Build King

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Too long didn't read: If you liked Toriko, this series can scratch that itch while providing a glimmer of hope that it can improve upon Toriko's weaker areas. If you didn't like Toriko, you will not like this. And, if you were indifferent or never read Toriko, you might like this.

Made by the same author as Toriko, Build King has a lot of nice things to look at, while also providing an intriguing story, and elusions to a final, grand ending; the truth behind the build kings.

But, as you've probably seen while clicking on this review page, you can see that the score ... is currently just under a 6; you may be asking: "how is that possible?" And the answer I can give you is this: at first, it feels like quite a bit to take in, and the plot, which slaps you in the face because it's a big information dump in the first chapter or two, feels extremely generic (at first). I actually didn't like this series at first, but, as I continued to read, I got sucked into this manga, and I now currently look forward to reading it every week.

Pros:

The art style is magnificent; if you've read Toriko, then you know what the author is capable of. Yet, in my opinion, the art has become even grander, and the concept of having a planet full of builders is so vague that it allows the author to come up with crazy and far out designs that are very appealing to look at.

The characters, while seemingly shallow at first, begin to get more interesting as time goes on, and the side characters that are included along the way are uniquely designed, and are generally quite comical.

The plot, at the moment, is progressing rapidly, and an arc that is about to introduce deep lore and many more characters is occurring, which is nice to experience. The first few chapters made me feel as though this progress would never happen, so it's good that the manga has gotten to a point where it's finding itself.

Cons:

Like in Toriko, it feels like some side characters are going to be included, only to be tossed away and forgotten (unlike in one piece, where zany, odd characters always seem to impact the story as time moves on). Although the author seems to have put more emphasis in providing backstories for the side characters (so far that is, at chapter 11), it still feels like the mistakes of Toriko will find their way into this series, tagging along with the bright spots of the defunct series.

The plot, while it's becoming interesting, needs a lot of work before it can become a sustainable series. It's very generic, and while there have been flashes of brilliance, which is why I've rated this series rather highly, I can already see potential issues that many could have with the story; readers could ask questions such as: "how does a world of building sound even remotely interesting?" And "Why should I read this manga when it feels like a rehash of Toriko and other classic Shonen's?"

It may feel like this review is ending briefly, but, for now, there aren't enough chapters to give more than a few pros or cons. In the future, I will come back and edit this, and, hopefully, I will give it a better score than now.


EDIT: No I can't.

It was pretty mediocre as a one-shot, so I was surprised when they introduced it as a new series. The concept of "building peace" by smacking bad guys with a hammer is really stupid. Terribly wasted potential. If they maintained a little more realism with construction, I feel this could've been interesting and somewhat educational. Instead, they opted for being able to do construction work by shooting energy beams. I guess when you get really good, you don't even have to touch tools or materials - or even be anywhere near the building you're working on.

Build King tried to incorporate a dumb rainbow of ... attributes, giving it a Pokemon-style strength/weakness system. This was really half-assed and convoluted, then it was immediately undermined when they introduced additional colours that aren't part of the standard rainbow.

Art is kinda bad. Tonkachi can range anywhere from a RIPPED toddler to a RIPPED teenager. His body size is very inconsistent. If he's gonna be RIPPED like this, he should always at least look like a teenager. At least!

Toriko and Komatsu make cameo appearances in this manga, which is just kinda laughable. You can feel the author desperately trying to grasp his former glory. Build King should've just stayed as a one-shot and nothing more.