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Episode of Bardock is a manga based out of the Dragon Ball Heroes card game.
The story follows a what if scenario where Bardock deosn't perish but is instead catapulted to the past.
Now, I had already known about the story because it has an animated adaptation, also titled Episode Bardock.
All I can say is, if you really care about this, go watch the animated episode, everything the manga does the anime does better: the animation makes the fights look good and Bardock more powerful, the anime style is way closer to typical Dragon Ball than the manga and the Super Saiyan transformation is dealt with leagues ... better there.
It's not a bad manga but it felt very amateurish with an artist that was desperately trying to draw "like Dragon Ball".

I was not expecting getting so into it but "I Raised a Black Dragon" is actually very enjoyable.
Unlike what you would guess when reading the title. Mu's dragon form does not appear often and in fact the whole dragon thing takes a back seat quickly in order to give more power to Noah and her character.
The dynamic is fun to read and the MC is very independent, the guy is ok and I enjoyed how, being adults, they are not sheeping about what they are feeling.
The art is also amazing.
A bit of a shame that it was so short and didn't even show us a ... kiss, but it's a nice series nonetheless

It was honestly a while since I stumbled into a forgettable manga like this.
The designs are mid with the best one being the editor, the story is just one cliche after the other without really using the story as an avenue to show how manga is done (which could have made the series even slightly more interesting), the art is not bad but the fanservice falls a bit flat, the characters are just their gimmick and that's it and the only reason I finished it was because it was only 21 chapters.
I don't recommend reading it unless you, like me, have time to kill and ... want something that you can read without retaining anything of it.

The premise of the series is actually quite nice and endearing, with the main character being a guy who likes cute things and, in the end, prefers to dress as a girl.
The series tackles love and gender norms and it is quite nice with some good humour, but after episode 5 I just... felt like it could be better; I can't say how, it was just a feeling.
The animation overall is ok and the artstyle is cute, I especially like the chibi versions of them, they feel very "I just drew these doodles quickly" which accentuates the humour they are used in.

For sure this will ... be enjoyed by some, that's why I recommend giving it at least a try, it just didn't get me to watch it through the end.

I'm writing this review at home having just returned from the cinema I went to watch the movie in.
Overall, it's the best presentation of the SEED universe: the mobile suits look great, the animation is on point and there are tons of fun references especially in the last battle.
Being a true SEED product, while the politics are interesting the plot is mainly pushed forward by melodrama and love triangles; I'm not complaining since it's one of SEED's main selling points but after Iron Blooded Orphans and Witch From Mercury I kinda forgot Gundam also had this side to it.
The plot works, although some fanservice-cy shots ... could have been omitted (still no clue how we got giggle physics for Lacus on the only skin tight pilot suit) and it really is a fun movie for those who liked SEED and SEED Destiny.

Ah Bleach, bought the first 3 volumes when I was 13 and left it because I was not into it.
I caved in more than 10 years later though and I got a great treat.
Bleach is a great shonen, one with incredible battles, beautiful artwork and a good narrative that flows from one Arc to the next.
My favourtie thing about it is the art progression Kubo had between when he first started drawing "Strawberry" and when he last did; the change in artstyle did not extend to how the characters act though. As much as it pains me to say it, no character actually changes or ... grows, the only changes are in their power, their battle prowess, or the way they look.
I had fun with all arc except maybe for the Fullbring Arc, not a bad arc but one that at times felt like a complicated way to give Ichigo his powers back; my favourite of the manga is by far the arc where they get to Soul Society for Rukia, quickly followed by the 1000 Year War itself. The battle against the Espadas was good, but with the funky use of spanish as the main culprit of me not being able to take certain moments seriously I came to appreciate the other two arcs more.
The characters, while not growing, are fun to read and follow; I was happy when Rukia was accepted by her brother and also when Orihime got her moment to fight alongside Ichigo.
Unlike series like Naruto where you can see some cracks, the pieces of the puzzle that make the Bleach world actually fit quite well and everything seems thought of, even the Fullbringers.
I worthwhile read that got me to appreciate and understand a series I had not given a proper chance; now I know why you where up there with the other two members of the Big Three.
As I wait in anticipation for the sequel with their kids (it seems like that is the fate of all Big Three, with Bleach and Naruto following that route and One Piece the only one remaining) I bid farewell to the last of the Big Three shonen.
You earned that place.
Goodbye Bleach, it was a fun ride

It's a fun, 2 volume shonen with nothing out of the ordinary. Both the story and the characters follow classic tropes but that is not a bad thing.
As always, Horikoshi's art is very nice to look at and I personally liked seeing how this art style got to the MHA version.
Now, the problem with this manga is that there is not much to say about it but MAL won't let me publish the review without more words so I am just fluffing it out for the heck of it.

