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Check the other reviews for summaries of each chapter (bilingual, in fact). According to the afterword at the back of the book, this is a collection that was gathered in 2021 against the backdrop of the height of COVID-19's effects on the world. Because of this, I was wondering to what degree some of the themes of pandemic, sickness, isolation, loss of power, loss of access to public space, etc might come into play. Maybe upon a reread those might pop out more but I didn't sense much specifically around those themes.

I want to echo what another reviewer said that I would not recommend people ... start with this Ito compilation. I would definitely recommend to begin at what made him famous, and go chronologically. Earlier full stories like Uzumaki or more coherent collections like Tomie, or even adaptations like No Longer Human or Frankenstein allow you to see the power of Ito's illustrations over a longer narrative, even if stories like Tomie were published over long span of time, there is some coherence between. Once you dip into his work there, decide if it's for you and enjoy the various collections of short stories that are not this one. Then, and only then, would I recommend this collection of short stories. Not because I think they're bad, just because I think they're not his best, and even he admits one of the stories (Slumber) is more of a thought experiment rather than a fully developed idea. I liked the majority of these but I like them in the same way you enjoy a PB and J sandwich, like it's filling and nice flavor but there's not much there, no lasting power, cheap and easy.

I'm not one to absolutely enjoy everything an author I like puts out, I don't believe things are free from critique. I want to say something completely untrue but I feel it explains how I came to these stories: I think Ito Junji vacationed in Mexico, and partook in our culture a bit because these stories have elements of Mexican culture or are adjacent to it. Lemme explain. The first story starts strong with some inspiration from Mexican folklore of La Llorona (not recall, I said it's completely untrue that there's a connection to Mexico but who knows). I liked this one, it shows women in a ghostly town weeping to fix the drought in an area, but in classic Ito style, the characters grow obsessive and start to rampage. This story is fun and mysterious and allows Ito to draw some extreme faces of sadness and despair along with showing the potential effect of excessive crying on someone's skull (definitely read this one).

Continuing my crackpot theory of Mexico-flavored Ito, the second story has religious cult of catholicism's repression in its entirety. Though thats not unique to Mexico, there's tons of people you can ask about their religion and they say they "grew up catholic" and we won't get into it but there's a reason it's past tense. This story shows some wonky stuff going on with a private school whose protagonist is the typical Ito Junji sameface heroine (no shame to the game but you can't say that he doesn't draw sameface often) but there's a creepy headmaster who's cheating on his wives left and right and some students are leaking salt out their ears. This has a really cool and silly ending when someone gets impaled by a cross, it's wild and overall yeah this one's okay, not bad. Not exactly inventive but efficient at getting across that religion and adoration of idols is a classic horror trope.

This third one has Mexican duende written all over it. Two people go into a forest to commit suicide (Aokigahara), and when they get there they discover a spiritual stream of power that shoots out a cave and one of them decides to go into the stream and it transforms them... I recommend this one for its surreal quality where shit just keeps getting much more wild. There's some sexy moments and the art style of the newly transformed protagonists is silly yet fun and I recommend this one for being on the silly side of Junji's stuff. Less scary, more just kinda funny how serious the protags become at becoming more and more... spiritually connected with the flow.

The fourth one's Mexican connection is probably forced (told you, my theory is stupid and doesn't always hit) but you could say it touches upon several killings like how Mexico is plagued by death (femicide, cartel violence, killing of journalists, etc, it's a problem we have in the motherland). It's the least enjoyable, it's a rather straightforward story of whether one should believe the protagonist or not due to them murdering people in sleep, but not being able to remember it when they are awake in the morning. Ito himself let us know that this came from an idea long ago and it's telling that this is how the collection ends because I think he started on a high note.

Anyway, I would always recommend an Ito Junji collection but I would never absolutely blindly love everything, these are fine and short stories and you can breeze through them in the night, there's a few memorable moments like the skeletons in the Weeping Women short, the impaling in the religious story, and the protagonists new form in the third story, but beyond that, I'm just gonna use MAL's wording for this is just fine, nothing wildly special, not terrible either. 6.5-7/10, I gave a 7 because I enjoyed things more with my theory that Ito went to Mexico.

