- Last OnlineJul 25, 2:23 PM
- JoinedMar 14, 2019
RSS Feeds
|
Jul 9, 2021
DISCLAIMER: If you somehow didn't read the description on this very page, this is a PARODY of famous shoujo manga Glass Mask. If you haven't seen it, you won't get the jokes. If you HAVE seen it, it's kinda funny.
ACTUAL REVIEW AND CONTEXT:
What it says on the tin.
It's a low-budget gag anime that pokes fun at recurring events from the manga. Without that context I can see why someone would find this "bad", but why would you watch it without knowing what it's parodying? It would be like watching DD Hokuto no Ken without knowing even the "You're already dead" line.
For example, Maya
...
will often "become" things in order to "understand" the role she's supposed to play when acting, such as "acting like the wind" to understand how to perform as "someone feeling the wind blowing on their face". This is one of the most important parts of the manga and what sets her apart from the other actresses she performs with.
So as a gag, one of the episodes here has her act as a cellphone in order to "understand how to deliver a text message".
Is it funny on its own? Not really. It's funny because you know what it's referring to, and because that's something you could actually see her doing. And that's the structure for most of the jokes here.
THE JOKES
"What if [event from the manga] happened in modern society as opposed to 1980?"
"How would these 1980 characters deal with these modern problems?"
"The overly sentimental character would probably have an emo blog nowadays"
"What if they made the 80s shoujo reaction face to everything?" (admittedly the funniest episode for me)
Do all the jokes land? Not really, some are very dull. But most are definitely entertaining, provided you know what they're referencing. I might've not bust a gut laughing, but I definitely had a dumb grin on my face throughout the whole thing, especially with the more absurd episodes.
THE ART
Not much to say. They're low budget 3D chibis that move (more like wiggle) like bowling screen/karaoke avatars. They're pretty cute, mostly because of how cheap it is.
OVERALL
If you've read Glass no Kamen or even watched the show, you'll get the jokes and have a good time with how absurd this is. If you haven't, you won't. That's not hard to understand.
That said, I wish they'd have used other characters from the manga as well, especially during the episodes where they simply didn't have a joke and just spammed one-liners. Including the theater troupe, the directors, even Masumi's secretary or hell, Masumi himself who barely appears in the actual episodes, would've made it better. It's still pretty funny though, and since the episodes are only 4min, one of them not landing doesn't waste your time that much.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Jun 5, 2020
Very simple, very short delinquent manga.
If you've read this type of manga before you know what you're getting into. Not much depth as it is only 7 chapters long, and it focuses more on giving you the "delinquent feeling" other than telling some kind of grandiose story.
There's not much to talk about that won't spoil the little content this manga has, but the synopsis is very much all there is to it.
Art is good, characters (or character I should say) are good, and it's a fast read.
Me personally, I thought it was very nice, as some of Kiku's thoughts are things that hit pretty close
...
to home for me, but I also recognize not everyone will have the same feeling.
All in all you don't lose anything but a few minutes for reading this one, so if you're interested I'd say go for it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Jun 5, 2020
So here's a weird one. I stumbled upon this manga by complete accident and seeing as it was 4 volumes long, it couldn't be too bad. Turns out it's pretty good.
It's a well-known fact "delinquent manga" is usually a bunch of badass, tough, cool looking dudes punching the hell out of each other repeatedly while screaming about WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A MAN, and while those are super fun to read and nail some really important parts of being a man growing up, Yankee Juku e Iku nails the side that people don't usually acknowledge.
"Teens are so stupid and absolutely not badass."
Ikariishi himself is
...
an ugly idiot known for being the strongest delinquent and winning just about every fight, YET he's a pretty mellow guy who just wants to go to college. His friends and the other people around him are equally as ugly and stupid, just like teenagers are, and they act like teenagers do, down to the absolute immaturity of some of them.
Like the only other review for this says, it's a very blunt manga. These are real teenagers being idiots messing around, and Ikariishi is a surprisingly great character despite all that. Seeing the kindness and spirit behind people's faces is a message that's as old as time but very few works actually pull it off as well as this one.
I'd say give it a try, it's extremely fast to read with maybe 2-5 speech bubbles each page at most. At best you walk away with a better understanding of people, at worst you wasted maybe 1-2 hours of your time. Regardless of the outcome you'll most likely remember it in some way.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
Mob Psycho 100 is one of the most unique shonen manga I have read.
With an easy to understand premise of "boy with psychic powers wants to impress girl he likes by joining the bodybuilding club", it's so much more than that.
However, the real goal of the series is not that.
It's something mentioned very early on by Mob's mentor, Reigen, which is just
"Be the best person you can be".
