Noah's Notes

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Noah's notes is another axed Shonen Jump series, and like many of them due to it not being fully translated I cannot comment on the story as a whole. With that out of the way let's begin my review on Noah's Notes! -SPOILERS AT THE VERY END-

Story: 7/10
Whilst fairly simple at first the plot of Noah's Notes follows Mirai a gyaru highschooler who is taken by professor Noah an archaeologist due to her finding a a relic from the past. The plot quickly reveals that humanity has existed in it's current state before and at some point 4 years in the future it will end ... unless our protagonists can find a way to stop it. The mystery is handled really well and coupled with the subject of history especially the way in which Noah sometimes defines how important history is it can be very enjoyable and thought provoking to read. The set up for the looping of humanity is really interesting and differentiates itself from other shounen battle manga, there are still some standard shounen cliche's like a big evil group of shadowy figure's but this time from the get-go they are very interesting tapping into an ideology I've rarely seen in stories that being religion. Overall there's a grand sense of exploration and discovery as a mystery is uncovered but in a more shounen type of way.

Art: 8/10
I love the character designs in the manga from what I've seen, Noah and Mirai as main characters compliment each other very well and look iconic and reflective of their personalities, couldn't ask for much more. The villain character looked very cool, his uniform as well of his eyes reminded me of Gintama characters for some reason which is a good thing. Facial expressions are very varied and unique especially Mirai which leads to some good visual comedy. In general the art is very clean with there being a lot of dark panels and thick lines which really helps it distinguish itself. Action scenes are conveyed well as are the various more echii scenes, nothing looks out of place and it's easy and fun to read with it having fairly standard panel layout, the only gripe here is that the panels where fairly standard and safe nothing crazy was going on, but that's not inherently a bad thing.

Character: 7/10
Mirai is very likable and acts as the more normal character which readers can sympathies with as she witnesses all the crazy events around her. Her original dismissal of history as a subject only to see it's importance once Noah comes into the picture is done really well too as it let's the readers think a bit about the importance of history and let's us understand the changes in Mirai's character. Noah himself is also interesting, being obsessed with history but also heroic in his own way like most shounen heroes, all in all characters are really good and I think that's due to the amount of time they get to develop as there are only about 3 major characters in the first 7 chapters.

Conclusion:
I'm really sad that Noah's Notes got axed it showed real promise, the likable characters, engaging mystery and the message of the importance of history made it very enjoyable for me to read.

Spolers Ahead:

Fortunately I can say that the end of Noah's notes despite it's limited run is such an amazing end for this story. I cannot read Japanese but the general gist of it is that the heroes fail their goal with Mirai writing in a journal for her future cycles self, only for her next iteration to find it ending the chapter with her hugging Noah, it's very bittersweet, extremely clever and the end works so well. I'm saddened to here that this is the authors third failed attempt for a serial in WSJ as this means he likely will not get another proper chance, even though I see this as a great manga that could have been so much more, i'm still very happy with what we got and it's ending.

Why it Failed:
My interpretations on why it didn't succeed in jump would be probably be it's subject matter, from what I've seen most Jump manga usually are heavily battle oriented, either in more fantastical terms like One Piece, sports like Haikyuu!! or something more unorthodox like Bakuman. (There are obvious exceptions). The whole archaeology and history themes probably wouldn't be appealing to everyone especially younger children, and due to it being more niche than other things in Jump it would likely get less votes leading to It's cancellation.

FINAL SCORE: 8/10 - Very Good

Unfortunately this series has been cancelled as of a week ago, and it's only translated up to chapter 7. This review still reflects my thoughts on the series up to that point, but obviously can't include up to its final chapter.

I've just read the translation for chapter 5 of this series and thought I'd give my take on it so far. Scores will generally be low because this is a preliminary review.


