Back to HailBritannia_'s Profile HailBritannia_'s Profile

The manga is very good, compact, fast paced, with a good play on tension, keeping the reader on edge for the possible twists and turns of the story, that often caught me by surprise. The art is extremely detailed and probably the strongest point of the manga; it's strong western influence and the murky colored pages also contribute greatly to setting the atmosphere. The whole manga looks a lot like classic western comics and the characters' behaviours feel mostly inspired from mafia movies, with some coming straight out of western in the latter half (Indians and Ned felt straight out of Tex). Some elements of ... the art do draw from other manga culture, but this really is, by all means, a western comic written by Japanese author. There isn't the time to develop much the characters other than the two protagonists, who still manage to give enough emotion themselves for the story to be impactful. The manga is technically amazing, but lacks that special something for me to give it a 9.
I really appreciated some details that contribute to the immersiveness. For instance the reelaboration of historical events like the 1857 Dead Rabbits riot, which I suggest you don't read about if you don't want to spoil the story. Also Brad's gun-blade, which is the .54 caliber Elgin pistol, equipped with an 11.5 inch bowie knife blade, adopted by the US navy in 1938 and used in some instances during the US Civil War, perfect weapon for this setting.

Absolutely amazing. I am a bit biased because it's the adaptation of the very first manga I ever read, but watching the anime for the first time 3 years later it really is THAT good. It's a very lighthearted ecchi comedy about a very innocent character that, in a suggestive environment such as eroge production, develops her own lewd side. You will feel embarassed, you will have trouble holding back laughs and you will enjoy genuinely erotic scenes,
The art honestly blew my mind, didn't expect this quality from a small studio adapting a minor ecchi manga, and the voice actors (very important given the plot) ... simply nailed it. Opening and ending are good, but the images also seem to suggest the anime being planned to cover the whole story of the manga, instead of stopping with just two episodes. It really is a shame such a work wasn't continued.

An action manhwa about the adventures of a barbarian warrior roaming through the world in a medieval setting. The pacing is great, the story is original and, even without any major unexpected twist in the first season, it's never predictable. The story has recurring themes, such as the nature of religion and faith, the beauty of knowledge, its value and the price for curiosity, accompanied from time to time with brief reflections on fanatism, on friendship, maturity, responsibility or ambition. All of the aforementioned themes are always treated with great care and maturity as their expositions progressively acquire more and more depth, never causing the ... manhwa to stray from its action essence.
The action sequences are truly impressive, both in terms of aesthetics and of realism: the tactics, the techniques, the weapons, the armors actually working as they should, this all fills me with joy. More in general this is one of the most realistic depictions of a medieval setting that I've ever seen in fiction. The absence of firearms even has a lore explanation, as Europe is not connected with Asia trough land.
The artwork is fenomenal and so many characters (mainly males because there very few females in this story) are just wayy too hot.

This is an absolute gem, as are the novel and the anime. Just like the anime adaptation, the manga is very faithful to the light novel, of which it adapts the first narrative arc. The story is a classic magic school ecchi one, full of many classical themes and sterotypes of both ecchi and battle shounen genres, but don't take it lightly, for each and every aspect is extremely well refined and beyond the boobs hides some really solid content that defies any attempt of banalisation.

