the characters to do the heavy lifting. Kei's goal to become a top actor is a compelling enough premise that gets her to interact with colorful characters and reflect on herself. It's pretty ... basic on the surface, but the manga makes up for it in other areas.

Art (10/10):
Usazaki quite possibly has one of the most appealing and beautiful art styles I have ever seen. Her designs are stylish and sharp. It has a very "raw" quality to it because of her sketchy and angular style. Her style of eyes in particular reflect an expressiveness that I have never seen in any other series. I appreciate the lack of fanservice as well. The art is beautiful, but not "sexy". It makes Act-age visually distinct from the many other manga and anime with cutesier art, and helps sell the darker moments.

Character (9/10):
This is where Act-age's writing really shines. Act-age is very much a character driven series. Kei Yonagi is an incredibly refreshing protagonist. Against a sea of brash male shounen protagonists, Kei is a unique take on a determined, talented, and broken female character. Her struggle to hone her craft while also keeping control of her identity is an intricate balancing act, and watching Kei inch closer and closer to the brink is frightening and thrilling. The side characters are handled well too. Chiyoko is the most developed side character, and she makes for an incredible foil to Kei, creating one of the most unique shounen rivalries of recent memory. Kuroyama, Araya, Akira, Oogami, Hanako, and the recently introduced Ren all round out the cast wonderfully, each with their own unique talents and struggles in the industry. My only criticism is that some arcs introduce a few too many characters that get lost in all of the overarching stories.

Enjoyment (10/10):
I was heavily invested in Act-age from the start. The subject and approach was so novel. Each arc seemed to be bigger and better than the last. I eagerly waited for the next chapter to come out. I loved almost everything about this manga and it was truly something special. I doubt anything will fill the hole that this manga's author has left in my heart.

Overall (9/10):
Despite my gushing, and despite loving this manga wholeheartedly up until now, I cannot easily recommend reading it. For one, this manga's premature end will leave a sour taste in the readers' mouths. It is incredibly depressing to see such potential be completely squandered. I am also of the belief that art cannot be easily separated from the artist. While I love the work, the author has committed an egregious crime, and it is difficult for many to reconcile the fact that we have been supporting such an individual. Nevertheless, Act-age was an amazing manga while it lasted, and unfortunately will go down as a story that never reached its potential.

Aug 16, 2021

nodytodes

Recommended

Bro, who discontinued this???
this was one of the most promising series I had ever read, and one of few that exhibited as much sheer emotion as this. The main character is a little weak on her own, but her relationships with her coworkers and classmates made her worthwhile. The milky way train arc was one of the best manga arcs I have read in general. It was just getting to a pivotal point in the mc's career. One of the worst places to drop it. I cannot express how much anger I feel on seeing this discontinued. Truly, a loss.

Sep 25, 2018

SiriusTimeKeeper

Recommended

Preliminary (123/123 chp)

Chapter 123 Edit*

Axed... NANI?... F*** me dead...

As a huge fan of this manga series (top 10 of my personal fav), I am utterly disappointed. This manga was supposed to be so promising... QQ

This manga demonstrates so many values and life lessons. But... BUT... BUT..., this author still can't control his own god damn hands...

Wordless.
Hopes the author rethinks his action after the incident.
...

Jan 2, 2020

deadoptimist

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Preliminary (20/123 chp)

After multiple recommendations I expected so much more. Now, a level of immaturity is ok and it can even be endearing in shounen, but in characters, not in the plot. And that’s what is reversed here – the main character is shown as unrealistically proficient, and the narrative is annoyingly juvenile in tone.

The idea is great – by god, I want more more shounen not about hitting people in the face and shounen with female leads. The world of a budding actress seems to be an exciting setting for a manga. Talent agencies, auditions, TV, cinema, theater, musicals, their energy, color, variety, beauty, and the ... many different people working, living, visiting there - such a wealth of situations to explore! There’s also the underlying idea that diving too much in other personalities may be damaging for the unprepared, but others may be eager to exploit the burning unsafe talent, which is an enticing conflict.

