Have you ever wondered why this series is so popular? Why the manga is rated so highly on so many websites that give ratings? How is this series still so popular even though it is already 20 years old? Have you ever wondered why the anime isn't rated as highly as the manga, apart from its sub-par animation? Why is One Piece so huge? If you ever wanted the answers to these questions, continue to read.

I have been a fan of the series since 2005. Back then I was just 12 years old when I was first exposed to the anime of One Piece. My first thoughts were: "What the fuck is this shit? A guy who can extend his body limbs? What is this is silly artstyle? What the hell?"

I was only exposed to shows like Dragonball Z, Digimon and Pokemon, among some others before. Then I discovered One Piece and as I had nothing better to do I watched the anime on the TV canal where it ran on. And I still follow the series today.

Now, 12 years later, I have finished so many things in my life. I'm an adult. I earned my first money and I'm soon attending a University to study. I finished school a long while back. And in all this time I have read the manga as I transitioned from the anime to the manga at one point. Why am I still reading it?

Because and this is also the reason why One Piece is held so highly throughout the fans and manga community in general:

One Piece is one of these rare series that actually got better the longer they went on. You won't realize this by just "reading" it. You won't realize it by just reading the first 300 chapters. And you will never realize it if you decide to burst through pages at some points just because they feel rather boring to you. Oda's story-telling is simply masterful. There is no other way to describe it. He manages a consistent form of foreshadowing that you will not witness in any other manga or work of fiction in a very long time. Clocking up at 851 chapters at the moment, he has been carefully planting hints and foreshadowed events throughout the entire series. There are still so many people who don't realize this because they simply don't bother with it. In the beginning, it's not that clear, as the manga was relatively "small" in its start, back in 1997. The anime fails to adapt it correctly as it buries many things under annoying repetitions and fillers. It sometimes even contradicts with the content of the manga, pacing is horrible, it borrows sound design from DBZ and Toei doesn't even get the proportions of characters right. The manga however doesn't have these issues. Oda offers the best kind of writing in this regard. It can be compared to a movie that gives the audience the normal stuff like action, dialogue and other scenes in the foreground. But when you, as a viewer, decide to dig a bit deeper into it, examining dialogue a bit more or looking for hidden imagery in the background, you will be rewarded. It gives the whole movie a deeper meaning and it leads to a bigger picture. This is what Eichiro Oda does with One Piece. One Piece becomes this bigger picture, if you decide to look beyond the stuff in the foreground. What happens in general is, of course, important too and very good. But you will only realize the actual amount of depth of One Piece if you ever decide to create links between situations and scenes. Of course, the manga itself is huge even without that background stuff. But the additional planning and careful placement of hints and evidence adds an additional layer to everything that happens in One Piece. Things and events are foreshadowed, sometimes even hundreds of chapters before they occur while the main stuff happens in the front. And he has been doing it consistently in the past 20 years as the series has been made. Just search for "One Piece foreshadowing" online and you will be flooded with confirmed theories, evidence and massive throwbacks in terms of hidden background details, imagery and hidden dialogue meanings in thousands of forums. This is One Piece. Things like Ace's tattoo that seemed to be a misspelling by the tattoo artist got a whole new meaning when we saw Sabo's pirate flag. Usopp's funny lies that he tells and the made up stories that he told Kaya actually became real as they happened in the story. Back then they were played for laughs but then, if you remember it or re-read the manga, it simply makes click. This is the foreshadowing that I'm talking about. And this is just the tip of the iceberg that One Piece offers. The world and depth it has is just humongous. This may sound very pretentious what I'm writing here but it's simply the truth. You don't have to look everything up online to make a connection but it does help. Of course you can make all these links by yourself, even if it takes a bit time. While other artists simply fill out background just for the sake of filling them out, Oda plans it.

