Superior

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MOD EDIT -*The review contains spoilers*-


Superior is a delightful mash of fantasy, adventure, and romance, where the powerful Demon Queen Sheila, who personally killed off one half of humanity falls hopelessly in love with with Exa, the Hero ironically assigned with the mission of killing the Demon Queen. Sheila disguises herself as a weak monster and tags along with the Hero on his journey. The story is basic at first, with Sheila and the Hero meeting companions and allies, new and old. Later on, Sheila creates a copy version of herself to act as Demon Queen while she travels with the Hero, but a ... strange twist comes when the copy plots to prove she is the most powerful by killing the Hero and the Demon Queen. That along with many other factors of the story, including it's even balance of humor and drama makes it a very enjoyable read.

The art takes some time to get used to, but there's much to appreciate, with the special attention paid to detail and unique character designs. Facial expressions are also very adorable in this story too.

Superior stars a very likeable cast, Exa is a very noble hero, with his own collection of of conflicting beliefs and dealing with his feelings for Sheila and the possibility that she might be the Demon Lord he was determined to kill all this time. Sheila, and the Hero's other companions, Lakshri and Angelica have their unique assets, and their own weaknesses and doubts. Their beliefs conflicts one another as they question the relationship between humans and monsters, who is in the right, and who isn't? Can the two coexist? Or would one have to kill off the other?

In conclusion, Superior features a deep story sprinkled with humor. The moral questioning story and characters will definately have one wondering, and itching to read more. It's a very fascinating series.

Another great manga that I stumbled over looking for some new manga to read. I can easily say that it is among my top 5 manga.

- The story is great. It is funny, amusing and cute. It is however not all that intense action I hoped for, but when there is a fight, it is exciting enough to keep me reading. I rate the story 9.
- The art is simply lovely, and you can see some hint of Final Fantasy design in the clothing with all the straps and details. Also the cover art is fantastic! Absolutely outstanding, and thus rated 10.
- The characters ... are funny and interesting and it is easy to like them. Rated 9.

I finished the reading very fast, and I was always eager to continue. It is a great story, and it is absolutely worth reading. Especially for you who like adventure, demons, heroes in shiny armors, and if you like love stories this should be something for you. Overall I rate Superior with a 9.

So i finished Superior and all i can say that it was unimpressive. The series has good worldbuilding. how the author uses episodic chapters to enrich the world was well done. but sadly thats seems to be the author's only decent point. The story is that the MMC who is the Hero needs to kill the leader of monsters who is the FMC. Unknown the MMC is that the FMC is some human looking monster and since he doesn't know her apperance but the FMC knows him she tags along just for fun. Along the way she falls in love with him however whilst the ... MMC slowly gains feelings for her as well. Here's the catch though. The MMC doesn't want to kill anybody and believes that monsters and humans coexist. The story really starts however at the start of the 3rd volume when the author gets the party together. The Monster lord, the Hero, and the hero's 2 companions. The romance personally was poorly done. It could've been a great Love square with funny banter but the author never properly utilizes its potential. The action also is pretty mundane. There were some good moments though. I think the series was strongest was when the hero was trying to convince other characters that he can't kill and they can live in peace. I liked that part but again the execution is just poor. The execution is really the main reason this series suffers. Its just great ideas but poor execution all around. The author doesn't explain how people get from point A to Point B. we are just supposed accept that this is happening right now. The author also does a shit job of trying to give other characters heart. Giving a flashback on there death bed when they were just introduced doesn't work. It never did no matter how many times the author used it. It helped with the world building but again was poorly executed. The author also drags on this pointless backstories with far too little engaging moments. Overall i liked the concept but the execution just pulls the series down so much. Some decent moments though

I making this review based on both the first part (this one) and the second part (Superior Cross), due to it should be viewed as a whole. Superior is a well balanced mix of Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Shounen (would add the label comedy as well, even if it´s not dominating the manga). So let´s talk a little bit about the ride that was Superior, and why I enjoyed it so much.

