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This manga is kind of all over the place. It's a harem story, a tragic story, a comedic story, a serious story, an incest story, a romance drama, a school drama, a sports drama, a self-depreciating story, a self-improvement story... I'm not really sure what I'm getting into.

The main character, Yukito, starts off with failing to confess his love to his childhood friend before she found someone else and is emotionally crushed by this which leads to him having some serious self-pity and closes himself off emotionally to everyone. This leads to him believing he has bad luck with women as his mom, sister, childhood ... friend, and various female friends all seemingly traumatized him in some way.

However, as the story goes on, it's revealed that various misunderstandings and unfortunate circumstances occurred on the women's side as well that led to the various misfortunes on Yukito. There's a pretty big event regarding him and his sister that probably caused his way of thinking and acting to this day but I don't think it's ever been directly blamed on.

So all the girls seemingly throw themselves at Yukito out of both guilt and affection to right their perceived wrongs, restore former relationships, and potentially also make him their boyfriend (Including his sister & maybe also his mother as well). Yukito reacts to all this with some serious mental gymnastics to avoid any contact or social connections with these people due to him believing he is the one at fault for what happened in the past. Sometimes it's played with dry humor, sometimes it's taken pretty seriously.

As I mentioned the story is all over the place, not just juggling all the characters and their subplots but also in terms of pacing. Every chapter seems to bring in another character with some minor connection to Yukito and then some lame excuse for a weak subplot that gets somewhat resolved very easily. I've been having trouble keeping up with all the characters and the strange manga designs for the characters haven't been helping.

I'll probably come back now and then to see what's up but I'm losing interest and I'm not the only one since this manga has went through like 4 or 5 scanlation teams already.

I will be talking about some events/arcs that happen in the manga so technically that's a spoiler but this isn't the type of story that many would care to go in blind or not.

'No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular!' also known as 'Watamote' is a manga about Tomoko Kuroki, a socially-awkward femcel who yearns to be popular and attempts to do so in her own cringey way. At least until volume 7...

Watamote starts off with Tomoko as a cringey school girl who can only comfortably talk to old schoolmates or her family. Everyone else though, she acts ... very awkward around. However starting in Volume 7 is where the "Field Trip arc" to Kyoto happens. This is where many in the fandom say is the start of the shift in "tone" in the manga going forward as more recurring characters start to appear and hang around Tomoko even borderline obsess over her. The manga seemingly went from "cringey social awkwardness" to "yuri-bait slice-of-life".

This shift in tone caused a major divide among the fandom as those who enjoyed Tomoko's femcel tendencies felt like the manga no longer makes sense for Tomoko as she is now making friends and has become more sociable on top of the story moving away from Tomoko's cringey schemes to become more popular.

Personally I am part of the fandom that did not find the early social awkwardness very interesting or entertaining. Even the anime has failed to gain traction for a season 2 for a long while now because many felt the same way. When the manga became more of a slice-of-life story with all the new characters, it became significantly much better in my honest opinion despite essentially becoming another slice-of-life school manga.

Moving past the manga's shift in tone, the author & artist has significantly improved their art as the manga goes on and a very interesting thing I've enjoyed on rereads is how the author has consistently brought back minor and even background characters as recurring side characters to engage with Tomoko and friends.

The biggest downside in my opinion is the release schedule. It can go from bi-weekly to monthly with less than 10 pages each release. Due to this, some arcs can drag out as some chapters will move the story forward or sometimes we get random tid-bits of character interactions. As of chapter 230, we've been in the same 'School Festival' arc for about 2 years! You know when this manga first released? 2013!

Regardless, if you can power through the boring cringe up to Vol 7, you'll find a fun slice-of-life manga to sink your teeth into with many characters and personalities to enjoy.

Full disclosure, I have played Fate/Grand Order the mobile game and am familiar with a lot of what the movie is adapting.

I have watched both FGO Camelot movies twice, once on my own and again with an "anime-only" friend and we both agree... what did we watch exactly?

With Babylonia, my friend could watch it, not knowing anything, and still get the gist and enjoy the series. He did not feel the same way about the Camelot movies. I, too, did not enjoy the Camelot movies as much as I thought I would've.

