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There are just so many ass-pulls you can do before it all becomes unserious. This season ruined AOT for me. Ymir’s backstory with King Fritz, the alliance between Eldians and Marleyans to stop Eren (Cringe-vengers), the Attack Titan’s ability to manipulate connected memories, and whatever the hell happened in the Paths realm—it's complete ass with each new concept thrown in. This brings me to Ymir, probably the worst character ever. Ymir's whole gimmick felt as if Hajime Isayama was watching FMAB's ending and had to come up with something far dumber within 5 minutes for AOT's worldbuilding.

Eren is revealed to be the one who influences ... the major events from the first season by exploring and manipulating his father’s memories through Attack Titan’s powers, causing him to attain Founding Titan's powers. This happens when Zeke himself asks Eren to witness their father’s actions by looking through his memories in the Paths realm (which only Zeke can access because he's the true successor to Ymir). He sets in motion everything that happened after Wall Maria fell at his own will. Eren always acts on momentary impulses. His entire motivation never goes beyond “no one can hurt my friends”, even after it evolves to him rambling about freedom through the most radical measures. This season (and whatever follows) dives into his character, showing that he has always been immature and impulsive through flashbacks and exposition. His brother, Zeke, is just as radical, with his goal to effectively euthanise Eldians by rendering them unable to procreate. The entire point this show wants to make here is that Grisha believed in containment and hated his father for making him a living, breathing piece of agenda while Eren believed in freedom over life and was impulsively motivated to go to any lengths in order to achieve it. However, Grisha and his kids loved talking about their sacrifices for humanity while making insane decisions for all of humanity without consulting anyone about it. Wow at least they all had this one very annoying quality in common.

The real offence here is how chatty and full of exposition the entire season becomes, it's season 3 part 1 but more confusing and just about as boring. AOT at its peak used to change the perspective through real-time events, but this season just focuses on two maniacs talking about the past, their experiences and motivations, that is, you guessed it- a shitload of exposition. The way Isayama connect all these events to Ymir's will from 2000 years ago is absurd and laughable, which makes this plot twist more abysmal. Such a structural change in the plot demands a better, less confusing execution, which wasn't provided through the Paths realm. The clarity was missing, the motivations were the only focus. The Jaegerists are the “threat” this season instead of the Titans, but they come off as more annoying than menacing. The storytelling is disjointed, especially compared to the quality of the previous two parts. All the characters have lost whatever appeal they once had- an indecisive Armin, an irrelevant Mikasa, an absent Levi, and the rest are either redundant or dislikable. Erwin and Pyxis are gone. All that’s left are the Cringe-vengers who go up against the Jaegerists.

There's a saying among good writers "Simple stories with complex characters are more engaging and memorable than complex stories with simple characters". Re: Zero Season 2 fails to understand this idea completely. Let me summarise the plot so I can go over why this pathetic sequel got absolutely nothing on Season 1.

Re: Zero Season 2 (both part 1 and part 2) is dedicated entirely to "The Sanctuary Arc", so all the interesting characters from Lugnica and the power struggle for the throne stand entirely irrelevant. Sanctuary Arc is about the evacuation of a group of mixed-blood villagers who are trapped in a place called ... the Sanctuary i.e. Echidna's grave (Witch of whatever, it doesn't matter). The catch is that mixed-blood people can't leave the place because there's an invisible barrier around the Sanctuary, the only way to lift that barrier is to pass Echidna's trials -- a trial meaning a nightmare where the participant has to confront & overcome his/her fears, past traumas & insecurities. Only mixed-bloods are allowed to lift the barrier by passing 3 of these trials. Hence, Emilia volunteers for the trial, but she fails because she still lacks "character development".

The main reason the entire group from Rosewaal's mansion came to Sanctuary was to meet Rosewaal (who was alongside the trapped villagers the entire time) and ask him to help Rem. But Rosewaal was plotting everything from the beginning and was supporting Echidna for centuries. After getting caught, he reveals that he knew about return by death & somehow expected that the protagonist would use it to bring Echidna back from the dead. Then, after 25 episodes of exposition going in-depth about nothing, futile death loops that offer no progression, flashbacks and words of encouragement -- Emilia finally passes the trials and lifts the barrier around the Sanctuary, hence ruining Rosewaal's and Echidna's plans, and voilà- lots of "character development". This concludes everything that matters from the story's POV.

The amount of worthless talking and unnecessary exposition in this season cannot be overlooked because it engulfs the entire thing. It talks so much! Stop talking. The series goes above and beyond its core plot points and elongates this arc beyond belief. It'll confuse you to act smart, but it's just poorly written, pushing useless encounters between Subaru and the witches, utilising underdeveloped and boring characters like Ryuzu when plenty of developed characters from Season 1 could've been added. The core idea revolved around inserting tons of encounters that feed exposition and forgettable trigger events that provide some padding to the arc, like Subaru exploring his hikikomori past and his going back to Rosewaal's mansion for some boring reason just to die over and over again. Nothing that worked in the previous season appears here. They even made Beatrice's character go from ambiguous + mysterious to emotional + nonsense.

