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Psyren
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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Siren

Japanese: PSYЯEN -サイレン-

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 16

Chapters: 145

Status: Finished

Published: Dec 3, 2007 to Nov 29, 2010

Genres: Action, Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi, Supernatural

Themes: High Stakes Game, Psychological, Strategy Game, Super Power

Demographic: Shounen

Serialization: Shounen Jump (Weekly)

Authors: Iwashiro, Toshiaki (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.94¹ (scored by 41,539 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #896²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #158

Members: 96,725

Favorites: 3,127

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Reviews

Filtered Results: 25 / 26

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Dec 4, 2008

IvanTheChemist

Recommended

Preliminary (104/145 chp)

Finally found how to edit my review.
Psyren - one of the best shounens.

Story: It has almost no connection to the beginning, but is very strong and interesting. How is the future changed, a little more about parallel worlds, about reality. And a little more common, than what it used to be. However, the timeline is very good, everything falls in place perfectly. And follows the cause-reaction pattern, witch is very rare these days .

Art: Bleach-like, shounenish, bloody brutality! "Oh, no! He breaks out!" is what you think, when the evil mastermind escapes. You can feel the Doom oozing out of every deadly Psy power! And ...

Sep 30, 2008

Grimmm

Recommended

Preliminary (108/145 chp)

Edited. The story really switched gears so I decided to basically re-write this review.

Story: The story begins with your average high school student who finds a calling card. The card is one of the rumored "Psyren" cards and supposedly people who find and use these cards vanish. Yes, towards the beginning of the series the story is kind of a mix between Gantz and Hunter x Hunter. Gantz in the sense that they teleport to strange worlds, fight bad guys/monsters, and return at random times. And HxH in the sense that they all have their own unique fighting techniques that they're naturally good at (like ...

Jun 23, 2015

lahzor

Recommended

Psyren is a series that I feel is often overlooked by a lot of people due to its lack of popularity. There are a few reasons for this, most of which come from the somewhat confusing plot and story setup. For me, it was a rare type of series that really takes the right sort of mindset to appreciate. I’ll first start on my opinion on the story, which is really the only place I feel the series suffers in some ways.

Story: 7/10

I wouldn’t call the story “bad”, however, it does lack in a few areas that hold it back from being above average. The ... problem here is that it’s hard to tell if Psyren identifies as a seinen or a shounen, as it contains familiar story setups from both types of series. You have the typical training arcs and named attacks that those who read shounens are familiar with, however, it has a mature/complex enough plot to be considered seinen-esque. This is a fairly rare mixture, and while I don’t particularly find and fault with it, it does result in some awkward plot sequences. Obviously I can’t get into much here without spoiling the story, but those familiar with it will probably know what I’m talking about.

Art: 8/10

I don’t really have any problems with the art here; there’s no moe blobs, the characters actually resemble human beings, and the art in general is definitely a step above average. This section of the review is going to be short, because other than saying “it’s above average” there’s not much else to say; it looks good.

Characters: 9/10

After reading the series this is where I feel it shines. Psyren’s character development certainly stands out above other manga. First of all, my opinion of romances that are involved in action manga is simple; either do it right, or don’t do it at all. Fortunately Psyren does it right, and the romantic developments actually amount to something. Not much else to say there. In terms of the character development, I’d say it’s great. I don’t think I can pick out a single character that acts the same way at the start of the series as they did at the end of it, and contrary to other popular series, the characters actually learn from their mistakes.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I’d give the enjoyment a 9/10 here, for me it’s not quite a 10 because there were elements of the story where you kind of had to sit there like “What the… OK then…” and keep reading on. Again, I don’t think it detracts much at all from the reading experience, but I feel like it’s something that I had to note.

Overall: 8/10

An average of the above scores, nothing much else to add here. I’d recommend that if you haven’t read Psyren and you’re OK with seinen elements slipping in to your action series, then give it a try. If you’re wary of that and or don’t like any romance in your reading material; look elsewhere.

Dec 17, 2010

Kazard

Recommended

There are few manga out there that truly deserve the title of "masterpiece," but this is one of them.

-Story-
First off the story is perfectly laid out. There was never a part of the story where things slowed down or failed to grab the reader's interest. The writers managed to draw out the story long enough to really allow the reader to get truly involved in the plot and all it's little twists, without overextending it to the point where things start to become tiresome or overly repetitive.

-Art-
Not much to say here except beautiful, stunning and deserving of the 10's "masterpiece" label. To be a ...

Aug 30, 2015

Keatle

Mixed Feelings

Popularly, the shounen market is known for being over-saturated with the same kind of average stories and not presenting a whole lot of originality. I hate that kind of view, but I have to agree that the definition of Psyren is average,.