Story: 9/9
I quite enjoyed the story. What first appear to be a classical "good vs. evil" based plot, soon grows into something much more complex. In a world where monster and humans has ... been fighting each other for a long time, the hate between the two races has grown to enormous proportions. How can a peaceful world be created without totally erase either spices? Superior portrays this very well, and that if just a few of us are determined enough everything is possible. The story brings up subjects which can be easily recognized in our own world to today. The hate the people and the monsters feel towards each other is totally understandable, and most of us would probably been acting the same way - where the solution lays in revenge and destruction of the other part. The manga also bring up the hardship of stay true to your believes, the courage to change, and the power of love and forgiveness. Of course, as so many other manga´s it have stronger and weaker chapters, and sometimes has a bit uneven pace. A huge plus was some nice, unexpected twist here and there - it really spiced up things. Looked as a whole, it´s a great story that want let you of without making you feel happy, sad, excited and intrigued. If you are into adventure story´s with a big part action and drama, this manga is definitely for you.

Art: 9/9
Even if this is labelled as a shounen, the art has a much more "shoujo" feeling to it. The characters (both male and female) are very beautifully designed, with matching skinny bodies and interesting clothing. I personally don't have a problem with that, but it could take away some of the seriousness from some the of scenes. Due to that it´s actually quite a lot of blood and gore in Superior, the beauty can undermine that a bit (this is from someone who´s just been reading "Blade of the Immortal" which portrays this brilliantly). Background art varies, but the panels that have time and effort put into them is outstandingly beautiful and rich in detail. Overall I grow to love the art and especially some of the character designs.

Character: 9/9
First i can state that the character in Superior doesn´t lack in development. Many of the characters have great development (Sheila in particular). We get (given time) backgrounds on all our main and supporting cast, which will explain their way of thinking and how they turned out to be like they are. I will try to explain why I think the characters was so great without spoiling anything.

First out we have Sheila, our MC who starts out much more like a antihero or even a villain. She is after all the Demon Lord. Sheila has a very primal way of thinking, in her world the strong pray on the weak and she lives by that rule. She don´t comprehend feeling like pain of loss, love or compassion. But throughout the series she learns the value of life, love and forgiveness (much due to Exa, but also all the other people around her). It´s not always a happy journey of emotions, due to with these feelings also comes with feelings of regret, guilt and sorrow. To put it short, she becomes aware of the horrible crimes she made and have to deal with it a long the way. Sheila has absolutely the strongest character development of all characters.

Second out we have Exa. He is the series hero, and is he the hero with a big H. He can often come out to be so righteousness, that you wan´t to strangle him. But then you get to know him and his past more, that change and that feeling change to admiration for his strength of will to change the world to something better. Exa isn´t flawless so he will sometimes sub come to doubts and hopelessness. He´s own ideal is put to test many times and especially then i comes to Sheila.

Superior has many other great characters, I grow to like most of them. I loved to follow their personal and relationship developments. Many of both the main and supporting cast get their own chapters, there their past and relationships are portrayed. The only reason that I not giving it a 10 is that some part feels a little bit rushed, overlooked, or under explored. But overall much enjoyable characters and developments.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I enjoyed the Superior series hell of a lot! It was an interesting ride, that sometimes made me sit on edge, sometimes cry and sometimes have a good laugh. Some small flaws in the story and characters just made it out of reach of a masterpiece - but it was for shore a memorable series for me.

Overall: 9/10
For you poor souls that took your times and read my novel of e review, I will keep it short here. A great manga, with a story that brings up many relate able subjects, a heartwarming love story and some good action and adventures. I definitely recommend this manga to all of you that like a good adventure story with some deeper subjects and some heart wrenching romance. GO - READ - IT - NOW! :)

TL;DR
Great Idea plagued by terrible execution. Extremely by the numbers plot, poor romance, cliché pacifist hero. Don't read this.

Story: 2/10
The demon lord who has halved the human population (not that this seems to have had any consequences to the story) falls in love instantly because the guy doesn't kill. Yeah, it's that kind of story.

The romance was bad. No real progression,

Every arc ends exactly as you expect it to. Guy doubts the hero's "no killing" rule? Convinced by the end of the chapter. Even the backstories of the hero's companions are clichéd. If you were given the beginning of the arcs, you could ... probably rewrite this manga yourself.

The plot is bland but it isn’t stupid I guess so it's not a 1/10

Art: subjective
Meh, not that bad, not amazing.

Characters: 2/10
The demon lord acts like a teenage girl and the hero is like a child's OC. We've got all the tropes, violent female character, womanising side-character, the good prince. I can't describe any character further beyond a single trait.

The characterisation (whatever was there) is consistent. That is the only positive I can give. So not a 1/10 either

Overall: 1/10

A particular blend of predictable plot and bad characters make for a manga worse than the sum of its parts. I do not recommed this in any regard.