I have started some reviews indirectly critiquing people's reviews/commentary on some series recently. My own thought process is as follows: I finish a series, form my own thoughts, draft an early idea, go to see the reception of the series or the major recent chapter, write my review. Before I dive into my thoughts, I think audience reception is important to the work we are discussing: be it massive disappointment, justified or not, amazing praise, again, justified or not, deep dive or shallow wading in the work; how people receive the work is important to me from a holistic perspective.

That being said, yet again, ... a huge title ends, and I seriously don't understand how people are calling the ending to this work a disappointment, nor can I sit here idly and accept that this is at all times a masterpiece of manga. There were flaws, nothing egregiously detrimental to transform this into slop, and there were high points, that equally deserve their praise and I'm sure other narratives did it better. Now, enough meta-preamble and just give some minor thoughts. This preamble is more for future me to understand that on release, the last few chapters of this series that no doubt will stand as top manga/anime for many was quite divided online.

I jumped into this ride fully hooked on the mysterious introductory chapters that seemingly take place in the future of the main pages of said chapter, there's a seedy underbelly of entertainment mystery and there's a clever setup to the story where we see future glimpses while reading the prologue. Except you don't know much. That was really fun, and what drew many people in. Death of a main character happens, reincarnation, time flows, new protagonists take the field, an overarching mystery of who killed that main character, and a fun narrative where you reincarnate with all your previous intelligence and huge amount of connections, star power, and luck form around two siblings. Childhood turns into adolescence, revival of idol groups, movie dreams, live theater, youtube, entertainment industries are captured really well at the outset. Probably around 2/3rds through, one of the bigger weird moments of incesty vibes occur, and I will say that the overall quality of the manga went down a little around this time, i wasn't rushing to open the app and read new developments, I sort of took a break as it seemed there needed to be a hiatus on behalf of the creators and as readers, the hype that held us went away and we wanted more answers. The artist and author come back, we get a huge culmination of many loose ends, and we get a controversial ending (but I'm left with the question why was it controversial?) and the series ends on a tragic bittersweetness with glimmers of hope. That shouldn't be a spoiler, you know how dark things began, I would say that the ending landed largely in the same way.

The art was great, and there were panels of excellently executed mesmerizing gazes and vistas, of course very dramatic since this is a story revolving around actors and their major stages or minor stages, be it at a concert or masking daily pains and tragedies of their pasts. I think the character designs were nice, attractive actor vibes, the idol sets and costumes, even the theater moments, really allow the artists to shine and make dashing outfits and wonderful backgrounds for our little acting troupe The characters were fun, albeit annoying sometimes on account of them being literal children much of the narrative, but you know what! They mature and they grow and they develop realistically through mental illness, trauma, career challenges, everything, so it's really great to see how they grow. I mean this narrative takes place over a couple of decades, and even the adults in the story have their ebbs and flows: particularly special was seeing how the couple that adopts the main protagonists at the beginning go through a separation and then years later meet again and without spoiling much, they're just very realistic and adult about what happened.

The story is a meandering mess (nonderogatory, it's messy, let's be real) of tragedy, comedy, and will they won't they-isms everywhere. There was a general sense of "I'm so smart no one will figure out my plan" and then a character would be like "I know your plan, don't think I'm as stupid as others, let me in on it" and the characters would put themselves in dangerous positions and go through unhealthy moments and grow out of it. There was care between these characters, even buried under the tsundere glares of some, there was genuine care and I appreciate that about the characters advancing forward to succeed in this little twisted fictional setting.

There are touches of supernatural that I felt would be expanded more, if anything that is a criticism I have, perhaps it's that I found a character that represents chaos showing up shrouded in crows to be fascinating but besides one arc, much did not happen with that aspect. And that goes for the end too. You see, I can sympathize with the criticism that the ending was rushed. The ending 4ish chapters after the main climactic action that rocked the world, were done with a narration over action, so dialogue was not front-loaded, rather the viewpoint of a singular character. I get why that would not mesh with people on account of an ending to a series that was so dialogue heavy, built around actors with strong emotions, and gushing with personality, it's a little strange to not have final moments of the same way. But that cannot blind people out of understanding that the ending was good. It's not a happy ending where everyone gets away free of consequence, choices matter and actions of the main characters matters in the end, to protect who they love and to advance the goals of those in their lives. People's complaints assume because of the time passing in those last few chapters, that the characters get over what occurred and I'm shocked by this lack of comprehension. The characters are not "over" what happened, nor are they uncaring for the friends they lost on the way.

