Wild Strawberry

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

This story is one I have somewhat high hopes for. It’s off to a pretty good start the stuff with the sister and how he gets powers is somewhat predictable/cliche but it’s executed well and the story has a lot of room to build on from this starting point. The art is really detailed and beautiful while also being horrific. I especially like the inclusion of color pages here and there to really add some flavor a lot of manga series don’t have. It’s an amazing visual experience so far. Im optimistic and think this has massive potential to grow as a story (no pun ... intended). I Can’t wait to see where it goes from here and I’m looking forward to chapter 3

This is a series that gets better and better with each chapter. Someone who has read just the first few chapters won't be able to give an accurate account or prediction for the series (though they sure think they can) because it has changed notably since the beginning. One wouldn't know from the beginning where the series is now, and that's a good thing. I won't say it's free of tropes (it's impossible to not have tropes anymore), but it manages to feel fresh. As far as story goes, the storytelling is actually extraordinary.

The presentation is Wild Strawberry's strength. That goes for the beautiful artwork ... and the interesting storytelling. Even for story beats that may not be particularly great, mangaka Ire Yonemoto delivers them in a cool way, and so it *feels* more interesting. This especially improves over the course of the manga. It keeps the reader entranced in each chapter. Continuing with the presentation aspect, the *art* is this series' strongest point. The mangaka is clearly a very talented artist, and draws many sweeping and epic scenes. The overall "direction" is well done with an artistic vision. The action is exciting and easy to follow.

Overall, the power system and world building are well thought out. Most characters have a type of weapon that looks quite unique and cool in battle. The weapons all have different "power sources" that make them strong, though it's not so simple... The world is semi-futuristic, taking place just a bit in the future. It looks a lot like the present day, but there are pieces of technology and such that push it a bit further. I enjoy seeing the Tokyo ruined by monstrous plants depicted in this series.

Characters have been developed solidly. The manga takes its time in general, which does work out well. Many of the characters so far have become likeable over time, and they have good depth in reference to motivations and actual actions. The cast use unique and memorable designs while not looking ridiculous or over designed. The mangaka allots a lot of time not just to the main protagonist but to the deuteragonist and side cast as well.

To reiterate, this is a spectacular, high-quality series that may be a bit of a slow burner for some. While there may be comparisons to other series like Chainsaw Man for example, any similarities are surface level and this manga is very different at its core. It takes place in a modern setting with powerful, deadly monsters and it doesn't shy away from violence, but it would be difficult to make many more clear comparisons. The thematic center of this series is two people with no real connections or family in the world, trying to be each other's family. They protect each other as they're the only family they could consider to have. It's a nice and clean theme that works well for the story as well as the protagonist's powers. This manga continues to develop well and has been wonderful.

The concept and lore isn't too bad... but it's boring. I can't have affection for any characters and I don't care what happens to them. Something is missing for making a good story that is actually enjoyable. The story is build like a classic shônen but that's not really the problem here. It's boring and in the same time it's too rush, characters change their mind/make decisions too quickly and there's no time to set the mood/the ambience.

I have the feeling that this manga is a shônen who doesn't want to be one. It tries to be more "adult", more "seinen-like" but it fails and ... we have this result.

Beside, the artstyle is good, it works well with the story. And maybe some people can enjoy this manga, but I don't think it will be for the characters or even the story in itself but more for the setup.

I’m might come off as a hater but I genuinely wanted to like this manga. That being said I had three insurmountable issues with its preface and just couldn’t get into it.
1. Inconsistent pacing
When you start any action oriented piece, I feel like most people expect a temporary build up, almost like instructions to the understand the tone and vibe to expect from the get-go. In chapter 1 its employs the “build and drop” technique twice in scenarios that should take place over a few chapters. It might just be me, but it’s like the author has already expected you to understand the style of ... chaotic writing that’s about to take place.
2. Incoherent universe rules
I expected the world to be brutal coming into it, but from the start of chapter 2 it told me a lot of decisions made by the government would make zero sense. The chapter starts off with a distraught man infected with Jinka being prepared for incineration. That’s fine. But he is incinerated alive. Why? Not explained. I’m to assume that Jinka takes over the life source of the affected entity but not the cognitive abilities? Why is that on the reader to infer and so early on? Also why would a possible victim of a “special variant Jinka” be surrounded by teams of people without any special fitted equipment? You get where I’m going with this. The rules makes no sense. Even if they’re explained later on that doesn’t excuse the miscommunication now between the scenes shown to the reader.
3. Plot contrivance
Everything I have mentioned is expected to be overlooked for one reason: the sweet and meek little sister whose older brother will stop at nothing to protect her. Please for the love of god save me from this preaching. I’ve seen it done dozens of times and exponentially better. I understand a lot of things are still a mystery and that’s not an issue, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the sister is deceiving the brother in some way because it all has been way to convenient so far.

I’d love to say this series just isn’t for me but truth be told it’s just not that good and has several problems in its structure and foundation.
Edit: The question of Jinka not infecting some who inhales the pollen is explained in chapter 12, which further strengthens my point. This is something we should know from chapter 2 where cases are presented.

No matter how you examine it, "Wild Strawberry" is just another run-of-the-mill battle shounen. After four chapters, there is absolutely nothing original in this manga. However, that should be okay if the author takes pre-existing concepts and ideas used before and builds upon them, right? Well, they don't.

The main character of this manga is the type of character we've seen many, many times. There's a monster inside him who helps battle other monsters. Although, this time, he's basically invincible since the monster inside him can bring him and other people back to life if they die, resulting in zero tension throughout a story that ... needs high stakes to be interesting. Additionally, there's nothing we haven't seen done better before in the plot so far. The antagonistic forces are man-eating monsters that are pure evil, and there's a group that fights those man-eating monsters, who are hunting down the main character with one of those monsters inside of him.

Overall, "Wild Strawberry" is a manga that has absolutely nothing going for it besides the artwork. It introduces no concepts that haven't been seen before and provides us with tensionless fights between typical shounen characters.

Current Scorings:
Story: 4/10 (Generic battle shounen storyline)
Characters: 4/10 (Generic battle shounen characters)
Art: 8/10 (The best thing about this manga is the art, it's actually pretty unique and well done)
Enjoyment: 3/10 (The artwork carries)
Overall: 4/10 (Bad)

This is just chainsawman but with flower monsters instead of devils and an imouto fetish. Functional, but completely lacking in originality in terms of storytelling.

It's creatively bankrupt past the specifics of Jinka infection. Focusing either on the human toll of constant medical injections and progression of infection (the part in the dinner was quite good) or the main character trying to get by on the fringes of a society that doesn't care about them and see's their only family as a threat, either could have worked but the author was way to eager to get the main character's younger sister (who is not ... blood related being an important point to the author) inside of him.

It's directly cribbing it's plot structure and series of events from Chainsawman but doesn't take the time or effort to make anyone endearing.