Sep 6, 2019
One of the reasons, I picked up Species Domain was because I really liked the premise of the story. It was a unique kind of premise that had me immediately hooked. Unfortunately, this manga fails to execute its story in an interesting way.
Story:
The basic premise of the story is interesting. It has similar story elements seen in other anime such as "The melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" and "Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. It combines the idea of "an ordinary life" with a fantasy twist. Unfortunately, "Species Domain" has a hard time balancing the fantasy and realism aspect of the story. The manga spends way too
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much time with the "slice of life" element in the show. The plot has some interesting lore, but not very much is explored or explained. While I do understand that that is the mystery of the manga, the story itself does not do much with the lore. The story has a fairly slow progression and despite the flaws, it is interesting enough to keep the readers attention.
Characters:
The characters are where the story really relies on. Unlike in other similar anime, none of the characters really capture the readers attention. In "The melancholoy of Haruhi Suzumiya" what made that anime great was it's two main characters, Haruhi and Kyon. In Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, it was Ms. Kobayashi and Tohru, Both main characters had really lovable and dynamic personalities that really complemented each other. In Species Domain, the main characters aren't that flexible. Kazamori is an introverted elf girl. Ohki is an upbeat, bright, and intelligent boy. While these two do complement each other, their personalities aren't very dynamic. (For me, the quiet personality is not the greatest starting point as a main character.) The manga actually does not spend a lot of time with these two together. It also tries to give some time to the other side characters. The side characters are decent. The flying angel girl had some good character development. One of the greatest flaws in the manga, is that not enough time is spent with just Kazamori and Ohki. They are always kinda just lumped together with the other characters and their personalities aren't strong enough to stand out from the rest.
Comedy:
With these kinds of stories, comedy plays an important part. Unfortunately, it's not very funny either. While I do love the running joke of the human being able to perform magic like stunts and the actual fantasy character can't, it gets boring a bit into the manga. Other than the premise, that's the main comedy of this manga.
Overall:
As of this review, I've read 5 volumes of the manga. I haven't read the rest cause it hasn't been translated yet. Species Domain is an interesting manga that spends way too much time with it's "slice of life" element instead of the fantasy element. One of the worst parts of the manga is that questions are never really asked or answered. It's a manga that is similar to "A centaurs Life". Where the fantasy element is just supporting the story and nothing else. I would have loved to see more of the fantasy world and the mystery of the premise being solved. I was hoping that the comedy would have made up for the lack of lore elements but sadly it couldn't last long. The two main characters are also not strong enough to make a real impression on me either. They don't evolve that much and their personalities don't stand out well either. I was really hoping for something better. This manga is like a slice of pizza. It's not terrible, but not outstanding either. All it needs is a little pepperoni and I think it would've done better.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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