Psyren is a shounen manga serialized between 2007 and 2010. It was created, written and illustrated by Toshiaki Iwashiro.

Ageha Yoshina is a high schooler who frequently gets into fights and always wins. After one of his incursions, he passes by a payphone and it starts ringing. He answers the call but can only hear static. When he hangs up, he finds a calling card ... with "Psyren" written on it. The next day, he goes to school and a visually distressed girl, Sakurako Amamiya, forgets her wallet. Ageha picks it up and sees that the girl has the same card. Both of them end up getting involved with the game "Psyren" and uncover some incredibly distressing mysteries.

The beginning of Psyren is very promising, but, after the initial wonder, it becomes awfully predictable, for the most part. With the introduction and defeat of a character in the world of Psyren, it is made awfully clear that it would become a much more predictable story than it first seemed.

It already starts trailing off by the middle. A lot of different characters and concepts are introduced early on just to be forgotten for about 50 chapters, until they suddenly appear again as if nothing had happened.a I have no idea what happened with Ageha's original friends, they just disappeared.

Towards the ends, the unpredictability comes back, but not in a good way. It becomes almost nonsensical, with asspulls left and right. The impressions it gives is that the author got tired of writing Psyren and rushed to end it without thinking too much about it.

The battles, with a couple of exceptions, don't include any type of strategy, they are only based on who is stronger. That is actually pretty sad, as the abilities themselves are pretty imaginative and created a lot of possibilities for better battles. The main character's ability, "Melchee's Door" is truly original and also had a lot of potential, that wasn't fully used.

The cast is pretty big, but most of the characters are pretty well developed. However, there wasn't a single character that had an original personal arc, everything had already been done before. It was pretty easy to see what would happen with each of the characters from their first appearences.

Which brings me to the character design. It also isn't any different than most of other shounens. It is extremely easy to recognize everything about a character with just their design, from abilities to the personal arc. It makes everything extremely easy to predict, taking away any tension.

The art as a whole is pretty, but doesn't have a hint of originality. It is the traditional art for shounens.

Psyren was an extremely boring read to me. I knew what was coming most of the time because of the predictability of the story, which made it lose its edge. When it tried to be different, it became extremely confusing. The characters and their interactions were also pretty standard.

If you are looking for a new shounen to read, it is exactly what you are looking for. Yet, it doesn't offer anything different from all the other hundred shounens.

Jul 19, 2009

Tumerking

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (73/145 chp)

I started reading Psyren for one purpose, and one purpose only. I wanted another Gantz.

STORY: 7/10
The story starts out similar to Gantz. People are teleported away randomly to go fight mosters for some unexplained reason. The only reward being that they may some day be free from the hell (sorta) that is Psyren. Theres different missions and such, and in the beging Psyren was doing great as my "second Gantz". Sadly, the whole thing changed. I'm not going to go into too many details because i hate spoilers and i hate spoiling, but it pretty much turns into any other shounen. People with special ... powers fight monsters to save the world. Can't shounen mangakas ever think of anything else? Story started off at a solid 9, but it dropped dramatically after the first couple volumes. My fingers are crossed that alot of the main characters die off, and the story turns more Gantz-like again.

ART: 5/10
I started off not really liking the art. It grew on me a little bit, but not much. It won't really pull you into the story. It has sort of a bleach feeling to it, but not as terrible. The backgrounds are there, but at times they can be very boring and plain. I'm getting bored just thinking about the art so just know that it's very very bleach-like.

CHARACTER: 3/10
Almost no character development so far. Only 73 chapters have been released, and i'm holding out until chapter 100 before saying theres no character development at all, but for now theres none. At least the characters are a unique bunch. Theres a hot-headed, hero main character, a damsel-in-distress romantic interest, a cool guy, and even a never before seen snikering villian who wants to rule the world.....I'm beging to think theres some sort of "writting shounen for dummies" guide book that all the shounen mangakas read. A shounen bible of sorts. All main characters must never give up! When a main character is about to die just give him a super special awsome power to use just in the knick of time!

...but i digress. Characters are just poor. They're overflowing with genericness.

ENJOYMENT: 5/10
The begining of the manga was so Gantz-like it was like the second comming of Jesus...but Gantz instead of Jesus. I enjoyed the begining a lot. I really did. Where the manga is at now, not so much.

And since good + bad = average, I'll give it an 5. But if Psyren continues with the generic shounen thing it's been doing lately this rating will surely drop even lower.

OVERALL: 5/10
If I were to just rate the begining, i would rate it a well deserved 9. Too bad the mangaka stumbled upon the Shounen bible, and messed it all up. I was this close to having a second Gantz. Well if you like Bleach, One Peice, or generic shounen number 3, then you will like Psyren a lot. It will only get better the more you read. For most others, it will only get worse. Psyren was promising, but it's no Gantz.