If you want to have a bit of fun and don't want to read a long series, ... definitely give this a try.

Despair Memory Gundam is not what I thought I would get out of a Gundam spin-off.

Set in who knows what continuity of Gundam, a group of prisoners are sent to explore a 700 year old colony that, after being made to drift in space, recently got back into the earth's orbit.
Entering it, they realise the colony has not been abandoned and the inhabitants, thought killed by a gas poisoning, were alive and kicking, having 3 major factions all of them continously in a cold war with one another.
The cold war becomes hotter with each chapters as the different factions move and we follow not only ... the alien prisoners, but the main girl Kaoris, pilot of the Gundam Minerva.
The series takes its time in setting up the plot, with the telling of the melting of the Gundams and the genocide of the Newtypes, to the point that it could have been a completely separate story for all I knew up until chapter 11, where suddenly Mobile Suits appear; it feels kind of wrong, for a series that started about single people doing crime work to suddenly show these titanic machines.
The character designs are ok, with the better one being Kaoris; the mobile suits are well drawn, especially the different Gundams, but some panels do feel a bit iffy.
The story moves at its own pace with Kaoris discovering things about her past practically every chapter, seeming like she cares and then next chapter reverting back to her "i'm a killer gun for hire asshole" vibe; I love the vibe, but they break it up so much with moment like the one with her "father" that the characters stops working for me.

Chapter 18 is where things got a turn I didn't really like, with Gundam Minerva rejecting Kaoris and one of the prisoners sent to the colony jumping into the Gundam and piloting it like he was the chosen one; Gundam has so many few female-centric pilots (that's one of the things that attracted me to both this series and the anime With from Mercury) that having Kaoris as the pilot ripped from me felt anger-inducing.

I'll keep on reading, but with a plot that is basically "and then this happens", the only character I like being the MC not even getting to pilot the Minerva and Gundam designs that aren't really that hot I can't say this is on par with the level of quality I expected from Gundam

Now, I am not the biggest X-Men fan, but they are great when done right; I loved the Claremont run as much as the next guy and even things like Children of the Atom, but the mutant team is prone to some iffy writing.
I started this series while waiting for new episodes of X-Men '97 so jumping from Erik's "hat keine angst" to this series's more anime-ish tropes was a bit jarring.
The series has some really good designs finding a middle ground between 2010s anime, the original comic book material and the 2000s X-Men movies: the uniform is a leather jacket for everyone except Storm, ... Wolverine doesn't have his mask except for a flashback yet Beast looks fenomenal and by God Almighty is Storm looking FINE in this anime, one of my favourite designs for Storm ever.
The art style is on the "let's be detailed all the time" spectrum but you get used to it and it actually looks pretty good especially in motion; the animation is very fluid with great battles and good movement.

So, does X-Men have something other than good looks? Well, not really.
The characters and their dynamics are reduced to their minimum with Scott being the stuck up leader who's angtsy about how Jean Grey ended up, Wolverine is a smart-ass that loves to go against him and Beast is the smart one of the group; Storm is there but I feel they don't really use her well, making her the token woman of the group, being the negotiator between the hot headed men and the member more with more empathy for others.
The new adition, a young japanese girl resembling Hinata named Hisako whose powers can be described as "she forms a human scale Susanoo", is very annoying with her fixation with Emma Frost and doesn't contribute much to the group.
Oh, Emma Frost is here, which means a lot of the melodrama that comes with her and Scott being in the same room.
Most of the character melodrama gets resolved by the half-way point in order for the series to focus exclusively on the big plot twist which was honestly kind of easy to guess but still a cute idea.
Still, the ending was not very satisfying and felt a bit like an ass pull.

They do have a tendency of focusing on the female characters breasts; the fact that every female seems to be well endowed doesn't really justify it though.

I seem to paint a very bad picture but honestly it's your typical 6.5/10 2010s anime, if you are up for it then watch it, it's a very "turn off your brain and look at Storm shoot lightning" kind of situation.

This review is written by someone who, while is a big Mashima fan, has only read the first volume.
Why? Because the first volume is what sells me on the manga, its style, its world and its ideas; the first volume of Rave did none of that.
Bought this on a whim because I really like the author's other works (Fairy Tail, Edens Zero, Dead Rock).
It's his first serialized series and it shows: most of the themes and ideas he explored and uses in other of his series are present, but in a very crude state; the art doesn't help, being quite similar to One Piece and ... with a beginning kind of reminiscing of Hunter X Hunter it does feel like a bit of a derivative and almost amateur volume.
The world building is not as interesting as his other works and the only positive for me is honestly the design of Haru's sword.
I'm glad I got it since it's the first volume of his first long manga, but I'm not continuing my "Groove Adventure" and I'll just continue reading Edens Zero and Dead Rock.