There is literally no fathomable way for me to convey my absolute disappointment and utter sadness with this manga. It's so upsetting to see that a manga with such amazing potential and build-up just got thrown to the wayside and forgotten at the climax of it's phenomenal story arc.
To properly explain to you why I'm so disappointed with this, I need to take you through each step of this story and tell exactly why it hurts so much.
It all started with the Troy Devastation arc (TD), a great way to start off the series and introduce all the characters. You had all the mainstays, Goku,
...
Eren Jaeger, Naruto, and even a couple surprises thrown in there that I wasn't expecting in the slightest, like Troy and Chad. They took this amazing melting pot of characters that they had and put them in an Wipeout style obstacle course to determine which one of them had their head in the game the most. The tense emotion and sexual tension between all the characters was incredible, especially the part where Sharpay punched Troy into the snake pit, and he climbed out to make out with Gabriella. The sparks in the air were really something to behold. However, the crowning achievement of this arc had to be the part where Goku and Bakugo fought on the tightrope above the dinosaur cage. Goku finally learning how to go Super Saiyan and Bakugo fighting back by summoning Troy to do a basketball dribble was some of the most hype I've ever felt in the first arc of a series ever. Even though there was some things I wish got more attention, like Mikasa stabbing Naruto in the balls, I still think the arc did a great job splitting the attention evenly between all the characters. Seriously, you guys really need to go read it. I give this first arc a 9/10.
Following it up was an arc where shit really hits the fan: the Gabriella Abortion arc (GA). I am not joking whatsoever when I am telling you right now that this is some of peak fiction. Most of it doesn't even come from the beautifully drawn action, most of its genius shows in the dialogue and interactions the characters share in the East High medical center. All the characters different reactions to the abortion and their responses to a broken Troy who impregnated Gabriella all have some of the most subtle, hurtful or heartwarming dialogue in all of fiction. For example, when Guts doesn't say a word to Troy and instead shoves him against the wall and leaves... I cried guys. Or when Luffy was trying to comfort Troy, but then Light Yagami disagreed with him, leading to a whole stressful confrontation where Light was threatening to kill Luffy with the death note as Troy was balled up in a corner crying... the amount of hairs that fell out of my head reading that might be worth a world record. However, the true crowning achievement of this arc is its ending. The room where the abortion is happening gets caught in a tornado, and all the characters go in an emotionally charged race towards the tornado to get to the room and save Gabriella. If you have read this, you know exactly what moment I'm talking about. I am of course talking about the Rock Lee vs Killua vs Saitama vs Todoroki vs Chad fight. In case you forgot what made this fight legendary, allow me to re-enlighten you. It all started with the death of Saitama, who was killed by Chad, who at this point was becoming borderline psychotic after the events that he had witnessed his friends go through. Seeing this, Todoroki and Rock Lee stopped their fight to prevent Chad from getting to Gabriella, leading to a string of panels that had my jaw on the floor. From Chad's double knife throw off of stop signs into Rock Lee, who protected Todoroki, to Rock Lee opening the 7th Gate to overpower Chad for a fraction of a second, to Todoroki using his fire to create 200+ degree wind, all of it remains ingrained in my head. After Killua joined the battle by breaking through the ground and cutting one of Chad's arms off, I couldn't stop my shaking for the rest of the day. Sadly, this fight ended shortly after Killua started fighting with Godspeed, because during this fight, we were actually experiencing the emotional climax of the arc. Troy, during all this fighting, was able to come to the realization that he truly loved Gabriella, and that no matter what came their way, he'd live for her. Coming to that realization he was able to unlock his Conquerors Haki and he was able to make everyone collapse with his overwhelming power. After that, he was able to casually reach the room and stop the abortion, thus opening the door for the Time-Skip later on. After that, the arc ended beautifully with a two page spread of the two hugging as everyone looked up from the ground at them. Masterpiece. 10/10
