Sundome

Sundome

Mangaka : Maputo Okada

Not everyone's cup of tea.
The drawings may give the impression of a shounen type gag manga. Later illustrations give it the impression of an erotica focussed upon BDSM.
In the end it's a manga that defies categorization. A story of a high school love story that is unique, and very weird.

It is plenty weird, but the overall feel of it hopefully will make you look past it.
By the way the name means ,"to stop the moment before". Yeah......

Plot: 3/5
Hideo  Aiba is a virgin otaku and a member of the schools 'Roman Club' (literally the Romance club), a club which tries to focus upon the Romantic nature of a boys heart i.e. interest in the things that are impossible, ghosts, supernatural, aliens etc. Simply put a club of weirdos.
Criteria for membership _ person must continue to be a virgin throughout their tenure Those preserving their chastity end up using the connections of the alumini to further their ambitions, whatever it may be.

It's weird, I know, it's weird

Anyway, the story begins with the arrival of a female transfer student to his class named Kurumi Sahana. Wonder of wonders she ends up sitting next to him.
Things happen in a ridiculous way and she ends up taking control of his life telling him that, she would never let him cum. In no uncertain term she tells him that he is her toy.

Although it starts with her displaying the aptitude of a venomous dominatrix from them on she becomes almost kind.

The story progresses like a weird amalgam between a shonen and an erotic manga. The pacing seemingly like any other high school manga with ghost seeing trips, graveyard and tunnel explorations while creating situations where the main lead end up together. From then on the mood changes and instead of a pure hearted love story you end up seeing a pure hearted master slave relationship.

Heavy focus on golden showers by the way so.steer clear of that is not gonna be OK.

All things considered it reads like the represed fantasies of a male submissive, a relationship which.satisfies his need for dominance and his desire to be loved, in spite or even because of it. maybe that's what the Mangaka was going for.

Characters 2/5

The most notable character here is the narrator, Hideo Aiba. One of the unseen and unheard members of his class and bored of his idle existence he is completely unprepared when Kurumi comes crashing into his life. Weak and weak will is the summation of who he is. As the Manga progresses however he strives to better himself so that his mistress may rely on him. I honestly do not like characters like this especially the type that seems to be capable of only thinking with their dicks when they get excited.

Kurumi Sahana on the other hand is like no living girl. I guess she embodies that mysterious girl you knew in class back in high school, someone you ended up idolizing. So it would probably resonate with the demographic. Anyway for the most part she is demure and selfcontent. At others she is a genuine tease and you know Hideo simply does not stand a  chance. Her motives have never been completely shown as to why she chose to take him as her sub, but she has no malicious intent against Hideo.

The other characters provide a good degree of background noise and allows the story to be slice of life novel at times. Katsu Toshitsuku and Kyouko act as a minor foil in the 2nd half of the Manga where they end up going out with each other, their relationship growing organically over time.
The other members are just 2 dimensional characters that add to the jokes in the series.

Art 2.5/5
Dramatic changes in art depending upon circumstance.
Generally the art is willfully simplistic, even the character designs were fuck all, with each Roman club members being given a random shape for a head. Later on it becomes a bit more balance but the club ex-president ends up having a fuck all bobble head.

When the eroticism begins however the background becomes black. Like as if these two end up in a world of their own. Their, no her body a almost hypersexualized. When you remember that you are reading about high-schoolers it gets awkward. Nevertheless you get sucked into the deep obsession that Hideo falls into over this girl.


Recommendations:
There are a lot of shitty mangas out there, but this is not one of them. The story is a bit weak, and yes the weirdness factor is there too but give it a shot if you have a hard stomach. Who knows, it might grow on you.

Naruto

Author:

This had to be done. I know .. this site is supposed to introduce you to obscure titles that probably have not read. But this one was my staple for nearly 3 years. It was my gateway anime and manga.
And for now and probably forever it commands my respect.