And don't imagine Oda being like: "Oh, I will just put this thing here and then I will come back to it 600 chapters later". This isn't what he does. What he actually does is, he creates characters and scenes in the way, that he can use them as a link point for a future reference or connection and then later he simply picks it up as he feels it as most appropriately. This is what he has been doing with characters, items, scenes, story moments and more throughout this entire time. Everything feels connected. Character re-appearances never feel forced, they all become logical. They actually feel like actual characters in an actual functioning world and they don’t just behave the way the plot demands them to like in many other manga. This is what sets One Piece apart from so many other shonen manga and this is one of the main reasons why it's held so high by fans. Some say: "It's the humour", other say: "it's the action". But these are subjective. The foreshadowing is an objective strength of One Piece and there isn't a single manga that can keep up with One Piece. And I love this aspect of it. And back then I didn’t even realize it. I just paid attention to the stuff in the foreground. And when I re-read everything back then and followed some discussions on online forums I was blown away about how much I have simply missed by not paying entirely attention. How is he (Oda) able to do it? Well, he simply devoted his entire life to the creation of the manga and he simply loves writing for it. Yes. He simply loves One Piece. It's that easy. One could argue: "Oh, he is just after the money, it's the most successful manga series of all time after all". Ask again: This is a man who has been working 90 hours (125 when he works on a movie) every week since 1997. Working conditions of mangakas are among the worst in the world but he takes the lead. His breaks only serve for further story writing and are never used for vacation and he only sleeps 3-4 hours a day. Since 1997. He doesn't have any time or room to spend his money on anything. I read every interview about him as I find him simply fascinating. This guy breathes the manga and the level of dedication to the manga is reflected by the quality of the manga. Even at its weakest moments, One Piece still stands higher than many other manga at their weakest times in terms. Oda's dedication is reflected in his art as well. Just look and compare the amount of detail that is put into panels and pages of One Piece with other manga. I adore his style and I know many think his style feels childish, silly and I used to think this too but the amount of work that he puts into his creatively made pages is impressive and I have great respect for him. Look up "One Piece colorspreads" to have an idea about it. And even in black and white it's just beautiful whenever he showcases his islands. And even the smallest panels are filled with rich background details. It's the embodiment of the joy in adventuring a mysterious world.

The series is unpredictable while retaining a basic formula but also offers a lot of variety. And the sense of awe. (Some spoilers here)

From character design, to abilities and motivations. Every manga and artist behind it has a formula. Even writers like Stephen King have found their formula how to make their stories. Oda has a formula too. While being very focused and rather small compared to what happens currently, the beginning of One Piece already had these kinds of aspects of story that Oda would continuously improve upon and further flesh out. The great idea of Devil Fruits that offers an endless set of interesting villains and interesting abilities is just one of the great aspects of the series.

The formula boils down to this: The strawhats appear on an island, they are in awe as they don’t understand what is going on on this weird island. They find out the population has problems or is oppressed. They try to help them while maintaining their actual goals. They beat the arc antagonist in the end. Quite simple, isn’t it? One could say that Dressrosa is a re-skinned Alabasta formula and they are kind of right but Oda switches things up a lot throughout the series. While this formula is Oda‘s basic formula on how to create arcs, he divides it often to offer more variety. Sometimes the strawhats have to interfere in a civil war that is under control of a Warlord (Alabasta). Sometimes they have to do a rescue-mission as they suffer a betrayal (Enies Lobby), sometimes they have to fight a giant on a huge island-ship before the morning sun burns them alive (Thriller Bark), sometimes they have to take action when a racist person shoots down one of the Strawhats friends and their actions lead to the call of an Admiral and a force too big for them to handle. And even taking part in an All Out War where one of the characters suffers a major loss is in. Oda has his core formula but he switches things up so often that it barely feels stale. One of the aspects on why the series is unpredictable in its core content is that Oda doesn’t write for the next cliffhanger but always has the bigger picture in mind. He takes risks. And he pulls them through. One of these risks was the death of Portgas D. Ace, Luffy’s brother and a favorite among fans, despite not being a core character of the series. Until that point it was an unspoken rule that no characters actually die in the series. And then it happened and it was a shock but also brilliant writing as nobody expected it, with amazing build up. Oda pulls his risks through, opposed to many others who make big cliffhangers and then go back to what they have always been doing. And if anybody who has read the series ever wondered why Peru (the falcon guy from Alabasta) survived his sacrifice where he flew the bomb into the sky: Back then 9/11 happened in the USA and out of respect for the people that died that day, Oda let him live. Originally he was supposed to die. Additionally to all of this, the story of the series is written like a path from A to B. It always moves forward. There are many shows and manga where everything just happens in the same place but in One Piece the characters always move forward, giving the entire series a feeling of progress.