Mob Psycho 100 is not about this awkward kid dealing with espers and ghosts and all things supernatural, while trying to live his school life.
It's about that awkward kid growing up as a person through all
...
the different people he meets, and at multiple times it's referenced how Mob is just a "blank slate" and he needs to "be somebody". It's here where you see the biggest difference between Mob and anyone else with psychic powers in the show who constantly think they're better than everyone else, while Mob is trying to BE like everyone else.
It's the one story-based manga I can say has the perfect ending.
Not because everything went his way, but because everything that happened is consistent with the message of the show.
Definitely check this out if you want a heartfelt manga, and if you don't like the art at first, give it some time and it'll definitely grow on you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth
...
it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a gap year following the last chapter of Stone Ocean, Araki puts out the newest JoJo part after the world reset in Stone Ocean, which is Steel Ball Run. It's often ranked as one of the best JoJo parts and honestly, I have to agree with that. It does away with everything that was bad, and doubles down on everything that was good, starting by giving it a full, proper story with a justification for the stand fights beyond "hired henchmen with stands".
That justification is a race across the United States for US$50.000.000.
Of course they'd fight with everything they got to get that prize.
Johnny Joestar is an amazingly complex protagonist. He starts off relatively similar to Jolyne in that he's a douchebag, but throughout the 24 volumes (a full 7 volumes more than the standard JoJo amount) he develops into the most human character in the series.
Gyro Zeppeli (once again, Joestar-Zeppeli dynamic similar to parts 1-2) is an equally amazing character, albeit far less complex. He serves not only as a rival, but also a mentor and ALSO as a comic relief during the brief moments of respite where Johnny and Gyro can rest during the race.
The art and style is outstanding, and miles above even Stone Ocean, which leads me to believe Araki used his gap year to hone his skills a bit further. It also has some of the best pin-up style covers.
This time, the "stand user of the week" formula is like previously stated, not intrusive at all, as these are merely other competitors in the race trying to get ahead for the 50m dollars. The battles are even more interesting than usual due to a few key facts:
1) The number of humanoid stands went down by a lot. Stands are now mostly abilities or objects with abilities. Way less punch ghosts.
2) Not only are there stands, there's also Spin, which is the new universe equivalent of the Ripple, albeit far more interesting and with far more use than simply breathing so hard you catch on fire.
3) Due to the fact that they're traversing an entire country, the amount of places to fight in and situations to be in are more diverse than ever, resulting in the most interesting matchups in JoJo history.
And of course, last but not least, we have the main villain, who is one of the (if not the) favorite for a lot of people. His motivations make complete sense to the point where I found myself questioning just how wrong he really was for doing what he did, considering unlike most previous villains, he seemed to have a genuine goal in mind that he wanted to achieve, complete with a method of how to achieve it.
The plot twists and the final fight are by far my favorite from all of JoJo. Not only because it encapsulates what makes the final fights so good, but because they take it a step further and make it interesting the whole way through, moving through different places and giving the chase a sense of urgency, complete with one final GIANT twist afterwards, resulting in a fight that spans almost eight whole volumes without ever feeling like it drags on. I would compare it to defeating Liquid Snake in MGS only to, a few minutes later, hear him proclaim IT'S NOT OVER YET as you fight one last time for your life.
This is, one of the best JoJo parts, and to me, it shares a spot with Diamond is Unbreakable as my favorite. The art is better than ever, there are no bad characters, everyone's motivations are sensible and heartfelt, and it's full of emotional moments, which is something that JoJo usually lacks.
It's by far the most complete, and the most satisfying to read through of the parts, and by the end of it, it's one of the few that manages to make you feel like you truly reached the end of an adventure alongside Johnny.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth
...
it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The final installment in the original JoJo franchise, Stone Ocean is the finale and... that's about it.
The story is segmented into two big parts. Jolyne, Jotaro's daughter, trying to escape prison because of a crime she didn't commit (and fighting stand users in the process), and yet ANOTHER world-ending threat centered on Dio, who has been dead for quite a while now.
I'll just get this out of the way first, the main problem with Stone Ocean are the characters.
While reasonably interesting at first glance, unlike previous parts, they're just not written well outside of Jolyne. The main cast's chemistry is all over the place, and some are extremely caricatured to the point of annoyance.
Not just that, even though they all have wonderful situational stands with a lot of potential, they're rarely ever utilized, and some simply just... don't ever do anything otherwise they would win way too easily. So they simply become commentators, screaming out what's happening from the sidelines.
Four out of the six main characters are ultimately useless, which is as frustrating as Stardust's "wait until Jotaro gets here" fights, especially considering their stand abilities are diverse enough to create an interesting fight.