And as for those who claim DBZ was better, fuck off! I am team Naruto all the way!

Premise:
I guess you can call it, "Tales of a gutsy Ninja." 😉

The story begins 13 years ago when a giant fox, a seething mass of hate and energy with sentience decided to attack Konohagure (the village of the hidden leaf). The 4th Hokage (the man considered the strongest and respected by all in the village) went toe to toe with it to protect his people. He ended up sealing the demon fox into a newborn child sacrificing his own life in the process. That child's name is Naruto!

The rest of the story follows this child's life and growth. About how all the villagers hate him but eventually come to respect him as a Shinobi of the hidden village in his own right.

The manga itself is too damn big, 700+ chapters and contains many arcs. So many arcs. .... So many ...

Anyway it's above all a feel good story with incredible character development for nearly everyone involved. Some characters are undeniably 2D though.

However there is one thing that I would like to tell you all.
Watch the anime.
Yeah I know there are too many fillers bit you can skip past them. I hear that the anime series is done too so no worries.
The rendition of the action in the manga, the background score and even the voice acting makes it a great (albeit long) experience.

Being such a long story the number of characters gets a bit ridiculous but each one of them has a story in them that's totally worth the read.

My recommendation is to watch it and to use it as the benchmark for all other comparisons.

Air Gear

Mangaka : Ōgure Ito aka Oh! Great

It is nice to read a manga that can change its mood from time to time. However, it is a tragedy when the whole damn thing looses it way. 
Air gear looses it, I mean it just completely looses it. And it is such a pity because it was a great story.

First a few disclaimers. This series is not exactly harem but close. The main charecter lives with his 4 adopted sisters. There is huge dose of sexualised female content, what is commonly known as 'fanservice'. As far as categorization goes I would place it in violent shounen with a heavy dose of pseudo science, mysticism and sometimes the just plane weird thrown in.

Premise:

Like all powerbased mangas there are a few things you need to simply accept as the gods honest truth. People made roller blades, OK

People mechanized their Rollerblades with advanced robotics. OK. 

People use these as weapons for battle and turf wars cause you know gunz are bad and stuff.... but have no issues using bombs and shit later..... ( in the loses it way part.)

And the struggle becomes so fucking global that America is involved complete with a manga version of a black man saying 'Yes we can as the President'

Lets throw in a body switch as well to keep things interesting.

See what I mean by loosing it's way. ( It was pretty funny though. )

The plot :

It's like the fucking hydra. Everytime you think you know what is gonna happen it changes.

At first it's a slice of life of gangs with Rollerblades (You think that is ridiculous? What about dance battles, step up etc)

Then it becomes a big fuck all tournament.

Then it's about genetic engineering and shit

And then world domination?!!?

Friendship and trust figures heavily in the story line with a lot of unforeseeable turncoats along the way. 

The esential message is freedom in the widest sense possible. To be who you want to be and simply fly unfettered even by gravity.

Characters:

One of the good things about the manga is the presence of a great cast. Strong personalities with make the story that much more entertaining.

My favourite has to be the "Fangking" Akito/Agito a weak bodied runt with a split personality disorder, easily the most entertaining of them all!!!

The lead, Ikki Minami is the standard gutsy and smooth- strong as fuck main man.the one who leads them all. As a commander he is a tactical genius. A very interesting character with nearly indomitable will.

I read this manga a long time ago. Normally I would read it again just to make sure that I got most of it right but I didn't bother with this one because it gave me a headache just thinking about it.

Let's just say there are lots of peaks and fall to this manga. 

All in all you may end up liking most of it, but in the end you will probably go 'da fuck did I just read!'

Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Ares (Manhwa)

Mangaka : Ryu Kum-chel

Everything has as much value as we ascribe to it. Even wars, the most wasteful of all human actions can stand for something bigger,

Premise: 3/5

The story is set in an alternate world where nations are ruled by kings and are embroiled in wars with each other the most central among them being Chronos. In a lawless land the man with the biggest gun is the law, which is what causes the rampant problem of bandits all over the nation. The organisation given the most attention are the mercenary legions ie sell-swords. They are paid to fight in the wars for a king or nobleman and have to allegiance to anyone except the contract.

And in the middle of all this 3 kids who join the mercenaries for fame and fortune.

Plot: 4/5
The story follows 3 recruits in "Temple Mercenaries", who posses prodigious skills, enough to be considered the best of their generation. They gradually acknowledge each others skills and become friends with each other. As the story progresses we see their individual pasts and how it has shaped them into the people they are.

Much of the story is dominated by wars and military campaigns with a hawk-eye view of the events and why any battle shown was significant.
The characters are portrayed with depth and sometimes with details of their circumstance, something I enjoy very much. Not a shounen manga for sure, maybe light seinen.
There is no gradual level up against even stronger opponents as the main characters start off strong.
Multiple points of views are used for story telling which give the manga a lot more depth. Plus it succeeds in showing a harsh non-glorified view of war and conflict, something no other manga I have read thus far does.
Romance is very much underplayed in the manga except as a motive to fight.

Character: 3/5
Ares, our one eyed protagonist is an idiot. I guess its best to equate him with Naruto, a lot more toned down though because he doesn't run around making friends with his enemies. Most of the time they end up dead. What he lacks in general social sense he more than makes up for with strength and skill.
He is the apprentice of the legendary 'Swordsman of the Wind' and joins the mercenaries in hopes of kill the one who assassinated his master.

Barona, an Draakian ex-gladiator who escapes and winds up in Chronos. More gentle and even tempered of the 3 he is also a chain smoker. He is the one with the least number of issues in this series and that should tell you something right of the bat.

Michael, a swordsman with a vicious temper. Not that he ever losses control. His rage is a cold calculating thing. As the series progresses he is shown to soften a bit and care about his friends.

While writing these I realized the futility of trying to list all the important characters because there are simply too many of them spaced out among the many arcs each one fascinating in his/her own right.

Art 2.5/5
I have always maintained that crap art does not get in the way of a good story. 

Good art however can amplify a story's impact.

Ares is different in this area. I have never seen anything like the squiggly lines coming together on the page as a scene or a characters face. The entire manga  is like a children's book but it kinda intensifies the effect of war. The magaka can warp the space so that the soldiers resemble the Hyaki Yakou and the weapons bend when swung.  

He also seems to use anachronisms, such as the mercenaries wearing watches and shoes as opposed to sandals I guess, although I have no idea of that is significant or not.

Verdict: 

I read this manga twice and both the times I enjoyed it immensely. I recommend that all of you read it. Let me know how you liked it.





Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Akira

Mangaka: Katsuhiro Otomo

It is widely considered to be the best manga of its type (cyberpunk, dystopia) receiving many rave reviews  and national awards. I was looking forward to reading it but in the end it was under whelming.

Plot 3/5
10 years before the  events of the manga an explosion rocked the city of tokyo reducing it to rubble. The people and the government built a city nearby called Neo-Tokyo. The government carried out experiments on gifted children to harness the power of ESP in the process creating multiple test subjects. In the end the 2 most powerful children were a small child named Akira and an adolescent named Tetsuo, discovered at around the same time as the second disaster.

Character: 1/5

I guess my main issue with the manga was the lack of a likable or even relate-able protagonist. It was like watching a badly acted movie. The only thing going for this manga is the story which is original in some ways and definitely a fore runner of many of the dystopian mangas today. Character development is non existent and the story lacks a Main Character. In the end it is a mix of different narratives swirling into one.

Sure the final fight is pretty amazing but over all it felt like i was reading the skeletons of a hollywood screen play.

Art: 2.5/5

At par with what was done in the same time period. But a lot more detailed. Character designs are pretty average. 