The story is well constructed, linear and yet gifted with the ability to surprise the reader, with a good ... and consistent pacing all throughout. The characters have generally a clear intent,something that might make them plain at a first glance, but they all get characterizing backstories that add so much to them and, what's most important, THEY ALL GROW, both in combat abilities and personality. Stella, the female lead, is a bit of a tsundere, something I usually hate because they oftentimes are just way too over the top, doing things they should never get away with, and yet in this case she is still whithin the boundaries of reasonable. She is just an evident example of how all the characters, despite having very distinct stereotypical features, still feel extremely human. Just like Shizuku's flashbacks are chilling whithout the need to be absurd.
The MC is someone who works extremely hard to overcome every obstacle, faicng challenges head on, with a cool head. But he has his weaknesses, not just lack in strength or talent, but his psychological reactions to the events are still those of a human, who will certainly falter at some point, and more than once. The valu of working hard, the moments whithin the mind of the character who finds his motivation to push forward, fundamental elements in almost every battle shounen, are both depicted splendidly in this manga, conveying all the depth those moments can have, together with some simple yet very real and deep philosophical messages.
The arstyle is amazing, the body lines feel natural despite the classic character design of most fantasy manga nowadays, with crazy dry and slim bodies especially for the boys. The fanservice is simply top knotch.
Having said all that, the best element of this manga are no doubt its fight scenes. It appears evident that the author knows something about martial arts, because the principles behind all thes fights are absolutely correct and all characters truly employ their strengths in clever ways. The beauty of such fight scenes is breathtaking, visually but also in the outstanding precision of their moves and in the weight behind the choices of each character. The last duel in the selection tournament is among the best I've ever seen in manga, look forward to it.

In short, to say it with someone else's words, practically perfect in every way!


I really do hope they continue the manga, because the story going forward is great and I would love to see it adapted, especially to see Ikki's exponential growth and his relationship with Edelweiss.

I was curious about a manga stating it would show Suzaku's point of view, but it just doesn't.
Furthermore, the overall story is absolutely ruined: the whole mecha element is out of the picture, all brilliant strategies are replaced by stupid actions that would never work and, the worst thing, it tones down the stakes of the war until it looks like nothing more than a stupid bunch of edgy kids playing, and definitely not a war with the fate of humanity at stake. Everything that makes Code Geass great (which is to say the complex psychology of the characters, the brilliant tactics, the crazy ... fights, the moral issues with the sacrifices for the greater good and the journey from fighting for personal reasons to giving everything up for the greater good of humanity) are all not only absent in this story, but cathegorically denied by the changes in the events, operated with little to no respect for the original work.
This is just a cringe story of extremely edgy kids fighting for petty and unclear reasons.
The art is mid.

Amazume sensei really has refined his style and it's perfect to show how both Nana and Kaoru come to face themselves, gaining an understanding of their inner selves and the security that comes with it. The conclusion of the saga is really also a conclusion of their adolescence and a proper entrance into adulthood, a satisfying ending that shows all of their growth. The characters naturally go towards this ending as if it was meant to them since the very beginning, and still they gain depth to themselves by doing so, especially Sarashina and Tachibana (and our MCs of course).
The artstyle is good as always, ... Amazume sensei has reached artistic maturity a while ago and he can perfectly arouse the reader while also cconveying everything that needs to be conveyed through facial expressions more than just words.
I've read the last 8 chapters at once. It's such a powerful whirlwind of emotion I've been shaking and trembling the whole time and ended up crying for the last few chapters.
So good...

It's cute, enjoyable, with a solid core of characters, realistic teens, alive, steadily developed thorughout the 90 chapters. Still, the story is very typical for the genre, nothing that unique, no element of it was entirely new. I liked the arc on Kouki's sport, a bit of a pity that it stayed so isolated from the following story and the theme didn't come back. The artstyle is simple, almost essential, fits perfectly with the story.
The ending was rushed, extremely so for a story that went with a very slow and relaxed pace for almost 90 chapters. I didn't even realise that was meant to ... be an ending before seing the "End" banner on md.

What's MAL's problem with short reviews?

These imbeciles actually use knives when eating penne al sugo. The Imperial Army always finds new ways to terrify me.


MAL insists on having me write a longer review, so I'll express more of my comments, but really this anime is just a joke used to bring back Tanya and show some good animations of the 203rd Magic Batallion flying in the desert. Story is really poor apart from the nice joke about them fighting for a good meal, but we're always glad to hear Tanya's speeches and technically the work is good.
They actually know how pasta should be cooked and, as an Italian, I really ... appreciated it. But they use those knives...