Aug 3, 2023

LegendOfMazda

Not Recommended

Well-written

Psyren faces overarching issues, primarily stemming from a lack of build-up and the failure to break away from the typical cookie-cutter approach. Moreover, the villains in the series lack depth, seemingly existing solely for the sake of being evil

CHARACTERS:

If you've seen Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, Beelzebub, Gantz, and Akira you have basically seen all these characters before except they are just 2 dimensional, and trope filled copies.

-Yoshina's character bears a striking resemblance to Ichigo,and Yusuke but without the depth of Zangetsu and dynamic with Toguro/Sensui respectively

-Asaga is portrayed as a "noble thug," evoking memories of Kuwabara from YYH. Similarly he dips from the story for ...

Feb 26, 2015

HakuryuNoKou

Recommended

Alright. To start off, I'm not that good at reviewing, and I haven't read this series in years. I did finish it, though, rest assured(I believe it was still when America was on Vol. 5).

Anyway, first, I'll talk about the story. Truthfully, I thought it was unique, but a little weird as well. At first, it seems like a survival game, but it quickly turns into something else. It changes gears, and when it does, you better buckle your seatbelt. All in all, the story was good enough to get me to rush through all the chapters, in a matter of months. The ...

Aug 15, 2012

XclanOrigin

Recommended

Psyren is one of the best mangas I've ever read.

Story: The story starts simple enough and gradually changes into a more complicated and deep story, but the pace in which it changes is good as it doesn't arouse any confusion.

Art: The art fits perfectly with the story, serious when needed and light & funny when needed.

Characters: Each character has their own personality, so there aren't any recycled personalities. Also the designs fit perfectly with their personality.

Psyren is a truly perfect manga throughout the story and would also make an awesome anime; I've enjoyed it enough to read it twice and highly recommend anyone to read ...

Jan 19, 2014

HaseoGU

Recommended

I am excited to have discovered this website! This is my first review, so I apologize if whoever reads this gets bored with it!

Psyren is by far my favorite manga series to date. This series has elements of almost anything a manga reader could ask for (excluding hentai, Yaoi, Yuri, etc.).

STORY
The story for Psyren is absolutely outstanding. It has all the action, romance, drama, and feels that one could ask for! The setting of the story is by far one of the best: Future Post-Apocalyptic Japan. The way the characters developed was very cool and their individual powers were as well very ...

Dec 15, 2020

The_Brave_Frog

Recommended

Psyren is one of the most unique and mature series I have read from Shonen Jump. With a creative premise and fast paced yet methodical battle system. Sadly however, like many Jump manga this one was rushed due to the unpopularity and low physical manga sales resulting in the manga coming to an abrupt end.

The story focuses on a boy named Ageha Yoshina who after witnessing his elementary friend Sakurako Amamiya disappear decides to investigate in the strange game called Psyren. After arriving in the world of the game he discovers that the massive wasteland he was transported to is ... actually the future of Japan. Together with his companions, Ageha must find a way to prevent this future destruction from occurring using his new abelites of PSI.

The mystery presented makes for an engaging read, as new details unfold of the coming downfall of the world. This allows for slow build up of events and characters as the coming dread of the end slowly creeps up on them. This is accomplished due to the limited time and rules place on them by the seemingly omnipotent figure named Nemesis Q. Q makes it harder for the group to accomplish their goals. This is due to the rule that anything talked about in the present about Psyren will turn that person to ash instantly killing them. The rule makes the series more tense, since the group cannot tell the people who are in danger of the coming travesty about to befall them. Leading to a griping narrative where the truth of the world is left with only a small group of people fighting to change the future.

Like many Shonen manga this one contains many high action battles, and Psyren does not disappoint in this department. The fights are based on a PSI system specifically three types called rise, burst and trance. Rise, boosts the power of a persons senses and reflexes giving them greater speed, strength and awareness of their surroundings, Burst, allows the user to create mental images and turn them into psychical things like fire or a weapon. Trance is the manipulation of another destroying them mentally or controlling their senses or even body. These three types can also be combined leading to some compelling action scenes that fully utilize the ideas of the systems potential.

Even though Psyren presented a compelling story and great action the series was rushed due to low readership. Due to this, many of the setups presented in the beginning either never came back or were gone over with little explanation in order to give the series an ending. Many new characters and abilities are also thrown in in order to give the manga an ending before it was pulled from the Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine. This sadly lead to a rather lackluster ending which didn't fully deliver on the ideas presented in previous chapters.