Personally I recommend against it but if you feel differently please let me know.

Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Sankarea

Author : Mitsuru Hatori




If I had to classify it I would say that Sankarea is a romantic comedy with a lot of supernatural and seinen elements thrown in. It even brings in vorarephilia, a pretty obscure sexual deviation. And the best part? the mangaka did not fuck it up!

Premise: 4/5 
A highschooler tries to bring his dead cat back to life using a reseruction potion which he concocted. A very pretty high school girl finds out about his experiment. Due to circumstances she drinks the potion and dies. She comes back as a zombie. Shit happens.
Kudos to the mangaka for trying out something original. Well atleast as original as it can get in the current state of shounen manga.
I am not sure but i think this was the first shounen Zombie-love story every to be written. Of course to make it more acceptable the had to make sure the Zombie looks fresh ie still pretty human.

Plot and Story overall : 4/5
It starts of with the introduction of the male protagonist Chihiro Furuya, a Zombie obsessed boy who recently lost his family pet. I mean lost to the "great beyond" .  So he decides to try to bring him back to life using a potion he makes following the instructions he found in a book in the attic. While he is doing this he hears a girl screaming outrageous things into a well. Something along the lines of "Why cant I live the life of a normal girl?", "Why did I have to be born into the Sanka family?" and "Why does my father take naked pictures of me every year on my birthday?" (Freaky shit right? )

She spots him and they end up talking and she find out about Babu( the cat). She decides to steal the potion and drinks it to commit suicide wishing that she was born into the life of  a normal girl. But she doesn't die. later she gets into an argument with her father and falls from a cliff. Lo and behold she is now a zombie.
The rest of the story focuses on her living a normal life as she wished ( the irony isn't lost on Chihiro ), her relationship with Chihiro and her struggle with her Zombification.



The story is nicely paced and none of the characters seem unnecessary. Every time things begin to reach a normalcy something that threatens it appears on the horizon.

An important element is the states of Zombification. The fresh state, the confused state and the terminal state. The zombie retains memories of life in the fresh state and behaves like a normal human being. In the confused state however feelings of lust and hunger are confused so the zombie will attack and eat what it loves ( see vorarephilia ).And finally The terminal state, the zombie looses all vestiges of humanity and tries to attack and eat everything at sight. so the love between Sanka Rea and  Furuya Chihiro is dangerous. Talk about star-crossed lovers.

Character : 2.5/5
The characters are not very strong and seem almost stereotypical. However the story more than makes up for it.
Furuya Chihiro - A zombie obsessed middle schooler who successfully creates the resurrection potion with Sanka Reas help. He is forced to take responsibility for her once she becomes a zombie. He is the son of a shrine priest. His obsession and love for zombies stems from a memory of his mother where she confides in him that she was a zombie. Other than that personality quirk he is very normal person and essentially the stereotypical nice guy who thinks of others.



Sanka Rea - The titular character. She becomes a zombie by consuming the resurrection potion and then dieing afterwards. She is unique as she has drunk the potion before she died and is hence able to retain her humanity for longer. She is essentially the virgin, a naive character with very little real world experience so everything is new to her. her only wish is to live a normal life and becoming a zombie seems to have given her a chance to do so. Her feelings toward Chihiro are a bit confused as  she seems to have fallen in love with him and at the same time being a Zombie  begins to crave his flesh.

Furuya Jogorō - The senile grandfather to Furuya Chihiro and the original creator of the resurrection potion. Portrayed as senile the man has a few lucid moments. His backstory in the creation of the Resurrection potion is pretty well thought out. He expresses regret in having made it because of how it fucked up the lives of those who consume it.


Darin Arciento Kurumiya - A female researcher looking into the Resurrection potion. She worked with Jogoro and her adopted father when they were in America. Although she initial appears as a villain she gradually softens around Chihiro and becomes disillusioned with her adopted father (who is obsessed with recreating his daughter) and eventually switches sides.