I think the ending solidly showed how grief manifests in people differently and with a nuance that doesn't show melodrama and constant suffering nor does it show happy-go-luck lalaland.

TL;DR: I would definitely recommend this series to anyone willing to go through a story with its major flaws coming in late in the series. The opening gambit of unique storytelling and the arcs based around the characters evolving their acting and connections, it's a drama after all, and it was a little wishy-washy with its potential love triangles and the waifu wars but with a little bit of introspection, I'm sure we can all agree that the journey for this story was fantastic, and the ending is shocking but enjoyable. It is not a waste of time at all, or mid, or a waste of potential as I'm seeing doomposters say. On some days I want to give it an 8, on other days I want to give it an 8.5, this is a great story and does not overstay its wonderful welcome.

(Finished main story, yet to finish epilogue) I was reading through some negative reviews of this series and seeing a common denominator. I think people are mad that a power fantasy that sticks to a repetitive formula where the main character suffers no longlasting consequences got hyped over their own beloved series that does the same. I also started reading this because I wanted to see why this was praised as one of the best things ever written. It's not that I'm disappointed, I had a lot of fun reading this, and I hold a great appreciation for the artist and writer, also I'm not ... ever going to read the light novel and we may be missing out on the missing internal development of characters that people are craving. But this isn't the mindblowing experience I thought it would be, it's not a 10/10, it is just fine, rather fun in its power fantasy moments and I enjoyed watching the ever-escalating calamities and overpowered protagonist fighting said calamities. So lemme set that aside, just temper your expectations and be realistic when maybe running into this series.

That said, I do recommend this as an entry to manhwa that fulfill the same role as shonen power fantasties in Japanese manga. I'm no expert in the field, I've really only read 3 action manhwa (the Pick Me Up Infinite Gacha, Omniscient Reader, and Towed of God), but my own addictive personality and reading style made me rush through this series and I put the other ones on hold because I saw I was reaching the end. The opening maybe 100 chapters are really fun and addicting, you get to see how Sung Jinwoo keeps growing and adapting to his environment with an iron will and a deeply overpowered god ability saved only for him. You kind of get to this point in the story and truly understand this man will not be defeated so easily, to the point that the world has to continue getting stronger and more overpowered to balance the sheer power. Once the series gets to the point where there's infighting between countries and their top hunters, you see the dick measuring matches happen all the time, I sort of took a break, not because I didn't like what I was reading but because I could see that the repetitive formula of our protag was getting a little old and I wanted a breath of fresh air. The apocalypses and destruction grow grow grow and then by chapter 130 or so, you're nearing the last 50 chapters and you can see the end.

Art, which seemed to be everyone's top agreement, it's beautiful, I can see the immense amount of work that went into this and I really praise the art team on this one. And I want to say that I'm sorry at a certain point I became a speedreader because the fight that was occurring was a little blurry and difficult to follow, I just wanted to proceed to the narrative that follows the action. No shame in the game, sometimes you're pressed for time and watch to say you read a chapter. The creature design was fun and I really liked their palette swap when they turned into army of the undead.

The characters were fine, varied in their quality. Oh boy do I wish we got more development on the other characters but I understand with such a gigantic cast of characters, it's hard to get depth. Even Jinwoo's shadows got some funny development through the series, more than some human characters.

I have just read a bit of the epilogue and have no idea what's to come but I think the ending was inferior to the journey, which may often be the case in these power fantasy things. The end result is bittersweet in many regards and I have no idea what the remaining 20 chapters of epilogue have for the story but we shall see.