Too bad that this particular manga is set in a different universe, where method acting is a rare arcane knowledge and acting standards are low, so our heroine who’s stumbled on the mystery of “you can call forth your emotional memory to act better” is a messiah. Despite having no training or any, even amateur acting experience. No respect for the ol’Stanislavski. The way acting mastery is treated here seriously reeks of super-powers. Later it improves with the appearance of mentors, but she is a gem from the start, which they just reverently slightly polish.

Too bad that this manga is hell bent on ridiculous aggrandizing of the heroine. At one point about 10 pages are dedicated to people on the streets discussing how gorgeous, balanced and fast she is when she runs past them. People praising her in their heads comprises roughly 25% of the text in this manga. Her only fault is being too focused on acting and maybe leaning on her past experience too much, so they teach her to be more expressive and fake. The rest of the cast is rather one-note, and while it seems to change a bit later, Act-age is still by far not a battle of personalities. Plus most of stronger personalities come in the form of quirky teenage misunderstood world-class geniuses, which our heroine cracks open.

Too bad that the situations depicted are unrealistic. The protagonist rears two small siblings on her own, with not much on-screen work dedicated to it aside from “the adorable family she fights for”. All kinds of barriers are broken by others for her sake – she gets a metric gigaton of special attention. At one point in the beginning she gets “kidnapped” for the comedic effect, brought to a filming studio and when asked to act she agrees. (As I’ve mentioned the best way to somehow connect to this manga is treating it as happening in a separate universe, where human trafficking for porn doesn’t happen.)

There’s just way too many false notes in Act-age for enjoyment. It’s not like it’s THAT unique – there is Kasane, Skip Beat!, idol drama manhwa.

Two things I am willing to give to this manga’s writing though are the fact that our heroine is not made to act stereotypically girly, her gender, refreshingly, doesn’t come up much at all, and that the quirkiness in her and other characters is shown to be ok – they are not judged for being passionately weird. Actually, there isn’t many bad people in the cast, they are simply different, which is also fresh.

The art is decent – the linework is clean, readable and pretty. The art is very character focused, most frames contain faces with screentones, later on backgrounds start to be more elaborate, but they never develop personalities. I’d call it very nice, pleasant and well-made, but not unique or outstanding.

That’s what the whole manga is actually – Act-age isn’t a breakthrough, like it was advertised to me, sadly. The relatively fresh main topic falls flat because of the superficial writing, especially glaring in the context of many great dramatic works set in the world of cinema/theater/showbusiness. When you think about a raising actress you expect rivals, high stakes, painful growth, sacrifices, dealing with public image, complicated relationships. Almost none of this is shown here properly – the heroine just breaks through everything, everyone gets amazed and eager to help her. It’s irritating to read through, and Act-age offers nothing for counterbalance – no special characters, no special art, no special narrative tricks. As such, I commend Act-age for what it has tried to do and concur that some readers may enjoy it, but I am disappointed in it and won’t advise it to people.

Dec 28, 2018

Raw_Meat

Recommended

Preliminary (42/123 chp)

I don't believe a masterpiece requires a epic story or a deep narrative or any distinct defining premise to justify itself. Act-age's story is structured like almost any other shounen, a main character with a special talent and goes through various arcs growing and improving their craft to become the best at what they do.

What truly struck a chord with me was the art. The art on its own is impressive, but its certainly not as streamline and polished as Murata's work in One Punchman or as detailed as Miura's Berserk. It's very hard to explain it without having seen it for yourself, but ...

Feb 9, 2019

daisiedoll

Recommended

Preliminary (51/123 chp)

This is my first time writing a review but I'm loving this manga so much I had stayed up till 8am this morning to finish the last currently translated chapter, 51.

In 'The Galactic Railway' arc the writer does an amazing job dealing and explaining issues of life, death, grief and overcoming these things.
For a good hour I was crying so much I ended up having to plug my nose with tissue to stop my snot leaking out haha.
They're very good at establishing a connection between the characters and the reader. I truly felt that I had become one of the cast and was ...

Feb 19, 2019

gadboyz

Recommended

Preliminary (70/123 chp)

“Whenever something sad or painful happens, we try to become different version of ourselves almost to the point of forgetting our true selves, right? That’s why people like us become actors, right?”

