Kurenai
Red Prowling Devil

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What an unfortunate series to not have completed. The manga is technically "finished" but it is one of the "finished by cancellation" mangas. I had read some other reviews saying it was a rushed ending - but this has indeed *no* ending. I found that a bit dissapointing.

The manga has many good qualities to it. The one that stands out the most is the art, which when it comes to the jets is absolutely fantastic. The actual people are drawn well enough, with enough distinction character to character to not get confused during paneling. The paneling flow is good, and even with frantic "aerial combat" ... you do not get lost in what is happening. I was pleasantly surprised to see that. The characters were generally good, with the main cast having interesting personalities and interlocking dynamics with one another. You also get to learn some neat jet facts throughout things which was enjoyable.

The story itself is kind of hokey, but not necessarily in a bad way. A girl who has a 1000-year sentence can serve it out by being an ace pilot of a secret organization. You get what you expect with that. It isn't something that is going to drastically tug at your heart strings, but overall it is fun with good action, interesting storylines you want to see progress, and some comedic arcs worked in. There are quite a few scenes of fan service (nudity) which didn't add anything, but hey if that is your jam you have that to look forward to as well. Not sure if this was a pro or a con, but it was funny seeing the SU series of jet said to be superior to the F-22. Maybe bias in the mangka there!

Overall the only real disbenefit the manga has is that it is not finished. This is really unfortunate, as it read like a manga where the mangaka really knew where they wanted to go with things. If it had finished I think it would be an 8/10 territory, but with the lack of a definitive finish (or using the last chapter to even try and wrap up anything at all) the best I can give it is a 6/10. The last chapter is a flashback for one of the protagonists. It was nice to know, but I would rather have gotten something where the main protagonist post time skip with her contemplating events that have passed - at least giving a bit of closure hints to the story threads. Maybe this got cancelled without any heads up, it certainly feels that way.

Even with the abrupt cancellation, I had enough fun to read through it and recommend others check it out.