D-Frag!

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This is my review for D-Frag. I’ll be referring to the characters by what they are most commonly called in the manga. Please note that this review is structured around how I personally felt about the manga: objectively, it deserves an overall rating of 7. (individual ratings of 5/6/9 for story, art, and character, respectively), and subjectively, I give it a 7 as well.

Story: 5/10

The main attraction to D-Frag is the comedy. More specifically, it utilizes a style called manzai, which, in short, is where there is a character(s) creating funny situations (the boke), and another character retorting them as the straight man (the tsukkomi). ... With this being said, when considering only the main cast, the tsukkomi is Kenji (and sometimes Takao) while the bokes are the rest of main characters. It is also important to know that while she isn’t a main character, Noe, who is Kenji’s little sister, is also a tsukkomi. Since D-Frag is complete comedy, there is little to no story, with the closest being at the beginning when Kenji is roped into (and against his will) joining a school club. From there on, most of the chapters are episodic (although there are some arcs that extend for multiple chapters) and he reader proceeds to read about the wacky adventures of the main characters. Although MAL gives this manga the romance tag, it is very, very subtle, and not the main point of this work. Therefore, read D-Frag for the comedy and slice of life, not for the romance. Since there is no story, (it isn’t needed, anyway) it deserves the standard 5 rating.

Art: 6/10

The artwork here is very standard. The illustrations are not super detailed, but the faces of the characters when they react are drawn nicely. This is probably the most important factor to consider when grading the art for a manga such as D-Frag, since the reader would be expecting funny and/or exaggerated reactions. The visuals do not detract from the original humour given in the words, and actually enhances them.

Character: 10/10

D-Frag relies on having quirky and lovable characters to be its selling point, and it does this very well. It is like other manga with similar premises, as without a particularly strong story or art to keep the reader engaged, the characters must be strong enough to “carry” the load. Subsequently, D-Frag does this very well with the cast that is put on paper. The characters here do not fall under certain tropes, (asides from the manzai theme) making them unique and memorable. We have some very interesting dynamics here, such as Kenji x The Kazama Family, Kenji x Roka x Takao, Noe x Sakura, and Chitose x Tama. These are some of the most prevalent relationships between the characters, as a good amount of the comedy is from those pairings. The supporting characters, while appearing far and in between (often for only for a few panels) are humourous when they do appear. You have every boy’s dream girlfriend, Funabori, a super cool teacher in Conecone-sensei, and Kenji’s little sister, Noe. All around an excellent cast of both main and supporting characters.

Enjoyment: 9/10

D-Frag successfully managed to not only capture my attention, but hold it ever since the opening chapter. It has nearly everything anyone could possibly ask for in a work of comedy , and most importantly, excels in the area most important in the category of manga that it falls under: the characters. Although over 100 chapters (in English) have been released at the time of my writing this review, each chapter is approximately 15 pages in length. For anyone looking to laugh out loud, and especially to lovers of the manzai setup, D-Frag is the manga for you.

That’s all I have to say. Thanks for reading!

Summary: Kenji Kazama, the main character who gets sucked into a video game club and gets into many random situations.

Story (8): As you can tell by the summary, it's not really anything too special, but it's something to keep you reading. The manga's comedy involves around Kazama's tsukkomis, the situations he gets into, and the characters themselves. It's a harem manga if you haven't notice, as Kazama is probably the only attractive and sensible male in the whole school so it makes lots of sense once you keep on reading lol. I might change my score on this part of the review since ... it takes centuries to get one chapter in, so atm, it stays at 8. (Currently on 98 chapters as I made this review)

Art (7): It's cutesy and unique, don't get me wrong but it's not 8 or 9 material. You'll see that there's no backgrounds in many panels, the characters themselves seems they've only been drawn in a few seconds, and lots of bald characters (will they did make a reference to that, atleast it's self-aware). Other than that, characters look good, different enough to tell who's who, and it looks good enough for the eye to keep on reading.

Character (10): This is the manga's strongest point, every character including the minor characters have their own flesh of life. Everyone is lovable in their own right, there's no annoying character so far, and each contribute their own share to keep the story going.

Enjoyment (10): I really do love this manga, every time a chapter comes out it's one of the best feelings in the world, but once I finish it, it really does makes me feel depress because I have to wait another century for the next chapter.... It doesn't suck out the enjoyment though, I love rereading and getting jokes I missed on the first time reading this manga, and I really do wish the chapters were more than 13-20 pages, which would make the wait much more worth it.

Overall (9): It's just sad that this manga isn't too well known, but then again it doesn't have anything special to get a following like many others. Still though, give this manga a shot if you want to get a laugh and see a cutesy art style with some of the best characters to compliment it.

Mini Rant: Get the chapters out faster!!!!! ~ Shaney

The D-Frag anime is decent, so you'd think the same think would be said for the manga, but honestly, it falls flat in various areas.
It's a gag manga that's really random, but even the randomness doesn't add to the comedic factor. it's just random, not funny, and while it's random, many of the same gags are repeated for the same characters since there's not much depth or characterization to them, so it's randomness that's repetitive in a way.
Art is just bad. Again, it's comedy, so you don't need amazing art, but there's a threshold and this manga just doesn't pass it. Backgrounds, characters, and paneling ... are all just bad. It's like I'm reading a storyboard draft more often than not with all the chicken scratch
Like I said with the characters, there's not a lot of depth to them, but there's quite a few of them. Still, a large pool of characters does not save them since all are one dimensional, including Kazuma.