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Feb 8, 2021
So I've just recently got into the boom of season 4, of course speaking of anime. I am not the type of a person who gets hooked immediately to what people like, but it got to me after a while and I've started reading manga, because I've heard it's further than anime, and I don't like waiting, so here I am reviewing it.
I've watched this series previously with my brother, back in 2014-2015, but it was from time to time, and I wasn't always on the same page with the story. Well, I am glad I caught up with this series. I thought this is
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just another edgy story, about a hero who becomes vile for a little or no reason at all, but damn.. How much was I dissapointed.
-- Story (9/10) --
Well, I gotta give a 9 here. Why? The story might seem boring at first, it's just another shounen type of thingy. Main hero wants to get a revenge, he has a goal and it seems he's the best in line to achieve it. After you see it, you want to drop this manga, but you don't. Be glad that you didn't.
The story gets better after those first chapters. Characters get development, and the story drags you into some sort of a mystery. First you think those creatures are monsters, but then you slowly discover that something is not right. As you follow through the story, you get to know what actually happens in the world of Shingeki no Kyojin, and it is truly worse than just some big titan monsters.
This story is tragic. It is entertaining, but it is also sad. People want to cut their own throats to actually survive, and they keep going with the cycle of death, not even thinking about peace in the first place. All of these people are all the same, but they still think that someone is worse or better, and it just shows how tragic it turns out to be for both sides. This is what I love about this story - it feels so real. Why does it feel so real? Because it is so close to situations that could happen in the real world. People not finding a compromise, when it's just one step away. I think many people can relate that story to our world.
I also think that many people can take a lesson from that story. Our life is not all about revenge, hatred, or other goals that are important for you - you, as a single person. We first have to forgive to break from a cycle. It hurts, it hurts like hell - but this is what forgiving is all about. About burying your own pride and accepting other people's mistakes. If we actually care about others, we got to stop thinking about ourselves for a moment.
This is what Shingeki no Kyojin teaches us. It shows us how tragic some of those decisions are. It shows us how many people we can hurt in an instant, not even thinking about it twice. And our mistakes are going deeper, and deeper with every second.
-- Art (9/10) --
I liked the art. There's nothing much to say about it. I love that this art is not in a constant, since it's so hard to keep a really good quality and stable releases. We occasionally get a really awesome and detailed panel, and that's fine.
-- Character (10/10) --
Okay, so this is the part where some of the people may not agree with me. But I got to say it - that Mikasa is rather one of the worst developed characters. It is rather a side character to just build Eren's development from one of the sides. She doesn't have her own character, it's just all about Eren. Kinda same thing happens with Armin, which is, I'd say, a really flat character.
Then why 10/10, you may ask? Well, this is because some of these characters are really exceptional and I got to give the author a big plus for that. If we ignore some of these flat characters and dig through to the characters like Historia, Eren, Reiner, Erwin, Ymir, Kenny Ackerman - and how deep and well constructed they are, we actually discover gold.
I don't want to spoil so much, but I'd especially want to speak about Reiner. This character is just next level among all of these. It's about all of these factors - his split personality, his motives, his character, his mistakes and his failure. He feels so real and relatable, that it is so hard to describe. What truly shows how amazing this character is, is how you actually feel about him throughout this series. First you don't know him, then you like him, then you hate him, and finally you understand and pity him. This is what actually shows that he is a great and well developed character.
I'd also want to point out Erwin, since I think that'd not be a huge spoiler here talking about his character. It's just how he really feels like an army's commander. How he feels human and at the same time it's almost like you can't grasp humanity in him. His development is amazing, his plans, his logic. Especially his development, where he gets through the episode of letting his dreams go, and actually sacrificing everything for the sake of humanity.
-- Enjoyment (10/10) --
I gotta say it, I may be a weirdo because of that, but I don't care - I've cried a lot while reading this series. I've cried a lot while reading Reiner's story, while getting along with some of these characters. This story is not really enjoyable, I'd not call it "enjoyable", because it is sad and tragic. It's entertaining, but at the same time it hurts you a lot. You see tragedy of each certain character and it really pains you. And it is intentional. But why? Because it teaches us a lot of things, for example how we should not let our hatred let loose just because of our own goals, or our own revenge. This is why enjoyment is on 10/10, because it's just a new whole level. This series doesn't just introduce a new world to us, a new story, threat, or whatever it is. It teaches us some really important things, and this is a big props for that.
