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In my opinion, one possible mark of a truly great comedy is when it manages to interweave poignant moments within, tugging on the heartstrings without delivering tonal whiplash.

To that end (and many others), Ponkotsu Ponko is a fantastic manga. The comedic elements are never far away and land practically every single time. There exists a wide array of interesting side characters, all bringing something to the table with their banter and quirky personalities.

The dynamic between Yoshioka Sr. and Ponko is incredibly sweet, even if the former often refuses to respond with much beyond irritation or indifference. Coupled with the close-knit small town they live in, ... the resulting feel is very warm and homely.

As far as the story goes, it's extremely simple and makes for an easy to read - I finished all 79 chapters in a few days at most.

No complaints about the artwork; crisp and high quality throughout.

Ponkotsu Ponko is a heartwarming, comfy story about the importance of family and forming human connections - one so genuine in its ability to please the reader, that I'd heartily recommend it to just about anyone.

Plot: 7
Characters: 8
Art: 8
Enjoyment: 9

You would be forgiven for seeing the title of Gimai Seikatsu - or, rather, its English translation, "Days With My Stepsister" - and assuming it to be something skeevy or exploitative. However, you would be absolutely wrong.

This show displays a surprisingly tender, contemplative and mature approach to the theme of taboo love - in this case, between (recently established) step-siblings.

The dialogue and scenes are realistic, calm and generally free of melodrama - much at odds with many typical romance titles. For example, moments of extended silence between characters as they eat a meal are not uncommon. Character motivations, while occasionally a bit twisted, are completely ... believable.

Animation is generally crisp and well done. Voice acting is understated but superb, lending itself well to the calm vibe noted previously. Having never read the source material, I unfortunately cannot speak to the show's effectiveness as an adaptation.

Gimai Seikatsu also ends at a good point in the story, paving the way for a second season - which it thoroughly deserves for daring to challenge the status quo of the romance genre.

Plot: 7.5
Characters: 9
Animation: 8
Soundtrack: 6.5
Enjoyment: 7.5

ReLIFE begins as a somewhat goofy comedy, and over time masterfully builds up to an emotional crescendo, with an extremely satisfying payoff.

This series follows Kaizaki Arata, a late-20's NEET who gets invited to join a program which involves getting temporarily de-aged into a high school student for one year, and attending a high school to rediscover themselves.

The premise is interesting, and is initially presented in a mostly humorous manner, given that the underlying Kaizaki is still almost 30, despite having a younger appearance. Over the course of the manga, the impact of the surroundings on Kaizaki - and his impact on those around him - ... becomes much more profound.

Despite its oft-lighthearted vibe, ReLIFE refuses to shy away from drama and raw emotion, resulting in some extremely memorable moments for a variety of different reasons. Friendship, love, guilt, shame, isolation - some of the themes explored at various points in the story.

The art is excellent and consistently elevates every conversation, every emotion, every event that occurs in each chapter.

All of the characters are layered and interesting, and the way they interact with Kaizaki is realistic and believable.

I felt just about every major emotion at some point while reading this story - happiness, sadness, stress, relief and satisfaction at the ending.

ReLIFE is ultimately a story of great personal growth, confronting past trauma and the importance of looking forward. Having finished it, I am left with a great sense of melancholy - a true marker of a great series; I can't recommend this one enough.

Plot: 8.5
Characters: 9.5
Art: 9
Enjoyment: 9.5

Boku no Hero Academia requires no introduction, and closer to the time of its meteoric rise, was oft toted as the "next big shonen". The question is, did it live up to those expectations?

The premise is simple: people are born with a superpower (named Quirk in this universe), and the MC doesn't have one, until a chance encounter with the world's current #1 strongest hero changes his fate.

Arcs in the early to middle portions of the manga are generally very strong, proving difficult to put down once you pick them up. There is a wide array of characters, and the various Quirks they possess gives ... them their own interesting personality and flair. A not-insignificant amount of care is also taken to explain the details and intricacies of each Quirk where necessary. Humor is a also a strong point for the first half or so, given the vast number of striking personalities in the story.

Around the final third of the manga, the tone shifts somewhat and attempts to become more serious. I say 'attempts' because the characters' actions and dialogue fail to live up to this shift. It's around this time that the writing takes a rather steep nosedive, and really starts to feel like the mangaka wasn't finding as much enjoyment in writing.

