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(Português abaixo)

What initially seems like a Ghost in the Shell for edgy teenagers turns out to have a lot of development and showcase its own distinct identity after threading through the initial introductions phase. Here we end up having a great variety of episodes with fascinating stories and often times told in a non-linear fashion or even just in a more creative manner, all the while respecting the audience's mental faculties.

Some of the themes and design choices in Ergo Proxy seem to point towards a younger audience (~16yos?) however nowadays you'd be hard-pressed to find something done like this for that audience, without constant hand-holding ... for explanations. I greatly appreciated the unexpected need to think and pay attention to the various documents and texts that cross the screen without any fanfare in the background, but which end up holding valuable information about what is happening in the world and in the various individual stories of the characters. Another point of value in this series is that not only it has characters with faults, but it's also not afraid to explore these issues within them and even accepting them as an integral part of the character, for the better or worse.
In short, I came here for the handsome monster screenshots, stayed for the intriguing story, vast and fascinating world, and surreal episodes.
If you're a true Dark Souls fan who loves wondrous colours like grey and brown: you'll love this.

--PT--
O que inicialmente parece um Ghost in the Shell para adolescentes mais edgy acaba por crescer bastante e ter a sua própria identidade distinta após ultrapassar a fase inicial das introduções. Uma boa variedade de episódios com histórias fascinantes e muitas vezes contadas não-linearmente ou apenas mais criativamente, e com muito respeito ao discernimento da audiência.

Alguns temas e escolhas de design ou apresentação parecem indicar uma audiência jovem (~16 anos?) no entanto nos dias de hoje dificilmente verias algo para tal audiência feito assim, sem nunca dar a mãozinha com explicações. Apreciei bastante a inesperada necessidade de pensar e prestar atenção aos vários documentos e textos que passam pelo ecrã sem qualquer pompa nem circunstância mas que acabam por ter informações valiosas sobre o que se está a passar no mundo e nas várias histórias individuais das personagens.
Outro ponto de valor foi não só ter personagens com falhas de carácter, mas também não ter medo de explorar essas falhas e até aceitá-las como parte integral da personagem, para o bem e para o mal.
Enfim, apareci por cá pelas screenshots do monstro fixe, permaneci pela história intrigante, mundo vasto e fascinante, e episódios surreais. Se fores um verdadeiro fã de Dark Souls que adora cores mirabolantes como cinzento e castanho: vais adorar.

Despite this being a comedy manga about really dumb badasses partaking in nonsensical jokes, written by someone whose music tastes would probably make him friends with Araki, I couldn't help but being occasionally reminded of Blue Spring while reading it.

It starts off really well with a lot of unexplained hilarious incidents, things like the school having a mute Freddie (Mercury) character, but that sentiment wears off along the way as, at 17 volumes, Cromartie just missed its chance to end. Over-repetition of jokes, more and more additions to the cast, plot points that are completely forgotten (whatever happened to the sumo club guys?), there was ... even an entire volume dedicated to a planet of the apes rip-off!
I really commend the author for managing to make 17 fucking volumes of gags in a setting with absolutely no plot and no sense of GETTING ANYWHERE. That shit's hard. But at the same time, there was a lot of boring stuff (lol) along the way.

When I was in the first half of this series I wrote "The wide cast of characters in tandem with the nonsensical nature of this manga allows for some good joke variety. I mean, I can read almost a full volume of this in a row and not get tired, unlike other comedy series which, no matter how good they are, keep repeating the same jokes with only a handful of different characters." I suppose I was thinking of The Way Of The Househusband as a comparison. In truth I generally am not a big fan of comedy.
But the thing is, while that was true at the beginning, I'm not so sure it held up towards the end. It did start to feel like the same jokes were repeating over and over again, especially when it came to Fujimoto. Somehow the mascot trick still worked even at that point and Banchou-san was a delight, but it didn't save the series.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the uniqueness of Cromartie High School. The occasional jokes that left you wondering "hold up, is this meant to be a comment at the series itself?", and other meta moments were great (loved the story about the second masked guy showing up!). The decision to completely ditch the main plot in the first handful of chapters was very powerful. And the chapters about the author himself always brought a fun change of setting.

I'd say it's worth checking out!

Volumes 1-23 review: 4/5
This is probably my 3rd time reading through the whole series (counting with the webcomic). ONE once again delivers a great story with very good humour and, this time, with some complex world-building and a much wider cast of characters. Combine all that with Murata's great art and intense desire to make 90% of the characters as sexy as he can and it can only be a good manga.
Do I wish that the panelling was more varied? Do I prefer some aspects of the webcomic over the manga? Do I take offence at all the fanboys raving about how Murata is the ... best artist ever? Yes, yes, and yes, but in the end this is still a very good adaptation and I'm immensely glad that ONE got the chance to invest more in expanding this world through the manga.

Now this is a true romantic tragedy. Marie Antoinette's end is widely known, and yet as you read through this historic drama you'll often forget the looming dark clouds over her and Fersen. The addition of another main character, Lady Oscar (good luck not being charmed by her) with her own love story ends up working as a parallel to the queen's life. Another person who can't follow the desires of the heart, but unlike the queen she has more freedom, having grown up as a man, and ultimately following the revolution through another lens.
I used to watch the anime with my mum when I ... was really young, it was one of those late evening series. Yes, the drama can get repetitive but for me it was truly moving to finally read Rose of Versailles and experience such an emotional tale.

Gorgeous art and a great way to revisit and revamp concepts, characters, and places from previous JoJo parts (you could probably explain most of JoJolion with JoJo callbacks).