ACT-AGE is a manga series that published on Weekly SHONEN JUMP magazine. but unlike another JUMP manga that are either battle action, sports or romance comedy series, this manga tell us about profession and its competitive career world, in this case about ACTING. Also what thing that made this series different from another JUMP manga is Act-age have genuine female MC, while almost every shonen manga have male MC. Even with female MC, this ... series is really fit to be shonen manga because its focus about acting skils, rivalry, explained "power" system and also good characterization. This series already have 2 arcs that tell us about film and stage play/theatre production.

Story : 9/10
This is story about Kei Yonagi, 16 years old female MC who just live with her 2 siblings without her parents She have a great talent about acting but also very risky to her mental state "method acting". While another MC is 35 years old Director Sumiji Kuroyama who have dream to made 1 ideal film. He finally found the actress with his qualification, that is Yonagi. Early chapter have okay setup to story like "what is acting", "first job" etc. But once this series went to first arc, it was beginning to be interesting. Great and likeable rival/partner character each arcs, interesting and unique information about acting and also what make me like this series is despite being a profession series, Act-age still can give you suspense and tension like battle manga because the struggle that our character have while made a film or stage play.

Art : 9/10
Act-age is one of great artstyle manga in Weekly SHONEN JUMP atm, and it comes from 21 years old female artist, Shiro Usazaki, her weapon while draw Act-age manga is beautiful eyes of each character. Also she draw each character expression with good detail, even from the visual alone, we can differr when characters did acting and when characters display their true selves, once again just from visual alone. Another great things about Act-age artstyle is when the manga get color page and her color drawing is really great.

Character : 9/10
Kei Yonagi is genuine female MC on shonen manga, yes she is a female but she is not melodrama character. her pure nature because she is just high school student and amateur actress made her really likeable character also as MC she really learn about her skills and also her partner in acting. Rival/partner character is also great and unique. We get power ceiling character in Chiyoko Momoshiro, top actress in her generation, and there is reason why she was top actress, also her acting method that 180 degree different from Yonagi method. Our second arc deutragonist Araya who have same method as Yonagi but more polished and have more experience, also have unique habit and also interesting backgroung. While we also have character Akira who is the son of former top actress, have parents issue and also always compared to her mother and media always treat him as "nepotism" product.

Enjoyment : 9/10
What make me enjoy the series is the tension and suspense when each character play their role. Also the struggle in film production or stage play production make the story isn't easy for MC and anothe character. Conclusion of each arcs is very beatiful and you won't expect that from acting manga. Thats why this series can survive on biggest manga magazine in the world Weekly SHONEN JUMP.

Overal : 9/10
ACT-AGE already be one of my favorite manga of all time and i hope a lot of reader will read this great series

Jan 23, 2018

Dededon

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (3/123 chp)

Quick review: If i had to describe it with one sentence: "Waste of a a good idea" The artwork is ok enough, especially the colouring, character are kinda bland, the story process is little boring but the climax is a cutely really good but a little too short.

Two new manga artists joined the Jump family with a really unique manga for shonen jump. Personally i am all about movie and a manga based on that makes me hyped. But this may not be the one i was waiting

Story: Its about typical as it can get, a decent start for a first manga. ...

May 27, 2024

SushiSuperLover

Recommended

I remember reading this series randomly throughout the Pandemic.
I saw a title and cover photo that looked lively so I decided to give it a try.
In a matter of chapters, I ended up getting pulled into the magic of Act-age.

Without speaking too much, this series is impressively deep and is able to express emotions on whole other levels unlike the majority of series. The moments, exchanges, events, practically every occassion meant something and only seeked to remain impressive as time passed.

If there was one series that had Anime potential, it was this one.
Sadly as everyone else knows, the author was arrested for....... pedofilic activity.
He was ...

Apr 18, 2023

zztl9

Recommended

For a binge reader like me, this was super easy to get through - there wasn't that much drama, and it wasn't emotionally taxing to read. Everything that happened to the main character, I somehow felt that I had to cheer her on, even knowing that she's completely fictional.

Initially, I actually purchased the first volume of the manga, purely because the girl illustrated on the cover looked pretty. But I am glad that they went through with that decision, because I know that I probably would have not picked it up if it weren't for the cover. And just like how it was "advertised", ...