Fights begin to feel drawn out and convoluted, in a constant state of trying to one-up themselves; the artwork also seemed to occasionally become much more confusing and difficult to follow during action sequences.

Unfortunately, the manga never really recovers beyond this point, meandering haphazardly to its eventual demise; the ending is not spared from this decline, attempting to wrap things up with a time skip, which left me feeling a little unsatisfied with the outcome.

Now, to answer the question posed at the start of the review: ultimately, I would say Boku no Hero Academia did not live up to its lofty expectations; the highs are wonderful, but the lows are really quite dire. Nevertheless, its strong early half has likely cemented its legacy in the shonen world, but given its numerous shortcomings, I would struggle to heartily recommend it.

Plot: 6
Characters: 8
Art: 6.5
Enjoyment: 6.5

Kuzu no Honkai is, without a doubt, one of the least enjoyable manga that I have ever read. However, that doesn't mean to say that it's bad; rather, it is simply unrelenting in its misery.

The story follows a pair of high school students that find themselves in a similar situation - one of unrequited love, with little to no hope of the situation changing for the better. To make things worse, both objects of their respective affections attend the same school (as teachers), and we discover early on that a spark exists between them. To relieve the suffering brought about by this miserable situation, the ... two students form a relationship in which they substitute the other in place of their desired partner.

It is no exaggeration to say that barely a few pages can go by without you wanting to grab the scruff of a character's neck and scream at them to stop what they're doing! In love, they are horribly out of their depth, unable to properly move forward, inevitably dragging others into their quagmire.

The artwork is absolutely deserving of praise, as it excels at driving home the manga's main forte (misery), but also boosts the few lighthearted moments, to give the reader a moment's reprieve.

Frustrating as they are, the characters are the focal point here; complex enough to make the story at least a little compelling, but sometimes their idiocy knows no bounds, and they seem unable to think with anything other than their genitalia.

Make no mistake, Kuzu no Honkai is not a romantic story; it lays bare the rotten underbelly of love and lust, making for an uncomfortable, often frustrating read, but not without some emotional depth and strong art to elevate it.

Plot: 5.5
Characters: 7.5
Art: 8.5
Enjoyment: 3

If a manga has ever suffered from losing a lot of readers at the first chapter, then Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is it.

This manga follows a submissive, nerdy MC who is ultimately embroiled in a pseudo-masochistic friendship with the titular character, Nagatoro. As alluded to previously, you might read the first chapter and think this is going to be a difficult read that glorifies bullying - but it absolutely is not. Rather, over time Nagatoro inadvertently toughens him up, and they both develop along the way.

Romcoms are absolutely my favourite genre, and I can wholeheartedly say that plenty of the moments produced in this story are some ... of the most sweet and wholesome I've ever seen. It's not high art - nor does it need to be.

Artwork is also superb; every scene is expressive and detailed where necessary.

The final third of the manga suffers from some meandering plot lines, but is ultimately wrapped up in a nice way. Comedic moments land fairly often, and the side characters are interesting enough to never feel like page fillers.

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san is, despite initial appearances, a manga about personal growth and the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone. I will miss it dearly!

Plot: 6.5
Characters: 8
Art: 9
Enjoyment: 9

Tsurezure Children follows the ordinary lives of several high school couples (or perhaps-soon-to-be) and their daily grapples with love.

You'd be forgiven for thinking the characters are archetypal: you've got the couple that are goofy and unable to properly convey their feelings to one another; a delinquent girl and the studious student council president; a stoic sportsman and a needy, overtly affectionate girl... the list goes on. The cookie-cutter characters would perhaps be a detractor if there weren't so many to keep things interesting - which they do.

Despite following many couples, all of them attend the same school, which naturally leads to plenty of nice ... inter-couple interactions to flesh out their relationships.

Humor and cuteness are definitely a strong suit, with the artwork being consistently effective in amplifying these strengths.

The manga is primarily episodic in nature, and the setting/plot is generally very simple. If you're looking for heavy drama, you're unlikely to find it here.

Despite having little to no overarching plot, Tsurezure Children manages to deliver an extremely enjoyable rom-com experience with a wide cast of (mostly) lovable characters and charming comedy. If you were impressed by the anime, then I would heartily recommend reading this; it is IMO considerably better, due in no small part to the extended length of time spent with the characters.

