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Oct 17, 2024
Reading Fire Punch is like listening to heavy metal. You either get lost in the technicality and complex melodies or are repulsed by the obnoxious violence and gratuitous gore.
Dark, twisted, and terrifically brutal, fire punch is a story that starts hopeless and seemingly only gets more sullen and horrific. And yet, the entire time i could not look away, finishing the entire thing in two days.
Coming off of Chainsaw Man, i expected Fujimoto’s signature combination of tangible characters, offbeat humor, and psychological torture. That’s all here, but what i wasnt expecting was just how brutal and unforgiving the story would be. It seemed, at
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times, that any spark of hope presented in this world was only there to be snuffed out in the most magnificent way possible. From the wretched start all the way through, this story is relentless, with the final panels seemingly a bullet point to prevent the readers from being swallowed into a pit of existential dread. This story is not for the faint of heart.
And yet, being a fan of Fujimoto’s dark arts, it only drew me in deeper and deeper, to see how our heroes and heroines would suffer next. This story is sadistic to a fault, and yet, such a subversion of the shonen formula makes it and its successor series so refreshing. Unlike a plucky underdog hero, the main character’s superpowers here are causing him enough pain to drive him literally insane.
While one could chalk up the complete disregard of the reader’s wellbeing to simple shock schlock, it is actually a testament to how fully realized and three dimensional Fujimoto’s characters are that we are affected so deeply when they encounter misfortune. In followup chainsawman, the pain is delivered at a more subdued pace, allowing for a more familiar and digestible story that delivers emotional knock out punches when it counts. And yet, even within the faster pace of Fire Punch, each character feels alive and fleshed out. With their own motivations, allegiances and desires, they are as realized as they could possibly be with what little screentime they have.
Indeed, Fire Punch moves at a significant clip, and Fujimoto’s expert paneling and artistry are on full display, giving readers a clear view of this hauntingly beautiful world on the brink of collapse. It is as fleeting and striking as a firework in the night sky.
Fire Punch’s greatest strength is also its greatest weakness. Much like metal music, it is loud, obnoxious and scary to those who prefer pop rock or dance music. On the other hand, it is deep, intellectually challenging and morbidly beautiful. It is CERTAINLY not for everyone, but if this is your cup of tea, you’ll be rewarded with a brutally human story about futility, death, insanity and the follies of religion. It is horrific, tragic and hopeless; yet somehow, like seeing a burning car in the middle of the road, you won’t be able to take your eyes off it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 30, 2023
This isn’t a “geeky guy living in an idol’s body” wish fulfillment manga. This is a horror story.
The story follows a hikikimori who was suddenly thrust into the body of a popular, beautiful high school girl. With a premise like this, you might be expecting some ecchi hijinks ala highschool DXD. However, the situation is instead approached in a raw, realistic and at times even disturbing way. I could hardly tear my eyes from the page- that is, until it became too much to bear and i needed a breather.
Multiple times i had to turn my head, close my eyes or put the manga
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down for a while on account of how jarring it can be . The situations the main character gets put through are so pathetic, so painful, so gut wrenching that it can be hard to stomach. But I believe this is the mangas greatest strength.
This story is ultimately one of empathy. It teaches you by putting you in the shoes of our main character. And it isn’t shy about the less-than-presentable aspects of the female experience. Toxic friendships, masturbation, even painful periods are presented in stark, realistic povs. As a cis man, i went into this manga hoping to I’d glean at least a little knowledge of the female experience. Lets say I got that and then some. Even though it could be painful to read at times, I’m grateful for the author spelling out everything in such vivid detail. It really broadens the mind.
The art is consistently amazing and this translates to the wonderful facial expressions. Happiness, sadness, dismay, hope, anger. These emotions always shine through clearly and speak much more than any text bubble ever could. They help convey the story, which is bittersweet at best, but mostly just bitter. But this tone works for the message of the story. It’s supposed to put us in uncomfortable situations with no easy answers.