Like many people, I also felt like they should've did a 20-ish episode series ... for Camelot the same way they did for Babylonia. They also chose to remove some characters and change some events to make up for those missing characters. The pacing is a lot tighter and faster-paced but not in a good way, I had a hard time understanding motivations of many characters on top of scenes simply happening then moving on, and my friend had so much trouble keeping up with what was happening or why it was happening.

The art goes from fantastic when things are slow to weirdly disproportionate human-ogres when any serious action scene goes on. It was extremely noticeable and contributed to the "WTF is even happening?" reaction that me and my friend had, especially near the end.

Music is great but because me and my friend were constantly going "WTF is even happening?". The music was often overshadowed by me trying to explain what was happening to my friend. Like the music wants you to feel what was happening was an epic emotional scene but, again, so much was happening so fast.

There were also some strange audio choices, both in the Japanese and English dub. Where people from off-screen would talk to another character on-screen at low volume to simulate them talking at a distance. Sometimes we didn't know who was talking at the time until the next scene.

To me, this did not reach my expectations that could've been at the same level of the Babylonia anime. I understand that adaptations can't adapt everything nor can they fit everything to the time constraints of a movie but they certainly tried to cram it all in in 2 movies.

This manga got axed early and it's obvious why.

"Do You Think You Can Run After Reincarnating, Nii-san?" starts off as your usual isekai but quickly reveals the circumstances of how the protagonist, Jack Lieber, ended up reincarnating by chapter 2. His little sister is a very violent yandere who has a thing for her brother (bit of a redundant explanation but necessary). They both die but are reincarnated in the same world.

The story starts off innocent enough in chapter 1 with minor hints about how Jack's previous life was but in chapter 2, that's where most of the "shock value" is revealed. It's bloody, violent, ... and terrible but don't worry if you're squeamish about that sort of thing because that's about the worst of what's shown and it's not very overt so it's still pretty tame compared to other "dark" manga (as it's still part of a publishing manga).

However, by the end of chapter 3, Jack manages to put his crazy sister down and it's heavily implied (honestly outright said) that she'll be back. Which is where many people felt like the manga lost its "hook" as from that point on, the story becomes your standard battle shounen. Without the main draw of his insane sister being a constant threat hunting her brother down, the story just lost interest to a lot of people, including me. Even though the author sprinkled in obvious hints that his sister was back it just wasn't enough to keep the manga going as it was canceled only 20 chapters in.

If you're expecting a twisted/dark manga to get into, this won't do it for you. This is just a small "snack" among the numerous amounts of battle shounen and isekai mangas out there.

If you haven't already heard, the strengths and weaknesses of this franchise has finally started to become more apparent to the general public... and the copium/mental gymnastics of the fandom as well.

Tensei shitara Slime Datta Ken/That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime season 3 has received scrutiny as for the first 11 episodes were nearly entirely done in a single room where the cast simply sat around and discussed current events and what to do next. Not only that, but weirdly enough, the art and animation were somehow noticeably poor during these 11 episodes as it honestly felt like a slideshow.

However, after episode 12, ... the anime suddenly feels like it was picked up by another anime studio as more life and movement starts to fill the screen. As if it was an actual anime. The 2nd half of the season then shifts to its main draw: which is the slice-of-life. Where Rimuru continues advertising his nation with a bunch of entertainment venues with a big focus on a battle coliseum and a 'dungeon crawl' where teams of adventurers may attempt to go through, kill mobs, challenge bosses, and obtain loot.

To clarify, the weakness of this series ISN'T just because of the long, drawn-out meetings. It's actually the things discussed in these meetings. For some reason this series has been constantly trying to convince the readers that this is a 'serious' world and push "national" and "political" consequences onto Rimuru and his nation due to his sudden arrival and strategically-valuable location. Rimuru & friends will then discuss on how to proceed should these other nations start to impose themselves on them.

However, this is still a POWER FANTASY isekai. Whenever trouble finally arrives for Rimuru & friends, they simply resolve any problems through brute-force anyway and then get the most out of the situation later while still being the "nice guys" in any political maneuvering. It's essentially a running-gag in the anime, manga, and light novel. A few troublemakers show up, Rimuru's subordinates show off, then the troublemakers quickly cower and behave themselves.

Just so you know, Season 3 is nearly caught up with the manga, at least up until Chapter 118. So with the end of this season, a 4th season and even another movie was announced. The show will quickly surpass the manga very soon.

