This story...it's fine, I guess? If you're looking for a decent rom-com, it's decent. That's it, review over.
Sadly, if you're anything like me, that might be enough because I'm addicted to vanilla rom-coms like a bear to honey. But that doesn't stop me from having hope for the character exploration, even if the eventual abrupt ending feels that much more like a painful wake-up slap. Do not worry about spoilers.
For me, the gentle touch bring me into the series was the characters. Specifically Mei Araki (Sorry not the one who can make popcorn flicking the most extra thing ever), the male lead's younger
...
sister. Her energy is infectious, and she gave a lot of color to the interactions of her and the two leads, Araki Jin and Rei Shindou. And while the two leads eventually show depth belying their base personalities, it feels very...tacked on. Like it was added in post, rather than sprinkled throughout to give us readers wonder so as to build up the reveals. And while said reveal does give additional depth to the male lead and how he treats his sister, the bomb set up to explode in their relationship instead gets defused in an extremely unsatisfying way. There's also a bit at the end that tries to make Jin not as seemingly dense, but you can't introduce a character's ghost at the end of the story and claim depth happened. Also the reasoning is pretty dumb, as there's no guarantee his mindset will maintain the status quo he so desires.
As for Rei...I'd describe it more as a picture of a bomb that gets blown away in the wind. The manga's premise is that of "Shindou Rei", uh, being in a tower? But actually the top floor of an apartment complex. She lives alone while her father galavants around banging chicks and other likely sleazy stuff we aren't told, but Rei needs to live alone because prep for the future. This led to her being distant from others, which created the misinterpretation that she's haughty and above others. If this was a subplot or even given time to simmer in during the flashback rather than being a throwaway page, I'd call it an actual bomb. But no, through exposition she gets friends. And even when she discovers rather heavy secrets about Jin, once they're put into the open everything is resolved. And it's very give and no take. Jin reveals his secrets. Rei doesn't say much of anything. What is life for her in that tower? Does her father never visit? Do her friends never visit? How has she fought the loneliness until Jin showed up?
Though that's not to say the two had no virtues. Alone their gimmicks are neat, and their dynamic is playful like old friends. Another character even comments on how close they got despite only knowing each other briefly. And I feel like it was built naturally. Were this story given more conflict between the two, they could've been a great couple to watch.
Now it's time for the story review. Maybe? It's hard to review the story in this instance. Not for vacuous reasons like slice of life stories having little story, but because the overall narrative lacks focus. After resolving the main issue plaguing Jin's life, I'd expect that we'd either get next into Rei's life, or maybe one of her friends, or the new family member introduced to the plot. Instead, we get a new character that Jin just happens to help getting a backstory, then the main duo moves to help her after she interjects into the plot, then we get another flashback about someone connected to this new girl, and the story ends.
...
What?
Why?
I recognize that cancellation of a series can happen. Things get rushed. But this series deserved the cancellation if it's going to tangent away to characters completely uninvolved with the overall plot. My Hero Academia focused on villains we'd already gotten to know for an arc, One Piece abandoned all but it's lead for an arc, but in both cases, we had familiarity with most of the cast being followed, which naturally led to new characters that would become mainstays.
I enjoy slice of life where not much of consequence happens. But you have to give me reason to want to see these characters bumbling around. And this series gave me no reason why this girl shouldn't be in a whole new series rather than taking time out of another.
Next, the art. I liked the cutesy simplistic look of it all. I could get a grasp of the setting and the light symbolism helped sell a few scenes such as the new chick's mental state being like she's trapped under water. What, I can appreciate some aspects of something unfocused to a fault. But the art is fine, nothing more.
In conclusion: this is a rom-com. If you like rom-coms, you'll get a fine experience. If you prefer more dynamic character interactions and building conflicts, this story is not for you.
Feb 21, 2022
Cinderella wa Sagasanai.
(Manga)
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Mixed Feelings Preliminary
(41/41 chp)
This story...it's fine, I guess? If you're looking for a decent rom-com, it's decent. That's it, review over.
Sadly, if you're anything like me, that might be enough because I'm addicted to vanilla rom-coms like a bear to honey. But that doesn't stop me from having hope for the character exploration, even if the eventual abrupt ending feels that much more like a painful wake-up slap. Do not worry about spoilers. For me, the gentle touch bring me into the series was the characters. Specifically Mei Araki (Sorry not the one who can make popcorn flicking the most extra thing ever), the male lead's younger ...