Saōji Ranko - Chihiros childhood best-friend and the obligatory friend-zoned girl. There is obviously a love triangle here but it does not form as important a plot line as you would expect so kudos to the mangaka.

Art 4/5
I don't know why I write about art. I am not am not an art critic!
I just do it to give you an idea of what to expect when it comes to the manga . The art work is clean and the charterers look appealing. Except maybe Chihiro who resembles his cat.
Sanka Rea looks like a otakus dream 2D girl which is nice. Scratch that she also reminds me lot of a lead in a horror movie, Something innocent and dangerous at the same time.
I also appreciate the way the act of eating has been sexualized and turned into a horror show in equal amounts.



The gory scenes are very well done and definite worth a look, they are a bit late in the story though.
At 56 Chapters however it seems very doable.

Verdict
I liked the story. Give this one a shot, who knows it might make you explore this fascinating topic.

Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Rozen Maiden and Rozen Maiden 2

Author: Peach-Pit, A female mangaka duo: Sendo Banri and Ebara Shibuko. Not sure how the dynamic goes between them.



Premise : 3/5
So a doll maker called Rozen makes 7 bisque dolls, each given life and powers (naturally), and given the task of finding masters and taking part in the Alice game. The winner gets to be a live girl or the perfect girl or whatever the guy was trying to make. 

So the series for the most part follows the life of one boy and his doll and how they take part in the Alice game.
So no its not your everyday premise, Its definitely not shoujo, although I am having a hard time categorising as anything. 
Its got none of the shounen trademarks of growth and powerups, although there is the presence of magical girls and fantasy realms. It tries to be a thinkers manga but ends up feeling more like a preachy one.

Plot and story overall: 2/5
As original as the premise was the story left so much to be desired. 
The story follows the life of Sakurada Jun, a middle school buy who becomes a shut in due to some stupid incident at school (and his over-sensitive nature), and is now taken care of his sister. He becomes the master of the 5th Rozen Maiden Shinku and unwillingly becomes a part of the Alice game. 



The story doesn't really go anywhere although it had a decent tempo of sorts. The initial reveal of each of the dolls and their masters was pretty. But then as the story progresses things get kinda loopy. The narrative becomes a bit confusing and long winded. 
They even bring in the concept of a parallel universe when they brought in the Unwound world. 

The story pretty much focuses upon the questions of existence, the need to fight and the possibility of reaching the goal through other means. Elements of Alice in Wonderland were added which does not help its case with me - I hate that shitty book.

Long story short, I think the story is boring.

Characters 2/5
The characters are mostly unidimensional and very uninteresting.

The presence of the maidens gives you some leeway in characterising different kinds of feminine personality. I will give you the short versions.

• Suigintou : the first Rozen Maiden - Evil Vamp. Basically queen bitch, ends up showing her soft side.

• Kanaria : the second Rozen Maiden - The clutz. Apprently she is some battle strategist but seems to be more of an idiot.

• Suiseiseki : the third Rozen Maiden - Tsundere. I think that part of her personality was added in there to make things more funny but it left me cringing.

• Souseiseki : the fourth Rozen Maiden _ The tomboy. Even reffers to herself as 'ore'

• Shinku : the fifth Rozen Maiden - I dont know what she is supposed to be. She is more of a tsundere than anything else. And at her core the smartest and the kindest of her sisters.

• Hinaichigo : the sixth Rozen Maiden - chibi rozen maiden, more childish than the rest. Could be considered cute but is more annoying than anything else.

• Kirakisho : seventh Rozen Maiden - Crazy bitch

Among them Suigintou has the most complicated personality and is the most enjoyable to read, but in the end it seems more like she is going through the standard motions of villain turning antihero.

Sakurada Jun is the most unobtrusive main character I have ever seen. He is wimpy and for the most part unreliable and bot in the likeable way

The other characters are supposed to be important but seem to be regular add ons. 