I have very mixed feelings about this season and the series going forward. The first 11 episodes will be painfully slow and will only get worse on rewatches as I imagine it will often be skipped over and when you get to the slice-of-life content it starts to get stale as you already know how Rimuru & friends will just clown everyone who challenges them. Essentially, if you're already a big fan, you'll probably watch this no matter what. If you're not, I don't think this season will change your mind.

Well, well, well... Look who ended up being right after all? 😏

Despite some desperate claims of EZ fans, Edens Zero is very similar to Fairy Tail. If you liked anything about Fairy Tail or Rave Master or just shounen/ecchi in general. You'll like Edens Zero but don't expect it to be much different than Fairy Tail outside of the Sci-Fi setting and more ecchi scenes.

- Many characters have reused designs, hairstyles, and faces from Mashima's previous works, even the names of Factions and characters are reused
- Many characters have very similar personalities to Mashima's previous work
- It absolutely have the same fanservice/humor as Fairy Tail ... (It's even more fetish-y and ecchi than before!)
- It has that post-timeskip pacing that Fairy Tail had and you will be blitzing through many locations up within a handful of chapters. Many fights & problems also start and end within a chapter and multiple fights often have most of their fights happen off-screen.
- Shiki (The main character) has the nearly the exact same personality and design of Natsu of Fairy Tail. Even down to his obsession with making friends and friendships.
- It's a little "dark" and I mention this in quotations because it's still on Shounen Jump but it really pushes into ecchi territory even more so than Fairy Tail. Mashima's fetish/fanservice scenes are on full-display here. A lot of frontal cleavage and revealing clothing, partial nudity, several implied mentions of prostitution and a few implied rapes (again, sci-fi urban setting), and quite a few despair faces on the females.

To reiterate again, massive amounts of pacing issues (too fast-paced) where there were so many fights that starts on-screen, continues mostly off-screen, and then ends the next time it appears. Several "big" and "important" fights were also often handled within 2 chapters. Didn't feel very creative at all, mainly it was nonsensical-asspulls and 'getting more emotional = getting stronger' kind of big attacks.

Time travel was always going to be both a crutch and a convenient plot device especially when they introduced "Universe 0", the origin point where all time converges and all universes and worlds stem from. Which the author just completely drops the ball in terms of stakes and tension. The ending was pretty bad and not in a meme-able way like some other endings out there...

Unlike Fairy Tail, Edens Zero is likely to be forgotten by most of the anime/manga community but it's not so bad that it wouldn't spring up from time to time. I think it will be one of those anime/manga that resurges almost like a cult classic.

This is a one-shot with only 8 pages.

This one-shot is about an Elven Knight Commander who is prim and proper in public but a lazy, spoiled, overly-cutesy, woman-child person in private. Especially around her caretaker who also happens to be a reincarnated person from another world (not sure why he needed to be but it was thrown in there).

So I still recommend it because it's a super short and easily digested story. It's the kind of low-effort cutesy light-hearted story you already know how it plays out and what kind of tropes and running gags that will happen. Not much else to say about it.

Will ... I read it if it actually gets picked up as a manga? Probably.

I am unexpectedly really invested in this.

I thought it was just another slave-fantasy ecchi that also happens to be an isekai but it's surprisingly endearing with a lot of action with "cute" and "silly" moments.

Kouji Mikagami, the usual "rarely-loses" gamer, is summoned from his world by an antagonist looking for someone with high-tier skills. Mikagami's skill is "Copy Skill" which is considered worthless due to it only temporarily copying his opponent's skills at half-strength and thus he is sold into slavery freely into a Slave Coliseum where he fights for his life as the loser becomes a slave for the winner and is "bred".

The main ... draw of this manga is not only the ecchi situations and lewd designs of the women but also Mikagami's creativity in how he pulls victory from seemingly impossible battles. Then afterwards, almost like Rance (a Eroge protagonist), he basically bangs his usually sadistic opponents into playful submission where they then become his doting companions.

Believe it or not, there's much more action and silliness then there are lewd/ecchi scenes. If you're able to look past the initial cover art designs and artstyle, I genuinely recommend giving this a shot.

WARNING! This spin-off follows the Light Novel and is much further ahead of the manga and anime. So if you don't want certain elements to be spoiled. Steer clear.

As of April 22, 2024, this spin-off has been officially discontinued due to the author's health. It was on hiatus for 3 years before this for the same reason but now it's officially confirmed to be discontinued.

