Bone Collection

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Today I'm breaking my review hiatus to talk about a series no one gives a shit about: Boner Collection. One of the only readable series running in the dying Shonen Jump magazine, it was the rare exorcist manga that had any merit at all. Sadly, it's canceled and dead now, and let these words be its epitaph.

Boner Collection is about some dingus who meets the best and most attractive girl in the universe, Paira. He's an exorcist, she's a demon. It's Romeo & Juliet. He gets powers from pulling weapons out of her bones, like swords, sniper rifles and Nintendo consoles. Once he pulls out ... all 200+ of her bones, she gets to become human, presumably because Earth has more Chads to ride. It's a fun story in the usually cancerous romcom genre.

Did I mention that Paira is best girl? I usually don't say that shit but damn she is the greatest. People rip on her for being a mutation of some character named Lum from some series no one cares about in 2020, but oddly enough those same people have no issue with nearly every other SJ girl being a hapless idiot and every male being a copypasted archetype from Dragonball or Naruto.

People also tear into the art. They're wrong, of course. How do I know this? Because I am the most discerning person on the planet when it comes to comic art and I quite liked the visuals here. When people rip on the art, you can write off their opinions forever. They just wanted the series to look more generic, and if some YouTuber told them to like this series, they wouldn't have anything to say about it.

Even though the series is only 15 chapters long and was rushed into an ending, it felt oddly on-brand since the whole thing was kind of a jokey shitpost to begin with. I enjoyed the ending and the series even had a full epilogue with resolutions for every character. It didn't get enough time in the middle there to really explore the themes of prejudice between demons and humans, but that's all boring and predictable content anyway.

So yeah, the series is funny, the characters entertaining, and it had some good ideas. It's a shame about the name.

Take the hour out of your day to read Boner Collection and grieve with me.

Because there will never be Paira doujins.

I started this series because I figured it would be interesting to read a manga from start to finish as it was published. From first impressions, it seemed pretty eh, but I was willing to forgive it. Many series I like (KNY and BNHA) had starts that I wasn't really into. I figured it would be the same with this series, plus, there were some interesting developments or funny gags in a chapter or two, so it had the potential to keep me hooked.

Fast forward a few weeks. I dropped it. The series just wasn't for me. The art-style seemed too cutesy and slightly sloppy ... for me, but more importantly, the story and characters weren't doing anything too well. I had gotten past the drunk demon arc, and it sort of had potential in the beginning. With the Four Exorcist Kings being introduced as scopes to a bigger world, I thought that the plot would really start now. The first king ended up being nothing more than a one-trick-pony gag, and the arc following their introduction (drunk demon) ended up being simultaneously rushed, yet felt slow. Then there was a filler chapter right after.

Today, my friend who'd been keeping up with the series, told me it was finished. I thought it was odd considering it was only 15 chapters, but it got axed it seemed. I just finished reading, and what I'd say sucks most, was the wasted potential of it all. There were many spirits and exorcist characters we never met, and some gags that were still decent. If the pacing and characters were fleshed out, this series might still be running right now. I won't comment much on the final arc of the series, cause it was rushed due to cancellation, so I won't pin any of that on the author.

All in all, if you want to give yourself a quick read, then this might satisfy you for an two hours or so, but there's better you could be reading in the meantime imo. I feel bad for the mangaka, but here's hoping that they come back with a better start and series in the future.

Bone Collection's negative reception and ultra-short run in WSJ only made me want to try it more. I liked its promotional artwork and synopsis well enough. Could it really suck enough to get axed in 4 months?

Short answer: yes. It's not the worst manga I've attempted to read, but it's disappointing. Any interesting dynamic we'd get between its central boy/girl duo is squashed due to their entire fighting style being both an asspull and an excuse to turn Bone Collection into an ecchi-lite production. When the humor and action are both uninspired, it fails doubly.

Unfortunately, the plot makes things even more confusing. There's no ... clear motivation for any of the characters, and the series seems to change on a conceptual level each chapter. Arcs bleed into arcs, entire structures of exorcist society and introduced and scrapped, and the entire thing ends in a massive timeskip. And that's all in 2 volumes! Some of the character designs are cute, but that doesn't save this joint. The currently-running Witch Watch, however, borrows a similar dynamic between protagonists and makes it work much better as a comedy/SoL production. Perhaps Bone Collection could've leaned into the laughs a little more.