Sep 11, 2021
Little bit spoilers--
gosh this was such an enjoyable read, i can't believe it took me so long to finish it! i love love love the show and reading the manga felt like the biggest "welcome back" hug :)
in a way, it was kind of the oddest time to read this when my mind is still totally buzzing with attack on titan, but it was also so nice to come back to this, to something familiar. the story is so expansive and yet you can still follow all the different threads and it's absolutely brilliant. also i forgot how funny this is! not necessarily laugh out
...
loud funny, but there are plenty of moments that elicit a smile and, while i know a lot of people don't entirely appreciate the humour in this, i quite enjoy it. and god i love how characters from totally different arcs end up interacting and working together!! and it all makes sense!!! it's SO good and SO fun
one specific thing i picked up on was that the ishbalan conflict was done really well in the manga!! i think in the show, they condensed it all into one ep? but here it was a good few chapters, and it was very engaging to read. kind of on the flip side, with no disrespect to the manga, i felt like envy's death was better in the anime. but i did like the detail in the manga of envy confessing that edward was correct and did understand envy's true nature, which didn't occur in the anime. it added another layer of almost-but-not-quite sympathy for envy and showed how perceptive envy was of humanity. what a great character. as is everyone! :) (except you shou tucker, i hate you)
i'm definitely not an art expert, but there were some things i did notice. firstly, the faces were quite expressive, i was quite impressed with that. however, sometimes it was difficult to tell exactly what was happening in panels, especially during fight scenes and especially those with lots of alchemy. it makes sense, you can't draw each and every movement of each character, and luckily i have the show to clear it up for me :) - reading this has made me appreciate how well-animated the show is, especially in the final 20ish chapters (i.e. the big final battle)
so yeah, in conclusion, this was a really fun read! but i don't know how much of that was because i already knew the story and was reading this as a "welcome back" for myself because i love the story and characters, but this has definitely ignited a desire in me to read more manga. still, i think i am more of an anime watcher - the combination of the story and huge breadth of characters from the manga plus the music/sound and animation of the show elevates it to a whole new level <3
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all