Story: 6/10

The story so far is pretty straightforward, the protagonists are trying to save the world from destruction. There is a twist though: they know the world will be destroyed in a few years, ... but not how. They need to figure out how society was originally destroyed by finding clues left by the previous "loop" of people. To make a comparison to a similar manga, Dr. Stone, it's as though the protagonists know that everybody will be turned to stone in a few years, and are trying to figure out how to stop it.

It's all introduced quite fast in chapter 1 and the pace has been kept relatively high for the 5 chapters I've read. So far I've found the premise to be a bit absurd but certainly a change of pace from the typical Jump manga.


Art: 6/10

The art has been decent, but not fantastic so far. If the quality of the art stays the same for the next few chapters I'd bump it up to a 7, since there are a few panels that look quite nice.


Characters: 5/10

At this point in the story there aren't many characters introduced, it's really just Noah and Mirai (the two main characters) that have been followed. I think Noah's character has been done pretty well, and he reminds me of Senkuu from Dr. Stone - Noah is basically Senkuu but interested in history/archaeology instead of science.

Mirai isn't as interesting of a character, at this point her personality is essentially just "airhead who follows Noah" and she's fulfilling the gyaru archetype to a T. I expect this to change somewhat in the coming chapters, but right now she's not a very interesting character.


Enjoyment: 6/10

Though the story requires heavy suspension of disbelief, it is entertaining once you get past its more ridiculous aspects. I find the "edutainment" style of series (like Dr. Stone) to be very enjoyable, and since Noah's Notes seems to be taking a similar approach with history that has made things entertaining.


Overall: 5.75/10

So far the series is okay. Not fantastic by any means, but not bad either. Aside from the characters, the series is above average but certainly not at the level of the latest hits in Jump (ie Dr. Stone, Promised Neverland). It'll be much easier to give an accurate review of the series once about 2 volumes (~15 chapter) are translated, and I'll update my review then if the series survives

To be honest, I couldn’t get into it the first time I read it, I only got through the first 15 pages. I decided to give it another shot, and I really wasn’t feeling it until a twist at the end of the first chapter.

STORY:
A high school girl, Mirai, who has no interest in studying and particularly no interest in history, picks up a weird looking rock and posts a photo online. She is then contacted by Noah, an archaeologist who crashes through the window via helicopter and informs her of his interest in the rock she found.

It is revealed that the rock contains a ... key from 2022 ie. the future. Noah sees that Mirai does not understand the importance of history, takes her on an archaeology trip to a train station. The key opens a path to an ancient city from 100,000 years ago.

I won’t spoil the end but that is what got me interested.

ART:
The art is mediocre, nothing particularly stands out. I don’t think the art/style is great, but is consistent. It does have a bit of a distinct style. The character designs are unique enough to stand out among other shounen protagonists, as well as the characters in the series so far. You're probably still going to be able to describe the character designs even in a couple of years time.

CHARACTER:
Let’s talk about the female character.

I hate her.

She’s annoying. She shows no particular skills that make her an asset to the team. She plays the “questioner” role. The one who asks question so the smarter characters can explain everything to the readers. Her design is so-so, but she’s the typical shounen female protagonist thus far. She’s not particularly bright nor particularly pretty in my opinion which is her down fall.

The male character on the other hand, is quite interesting, and is he who carries the series. Still, his personality is a bit exaggerated, and there isn't enough of the story yet to explain him.

OTHER:

I feel like the dialogue and narration doesn’t really flow, making it hard to read. When I was reading, I was subconsciously skipping lines and entire speech bubbles, when I went back to read them, I realise I might as well have skipped them because they were useless. I also found that for the amount of dialogue it had, there wasn’t much information. A lot of the text felt like it served not real purpose. No information, no comedy, no character building. This is why it was difficult to read.

ENJOYMENT:
It didn't hook me, which is a shame because I like history and geology, and there aren’t enough manga like that. This series is has a good concept but suffers from poor writing and characterisation. I can only give it a 5/10 (which is quite high considering I've dropped it.)