However, Psyren is still an amazing manga. Many of its faults were due to the competitive scene of manga creation and the sad reality that many amazing series fall into. Even with this Psyren still is able to deliver a more mature and unique story with themes of incoming devastation due to the treatment of those different from regular people. I hope many more people read and enjoy Psyren and maybe one day we can see a truly realized version of this story.

Oct 18, 2021

DeltaWDarko

Mixed Feelings

Sometimes I read an obscure manga on the off chance that it may be something interesting, and while Psyren was alright, it's far from a hidden gem. It's more like finding a penny on the ground. Sure, you got something out of it, but not much.

The story starts with an interesting mystery, and while not earth-shattering, the twists and turns are enough to keep you invested. In fact, the plot was interesting enough to keep me going to the end, and was pretty good to the end. It was cool to see how actions in one world effected the other.

The characters are the real problem. ...

Jun 1, 2009

mwp2010

Recommended

Preliminary (72/145 chp)

Story: At first, the story seems like a typical shonen. A guy who spends his time fulfilling requests and doing various jobs gets sucked into a game run by the character Nemesis Q where he is teleported along with several others to a world where people gain supernatural powers and fight monsters. I admit that this plot sucks so far, but you must read on for the plot to develop. The plot develops rapidly after the main characters find out the secret to this other world and it becomes a legit save the world scenario. (I give this a 10)

Art: I typically don't pay attention ...

Feb 16, 2020

MaliTigar

Not Recommended

Funny

I'm surprised that people actually gave this P.O.S. anything higher than 4.

Psyren starts off pretty good but ends up terrible.

Story:

Pretty generic story where MC has to save the world. Not only does it have no originality, it was also hella rushed in second half of the manga.

Art:

...

Jun 4, 2017

B_Raiden_

Recommended

I like to keep my reviews nice and short, I dont often make refers but i had to after finishing Psyren.

Story: Read the synopsis. I liked the story it was very straight forward nothing to complicated but I believed that the creators linked all the characters/events together nicely.

Art: Not much to say here, good for a manga.

Character: Ah without going into depth the charcters worked together well, all the main/side characters got development and the relationships between everyone was well put.

Enjoyment: At first it was a bit slow but hey most anime/manga are. As i progressed through I was at work and couldn't help myself ...

Apr 24, 2017

RewriteGonnaSuck

Recommended

This could have been a 10 a legendary, but lackluster ending ruining it, like it. Feel like a forced end, so suddenly with many thing feel somehow unresolved or just end for the sake of ending it.

But like i said it overall still a very good manga, beat the average that for sure. I would like to end the review now but MAL want a longer one

So Psyren is about a group of colorful well written and Unique character, you will like everyone of them even the bad guys too,

The art is good even in the begining

The Story is about Time Travel, ...

Dec 25, 2020

Daniel_Pezzi

Recommended

Psyren stands out from its 'long-running' battle shounen contemporaries by being relatively short. At 145 chapters Psyren tells a complete (albeit rushed at the end) narrative that accomplishes everything it sets out to do. There is not much Psyren does extraordinarily well, the art at times can be spectacular and character designs are excellent and some of the plot twists are well handled, but for the most part the series is just solid. Luckily it makes no egregious errors which is why the score is relatively high compared to my faint praise so far.

The power system is Togashi-esque with a baseline amount of abilities everyone ...

Sep 23, 2021

teky1123

Recommended

PSYREN is the shounen manga that I enjoyed the most.
Nobody in 2007-10 was ready for Psyren. The premise is amazing, has a very rare interesting mystery type aspect. Power scaling and controlling systems are very logical. MC is freaking cool, realistic and he doesn't mind manning up facing the problem. Story is well written, pacing is balanced, all characters very fascinating.

Please just give it a go you wont regret.

WHY IT ISN'T POPULAR:
Psyren came up against Bleach, Naruto and One Piece during it’s run. You would have to be mad, even if you don’t like them, to disagree that those are three massive titles to ...

Apr 2, 2022

ANreW

Recommended

Well this is my first review so take everything i say with a grain of salt.

Anyways i read this manga in my local library ages ago when i wasn't in to anime and i thought with my 14 year old brain that is was truly a masterpiece . Now that i have read many other manga that were really the definition of a masterpiece ( Berserk , Vagabond...)
i have to say that is as good as an average Shonen can get. I really liked the story in the beginning tho i felt like it got really complicated and all over the place really quick. ...

Jul 30, 2021

CrystalMountain

Recommended

Spoilerless review:

Psyren is a typical shonen ,but had the potential to be a pretty well known one.Why did it not? I really do not know the answer to this question.

Story:
Story is probably its strongest point .Although it's not something extremely unique, it manages to keep the average reader's interest thorough the whole series.Of course it had its flaws ,but overall I really liked the plot.

Art:
The art was nice and clean and it evolves as the series progresses especially at the last arc

...