Another aspect for the unpredictability and Oda’s knowledge of his own series and his understanding for the characters is the understandable power level system in One Piece. There isn’t a character that can literally destroy planets. There isn‘t one that seems to be the strongest in the entire galaxy. Every character has their limit. And while the main characters, the strawhats, win the majority of their fights (they are the main characters after all), they still lose some fights. In the beginning we get introduced to Zoro, a skilled swordsman who seems to be almost on par with Luffy. Then later we meet Hawkeye, the man that Zoro wants to beat to become the best swordsman in the world. And he doesn’t stand a single chance. Hawkeye beats him with ease. We learn that the strawhats are not the strongest. Later we get to meet Aokiji, one of the Admirals and he singlehandedly beats the entire crew. Oda understands his characters and he knows it’s boring if the main characters win every single fight. It also takes away the excitement if it’s done like that. Not in One Piece. Luffy must have lost about 6 fights so far. The power level system is well done in terms that it offers unpredictability in guessing how strong a character is but also enough evidence to kind of know and learn about the strength of a character and their limits. And one of the main aspects why the series still feels fresh is the amount of creativity that Oda has in terms of world and ability creation. There is a sense of awe as you read One Piece that is also reflected by the main characters reactions as they stumble upon creatively created islands with their own unique eco systems. My best comparison I can make is that this is a world that you want to fall into. Live in it. The best kind of fantasy worlds. Similar worlds that I have experienced in this level are the Harry Potter books and Lord of the Rings. Next point: the story and the world of One Piece.

Oda understands his characters, his series and his writing. And he looks upon our world as well.

From the very first chapter, Oda has made the goal of the series clear. Finding One Piece. This is the ultimate goal and it still is, after 850 chapters. The world of One Piece is a huge, functional world, filled with so many diverse mysteries, islands, characters, all with different motivations and it could actually work in real life too. Oda understands them all. He has created over 800 characters that populate the series and they all feel distinct enough to not be mistaken for others and remarkable enough to at least remind you that you have seen the character before if they re-appear. While some people think that his artstyle is kind of silly, because characters look so vastly different, it helps with this aspect of creating so many characters and making them look very distinguished from each other in the long run.

Apart from the ultimate goal, he gives each of his main characters an ultimate goal as well. Luffy wants to become the pirate king, Zoro the best swordsman, Sanji wants to find the All-Blue (an ocean in which all kinds of sea creatures live) and the others have their „dreams“ as well. While character development is not the main focus of the series (Luffy still behaves a lot like he did in chapter 1) it is not completely absent and some characters like Zoro or Robin behave different than they did back then. Characterization is done well, you understand their motivations, their flashbacks are tragic while not feeling completely forced and they are well done and well implemented. Where One Piece also shines is the depiction of various themes and subjects that exist in our world as well. It deals with racism, slavery, drug-tests, oppression and even depression at one point. It does these themes so flawlessly and barely they feel out of place or forced. Like I said, the world in One Piece feels like an actual functioning world with all its problems that plague our world as well. Tyrannical warlords exist, children get used for drug tests, racism happens between humans and fishmen and vice versa, slavery is used upon those that are deemed as the lower race by those who think that they stand higher (Celestial Dragons). The thing is, Oda inserts these subjects into the series without making a huge fuss about it. He doesn’t necessarily write them in for us to hate those characters for the sake of hating them but he takes neutral points. Characters like the Celestial Dragons have actual reasons why they behave like that and you can actually understand them up to a certain point. This is something that many mangaka don’t understand when they create characters like that. We want to understand them at least slightly. In the end it’s a shonen manga and is aimed at 13-17 year old boys but the amount of subject tackling, depth it offers is simply impressive. And all of these things is part of something bigger. The bigger picture. At its core, The Dark Knight by Nolan is just an adaption of a comic book series that is created to the appeal of young people, as comics were very huge back then. But it offers entertainment and depth for both, young and adult people. The best kind of writing. Entertainment in the front. Depth in the background.