I mean come on....

Art and design : 2.5/5
Its just ... Meh. Initial few chapters were a bit off, probably something to do with how far back they were made, but but they didn't really improve from there.
Sakurada Jun seems like a rip off of Harry Potter minus the scar. The dolls look like children, they should I guess, But may be it would have been better to show them as chibis? Nah ... I don't know, the mangaka probably had a reason for that.

Overall Verdict: 
I didn't like it, I doubt that most people would. If I am wrong please let me know.
If you have not read it, great! Don't read it.


Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Watashi Ni xx Shinisai

Watashi Ni xx Shinisai

Author : Ema Toyama

Love is said to be a beautiful, complicated thing. What happens if you don’t know how it feels? How do you know what you are feeling, or what anyone else is feeling?

Premise: 2/5
This is a standard shoujo manga, nothing more crazy than a love quadrangle within its pages.

There is a girl who has never experienced love before but needs to understand it. She goes about this by getting a surrogate boyfriend and acting out things people in love would do.

I get that this is a ridiculous premise but then this is a Shoujo manga, hell it is a manga, there is no rule stating that it has to make sense.

Ridiculous premise aside there is something new to it, not the fake boyfriend thing but rather the boyfriend to understand love thing. It sets up lots of interesting situations in the manga which I don’t think the mangaka took full advantage of, but then again it is shoujo ….. so anything more would be boundary pushing.

Plot and story overall 4/5

Yukina Himuro is a junior high student who is also a cell phone novelist. She is good at what she does because she observes people and understands them. However she is unable to get along with them because of her icy gaze and demeanour, giving her the reputation of an ‘absolute zero snow woman’. Eventually it comes to her attention that her readers want more of love in her stories, which she finds impossible because she has never experienced it herself.

So she comes up with the obvious solution - use a boy as a surrogate boyfriend to experience what love is.

The major male lead is Kitami Shigure, a playboy who keeps up the façade of good guy before others. When Himuro finds out about this she blackmails him into being her surrogate boyfriend and doing ‘love missions’ with her.

The other characters are Shimotsuki Akira (Yukina’s cousin who is in love with her), Mizuno Mami (Kitami Shigure’s friend who is in love with him) and Kitami Hisame (Shigure’s stepbrother who likes Mami). See how complicated this is?

I am a fan of romantic mangas with grand gestures and flowing prose seeming like poetry but for the most part shoujo mangas tend to have more plastic pink candy version of it all complete with shinny bubbles and ribbons in the panels.

Thankfully Watashi ni xx Shinasai! Has very little of that. I really enjoyed the lines Yukina starts thinking of when doing the love missions, Even when reading the translations I can feel their depth, I think the translators deserve some credit there.

Especially enjoyable was the bit where Yukina dominates her bullies by simply looking at them attacking their insecurities. The part where she cannot decide if she loves Akira or Shigure is more than just a little irritating because it seems like she is jerking the two of them around and I have issues with that.

Other than that this is a good manga. The addition of Kitami Hisame is a good look on the more negative kind of love. And Yukina going toe to toe with him instead of submitting to his will is pretty impressive. The manga ends with everyone reaching a semi happy ending.

Characters 3/5

Each of the characters are important to the story. They are all gradually developed although the ones who show the greatest growth are the leads. Yukina is a pretty straightforward character if a little dense emotionally. Inspite of her amazing ability to pen down emotions she takes her own sweet time to be completely aware of them.

Shigure is by far the more interesting character with a façade and a more bad boy persona within. The reason for this is explored really well especially when dealing with the dynamic between him and his brother.

The rest of the crew provide amusement for the most part, Mami being cutely energetic and Hisame pulling of the villains role quite well. Akira on the other hand seems like an add on, at no point in the story do I feel for him.

Art & Design 2.5/5
The art seems hastily done, with no actual improvement over time. There are no chibi versions which show up at random - sorry.
 Truth be told the art didn’t really stand out in the manga.