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 12, 2021
Ao no Exorcist
(Manga)
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Recommended Preliminary
(132/? chp)
Context is a funny thing. A common defense of many works is that "you have to wait for X time for WORK to get good". While this is cop-out reasoning, it came about for sound reasons. It's important to do proper set-up. Otherwise, it's hard to establish items properly. I bring this up, because Blue Exorcist suffers in the opposite way. The more it went on and the more context we got, it got worse.
The story focuses on arcs typically focused around dealing with whatever spirit or demon is causing harm to others. The first couple arcs focus on more minor demons, but as the ... story goes on, threats take on a bigger form, the cast learns truths about themselves and each other, and the (likely) ending conflict threatens to destroy the world. That sounds pretty generic, right? Of course it would. I summarized the content in that way intentionally. But despite how the plot may sound, character development is what gives this series something more unique than that summary. The cast, while often simple, but that alone isn't an argument for character quality. I like Rin Okumura as a protagonist. He's got a good heart, yet his surroundings push this heart by forcing tough decisions upon him. The start of the story features him training while keeping his demonic past under wraps. Yet this inevitability happens much sooner in the narrative that we'd expect. At the same time, the story has been prudent in introducing the majority of Rin's class to us, giving them either a backstory, relatable motivations, or both. (Majority does not include Shura.) So, the following arc takes time to explore the characters reconciling Rin's demonic identity along with facing the incumbent threat. That quality is what makes Blue Exorcist's arcs stand out from the "generic good guy beats bad guy shounen arc" formula. This diversity of cast allows for a wide variety of character interactions, thus making the whole stronger than its parts. Subaru is a personal favorite. He's a headstrong brat but takes his studies and work seriously. It's good to see smart characters given flaws to overcome. His banter with the more simplistic-minded Rin shows how their personalities clash, but they still get along when push comes to shove. His two friends, Shima and Konekomaru, are the slacker and nerd in Subaru's "posse" of sorts. As the story goes on, though, these two make themselves distinct through the former finding an unconventional path to make his mark and the latter gaining confidence in himself. These arcs aren't very unique and only provide some depth to the cast, but it helps establish that the cast is never a monolith, and conflict among each other plays just as important a role as conflict with the enemy. With some exceptions. Yukio, the younger twin of Rin, is a prodigy who has worked all his life to gain accolades. Despite Rin inheriting all of the demonic power, Yukio has him beat in knowledge and experience, providing an interesting dynamic. On top of that, Rin has a much simpler morality, leading him to strike immediately at evil while Yukio will assess the situation first. This at first gives Yukio complexity. He fights for the side of justice, but with a utilitarian mindset that requires him to ensure that a mother prepares for the worst when he goes in to rescue her child. This hesitancy is pounced upon by a few demons who want to manipulate him over to their side. This was interesting. At first. But after a certain point, it felt like he was trying to give himself problems, and exacerbated them by never talking to anyone. Before long, he's doing either pointlessly reckless tasks or hurting others for his ego. This does little to inform his character, and at times detracts from it, so I can't say I'm a fan. It's hard to describe the villains. Not for spoiler reasons, but because there's very little meat to them. Satan is exactly as he's introduced, with the nuance of a child and the depth to boot. Neuhaus is introduced alright, but falls to the wayside after his motive comes out. Of the remaining villains, the only one with any sticking power serves as a foil to Yukio, but loses any value ironically at the same time as Yukio. You'll note that there's one character I've not brought up who does have deeper motivations. But their role as either protagonist or villain does not yet have grounding, so I'd rather just leave them as a fascinating enigma who causes significant impact on both the plot and characters through their enigmatic ways. This character, with the power and influence to bend the rules as they see fit, is a huge part of what keeps the story interesting, and even gave me false hope for a later arc. (SPOILERS) Now, for spoiler territory and where I find that the manga starts to fail. It's in the first arc to focus on Shura. I never liked Shura. Her design was off-putting as fanservice characters tend to be, topped with how she's often in her stripped-down manner around minors. Yuck. But while her motivation had potential to put her in real conflict with Rin, the boy who stole her mentor and later led him to die, she's just a blanket ally and is responsible, something Yukio already did to greater effect. Later, she finally gets an arc explaining her backstory. She's slave to a snake god who entered a marriage contract with her mom, the contract forcing each descendant to birth a female heir before turning 30 and then dying, creating an endless cycle where the snake god's wife is as undying as he. The before/after of this arc is meant to portray Shura as going from a more conservative person to one more willing to embrace life, since she has more than 3 years left to live. On the surface, this is stated, but not properly shown. Shura did not prior come off as someone who had limited time, by either living recklessly or not