Weak Hero

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SPOILER FREE!

Well, this is my very first review on MAL, and boy am I so glad that it’s about Weak Hero! It’s the high school story that I never knew I needed, but I am so glad that I found this gem. Many of the popular delinquent mangas are nearly 20 years old or older, and I think this manhwa is an amazing contribution (and update) to that underrated genre.

Plot: 8.5
Well firstly, the synopsis on MAL and Webtoon is not giving you many hints on how this manhwa actually plays out, but don’t worry all the twists actually turn out really well. I'm not gonna ... give spoilers, but what I love about Weak Hero is that it has plot elements consistently being foreshadowed sometimes 90+ chapters before it's revealed, and it never makes the plot confusing or boring since there are so many enjoyable and interesting developments within each chapter. I really admire the amount of planning that was put into the storyline, and it is definitely something that I wish more manga/manhwa/webtoon writers would put more effort into.
Considering all the hints and small details within Weak Hero, I have a feeling that the story still has a lot of story arcs to get through, which is why I’m holding back a full 9 or 10 rating. However, I am extremely confident that the writer will deliver on this very promising story.

Characters: 10
Despite its action-packed focus, the characters and their personalities are portrayed extremely well in this series. The tone of Weak Hero is a lot more grounded than other action mangas since it is set in the “real world”, and I think that this really contributes to the reliability and realism of the personalities for each of the main characters and how they interact with each other. While this is a mature story, the main cast definitely feels like your regular teenagers in a very good way.
The character development for the protagonist is also quite prevalent, and the character arcs for some of them are pleasantly surprising (spoiler-free sorry). In fact, I’d also say that the gradual development of friendship within this story is one of the best I’ve seen in anything I’ve read or watched. I also really like the direction that the antagonists of this series seem to be headed in, but that also includes personal speculation and specific plot details, so I’ll leave you to read it and form your own thoughts.

Art: 8.5
The artist and the writer for Weak Hero are two completely different people, and this may contribute to some inconsistencies throughout chapters especially when comparing flashbacks to the actual scenes themselves. However, I’d say that this is a super minor weakness. Firstly, the art drastically improves after the first story arc, and I love the manga-esque art style, and the fight scenes are extremely well drawn.
In fact, in the later chapters each panel literally looks like it’s been ripped straight out from an anime since all the characters and backgrounds are completely colored. Now it's not Solo Leveling art, but I also adore how it's so easy to follow what’s going on in each fighting scene and how distinct each character is with their unique designs even if they’re all supposed to be regular teenage high schoolers.

Enjoyment: 9.95
I’ve already discussed why I adore the plot, characters, and art, but I also want to highlight another good aspect of this manhwa: the pacing. Filler chapters are a plague that has infected most long-running webtoons (including the good ones). Thankfully, this is not an issue with Weak Hero so far, and there's always relevant plot/character developments with each chapter. I’m extremely impressed with the story arcs that they managed to fit in within 100ish chapters since, in my opinion, it could have easily been stretched out into 150 chapters or more. This natural pacing that Weak Hero has substantially increases the enjoyability of reading this manhwa.
The 0.05 that's missing isn't the fault of the writer or artist of Weak Hero, but rather it’s the translators at the company Webtoon. The mistranslations and misspellings are noticeable, but they're more like distractions or annoyances rather than becoming a complete detriment to the enjoyment of the manhwa.

Overall: 9
Well, what can I say? Weak Hero really deserves it. I hardly get attached to characters or stories, but I’m all-in on this train, and I feel like everyone who loves a solid action manga or manhwa should check this story out as well. It has completely surprised me with how great not just the action is, but how it takes advantage of its more realistic setting with great and relatable characters as well as its high stakes.
Check it out! You definitely won’t regret it :)

Weak Hero is a mediocre underdog story with a great cast of characters. The interactions between the protagonist's group of friends are by far the highlight of the story. The plot is not necessarily bad, but it has some absolutely glaring flaws that i can't seem to get over. For one the plot is so god damn predictable, how many times do we have to see the MC get underestimated because of his appearance only to beat the shit out of his opponent? Honestly the fights that don't include the MC are way better than the same copy paste fight we get every time the ... MC gets in a fight. Also there is a major plot hole in this story, they spend a lot of time telling you about the big bad antagonist, Donald Na, the leader of "the union". The author describes him as someone insanely strong and smart who only cares about money. Yet for some reason, despite the fact that the union could just not fuck with the MC's school and keep making money, they keep sending members of the union to try and crush the MC and Ben Park. With how often the other characters talk about Donald being a genius you would think he would've just cut his losses after Jimmy went behind his back to fight Ben Park, but instead he just keeps sending goon after goon at the MC and his friends and they always lose. The author has given no reason other than maybe pride(?) for why the union is so hell bent on destroying the MC and his friends.

Also this has nothing to do with the story but why does the author insist on making all the characters wear designer clothing it is so insanely tacky and distracting.

Trash Series 3/10

3pts just for good friendship MC in his group,

the rest garbage, the ending is super generic, why do so many authors like to make an MC who sympathizes with their opponent? an MC should be happy because their opponent died, Grey's defeat is trash, the middle of the story would have been okay but the ending was trash, the author's brain is generic. Grey's defeat is not satisfying He should win because the author's idea is too shallow, so next time don't make this series of amateur stories, other readers will be satisfied with this concept, amateur readers