Overall verdict:
It is a shoujo manga. Towards the end however it becomes interesting. Not saying that shoujo mangas are a waste of time but they have hopelessly similar plot lines.But this one is worth the read. If you can hold on for a a bit.

Site map - http://bestcompletedmanga.blogspot.in/p/p.html

Tokyo Ghoul

Author : Ishida Sui

If I have to kill someone to survive, is it wrong to kill someone? Is my existence any less important than my victim’s? 

Premise: 4/5

I do like dark fantasies and Tokyo Ghoul fits the bill. 

It is set in a world where ghouls exist alongside humans and prey upon them. They are indistinguishable from humans for the most part except for their eyes which turn red with black sclera and predatory organs called kagune which manifest in many ways.

Since most of the ghouls do hunt humans down for food the government has formed a bureau which hunts them down with extreme prejudice, Commission of Counter Ghoul. Most of the members are orphans who have lost their families to ghouls and hence have a great deal of hatred towards them.

And in the middle of all this is a half-Ghoul. They have only one eye changing colour and are said to be stronger than an average ghoul. As an existence they are a paradox, humans forced to live by consuming humans belonging to neither world that have made them.

Plot and story overall 4/5

The overall plot follows the life of Kaneki Ken, a university freshman and a bookworm with a penchant for tragedies and mysteries. By a stroke of luck he scores a date with a beautiful girl he meets at a coffee shop. Unfortunately the girl in question is Kamishiro Rize, a ghoul and Kaneki was her prey.

Things go awry when she is mortally wounded during her attack being unable to kill Kaneki. He is taken to a hospital where the doctor on call transfers Rize’s organs into him to save his life. It works. He survives but he becomes a half ghoul and much like a real ghoul he must consume things of human origin to survive.

The rest of the story involves Kaneki’s induction into the ghoul society, witnessing the brutality committed by humans and ghouls in their war with each other. Naturally he grows stronger with his abilities and even becomes a bit deranged (come on! Its seinen! No free power ups here) as his ghoul nature begins to overtake his mind.

Special insight is given into other characters life which become important in the major story line.

Unfortunately the manga is complete but the story is not. Too many loose ends which need to be resolved. Those will hopefully be dealt with in the sequel Tokyo Ghoul :RE

Characters 4/5
The characters are all a little dark, some more than a little. With the possible exceptions of Nagachika Hideyoshi and Fueguchi Hinami

Kaneki Ken is exquisite as a tragic hero. No matter how strong he gets he screws up and someone else gets hurt and that spurs him to do anything, even sell his soul to get stronger. Especially loved the bit where he seems almost reasonably insane where he fights Kirishima Ayato, calls him out on his bullshit and his half-assed stance and tells him that he is not going to kill him as that would make Touka-san sad. He would however half-kill him. And then he proceeds to break 103 bones in his body while naming them all camly ( because the adult human body has 206 bones..)

Kirishima Touka barely holds much attention even when she is on page. But her childhood is a painful one as she and her brother live as fugitives

In the CCG the most interesting character by far is Amon Kotaru. He was an orphan raised in an orphanage by a ghoul who used to eat ‘adopted’ children. He was taken in by the CCG and became one of their most effective agents because he sees himself as he agent of justice. I look forward to seeing what he does if it turns out that the CCG is corrupt.

Point is the characters are all very interesting although the one given the most development is Kaneki Ken.  

Art & Design 3/5
The art is graphically a little dark and edgy. Blood cant be shown well in black and white but gore is a different story. While they don’t show much of the ghouls eating people part I think it is a good idea for the readers imagination to conjure the images themselves.

The fight scenes are well done especially the ones between the ghouls and the CCG.

The characters have no real distinguishing features like hairdo or hair colour but they are all unique. The only one with any true distinguishing feature is Kaneki Ken whose hair turns white after days being tortured by Yamori. Even his eyes take on a noticeably haunted appearance after that incident.