Jolyne being the only decent character isn't nearly enough to carry the main cast and as a result, I could barely care about what happened to the rest of them, and most frustrating of all, the other female characters are written terribly in this, like they're out of a C-tier 80s OVA that everyone forgot about.
The main villain this time is again, highly controversial. However this time it's not due to scan quality but due to how you have interpreted the JoJo series so far. You might like him as a conceptual stand-in for Dio in a final fight between him and the Joestar bloodline, or you might simply be unimpressed with anything that he does, like me.
For the grand finale of JoJo to be a fight between an incompetent ragtag bunch of inmates with no reason to fight, versus a Dio fanboy who has the dumbest motivation in the series, it almost feels disrespectful to read it.
Stand fights are again, situational puzzle fights. But there's only so many situations you can be in, in a prison setting, and the asspulls to REACH those situations can get pretty darn ridiculous at times. However once they are out of prison, it's slightly more interesting, but not by much, as the abilities are still mostly nonsensical, with the villain's ability in particular being able to do whatever he wants with it.
Now in Stone Ocean's favor, the art is still outstanding, and it still has a lot of bizarre funny moments, and Pucci's actions during the third act of the manga feel like they're straight out of a horror movie, as he continues to move forward, unstoppable, much like Michael Myers.
The problem being that he's not unstoppable because of his ability, he's unstoppable because the main cast is simply too dumb to figure out how to defeat him, and this leads to a very, very, disappointing ending for me, especially with how much they build it up.
I would like to say "skip this entry, it's just not good", but as it stands if you want to move on, you kinda have to suck it up and just read through this and try to not think too hard. Just enjoy the absurdity of it all like it's a fever dream and hope that you can enjoy it more than I did. Because really, if you can like the characters, you will have no trouble with this. But as it stands, it's currently the poorest and laziest part for me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth
...
it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Golden Wind, the second most controversial JoJo part. Before anything, it must be addressed that the reason for the largely negative western reception to this compared to the largely positive reception in Japan is due to the awful quality scans of the manga published years ago, which tainted people's opinions of it. It's impossible to enjoy a product for its content, when the image quality is bad and the translations range from bad to nonsense. That said...
Golden Wind is amazing.
It's essentially Stardust Crusaders if they had a better motivation than "stopping world-ending threat and saving my mom".
Giorno Giovanna is the son of "Dio", but technically actually Jonathan's since Dio was only the head of the body... yes, that's weird, but just roll with it. Despite being a Joestar, he's akin to Joseph in the sense that he's not exactly a moral protagonist. He used to steal and scam people, and he does some questionable things in the story to further his dream. But what IS his dream?
Well the story this time is about the italian mafia, as Giorno disagrees with their methods (mostly selling drugs to kids) and decides to use his wit and stand ability to infiltrate it and overtake the Mafia Boss from within. So despite his questionable methods, he's still a good guy deep down.
Stand Abilities are once again very interesting and cool to look at, thankfully the next JoJo installments follow the Diamond is Unbreakable formula of treating stand fights as "puzzle fights", and compared to DiU, Golden Wind takes a LOT of liberties with that.
A lot of the solution to these stand fights are borderline nonsensical due to how Giorno's modus operandi is, so if you can get over the fact that "I turned my hand into a piranha and turned your bike into your hand" is a legitimate way of winning a fight then you'll really enjoy the insanity of it, and unlike previous parts, due to their traveling all over Italy you're going to see a lot of iconic locations and awesome set pieces.
The cast is awesome.
Bruno's gang, of which Giorno is a part of, is filled with interesting characters with a ton of personality akin to Josuke's circle of friends in Part 4. A big difference this time is that Giorno's relation with the rest of the gang is very similar to Jonathan-Zeppeli and Joseph-Caesar, which is to say they're ALWAYS helping each other and looking out for each other.
After the lighthearted Part 4, Part 5 comes in heavy as a ton of bricks, with a lot of brutal deaths left and right. Forget Stardust's and Diamond's "ENEMY: RETIRED" status, these guys get MURDERED. Which makes sense since they're all gangsters, but it's still a big shock to see.
The main villain is the most misunderstood in JoJo, largely due to how complex his psyche is. His appearance in the manga comes a little bit too late and his development comes a little bit too fast for most people to care about, and as a result his motivations get misunderstood and he gets chalked up to being "evil for the sake of evil".
