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Now that all chapters have been translated, I think it's a good opportunity to give my final review on this series.

To start off, it's clear that this was axed, so if you can't bear reading axed manga, this will not be for you. But if you have any interest in reading axed manga that showed potential, I absolutely recommend The World of Summoning.

The story isn't anything too revolutionary, the characters don't particularly stand out, and the art is basically just passable. It's not bad in any of these areas, but it's also not very good-- just average, or maybe a bit above that. Where the ... series shines is in its power system. The power system is extremely creative, utilizing alternate worlds in really clever ways to put together a system that stands out as something special and full of potential. Naturally, it never gets to be utilized as much as it should have, but there are some amazing ideas here.

So if you're looking for a manga that'll be fantastic quality across the board, this isn't the one. But if you like seeing clever power systems and reading obscure shounen manga, you might find something here-- and this author might yet bring out another success!

Edens Zero just ended, so I thought it'd be good to have a review that covers the entire series, rather than a preliminary one.

If you want the quick and simple review, I'll put it this way: Edens Zero is a decent series, but its flaws are significant and it's far from an amazing series; I can only really call it a worthwhile read if you're a fan of Hiro Mashima's other works or if you just want a long-running shounen to read without caring too much about how great it is.

Strengths:
- The worldbuilding is creative and intriguing. Lots of really cool planets are explored, ... the powers have lots of variety, and it feels exciting to see Edens Zero's world.
- The art, while not generally the most standout, is consistently solid, and if you're like me and tend to have difficulty following action scenes in manga, this series shouldn't be much of a problem for you.

Mixed:
- Fights can be very clever and exciting at times. Drakken Joe is probably the highlight in that regard. However, there are also plenty of fights that don't really leave much impression, as well as a few that are just... bad.
- The storytelling is certainly a mixed bag. On the one hand, the series does a fantastic job of foreshadowing major events. There are also some really interesting ways Mashima uses to bring the story across at times, Xiao Mei being the biggest example. However, the story sometimes gets very convoluted and tries to take on too much, and the pacing gets awkward at some parts of the story. There are also a few specific plot decisions that just don't sit right with me (and many other readers), so the story is full of ups and downs.

Weaknesses:
- The characters can at times be pretty compelling, but for the most part I would say the cast falls a bit flat. That's a big blow for an adventure story about a spaceship crew exploring the universe. That isn't to say that they are actively BAD, but for most characters I just didn't really care much about them.
- This series is really bad with fanservice, and not just in how often it happens. Even for those who don't mind it, you might still find yourself frustrated, as Mashima seems to want it placed in the worst possible scenes. Luckily it does become more reasonable for some of the more serious arcs, but it still comes off as being way overboard.
- The ending and final arc as a whole were not the strongest. It isn't the worst final arc I've ever seen, but calling that arc good would be a serious stretch.

So as a whole, Edens Zero still strays onto the side of being a good series, but is it good enough to warrant reading 33 volumes? For most people, I would say probably not. I don't regret reading it, and I had a lot of fun with it, but if you do jump into the series, don't go in expecting a masterpiece, because it just isn't that.

One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e is probably the most baffling anime I have ever seen. It's a total waste of time, regardless of whether you have read the visual novel or not.

The central problem of this OVA is that it doesn't know who it wants to appeal to. If you watch a lot of OVAs, you might be aware that there are a lot of older ones out there (and the occasional newer one too) that do not attempt to properly tell the story; rather, their intent is to be sold to fans of the source material as a way to see their favorite scenes and ... characters in animated form. Because of that, their storytelling and pacing are usually pretty bad, but that's okay, because they're not intended as standalones to begin with; and as far as I can tell, that was supposed to be the case with this OVA too. The story is left almost entirely unexplained, the characters aren't really given proper introductions, etc. But that's all more or less to be expected when watching an OVA of this kind. As much as it's not necessarily a GOOD thing, I can't really fault it for this, because it has a different purpose. And that's where the real trouble presents itself.

When you're trying to make something to sell to existing fans of a visual novel, normally you would want to condense the story very thoroughly, making sure to show the most iconic scenes in more detail, and keeping it very true to the source material. Unfortunately, One doesn't do that. Not only do we get to see almost none of the iconic scenes of any of the character routes--not the ice cream scene with Misaki, or the stage scene with Mio, or even the controversial Mizuka scene--we get a completely different story than the original plot that only keeps the general lore the same, but alters all the events in between. To make matters worse, some of the events that happen across these 4 episodes even directly contradict the canon of the visual novel! The issues don't end there, either; the characters are different too. Luckily, the differences with the characters aren't quite as drastic, but they're still noticeably changed.