The Mangaka does a good job of showing a range of expressions on a person’s face and especially how he makes them uglier when they begin to exhibit cruelty.

Overall verdict:

While the manga is dark it is not depressing at all probably because the circumstances are completely fictional. If you are a fan of protagonist growth, even if it is a painful one, do not miss this.

Only demerit is that you will probably want to start reading the sequel which is not a completed series.


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Beck

BECK

Author : Harold Sakuishi

The balls to do to something you love in-spite of all the shit the world throws at you, that is what this manga embodies. It seems to say that if there is something you absolutely love doing any effort spent on it is worthwhile.

This manga comes across as a the manga equivalent of “Rudderless”

Premise: 3/5
The story follows the life of  a few people who get together to form an independent rock band. In and off itself, not earth shaking. 

How ever as a slice of life manga it does capture the hardship that the life of a musician often contains as he remains in obscurity and is sidelined by society for daring to think he could make it. Its not all bad though as when they show the bands genius they show it quite well. There are no actual lyrics written except maybe for three songs but there are lots of references to the old rockers – Beatles, Lost Peirot, Nirvana etc.

Music is something that is dominated by feels, It is rather surprising that there is not much of hardcore emotional stuff that happens. The love story in  here is quite understated (still cute though) and never takes the spotlight from the band.

And naturally since this is an independent rock band they become the underdogs fighting against the man. As a band they have to over come the blockade set up by a bigwig in the world of Japanese music.

And finally the infighting within the band, which seems to happen in all movies of such type. It is considerably milder here though, just awkwardness instead of a full on brawl

Plot and story overall 4/5
Yukio ‘Koyuki’ Tanaka is an average preschooler destined for a soulless life as a salary man. His life is changed however when he meets a high-school bad boy Ryusuke "Ray" Minami. These two along with Tsunemi Chiba, Yoshiyuki Taira and Yuji "Saku" Sakura form a band called ‘Beck’ named after Ray’s Frankenstein dog. Together they go on a difficult journey to have their music recognized not only in Japan but in the world. Yup, they are that good.

 The story is pretty simple and straightforward although the number of people against this band is a bit over the top. Although in the beginning it looked like a schoolboys slice of life manga that changes when Koyuki drops out of high-school. After that the manga pretty much focuses on the Japaness Music industry.

Representing the Everyman among the bands of course they would get stonewalled but they remain true to each other and surprisingly managed to stay together. Although Yukio has prodigious talent there is nothing that makes the other band members replaceable. Each and everyone of them are an integral part of BECK. The dream they all share involving great rock legends is a nice touch, gives a ‘chosen’ feel to them 

Characters 3/5

The characters are well rounded and non obtrusive, each person with his own problems and charms. The story never focuses on anyone's life as such, just making oblique mentions of their situation. The only one who gets that kind of attention is Yukio Tanaka. Each character is developed not in his own storyline but rather together as they travel the narrow and difficult path to fame.

Even the villains are well made with the right air of menace to one, and shitty pathetic obnoxiousness to the more minor ones. The only extra in this respect is the presence of Kenichi Saitou a middle aged salary-man who is also a bit of a pervert. He provides much needed humour at the right places.


Art & Design 4/5

The art really good. Each character is drawn in a realistic fashion, and no one has shounenesque distinguishing features, not one of them look like a half-assed job. Each band member has their own unique presence though, and the  character appearance allow each persons personality to shine through. Not as much attention to detail as Oyasumi Punpun, but still a pretty solid work especially the scenes of their Final concert, and the Rock Star Legend dreams...goosebumps people!

I should probably mention that there was a mild amount of fan service in the beginning but it kinda disappears in the middle.

Overall verdict:

This is a definite read from me. Go ahead. I am sure most people would like it. Definitely for you if you are a fan of Rock music and enjoyed reading Bakuman.



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