I think for my final verdict, the 10/10 story and masterpiece that people claim this to be, I see that for the first half, when we're figuring out the dungeon system, when we're introduced to the inequalities and problems that are amplified in a society where there is an innate quality of superiority in people who gain powers. Once you start to discover the reason the whole power system exists, the excitement lay in the mystery of what is to come, and less on how Sun Jinwoo will beat the upcoming antagonist(s). Then, the cool, edgy protag that becomes so overpowered, reality is rewritten and undone and all these crazy things, if that is within your wheelhouse, if you love that satisfying moment of victory where the chad remains over the rubble and they're doing their little confident smirk and everyone's praising that character, if THAT really gets you going, this one is for you. If you want a fantastic story that gets better as you go, with depth and mystery and drama, that's not the end result. This is a fine introduction to how the rpg system of leveling up is done with fancy gamer screens and cool effects, and I vastly enjoyed most of this. And I'm gonna get through the epilogue. This had me hooked, then it got a little too repetitive for me, then I reflected on its cultural impact like wow this really does it for people, and then I thought that the end was eh it was alright yeah, and for that, it gets a 7/10. 7.5 if it were allowed but yeah it's worth diving into, and then dip if it doesn't catch your fancy once the world becomes bigger with more countries and more players and more threats.

I think the art is gorgeous and very clean. The story is decent and reminds us of a common situation while reading about fantasy characters... judging who we can trust more: the main character's family, or strangers they know a shorter time. In the brief moments we are given with our characters, we have the narrative of a strict mother figure teaching a young witch, learning the exact way to navigate her powers, then a newcomer arrives to mess with the flow of life for everyone. We are given early warnings by the mother that the main character is dissuaded from interacting with others and ... instead focus on practicing emotionless magic, for a witch must stay in control of her emotions or magic disappears. The newcomer is shown as a happy-go-lucky teen, around the age of our main character, and he's just happy he met someone in the woods he can interact with while bringing gifts from the outside world and learning about each other.

In this one-shot, we get a history of the treatment of witches, and treatment of humans, an isolated family and the reason they are so isolated, and an interesting power system where cold and calculated is a MUST to cast magic.
Short, not sweet, great art, decent plot, check it out, it's not long.

When this manga is on top of its shit, it is absolutely a wonder to hold. I will die on the hill that I found the 3 chapter Takaba and Kenjaku "battle" to be one of the best moments I've experienced on this whole ride. The jackpot explanation of Hakari's domain comes in a close second, and to be honest, the way that the final villain was finally dealt with in the final chapters is rather excellent in my taste. But when I say that the journey through this "final" arc was a slog... I mean it. There were whole weeks I became uninterested in ... the advancement of the culling game's end because it really didn't move along at all. I don't know what occurred from an editor's standpoint but the flow of explanations and series of events became so formulaic: event happens, backstory to when the characters put the plan into motion for said event, event which happens was thwarted because character is too strong and cannot be defeated yet, new character comes in, old character returns, defeat, last minute event no one saw coming, progress, opponent is so strong, repeat repeat repeat. Now, granted, this would all happen in different ways but the final villain of this was too big to fail and every week for months would move at a glacial pace. And the main battle would go to side battles whose outcomes at times did not matter. Lastly on this, the events were so confusing at times, and the explanations so bonkers so as to make a new-gen Jojo stand comprehensible, that at points I found myself glazing over the dialogue of a battle shonen.
This manga absolutely deserves its accolades for a strong early story and the hype behind it is absolutely warranted, the middle-ish arcs in Shibuya and the backstory for Gojo and Geto as younger students, early culling game, those moments were great, hell, even some later moments in the culling game such as when the military gets involved were refreshing breaks in the story. The image that comes to mind is that drawing of a horse 3/4ths of the horse are well drawn but the last 1/4th is a kids drawing. What would have been higher in my enjoyment plummeted once the story was moving a centimeter per week. Now I will be the first to acknowledge that absolutely the author's health comes first and I was so glad the author took a well deserved break after delivering a seven page semi conclusion to a fight, and I don't know what happened to let the story escape from the author's hands or if the hype and enjoyment, maybe even nostalgia, of early JJK made the latter bits much less enjoyable. The author could not match the thrill of the early and middle days once the end reared its ugly head.
It's a good story and I would very much enjoy a reread catching what made it a magical moment in the beginning, and such a wealth of unique characters with amazing design and powers, it's unfair to compare with a nostalgic lens but as the story went on, it lacked the magnetic energy of earlier fights and plotlines. But on its own, the ending fails to grasp my attention, even literally the last chapter I just saw the final panels and just nodded, I dont know what the story needed, maybe a pace modifier, maybe an edited timeline where things felt earned, maybe the action not being interrupted by the setup of the action, or you know what, THOSE TIMES WHERE PEOPLE WOULD CALMLY JUST SIT IN EXPOSITION AND EXPLAIN WHY SOMETHING WOULD OR WOULDN'T WORK, those chapters were rough... but I guess that's what happens when you write something to complex that in order to set up rules for things in your world you'd need to explain the policy and how we got there.
I don't envy the spot Gege was left in, it's a monumental task that many a fan might not be able to even arrive to an ending that would satisfy even a tiny minority. Just what we received, maybe it's fitting that the last panel is a middle finger.
A good ride, a meh ending, I'll see you on the next one, Gege. For now, enjoy the rest. (Gege's probably got fuck you money from how big this story has become).

