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Where do I start?

This manga is one of the most frustrating experiences I´ve ever read.

The first 40 chapters or so are ok, specially the first 20. Quite eerie and psychologically draining, it scared me a little bit.
But at one point there´s a fucking HUGE timeskip, unccessary I´d say and it drags too long.
I really wanted some cat and mouse game and how the situation could evolve.
I do understand that this is somehow how Japan works in terms of justice but damn, the mom got away with everything and we still don´t know who´s fault really was.
I´m on chapter 153 and it ... said at the end that the next chapter is going to be the last.
What a waste of potential, we still don´t know nothing, the mom got away and died of all age... Seichii went to "prison" and end up been a fucking loser, the dad died as well lol
It dragged for the past 50 chapters or more, I was BEGGING for the story to end. What a waste of time. I´m thankful that I didn´t purchase the manga...
It promises a lot of stuff at the beginning that doesn´t follow up.
I wanted kid Seiichi to succeed and get revenge but nope...nothing.

I have very conflicted views about this manga.
One side I love the intial plot, the art and the religious buddhist, shinto and daoist themes.
The story is unique, yes, very original with mistery themes but becomes boring after a few chapters.
The art style is gorgeous, I love the strokes and the dark atmosphere.
And this is the end of the positive stuff.

On the other side, every damn character is straight up flat, boring with nothing to offer.

The fights are boring, the plot is slow and loses its interest very quickly.

It´s a shame because I had high hopes for this manga, but had to drop it ... because it was horrible to read. I was falling sleep.
Some people will like it, specially if they haven´t read enought manga or are young or into spirituality, but veterans like me probably will get bored very fast.

I don´t even know how to start, I gave a 9 ONLY TO PART 1. I´m about to drop part 2 soon (I´m up to date)

Part 1, SPOILERS.

-Plot and pacing.
The plot is nothing new, a poor guy that kills demons for money, shelter and maybe touch some boobs.
The pacing is perfect for me, quite fast I must say, I binged the part 1 in a span of a week because I was hooked.
The world building is interesting, at least for me, but not explored enought. We know for sure that demons walk freely on Earth, that hell exist but nothing about ... Heaven. We get a glimpse of hell which is where demons are born and also sent after they die on Earth but it is not explain why they are allowed to go to Earth or how can a devil can redeem itself. I think Hell sould have been explored/seen a little bit more but I guess the mistery is what it makes it interesting.
It has shit tons of funny moments that helps breaking the trauma and dark undertones of the manga.

-Characters
I love every single one of them, women are very well written which is refreshing to see in a shonnen, Makima is one of the best antagonists of the last decade for sure. They are funny, flawed, evil, sexual, innocent, hard working, manipulative, smart, cowards, messy, fighters, etc.
I also love the fact that we get lesbian representation very well done in my opinion.

-The art.
Very unique, messy and straight to the point. It gives a very dark, pessimistic and gore look at the world which helps with the inmersion, sadly, the anime doesn´t do any justice to it.

- The design of the devils and the characters are very nice as well, the devils are grotesque and original, they represent and exist because they are a representation of a common fear within humans.

The ending and last battle was exquisite, one of the best that I´ve ever read. Which makes want to collect the entire manga but only part 1.

Score of part 1 9/10

Now... the insidious part 2.

Where do I start? I think part 2 is completely unnecessary, part 1 was already a masterpiece that didn´t need to be dragged.

-Characters.
I don´t like any of the new characteres. Asa is very VERY boring, same with the war demon. The rest of the cast, like Nayuta, other devils etc are very shallow, poor written and horribly designed.
-Plot and pacing.
It feels like a chore to read it every week. Is very very boring, nothing really happens, Denji is now a secondary character, the pacing is horrible, extremely slow, makes me wanna quit. I´m just hoping to feel the same as in part 1 but nope, each week is worst than the previous one.
-The art. Pretty much the same. It doesn´t feel like the author is making any progress in his art.

It feels like part 1 and 2 are written by two different individuals.

My advice is read only part 1 and discard part 2 completely. Trust me.

Score of part 2 (so far) 3/10

Well... it was hell of a ride. (SPOILER WARNING)

I became a fan of AOT circa 2017 and completed the manga in 2021. It was one of my favourite mangas till the last 5 chapters, where everything went downhill, I´ve never felt so cheated by a ending since Hana Yori Dango and GOT.

Let´s start with the good stuff.

- The story is very unique, very intricate, very refreshing. You got titans, german aesthetic, germanic religious themes, military, politics, philosophy, gore, etc...
-The pacing is very fast, is very easy to read because the story and misteries are very well written (till certain point that I will ... comment later)
-Non sexualized female characters which is very very rare for a shonen.