Unfortunately after this, the series hits a “low point” with the next arc: the Basketball Hell Training arc (BHT). Deciding that he wants to be strong enough to protect his future offspring, Troy, along with Goku, Eren, Naruto, Ryan, Edward Elric, and Jesus decide to summon Satan. After begging him for a week, Satan decided to bring them all down to a level of hell known as Basketball Hell, where they were able to train their bodies and souls through the art of playing basketball. It's not a bad arc at all, it just lacks the points of emphasis that the other arcs so far have had. There is no Rock Lee vs Killua vs Saitama vs Todoroki vs Chad fight, or Goku vs Bakugo, it's just a training arc with a great twist to keep it on that elevated High School Musical manga level. That twist being: Satan and the fellow Devils of hell. From time to time various devils will come down and play against our protagonists, leading a lot of very interesting games. It's not quite as good as Slam Dunk, but it is better than that with its character interactions on the court. Troy learning from the dead and developing new ways of thinking from their dead wisdom is really something I wish I saw more of. Troy and the gang are not only becoming physically stronger, they are becoming emotionally stronger too through these interactions, and I like that a lot. However, the real power of this arc comes from Satan. God, what a stand out character. I didn't expect him to become a father figure for Troy, but he really did. His bonding with him through the 1 on 1 games they played is something you don't find too often, especially with the way that Troy teaches Satan about life above hell. This doubles for Jesus as well. He starts off by hating Satan with every fiber of his being, but as they play more games again one another and they are able to talk more, you realize that Jesus develops a friendship of sorts with Satan, which is something I'm really looking forward to seeing in the future. And even if Eren, Naruto, Ryan, and Edward don't get as much attention in this arc as Troy and Jesus, they still have their fair share of learning through the games. All in all, it's a cozy little arc that makes you feel good. 8/10
After that, we now venture to our next masterpiece, the Chad Revolution arc (CR). Remember when I mentioned that Chad was starting to go a little insane? This is where that comes into play. After the events of the Gabriella Abortion arc, Chad is able to find a bit of comfort within himself, however, he still feels horrible for killing Saitama. So, while Troy and the gang went to hell, Chad went on his own journey. This arc plays a very important role in this story, being that it develops Chad as a character that most people hated after seeing him kill Saitama. However, the author was able to build him back up as a character by showing him learning to live life with one arm, talking to the many people around Salt Lake City (where this manga takes place), and his interesting inner dialogue. However, whenever people mention this arc, they are almost never talking about beginning, where the author lures you into caring about Troy. No, most people are talking about the latter half of this arc, where Chad descends back into insanity. It all started when he found out that Taylor cheated on him with Sasuke, which ended up taking all previous development with Chad and throwing them into the toilet bowl. Chad then begins to kill again, which climaxes in the massacre of East High Town Square, where he kills 1049 people in a fit of madness and depression. After the events of the massacre, Chad starts accumulating a group of followers known as "Breaking Free". Madara, Frieza, Blackbeard, Griffith, the Kishin, Johan, Friend; every evil person he could find, Chad completely scared them into becoming his lackeys. However, this arc became an instant classic when, they traveled down to hell and decided to fight against Satan. Keep in mind, this is months after BHT, so it's just Satan and the devils vs Chad and his lackeys. This is one of the best 47 chapters of manga I have ever read in my entire life. Every movement in the fight is perfect. From Frieza's Death Saucer getting bounced off of 16 different corpses into a rock that explodes to his Satan in the eye, to Madara taking the rock ceiling of hell and making rain down meteors non-stop, to Johan convincing Devils one-by-one to join their side, everything just makes sense and builds to the battles epic scale. However, nothing tops Chad vs Satan. Even with one arm, EVEN WITH ONE ARM, Chad puts up one of the most entertaining, powerful, and convincing fights I've read in manga. Ever. There is no other way to say it other than he bodied Satan. He took his one arm and plunged it straight into Satan's ass and blew it up. Satan landed one hit on Chad, but it barely did anything and it was far too late by that point. Chad, using every bit of power he has to swing around his knife and cut Satan again and again hurts as someone who not only sees Chad's soul degrading further and further, but as someone who loves Satan's character after the events of BHT. Alas, by the time Chad piledrove the knife into Satan's soul, and he started laughing until his death, I was in tears with goosebumps going all around me. That is what made this arc so special to so many people. I remember going on Twitter the day after the chapter dropped and just seeing a wave of people talking about how emotional they were when reading the chapter. It is truly a masterpiece on every level, topped with Chad's laugh of insanity as he absorbs Satan's powers and leaps off into the real world once more. 10/10