OVERALL (9.5/10) - (rounding it up to 10/10 in main review's overall score)
I think this manga is something else than just a comic book. It's on the same level as the other series like GoT, Vikings, or whatever else it is. It may be a blasphemy for some people, that I am comparing a comic book series to series with real actors, but what does it change? If the characters feel real, if they show true emotions and if all of that is well written, why not compare it to something like that?
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Aug 19, 2020
Let's say this manga is a..... a hamburger! Yes. Now - when the meat is awesome, it's just awesome, right? But it has to work with the buns to actually make a GOOD hamburger. If the buns are average, dry - it will still work, but won't taste that good with that awesome patty. But just imagine adding soggy buns, which literally have no taste in them. And you add that fantastic patty between them. Will the hamburger taste good? Well, it depends. It depends if you still have your taste buds, or not. I think that I still have them, and that's why I
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gave this manga 5/10. Why? Just read below.
-- Story (6/10) --
I gave the story 6/10 because it's fine. It's kinda interesting and actually intrigued me at the beginning. The problem is - part of the story are characters and the world. And both are just totally ridiculous. Characters are not thinking too much, and the city becomes more and more ridiculous by every next chapter. I know, that this might sound, that Junji wanted it to feel like that (and he partly wanted), but I don't think so that he fully understood what he did. We have a lot of plot holes, things are not explained fully, and the characters' reasoning is just SO, so, so awfully OFF. Some of the side characters' stories might wake up a question in your head - were they possessed before, or just now? Did the possession become stronger? And through this manga I had more and more questions like these coming up. Because, come on. I am not getting scared by scary art only. I need to get deep in the story to actually feel it. And then, when it all comes up together - there comes the fear. Story is the top bun of our hamburger, it's just dry.
-- Art (8/10) --
Well, I don't have that much to say here. The art is awesome, that's why it has received 8/10. It's simple (thus not masterpiece nor great by the ranking), but it actually creeps me out. It is unique too. And that's our patty, it is very good, it tastes awesome by itself, but the buns need to come with it to actually allow us to call this piece a hamburger.
-- Character (2/10) --
And now - the worst part about our hamburger. The soggy, terrifying part. I think I even see mold here? This is our bottom bun.
There is much to say, and at the same time there is not. Characters are (as I have mentioned in story section) just off. They don't stick together. One chapter they are fulfilled with fear, and the other one they keep sitting in this freaking city. They don't try to escape, even though it's later revealed that they can't. But we don't know if they couldn't before. Maybe the curse just became too strong to leave the city? That's the problem with the story - it just wasn't explained.
This section didn't receive 1/10, because at least one character in the story was acting right, and it was the boyfriend of the main character. He was fearful of the situation, of the city - he has locked himself up in his house. But why he didn't run away by himself? People were literally dying here. They were turning into animals, zombies - weird things were happening to them. And both main characters were still staying in this awful city. Also - the main character's (the girl) development through these series is just not seen. She saw so many things by her own eyes and even though she just walks to her school and does her typical everyday things as always. She fears those beasts and accidents only at the critical point, but after that? She just forgets about everything that happened.
-- Enjoyment (6/10) --
I don't count this section to the overall mean as always. Enjoyment was fine, because it was just fine. I kinda feared some things in the manga, but that's only because of the art. The awful reasoning of characters and story did it's work to actually make this piece not that scary at all.
OVERALL (5/10)
And here we go with our hamburger. Taste it. You don't want to taste it? Well, good for you, but you should try it anyways. Just for the patty. And speaking by normal words - I kinda like Junji Ito's work. I love his oneshots, but not the series. I kinda feel that his full stories are kinda off, and he just can't keep the pace with the terror that he has demonstrated through the first chapters. His art is awesome. I really love how he draws the characters' eyes when they are struck with fear. Or even eyes of those who are possesed. It's just scary - does it's work. But every time I read some kind of series from him - the story is just going downhill. Well, sometimes it is interesting, but even when it is (like with the Uzumaki's case) - the characters are dragging it down.
And now - why you should (or not, you decide) taste the hamburger even though it's lower part is just dreadful? Because you may get scared anyways, just by the art of this manga. It really depends on the person, but after looking at some of the opinions of the reviewers here - I think they got scared just by the art.