The characters themselves are all broken in some way or another. At first, they seem irredeemable or downright unlikable, but the author does a painstaking job of convincing us that there is good in everyone, no matter how much grime you have to dredge through. Likewise, there can also be evil in everyone, no matter how sparkly and clean they may seem on the surface.
If you like psychological and existential horror, want to know what it might be like to live life as a girl, or even just want to try something unconventional that’ll get you stuck in your own head, then give this a shot. The mangaka, i believe, set out to make us as readers question our own perceptions of ourselves and the people around us. And if we change for the better because of it, or even just become a bit more understanding towards others, then i’d say its mission accomplished.
Overall rating: 10/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 15, 2023
This is a deconstruction of the typical romance manga, exploring the darker side of romantic relationship. What if someone has baggage? What if there are misunderstandings that are more dangerous than they appear at first glance? Do men and women even need to date in the first place?
These questions and many more are answered in this alt-romance blowout. It can make you cringe with how uncomfortable you will feel, but that's part of its charm. Unlike most romcoms, this story is unafraid to showcase just how ugly interpersonal relationships can get. However, this difficult material is handled with patience and grace, giving every character the
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chance to give their point of view. The characters themselves are multifaceted and easy to root for. There isn't a villain perse, rather people are just the victim of unfortunate and very real circumstances, and are trying to move on in spite of them.
Overall, 8/10. The art is nice, characters don't feel forced, situations don't happen for the sake of driving the main leads together. This is a more realistic and grounded take on romance and trauma, and it is told through the lens of compassion and understanding. Underneath its admittedly scary exterior is a very wholesome and compassionate story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 4, 2023
An unusual manga, starting out as a typical ultraman inspired romcom battle hybrid. The appeal of this series sneaks up on you, as the characters receive more and more characterization as it goes on.
Deeper themes like chaos vs order and the true nature of justice are explored, and it comes off as surprisingly high-brow for a seemingly weird and goofy manga.
All in all, the action is good, characters are treated well, and the themes are pretty deep. If you like big girls and/or kaiju action or want a story with more than a little heart, you’ll like this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 1, 2023
I'm going to take a comparative approach to explain how Demon Slayer is a success.
Are the characters as complex as in Naruto? No.
Is the world as deep as One Piece? No.
Is it as thrilling as Dragon Ball? No.
Is the art and choreography as striking as Bleach? No.
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But it also sidesteps those series' biggest flaws.
Naruto is overlong and falls on its face at the finale, collapsing under its ambition.
Dragon Ball repeats the same basic arc structure over and over, eschewing all Z fighters except Goku and Vegeta.
Bleach can't keep its character power levels straight, introducing asspull powerups one after the other.
Even One Piece has its flaws: Its gargantuan length makes it unapproachable, and characters rarely die.
Demon Slayer has no such issues. It sets out to tell a simple story, and is short and sweet, never overstaying its welcome. The action is kept fresh by having its side characters remain relevant and powerful. The powersystem is simple and well explained, and characters never feel like they are punching below or above their established weight class. The battles are tense because characters can and will die. And it actually has a satisfying conclusion.
Character growth is clearly defined and consequential. The side characters actually grow and remain useful and engaging throughout the story's runtime. Inosuke and Zenitsu are quirky and endearing to some, annoying to others, yet never useless in a fight. They often prove instrumental in saving the protagonist, killing demons, or even facing major antagonists 1 on 1 themselves. Huge end game baddies don't appear out of nowhere that make every other character obsolete. Every character remains a chess piece with their own strengths and weaknesses, until they are knocked from the board.
On a storytelling, art and narrative perspective, demon slayer falls short from most other popular shonen. But on a structural level, it handily trounces all of them, proving to be the most focused and deftly executed shonen around. It may not be perfect, but the package is so brazenly honest and workmanlike that one would be a fool to discredit its appeal.
lf you want fights with real stakes, a simple story with smart pacing and powerful, relevant side characters, you will be very happy with Demon Slayer.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Jul 1, 2023
I went into this manga from the unusual synopsis, and i love milfs. I also just finished the weird ending of usagi drop, and since this is a pseudo-inversion of that, with the younger boy falling for the mother figure, i wanted to see how they tackled this particular taboo.