However, it doesn't end there. The Chad Revolution arc has a direct sequel, known only as the Troy Heroin Destiny arc. I need to be honest with you guys, this is the arc that really locked this in (at the time) for my favorite manga of all time. This arc is perfect. In every single way. This is comparable to Chimera Ant if Chimera Ant was 10x as good. The main reason for this is, again, the character interactions. But this time there is something a little deeper than that. Something you feel in your heart when you read it. You will scream in excitement and sob when the Troy vs Chad fight hits. Because that is all this arc is, it is literally just one fight between Troy and Chad, and I genuinely can't tell you how anything could beat this. Let me tell you about it: Troy tries to come down to hell, but the demons keep denying him. After he is able to come in using the help of Goku and his connections to the underworld, they discover that Satan had been killed by Chad. After this Troy doesn't speak for a long while, for a bit it is just the side characters carrying most of the dialogue on their backs. I think now is good time to mention that the supporting cast in this manga is incredible. Goku, Naruto, Eren, Jesus, Bakugo, Edward Elric, along with the many other characters have an insane amount of depth. It's so crazy, it almost feels like they each have had their own series. Their development and familiarity with me, as a reader, is powerful and it allows me to enjoy their dialogue as people rather than characters. After a bit of discussing where to go from there, they decide that they need to tell Jesus about the death of Satan, who instead of feeling shocked, falls into a state of panic, explaining to the gang that whoever kills Satan can absorb his power. Meaning, Chad not only has his power, which was powerful enough to kill Satan without breaking a sweat, but also the power of the anti-christ. After saying this, they all decide that if they are going to defeat Chad, they are going to need enough power to not only defeat him... but kill him. Troy then speaks up for the first time about a possible way that they can defeat Chad. They head over to his house and find out about the Heroin Destiny, which had been inscribed in his basement wall. It stated that if one's best friend were to betray the anti-christ, the only one that could defeat them, would be if one harnessed the power of heroin to kill the best friend. The emotional shock the characters go through here are something to marvel at. They are hurt, yet filled with hope. Devastated, yet looking forward to the future. Angered, but ready to give Troy heroin. Naruto gives Troy his heroin, and then there is an immediate cut to Troy arriving at Chad's hideout. A lot is cut out here, from me and the manga, but I think the artistic choice is brilliant. They take everything important that would give everything from the fight away and save it for here. I truly believe that any more build-up to this confrontation would have made the readers simply too excited, so this instant cut allows the hype of the reader to flow smoothly from one chapter to the next. Anyways, Troy heads in alone, and sees Chad, sitting on a throne of corpses. As he looks down on Troy, you can feel the tension of these two characters off the pages, which all spirals into the one and only line spoken in this chapter by Chad: "Everyone! Stay away. This is my fight, and my fight only." Following that line, Chad bolts down from his throne of corpses and collides with Troy's arm, leading to the most exciting clash of a hero and a villain in manga history. Then the fight begins. Words could not possibly describe the amount of beauty, character, and heartbreak that is conveyed through these pages to the reader. Every single hit is like lightning in a bottle. Every. Single. Hit. From the simplest of jabs to the Herculean slashes of Chad's knives and the immense swings of Troy's heroin-charged arms. Actually, I think now is a good time to touch on Troy's power after receiving heroin from Naruto. Simply, he has been elevated to a level above Chad. A full swing of his fist could send a crack through the ground down into the magma... but he can't fight at that level. He still sees himself as being friends with Chad, and thus, instead of completely bodying him as everyone hoped he would, he lets himself get thrown around and stabbed. He would rather be on the brink of death than hurt his old friend. However, this mentality changes when Chad charges at a completely still Troy and cuts his left arm off. From there, Troy utters the most breathtaking line in manga history: "We're even now. Be happy." Finally, with a smile and an arm cut off, Troy flies off the deep end and delivers the most devastating punch in the manga, directly into Chad's chest, creating a crater in his body and sending him directly into his throne, shattering it. Then Troy screams out in agony, sprinting towards the broken throne, but falling right before the passed out Chad. The biggest twist in the manga has just arrived: The real reason Troy never threw a serious, full power punch at Chad wasn't because he didn't want to hurt him, it was because the punch was going to kill him. Finally, Troy Heroine Destiny comes to a close, with Chad's minions recovering his unconscious body and running to find a new hideout, leaving a dead, sad Troy lying on a bed of corpses. The main character has died. 10/10
