[no spoilers]
My preliminary thoughts: This is a nice manga - strong story, excellent art - that is betrayed by its terrible pacing. These are issues easily resolved by any future anime adaptation - if this story ever gets one. It is above average, with the potential to grow into something truly outstanding. Nevertheless, its pacing, left unresolved, could prove ruinous to Centuria's memorability and quality.
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[spoilers begin here]
The story that Centuria wants to tell is excellent. Our main character, Julian, is sold into slavery by his mother. He learns genuine affection and love from a handful of strangers he meets for the first time, before
...
seeing them all killed before his eyes. He is then forced to raise a child on his own; at the same time, he has to grapple with the trauma he has received, and attempt to grow into a better person. That is a fantastic premise. And indeed, the author does spend time nurturing such topics. Julian is forced to ask why he should keep on living. He is forced to ask why he should fight to protect those around him. And Centuria shows (and tells, to an extent), to the reader that strength should be used for justice. There are many other plot points set up throughout the series that are used to great effect in illustrating the mangaka, Kuramori's own worldview. Beyond that, the fight scenes are the main bulk of Centuria, and these do not overstay their welcome, taking just the right amount of time to begin and conclude, and utilizing strong direction to create compelling panels.
However, the strength of Centuria's story is utterly betrayed by its pacing issues. The manga rushes through two critical aspects of this story: the beginning, and character moments.
Within the story, Julian does not spend much time with these characters. That is fine: their empathy and kindness to Julian is what changes him so rapidly, and it speaks to the power that kindness holds within the world of Centuria. But readers may not find Julian's character change compelling, so the manga should spend more time establishing the kindness of these slaves, the gradual change in Julian's perspective as a result, and the bonds it forges between the two parties. Investing the audience in Julian's relationship with the slaves also increases the emotional impact for the audience every time one of their lives are lost. This is doubly important, since their lives are lost - again - every time Julian's powers are triggered. Yet, for how pivotal of a plot point Julian's interaction with the slaves are, we are given just one chapter to establish the empathy and kindness of the slaves on board Julian's ship, before they perish. We have no connection to almost all of the individual slaves before they die; as such, the emotional impact that we feel as an audience the next time a slave will die is next to none. We have so little time with these characters that their death, foreshadowed as it is by the manga's blurb, does not feel very painful beyond a dull sadness. Arguably, this is wasted potential, to first enhance the strength of Centuria's core message about empathy and kindness by showing Julian's change of heart, as well as to elicit a stronger feeling of shock and sorrow on the part of the audience. This could also allow Julian to question the value of empathizing with others if they will just die in the end and bring great sorrow to oneself, so should we even try to empathize? This is wasted potential and messaging that the manga has, for now, never brought up. Finally, a reviewer argued about the failure of audience expectations the opening sets up, and while I personally did not feel it was eldritch horror, such a dissonance in audience perceptions could have been solved by lengthening the opening and emphasizing the kindness of these slaves in such a cruel world.
And the lack of character moments produces substantial wasted potential. We spend so little time with side characters outside of important plot moments that our emotional investment in side characters is hurt as a result. I've talked about the slaves just now, which is a perfect representation of all this, but another equally good example is that of Angvall. Angvall is a fascinatingly compelling character, a former warrior and champion of the Empire who walked away from war to give her foster daughter a life of peace and happiness; someone who draws strength from protecting those they love. She is someone who grapples with the horrors of war she has lived through, something we see in chapter 19, in a flashback...
You see, this is one of Centuria's most questionable decisions. All we see of characters is in moments of crisis and - bafflingly - in awkwardly handled flashback sequences that interrupt dramatic pacing. Chapter 15 is a good illustration of this: as Angvall faces off against Julian, the villagers are forced to take a side in regards to who they support. Their bond with Julian is what makes them intervene on his side, a powerful moment except... their bond with Julian is shown through a flashback at that exact moment that saps out any dramatic tension in the scene, feeling awkward and ham-fisted as a result. Having those flashbacks occur earlier would not only strengthen the dramatic pacing of the story, but also establish the characters' (especially Julian's) relationships with the rest of the community he lives within, investing the audience in the choices and dilemmas of the characters, and giving weight and emphasis to the kindness of Centuria's world. When sacrifice ineveitably arrives, this development and investment would have produced far stronger visceral emotion in the audience as a result.
It's not that I wasn't sad or happy when Kuramori wanted me to be -- but it was a superficial and fleeting sort of emotion. The same applies for the writing. The audience is catapulted from one action-packed scene to the next, and significant stretches of time - crucial for establishing character and relationships that this story desperately needs to thrive - is hurried along. We get a six month timeskip in Chapter 4, which is further wasted opportunity to establish and strengthen the relationship between this arc's trio of characters; Julian, Angvall and Titi. In fact, this would have been an excellent position to place the aforementioned flashback starring Angvaal. The passage of time could then be portrayed through the seasons.