This story follows a female rabbit-beastmen whose unique skill allows her to analyze things with much detail. This ability interests Rimuru who wants her to make a guidebook on the city/nation of Tempest.

So much like the Slime Diaries spin-off, this is ... a slice-of-life style story following the shenanigans of many known characters of the series. It is very entertaining if you wish for more shenanigans of the side characters. However, timeline-wise, this story jumps around a bit where it mentions plot points that already happened and shows characters that were introduced via Light Novel and will not cover it in the spin-off itself.

Again, if you don't mind spoilers or already know the gist of what's going to happen in the manga/anime, then it's worth a read.

Shokugeki no Soma is the perfect example of a manga with high expectations, fumbling really hard.

Shokugeki no Soma was a nice, slow-burn, tastefully-ecchi, fun, & wholesome manga about cooking food so good that it metaphorically (at first) made your clothes explode off you in ecstasy. It even started the trend of the word "Foodgasm". However after a certain point (when Erina's father shows up), it completely devolves into a subpar cooking-battle shounen that sacrifices everything that made it great.

For the record, I was reading this weekly as it published so it was more painful for me compared to those who binged it.

Starts off with Soma, ... the protagonist who specialized in family dining, who desired to surpass his father in cooking when the latter made him go to the cooking academy that he used to go to. There, he realized how small his world was and was introduced to several rivals and friends that made up the numerous side-characters each with their own typical personality quirks and tropes.

These minor/side characters each had their own stories that helped build up each arc and competition. The usual stuff you'd experience in a sports manga and the like. They were all fantastic, each progressing and moving up in their own way. Some of these side characters were arguably more popular than some of the main cast... *wink*

The story also introduces very clear goals to Soma such as the cooking academy had their own Elite 10 students who were ranked the best in the school and he quickly sets a goal in an attempt to challenge each one for their seat. There were teachers/instructors that his Dad once considered rivals and colleagues, and that there was even a international tournament for cooking that his Dad never even participated in.

However, as soon as Erina's Father comes into the picture, the entire story shifted. Erina's father usurped the principal's position at the academy and started turning into a "Food Nazi". The plot and arcs became "serious" with "high stakes", competitions fell into standard tropes, side characters get completely ditched and forgotten, several goals and expectations that was expected to be slowly built-up was instead rushed towards. It was a mess that the author just kept hurdling towards with no way out back into the slow-burn fun that was Shokugeki no Soma.

The only upside to this large spanning multi-arc is the MASSIVE focus and development for Erina (the main heroine) who is heavily involved throughout the entire thing but at the cost of everything else. For example, the goal to challenge the Elite 10 for their seats? Completely rushed, skipping all the work to even challenge them in the first place as the Elite 10 serve as Erina's Father's main supporters. All those amazing side characters? All fodder for the Elite 10 and just end up being part of the peanut gallery cheering on the main cast. The original goal of Soma finally defeating his Dad? Oh boy. That one is even worse...

So in the last arc of the manga, there's a small timeskip. Soma's Dad is defeated by a mysterious boy (teen) and Soma and friends are shown to be part of the Elite 10 while they are getting ready to participate in the international cooking tournament. This mysterious boy shows up in school, clowns Soma, flirts with Erina, and declares them to be a couple. It's revealed that he is an "underground cook" (people who cook for criminals and real tough/scary customers or whatever) who was taught by Soma's Dad, has the ability to copy and combine other chef's specialties when he holds their tools (Yes, really.), and to top that all off... it's also revealed that he's Erina's HALF-BROTHER from her Mother's side! Let's just say the author is really just cramming it all in there in the last arc. Especially that epilogue which felt like more of a slap to the face of fans rather than tying up loose ends or confirming things.

Enough about the downhill trainwreck of the plot, some minor notes: Nearing the end of arc with finally taking down Erina's Father. the art was very noticeably starting to suffer outside of the big close-up pages or the big 2-page reveals. The author supposedly was feeling down a lot. The anime after season 1 suffered a budget issue which also affected production as each season afterwards were around 10 episodes with tons of slideshow-esque scenes. Manga readers were very sad that we never got back to the slow-burn built up to each challenge/competition. It was pretty devastating to see how a great fun read turned into such a mess.

I put this as "Mixed Feelings" as it's still a fun read up until Erina's Dad shows up but after that it turns into a different type of story. So don't say you were never warned!