holding grudges for serious slights (I don't count her being nice to Rin as not holding a grudge because Rin was a passive reactor to Shiro's death and anyone with basic maturity could figure that out.), and future her doesn't get any substantial chances to do anything. The highlight of that arc was a short conversation at the end meant to build up to the current arc. With this arc, the series continues to raise my hopes, only to dash them at the end. People can see demons? Let's show them panicking for a bit, but not delve into how society would be impacted save a reactionary "I don't want to die". Rin finally seeing his past and learning the circumstances? I'll admit, Rin's perspective change here was great, seeing his resolve strengthen after Yukio's betrayal weakened it. But that just led to an extended fight with Yukio that went on way too long, only for the two to join forces against a clearly greater threat. The flashback itself was alright, seeing Shiro and Ergn fleshed out more was nice, and I especially liked how the Order was partially responsible for the Blue Night through their inhumane experiments. But Egin never shows a connection to the childish Satan who supposedly impregnates her despite Shura's arc displaying how demons would need a human surrogate to impregnate a human female. And that leads to my last complaint. Demons don't exactly have a physical form. They more take on forms from the living world to inhabit. But the more powerful the demon, the faster that host deteriorates, and the demon returns to this series' equivalent of Hell. The series never goes into what prevents any demon from simply leaving their current rotting husk, going to hell, then coming back in a new host. I get the corrosion angle when it comes to the stronger demons, but they stay in rotting bodies. Their means of initially going from Hell to the human world isn't explained, so us readers are left confused as to why they're struggling. I get that they wouldn't be able to stay very long, hence the research into immortality, but with no knowledge of their initial path to the human world, I'm just left scratching my head. (END SPOILERS) Sorry my art reviews are often so short; I don't have very distinct standards when it comes to art. In this story, the art starts off a bit simplistic, making it hard to differentiate the characters, but as the story goes on, the art finds its own identity and looks gorgeous. Characters look nice and perspective shots do a better job of helping me visualize a 3-d model of what's happening on screen. As I type this, it sounds like I'm praising a coder for knowing how to code, so I might be praising a mangaka for doing a base level job. My overall thoughts? Once Kamiki ends her very satisfying arc, you can stop the series. Or continue knowing that the main characters have reached their apex.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jun 8, 2021 Recommended
Monster...taught me what it means to be human.
That's probably the best praise I can give the show. In no uncertain terms, I consider it masterfully written, the characters flawed in a painfully realistic way, the art style somber and to the macabre point, and the music as eerie as the mastermind behind the proverbial curtain. I'll focus on character first, as the story does fantastic work at making realistic characters who have goals, but struggle with flaws throughout their run, even minor characters who just show up for an episode or two. The lead, Temna, establishes himself well as a character for the audience to latch ... onto, as he pursues his initial goal of valuing patients over career security, and suffers for his conviction. As the story progresses, his goals evolve along with his worldview as he interacts with the plethora of other great characters, including a former soldier taking care of a girl he orphaned, a journalist who struggles to balance work life with his romantic life, a step-father with an unhealthy love in the form of torturing his son, and many more just among the side cast. Tenma stands as a paragon that others can look up to,yet teetering on a precarious edge that they don't know how to save him from. To save time on the gushing I could do about every character, I'll limit myself to one more. A good portion of the cast can make themselves likeable quickly, yet not in a blatant way that begs for your sympathy. And then there's some members of the cast I remember fondly for being absolute wretches, like Eva Heinemann. She is a user of both alcohol and people, leeches off her father's wealth, and wears her disdain for the lower class atop her overpriced make-up. Tenma is just another tool in crafting her perfect life, and just as expendable. As the series goes on, she falls into depression, and continues to take on self-destructive habits. Who would like a character this far up her own ass? Me. Am I a masochist? Probably. But all these negative qualities flow naturally from who she is, and inform me of how she got this way. Rather than a likeable character, I prefer one whom I can understand the motives of and acts in a way believable from her circumstances. Is some of this perspective biased from hindsight? Yes. Watch to find out why, no spoilers. But the characters aren't universally great. I have particular beef to pick with Nina. She is introduced into the story with amnesia. The plot to unravel this amnesia is great, but Nina herself often felt a little lacking. Like the plot was meant to define her personality. Her best moments were those that invoked character actions from Tenma or a friend she made in the Vampire's Blood arc. (I don't know if that's the arc's actual name, but I think it fits.) Maybe it's just an aftereffect of the series coming out in the 90s, a time where women didn't get the best representation in manga, but personality-filled characters like Eva make me notice this more in Nina. Next, story. I started with characters because the story is very