Plot: 4
Characters: 8
Art: 8
Enjoyment: 8

Kaguya-sama: Love is War boldly stakes its claim as the king of the "rom-com" genre, and I daresay few can robustly challenge it.

The story follows Miyuki Shirogane and Kaguya Shinomiya - two prodigous students attending a high school for the social elite - who, despite their academic brilliance, are utter fools when it comes to love. To complicate things further, they have feelings for each other (of course, right?)

This results in a great number of hilarious situations, with each of them trying hare-brained schemes to get the other to confess, which is absolutely where the manga thrives; there is humour around every corner, and it ... lands more or less every single time.

In a manga featuring this kind of setting, you'd perhaps expect a not-insignificant number of the characters to be haughty and generally insufferable, but that's not the case here - all of them are lovable goofballs in some way, particularly the main cast. Side characters are given plenty of love too.

The art is consistently excellent, always elevating the emotion evoked by any particular scene, whether it's humorous, sweet or just plain sad.

If you had to criticise something about this manga, it would be the plot. The majority of the early chapters are quite episodic and don't strictly follow an overarching story. This changes around the halfway point, and I would say that the more the manga leans on narrative and drama, the weaker it becomes - this is particularly evident during the final arc. While the ending portion is the weakest part, the story is still wrapped up in a pleasing way overall.

To this day, it still pains me that this series is over. IMO, despite any shortcomings, it fully deserves the top spot as far as "rom-coms" are concerned.

Plot: 7
Characters: 9
Art: 9.5
Enjoyment: 10

Solo Levelling is a show that delivers quality in its animation, action sequences and soundtrack, only to be ultimately let down by a horribly boring plot and cast of characters.

In this universe, Hunters are responsible for clearing dungeons linked to "gates", which are portals to other dimensions, containing your typical video game mobs.

The plot follows one such hunter: Sung Jin-Woo, who is weak enough to be designated E-rank, but happens across some video game levelup system which allows him to become stronger; other hunters have their abilities defined at birth, which cannot be changed. All of the subsequent plot points in this show ... seem to be paper-thin vehicles used purely to demonstrate Jin-Woo's increasing strength.

Using a video game levelling up system in a show may seem novel at first, but quickly reveals itself to be incredibly uninspired.

The characters are not at all interesting, given the show seems to want you to focus on the MC and no-one else, but he doesn't have much going for him either; he is initially meek and hapless, but over the course of a few episodes completely changes personality - it's jarring and doesn't feel remotely natural.

As mentioned earlier, credit must be given where it's due for the excellent animation, action sequences, VA work and soundtrack - they are all stellar, and cultimate in a show that is occasionally a pleasure to look at and listen to, if nothing else.

Plot: 3
Characters: 3
Animation: 8.5
Soundtrack: 8
Enjoyment: 5.5

Dungeon Meshi absolutely oozes personality, and leaves you with a smile on your face at every turn.

This anime follows an eccentric party of four delving into a dungeon, with the primary purpose of rescuing their lost and/or deceased friend/sister Falin. As far as the show's strengths are concerned, it is carried by its characters and their hilarious interactions, rather than by a gripping plot.

Each character has a clearly defined personality, with their own weaknesses and strengths, and the show does a wonderful job of casting them into bizarre situations and showcasing not only their great teamwork - perhaps reminiscent of your typical co-op video game ... dungeoneering experience - but also their hilarious and occasionally wholesome interactions with one another.

Animation is solid, crisp and the style lends itself well to the show's offbeat personality; monsters, backgrounds and characters alike are all animated with great expressiveness.

The soundtrack is nothing to sneeze at, but also nothing extraordinary - better than average IMO.

As far as the food-porn aspect goes, this doesn't usually interest me so much - but it was personally enjoyable in this case, so I definitely think this will appeal to watchers who favor that genre.

There is a bit of an abrupt tone shift around halfway through, which lasts for 2-3 episodes. This, for me, was the weakest part of the show; as mentioned previously, the plot is arguably the weakest aspect - not that it is bad, but rather, everything else outshines it.

Plot: 7
Characters: 9.5
Animation: 8.5
Soundtrack: 7.5
Enjoyment: 9.5