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Dec 21, 2024
The most important thing to understand right off the bat is that this story is edgy. That being said, it's pretty entertaining.
The protagonist is a total psycho who is gifted with 100% OP talent/powers from the start. "But OP characters are so boring!" you say. I disagree. The problem with your generic OP character is that they are generic, not that they are OP. Fortunately, the protagonist here is actually unique, and the story is told within an engaging setting with solid world-building so far. The character of the protagonist keeps things interesting because their goals and strategies are going to be different from
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what you'd normally find in a cookie-cutter power fantasy story.
"But I hate edgy characters!"
The protagonist isn't just some normal dude who got isekai'd and suddenly started enacting a 12 year old's idea of a revenge fantasy. No. The protagonist here is actually pretty psycho, and the brutality + intelligence of his tactics and manipulations feels "real" rather than merely being artificially hyped by the story. Granted, the writer does still throw in some of those stereotypical "t-that's impossible!" moments, as if the protag hasn't consistently proven how great he was 10x already, but it doesn't really bring down the story much.
The aesthetic of this story is also really nicely done. When I say "aesthetic" I don't just mean the art in terms of the quality of the visuals. What I'm talking about here is the actual style - the character designs, the scenery, the outfits, the way magic is actually shown, etc. I'm not someone who tends to care a whole lot about art quality so long as the story is good and the art is good enough, so for me to have thought "I need to note the aesthetic in my review" means this stuff must be well-above average.
As for the side characters - they're fine. Ironically, despite the story being 53 chapters in, it feels like it's still quite "young" because the protagonist has been so entirely dominant and the world has been built out so much that there's a lot of potential yet to be explored. I'm withholding primary judgement here, but none of the side characters are annoying or anything like that, and I'd say they're interesting enough to care a bit about, there's just not THAT much care yet.
"So you hyped it up, why did you only rate it a 7?"
I rated it a 7/10 because that's my default "solid" rating for a story that I enjoy. A 7 actually isn't bad at all - and I'd definitely recommend this story to anyone who is interested in the premise.
There's clearly a large vision behind this work, but we are still early. Could this eventually turn into an 8, 9, maybe even a 10? Sure, but it's way too early for me to make that judgement. I can see some good potential though, and it's been an entertaining ride so far.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 5, 2024
Extremely overrated garbage that uses elementary humor to try and get laughs. Cheap characters, cheap romance, cheap comedy.
The initial premise is fine, and it starts off alright. There was some potential there. But it quickly grows stale.
Not even 10 chapters in and the male protagonist is already being blackmailed and humiliated publicly in the most cliche plot development conceivable. Then, in another cliche, he easily forgives the perpetrator for the silliest reason possible. Actually, the male protagonist often gets treated with a total lack of respect from practically every character in the series, and he does little about it. He's just a total pushover.
I
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don't find any enjoyment watching a character let everyone walk all over them. That isn't comedic to me.
I don't enjoy characters acting totally unhinged and unreasonable, and then having it all hand-waved away because it's a "comedy" series where no one takes anything seriously. That isn't actually comedic to me - it's just stupid.
Terrible plot. Annoying characters.
Don't even bother reading this one. Total waste of time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 16, 2024
Of course, the story is still in a relatively early stage, but it's quite good so far. I tend to be quite critical of works like this, as a lot of them are pretty bland, relying on repetitive action sequences to desperately try and carry a mediocre plot... But this story is doesn't need it! It's actually good!
One thing that really stands out in this story is that it switches between a fantasy world (where most of the action takes place) and the "real" world (where most of the strategy takes place). It's a unique element that genuinely does good service in preventing the
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story from becoming too stale. The story doesn't get bogged down by 10 chapters all around the same fight scene - it actually progresses at a steady pace with a plot containing solid character interactions & dynamics.
Again, it's still quite early so we've yet to see its full potential, especially when it comes to the depth of the characters - we really haven't been able to dive into their personalities yet. But overall, I think the story is setting itself up for success.
Solid art. Entertaining-enough characters. Decent protag. Good plot. Unique concepts being explored.