SHONEN JUMP/SHUEISHA WHOEVER THE FUCK WHEN I FIND YOU I WILL KICK YOUR WATER BOTTLE OFF THE TABLE !!!!!!

I will fully defend so many works that get published and then never make it past their first or second arc. I don't know when the authors get that grace period message that their work will never develop past a certain point, I don't know at what point the ax swings down, but I know the disappointment of the period after, I notice how fans commiserate in the comments section mourning something that never got a chance to fly. I get that it's a cutthroat world out ... there and I will say I'm rather new to the disappointment of watching something be taken away when it was not given full possibility.

The author of Goze Hotaru was cookin and the appetizer was delicious, the news of the main course was appetizing, but I never got to eat it. You have this historical setting set with a vibe very similar to the wandering of a manga like Mushishi, surreal and supernatural spin in its art and menagerie of potential non-human beings, such loose and alluring strokes of the pen, moments of near cartoonish expression, vibrant and vivid patterns that make us understand that the characters in this world are blind yet their perception is vitally important for their career and livelihood, so how do you express something happening to the characters in a sonically rich and mysterious world? I think we come close to success here.

This is one of the standouts among all published works that held such a thrilling potential: we see a young blind girl find a group of misfits who go around singing and telling stories to villages, the untapped storylines that could be there, it was exciting, it was fresh, there is mystery to the background of major and minor characters that weave a loose but expertly crafted story (like a wooly sweater with large bits of yarn). And while the core of the mission for Hotaru was to understand the reasons her family was split apart, we know that if the author was given time, there would be a fruitful journey of growth, discovery, community, hardship, etc etc that would make the main cast of lovable, talented dummies a warm welcome to a found family trope.

And you know what? The rushed ending to this short 24 chapter was actually not bad! There was a timeskip and even then, it didn't feel obscenely disruptive to the flow of the narrative, it set up for its audience a charming epilogue that may open up many a fanfiction to bloom from the world the author gave. I'm frustrated that such a unique storyline will be let down, and hey this may not be someone's genre especially from it being in a place full of action shonen, so really this is a plea to readers (though those who are already here may already agree), branch out to stories like this instead of the usual slop and give this a fighting chance. I'm gonna miss this. I look forward to the author's upcoming works, for now, enjoy your rest.

This is garbagio... but... in the same way people watch trashy tv like reality shows and telenovelas. The concept here, I think is interesting: a small lie/theft makes relationships crumble, rise, then crumble again, but holy shit the way it's executed is rather clumsy and unfortunate: you're watching hormonal, stupid teenagers muddle their way through melodramatic moments that (AT ANY MOMENT) can be solved by being honest and open. The classic trope of a liar digging themselves deeper into their lies, and you're just frustrated witnessing the events, screaming at the character to just confess. There are possibly 20 times the obscenely kind and understanding ... friends of the protagonist opened the possibility for the protag to just confess to the EXTREMELY MINOR wrongdoing, allowing an apology to lessen the whole dramatic and contrived situation.

The art is relatively strong though, there are these cool collages that show the artistic side of the characters and the creator really well. In the manga Blue Period, the author got other real life artists to represent other art in the plot of the story. A similar thing happens here in that the art reflects the different characters very well. I'll say that Gift (our protag) has great skills in painting and it shows that he's put in the work, but the art won't save the rest of the work.

