Ishigami Senki

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6.9/10


I’ll be the first one to admit that I rarely read historical/political mangas unless it's a necessary trope in a trashy isekai, so take this review with a grain of salt because this style of story is not my cup of tea.

Regardless, I do appreciate certain aspects of this manga, and I also have issues with others.

Let's talk about some of the highlights: The pacing and storytelling. This manga starts off STRONG from its first chapter, establishing a premise and foreshadowing for the mc’s fateful encounter — however, because of this very reason, my expectations were a bit warped for the proceeding chapters. ...

Though the storytelling was initially interesting, barring the info-dump that’s nearly unavoidable for a political/territory manga (if you asked me the name of any nation then I couldn't tell you), it's almost like the manga couldn't decide to take itself seriously or more light-hearted.

There are certain tense scenes where the life of the Mc, his peers, etc, are at stake, but the story ruins the tension by inserting a relatively light-hearted resolution or plot point where you just go, “really?” Honestly, that was my initial reaction to chapter 1 specifically, and the theme echoes faintly across the remaining chapters.

The characters aren't too bad, and I say this as an avid shota hater, as even the Mc, despite being a child, has guts and resolve, thighs you’d want in a Mc. The fmc isn't bad either, but sometimes she comes off a bit forced. For the side characters, as much as I want to appreciate them, they haven't received nearly enough attention or background development to justify some of their actions, which makes some scenes less reasonable and heart-pulling.

Honestly, all aspects of this manga isn't bad, and if it was presented to me in the form of a generic, cliche rom-com, i’d probably read it — not probably, definitely. However, the major drawback of this manga would be the setting: The setting isn’t anything ambitious or new relatively.

Dumbed down, this story is a fantasy-like Japanese territorial/political manga, which isn't really interesting without stand-out characters or plot. Most of the developments are predictable or too half-@ssed, which doesn't do the manga any favors with its already hard premise to execute.

Again, take this review lightly — I'm not fond of info-dump style stories where the premise requires you to be actively engaged in the setting, something I found hard to do in this manga. Though, my experience from trashy romcoms and isekais tellsl me that the plot is a bit basic and the story isn't very genre-friendly.


Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired + A Huang-Teizan Original)
10 - God’s penmanship
9 - Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 - Instant bookmark
7 - Entertaining
6 - Good to pass time
5 - Why are you reading this?
4 - Bad.
3 - Typical garbage.
2 - My head hurts.
1 - Retirement is a thought.
0 - “Did they even give you a story?!”