It's also important to realize that unlike previous parts, Giorno is NOT the focus of the manga, as he is only one of the members of Passione, the gang. So it only makes sense that the rest of them would be about as competent as he is, and sure enough everyone except one of them gets enough screen time and battles of their own to solidify them as real characters, unlike previous supporting cast in the series. This leads to people thinking "it's bad because Giorno's bad", when in reality, it's just that everyone is around the same level as he is, and he's not even the boss of his own gang, so of course Bruno will be competent enough to handle things on his own sometimes.
Which is not a FLAW, it's a CHOICE.
Overall it's yet another very solid entry into the JoJo series, and there are few flaws with it that I agree with (mostly some stand fights drag on, and some abilities are in fact nonsense), but I cannot say that they really impacted my enjoyment of the manga as a whole, and I would recommend checking this one out, but keeping an open mind about it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth
...
it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Diamond is Unbreakable stands out from the rest of the JoJo series up until this point, because it changes the concept of "adventure". It's not about fighting a world-ending threat, and it's not about stopping someone from conquering the world. The adventure this time is completely self-contained in the small town of Morioh.
It consists of our lovely new Joestar, Josuke, making new friends and living his school life while dealing with stand users. Right off the bat you'll notice the atmosphere is totally different, as there is no urgent threat, only smaller threats resulting of bad people with stands using them to do bad things. It's a departure from the previous part's treatment of enemy stand users as hired henchmen, and the main cast as "heroes". In this part, they're just normal students who want to do good.
You can really tell Araki learned more than a few things after finishing Stardust, because DiU has a LOT of interesting stands, and it is at this point where stand fights essentially become puzzles where the characters have to find an opening in the enemy's stand ability to dish out as much damage as they can, before readjusting to the situation.
This means just about every single fight in this is extremely entertaining, and due to Josuke's stand ability of "repairing things to their original state", there are a lot more things to do in a fight, one of the most notable examples being destroying a bike to vault over a baby, and repairing it mid-air so he can fall back on it and continue driving away.
As previously mentioned Stand Abilities are now more situational and therefore, deadly. Because of that, the main cast has to use everything they can to think outside the box in order to outsmart their opponent. Sometimes in a logical manner, sometimes in a "I CANNOT BELIEVE THEY JUST DID THAT" manner, in the best way possible.
The art is a slight step-up from Stardust, looking less stiff, but equally as amazing and far more colorful. Not much to say here other than once again, the designs of characters and stands are rather impressive.
The main cast is one of the most likable shonen main casts I've seen, and one of the best in all of JoJo. Josuke looks like a delinquent, but he's a total goofball sweetheart, and everyone around him are amazing friends and truly interesting people. They feel like actual people you would probably meet in school and that adds to how much you care for them.
The "stand users of the week" are also surprisingly interesting, and because they're real characters and not just hired henchmen this time, it feels far more enjoyable to watch their fights with the main cast.
But most importantly, this has probably the best villain in JoJo, in contrast to the previous parts' world-ending threats. Not just that, he doesn't even show up until halfway through the manga, and when he does, you can tell right away how much of a threat he is, not to the WORLD, but to this small town that you've come to love. Because of that, you are much more invested in seeing how they'll deal with him than you were when the villains were just "bad guy who wants to end world".
There's not really a way to sum up Diamond is Unbreakable, but if you enjoyed the concept of stand fights and wished to see more of it, this will most likely be a very good surprise. The cast is amazing, the story's amazing, and it never tries too hard to be too serious despite the urgency of the main plot.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth
...
it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Stardust Crusaders is THE most known JoJo part, and honestly, that's not because of the story.
This is also the first real "adventure" in the JoJo series, as the characters have to travel to Egypt in order to stop Dio, who yes, is still alive, somehow, and still powerful.
It's one of the first manga to create what is now generic shonen story beats, à la Monster of the Week format, and the progress feels similar to moving in a board game.
Beat a stand user -> Move a few spots -> Beat another stand user -> Move a few spots
And so on until they reach Dio. It can get tiring very fast if you're not invested in the characters or the fights, which are 90% of it. And speaking of fights...
Stardust Crusaders introduces the concept of stands, a manifestation of the user's psyche as what is essentially a punching ghost with an added ability. Magician Red punches and has fire, Emerald Splash punches and shoots green energy, and so on.
The meat of Stardust is watching how the main cast use their stand abilities to defeat other stand users, and unfortunately since this is the first time the concept was used, Araki was still trying to figure out what to do with them, and as a result, some of the fights are good, a lot of the fights are boring and end up being "who can punch first" or "who can punch harder".
Most of the stand abilities aren't too crazy, but some are really annoying and sometimes seem to make no sense at all, at which point they get punched into oblivion, usually by Jotaro and his Star Platinum.