If the entire point of an entire season is "character development", but your characters feel and act the same as before and get inspired by either kind words or a plethora of flashbacks, then all you achieved is time-waste, time-waste for the viewers to be precise. Season 1, on the other hand, while not perfect, understood its appeal. The entire point (at least for me) was gore, ambiguous morality, mutable objectives, mystery, fatalism, unpredictability, and lack of plot armour - like a noir, alongside psychological elements that come from these insane experiences of repeated deaths, violence and genocide. All that charm ceased to exist in season 2.

Pathetic and forgettable.

Note: This review was written in early 2020 (pre-quarantine era)

It works in parts. There’s definitely a lot of creativity and novel ideas that went into the plot devices, characters, post-apocalyptic set-pieces, and world-building. The artwork, as expected from Tatsuki Fujimoto, is fantastic. But its tone and story are confusing to say the least. It constantly feels like it’s at odds with itself—trying to be both horrific and light-hearted, which rarely blends well. And no, this manga doesn’t make it work. At times, it’s a convoluted mess for no real reason, which only slows down its progression. It’s a true hit or miss.

Note: This review was written back in early 2020 during pre-quarantine period.

This manga is good because it absolutely nails progression. It’s impressive how it doesn’t cling to one scenario for too long, but instead consistently pushes forward, taking risks and moving on to new arcs and characters while still delivering (most of the time). It avoids the trap of becoming a series of pointless, short arcs that add nothing to the overall story. You know, the kind where weak, boring opponents drag out the plot for chapters, even though it's obvious they’ll lose. This keeps the pacing tight and makes it super binge-worthy, with its ... shorter length only adding to that.

The mangaka took plenty of risks and made some unexpected choices to keep things fresh and uncertain. Even when I didn’t fully agree with every decision, I have to respect the effort. I expected the story to slow down after a lot of characters died, thinking it would become repetitive, but the plot kept evolving and avoided relying on the same formula.

The characters are very interesting. The manga gives its supporting cast moments to shine, adding depth where needed, and doesn't hesitate to cut them when they’ve served their purpose. Take Akame, for example—her solo moments aren’t that interesting because her personality quirks don’t stand out. But the manga doesn’t overuse her, instead letting her have a few standout moments, which makes her likable without being annoying.

One thing I like about this manga is how it separates its central characters from the main character, which a lot of other series don’t do. Akame is the most important figure for the plot, while Tatsumi is the one whose life we follow. It’s also refreshing that Akame and Tatsumi never become a romantic pair, which is something I respect the mangaka for avoiding.

Esdeath might just be the best character in the entire manga. She stands her ground with strong reasons for her actions and stays the most powerful character until her death. Despite being a twisted sadist who deserved her end, she was well-developed, with a unique sense of righteousness. Her “survival of the fittest” philosophy was flawed but fascinating. Once she supported the Prime Minister, her role as the main villain was solidified. Even though she was evil, her charisma made her a fan favorite, and her squad, the Jägers, was filled with great characters too. The saddest parts, though, were the atrocities committed against Borc’s wife and child—those were just ruthless. The President’s son ended up being the most hated character by far.

The "Religious Organization Battle" arc was easily the best part of the manga. It had everything that made the story great and kept the entertainment high throughout. The most interesting characters were still alive and that kept the whole arc entertaining.

Negatives—The early artwork? Pretty rough, to say the least. And the story started off very ordinary, though I think that was intentional, maybe to catch readers off-guard. Luckily, both the art and plot improved over time. After Lubbock’s death, though, things dragged on for a while. The story lost some of its charm as more key characters died, and it struggled to recapture the magic of earlier arcs. Akame, in particular, became a really boring character. She doesn’t even get points for being overpowered because there are characters like Esdeath who steal the show.

I also had issues with how a lot of things ended, but I get it—the mangaka was aiming for a sad conclusion, so it’s hard to argue against that vision.

I figured out who the killer was by the 4th or 5th episode, which completely killed the mystery. There were also plenty of illogical moments, like when the MC discovers his mom dead and instead of being devastated or focused on clearing his name, he floods the scene. Rather than giving testimony to prove his innocence, he just brushes it off. The surrounding characters didn’t help either—they never felt compelling and remained as mere plot devices, flat and boring, with nothing to offer beyond being supportive to the MC.

Crazy things happen, yet the characters always act so calm and one-dimensional. Then, out of nowhere, they ... become overly emotional when delivering corny lines about life. At some points, the MC comes across as overly mature—unaffected by his mother’s death, despite being with her his entire life, and seemingly unbothered by the fact that he lost 15 years in a coma. He just moves on, delivering sage-like lines about how his friends lived for him. But then, he flips completely, acting emotional and flustered over a middle school girl showing the slightest interest, even though he’s supposed to have the mind of a 29-year-old.

