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Well where do I start with this show?

It's one of the most highly praised anime out there, ostensibly so on most social media sites where anime fans frequent, so I was looking forward to it and hoping to see something good.

And for a bit I thought that was turning out to be true but alas. The art direction and sound design in this anime are really great and unique, and I was pretty impressed by it for the first few episodes. The ed is also a complete banger. However, even the interesting art direction and animation style loses its novelty over the course of the ... anime due to supporting a wholly lackluster story pretending to be something deeper than it is. It's a dolled up show that makes it seem more novel and profound; a pretty cake but take away the intermittent splices of quirky frames, cinematography, and "wordplay" and it's really nothing special. I understand why many people have it as their favorite anime because it makes you seem artistic and intelligent for having liked it.

The "clever wordplay" that most people praise revolves around the japanese characters used in the show and how they sometimes serve as double meanings or make new words if used in conjunction with others. Taking aside the fact that most of the ones presented in the show were pretty much juvenile ideas that really had no relevance for the plot other than to insert some "witty" dialogue in a scene, they really don't have as much weight or make as much sense without you being Japanese or speaking Japanese yourself and being versed in the lettering. Most western fans who take pride in the show's use of this thus, are like people laughing at another group's inside joke without even knowing the context of the inside joke. It's gratingly pretentious.


Moreover, most of the characters are unlikable and this is what ultimately made me unable to enjoy the show much. The main character isn't really someone to hate but he isn't likeable either; he's more of just a guy to keep the plot going and there really isn't anything special to say about him. They say indifference can be worse than hate. But I digress. Hate is worse in this case.

Senjougahara is really unlikeable and for what I've seen some call the best romance anime, the romance utterly sucks. Like, it's unjustifiably not good. I won't get into the details of how they got together though that was also rushed as hell, but everything about it is just.. unrealistic and I'm sure no one would actually want a relationship like it in real life. Their "relationship" centers around Hitagi constantly talking down to Araragi condescendingly as if speaking from a level above him, despite herself acknowledging her myriad of flaws. Nothing felt organic in their development, as the whole time their interactions boiled down to snide remarks and bullying that made Araragi uncomfortable, and somehow at the end of one episode they express their undying love for one another? Where'd that come from?? Has any relationship in real life been like that ??? Come on man.

I could go on and on about SJgahara like how she's stated to be lauded and admired by all her peers despite also being said to be standoffish and a loner, but I'm too lazy to complain more about it.

The only character I liked was Hanekawa.


"Overrated" is a term I hate, but it feels appropriate for this anime due to the overwhelming amount of praise the whole series gets. It's one of those rare things that I feel like the term is suitable for. If you can look past the dull story and vapid characters for the great art direction and some occasional nice music (I still listen to the ed cause it's just so good), then maybe you'll enjoy it.

Notice how I didn't even touch upon the more problematic issues regarding minors and fanservice in the series, or the horrid fanbase, because I wanted to detail how the show falls flat even without these two.

This will be my second written review on this website. I usually don't feel compelled to write them but I do so when it's for underrated mangas that are misunderstood or need more attention.

This is one of them. I found out about this manga as I was reading some random Twitter thread where people weresupposed to list down obscure manga, and as always, people were listing well-known things like Jigokuraku Hell's Paradise or Jujutsu Kaisen. One person however, mentioned this manga and it seemed very interesting so I felt compelled to check it out.

The first few chapters didn't grab me initially, because though I ... liked how unique the artstyle was, it was a bit hard to read through. Eventually, it started to grow on me as my enjoyment of the series grew as well, around chapter 5. By the end of it, I loved the artstyle and its uniqueness as a whole. It's pretty amazing on a technical level and has a very fluidly sketchy feel to it that's great for conveying action.

And the art is only one part of it; by the time the story picks up at around chapter 5, the rest becomes an interesting thrill ride that does very well in getting you invested from only a limited amount of chapters. I've read four or five times the length of this manga in chapters of other series and those other series still failed to really interest me.

The characters become surprisingly engaging and belie more than they seem to be on the surface. The worldbuilding was also great in this manga given with how short it was. It did well to set up the basic foundation of different existing organizational bodies and the history of how the current setting came to be. These all augmented the enjoyment of the story and of the characters. Though the plot is relatively simple, you can tell the author put a lot of attention to detail into fleshing out this riveting steampunk world.


And though it's short, it clearly conveys the potential this world has in store and makes you excited for the sequel, which I have yet to read but I'm sure will be great. Perhaps my only issue with this manga was the main villain, who seemed to be a bit over-the-top to the point of being a kind of a caricature. If they were toned down and had more depth they'd be more enjoyable.

So anyway, if you like unique artstyles and cool settings with raw characters, read it!

Abara is a succinct work of art by Tsutomu Nihei that accomplishes what it sets out to do; to create a world, to tell a story within that world, and to end it. Like most of Nihei's work, the story and plot details are left vague and interspersed through the information given among the occasional dialogue. It's up to the reader to piece the puzzle together and eventually the plot helps to tie these pieces together by the end.

When I initially read Abara I didn't really understand what was going on and ended up dropping it. Upon a re-read I was able to appreciate Abara ... for the short story it is. The story is relatively simple and most of the information of the story is given, even more so than Blame!.

All of the information relevant to the story is eventually known, and that is that white gaunas are hostile creatures that cause destruction and black gaunas are artificially created weapons made by humans in order to counter them. This is pretty much all the knowledge needed; in a work of fiction not every single thing needs to be thoroughly explained, an example being where the white gaunas came from - a question which is irrelevant to the enclosed story. So it does not make much sense for others to not understand what happened in the story, other than a few glossed-over details. However, those unfamiliar with Tsutomu Nihei's storytelling methods may come away confused so I believe it's best to read his other works first.


Abara is great for what it is. Obviously it isn't some profound story where you expect to come away with a newfound favorite fiction or expect to find some extremely deep plot. It's a 11 or so chapter story that makes an interesting world wherein human weapons exist to fight terrible creatures. And it's cool as hell. The art is fantastic, some of it even exceeding those found in Blame!, and there is enough information about the world given to feel the visceral, living, and yet dreary atmosphere.


If you want to read a short romp with excellent art, sick designs, and cool fights in a uniquely vague world, Abara is for you. However if you're expecting a crystal clear story with a deep plot, you're better off looking elsewhere.