Of course the author, gives us a glimpse into the protagonist and antagonist's past to see how they became to be so dramatically secretive and justice-seeking, respectively. It's not like it helps. You will read about these extreme behaviors developing in our two main underdeveloped, immature children, and it may be due to that immaturity that it can be excused but the protagonist cannot develop, and it's not like he has any lovable qualities beyond being a really good artist. A frustrating character might benefit if they were more charming or funny or alluring, he's just a diminished wet blanket.

The antagonist is fine, kind of cartoonish and devilish, her insane approach to torturing the main character through some mundane and extreme blackmail, she was the most fun to watch flipflop between nonchalant and crazy. I really wished I could see more of the supporting two characters Kokomi and Taima because they had the most potential. Kokomi had this big reveal of her being a kind of baddie with her piercings, which coming from my tatted and pierced self, I know that the piercings aren't crazy but the teen who has them and who hides them, what else will they be hiding? Could have been more spicy. I think some missed potential happened here because she was very sweet and caring and had this secret side to her. Equally, Taima is just a bastion of goodness, he was always supporting his classmates, so caring and kind that surrounded by all these "bad" actions between the protag and antag, he was like a detective understanding things better, I wish he had more screentime.

In the end, yeah I stuck with it to see how trashy it could get, and I will say... the ending almost saved this to make it a whopping 7/10 as I do think the author delivered on a crazy time. But going through this week by week was rather frustrating as chapter after chapter I felt the author had to hook us with huge reveals that, from a perspective of the whole work, make this a melodramatic episodic reality tv style hook that makes you think "yeah i'm okay to waste a minute reading this every week." I recommend this in the same way I recommend shitty donuts.

There's a simple formula to many great works, and Dungeon Meshi's is as follows: encounter a new region/ecosystem/monster, wrestle with the idea of how to engage with it, consume it. Rather simple, seemingly formulaic to the point of boredom, and I can see some people's frustrations with the simple concept. Much like a chicken soup, you just need boiling water and chicken bits of your choosing. Ah but the seasonings that add such a depth of flavor so as to make it a memorable dish.

I've been noticing how much I'm gravitating towards series that treat their worlds like an extra character. I've always been ... aching to learn how to camp and live off the land, and I even started my garden for self-sustainability, so you bet your ass that when Dungeon Meshi starts to bring in the concepts of symbiotic relationships and stability of an ecosystem where prey and predator rely on one another, you BET I was hooked.

DUNGEON: For any fantasy connoisseurs, I'm really just at the very beginnings of this genre, especially when it comes to anime, but I dare say I've been spoiled by this Frieren and Dungeon Meshi back to back two course meal. At its core, this is a living, breathing, shifting dungeon and things that were relevant in the early episodes wrap back around to later episodes. The cheery beginnings of this story reach a point of needing to advance the plot and then do so in a tragic and serious manner. Any type of advertisement I've seen of this showed a jolly party making their way through the dungeon eating and I went into this just expecting this to be the type of medieval entertainment where I can put this on while I'm eating. And sure, it did start that way but holy cannoli, I was hooked by the moments where our group of four starts to unravel their histories and face challenges that are personally felt but dealt with by the group. I always love the type of show that shows growth in the companions relying each other.

CHARACTERS: Chilchuck is this scroogey character who objectively is weak but is unparalleled at his skill, and he starts as a pain but that annoying attitude is a survival mechanism developed in his line of work so it makes sense, and that makes him that archetype of mercenary that vows to leave once the objective is accomplished but you just kinda feel that the effect of family and companionship is stronger. Marcille has this privileged, educational prowess with a cute friendship she made in school and an earnest urge to learn more and though that prickly attitude may arise once out of combat, she is so willing to be working her ass off to ensure safety of her party. Senshi, what more can be said, how much more ink shall be spilled about our mans Senshi, he is just such a great camp counselor figure and grandpa keeping everyone in check, always ready, using his race's abilities to their full extent, but then you learn about his dark path. Initially, you'd think of him as undefeatable and so knowledgable about everything in the dungeon, so far as being its caretaker, but once the latter couple episodes come with his trauma, it seems like you just get why he's the generous caretaker of his homies as well. Laios carries the banner of characters you know fall upwards onto success and their ignorance is often highlighted, but when the going gets rough, they are a stalwart bastion of whatever you need. He's great and stupid and radiates such himbo energy that I can't wait to read the manga to see him in his hand-drawn glory.