In JoJolion almost all of the stands are quite simple, with no time bs or super convoluted powers that need some 6 chapters of "who shot johnny?". Up until the last 10 chapters or so, everyone has a stand that follows simple rules (JoJo's may be an exception because of the usual "make it up as you go" Araki style but it's not too bad). And so every fight is about finding the weakness of your opponent or ... getting away until you have a better match-up.
Because this is Morioh, we're back to more average people like part 4. There's really no fighting for "honour" or some "great cause", no "true man's world"... these are normal people trying to help their family members, get revenge on someone, get rich, etc. They do normal relationship stuff, they go to the hospital, care for a son, bet a golden Lamborghini on a beetle fight, you know? They feel much more like normal people than living allegories or concepts, which is what I felt about many characters of previous parts. One thing is not better than the other but it sure is a refreshing change.
Additionally, it's nice to see JJBA take on other types of more mature themes. No don't worry this isn't "everyone has a tragic rape backstory" 2.0, but it's like, there's references to porn, and we see/hear of some intimate bits of relationships. Also, this is probably the most nuanced JoJo when it comes to having a love interest. In parts 1,2 the girl was mostly a plot point or an afterthought, here genderbent Koichi is an important character with her own growth.
Loved the Higashikata family dynamics and lastly, Soft & Wet looks like a good boy and I lost my shit when it brutally murdered a woman with a shovel.

Souichi's a godawful brat but he's also quite the interesting character. He's got the whims of a kid and he's not the good guy, two things which aren't common for a Ito-sensei MC. I couldn't even really dislike him because he'd occasionally just be relatable.

In addition, he's a character we've already met in Voices In The Dark and New Voices In The Dark even though it was under.... different circumstances, let's leave it at that.

Again, Ito-sensei manages to mix comedy into his horror! Reading episodes of the lives of a family and classroom where there's this weirdo kid who really believes he can put curses ... on people, with a bit of the otherworldly added in for drama, was very enjoyable.

I especially like the "terrifying inhuman model" character, Fuchi. Seeing her here explains her appearance in the Voices In The Dark books I guess. I really wish we could learn more about her? Like, how did she get into that magazine even? Why exactly does Souichi imagine himself marrying her in the other books? Because from the cliffhanger endings of the stories here you wouldn't be blamed if you believed she killed him.

Long time reader, volumes 1-31 review: 4/5
Black Butler has been a guilty pleasure of mine for many many years. The premise is of a kid in the victorian era, Ciel, who was kidnapped and tortured, his family murdered, his estate burned to the ground. And, when his kidnappers sacrifice him to summon a demon, said demon forms a lifelong contract with Ciel, where he'll do anything Ciel wants as long as he stays on the path of revenge. When Ciel gets revenge on his torturers, his soul will be eaten. Fairly interesting, right?

Throughout the years, the story has had many arcs, some more comedic, some ... more serious, some with... dubious content choices (a boy band arc? really? in victorian england???). But let's be fair, a lot of people got into this by sheer desire of wanting to see pretty people do cool things. And that we surely keep getting. Additionally, Toboso's art has only gotten better, less stylized, more detailed. Clothing and backgrounds are just as gorgeous as everyone's favourite demon butler.

Lately the story has kept a more serious tone and gotten more complicated (which I love!). There might even be an ending in sight.

Volumes 1-6.80 review: 4.5/5
This is a great series about a spy who needs to have a fake wife and daughter for a very important long-term mission. Agent Twilight ends up adopting a little girl, Anya, (who's secretly a telepath and thought having a spy dad was the shit) and has a sham marriage with Yor (who's secretly an assassin and wanted to blend in with her peers better, remaining single would eventually be suspicious).
Neither of them tells the others about their secret identities and so only little Anya knows what's up.

In fact, a lot of the story is told from her POV as she's made ... to go to some prestigious school so that Twilight can have an excuse to approach his target. A lot of the drama in this series is what I'd call people drama, it's kind of a slice of life. Anya has troubles at school, Twilight/Loid has to fake being married while undertaking side-missions all the time, Yor tries to become a good wife while secretly carrying out her commissions.

The art style is great, it's emotive, it's stylized, many of the characters look like caricatures in the style of Dishonored. The setting seems to be something based on cold war era centre/eastern europe? The whole thing is very wholesome and light-hearted. A lot of the politics and spy issues are played for laughs and even if characters talk about the horrors of war in more serious moments, we never dwell on that too much.

Really looking forward to seeing where this series will go. And the best part? You can read it as it comes out on Manga PLUS for free.

Long time reader, volumes 01-26 review: 4/5
I really like Kato's style, the world she came up with here, the lore, the character development throughout time. But especially her style. I remember being a teen and going "wow this is so cool! Look at the way the demons look! Omg the landscapes and buildings are amazing!". To be honest, that feeling still stands as of today.
As usual, following the series as it comes out ends up being confusing, especially when it has so many side character with interconnected stories (main reason I'm not giving this 5/5, I just can't remember where some of my issues with ... the story come from). There's still no clear ending in sight but the ride has sure been worth it. Have I talked about how you follow the growth of a bunch of people here? How some of them have their edges smoothed as they mature? How some, outcasts since early on, find friends to rely on? I want to see where Kato is going to take this.

Volumes 1-4 review: 3.5/5
Some of the fanservice early on rubbed me the wrong way, and it's so far hard to tell where this story is going (if anywhere). So far it's mostly a slice of life, while some things imply some sort of overarching plot going on.
The concept however is fucking great. This teen girl can see all sorts of dangerous(?) and powerful spirits, which no one can, and she's absolutely terrified, but she tries to pretend everything's fine in hopes that the spirits will not harm her. Occasionally she gets to help others out in matters of lost family members and there's some heart-warming ... moments but mostly this poor girl is just suffering and trying to find help.