May 11, 2021
This review contains very slight spoilers. Shoutouts to lewando321 for proof reading.
EDIT2. Lowered score to 3 due reasons I will mention down below.
I stumbled upon Kengan Ashura on Netflix back in 2020, I binged it, then I binged the manga. I absolutely loved every page of it, every single panel, once I've heard there was a sequel I knew that once again I would be hooked. Did it met my expectations? It exceeded the expectations with flying colors, the characters had great chemistry going between them, the art was amazing as always and overall the manga was promising.
So why would I give it a
...
5? What happened?
Well... Imagine creating a likeable protagonist with a very good character development, who wishes to catch up to the rest of the cast, giving him a training arc to show his improvement and development as a member of the crew. What would you do with him as a writer? Continue his adventure? Expand on his character and his past or whatever? Well.. In what would appear to be absolute genius of Sandrovich, he decided to bench him and show him from time to time for two or three panels. I wouldn't have much problem with it if it wasn't an ongoing issue for more than half of the manga's run.
The fights are incredibly predictable and there's little space given for character development outside of few flashbacks and backstories for every character introduced. With KA you had room to breath in between the fights, to see how the characters develop and what's going on behind the scenes.
But those two things aren't the worst offenses, the worst offense is how author had this beautiful conclusion to the story in KA but decided to completely crossed it out with two chapters in KO. I won't be going into details because I don't want to spoil it but it's just terrible. Not AOT kind of terrible, just terrible on it's own right.
As of now I see the light of hope for the series because recent chapters were good, surprisingly really good compared to what I would call a "festival of "mediocreness"".
Know that I absolutely adored KA (and still do) as if it was the best thing in the world. It kickstarted my interest in reading mangas and in martial arts. I am saying this so that you know that everything I wrote in here came from a very emotional place and that Kengan has influenced my life.
Don't let my review stop you from reading KA or KO, both of them are absolutely worth reading even if KO is of questionable quality as of now (Though as I said, it seems we are finally heading back into the right direction with recent chapters).
I kept some issues and explanations of them out of this review because I would need to spoil huge parts of KA and KO.
I might change the review as the series goes on or delete it altogether if the series actually steers into the right direction and my points won't be valid anymore.
EDIT. Hey, the points here are still valid, the recent arc has been completed and it's been... underwhelming. Between few good chapters here and there, nothing changed in my opinion on Omega. While the art is still incredible, the story is still lacking with nowhere near as much impact as Ashura did.
EDIT2 cont. Sandrovich plays far too safe in many situations resulting in the fights either being predictable or absurd. I reckon he is being regulated by the editors or the publisher because he didn't do something like this in Ashura.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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