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I really liked this manga from the start, its setting, humor, and characters are all unique and fun. The ambiance, character designs, and characters' personalities are all pretty cartoonish and the manga didn't take itself too seriously at the start, so I figured that I could ignore some bad choices, but it didn't live up to its potential in the long run.

Some characters might be annoying but they're fun to watch and sympathetic, it's a shame that by the end of the manga few mather and their development seems a little limited for the number of chapters we got to do something more with them. ... A lot of the adult characters aren't that interesting or likable, but the kids are. I liked Crona's character arc, it made sense, but Medusa's motives in all of this didn't.

The fanservice is kind of annoying, especially that one moment where an underage girl's ass is front and center of a panel for an absurd reason. Blair was just there to be sexy and provocative and didn't contribute anything to the story (unless you count that one time she seduced a succubus.)

The humor is hands down the best part of this story, it's one of the funniest manga I've read, but that doesn't last much, as the story becomes more serious and plot-focused and some of the original wackiness is lost. I didn't initially have a problem with this change, as the Arachne arc is good enough on its own, and I would say it is the peak of Soul Eater. After that, the new antagonists introduced are underwhelming and uninteresting, the story seems to gradually lose focus, and the plot conveniences and power-ups become more prevalent.

The next arc is just about our main characters visiting different realms based on each sin without much stakes at all. It tries to go back to the feeling of the first volumes but it ends up falling short, it's not as well done. It would be much more interesting if they had to fight actual antagonists for each realm, as Kid's well-being depends on his friends making it on time to save him. I don't know why the mangaka decided to take this situation in a more comedic way, discarding the potential for tension and conflict. (SPOILER: Also, all Kid needs to not be consumed by madness is for Black Star to kick his ass, and now he can control madness???)

The last arc is the worst of them all, I had to skim through it to finish this series.
t becomes so bad that by the end we have a looong battle against annoying foes where nobody knows how to win despite what had been previously presented. I was so tired of that perverted clown that just talked about how sexy she was all the time. Frankie's problem with madness comes back, but it's been so long since we last saw him that the development of this conflict feels disjointed and unearned. I might be the only one complaining about this, but Maka's conflict with her dad is never resolved despite there being enough foundation to give their relationship some conclusion.

I wanted more character development, more bonding moments between the main gang, better-written fights, more interesting antagonists whose motives make sense, and a better final arc. This could've been one of the best shonen manga out there, it had a lot of appeal and charm to it but ended up getting lost somewhere in the middle. I'd recommend reading until the Arachne arc, even if Crona's story stays inconcluse at this point.

I had to write a review for this manga, even if it clearly isn't that popular because of how frustrating I found it. I knew it was yaoi, so the teacher x underage student was a given, but the way the manga romanticizes this relationship and shows it as something cute is uncomfortable nonetheless. I was wondering how they would deal with the subject, and they practically just ignored all the wrong aspects about it.

The thing I disliked the most is how much I actually liked the characters. It makes the questionable relationship more awkward and annoying, as it just ruins what I liked about ... them, ESPECIALLY with the teacher. He is nice, laid back, and humorous, he's the kind of teacher I would have loved to get along with. He does know that the students are basically children and treats them as just that, so it's more disturbing when he starts kissing Subaru as if he wasn't also a kid. We're never explained what makes Subaru different for him, but the mangaka doesn't portray him as a predator either.

Subaru is a cutie, and I love how the children act like children here, they're all charming. His feelings for the teacher develop in a believable way, I can see why he would find him cool and get a crush on him.

The teacher tells Shinobu to lie to his parents, so they can spend the night alone in a hotel, and the only reason they don't end up having sex is that Shinobu stays inside the bathroom all night? but the mangaka tells us that Shinobu wanted to do it, but he was just too embarrassed. Instead of addressing that a boy his age might not be ready for a sexual encounter? Which, leaving the morality of this portrayal aside, is quite a boring way to handwaved what could've been an interesting plot point.