Looking forward to what this series has to offer going forward! I 100% recommend giving it a chance. 8/10 but my rating can easily go up (or down) depending on where the story goes from here.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 22, 2023
This manga is atrociously bad. The characters are bland, the exposition drones on, and the plot is the most generic of isekai nonsense. However, the biggest negative is the religious circlejerking. There are ways to write a good religious story - this is not one of them.
The religious philosophy is bland, as if it's written by a freshman university philosophy student. The characters, especially the supposedly "evil" ones in relation to the protagonist, say cartoonish nonsense. The gods never truly earn the devotion that is given to them - they are simply granted such devotion because they are powerful. The followers are rewarded when they
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act like good devoted pets, and they are severely punished for any disobedience. It's just bland and uninteresting. Isekai already has a problem with overpowered protagonists being dull and boring. Now imagine a story that is instead about the most generic side-character worshiping the already dull and boring Isekai protagonist. Sounds great, right? No. It's terrible.
The drama is SO unbelievably cheap. Situations will be added to the story solely for the sake of drama, even if it makes no logical sense. Characters will take actions and have feelings that are not founded upon anything except the author's need to make a situation more dramatic than it has any right to be. Problems that could've been entirely avoided with the use of just a single braincell are still walked into because - DRAMA. And then the characters gather around for another circlejerk of "feels" or whatever. It's so bad.
1/10 experience. Legit one of the worst manga I've read.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Oct 18, 2023
This season started off as a mess. Maybe it's a passable mess, but a mess is a mess. Maybe to the average viewer it's enjoyable enough, but it's such a significant downgrade from the manga.
Imagine being given a perfect guide for a test, where you could get the easy 100% score, but instead you decide to deviate from the guide and get a 70% instead. Like, WHAT is the point? Well, that's what this anime did; it took a masterpiece and made it worse for no good reason.
Everything was rushed. Was the plot follow-able? Sure. Was it entertaining enough to keep me watching? Sure.
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However, the big moments did NOT hit right at all. The drama was cheapened, the characters were cheapened, the comedy was cheapened... It's depressing.
To be fair, season 1 had a bit of this problem as well - but season 2 somehow makes it even worse. It's like they are purposefully trying to kill the comedy and kill the emotion in order to make just another lifeless corporate action anime.
Unfortunately, anime-only viewers aren't really going to know what I'm talking about because they aren't going to have experienced the manga. I guess the only good example I have is - imagine a respected comedian telling a joke, and then imagine your friend, who thinks he's really funny when he's actually really not, trying to retell the comedian's joke. You know how the delivery and the punch would just be lost? And you'd be like, "HOW did you manage to make the joke so much worse?" Well, this anime is the friend trying to retell the professional comedian's joke.
I think one of the issues is that the executives have a poor understanding of what makes the original work (at least the manga, as I haven't read the LN) so enjoyable. They'll end up altering the flow, changing lines, changing the execution, and it'll all just end up significantly more awkward than it should be.
Anyway, my recommendation is to just read the manga. If you want to experience a 10/10 masterpiece of a story, read the manga.
On an optimistic note, this arc wasn't the strongest arc anyway IMO so this series does have time to get it together. However, things aren't looking too hopeful ATM. Hopefully the anime creators will stop deviating from the script and let this series shine the way it should.
6/10 - messy flow, rushed, lack of real character development, devoid of emotion, comedy downgrade, but definitely coasting along thanks to the hype still lingering from season 1, and the promise of a brighter future, with the characters we've already come to enjoy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 25, 2023
I think I can speak for everyone when I say, "Harry Potter was a classic" - truly, a masterpiece that rocked my small childhood world. Yeah, there were many Harry Potter fans, but I was among the top of them, at the peak, the highest tower in all of Hogwarts, so to speak (that's the astronomy tower, btw). On my 11th birthday, I kept pleading to my parents to let me dress up as a wizard all day, until they finally agreed. I ran around the whole town conjuring up magic and mayhem, like any good young wizard would do. Fortunately, I had found a
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few other Potterheads who all quickly became my friends. We'd all practice brewing potions and run around pretending to play Quidditch with each other. You know, typical stuff. We were spooked but a large cat that interrupted our match, and I tried my best "Expelliarmus!" yet the cat was undeterred - a truly ferocious beast it was, indeed. Luckily, we were able to befriend the magical creature and it became our club mascot.