The Will of D., the ancient weapons, One Piece, the revolutionaries, the poneglyphs, the final island Raftel. There are many mysteries that still have to be answered and Oda has given many answers throughout the series while never doing it in a painful, obscure way as done with the sci-fi series Lost where, if you get the answer to something, five new questions pop up. Oda gives us the answers where it feels most appropriately. Because he doesn’t write a series for the next cliffhanger. He writes a story that feels connected and builds upon itself since chapter 1 and while I know that Oda’s original plan in 1997 was to work on it for 5 years, he has found the right ways to make the world bigger and create more interesting mysteries and turned One Piece rightfully in the best selling series in the world. And it deserves it. I hope my „essay“ here gave you the answers on why so many people rate it so highly. For the most part I gave objective answers in terms of planning, foreshadowing and world building that Oda has consistently created throughout the series. I never talked about the negative aspects of the series and to not make it even longer, I’ll keep it short as I only intended this review to be the answer to the question why One Piece is still so popular even after such a long time.

The negatives:

- Not enough pirate ship battles in a series about pirates
- Pacing can be an issue at times but barely gets a problem. Biggest pacing problem was the overly long Dressrosa arc but even then OP still held a good level of entertainment
- Some characters like Zoro behave different than back then and while it’s entirely understandable, I still prefer the old Zoro
- A few hiccups in terms story telling in the first half
- Some of the villains motivations are a bit lackluster
- Not enough female villains
- Some of the later female characters suffer from same-face shape syndrome but he has noticed it as well and offers now more variety.

I hope you enjoyed my review. Thanks for reading. If you want additional thoughtful analysis of One Piece, look up SupereyepatchWolfs video "The Appeal of One Piece". It's a good watch.

Some people may say this is your typical Shonen that becomes op and undefeatable, in fact i think that is the opposite. The main character faces challenges that could get him killed deep into the Manhwa. Overall this Manhwa is pretty good I rated it a 9 because the fight scenes and art is outstanding, but the characters start to get bland the more they fawn over the main character, sometimes it gets even tiring. (except Beru, he's an exception) Also the Manhwa is pretty anti-Japanese for like 2 arcs which were definitely the best arcs. I overall think this is good as a Manhwa AND only a Manhwa, I personally think no Korean/Japanese studio would touch Solo Leveling with a 10 foot pole, but even if they do I don't think they would go past season 1 into The Raid on Jeju Island I don't want to spoil but what I'm trying to say is that it might be a pr disaster plus the way Manhwa is built is too linear its hard to explain if you never read one before but its like the interactions are only there to push the story forward i cant find any extreme example of this but id of definitely of given a 10 if this Manhwa had more back story to side characters and more side talk, I think this will become more prevalent if it got a adaptation. but I hope I'm proven wrong I'd love to see a Solo Leveling Warrior adapted to an anime.

Personal Rate: 10
Rate based on the different characteristics: 9.75 rounded up to 10


I came to read this manga after having watched the movie which I loved to bits. Slice of Life series usually get at best a 7 in my books because I just tend to get bored easily. I personally think it's one of the most difficult genre since, it is difficult to avoid giving the feeling that the story is getting nowhere.

If you haven't watched the movie... I'd advise to watch it first... because you're bound to find the movie lacking compared to its manga version. I had the chance to love the movie before trying the manga and I'm glad it was such. The movie's wonderful really... but yeah, the manga is even more.

Maybe it's because I've been the subject of bullying myself that the story struck a cord so vividly I don't know... But overall, I do think this is a series that should be read by teenage kids... And here goes why:


Story: 10

We follow our main character's journey to redemption after he's bullied and been bullied for what he did in the past. The story isn't so much about the fact that the girl he bullied is partially deaf but rather this character trait explains why she was such an easy target. This being said, it's made clear that anybody can be the subject of kids' amusement, it's mostly a matter of bad luck.