That arc is where the series greatness peaks. From there, it only goes downhill. I'm not saying this to scare you away from reading this arc however, because the Sharpay Lesbian Death Race arc is pretty good. A lot of people actually just stop reading the series at this point, which I don't necessarily blame them for, considering what is to come. However, I'm glad I read this arc. It starts off with a hard cut to the reveal of a majority of the main characters standing around a dead Troy. No one really speaks, most of them just mourn silently in front of his body for a couple panels, before Jesus picks him and up and leads the group away from the old hideout. Following this is a heart-wrenching meeting between all the main characters introduced thus far, discussing how to move forward from this devastating loss and how to deal with Chad, who is growing more insane by the moment. This batch of scenes right here show why the characters in this manga are so brilliant. They all have this air of familiarity to them, and because of that, hearing their statement about Troy and their arguments that they have with some people that they disagree with (regarding Troy) just makes all of them interesting and loveable. Eventually, Sharpay steps up and delivers the idea of a death game, similar to the one they experienced in the first arc. The twist this time around being that the top 50% of people that participate will chase after Chad, whilst the remaining 50% stay back and protect Gabriella as she raises her and Troy's son. A majority of them agree, with some of them disagreeing with the idea, and Sharpay says that she will inform everyone when the course is ready. A short one month time skip occurs, which is followed with a panel of Sharpay laying in a beach chair surrounded by lesbian women. During this time skip, pretty much one character changed, and that character was Sharpay. After having her crush killed and her chances of winning him back shrink to 0%, she decided to explore her sexuality whilst building the course, and became a lesbian herself. It doesn't matter to the story whatsoever, but I thought it was pretty damn funny, so I decided to mention it. Following this, a group of 30 characters show up at the starting line. I can't mention them all now, I'm guessing by this point you may be getting pretty fatigued of the review, but you got your mainstay characters, like Jesus, Naruto, Eren, Eric, Killua, the whole squad essentially. Following a beautiful double page spread of all the participants, we spring into the race. Being completely honest, this is the last great moment to come from the series. All the characters are just perfectly written here, there is not a single line of dialogue, nor a single action from any of the characters that don’t make any sense. Even though they have had a month to get ready for this race, a lot of them were just not emotionally prepared to fight all their friends for such an important mission. There are plenty of great individual moments in this race that are amazing as well, from Eric’ manipulation of the course to try and crush Saber, who uses an excalibur to smash through it, to Jesus’s showdown against Zoro, which, can I just say, is one of my favorite fights in the series. It has problems, but the craziness and emotional weight being thrown around in this fight is just insanely entertaining. When Jesus summoned a giant hammer in the shape of a cross, that Zoro then went to cut clean in half and scar Jesus, was just so hype. I jumped out of my seat and did a backflip when I saw that shit. However, there was something really, really off about this arc near the end. I see it as foreshadowing for the legendary garbage awaiting me in the last arc, because it was just so out of place when compared to the rest of the series. But when Killua became the first person to finish, Sharpay just ended the whole thing because “she was bored.” She then said that time was running out and that she’d just let people decide if they wanted to go or protect Troy’s baby boy and Gabriella. There is a lot wrong with this obviously. For one, you go and introduce this idea, with Sharpay and the death race, but then completely abandon it the moment that Killua finishes. I find that beyond lazy and very ignorant, considering that the author wrote all these characters to be super invested in shutting their own friends down and avenging Troy. But this doesn’t even begin to show the stupidity to come. Following the race’s ending, Sharpay asks who wants to go fight Chad, and only one person wants to. WHAT?! That makes no sense whatsoever! All of these characters just seconds ago were fighting tooth and nail to make sure they would be chosen to fight against Chad, but now only one of them wants to go? I hate that. This one man is Jesus, and though it’s kinda fitting, it just makes no sense. After this, there is only one more chapter in the arc, and in this chapter, it shows Jesus standing in front of Troy’s son, Toroy. In this chapter, Jesus gives Toroy a blessing and gathers his things to leave. After that there is a panel of Jesus walking off into the desert, and the arc ends. It’s a very odd read. I’m glad I read it because the beginning and most of the middle was great. The characters were on point, the action was spot on, and the set up was great. But the ending was just so… shit. Again, I see it as a sign for things to come, but the way all logic and story is thrown out the window is very insulting and I will rate the arc fairly because of that. 6/10