character driven, brought about by characters acting and reacting. This is important, because the story is not a thrill ride nor a slow paced drag. It does a good job allowing the characters to act as they need to, putting them in high-intensity scenes for one moment, and appreciating a small moment to relax in the next. Both types of moments balance give meaning to the other, and allow us to see the characters in a variety of circumstances that shows off their characters in rich and unique ways. The plot itself is rather simple. It's a fetch quest, basically, with different characters having a different stake in the result. There's a pursuer, a pursuee, another pursuer, some with beef towards the initial pursuer, and other pieces. But what makes the story great is the responses. The pursuee has had considerable impact on the world, and Temna is often stopped by these subplots, unable to put his goal over his core beliefs. Its these subplots that really define Monster, as seeing these responses is what shows off the humanity of each character presented. Keep in mind, though, that the plot isn't perfect. It uses a few narrative tropes that can feel a bit cliche, and questionable things here and there. There's a scene in episode 2 where characters are introduced to a deadly drug laced in candy. The doctors ate this candy by one grabbing a sealed bag from among the gifts given to the child patient and sharing it with his co-workers. Apparently, this was intentional on the killer's part, yet the killer had no control of what the doctors would eat, or even whether the doctors would eat it. There's also a number of scenes where a character could do something basic for their safety, but doesn't, despite nothing in their character informing why they wouldn't do that. However, these are minor complaints. The story does a good job showing characters engaging with the plot, rather than pieces being used to motivate the plot. The overall theme is the title, Monster, in how there's a monster in all of us. Every good person in the show is capable of evil, and every reprehensible character has a spark of humanity and/or weakness within them. Where there's a monster, there's a human. Quick aside: This plot takes place in the real world, and is based around real events like the fall of the Berlin wall and the rise of communism in Germany. I'm not a historical expert of any kind, and I'm writing most of this on the spot, so I don't have an appreciation for this degree of worldbuilding. If so, I might upgrade my overall ranking to a 10, as historical accuracy plays a big role in a story's ability to appeal. Next, art. I liked the art. It has a grayer color palette compared to most, but this series resembles a film noir much more than most sporadic anime. This is not to say one style is better, it's to say that certain shows have styles that fir them better. The characters are well-defined, and I'm able to recognize them from one another through more subtle things that just appearance, though their delivery plays a part in this distinction too. The animation style is okay. The shortcuts are rather obvious, but it looks fine for a 2003 animation, and I'm no expert. As long as I can recognize what's going on, I'm fine. Put simply, this series is almost a masterpiece. It stubs its toes here and there, making me aware of its flaws that detract from the show's quality.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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May 27, 2021
Psychometrer Eiji
(Manga)
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Recommended
This is a series of ups and downs. It's hard to give one definitive opinion, for reasons I'll explain below.
First, the story. It's not a linear path to the finish. After using the first arc to introduce the primary cast, each arc just kind of happens when it happens. Rather than every action in the story informing the next, we have loosely connected or non-connected arcs. Obviously linear isn't a simile for good. Plenty of stories can be episodic and great. But that requires each episode to be great. Put simply, some arcs are great, and some are meh. No arc went below 'meh', and ... some arcs were amazing. As for the plot specifics, it's in the title. Each arc focuses around our key detective, Eiji, and his power of "Psychometrer". Anything he touches and focuses on, he's able to get glimpses of events surrounding this object. After a detective finds this out, she employs his help on cases so as to have a greater edge on prospective villains. While the story is primarily mystery, some arcs take an effort to add drama beyond the mystery aspect. Even if the villain is known, they can still do plenty to affect the plot. Arcs tend to be a nice blend of action and mystery, thus providing variety for the reader while simultaneously engaging the reader. It's a cliche statement that a hero is only as great as the villain, but I think it applies to story quality as well. Most of the arcs with a more generic villain leave me less invested in what's going on even before I know the villain's identity. While the stories are certainly dramatic, it has some questionable moment. I am referring both to plot contrivances and its handling of most female characters. Nine times out of ten, the victims in cases are females from a perverted killer. I wouldn't mind this as much if some of those females weren't given moments of spotlight only to soon be killed off. It killed my narrative appetite a bit, seeing a character given depth only to use her death to fuel someone else's story. It felt cheap. There's also a couple plot contrivances towards a few of the mysteries, but they aren't super distracting. Not the ones based on real world physics, that is. By that I mean, the Psychometrer power itself. Its ability is somewhat vague, leaving it as a product of a soft magic system. This hurts the story as any supernatural ability used to solve mysteries should