Back to Pongo42's Profile Pongo42's Profile

Let me start this review by saying that I understand why people love this manga. Even though I personally did not enjoy it, "Insomniacs after school" has many elements that warrant it being one of the best romance stories in the eyes of so many people.

The biggest selling point of this manga is the characters. Romance as a genre likes to include eccentric and exaggerated characters, especially if it's targeted for younger audiences, but the cast of "Insomniacs after school" feels grounded and relatable. The problems that the characters face and the ways they react to them are interesting but not overly dramatic.

My first problem ... with this manga stems from the character chemistry, or rather from the lack of it. I read romance mainly for those sweet, tense, romantic or embarrassing moments between the characters and for the way the dynamic between them develops. I like when characters banter, when they have clashing character traits or personalities. I like to feel the tension when they talk to each other. I didn't find any of this in "Insomniacs after school". Sometimes I enjoy purely "wholesome" romance too, but I wouldn't call this manga particularly sweet either. Don't get me wrong, I understand why Isaki and Ganta ended up together and I don't think their relationship is unwarranted, but a working relationship doesn't automatically make romance interesting.

The art in "Insomniacs after school" is good, at times even great. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the level of detail randomly changes between pages and even panels, for no apparent artistic reason. Although this issue got better in later chapters.

The main problem I have with this manga is bad pacing/paneling. So many scenes in this manga either drag on for way too long or end too quickly. They destroy the structure of the story and leave me feeling either bored or confused. I think the underlying plot of this manga is good, but the way it is presented ruins the whole experience for me. And the paneling only exacerbates this problem. Weird angles, awkward poses and constant zooming in on characters' faces makes reading this manga an unpleasant experience.

Very subjective problem that I have with "Insomniacs after school" is bad attempts at "show, don't tell". I think manga is a prime medium for this "rule", so i commend author's efforts to create a more interesting way to present the narrative. But because of the art style and the paneling problems I talked about previously, most of these efforts fall short. In this regard "Skip to Loafer" handles the visual storytelling of romance much better.

Overall I found this manga to be disappointing. It has great ideas and interesting characters, but falls apart because of the execution. If you don't see the problems I've written about after reading this manga, then I can understand why you might have liked, or even loved it. But I have to leave it with a 6/10.

Witch Watch is a manga for a very specific audience. The characters are straightforward, the plot is inoffensive and the comedy has a distinctly Japanese feel to it.

The manga has an episodic structure, with comedy being the main driving force in most of the chapters. Sometimes the story shifts to a darker tone, but in the end everything return to the usual formula.

The art style is clean and very readable, the action scenes never felt confusing or hard to follow. Although character design could have been a bit more creative.

I recommend giving it a shot if you're in a mood for a ... simple and wholesome slice of life manga that get a bit more serious at times.

This is the end of my impartial review. Everything below is my subjective experience with Witch Watch.

Personally I found this manga to be guilty of the gravest sin that any entertainment work can commit. It was plain old boring. It wasn't bad enough for me to keep reading and witness how much worse it could get (shoutout rent-a-girlfriend). But at the same time nothing in this manga is interesting enough to keep my attention.

The main characters are painfully one dimensional and the supporting cast is straight up annoying. The plot is very thin and predictable. And the comedy is just not my cup of tee.

I rarely enjoy comedy in fiction, but at the very least I expect the work to be "fun" to watch or read. And by "fun" I mean something like the recent Urusei Yatsura reboot. I don't think I found that anime funny even once. But at the same time it managed to create an enjoyable viewing experience by using over-the-top characters and ridiculous plotlines.

This manga demands the reader to take the characters and the story seriously. But at the same time it insists on being surrounded by the usual aura of weirdness that so many anime and manga works have. While I understand that many people like that kind of stuff, I'm certainly not one of them.

I like slice of life manga and I certainly enjoy simple but goofy stories. And I really wanted to like this manga too, but here we are. Maybe I will give it another shot one day, but for now I leave it with a 4/10.