There is not much to the story itself, after all it's slice of life... But it is handled with such care that no scene feels empty or devoid of meaning.


Art: 9

It's gorgeous. It took me a me a bit of getting used to, but it's pretty and contributes to the serene atmosphere throughout. I bought the French edition so I don't know how it's published in the US or in the UK, but the French edition chose to publish the colored pages in black and white... which is a pity because I'd rather have paid some extra euros to get them in their pretty version.


Character: 10


That is definitely Koe no Katachi's strongest asset. Its characters are flawed but real. In fact, I could even tell who was who is my own life reading it.

Shouya is a one of the most compelling character I had the chance to read about. Yes he was a bully, but his repentance and his own self-hatred is very difficult to watch at times. Very early on, it's made pretty clear that Shouya's biggest problem isn't getting forgiveness... It's that he just can't forgive himself which is made even more difficult by Shouko, the girl he used to bully, because she never got/gets angry or blamed/blames him.

All the secondary characters felt real and palpable from Shouya's best friend who hides his hurt behind a fake bravado to Satoshi Mashiba who cannot get past his own hurt and gets angry as soon as he sees someone getting the same unfair treatment he did.

Nobody gets Scott-free either. The silent witnesses, those who wanted to go against the flow but got bullied for it and those who participated although they were uncomfortable doing so. Even the home teacher is open to judgment. He's not judged per say, but his attitude and comments speak for themselves. Unfortunately, I could also relate to that, I've had the bad luck to meet the same type.

Naoka's character is the most difficult to like and excuse... but it is also true that sometimes you just can't get along with everyone. She's a difficult person, and we've all met people that we just can't get to like even if everybody says they're nice.

If I had one thing to complain about, that would be that we don't get a closure for Shimada and Hirose, Shouya's former best friends who turned against him. It's true that in life, well you have to let bygones be bygones and in that sense it's realistic. They've moved on with their life, probably thinking of what they've done from time to time without having the chance to get a real closure. It's the same for Shouya. It would have been nice, if they could have at least talked but the open ending leaves that to the imagination.


Enjoyment: 10

Needless to say, I've enjoyed immensely. I was surprised at how much I wanted to see what followed. I wanted to root for Shouya and for him to forgive himself. I found it even more difficult when some that were partially to blame as well were happy to let him bear all the guilt on his shoulder. It was unfair and he never tried to get away from it.


Overall: 10

It's been a while I haven't loved a slice of life story so much. Of course, we all have different stories but whether you were bullied, or were the ones bullying or observing silently stressing about being the next target, the overall message is that as long as you try to use these experiences to move forward as a human being, you've got the right to forgive yourself just as forgiving others is the only way to move forward as well.

If you've started life on the wrong foot, keep striving forward. That is very simple and sounds cliché but Koe no Katachi manages to show you how such a simple thing is really difficult to achieve when you're really trying hard.

I wish I had the chance as Shouko did to meet my former bullies. At least if I saw they changed, I'm sure I could leave this bad aftertaste behind. No such luck unfortunately.

Anyway, must read. Really. And I think this author just moved up to my "to-buy" list.

Steel Ball Run is the best thing ever. Its like a cowboy movie crossed paths with a 70s French film, replete with religious imagery and complex moral decision making. Throw out all expectations, pretend you've never seen anything before it. In fact, if you're just coming into JoJo now, start with Steel Ball Run, then go back to the old stuff. The art in SBR is phenomenal, clearly a result of the switch to monthly from weekly production. The characters are human: flawed and selfish. The goals of everyone are fascinating to behold: even Dio gets characterization beyond "WRYYY".

Johnny is a terrible human being, and a wonderful character. It has Stands, horses, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and the FABULOUS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. What more could you ask for? Oh yeah, metaphysical powersets used in novel ways. Who would have thought that "Spin" could be so interesting?