The art is much better than the cover would suggest. It is unique enough, well done, and pretty simple but charming, I enjoyed the illustrations, especially how cute the kids are, makes me want this to be a normal sol school manga. This is a cute manga if you ignore the obvious grooming just as the author seems to do. Their relationship is pretty funny and cute until it becomes inappropriate, but I guess some people will find it interesting because of it, it's in the premise after all.

The Rebuilds were conceptualized as an improvement over the original Evangelion, but now that this series has reached its end I can say that it has not surpassed the 90s version. This is the major offendant to me: Anno hasn't delivered a better message nor a better execution yet presents these movies as a rebuilt, improved Eva.

Some say that comparing 4.0 with EoE is unfair since Anno portrays the two stories from a fundamentally different lens, but when the author himself paints Shin Eva as an improved version of the original product, it's just natural for comparisons to arise. EoE ends with Shinji deciding he ... wants to pursue his happiness, he wants to love himself and others, and how exactly will he proceed in the future is left open. When I finished watching that movie, I felt like Shinji, uncertain of how exactly I would do it, but sure that I wanted to keep on living and trying. In itself, it is quite a hopeful ending. In 4.0 Shini learns about all the timelines and decides to wipe away all of Eva. This isn't interesting in a show about the characters and their way to deal with problems. Of course, if all of us could see all possibilities we would know exactly what to do, this isn't helpful or relatable at all for someone who was helped by the original. And why is Shinji just transforming reality, why is this a thing in Eva? what I liked about this franchise was that, just like in real life, the reality couldn't be changed, and the characters had to adapt to it. This feels like an easy way to turn things around in the script, and an escapist choice from the main character. The meta elements don't make sense nor are they a novelty nowadays, how does this have anything to do with the themes of the movie? And why would Anno sacrifice a coherent story in favor of such simplistic resolution and an obvious message that is almost spelled out to the viewer?.

Another thing that I want to touch upon is the treatment of Gendo and Shinji's relationship, which hasn't been talked about enough. The movie makes a case for Shinji to try to understand his father, but why does he have to? A child who has been neglected, used, abandoned, and abused by his parent doesn't have any obligation to understand his motives. Gendo has done so many horrible things that at this point I don't care about whatever feelings or virtues he may have.

The characters are inconsistent, shallow and charicatures of their NGE selves. Kaworu has always been an interesting yet unexplored character, so I welcomed his screen time, but not much is done with him. His problem isn't his relationship with Shinji (this is just a symptom), it's his willingness to use, risk and sacrifice his own life over and over as a tool for his objectives since he doesn't see his existence as valuable, which I wish was acknowledged and explored by the narrative. Why does Shinji have to distance himself from Rei, Asuka and Kaworu? probably to give Mari as spot in Shinji's life she didn't earn. And why the Kawoshin relationship is deemed as irreparable, while Gendo-Yui is presented as extreme yet noble? Why is Gendo rewarded with seeing Yui again? Why is Kaworu a parallel to Gendo when they couldn't be more different about approaching a similar situation? NGE did it better with its Kaworu-Yui/Shinji-Gendo parallels, which made more sense.

Mari is just Anno's wife insert, there's no other explanation to her being in these movies at all. We don't learn anything that may fleash out her character, yet she's giving this important role near the end. The final message, that you can keep going forward with the help of others, is an overused concept, and while I understand it comes from Anno's own experience, I find it annoying when there's people out there that doesn't have a support system, and the film seems to approach this as something that the audience has to learn to do. I would like for Anno to acknowledge that he is privileged in this respect, and what is accessible and advisable in his case isn't to all the people in the audience. This is probably something he wanted to tell to his own past selve, so why are we, the audience, the ones being preached?

I'm honestly disappointed and mad with this movie, it is insensitive when approaching some complex issues, it's characters are souless, the plot is badly written and messy, there's info dumps in the form of exposition and terrible CG. While 3.0 was confusing and didn't go anywhere, at least I could have the hope that something would be resolved in this last film, but this is what we get.