I will say right off the bat, this series handles the romance elements much better than in usagi drop, namely how the older lead actually addresses the elephant in the room. Which is to say, “isnt it bad to date someone ten years older than you? How will this effect my family? How will my peers
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see me?” Etc etc, which is something that usagi drop completely ignores (which earns it its notorious reputation).
This concept of a young adult dating someone much older than them is novel, and is explored quite well here. The first third of the story deals with the repercussions of such a relationship from a conceptual level, with the older lead trying to rebuff the younger leads advances. Her specific reasonings for it are revealed over time and are rather grounded. Nobody does things out of nowhere, and motivations make sense. This isnt incest or milf-shota bait, these are actual characters, which is refreshing. This makes the first part of the story quite enjoyable.
However, in the middle of the story, the manga becomes more of the run-of-the-mill romantic comedy, ensuing all of the tropes and scenarios you’ve seen a hundred times before, down to your typical shy bikini reveals and hot springs trips. This generic middle section also reveals weaknesses in our main cast. While they are likable and generally agreeable for a romcom cast (including a crackerjack wingman in the daughter, Miu, second only to Sunakawa from Ore Monogatari), they also lack many defining traits, especially the male lead, Takkun. This lack of characterization makes following these generic rom com tropes even less exciting than it already is(n’t), making the bulk of the latter half almost entirely skippable.
The final few volumes introduce a love triangle that adds some much needed drama to the work. While i wont spoil it here, what starts out feeling forced or shoehorned in and out of character eventually culminates into one of the most satisfying “confession” chapters i’ve read in quite some time, which retroactively reveals all of the players here were actually following their hearts and true to their characterizations. Its quite cathartic, and elevates the entire work from the genericness it had been suffering from.
However, the most recent volume (22) introduces some more annoying backtracking and will they/wont they nonsense seemingly just to extend the manga’s runtime. If the story had ended with volume 21, with volume 22 just being a resolution, i would have rated this a point or two higher.
As it stands, this is a rather unique rom com that takes its concept seriously, but is bogged down by your typical romcom tropes and thin characters. The art is nice though, and at its worse it is only inoffensive if not very interesting. This isn’t rent a girlfriend territory. If you like milfs and want something of a different take on the genre, you could do worse.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Mar 29, 2022
It's not all bad. There are some moments in here that are cute or genuinely funny. But after setting the stage, the show goes downhill. The characters are bland. The situations are banal and repetitive. Motivations are lackluster. The humor is one note.
If you're going in expecting a milf SAO, I'd say you could do worse, but there isn't any other option. Even if there were, I doubt it would be as boring as this. If you are really deadset on watching, I'd recommend the first three episodes, because the show is frontloaded, and the beach ova. After that skip the rest, you'd be wasting
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your time otherwise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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May 10, 2021
First of all, I'd like to get some of the things I didn't like about this season- and to an extent, the entire series- out of the way.
Backstories of characters like Garf and Otto are fine but feel tacked on and drag down the pacing. It isnt' just them- every minor character gets a backstory in this season, and it takes up about half the episode count.
There is too much melodrama in this show the same way there is too much icing on a slice of cake when you're stuffed. Characters break down in tears every ten minutes. The first few times it
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happens in Re:zero its affecting, but after awhile it just becomes heartstrings bait and it never works. I don't care about a character or their backstory just because people are crying about it.
There are so many plot points that are either side-stepped or not explained at all. Wonder how magic works? Too bad. How about power scaling? We don't do that here. In fights, especially one on ones, its one random character against another and it is a complete crapshoot which one is gonna come out on top because the power system is all over the place.
There are a ton of exposition dump scenes, way too much telling and not enough showing. This show isn't subtle about trying to explain its themes or what's going on in a scene, either- the characters will talk for minutes at a time to hammer into your brain what is going on.