So then that begs the question: what was this OVA trying to accomplish? If they were hoping to target new viewers and boost the popularity of the source material, they failed at that by not explaining the plot whatsoever and making it completely confusing to anyone who isn't in the know. If they were hoping to gain the appreciation of existing fans, then they ruined any chance of that by changing the story and characters until they felt completely different. If there's anything good to say about this sad attempt, it's that the music and the backgrounds were actually really nice, but that's just a cherry on top of a steaming heap of cow dung.

So to conclude, I can't recommend this to anyone at all, unless you really want to watch all Key-related anime, or just have a morbid curiosity and want to see how bad it is.

Doron Dororon is not without its flaws. I'm willing to admit that. But behind those flaws is a series with so much heart, that, in defiance of all my expectations, I grew to love.

If you want a simple battle shounen that won't take you too long to read, give this one a shot. You may not like it as much as I did, but it's only 5 volumes, so what have you got to lose? Maybe you'll find that it's actually a hidden gem!
As for what the highlights of the series were, I'd say the characters and the art. While not every character got full ... development due to its length, I found myself getting very attached to Dora and Kusanagi. Dora in particular is a refreshing protagonist because of his emotional maturity compared to other shounen protagonists. The art style was very recognizable and unique, and I found it had a lot of charm and brought the story to life. It's an art style I hope Oosuka keeps in future works!

So overall, I rate this manga 8/10. It was a lot of fun reading this manga week to week, especially with how great the community was and still is!

#DoronSweep

EDIT: As of March 1st 2022, I've finished the series, and upped my overall rating from a 9 to a 10. The series isn't without its flaws, but it has so much passion and depth to it that I can't help but love it, and I highly recommend it to everyone reading this review!

Saike Once Again is absolutely awesome. I don't know how so few people talk about this series, but I highly recommend it.

The story is really good. The fact that the author was able to keep the series' premise interesting for 15 volumes is very impressive. I don't think there was a single ... part of the story that I didn't like!

The art is in my opinion the best part about the series. It's does a great job of showing everything in a good-looking way, but also makes the fight scenes easily comprehendible, and you won't find yourself confused by the artwork!

The character cast is surprisingly unique! I won't spoil the different characters, but trust me, both the heroes and villains are interesting and written really well.

Overall, despite small problems and nitpicks, I think anyone who's at all interested in action and superpower related stuff should give this series a go :)

This is my first review, so please bear with me.

What an amazing anime, to put it simply. I can't think of many ways in which this show could have been improved, which is very impressive.

The story was fairly basic, but it worked really well in this case. It meant that most episodes could focus on the comedy, but scattered in some big subplots to keep things fresh, and the timing for these plot episodes was pretty much perfect. Whenever I felt myself wishing that there could be more plot, bam! A new plot development! I can't imagine it being any better than this.
10/10

The art isn't ... completely perfect, but it's close. Sure, this anime may not always look beautiful, but that's honestly perfectly fine. The art style really works well when it comes to jokes and gags, however, which is the entire focus here anyways. As an added bonus, it's also clear and concise, which really helps during explanations about Saiki's powers.
9/10

I don't think there was much they could have done to make the sound better, but still, it didn't feel perfect (very close though). The first opening theme was, in my opinion, a perfect choice. It showed off how the show can at times be melancholy as well as funny, and I really liked that. the second opening them was pretty good too and was kind of what I was expecting it to be like. The ending themes are fairly memorable as well, and the character themes are really catchy. Especially Judgment Knights of Thunder!
9/10

The characters in Saiki K were absolutely perfectly done. The cast was absolutely massive considering the series' length, yet by the end almost every semi-important character was being well-developed! Probably some of my favorite characters are Saiki himself, Kaidou Shun, and Teruhashi Kokomi. I also thought it was great how each character had at least one highly exaggerated personality trait, it made things very entertaining!
10/10

As a whole, I don't think I'll ever be able to top this show, ever. It excelled at what it tried to be, and when combined with the lovable characters, great soundtrack, intriguing subplots, and 4th-wall breaks, I would venture to say that it's pretty much a perfect comedy.

Overall, I give it a 10/10!