Now we are here. The end. Where all my pain comes from. The High School Heaven’s Requiem arc. I’m going to be very emotional here, because I feel so many negative emotions about this arc, that there is no possible way for me to talk about it without being biased in any way. So, this arc starts with Jesus just looking around in the desert, with the first thing he finds being… a giant warehouse. There is literally no subtlety in reveal, showing the new hideout. It’s just Jesus wandering around and then the warehouse. It's astonishing how lazy this is. Well, following this, Jesus just walks in, and sitting in the corner of the warehouse, is Chad. All of his minions were gone. You might be wondering “Hyphen, where did all these powerhouse characters and villains go?” Yeah, great question buddy. I wish I knew the answer, because the author doesn’t mention it! At all! Neither does Jesus, it’s like, after they carried Chad to the new hideout, they all dipped because they saw how shit this story was becoming. Either way, Chad stands up and looks at Jesus with a furious look. He asked why he came for him, to which Jesus responds with “To avenge Troy.” Following this, Chad screams that he didn’t even kill Troy. He yells and whines that he had nothing to do with Troy’s death, and that Troy killed himself. After screaming about it for a couple pages, he dashes at Jesus with his knives in his hand and he starts the worst fight in manga. There is no other way to put it, this fight is just god awful. Gone are the power clashes of Troy vs Chad, the stressful hits of five way fight in Gabriella Abortion, the emotionally charged stabs of Chad vs Satan, or even the hype out of any fight in the whole series. This fight lacks everything that made any other fight in the series interesting, when realistically this fight has the setup to be the best in the series. Chad’s intelligent, aggressive, and fast fighting-style from previously is completely abandoned for a fighting style where all he does is rush Jesus and go for wild, predictable swings. As for Jesus’ slick, heavy, and powerful fighting style… it’s also gone. Instead, all these idiots do is swing their arms around aimlessly, just screaming at one another. There is no tact or subtlety, they are just screaming events from the series to one another and hitting the other over and over. The choreography is non-existent. There is no emotion, hype, stress, or stakes in this battle, even though in all reality, every one of those elements should be here. Eventually, after watching a painfully long and dull screaming fest where two morons hit each other, they both eventually collapse. They are both having trouble moving. Now: remember when Chad KILLED SATAN and WON AGAINST TROY. I’m not trying to imply that Jesus is weak, because he really isn’t, but Jesus shouldn’t be equal with Chad. At all. This is just wrong, and it makes this fight, which already makes no sense to begin with, even more nonsensical. That’s not even the worse part. I want you to guess how many chapters we have left. Well, have a go. We have 1 chapter remaining here. It goes like this: After Jesus and Chad are unable to get up, the warehouse door opens. In that doorway, stands Toroy, Troy’s son. Somehow, he now looks like a teenager. Jesus then laughs, and says, and I quote, “Aren’t I glad I blessed you? Now you are the most powerful being in the universe!” Huh? What? Are you kidding me?... Following that Toroy walks up to Chad, who then looks back up at his best friend’s son. After that he has a flashback to a conversation he had with Troy, where they talk about the importance of forgiving others and moving on. Then Chad stands up weakly, hugs Toroy, and says “I’m sorry”. That is the final panel of the manga. It just ends there. I can’t even begin to tell you how bad this arc was. It was so garbage. Every element that made the story good or unique whatsoever is gone. Nothing makes sense. The ending is dogshit. Jesus’ blessing makes no goddamn sense. Toroy does nothing. He means nothing to Chad, and yet he has a flashback to the cornest thing I’ve ever seen. The fight was nothing. This arc was nothing, when it should have been the most important arc in the whole series. This isn’t just bad, it’s straight up insulting. 0/10.
That’s the series. You might think that rating the series as a 1 is too harsh when I enjoyed a large margin of the series. That is fair. You might think that rating the series a 1 is too close minded when the art was drawn well throughout. That is also fair. Hell, you might think that rating this series as a 1 is just stupid considering that I held it in the highest regards when I was reading a majority of it. But my reason for rating the High School Musical manga so harshly is because of how much I feel personally insulted by this piece of art. It gave me so much to enjoy, so much to love and fathom at, but right at the finish line, it destroyed everything. It’s like, after the author killed Troy, every element of sound, intelligent writing went out the window. You ruined Troy. You ruined Jesus. You ruined Chad. You ruined the entire cast. But most important of all, you ruined the legacy you had.
Thanks for nothing.
1/10
(Written from December 29th, 2020 to January 4th, 2021)
All (10)FriendsRSS Feeds |
Jan 4, 2021
High School Musical
(Manga)
add
There is literally no fathomable way for me to convey my absolute disappointment and utter sadness with this manga. It's so upsetting to see that a manga with such amazing potential and build-up just got thrown to the wayside and forgotten at the climax of it's phenomenal story arc.
To properly explain to you why I'm so disappointed with this, I need to take you through each step of this story and tell exactly why it hurts so much. It all started with the Troy Devastation arc (TD), a great way to start off the series and introduce all the characters. You had all the mainstays, Goku, ... |
