Centuria

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Centuria is one of those series that completely caught me off guard. I started it out of curiosity and the hype surrounding it, but it turned into something I couldn’t stop reading and binged in one day. Right now it’s sitting at only 48 chapters, but the quality and potential it shows this early on is honestly insane.

The story starts off feeling like it might be something grounded, but quickly leans into a darker, more brutal fantasy world filled with eerie monsters and strange powers. It’s not a light read. The world is harsh, unforgiving, and feels dangerous in the best way possible. There’s a ... real sense of weight behind the story. When characters fight, there are actual consequences. That’s something I feel is missing in a lot of modern shounen. In Centuria, things don’t feel safe. You don’t know who’s going to make it out, and that unpredictability makes every moment way more intense.

Visually, it’s stunning. The art style has this heavy, bold-lined look that reminded me a lot of Gachiakuta, especially the eyes and facial expressions. The monster designs are insane, and it’s clear the mangaka took some inspiration from Berserk. Not just in how grotesque and otherworldly the creatures are, but also in the atmosphere and worldbuilding. As I kept reading, I started noticing bits and pieces that reminded me of other games, manga, and darker fantasy stories. Whether it’s the worldbuilding, the sense of dread behind certain locations, or how power is portrayed, it all feels like a blend of many influences, but it’s not a copy. It still feels unique, like the mangaka is taking inspiration from all these places and building something entirely their own out of it.

Julian is a strong main character. He’s likable right away, but he’s also thrown into situations where he has to grow fast, and the way the story pushes him forward is really satisfying to follow. The rest of the cast feels solid too. Even characters that don’t stick around long leave an impression. One thing I really respected is how the story isn’t afraid to let important characters die. It gives the series real emotional impact and raises the stakes, which most shounen just don’t do anymore.

If you're into dark fantasy with great pacing, worldbuilding that actually feels alive, and art that goes hard every chapter, then you owe it to yourself to check out Centuria. It’s criminally underrated right now, and it honestly deserves way more attention. I seriously need more people to read it so it can blow up and maybe even get the anime adaptation it absolutely deserves.

Its not bad, but its such a a wasted potential.


In the start it's really surprising, with the first chapters giving "The Return of Obra Dinn" vibes, the Lovecraftian horror being really well made, but...nothing can be good for to long, and even if the horror sometimes still show up a little in the story, the potential is totally lost when it become a generic battle Shounen with fights, friendship drama, superpowers, villain groups, transformations and worst, and that dont fit with the Lovecraftian theme the story started with, and worst of all, all the shonen cliche is not good, it's just a mix ... of generic things that make u thing if the author really chose to do it or is the editor the one creating the story.



Even with this all, the artstyle in the horror bits in the start is really good at least

Centuria's first few chapters seemed really promising, with it's dark atmosphere, Lovecraftian creatures and unforgiving world, but then characters start acting like they're in a children series, with everything being black and white, villains being comically evil and the heroes being little angels from god, mc is as naive as a toddler, characters win battles with the power of friendship and all.

Very disappointing, this is a generic shonen series trying to pretend it's mature with GORE and over rendered backgrounds, non-powered characters in full armor moving like they're weightless, even the art that felt was incredible in the first couple of chapters started showing cracks, ... clothes look like they're made of stone, odd head/face proportions and expressions, plus the crazy giant hands and bulky forearms, makes everything look odd and the author seems really proud of the way they draw them, it's constantly the focus of some panels.

As i consume more and more manga/anime i realize that 90% of everything coming out is trying to cater to the biggest demographic out there and that's the casual reader that has read five manga or that just doesn't mind reading the same thing over and over again, i'm not saying using stereotypes, archetypes and tried and true formulas are a bad thing, but if you're doing in the most surface level possible, i don't really get what we're supposed to take away from this piece of art called manga, that at this time has nothing interesting to offer.