Now the bad stuff:

-The german fetishization, yeah, you heard me. I don´t know Isayama´s politics but probably he still supports what Japan and Germany did in WW2. The Eldians, which are very much german inspired are treated as the "jews", opppresed, isolated and genocided.
-How he butchered almost every single character, EVERY SINGLE ONE. Reiner should have had a glorious dead, yet he ends up as a SIMP for Historia. Hange commits suicide, Erwin is killed, Historia ends up as a breeding cow anyway (even tho everybody thought that Eren was the father), Armin is completely useless, Mikasa has 0 development whatsoever appart from "EREH, EREEEH".
-The butchering and disrespect of female characters. Yeah, Isayama was praised for writting "strong, independent, well rounded female characters" but do not worry, because he changes that. <3
Historia has 0 relevance in the last arc, she marries a fucking farmer out of nowhere and has a child with him, let´s remember that this farmer USED TO BE HER BULLY. And she was very lesbian coded with Ymir. Apparently now she has NOTHING TO DO with the original YMIR, even tho there were plenty of parallels with them and Isayama could have used that to make something, but nope, she is a breeding machine. That´s it, that´s her development. Marrying an abuser.
Mikasa is the most insufferable character in the whole manga, she has 0 interestes or autonomy outside Eren. She lives for Eren, SHE BREATHES FOR EREN. That´s it, nothing else. She ends up been "the MVP" of the fucking story at the very end for some reason ?????
The original Ymir been "in love" with her rapist/abuser that literally cut her tongue and made her a breeding cow. Somehow she becomes a slave of the will of her husband after death (????), we never get explain how a stupid hallucigenia gave her magical powers so she is this mindless child just creating titans non stop and waiting for someone to free her (????) and somehow she needs a stupid co-dependent half-ackerman, half-asian to free her from all of this because she is the only one that is similar to her (not historia tho, that literally had the same backstory, looks like her and also had a romantic tragedy , no, IT HAS TO BE MIKASA) , this is so fucking disrespecting for domestic abuse survivors that I won´t elaborate further.
-The whole hallucigenia thingy. HOW A PARASITE GIVES YOU MAGICAL POWERS. And, if the hallucigenia doesn´t need a host to survive (because it has been alive for billions of years prior to the story) how exactly do you get rid of it, because the last thing that we see is Reine wrestling with that thing.
-People forgot Karl Fritz for some reason????? So this guy made a bow of no war that became a curse or some shit so his descendants will inherit his will and we got NO EXPLANATION how he did that , was it a power from a titan??? why it cannot be undone by another founding titan??? why was he speciall?
-Why the hell the JAW titan can suddenly fly??? hello???
-WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO EREN??? In a span of 5 chapters he went from "I only care about my freedom, whoever steps on my path I will take their freedom too" to " I DON´T WANT MIKASA TO FIND NOBODY ELSE, I KILLED MY MOM BECAUSE I NEEDED BERTHOLD AND I HAD TO HAVE A REASON TO JOIN THE MILITARY FORCES" F**K off Eren, F**C OFF. That´s bullshit, what a load of shit.
-The art is really bad.
Seriously do not start this manga, you are going to get very dissapointed.

I really wanted to love this manga, honestly, as D&D player I thought this was not going to be another generic medieval manga, but... it is, sadly, it is.

This manga is basically a D&D realistic and sadistic campaing made by a fan of Doom and Berserk. And... that´s about it.

There´s rape, LOTS OF RAPE. I can understand that since is set in medieval times, people were quite barbaric back then plus the fact that the goblins in this story are completely unhinged, disgusting, dangerous and act as pests. So yeah, inside the context of the story, rape is justified but not the sexualization ... of it. The poses and faces of women suffering it makes me wanna vomit.

The characters are... generic, they do not even have names. Like the ones that you can create in a rol campaing.
The main characters is just... Guts and Doom guy but flat, nothing to see, nothing to appreciate.

The art style is ok, not very good but not bad either, just, average.

I dropped it because the plot was going nowhere. It is the same formula over and over. A new mission, rape, kill goblins, rest in an inn or village, repeat.
I give it a 5 because I actually enjoyed the first 8 chapters, after that it becomes repetitive and goes nowhere.

This manhua is the example of what is wrong with the BL community, made mostly, by straight women.

I started this manhua because of the artstyle, thinking that it was going to be a romantic or maybe, little bit toxic romance historical adventure. Oh boy, I was wrong.

The art is superb, not going to lie, I really love the artstyle, very refreshing, very polished, very aesthetic.
The plot and characters on the other side are straight up HORRIBLE.