Give it a read, but as a warning, it starts REAL slow. The first Stand won't show up for quite a few chapters, and the whole thing is a long read. There's two REALLY uncomfortable scenes, but if you can read past them, you'll be treated to the most mind-bending battles in all of JoJo. This manga will take you across the United States, from the California desert all the way to Manhattan (not a spoiler, that's like page 2).

"Dojyaaan!"

The best manga that I have ever read. If you're looking for something with deep, intricate lore, then this is it. You have found the manga. I'll keep this review spoiler-free as to not ruin the many surprises you'll encounter throughout the series. TL;DR at the end, and the review as easy to follow as I can.

The Story (10/10)

The story of Attack on Titan takes place in a time where large humanoid creatures called "Titans", which resemble humans, but are 5, 10, and 15 metres tall, the remaining population of humans was forced inside 3 50-metre-tall walls: Wall Maria, Wall Rose and Wall Shina being the most inner wall. Their just want to eat humans,
having no intelligence whatsoever.
Our main protagonist is Eren Jeager, alongside Mikasa and Armin, quickly learn of the terror of the titans after a 60 metre tall titan appears and smashes the main gate protecting humanity from titans. From that day onwards, Eren swears he will do anything and everything to stop the titans, and to go beyond the walls.

The story may sound boring and basic, but as the plot progresses, there are many, many interesting things happening. Isayama creates different situations for his characters, and sees how they interact with eachother. The plot is very story and lore rich, with many secrets hidden, and foreshadowings, which are more appreciated when you read the manga after you have finished it entirely.

The Art (10/10)

The art at first may seem a bit more cartoonish, more "water-colour-y" if you get me. But as the series progresses and the themes of it change, so does the art style, and also considering this manga was started in 2009 and will end in less than a month on 9th of April, 2021, Isayama's art style has clearly evolved from something good at best, to amazing and may I say a masterpiece level, since this is supposed to reflect my point of view.

The Characters (10/10)

The characters start a bit basic, we are introduced to them, their personalities and their views and ideas, and as the show progresses, they evolve with the plot, changing sometimes for the best and sometimes for the worst. Attack on Titan is the only manga where I truly loved and still love the characters. I like more characters in Attack on Titan than I do in any 2 other random series combined. They are well-thought out and fleshed to feel like real humans, with flaws, moments of humour and horror, depression and happiness.

Enjoyment (10/10)

As you could have probably guessed, this series truly made me feel bad for characters, wonder what is going to happen and always want to read "just one more chapter" before going to bed. It's one of the most brilliant surprises I have had in my life. I went into this expecting just killing titans and cool ODM scenes, and whilst there is plenty of that, this manga is so much more that it is hard to explain without spoiling you. This plot is amazing. I want you to feel the same way I felt when I read the second to last chapter, that.. feeling that the series' end is right around the corner and wondering what is going to happen... because that feeling is the best feeling. And I feel like these emotions are present pretty much everywhere. You'll enjoy this series, either you're into big, story-rich plots or just fun-action scenes with interesting characters, it has everything.

TL;DR
Overall, Attack on Titan is a great series, with wayyy more to with than you would expect, and a story and lore so rich you would want to read it again for the first time just to feel those emotions again. With art that gets progressively better from "good enough" to "masterpiece" and interesting characters, and an enjoyment beyond anything out there. This truly does feel like that 1 in a billion manga series where everything just clicks and so well thought out. Well, of course it would be, considering Isayama worked on the whole plot 6 months before even drawing anything for the manga (yes, it's that deep and rich).

Truly a masterpiece and my best read ever. 10/10

This work is based on an autobiography that talks about the greatest samurai in history, Miyamoto Musashi, the story is realistic and when the story is realistic it is closer to success and all stories with fictional events will remain small in front of real stories like Chernobyl

The most wonderful thing the work added was realistic painting and Surrealist painting, which included a truly imaginative embodiment of the psyche of a swordsman entering into a duel with another person.

As for the fun and excitement, he should become a teacher in excitement in relation to duels and battles, in getting rid of any long and unpleasant scene, or in repeating the likes of One Piece, Naruto and whitewash.