be hard magic, so that specific rules must be followed that the audience can know ahead of time. As a result, Eiji can see either an hour back on the object he touched, sometimes in blurry images. But it can be from the perspective of a human he's touching, but then he sees the person? Wait, now it's a number of years back? He can sense the world around him? Suddenly he's influenced by those he has used his psychometrer ability on? It's exhausting, but how much use leads to becoming comatose? Psychometrer Eiji takes place mostly in the real world, and those mechanics are arguably more important than a psychic power meant to be a mystery even to Eiji himself. But I think it's a nit worth picking. The story has some filler too. I don't see filler as an abject evil, I think taking a breather from heavy events can help flesh out characters. And for the main cast, I find that it does. Seeing them hang out and do goofy stuff makes them feel a bit more human. Though there are some filler chapters featuring this ugly looking frog who either has no agency or gets involved in weird pervy shit. I ended up skipping the chapters he was involved in, and I'm glad they were filler. He's had me give the story a 7 rather than an 8. Luckily he can be ignored when reading. Next, the cast. I can't give a straightforward number here because some of the characters are really good. But others suuuuuuuuuucked. A good one is the protagonist, Eiji. He's hot-headed and emotional, yet good in a fight and able to process things in a pinch. We get a chance to explore how his ability gave him a greater awareness of the world around him than he was ready for, leaving him unsociable for much of his life. All of these factors make Eiji a well-rounded character, and also make his stupid actions more plausible than if an adult were acting as he did. Some of the side cast is great, too. Toru leads his own small gang, yet has a complicated family life and does small jobs to maintain his personal surroundings. Yuusuke doesn't have much on the fighting spectrum, but he's smart and provides a sense of comraderie with Eiji that Eiji might have developed with Toru over the manga's duration, and certainly no one else. And now for the bad. Shima makes for a good transition because she was a good character. A single female in her 20s trying to make a name for herself. The first few arcs feature her struggling to get her voice heard even as the police act on misleading information. She would show incompetence when faced with a certain character, and at first I liked that, foils and all helping her understand her own shortcomings. But she didn't learn. As the story went on, she got worse as a cop, and served as more of a vehicle than a character struggling to overcome her shortcomings. Sometimes she outright depends on Eiji's psychometry, not even trying another method and seeming rather flippant about exhausting volunteer help. I don't mind a bickering dynamic, hell Toru and Eiji do more damage to each other than the villains and I consider them best friend goals, but an adult badgering a high schooler for volunteer services should be mindful of how far she pushes him. Then we have Emi, Eiji's brother. She's a bro-con (ugh, but luckily it's minor enough to be ignored), and whenever she has an important role in the story, it's as a victim. I don't need her busting skulls. Hell, if she stayed ignorant of Eiji's suspenseful life, I'd be okay with her not doing a damn thing. But she's aware of Eiji's circumstances, and despite the bro-conness, she doesn't do anything to help Eiji understand his powers, or even offer Eiji anything back as she makes all sorts of minor demands for him. Apart from them...uh...we get a few cool minor characters during the story. Shima's boss is treated as a gag even when he's just asking Shima to do her job...alright, enough stalling. Lastly, the villains. This is a tricky talking point because of the mystery genre, and to mention name or describe qualities would count as spoilers. I consider most of the villains rather meh. This is a bit more forgiveable in a mystery story, because the goal is finding the killer. Luckily, there are two fantastic villains who do an amazing job in their respective arcs, and get significance beyond them. I may do a spoiler review so I can gush about them, but I want to get better at writing reviews before I do that. All I'll say is, I'd rather one of these villains have been controlling Monokuma from Danganronpa. Not the other, their personality isn't so blanketly evil that they could. Nothing too much to say about the art. It has a great 90's aesthetic, making the characters look like humans. A lot of detail goes into the backgrounds, and the psychometrer visuals do a great job both revealing and hiding information. There's a certain bit of simplicity added in as the story goes on. It's most noted in Shima, who went from smoking hot to a 40 year old using plastic surgery to look young. I get that she's meant to feel 'old' compared to the high school cast, but use less plastic, please. I also felt like there was little spectrum between hot and ugly in the cast. You either have a striking design, or over the top or outright ugly. There are multiple ways to draw faces. But I'm not an artist, so take those last two criticisms with a grain of low-quality solvent. A number of arcs are great. Some are meh. Also, there's filler. As a package, it's a 7, but some story aspects are better than the others, and since I skipped around some of the filler, I can't say the bad in one arc necessarily affects others.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Oct 14, 2018
Gokukoku no Brynhildr
(Manga)
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I'm reviewing part 1 here, up through the first half. I'm not as familiar with the 100s-ish chapters, so they aren't as fresh in my mind as the first half. Anywho, here goes my first review on this site. No spoilers, hopefully.