Is this unexpected? Considering that Centuria is published in Shonen Jump, Kuramori probably believes that the teenage boys he is marketing this manga towards won't be gripped without action-packed chapters. The rushed pacing makes sense within this context - and seeing as how other reviews on MAL expressed praise for the "fantastic pacing", it seems like this was a good call on Kuramori's part. Yet, the soil that Kuramori works on is parched, with only sparse scenes of emotional connection. The potential of this manga is severely hampered as a result.
Another small weakness with Centuria is its worldbuilding. The worldbuilding features eldritch horror and a soft magic system, but does not make truly effective use of these narrative devices.
Now I love worldbuilding, and I can't blame Kuramori for wanting to showcase the world he developed for the story. Indeed, the eldritch creatures are excellent in their design and atmosphere. The forest eldritch creature with seven wolfs heads is an utterly fantastic design, exuding menace and defying imagination. The magic system is a unique take on the pact-creation style of magical systems - pacts created with eldritch creatures can grant incredible powers, but powers of a diluted form can also be passed down to descendants. Its limited (currently displayed) extent gives it a distinct identity that stands out from other magic systems. However, neither of these aspects add additional thematic resonance to the story - eldritch creatures don't appear to have a consistent character trait beyond a general mysteriousness, making them rather replaceable in terms of being "eldritch creatures". Meanwhile, the magic system does not add significant character depth to the characters within the story, and are merely strong individual ideas. Arkos being able to blow people apart, and his manipulation of water, is a smart power that makes for excellent fight scenes (e.g. chapter 24, where Arkos "revives" himself using his mastery of the power), but his ability to control water does not say anything about himself as a person. The same applies to the shape-shifting powers of Lacrima. Yes, these are interesting ideas for characters, but there is missed potential in additional characterization potential.
Speaking of fight scenes, one of Centuria's strengths is its art - fantastic from the outset, with strong, bold lines and crisp display of movement. I was never confused about what was happening during fight scenes, with strong direction certainly aiding in this. Chapter 24 is a good example of this: Arkos manipulates the rain to create powerful blasts of compressed water, and their speed and destructive power is made clear to see through the motion blur and the trees they fell with ease. The character design is also solid, with easily distinguishable and memorable characters that I had no trouble following.
I believe that the issues I have with its pacing and worldbuilding may not necessarily hold up in the future - the recent chapters especially have been giving Lacrima enough time to breathe and develop as her own person, which is certainly welcome. (Assuming chapter 37 doesn't derail the entire thing... see, it's the pacing issue again, we aren't shown why Lacrima would want to f*ck Julian so it comes off incredibly unexpected; anyway--) The worldbuilding has also been placing less focus on eldritch beings and more on the human side of things, which has sown seeds of political drama for future development, e.g. with the Empire and its royal family as well as the Sorceresses. Other tiny nitpicks I have, such as the unimaginative paneling, also have the potential to improve. I haven't actually read Vinland Saga and am only 4 episodes deep as of writing, so I cannot say how similar Centuria is to Vinland Saga, but my initial impression suggests they are extremely similar; discussing the quest for vengeance, the journey to see the goodness in the world and the struggle of loving oneself. If my impression is indeed correct, then Vinland Saga might be something more worth your time. (Also Centuria could have examined the difficulties of parenting by someone who is deeply flawed and broken COME ON this is valuable life lessons for them kids!)
Overall, the budding story of Centuria presents potential to grow into a truly magnificent and grand tale, and while certain flaws have stymied the growth of its story, there is ample potential for it to mature into a far stronger and more compelling work -- as well as for any anime that attempts to adapt this story. While the conceptual vision for such an adaptation must be of tremendously high quality, such editing of this series' pacing issues would create a stronger, healthier and evergreen saga that could be truly timeless. That said, Centuria does have its fair share of issues; furthermore, it does not exist in a vacuum, and when Centuria's competition is something as critically acclaimed and beloved as Vinland Saga, Centuria's argument for existence becomes difficult indeed. Only time will tell whether Centuria's efforts will pay fruit.
Mar 14, 2025
[no spoilers]
My preliminary thoughts: This is a nice manga - strong story, excellent art - that is betrayed by its terrible pacing. These are issues easily resolved by any future anime adaptation - if this story ever gets one. It is above average, with the potential to grow into something truly outstanding. Nevertheless, its pacing, left unresolved, could prove ruinous to Centuria's memorability and quality. --- [spoilers begin here] The story that Centuria wants to tell is excellent. Our main character, Julian, is sold into slavery by his mother. He learns genuine affection and love from a handful of strangers he meets for the first time, before ... 
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Plastic Memories is not interested in questions of robot-human interaction and its consequences, or any question of technology even. What it instead wishes to discuss is the question of "Knowing our limited lifespan, how should we live?" More specifically, the show focuses on two questions: "How should we spend our final days?" and "How do we say goodbye?" In trying to answer these two questions, Plastic Memories creates a compelling message to live life to the fullest, however that may be.
It's not a perfect show. Particularly exasperating is the pacing, which oftentimes focuses a large amount of time ensuring each character's opinion is voiced and ... |