Dear gentlemen, I have followed the best works on this site, but all of them were bad and full of flaws, such as Jojo, Part 7, Steel Bull Run, and Fullmetal Alchemist, but this work is worth 10 in the story but the story is unfortunately not finished for this one reason only That made me give him this evaluation

Esta obra cuenta con el maravilloso estilo de dibujo de Takeshi Obata que le hace verse muy bonita a la vista ademas el guion esta muy bien pensado,la accion de este manga se basa en las acciones inteligentes de los personajes lo que puede llegar a sorprender a muchos lectores.
Esta obra no es abta para aquellos que les de la palo leer muchas letras en las paginas,para mi una de las mejores cosas que tiene esta joya esque quien es el protagonista y el antagonista lo elijes tu el lector, en mi opinion lo mejor de este manga son los personajes principales y el dibujo y esa accion basada en planear.

I usually don't review manga, but I'm making an exception for this one since it is so popular.

When I started reading this manga, I was tired of seeing the same shounen anime tropes, especially the strong female character who also serves as fanservice and unrealistically strong male protagonists. While I can enjoy shounen anime and manga despite these tropes, I really craved something different. Full Metal Alchemist satisfied that craving.

This manga is set in a steampunk world where some people rely on the power of alchemists, people who can destroy objects and reconstruct them into something else. Some of the alchemists are military officials known as state alchemists while others are just everyday people. As described by the manga's synopsis, alchemy is at the heart of the manga's story. However, there is more to the manga than this.

While alchemy was one of the most enjoyable aspects of the manga, other amazing aspects included the use of automail, the characters, and the themes woven within the story. Automail is a type of metal used as prosthetics body parts. It looks cool and is so functional I wish it were real. My favorite characters that use automail are Edward Elric and Paninya.

Speaking of the characters, they are the most refreshing and relatable characters I've ever seen in the shounen genre. The lead shounen protagonist Edward is a realist when it comes to personal faith, but also optimistic, caring, and considerate toward others. A particularly touching scene with Edward occurs when he is yelling at someone (can't spoil who) and he talks about how hard it is for a single mother, speaking from his own mother's experience. Another scene I liked was when he used alchemy to fix the damage he caused with his battles. This was the first male manga character I've seen do this and it was nice to see.

Other characters I liked were Edward's brother Al (he was badass in the armor & has good char. development) and Scar (who has the best char. arc besides the Elric bros.). All the other characters I liked were female. Almost all the female characters in this manga had major roles and practically zero fanservice. No big boobs or boob gags to be found. The closest thing to fanservice is when one character is sitting in a bathtub, but nothing explicit is shown. This is rare in the shounen genre, but as a female reader I welcomed it.

Anyway, the female characters I liked were Izumi Curtis (a tough as nails housewife, alchemist, sensei, and mother figure), Winry (automail mechanic who built Ed's arm and leg and fixes the arm), Paninya (she has automail legs that are also weapons), and Mei (a little girl who is brave, strong, and funny).

Another aspect of the characters I liked was how racially diverse they were. Ed and similar characters were modeled after Europeans, Scar and his fellow Ishvarians reminded me of Muslims, and Mei and similar characters are reminiscent of East Asians.

All together, alchemy and the characters driving the plot are a part of interesting social commentary on things like goverment corruption, personal faith, discrimination, warfare, and more. Depending on how much of it you notice, it may make you think a bit while you read.

Overall, I really enjoyed this series and it has become my favorite shounen manga series ever. After reading and watching shounen manga and anime by men, it was truly refreshing to read a popular shounen manga series by a woman. I don't know if there will ever be another manga series or female manga creator that can follow suit, but other creators could take a page or two from this series.

This is a really difficult manga for me to discuss because I feel I'm not eloquent enough to properly discuss something like this the way it deserved to be. Still, the best way I can describe it is as incredibly intelligent and well written. By incredibly intelligent, I mean that the plot has a lot of depth to it. There aren't really many deep points about society or such being pushed, but it still engrosses you in the story that makes you truly think about what's occurring. The story is both grounded, in that it doesn't involve any supernatural elements or such, but at the same time it's also incredibly extreme, and in a way, that draws the reader further in.