Also, as one of the previous and recent reviewers said - Ito should stick to short stories.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Aug 1, 2020
I can't really focus that much on the story and characters while rating this manga, so I will leave it at 9/10 overall, and just describe what I've seen so far.
I'd say the review is spoiler free, since I've tried to not speak much about things that happen further than in first two chapters.
-- Story (9/10) --
So the main character's name of this story is Usumgallu, a hermaphrodite (at least from what we've seen so far). We're placed in a kinda real world, with people of unknown century. It seems that people in this story strongly believe in Greek Gods associated with Greek Mythology, and
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also Gods like water Gods, air Gods, mountain Gods, etc. etc.
The story is interesting. Usumgallu is nothing of this realm, and just from the beginning Miura feeds us with many mysteries related to the character and not only - mysteries related to the world. Characters seem to have different personalities, and that's good. I strongly feel an adventure vibe from this manga, since it's so stereotypical (in a positive way here) - a group of friends who fight together for their back, etc. I'd say that I'm pretty surprised after latest chapter, and I can tell, that we already see that these adventures won't be any of those "normal ones", and that the real adventure begins just here.
-- Art (10/10) --
It's 10/10 without much saying. You know Miura. His art is (I'd personally say) perfect. These were only 6 chapters, but they took me a few hours, since the panels were like giant paintings, following one after another. There are so many details that you can't even fully devour a single panel with your eyes. Animals are drawn so good, with sometimes full panel dedicated to picture their savagery with microscopic details. It's just beautiful, and after chapter 6 I can tell you, that this was what I was expecting from Miura.
-- Character (8/10) --
I can't really say much here, since it's the beginning of our adventure and we didn't really see the character development of our characters yet. But I can see that, that as I've previously mentioned - every character has some kind of different personality. If you think about the beginning band, and if you have a good memory which would allow you to remember every single name of the main characters from the story, then I promise you - they are pretty easy to recognize. Those personalities are not fully shown yet, but we can slowly see what will bloom out of them. These were only 6 chapters, and Miura introduced every character so well, that you can already talk about personality of each one. These characters have troubles and some kind of a sad past on their head, which haven't been that much explained yet, but you can already tell, that this will be the base area to build their character development from - and also from the adventures and experiences during the rest of their lifespan.
-- Enjoyment (10/10) --
Not much to say here. It's just a good (would even say exceptional) experience. I think I won't be mistaken with his work, since I wasn't with Berserk. I just hope that we'll get a good piece of manga, with a not-so-long release time for each chapter.
OVERALL (9/10)
I just hope that Miura (and Studio Gaga) won't give up on this project, and that they will keep a good pace with it. The art is fantastic, and the story is too. And let's just stick with that. Hope I will be able to edit this review in the future, changing it to 10/10 in "Overall". I will stick with 9/10, since we don't know much about characters and story yet. It looks promising, it looks reaaaaaally good, it looks interesting, but we don't know much about it yet.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Jul 29, 2020
I've made this review when I was on chapter 361, so please take it in your consideration.
-- This review may contain a little bit of spoilers.
Many people are bashing on Berserk lately. That it's boring after the Golden Age Arc, that the story was off ー well.. It's your opinion, not mine, and I don't agree on that, AND I will concentrate this review around the opinion of mine. Just mine.
-- Story (10/10) --
Berserk is an ultimate story. It presents us a cruel, but rather fascinating story of the main character - Guts, and keeps it pace around him while presenting us the chronicles of
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his journey.
The story is beautiful. Everything around it is fascinating. Characters and their development through it, their stories, why have they joined Griffith's group in the first place, how did they manage to survive many struggles on their path. Everything is just top notch. The story literally sucks you in, and it's because every chapter is just fascinating at it's own. Every chapter makes you read more, and more. Once you're into the story, you're just curious what will happen next. The story hides many mysteries in it, it makes the newly met characters mysterious, and that's why you just keep reading it. To reveal the new secrets. You want to know who's that that the band just met. You want to know more about the enemy that they are currently facing. You want to know why some part of a story has been just introduced to you. You literally feel like you would be inside the story. I would say - you're becoming an ultimate form of the spectator. It's just golden. And the emotions around this story and it's progression - it makes you depressed, it makes you happy, it makes you sigh in a relief, it makes you cry. It has everything.