This show isn't as thrilling, mysterious, or sad as it wants to be. In fact, it ends up being dull most of the time.

It's a gritty and gory manga that doesn't hold back, the lead is a crazed army veteran partnered with a young skilled tribal girl, who has a whole white wolf at her disposal.

Plot Synopsis: It's a gold rush story, more gold than Japanese GDP at the time, and the map is in parts engraved on the bodies of a bunch of notorious outlaws, who are supposed to be ambushed one by one and skinned, dead or alive to retrieve the full map.
Moreover, a crew of ruthless martial artists and a whole army battalion with a lunatic commander is also after it, not to ... mention hunters, psychos, and serial murderers also keep nudging in for their own different agendas.

So the question is, how do you turn this kind of plot and structure into a bad, boring, painful slob to go through?

Simple, you make the story a disjointed mess with insanely slow progression, throw random characters in who have nothing to do with the main plot, put in irrelevant bullshit like Ainu tribal food recipes as a regular kneejerk, and make everything so unseriously serious that the characters themselves don't give a damn, like a horrible slice of life manga.

When writing a story, it is very important to make sure that whatever characters you're working with, at least the MC, are at par with other characters in the story in some respect. They don't need to be great or the same as others, not at all, it's great if they all have different qualities, but if you make characters (lead characters at that) be absolute losers, you should add something redeeming in them as well, or make them progress to better standards with time, which could make readers care a little about them

Kazuya Kinoshita, the MC in this case whose life is followed in ... this manga, is written as a totally hopeless individual, void of anything redeeming, lacking in anything that makes you root for him, relate to him, or even understand him. How is it possible for a shonen anime mangaka to write such an uncharismatic character as the lead, even if that's the point you can at least give them something to latch on as contributing?

This person is a dumb virgin who has no shame being a weird pervert, can't stand up for himself, wastes his allowance in renting a gf, doesn't have a job, isn't good academically or anything else really, thinks he isn't a stalker but does exactly that, and also badmouths himself for being the looser he is, completely impractical, wandering in fantasies, and obviously has zero self-esteem. Ok, that's like half the shonen manga MCs, but the worst part is, he has zero character development as well which means he stays just as annoying from the start to whatever point you are reading this manga.

To contrast this, you have pretty much all (male and female) characters who are more sensible, have more redeeming qualities and are more charismatic, self-reliant, considerate, and helpful. MC on the other hand is trying to peek through the miniskirt of his ex who just came off insulting him to the point that even his bantering friends had to step in to make her stop. How is a character like this worth anyone's time?

The story is meh, started off decent as a comedy but soon becomes quite boring as you start feeling bad for the rented gf and what she's being put through really.

The art is girls looking good at times, and all other characters look lousily drawn.

This is probably the least filler Manhwas will ever be.

Every single dialogue and arc serves a purpose here, either it's essential to the story, or it's just too good to be left out. This manhwa IS an out and out filler-less brilliance

Bastard follows a weakling handicapped student who gets bullied constantly and he hates his father for some reason. The reason being that his father is a psycho murderer who uses his kid to knock women out for him to violate, torture and kill. What a way to kick things off

A big reason as to why I am such a fan of this manhwa is ... grounded in the fact that how realistic this Manga is, it never gets ahead of itself. The protagonist Jin Seon is a handicapped weakling who tries to get stronger with training but remains the way he is throughout the length of the story and doesn't turn into a Shonen manga hero in a couple of months. Even though being a good person at heart, he is still an accomplice to his father and is brought to justice by the end. Father Seon, being a powerful entity and a total lunatic who treats his son like shit, is still cautious of police and law enforcers and deep inside still loves his son. Manny Kim is a big bully, but is also a human who has feeling. But right when you feel he's being too good of a person suddenly for what used to be a brutal bully, the story pulls you back to realise that yes, he still has a part of that twisted douchebaggery inside of him. Kyon Yoon is a simple yet stupid girl with needs, but takes stand for the people she loves. Also the protagonist isn't the only person she talks to, and has a life outside of this. She also isn't a total cutie either and has some edge to her. Characters in focus are limited (perfect for good thrillers) and have duality and depth in them, and aren't designated by author as just a perfect sample of good and bad only. The plot is very much possible to happen in real life too...

The Plot here is a work of genius. It's essentially a well structured Suspense Thriller, with some interesting and much needed twists and turns throughout the course. The 94 chapters of length with no filler is ideal for it to stay interesting till the end. But beneath it's story, this Manga serves as a good sub-horror core with Father Seon playing a metaphorical devil. Jin Seons and everyone's facial reactions when they face Father Seon's reality, their horror is very palpable to the reader. Helps in further emersion of the reader into the story, to be really be invested in it.

