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Apr 24, 2021
Shadow House is possibly one of the best slow burn, tightly focused mystery thrillers currently being published. If you like that genre you will like this.
Story:
It's hard to evaluate a plot of a mystery series until said mystery concludes (*cough* snk *cough* tpn *cough*). However, so far, shadow house is very well put together. The core mystery that defines shadow house does a good job at roping the reader in. The story does an excellent job of weaving together both SOL, thriller, and mystery elements together in a way that puts the readers in the same shoes as the characters, which both does a great
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job of sparking curiousity but also gives the readers a chance to solve the smaller questions by themselves with the clues collected along the way.
Unlike many of its contemporaries, shadow house is both very well paced and very tightly focused. It does a good job at balancing the rate of new questions and answers and makes sure every revelation is impactful and earned. The subplots all do a good job of building up to the main goal. None of the SOL scenes feel like wasted filler and instead contribute to the characters/setting/pacing or provide clues to be used later. So far there are no major plot holes that couldn't potentially be explained by later reveals, and the story seems to be well planned and progressing organically.
Unfortunately, shadow house has somewhat questionable application of stakes and hesitation to kill off characters especially this early on.
Characters:
Nothing special but well done. Some prominent characters have interesting backstories, motivations, development, or personality. Some transcend normal manga archetypes to a degree, but never in groundbreaking or particularly unique ways. A few members of the cast have some charm, but personally I found no jaw droppers.
However, the way the manga handles interactions and relations between characters is outstanding. The dialogue is well written, symbolism is used well, and the way characters can influence eachother is fascinating.
Art:
Both the linework and textures are good. Looks incredible in color. Paneling is nothing special, but there is always a lot of clarity and it never negatively impacts the experience.
Themes:
Thematically consistent, but also nuanced enough to try to question itself and evaluate its core themes from multiple angles. No complaints.
Conclusion:
The series isn't brilliant but it holds itself to consistently high standards and executes well. Clearly crafted with thought and care to be a very enjoyable experience.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Apr 22, 2020
Overall:
Went in apprehensive but was really surprised. Good read, which got me into otome isekai.
Story:
Otome isekai+conneticut yankee in King Arthur's court. Sprinkles in some great political intrigue and drama too. The plot is not particularly original, but the execution is great. The pacing is perfect and its really gripping. Seeds of Plot points are introduced in advance and the manga does a great job at building up to rewarding payoffs and developments. Something new is always happening and it feels like progress is often made. Hard to put down once you start.
Art:
Good shit. Good detailed character designs, even changing clothes/hair of characters often. Lots
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of expressive face closeups.Paneling is easy to follow but nothing super creative. The colors are nice but obviously most of it is B/W. That said, there were almost no knock your socks off spreads or panels that made me go "wow". Just consistent quality. Could do a better job of showing motion, but excuseable since its not an action manga. Bad background work, uses empty B/W backgrounds often or simple copypasted effects extremely often.
Character:
Really excellent MC. The main character manages to really buck the trend of isekai protags. She is competent and has a real skillset that goes beyond game knowledge/knowledge of the modern world, character traits that make her extremely likeable, and realistic flaws that prevent her from being wish fufillment/self insert material. She makes reasonable mistakes/oversights, but she also manages to beat the odds in novel and interesting ways.
Unlike a lot of other isekai, the MC isn't wanked by making the other characters incompetent or cardboard cutouts. The side cast is also very competent and recognizeable. The villains feel threatening and the competence of all the characters makes the political intrigue tense and suspenseful.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Apr 22, 2020
Overall
Watched the anime and I have read the webtoon up to the middle of S2 so far, but dw no spoilers. Its good, but I would not recommend it to people already reading TOG because it adds little relative to what the webtoon already offers. Not an all time favorite of mine by objectively worth it to watch/read. 8/10
Story:
Plot: 10/10
Tower of god has a good story and it stays good. There's a strong plot with tons of underlying mystery. It's really gripping and at the end of every episode/chapter you want to know what happens next. Its one of those series that just ropes you
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into binging it. The beginning, which is covered in the anime, is especially strong.
Structure: 10/10
The story is cut up into floors, which makes it easy to follow, and being able to follow both the self contained story of a floor and the overall story is really nice. The differences between the floors gives every arc a unique tone and let different characters shine, but the series still stays true to its core premise of being an action/adventure show.
Worldbuilding: 10/10
Extremely immersive anime, especially for its genre. The world feels extremely real and lived in, despite all of its over the top fantastical elements. Connections are drawn between characters/plot points/concepts in a very nice way- it feels authentic and almost never wastes your time. There is a good amount of exposition but they keep it brief relative to the information delivered.
Pacing: 10/10
Anime pacing is better than the webtoon actually. It's going fast but doesn't feel rushed and finds time to explore the characters a bit, let you take in the world, and tell its jokes. However, the pacing of the beginning was strong in the source material as well. The real test for it will likely be some of the more grating arcs in season 2. Tentative 10/10.
Art:
Animation: 6/10
Great at its best, but oftentimes lazy, okay overall. Character movements are very expressive, and they always go the extra mile to animate facial expressions, but body movements tend to be kind of stiff. Fights alternate between scenes that drop your jaw and scenes that make you go "really?". A lot of the lazy moments hurt my enjoyment of the fights a lot, and I think the webtoon did a better job in that regard. The effects are really sick though, and are almost never lazy.
Artstyle: 6/10
More consistent in quality than the webtoon, but TOG doesn't really have great art, and that is not the anime's fault. That said, the character designs are really really good and do a great job of being unique and a treat to look at.
Color palette: 10/10
Really bright vibrant colors. Really brings the world and characters of TOG to life. Really saves the art overall and a treat to look at. The backgrounds are fleshed out and they are never lazy with the colors.
Sound:
Voice acting: 7/10
Generic but solid quality. Main 3 VAs are good, especially rak. At least to me there were no extreme standouts however. Would have preferred it in korean maybe if the difference in music quality is any indication.
Effects: 4/10
Pretty bad honestly. A lot of things just don't sound right. For lack of better words, lacks oomph.
Music: 5/10
Ambient music is bad, OP and ED are bad. KR version of OP/ED are way better tho, stray kids is good shit.
Character:
Main:4/10
Bam is not terrible, but is forgettable. You can kinda empathize with him, but he's not especially relatable or likeable. He doesn't have any interesting quirks and his whole character can generally be summed up with a list of one letter words. He's kind of boring. That said, considering the story tower of god is, that's okay. Having a mundane lens you can use to experience a great world and compare other characters can be helpful at times. Bam does have some character development, but TOG is a slow boil long term story, like one piece, so don't expect him to be changing in profound/complex ways every episode let alone every arc.
Supporting: 8/10
Huge and diverse supporting cast. Gives them time to develop, time to shine, and distinctive designs and personalities to draw you in. TOG gives chances for side characters to interact with eachother and get slice of life screentime, making them feel much more like real people than characters from other series with similar cast sizes. Lots of round characters with complex and well written backstories and layered personalities, but as mentioned previously, TOG is a slow story and most of it is drip fed. Most of the cast did not really resonate with me, but the cast is simply too large for that to be possible. That said, I'm sure you will find at least a couple you really like.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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