This story is a great story for one main reason: the pacing. Everything flows together nicely. While a bit janky at the start, the crucial information is laid out and we understand who the protagonist is, thus allowing us to connect with this adventure. Apart from this one decision, though, the readers find out information when it's needed, and for justifiable reasons. Intelligent actions ... are followed by consequences. If an action caused a problem for the main cast, Murakami knows not to repeat it. Unlike Elfen Lied, there is no justification as to why only women are given magic powers, but this series has forward momentum and goals to characters, while the latter tended to meander in its edgy scenes. Not much to say about art. To me, if it's serviceable and I can recognize the characters and the actions, it's fine. What sells art to me are the right amount of excess details. Foresight, basically. But that's more towards heavy action stories. Does this story have that? No, but it has minimal action, so I'm not too picky. One art thing I'll praise immensely are the evil faces. You'll know them when you see them, and you'll never fall asleep after seeing them. Okamoto Lynn can make nightmare fuel, and that's an important quality for an artist. It sticks in the mind. Now characters. Our MC, Murakami, is a great protagonist for two reasons. One, he is intelligent, and lord knows shounen magazine lacks intelligent protagonists. (It's a ratio complaint.) Two, he is proactive. He chooses to involve himself with the plot and engages the villains while they engage the magic users and unknowingly him. He also has a will and sass, making it seem like he deserves the female attention. Speaking of which, the rest of the man cast is pretty good. Kazumi, while being sexually active, existed before this crush, and continues to exist following it. A girl as forward as her is rare in this genre, and I find her quite endearing. The majority of the rest of the female alliance is good on a surface level, yet feel like real people. Possibly a tad trope-y, but these tropes are expanded upon a bit, so I like it. Kuroha is an exception. I'm not fond of her. SPOILERS BELOW This is all over the place. My problem is hard to nail down. Kuroha is two different people, and the most engaging of which shows up for a few chapters only to fade away. The first version we interact with for the majority of the story, she is a good person. After escaping her cargo hold, she wants to spend her remaining days helping people. This is fair, considering that she habitually forgets things due to her power, so having this desire for her supposed last days alive when nothing else exists in her mind, I'm okay with it. But past this, she gains nothing, and has nothing save her selfless attitude. Her affection towards Murakami is extremely immature, and since she is portrayed as smart and easily able to pick up on new things, this dichotomy rubs me the wrong way. The memory forgetting feels like an excuse to avoid her developing. Seriously, can she not find a hobby? Kana has an excuse for being bedridden, and Kotori enjoys the simpler things in life, and Hatsuna wants a normal life free of witch-related hassle. Kuroha has no excuse. The second version is full of life, and is proactive. This is the version Murakami knew a long time ago, and a major part of his character is the guilt he feels over causing her to die. We don't see Murakami adjust to the new Kuroha, or get ample time to reconnoiter with the old Kuroha. I can't empathize with a female lead that I can't follow. SPOILERS ABOVE As for the villains, the majority is nothing too special. For the most part, it's an evil lab that does experiments on girls for evil reasons. It exists for the plot. But while the setting is cliche, the people inside feel like people. Mostly. Putting aside the final villains (again, first half), the enemy magic users feel like people. Even those with brief talking periods, I understand where they're coming from beyond "bad guys tell me to do bad things". A couple humans even feel like humans, not simply of a "discarding trash" mindset. Overall? Please read this manga, the first half. It's very gripping, and Kasumi is among my wall of waifus. But mostly it has fantastic pacing and a setting fueled by smart decisions. I haven't watched the anime, but it supposedly condensed 99 chapters into 13 episodes. This story needs to be adapted in full. There's little to no filler, and everything plays too well into each other. If enough people favorite, I'll go over the second half with a critical eye.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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