But most infuriatingly, this is the start of a meme known as "Araki Forgot", in which Araki simply forgot that some stands can do certain things, or forgot previously established plot points, the most notable one being that in Phantom Blood, Dio was somewhere. Now he says he was ACTUALLY somewhere else, and this really only serves to bring him back as a villain, albeit much less charismatic, and without much screen time outside of the last few volumes.
The art is a gigantic step up from Phantom Blood, and one of the most iconic art styles in manga, ever. It's still frequently referenced in anime, 30 YEARS LATER, and for very good reason. Nothing ever looks stale or confusing, and the stand designs are all mostly awesome to look at.
The "stand user of the week" villains have mostly unique designs, which is really hard to accomplish for a long series like this (larger than previous parts), but I can't say the same for their personality.
The main cast is alright. Jotaro is closer to Kenshiro than Jonathan and Joseph were, with his stoic attitude and constant punching of things via his Star Platinum, but without any of their emotions other than "I'm angry". The rest of the main cast is okay, even if underused, which is reminiscent of how Z fighters would lose until Goku came in to defeat the villain.
It also features an old Joseph Joestar, which is still a trickster but VASTLY underused.
The main villain is once again, Dio Brando, this time not only is he a charismatic vampire, he's also a charismatic vampire with a STAND. Chances are you already know what it does, but I won't spoil it if you don't. The final fight with him is similarly iconic and still referenced to this day, in multiple other manga and anime, again, for good reason. You probably already know why and you probably already saw dialogue of it somewhere.
So if you like shonen battle manga and you don't mind a seemingly emotionless protagonist that only wants to punch things with his punching ghost as hard as he can, this is a pretty solid read. You might get bored around the halfway point but it's thankfully not a manga with a lot of dialogue, so you can still just enjoy the awesome fighting. And if you liked this, then you'll probably like the following parts.
It's a very iconic entry into the shonen genre, but if you're already used to the genre, you will probably notice 90% of the most common tropes might affect your enjoyment of this manga, which is due to the fact that it largely STARTED those tropes. So whether you can accept that or not vary from person to person, but I would say it's at least worth a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
Mar 15, 2019
DISCLAIMER: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is a currently ongoing series with (at the moment of writing), 7 complete parts and one ongoing one. It's important to first make the distinction that this is NOT one ongoing story split into parts, but rather 8 stories in the same universe following the Joestar bloodline, that share similar elements, plot points, and even motivations in some cases.
Due to that, this and my other JoJo reviews will follow an unique JoJo rating system, since in my opinion it cannot be easily compared to other manga, done in a beginner-friendly way so as to illustrate whether or not it is worth
...
it to get invested in the series, and how it compares to other parts of it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If Phantom Blood took notes from Fist of the North Star when it comes to the artstyle, Battle Tendency takes notes from it for the story. Despite being barely longer than Phantom Blood, it packs a lot more plot and enjoyable moments.
Picking up 50 years after the events of Phantom Blood, we follow our second Joestar protagonist, Joseph Joestar, as he has to learn the Ripple to combat an ancient superhuman threats awakened by nazis.
Yes you heard that right, similar to PB, BT is also essentially a B-movie in manga form, but this time it's on the higher end of them.
Once again, we follow Ripple/Hamon users as they breathe their way to victory, one puff at a time. However this time the Ripple is utilized to its fullest extent. If you wondered "why don't they just do __" during Phantom Blood, rest assured that this time they most likely will. It's extremely to fun to see the crazy stuff Joseph and Caesar come up with to win, and speaking of crazy things...
Battle Tendency is crazy.
It's just not crazy, it's insane.
The Ripple is utilized in insanely ingenious ways to ensure victory, and the Pillar Men, the villains of this part, are giant, muscular half-naked men with varying powers, including heating up their body so much that throwing their blood at things makes them melt.
And let's not forget Nazis and a Nazi Cyborg are in it as well.
Art is a slight step up from Phantom Blood, easier to understand but due to the previously mentioned insanity of it, the weird artstyle actually complements the series rather well this time around.
Both Joseph Joestar and Caesar Zeppeli are awesome protagonists with amazing chemistry. Joseph always has a trick up his sleeve to adapt to the situation (or run from it), while Caesar is stubborn and tries his best to train and win.
The villains are also extremely charismatic and beloved by the fandom, and they completely deserve that. While not as memorable as Dio, they are essentially Fist of the North Star bosses, with supernatural abilities complementing their martial arts, and the final villain has a breathtakingly amazing fight.
Overall it's a HUGE step up from Phantom Blood in everything, definite recommendation if you want a solid battle manga, and it truly rewards the reader for trudging through Part 1. The finale is one of the most memorable despite it only being 7 volumes long, which deserves a lot of praise.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
|