As someone that has suffered from SA, I can´t imagine people glorifying this. There´s rape in almost every chapter. The main character is abducted by this gay sex addict ... sadisctic korean nobleman that forces him to draw erotical drawings of gay couples and orgies against his will.
He rapes him, he abuses him, he tortures him yet it is seen as a "romantic story". This is beyond illegal, this is rape fetish.
I cannot understand why the hell straight women have a good time reading a story about a femboy (because he looks like a literall woman but with male genitalia) been harassed, stalked, brutally abused and raped by a masculine "top" nobleman. This is gay fetishization at its finest, is sick and makes me vomit. If Na-kyum (the main character) was a woman, I´m pretty sure that a lot of feminist and other people would have censor and try to report this comic. This beyond disgusting.
The first rape scene it triggered my fight or flight response, I couldn´t believe what I was reading.
It such a shame because the art is exquisite. If you remove the abuse and the rape, it could have been a pretty cool BL manhua. But nope, fetishists need sickening stories to satisfy their illegal and abhorrent fantasies.

I really wanted to like this manga, I really did trust me, but I had to drop it.

The characters, at least the main two ones are pretty well done, not going to lie.
I expected a disturbing vampire-horror story and it is what it promised at the beginning, but after a few chapters it becomes a generic battle shonnen.
I didn´t like the premise or the battles at all, I expected other type of manga about vampires, not another battle royale with supernatural entities. It gets pretty boring after a few chapters.

I drew the line at the pa*dophilic undertones of the story, I get it, ... is a fantasy of the author, but putting minors in those situations and sexualizing them like that is not apealing at all.

Sorry but I had to stop.

If you like horror and battle shonen is your manga, if you ignore the SA and sexual manipulation to minors of course.
If you are looking for a refreshing vampire story, it is not your manga. Look elsewhere.

Ayashi no Ceres is a refreshing soujo made by the amazing Yuu Watase, the queen of fantasy shoujo.

One of the strongest points of the manga is the main character. Aya Mikage, is a 16 year old, quite mature for her age, very relatable, funny and strong. Doesn´t hesitate to fight and investigate. Not like Fushigi Yuugi where I couldn´t stand Miaka.

Aya is pretty much your average teenager, very open about her sexuality as well which is refreshing for a Shoujo, where most main characters are completely clueless teen girls that are scared of even holding hands with the boy.

The lore is INSANE. Very ... rich and engaging, apparently it is based in a local legend. Not going to spoil it, but if you are interested in japanese folklore and religion, this is your manga.

The pacing is perfect, you can read the entire manga in a couple of days and will leave you with a taste of wanting more.

The art is superb, Watase lineart is one of the best that you can find in the manga industry and the clothing desing and backgrounds are excellent.

The main lead is quite unique, I have to say, has a magnetic and mysterious personality.

What else can I say, Ayashi no Ceres is the best work that Yuu Watase has ever done, worth a read if you want to try something different. Expect some tears, laugh and surprises.

I barely read two chapters of this manga and let me tell you, is the most boring, basics shonnen that I´ve ever read.

The art is bad, the enemies are bland, the plot goes nowhere, is like Naruto mixed with Bleach, mixed with Demon Slayer.

The main characters are extremely shallow, the only one that is good is Gojo.

The story is basics and bizarre at the same time.

It doesn´t help the stuff that happens later on, you know, Itadori parents and such, is so ridiculous.

But I guess for teenagers that have never opened a manga in their entire life, I can understand the ... appeal. At least it has "strong female" characters.

How can I start... I first bought this manga while I was at school, I was 10 years old and captivated. Silly me, I completed the entire collection, it was the first time that I colleted manga but I can tell you, do not start this manga.
There´s a few issues here:

-The romantization of rape.

Tsukasa literally SA Tukushi multiple times through the story, but you know, he is cool, spoiled, rich, handsome, silly, etc.. so he gets a "pass". She ends up falling in love with him instead of staying with Rui, who is the only "healthy" member of the F4.

-The romantization of ... "break ups", yes, they do break up MULTIPLE TIMES. Like every f**ng two chapters they do break up.

-Tsukushi has 0 development whatsoever, we know NOTHING about her goals or desires. We get it, she is very poor and always has to to work part-time and study...but for what? what does she wants to do in the future? does she likes art? music? science? SOMETHING? Does she wants kids in the future? what she wants to study in the university? what are her pastimes? She is extremely shallow. She has 0 intererested besides complaining, running away from Tsukasa and working half-time.

-There´s 0 sex in the entire manga, like, I get it... is a shoujo, but the author puts both characters in sexual situations FOR NOTHING. They try to have sex at least three times in the manga and NEVER consumated it, and they want us to believe that two teenagers are going to sucessfully have a long ass distance relationship without.. sex.. without anything.

-The ending IS OPEN and continues to be OPEN. The author must be sick or something because she gave us the worst ending in the history of shoujo, makes extra chapters... AND STILL NOTHING. THEY NEVER GET MARRIED. She never finish the stupid story.

She has made A SEQUEL with other characters... naming the previous ones, AND STILL DOESN´T FINISH THE DAMN STORY. WHAT IN THE HELL.

Seriously do not start this. Is misogynistic and goes nowhere. It has been 21 years since open ending (including the extra chapters that DO NOT give closure to the story) and the author is still milking the franchise AND DOESN´T FINISH THIS.