-- Art (10/10) --
I don't think I will write a lot about this manga's art here. It's just immaculate. It's beautiful. Miura made this story gory, but at the same time he has proven, that gory can be beautiful. Some of the apostles that Guts is meeting at his path are scary, they look disturbing. But at the same time you can't stop looking at them. You're interested in their powers, you're interested how will they act and what kind of terror will they seed. Due to their earlier depiction and scariness.
The gore reaches it's absurdity level out of the scale, but it doesn't matter. Because Miura knows how to picture it to look great, to look huge compared to the viewer. Whenever you meet the absurd, not only the character is moved by it - you're moved by it too. You can't take your eyes off the absurd, of the horror that the character is facing. That's why the art in this manga is just, simply put - immaculate.
-- Character (9/10) --
Characters through the series are just awesome. They lack some parts, and you can see that Miura keeps adding them while he can't really explain their stories through the main story at all, or sometimes even introducing them and then leaving some part mysterious for a longer period of time. I mean, that's my only problem with this manga, that Miura has made so many plot twists with the new characters, that I will take a lot of time to explain their stories at least partly. There is just so much to explain, that it'd take another 100-200 chapters to just try to explain the other, side characters' stories.
But let's move to the point.
Not including what I've said previously - the characters of this manga are awesome too. You can see their development through the series, you can see how they progress. You are just hooked to them. You are curious how they'll develop a certain skill, how will they path end. You feel bad (or not) when something happens to them. You just see them in the story. They develop, they change. Just like humans do. They are scared, they will brave. The emotions are on point too. Miura brilliantly shows how their emotions develop too. Not only by art, but by their point of view and experience too.
-- Enjoyment (10/10) --
What to add here? It was (and at this point of time - still is) a beautiful story. No wonder people say that once you read berserk you just read it by volumes (well, at least if you start it now, not back then when there were ship chapters), not by chapters. And that's true. The first time I've read it, it was a few chapters, then after a while I've come back to it and in a single night a few chapters became a few volumes. Then they've became arcs, and in no matter of time I was at the latest chapter released.
OVERALL (10/10)
I mean, I think that this mark would be a no surprise to anyone. That's the mean from the previous scores, and it's just so obvious. My only problem with it is that, that Miura is not releasing many chapters every day. As far as I've read facts about him - he wants it to be so perfect, and it's so hard to meet his, and his viewers expectations. I hope one day the full story will be finished and we will know everything that we wanted to know about characters in this manga. That all of these secrets will be revealed. Anyways - this manga deserves 10/10. The story was awesome, the art was immaculate, and characters were making me sit and read in tears many times. Whether these were tears of sadness or joy. Their cruel past, their development. It's a story where you're in it. I mean, there are many stories like that, but I can promise you. This one is something different. This is a story where you really feel, like you were a friend of Guts and Griffith. This is a story where you often don't know what to feel according to what happened with their friendship. This is a story where you admire even the smallest things that appear in the manga. This is the story of Berserk.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Nov 24, 2019
Dragon Ball is such a great series. But let's focus on the first sagas. Our main character has such a great story, but I think for a somebody who has met today's anime standards, the story may be a little bit boring and overrated. And it's because many stories from different have been written after Dragon Ball's success. I think this shōnen is a perfect example of what a shōnen should be. We got a hero who's nothing, and then he slowly grows to save the world. It's just amazing to watch the whole story, and the first sagas are the best thing to start
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off. Why, you may ask? Because we are getting to know who exactly Goku is. It's just better to watch further series while you already know who Goku was at the beginning, and you know where the other characters came from. I think watching Dragon Ball series without knowing the first one, is like missing a part of a map in a labyrinth.
I've liked this anime, because it's a beautiful start to the genesis of our main character - Goku. It shows his improvement, progression, motivation for the further series. Goku is a character that can give straight motivation. His motivation to live is another reason why we should never give up. It's a colorful story about friendship and support. About progression, and this anime just keeps reminding you to never, ever give up. At some point Dragon Ball has motivated me to exercise. I would call this anime a lifechanger, many people may not agree but I've watched the first series when I was a little kid, and I've repeated them once again. I would totally recommend first Dragon Ball series to anyone who wants to watch Z and Super too. You HAVE to start from the first series, it just gives you the best picture of who Goku, and his friends really are. I gave 7 for the enjoyment, because after watching many series I just can't have that much fun by watching Goku's adventure once again. I think back in the day it was more phenomenal, it just has... I think left a little bigger impression on me back then. But anyways - it's one of the best shōnens ever created.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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