Basically, there is a lot of stupid stuff in Re:Zero. Sounds like I didn't like it right? Well...
Despite all its shortcomings, this is the first time in years that I binge watched a whole season of anime in a single day. What I like most about Re:Zero is that it stays true to itself, it stays invested in its world and in its characters, and follows through with its plot all the way to the end. There isn't any filler or loose plot points. The characters all get the proper care, and most have actual arcs. The action scenes, while being few and far between, are always cathartic.
Story: 7
Re:Zero's best selling point is its unique premise. The way they twist what you've come to expect in this season was unexpected, compelling, and I didn't feel short changed coming out of it. This new way of storytelling felt like a natural and earned progression for our hero. Only the pacing and somewhat confusing arc structure bog it down.
Art: 6
While never unattractive, there are many still shots and camera pans. The fight scenes are always fluid and the final episode in particular had nice art and animation.
Sound: 6
The music was fitting for the most part, but whenever the "sad piano" ost came on I ended up groaning. The melodrama in this season is really overblown.
Character: 8
Although the backstories take up way too much screen time for some viewers, I appreciate the development and care given to our cast. Seeing the protagonist as a dynamic character even this late in the series is refreshing to me, and character arcs either liven up new characters or recontextualize the returning ones.
Enjoyment: 9
Although there are a lot of gripes with this season and re:zero in general, I couldn't stop watching for a single second. If you are invested in this series, this season deftly completes the second part of the anime.
Overall: 8
The plot is heavy handed at times and the pathos can feel cheap, but new and interesting developments are always cropping up, and all subplots are paid off. It can get confusing when two different mini-arcs are airing concurrently, but it is always in the service of the characters, and revelations from one arc usually enhance the following arcs. At its best, the arcs in this season of re:zero felt like multiple dominos being set up, and then wonderfully being knocked down in a satisfying way. I look forward to more adventures in the capital, but this season left me pleasantly sated.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 13, 2021
So I got into this story because I like giant women plain and simple and wanted to see some badass giantess action. In a sense I got what I came here for. But then, there doesn't have to be 60 chapters of a nothing plot to tell this story.
Right away you'll notice the art is lazy. All of the backgrounds are seemingly photographed, digitized, and repeated over and over through the story. The characters emotions are portrayed nicely and the action is satisfying, but there is no real sense of an overarching world or society. Which is a problem when buildings are getting knocked down
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and you don't give a damn.
The characters start out promising, with their own desires, relationships and hardships. But once the sci-fi premise kicks in, all sense of character growth is eschewed in favor of plenty of gore and unreal circumstances. Basically, you'll stop caring about anything any of the characters say after about ch. 20, or even earlier.
The plot of this manga is beyond ridiculous- not only do we have to suspend our disbelief for the relationship between our two protagonists, but we also have to assume that the antagonists are all willing to go to the lengths they do against the people of Tokyo, without rhyme or reason. The manga also sees no reason to explain the ridiculous phenomena's happening throughout the story, or even dangle a hint of a mystery to keep us interested. We just have to assume that the world is batshit crazy and go along with it.
This isn't to say that enjoyment isn't to be had here- if you really want to see some kaiju vs giant woman action this manga will deliver. Just check your expectations if you want any type of human drama or comprehensible storyline.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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Dec 18, 2020
This is straightforward Haikyuu action. If you like this series, you're gonna wanna watch this season.
Much like season 3, this season is pretty much a single match against a powerful and intimidating team. It's got all the blood pumping action and emotional stakes you've come to expect from this series, wrapped in one of the most spectacular matches to date. Character growth is abundant and past plot threads come to fruition in satisfying ways. The opponent's team is filled with interesting characters, which is in line with the strong character writing Haikyuu does so well.
The animation can be a little choppy, as seen
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in one particularly lazy looking ep early on, but it wows later on where it counts. Definitely don't want to miss it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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