Anyway, that birthday my parents took me in their arms and cheered, "You're a wizard, Thevsamovies!"
It was truly a highlight of my life.
So, you can only imagine how devasted I was when J. K. Rowling was canceled by the Internet.
On that dark day, I arranged a funeral for the childhood dreams I had to bury. For what seemed, at the time, like it would be the last time, I put on my robe and wizard hat, and gathered my things to say goodbye to the fandom. My collection of Harry Potter books, all the movies, the special editions, my second collection of Harry Potter books that I kept as a backup - gone, cast deep into a hole in the ground. I retired my wand, for what I thought would be forever.
Then, a long while later, I discovered Mashle. The facial scar, the castle, the cone-shaped towers, the haircut, the MAGIC - it was all there. I excitedly sat down to binge episodes 1-3 all in a single day.
Mashle is a story about Harry Potter but with Muscles - and I'm going to capitalize Muscles out of respect, as they are all named characters. Mash is a character that lacks magic, but makes up for it with spirit and Muscle. He's a little dense, but the show plays it off for a good laugh.
We quickly meet our cast of characters - Hermione, Draco, and a poor man's Ron Weasley. It's really hard to assess the full potential of these characters, as we've only had limited exposure to Hermione, Draco, and Discount Ron so far. However, I have all the hope in the world that they can live up to the wizarding legacy that they're carrying on.
The plot is pretty much what's outlined in the anime description. The boy who lived in hiding, Mash, enrolls in a magic school in order to protect his peaceful life with his father - whose name I either forgot or it just wasn't mentioned in the show; it's hard to say. There he meets Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, who is as virtuous, and also a little sadistic, as the original.
The soundtrack is pretty good, as expected of any Harry Potter series (but without the J.K. Rowling part).
The art is solid, and I look forward to the future action sequences. Although, we haven't really seen much yet.
Anyway, that's all I have to say. I'm only 3 episodes in so it's hard to judge.
Overall, Mashle is a solid series to pickup for any Harry Potter fan that is trying to survive and thrive in these trying times.
5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Oct 2, 2022
I'm writing this review before the anime begins because the anime is either gonna be a total hit or a complete flop - and that will 100% depend on the studio's ability to adapt the source material IMO, because the source material itself is easily 10/10.
I'd say it's very easy to mess up the "OP protagonist" story. It's common that in these stories protagonist's primary trait just becomes "wow he/she is OP!" because the character's personality is just... kinda weak with no development. Fortunately, Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! has a protagonist that is actually interesting and likable. Let's go over a few reasons
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why:
- His goals are unique + complex, allowing him to show off how he's actually clever instead of just OP.
- He is extremely confident and passionate, which actually makes him cool + he commands attention.
- Unpredictable
- He's actually funny AF.
And it's important that the protagonist is actually interesting because he drives the story forward. The side characters are interesting enough but they are primarily there to play off of the protagonist; although, we are still relatively early in the story so there's definitely room for development.
While this is definitely a character-driven story, the plot accomplishes what it needs to in order to keep things interesting. Because of how grand the protagonist is, the plot is able to become grand to match that energy. Plus, there's the freedom that the author has to essentially craft perfectly cool and interesting scenarios that fit well with the plot because they fit with the nature of the protagonist. Trust. If you read, you'll get what I mean. Our protag really takes you for a ride.
Also, yeah, the art is solid which is important for any manga that has a decent amount of action in it.
Anyway, great read. Highly recommended. I do hope the anime lives up to the source material.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Feb 2, 2019
This anime is complete garbage. There is really no way I can sugarcoat it. Out of every anime I have ever watched, I have only rated this one absolutely appalling. I highly recommend anyone with any sort of quality standards stay away from it.