It is very dark at times, it has entire scenes worth of multiple pages where characters don't say a word but still say so much more. It has moments when you genuinely feel happy or sad for characters (is great considering its a thriller still). It has near perfect character development and ending is one of the best in any mangas/Manhwas ever. I was very satisfied. This is fucking amazing! A must read for everyone really

As incredible as the JoJo series is, let’s be honest—the beginning is far from great. In fact, it’s painfully mediocre, maybe even bad. At best, it’s an average story with some of the most frustrating MCs I’ve ever seen. My biggest gripe is the characterization.

Let’s start with the main characters. The story centers on the rivalry between Jonathan "JoJo" Joestar and Dio Brando, and they’re presented in an overly simplistic black-and-white manner. JoJo and his father, George Joestar, are portrayed as the epitome of goodness—brave, righteous, strong, and kind-hearted gentlemen. On the other hand, Dio (and his father) are selfish, hateful drunkards filled with evil. ... Dio’s hatred for JoJo? It seems to exist for no reason, while JoJo repeatedly extends a hand in friendship, only to be betrayed again and again.

The characters lack depth, and it becomes clear early on that their personalities are defined solely by their bloodlines. This is a huge issue, especially since Phantom Blood focuses heavily on character development (the first two of five volumes are dedicated to it). It makes the whole experience feel unbearable.

At first, I thought we’d see Dio’s backstory explored—maybe understanding how his father treated him and his mother would give him a chance at redemption. But nope. Once Speedwagon claims Dio was evil from childhood, it’s clear that there’s no nuance here. Dio is bad for the sake of being bad, and that’s weak writing.

As for the artwork, it’s pretty solid, especially considering it’s from the 80s when everything was hand-drawn. But the proportions? Ridiculous. How does a 12-year-old have a bodybuilder’s physique? Even for a manga focused on masculinity and strength, it’s too over the top, even for JoJo.

Ultimately, Phantom Blood is the weakest part of the entire JoJo series. It’s super boring and honestly skippable. If you really want to get into it, watch the anime—it’s a much better way to experience this arc. The only reason to read the manga is to set the foundation for later, far better arcs.

Harrowing—there’s no other word for it. I read this entire thing on the night of October 8th-9th, 2022, in one sitting, through the dead of night, with only Deathconsciousness by Have a Nice Life playing in the background.

Yozo Oba is, to put it simply, both inhuman and deeply human. Inhuman in his actions, his personal philosophy, and his numbness to emotions—something we learn by the end is partly due to the sexual trauma he suffered as a child. This revelation made it clear why he always seemed so unsettled in his "normal" life. And yet, despite his cold, sociopathic tendencies, he remains painfully human in ... his flaws and his attempts at self-awareness. He is as pitiful as he is scorned, constantly evolving, trying to understand or, at times, resist how others feel and behave. As he experiences more, his perspective shifts again and again, changing how he views people and how he presents himself to them. It’s this constant cycle that makes him feel even more human, as frustrating as it is to watch. It’s agonizing to witness what he goes through, but deep down, you know it’s the bare minimum of what he deserves.

I won’t delve too deeply into the other characters, because they’re all pieces of a larger puzzle. They’re different, but each fits perfectly into the story. They felt as real as they come, with layers of personality and abstraction that unfolded gradually. Sometimes, it was Yozo’s simple observations of them that would hit the hardest, showing how the smallest nuances of character could connect and unlock more about them. His perspective, however, was often skewed, and since everything comes through his lens, it made their stories even more difficult to digest.

One aspect I really appreciated was how Osamu Dazai captured the growing resentment from those around Yozo—people who, despite everything, stuck with him, for better or worse. It was tragic to see how he was a constant burden to those around him, yet many of them still cared for him in some way. He wasn’t cruel for the sake of being evil; he was a man consumed by a twisted worldview and attitude towards life.

The story focuses heavily on lifelong trauma and its devastating effect on the psyche—how it leaves a permanent scar that never fully heals. Slow-burn emotions like fear, frustration, trust, jealousy, desire, and emptiness linger just beneath the surface, unnoticed at first but gnawing away at the mind. They creep up during moments of vulnerability, pushing people to the edge, where even the most ordinary individual can lose control and descend into madness. It’s a hauntingly real depiction of how trauma can unravel a person, something that feels ripped straight from real life itself.

Usamaru Furuya’s adaptation is masterful, bringing Yozo’s internal chaos to life with elegance. I can only imagine how proud Osamu Dazai would be to see this interpretation of his work. And knowing that, according to Ito, the manga couldn’t capture the full depth of the original story, I’m compelled to pick up Dazai’s novel soon. This has been a suffocating read for me—pure, unrelenting insanity.