Even the SIDE CHARACTERS, the non-main characters flow in and out of the narrative quite seamlessly. I was worried that in the opening song, you see so many characters and have to deal with them being mediocre or not getting much development, and while not everyone gets all the screentime, I cannot say that any of them feel doomed or unnecessary to the plot. There's a smidgen of potential that Kabru ends up as dungeon master, there's unresolved connections between the former members of group Laios that makes me happy that they're coming back into dungeon together by the end of the anime. Falin, without much depth in spoilers, affects the narrative while having the least screentime, and being a prominent figure in backstories/flashbacks, I am eager to learn more.

(kinda) WEAKNESSES: I would say the budget was spent randomly, as the simplistic design and dialogue heavy scenes allow much simpler animation, but then out of nowhere you get an extremely detailed and dynamic scene. Which is to say, if the art itself is the worst part of this, I cannot really fault the story itself at all, therefore that's a good story. The cooking/food ain't Ghibli mastercraft, it's not the ideal amazingness of other stories that triumph in making you super hungry. What I will say, is that they get creative with the melange and the recipes, so there's another "eh this part isn't the best but I like what they did with their limited approach." Music is not the largest draw, there's some nice tunes, opening and closing songs are great, I love the little reveal tune for the food and how it changes depending on who is making it.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I may return to this once later seasons come out or once I hit the manga but I cannot deny the power and the pull of this series with unannounced depth cloaked in a fun and silly dungeoncrawler, absolutely beautiful and I'm excited for the future.

I am not at all a connoisseur of manhwa, this is probably the first one I picked up that really stuck with me, I think this is one of the cooler series I've been reading recently. The leveling up of this is really cleverly done and it made me realize how well the author has captured that feeling of grinding. Of course there's a general idea of plot armor and I know the MC will not die but I like seeing what types of hard work/deus ex machina come clutch to save the situation. I love the vibe of making all your weaker starters into ... godlike characters, that's more my vibe, try to make all characters work and disregard the meta. There's like three general story elements that are overarching that we have a lot of questions to remain unanswered: the fate of the MC's world Townia, the fate of Earth and how that factors into the story, and the mysteries of the company who made the game and the upper levels. Lots of mystery prevail but the action, the growth of characters, the development, I'm excited to continue reading.

non-objectively, this to me is a better season (and part of JJBA( because of it being a culmination of something so great and wonderful, the entirety of jojo's bizarre adventures. Pucci, as great as he is in his conviction and calculating strength, I did not fully really understand the motivation of changing the world, it was him wanting to reach a world where everyone is free to know what will occur to them and therefore that will make them make the best choices? it seemed like a lot to hope for with a largely dumb populace (this is jojo's, the non-mains are rather ... silly and not fully as talented or smart as the main characters). I love Jolyne, she's so cool and such a badass for her friends, and really went up an evolving stand user with her family/found family and managed to be so inspirational that even in her death she was able to end it all. It's a bittersweet ending and this third season had the wild stands of Dio's three children, Pucci's three stands, weather report's full stand ability, just a crazy amount of wildness that is only really rivaled until jojolion or steel ball run get animated. The universe reset hit so hard and beautiful at the end, when new universe jolyne tells emporio that things are gonna be alright, it's like a weight is lifted in the cruelest of ways. These are not our protagonists, but they are, visually, vibes-wise, but they know not their past or alternate selves and the turmoil they went through.
I thought the OP interruption by Pucci could have been a little bigger, but it was okay, in comparison to the other antagonists messing with the opening theme, Pucci's was my least favorite.

I think on its own, this series is a 7/10, as a Jojo's series it's a 7/10, and as the last sendoff of this large adventure it's an 8/10, but to me and entirely subjectively, it's 8.5 but i rounded up for shits and gigs. You kinda need to get through 5 parts for this one to land as much as it did with me. It requires quite the investment.