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Yo Anjuros

Here is the story of Yuan Zhou, that one artistic kid who knows how to paint and uses his paintbrush like a spear. From the first few chapters, I saw the potential within such a story which may have been very basic with several instances of the manhua just dumping information about its power system which was a bit confusing but as it expanded became an interesting part of the story, sadly most of the more essential elements were lacking.

Story (6/10):

Beginning with the story, we have a 6/10 plot. Very Basic in its premise of a prince and his family getting cucked ... by a rival kingdom and centers around prince Zhou with his companion Yao Yao as he travels around unlocking powers every other chapter growing plot armour every time he beats a basic villain as he aims to beat the bastards who cucked him. Adventure and Action stories like these don't have to have an exceptional plot and I could tell that story had the potential to become a tale filled with interesting world-building, politics, and fights but unfortunately, it would never hit such heights. The cost to the plot is more highlighted in the conflicts within the story. The characters are all very bland with some exceptions but otherwise, their bland personalities along with very predictable character types make the story's conflicts fall flat. The lack of engagement and creativity make every fight and conflict of the story seem very unfulfilling. And along with Zhou's plot armour stats getting boosted every other chapter - makes it all feel undeserved. The pacing of the world-building and events themselves were fine and the introduction of several locations provided interesting elements of the world but was explained through several info dumps rather than letting the reader explore the world. Preferring to focus on rushing straight into the action and badass one-liners to boost Zhou to greatness through very predictable fights. Overall, it set itself up very simple but the potential was there with the world, its power system, and the politics of it all - but it fell flat on how it was actually executed due to lack of lustre performances from other aspects of the story.

Art (8/10):

Yuan Zun being my first manhua, the quality of art and the panels were all very engaging. The art and style of the story was the best part of it as it captivated attention. Character designs carried a nice pallet of bright colours and the contrast of dark colours in the villains gave of a proper villain-like atmosphere for the characters. The fight scenes - which were given the most attention within the entire manhua - were complimented by the art style and the colours were captivating with many of the techniques in the story capturing your attention though the same could not be said for other parts of the manhua.

Characters (5/10):

Easily the worse thing about this story is the characters. These characters quite simply, are plain as. The only interesting type of character in this story is Yao Yao due to her background being shrouded in mystery and personality being engaging and kuudere type girl as she interacts with the different characters leaving room for growth but other than this all others are bland. Zhou Yuan, protagonist-kun who gets plot armour every other chapter, makes every win feel undeserved. His personality consists of an apparent badass who is badass because he says edgy and cool statements then a more playful side only serves as comedic relief. The backstory of Zhou is all dumped on the reader during the first chapter sets up a complex character on a journey for revenge - simple yet engaging - but this is contradicted when all he does is again, gets powers through some random encounter or latent power then spanks villain. In each fight, he doesn't grow as a character but only receives a new power which serves to spank more villains more after. There is no character development and all are centred around the building of an op character who is very bland beating bland villains as the only thing which grows is his ego and his powers. The villains are very stereotypical as there is no laid-out goal in their actions other than wanting to see the protagonist suffer and die. They have personalities of annoying flies who need to be killed off for the sake of boosting the protagonist's ego but this gets overused and every villain just falls into the trap of messing with Zhou then proceeds to get smacked and defeated instantly. The girls in the story lack development and seem to follow a sort of harem-like relationship with the protagonist as they just seemingly fall down and follow his harem bandwagon as he smacks the villains around even more. In conclusion, lack of development, bland personality types, and a lack of proper exploration of motivations leaves the characters and their interactions within the plot all effectively, very very plain.

Overall:

Yeah, it's got that simple story, it's got the art, it's got the harem-type relationships that reminisce a power fantasy - but this isn't an isekai. It aims to be a military-political adventure shonen-type manhua but through lack of execution in branching out makes it fall flat of such standards.

But very pretty art.

Sword Art Online aka SAO is a staple of the isekai genre. I've been a fan of this series since the beginning of my anime fandom. The premise, the art, and the characters appeal to all types of people and its fourth major arc, Alicization. I'll be touching on some elements of the stories, so light spoilers ahead.

Story - 6
In War of the Underworld part 2, we have Kirito in a coma and the story continues in the middle of a conflict between literal gamers and the military. The story itself is simple and easy to follow, but the writing makes it "messy." The plot ... of the story is defending Alice from foreign entities who seek to use her artificial intelligence, simple enough, but no. The writing and the overall intention of the writers make this simple plot to a level where it takes itself too seriously. Remember this is about foreign entities who play a game to try and take an AI intelligence and Kirito & company must defend Alice from these hands. For a story about gamers defending AI from the military, the themes, the mood, and the story itself are too serious for my taste. The writing messes its own story morphing it to something it isn't, to something which is complicated and overall something it isn't. This isn't some world crisis or some military conflict, maybe it is, but in its core, it is about a group of gamers defending AI Intelligence from groups of other gamers manipulated by foreign entities. Overall, the story's core is a simple theme, but the writing and direction of the story morph are it to something that takes itself too seriously.

Art - 8
As expected, A1 knowing the weight and popularity of the SAO Franchise resulting in some good production values resulting in beautiful animation, art, and fights. The fight effects were filled with fluid art styles which truly made each impact hit the audience. The recollections, effects, and details were refined to its greatest point.

Sound - 8
Same with the sound the production values were on point. Every hit had an impact and the art style and sound allowed the fights to feel more fluid (though I must say the fight direction was a little disappointing). The sound was precise and dynamic and really showed the depth of each attack. The Voice actor did an incredible job of portraying their character's feelings and their performance added to those moments of passion and heartache.

Characters - 6
We have Kirito and the gang as usual. Asuna, Kirito, Alice, and even Liz were characters I enjoyed to see as I saw them develop as characters. Kirito especially was in a more vulnerable state that ever before and I enjoyed seeing the show explore Kirito's thoughts, vulnerabilities, and relationships. War of the Underworld part 1 saw us focusing more on the side characters rather than Jesus-kun, Kirito himself. It allowed us to explore the side characters more rather than focusing on the Black Swordman's himself. Part 2 is the exact opposite. During the first half we see more development of Asuna, Bercouli, and others but once we approach Kirito's revival that all goes down the drain. It just feels like their development as characters is sidelined to make way for Kirito's return and the spotlight is just focused on the main cast. I'd also like to touch on the antagonists, PoH & Gabriel. PoH as a antagonist lacks actual drive and depth to his story, his background is this; He hates Japanese people because his dad was Japanese. I kid you not, that legit is his drive as an antagonist. Simply put, he's racist and to me this is just another result of lazy writing. In the small amount of time taken to build up his character, pure racism towards Japanese people is the only motivation for PoH. Gabriel, main villain, received some backstory and development in part 1 but in part 2 his role is cut short by Bercouli. We do get to see more of his sadistic, villainous side but it is nothing special. To me his personality as a villain is pretty plain and cliche, again due to the lazy writing of part 2.

Final Thoughts & Overall Impressions -
Overall, this series was another addition to the SAO Franchise. Nothing about to me was special. It's story was good, but nothing special, characters were decent, but failed to really develop as characters which we could relate to, and the ending itself was satisfactory to say the least. I find myself still attached to this series, after 8 years of its debut it still manages to leave an impression on the anime community and I still plan to watch more of it. Though War of the Underworld pt 2 was disappointing in my eyes, I was satisfied with my experience.