This won't be a long, drawn out review because the problems with this anime are so gross and apparent that there's no need to go into any in-depth analysis.
First comes the characters:
Completely pathetic. Every character in this anime is bland and unlikable. The side characters have basically no personality, and everyone exists only for the sake of bowing down to the
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protagonist's power. In turn, he gives them an immediate level up. Wow. Nice. This leads us to the protagonist himself -- His first main quality is being a pervert and his second main quality is being overpowered enough for everyone to like him. Other than that, he's just the most generic anime protagonist imaginable.
Next comes the story:
Somehow the story itself is far worse than its terrible characters. The entire plot is just the protagonist being overpowered. Occasionally he'll level up some characters, so that they can also be overpowered. Every fight the protagonist goes into, you'll know he's gonna be OK because he will pull out some mystical special ability that will make him instantly impervious to whatever challenge awaits. Granted, people keep saying stuff like "wait until the end of the series!" but that doesn't matter. If the first 13 episodes of a series are garbage, I'm not gonna wait until episode 23 for it to get good. That isn't how watching a show works.
There have been numerous other anime like One Punch Man or even Overlord that have done OP characters infinitely better than this anime. How? The other anime add in some sort of special circumstance in addition to unique traits to the protagonist. In One Punch man and Overlord, they never act as if the opponent realistically has any chance. In this anime they act as if the opponent actually has a chance of defeating the protag. In this anime, the protagonist doesn't have any special unique traits that make him cool and likeable. They don't embrace the fact that the slime is just an OP god. They don't give the slime any personality or circumstance to counteract the fact that he's OP. Tbh if the characters had any personality, this story would be a lot better but they DON'T.
Art, Sound: Fine. Honestly nothing special. I guess the art is pretty good overall but it would be better in a story that was actually good.
Honestly, I don't know much else I can say about this anime. It's just the blandest piece of media I've ever accidentally consumed. Typically I'm able to avoid anime this terrible, but MAL rated this a top-tier show for some reason.
Overall ratings: 1 across the board, except for the art and sound which were 6 and 4 respectively.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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Aug 27, 2018
I'm so happy this turned out well. Season 3 is exactly what SnK should be.
I didn't think things would necessarily turn out this way, either. In my humble opinion, SnK season TWO was a mess. During the first 6 episodes, the plot, pacing, etc. was completely off and it completely killed the show for me. I wrote a long review about it before but I don't wanna spend too much time talking about SnK s2 when this is about season 3. As season 2 approached the ending, however, it seemed the writing was coming back and I began to enjoy it like I enjoyed
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season 1.
Now the writing is in full force, and everything seems to shine. Where should I begin?
Essentially, all of our characters are set up at this point so there's no time wasted with long backstories or explanations. Whenever a backstory does come up, it's quick and does NOT subtract from the plot at all. During season 2 they kinda threw in flashbacks at random, even during critical, suspenseful moments, and it killed the immersion. If that was something you were worrying about -- you won't see that here. The story flows great.
The characters are back and better than ever, too. During season 2 we really missed Levi in all his fighting greatness, but he really shares center stage this season. He's cool, collected, and intelligent -- even more than he was in season 1. He's back to fighting anything willing to stand in the way of his mission, and he's great at it. The show plays on the strengths and personalities of its characters and it really shows. Even though a lot of the season so far is centering around the side characters -- they don't disappoint at all. Not to mention everything is more impactful now that we've spent 2 seasons already with these people. I was looking forward to every moment their plans advanced or fell flat. Even the antagonists are cool. It's annoying to watch a show where the villains are dumb but the heroes always have everything figured out. You don't have to worry about that in SnK s3. There villains seem to be just as capable as the heroes, so you don't know what's going to happen.
I'd say the story itself, so far, is much better than season 1 and season 2. While I enjoyed season 1 a lot, quite a few people complained about the lack of plot progression but I don't think that would be a fair complaint for season 3. During this season we've learned much more about the world, and we have a lot more factions/actors furthering their goals. The pacing is not too fast, and it's not too slow either. The story kept me on edge, with twists and turns that all flow together. I looked forward to each new episode even though the story kept me completely satisfied. What I mean by that is -- I was comfortable stopping at any episode, because I had been thoroughly entertained and I had gotten a lot with each episode. Some shows bore you with a dull episode and then a cliffhanger at the end -- not this one.
