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Specials. These are mostly around 4 minutes long (except the last one being just shorter than 3 minutes).

Like most specials, these don't follow on with the plot and seemed to have been made to be watched as a little extra pure comedic entertainment.


I orignally expected a little more screen time for the maid and the "girlfriend" but sadly I was left unfulfilled. Apart from the first Special, I find the first minute's opening scenes of all 5 Specials to be a too repetitive. Anyhow, as a viewer who really watches for entertainment purposes, I really think the last Special was a saving grace and ... made it all worthwhile with the VA's being what I perceive as amusingly chaotic.

[Spoiling content free but will set some flags]

There isn't another story I've read so far that has made me rub my head as hard as I've had than Nozoki Ana. I am sorry for not seeing this through to the end but I really can't and don't want to read another page any time soon, and I'm going to explain why with this review.



Nozoki Ana isn't an average ecchi or rather, hentai manga. The author seems to have the plot thought out well and it was fairly engaging, originally. For the first 40 or so chapters (about half of all I've read), I was able ... to occasionally predict how the major events would turn out and I think this is mostly due to the main character - Kido being somewhat easy to relate. I felt for him, our emotions were in tune and we both saw exactly where he had made bad decisions. That's all good because I find this synchronisation enjoyable, as if I'm in his mind.


Up to this point, the Story is fair. As I've mentioned before, it was sad to watch his mistakes unfold into disasters but there's always some comforting at the end. The characters are fine, I could relate to Kido's thoughts. His friends are lacking in presence but can easily be overlooked anyway. The center is always Kido, his peeping neighbour (unpredictably troublesome) and his love/sex interest (always lovable). So far it's enjoyable and I've spent whatever free time I have to continue reading.


From somewhere in chapter 40-50 to beyond, the story brighten up well and it really dragged me into it further. Tears of joy were shedded, for an ecchi manga. I was so glad to be reading this. I was loving it, so very much. Whether it's the story where problems were satisfyingly resolved or the relationship between the characters being strengthen.



However, however, I really really regret reading past around chapter 75-80. Maybe I should've read some reviews before I read the manga but I didn't. If you haven't read past those chapters yet, I beg you to please stop around here. Sorry, I might just be reflecting too much of my own dread into this review but if you are not too well versed with dread, please do not read past chapter 80. I'm going to start explaining without revealing too much now.


To me, it felt like the author, changed. Kido's thought process became different. I couldn't grasp the reason of his decisions. I was, desynchronised from him and from that, I started to lose the story. And then, it headed further down south. As I've hinted before, I was very connected to the story just before and at this point, it's as if the author yanked all of it away from me and flung me out of the story like an extreme rollercoaster suddenly decided to derail from its sharpest turn, with me on it. Maybe I can also liken this to a heartbreak but it happened so quickly my heart was disintegrated without a speck of trace. Not to veer to far off, the author suddenly added a lot of plot devices in a span of too few chapters. And this broke me and my engagement to the story. Chapter 75-80.


My rating for the STORY dropped to 3, surely they still follow a logical order, AFTER an illogical turn.
ART remained somewhat consistent throughout all I've read, about an 8. It's a different style to other mangas. I think it made facial expressions more easily exaggerated but still acceptable and more importantly still enjoyable. They do sometimes look odd. As for the art of body-drawing, I have no complaints.
CHARACTERS at this point was disappointing, a 3 or 4. As said before, Kido started making too much illogical choices, his peeping neighbour remained consistent and his current love interest remained very lovable. The center is at Kido and the point of view has always been him. Therefore, his relationship with others is the main determinating factor of my score here, and at this point, his relationship with other major characters was overly problematic and could've been avoided.
ENJOYMENT dropped of course, 1 is fitting. I HATE the turn the author had made for the story. I might never continue where I left off. I am sad and I want to cry when I think about it. I once had a month long of nightmares from watching 2 horror movies and I'd rather have that than to ever be reminded of how this manga took a wrong turn.


