Splatoon

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Let me be clear. This isn't a good manga by almost any means.

Story: It's pretty confusing with the characters just seeming to zip around doing whatever they feel like whenever they feel like and winning most battles purely off of being too stupid to function.
They'll go through things in the game although very out of order and the manga does cross over to both games.
Arcs often end in just a few chapters and can be hard to follow due to the frenetic pace. I will compliment the Emperor arc for having some nice character drama and dramatic tension (even if the motivations following said drama ... were kind of dumb) although it doesn't really get that serious. It's a silly, silly story. Don't go in expecting it to be any more serious than your average comedy anime.

I also wondered how they would be able to advance after fighting the X rank and second hero campaign. And that is by pulling random stuff from nowhere that's not even in the game as we wait for Splatoon 3 (shadow clones and stamp rallies?? lol.)

Art: Cute, expressive art that translates the characters really well. Very pretty.

Character: A lot of them are total loser idiots and none of them are all that dimensional or fleshed out but I'd be surprised if you didn't find every single one enjoyable. And there are a LOT of characters. Even things you'd expect to be one off battles (ex: the team who hates getting dirty) just keep coming back.

They all have names such as "Goggles" or "Glasses" or "Headphones", most of them are based from the gear they are wearing. You can really see the innovation and creativity brimming from these (not at all stupid) names.

Enjoyment: Despite it's not goodness, I was able to enjoy this a lot. Probably way more than I should have. It's a 5/10 but I enjoy it like it's a straight 10. Plus my humor is broken and therefore I find it very funny.

Overall: Cute and funny manga to turn your brain off to (might end up smoothing it over though). It has more of a fanbase than it probably deserves.

This is a great manga!....if your a fan of the original game that is....

I feel like manga adaptations for video games have two jobs, the first one is too take the same energy or enjoyment from the game and put it into a manga format. The second one is to be able to enjoy the manga without having to play the original game. A perfect example of this is the Persona 5 manga by Hisato Murasaki.
The splatoon manga does a great job with the first point, but I can’t say the same thing for the ... second one...
I honestly don’t see anyone enjoying this manga if you haven’t played any of the splatoon games.

Before reading this review, please note that I've only read up to the first chapter of volume 2 of the manga. I would've dropped it after the first volume, but I stupidly bought the first three without knowing how bad this series is. I just picked them up because I'm a fan of the games, and I wish I didn't waste my money on it.

Story: 2/10.
From what I can tell so far, there is barely any story in this manga. All it is is team blue having turf wars against various people who's names I don't care to remember because they're so forgettable, getting their ... butts kicked and then magically winning because... something something, power of friendship. I get that it's based off of a fairly simple game, but if you're going to do a simple story that relies on the same gimmick over and over again, at least do it right. The pacing is also so rushed that I can barely keep track of what's going on. The pacing is appalling, and the story jumps around so much that it's impossible to follow.

Art: 7/10.
I'm all for giving credit where credit is due - the art style of the manga is good. I like it. It's cute and dynamic and captures the feel of the game it's based off of near perfectly.

Character: 2/10.
Well, at least there are characters... boring tropey ones that have one personality trait, not even that sometimes, and experience no growth or development, sure, but at least there are characters. Seriously though, there is not a single character in this manga who I can stand. The main character, Goggles, makes me want to scream most of the time, Bobble Hat is basically a carbon copy of him but female, and the rest of them are so forgettable I can't remember a single thing about them, let alone their names.

Enjoyment: 1/10.
Every second I spend reading this manga is a second I am never going to get back, and I am so genuinely upset about that. I've never felt as if I've wasted my time more. I'm only continuing to the end of the third volume so I can get my money's worth out of this trashy series, and then I'm never touching them again. Picking up this series is one of my biggest regrets.

Overall: 1/10.
Seriously, there are plenty of amazing manga series you could read instead of this one. Go read literally anything else.