There isn't too much that I can say because I'm only 5 episodes in but I'm just really enjoying myself and wanted to share. Lol.
As for the art, it's as good as ever. I'm looking forward to seeing the animation during big battles that will come up in the future.
The sound is good too, as it usually is. I feel like we haven't gotten too much of the OST yet so it's unfair to really judge it at this point. While I didn't care for the OP much at first, I have to admit it sounds much better using a quality headset in comparison to the bad speakers I played it on the first time. It isn't my favorite OP, but it's fine IMO.
Overall, my ratings would go like this:
Story: 9
Art: 8
Sound: 7
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 10
Overall: 9
The reason why I handed out so many 9's is because it's so early in the season so I can't be SURE of any perfection yet, but I can guarantee that I've been enjoying the HECK out of it so far. On the course it's going, I'm sure to at least keep those ratings -- or maybe I'll think it's worth something higher. Hard to say.
RIP I had to reupload this review cause I "didn't watch 6 episodes" before
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jun 26, 2018
Did you come here for GALACTIC HEROES? Well get ready for a full two of them, because everyone else in this show is seemingly incompetent!
Welcome to "Military Space Politics - The Anime!"
I understood what the show was trying to do in the beginning. It started off with a good opening battle, and then pushed out all the backstory so that it could focus on the WAR in the end. But just because it's understandable doesn't mean it's a good way of telling a story. The story was actually the WORST part of this anime. It was just.. mediocre. The beginning was way too
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slow and progressed in this most BASIC way possible, solely relying on the nice art and -anticipation- of "EPIC" space battles to keep the viewers interested. Perhaps the beginning would've been more interesting if it was fleshed out, and a proper amount of time was spent building up an enjoyable cast of characters... But that's not what this anime did. The whole thing felt rushed, which makes sense because this should've been a 24 episode anime at least.
Thanks to the rushed story-line, and just some bad writing, the only really likeable characters are the two main protagonists. All the other characters exist ONLY to further the protagonists' story-lines. The other characters have no real depth to themselves. You don't feel for them at all. You feel even LESS, somehow, for the cast of basic stock characters that get slaughtered in huge space battles. In my humble opinion, the anime would've meant so much more if it spent time building up each general similar stories, such as Kingdom, tend to do.
Taking a break from the story for a second: the art in this anime is rather good, and it's the main reason why I wanted to watch this instead of the ancient OVA that people go on in praise about. The sound is also rather good, and I especially enjoy the opening.
Now! Back to the story:
The latter half of the anime was a major disappointment. I figured the beginning would pay off, since they at least got all the backstory out of the way so they could focus on some cool space battles and strategies -- but that isn't what they do. Instead, they dedicate most of this anime's run-time to politics and mostly pointless talking. The high command, on both sides, is so hilariously dumb you wonder how they even got into their positions in the first place. Prepare to feel aggravated when no one listens to the basic logic from the protagonist, and instead goes with a screaming maniac who literally seizures randomly when he gets frustrated. Seriously, there is no justification for the guy being in the military.
After watching politics for 80% of the anime, you finally get the big hyped up space battle in the final episode of the anime... kinda. In reality, you only get part of it because it ends on a cliffhanger. Even in the final episode, most of the time is spent on everything BUT cool strategies and tactics. There are a few CGI space battles, talking between characters that you don't care about, politics, and then... Possibly three total minutes of the content you'd actually expect from this anime.
Overall this anime was a complete disappointment. I rated it 5 (which is rather low for my standards, as a 7 is supposed to be average for me) because it did have some good qualities, and I REALLY wanted to like it, but unfortunately it just didn't come through. Hopefully next season is better, if they manage to produce one.
If there is no season two, do NOT watch this anime!
Story: 3
Art: 8
Sound: 8
Character: 5
Enjoyment: 6
Overall: 5
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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