OVERALL, for the whole manga that I've read, 5. I've always been indecisive and I'm soft on giving low scores but I also didn't finish this story. I don't like unfinished stories but to have me not want to finish one, this is a first. I'm sorry, Kido and I'm sorry Emiru but I can't. Nozoki Ana started off with decent speed, rarely slowing down, then took off and reached a paradise that I enjoyed every moment of. But illogically, it then decided to teleport into the nothingness of space. The sudden change suffocated me, to death.



Chapter 75-80.

I'm gonna let this would-be masterpiece pop my first review cherry.

TL;DR: Imagine yourself chewing a fresh piece of gum. First couple of chews were all hard and boring. But as its flavour starts to release, it motivates you to want more. This continues to build up and up. Until when you've finally chewed and moisturised it enough to have that pleasant squishy feel with its flavour at its prime. Absolute Bliss. But wait. Right now, you are getting told to stop and spit it out. A mix of disappointment, dissatisfaction and perhaps anger, right? That's my experience with I Am a Hero. Dissatisfaction and disappointment ... with a dash of anger. End TL;DR.


Alright, I'm going to assume that I can let loose from here. I'll sync my thoughts as I type and try to keep this short.


After finishing a romance zombie manga, my interest with zombie manga rose a little. So, I ended up reading I Am a Hero's summary through recommendations. A little bit of blah blah here, I dislike reading or watching multiple stories at once because my memory will get mixed up and the feelings will jumble up annoyingly. I had already started reading another romance manga at this point but decided to start reading I Am a Hero anyway, especially since that shotgun on the cover picture probably means some good ol' F U zombie actions.



Art - 10/10:
I'm not a picker. The faces were drawn very differently comparing to the other manga/anime I've read/watched. I had a hard time getting used to it but the attention to the details of the many sceneries in this series more than make up for it. Plus, since we're getting a lot of gore here, it helps a lot for me to separate I Am a Hero from my other Happy, Feel Gooo..Great manga/anime. Actually, I'm just going to say it bluntly, the faces were drawn ugly but they are also very unique. Anyhow, it's not like everyone in real life are beautiful or handsome anyway. Take my 10 with no shame.


Character - 10/10:
Not a picker. I don't really pay attention as to whether the stories behind the characters contradict or make sense at all. They were all believable and it was interesting how their relationships progressed. No complaints, so no penalty from my default 10/10 score.


Story - 8/10:
Honestly, I think I could give this a 0 because I absolutely hate bad endings. Bad as in incomplete or illogical endings. As you may understand from my TL;DR, I Am a Hero felt incomplete to me. There were quite a few cues throughout the story that MAY have indicated that the author needed to cut this story short or worse. I'm going to be naive and believe that there is a FULL version of I Am a Hero and by judging the series' direction while mixing a bit of estima... imagination, I'm giving this an 8/10 for its high potential for a masterpiece ending. What's a masterpiece ending? It's any ending that leaves a gapping hole in my heart with a pint of satisfaction for finishing the series.


Enjoyment - 8/10:
Reading it was a bliss. Finishing it was a nut job. I'm going to imagine that I Am a Hero does not end where it ended.


Overall - 8/10:
Should be 9, right? No. I'm still salty from that sorry excuse of an ending. Actually, I should rate this at below 5/10. I seriously dislike it when a story terminates abruptly, especially when I'm so engaged to it. It's like a school excursion getting cancelled just as every arrived at the destination. "We're finally here. But we are leaving now."


Ol' me can't take this unbelievable turn of event. I'm going to believe I Am a Hero has not end. The next chapter will see the return of our gal, a more in-depth explanation of the final climax and a mention of one of our last heroes in the series - the quiet heroine.



PS. Sorry for screwing up the overall score that represents I Am a Hero. It doesn't really deserve an 8 and I truly am bad at rating. I still have hope for this and I gave my overall score based on what I hope. Sorry for that.
I hope we can find a manga/anime that can top this, and still have a befitting ending.

PS2. Sorry, I'm really out of time now. Please endure my grammar mistakes if applies.