Apr 15, 2022

MadVillainy

Recommended

This is my first review i’ve written in this site, Act Age was such a promising series, honestly one of the best manga i have ever read, despite reading so little manga. It is very upsetting we probably will not get another panel of this potential masterpiece.

Story 8/10: The story was great, the characters really shined because of the scenarios, it’s amazing to see Kei and the other characters grow from each other and keep pushing themselves.

Art 10/10: One of the best art styles in manga I have seen, it really captured the beauty of the setting and characters, it was just so expressive ...

Nov 5, 2019

Viewed

Recommended

Preliminary (88/123 chp)

Emotional. What else can you say about this piece of work? It's wonderful. Who knew watching a girl become a actress could be so real.

At first I thought this was going to a snore fest but boy was I wrong. You're going to be in for a treat. From the get go, the first chapter we are drawn into the world of this girl.

Let's begin our tragic tale of Kei Yonagi, our protagonist. From a nobody to becoming one of the greatest actresses this world could know. Failing auditions over and over it was the norm until one day she meets a person that will ...

Mar 11, 2020

ssiasme

Recommended

Preliminary (104/123 chp)

This is simply outstanding in every single way a manga can be.

Kei Yonagi is a really compelling main character, she's fun, she has a real character deveolpment throughout the series.

The secondary characters are amazing as well, with some clever and really smart writing and breathtaking visuals by the 22 year old mangaka drawing it and the author.

Don't think this is just a mere story about "becoming an actress", Act-Age is a story about many things. Dealing with loss, death, sadness, overcoming your personal problems to do something greater.

The first 20 chapters or so are really slow, but after the first arc (Death Island) ends, ...

Nov 15, 2021

PixelB

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (93/123 chp)

I like series about showbiz, so I had had pretty high hopes for Act-age.
Safe to say, Act-age is as much as a coming of age story as it is a series about acting. The problem is, our MC is essentially a Mary Sue in acting, in which she manages to overcome and even match the best actors in the short time frame of six months. In reality her method-acting being used as a "double edged" sword is really just a forced weakness the author puts in so that "at least something is holding her back."
This can be really seen in her break after her ...

Jan 12, 2020

yosokio

Recommended

Preliminary (94/123 chp)

I don't know how to start this review, honestly, words can't describe this manga. You should experience it. From the first chapter, the story comes off strong and well built. You get sucked in the world in a matter of a few chapters. Every little level up of the protagonist makes you starve and crave for her next development. And let me tell you something, the development of characters in this manga is no joke. Normally, when reading your typical manga, the only one to develop is the main character however what's surprising is the improvement of other characters as well. They also get engulfed ...

Sep 17, 2019

daobear

Recommended

Preliminary (81/123 chp)

I say that there is this one manga that's criminally under-rated all through out and it is this. ACT-AGE.

Story (10/10):
The story of act-age is a simple one. It could be summarized as a high school girl who aspires to be an actress being discovered by a director who saw that talent in her. Simple and Easy. Many may say that a story should have bombastic plot to be amazing, but I say that the execution of that story is what matters and Act-Age delivers with it.

Each story arc consists of a new lesson that our aspiring actress protagonist should learn and a captivating conflict ...

Mar 11, 2019

Chikimkfc

Recommended

Preliminary (56/123 chp)

This manga was and continues to be an absolute delight.

The manga roughly follows the story of Kei Yonagi who ha immense talent in acting. Her extreme realistic acting causes her to be engrossed into her role and world thereof.

The manga, while having an interesting premise, didn't seem to have the makings of a masterpiece. The story followed as expected and while there's interesting acting concepts introduced, it's good but mediocre. What really captivated me was this recent arc in which the story focus on the production of the "The Galactic Railroad". This arc completely blew me away. The exploration of the characters, production ...

Dec 1, 2020

_unkn0wn

Recommended

Honestly, if you're looking for a manga to read, don't read this one.

Act-Age was one of the first series I followed in WSJ. I loved it, especially the art. The premise was also interesting enough, as I never had much experience with stories about movies and acting. It was also selling amazingly well, with even an anime and live-action play on the way. Everything was going good, until the author turned out to be a d*ck.

And it was cancelled. A series with so much potential. Good characters, art, and story. Plenty of opportunities to begin a new era of Weekly Shonen Jump, but it ...