The plot has numerous layers, but even with that it's very character oriented. At the top it's about a complete psychopath, a true monster, that uses various others along the way to achieve his objectives. However, the various other he uses are in general trash. Many could definitely think of them as evil, but shown in contrast to Johan, they seem nothing more than pathetic. And it also shows that someone truly evil, like Johan, is quite a bit harder to hate than those that are simply pathetic. Hence, despite Johan being a complete monster, it is quite difficult to truly hate him. That can in part be attributed to the other great aspect of the series, how well written it is, especially in regards to its characters.

Another aspect of this is Tenma, who despite being completely submerged in darkness due to the plot of the manga, wherever he goes still manages to shine. This is an aspect that I feel could easily end up feeling incredibly awkward if handled even somewhat wrong, but the author does a tremendously good job of it, and it ends up working amazingly well. Tenma difficulties with his original choice but staying true to who he was despite everything made him an incredibly amazing character. He was completely pure, which in the end made him similar but opposite to Johan, which made him a good foil for him.

But while I could consider those two the main characters in the manga, they are certainly not the only two that matter, with various other characters also getting fleshed out and many of them getting a lot of character development and ultimately playing very important parts in the plot as it unfolds. I would like to highlight that I thought the character arc of Eva was especially amazing, in that she has a complete fall from grace, she pursues Tenma obsessively, but in the end, gains the strength to stand back up on her own. I really wanted her to have a happy ending, but doubted she would be able to with her broken character and personality, but the author ended up writing something that authentically grew her character in such a way that she got a happy ending that despite everything it felt like she deserved, which I think is a major feat.

Overall the plot was incredibly well paced, slowly revealing more and more about the characters and conspiracies involved, keeping a good balance of suspenseful and light, important and side information, action and drama, ultimately bringing everything to an ending that wraps up all the various plot threads tremendously well in a way that felt completely consistent with everything that occurred and ultimately leaves the reader with a feeling of having read something incredibly satisfying. The art was decent enough and fit the atmosphere.

A suspenseful and deeply engrossing manga centered around hunting for a monster at the center of a conspiracy.

10/10

*Mild spoilers ahead*

I actually read the akatsuki no yona manga twice, once before the anime and once after. That's how much i expected from this series. But sad to say, Kusanagi Mizuho didn't fully utilize this manga's potential.


Story
The plot is definitely the strongest point of this manga. Not exactly your typical shoujo story, it's set in a historical korean culture. The first few chapters definitely reel you and set up a very intriguing premise. However, that's where the downfall starts. Now, idk if the mangaka is just confused or its her editors forcing her to be, but she continues to spoil the fun out of this story every way she can. The rushed character arcs in the start just to get on with the story, the romance that really doesn't make you go "kyuuu" and cliched shoujo tactics that you don't wanna see in such a well off story. Nonetheless, there are surprises here and then and it does keep you reading on.

Art
The art isn't really eye catching for the most part. You have a few well drawn pages here and there but it's mostly just fine.

Characters
Personally i love the characters. Not because they're all well written but it's easy to grow attached to them. The protagonist, Yona, could be one of the best female characters of all time.. if it weren't for the mangaka making Yona cry every arc and ruin her "strong" shoujo with forced doki dokis. And then you have Hak, who at some point just gets annoying with his forced romance. Infact, i fear Soo Won is the most thought out character in this manga. I'll still give the characters a 7 for their amusing dialogues and supring tactics time to time.

Overall, it is a good manga to get hooked on. It has its bad points but the strong points do exist, often overshadowing the bad. There are pages you can't read enough, arcs that keep at the edge of your seat and surprising moments that do make you go "woa". But i feel Akatsuki no yona could be so much more if it let go of the notion of being "just a shoujo".

tl;dr: A story with a lot of well thought out and interesting concepts but generally weak implementations of them.

This series I felt was a mixed bag in that it had some good concepts and some decent highs, but it also had some awful lows.  

The first two arcs, which span a volume each, were a solid introduction to a lot of the characters involved. The tone had some dark aspects but it didn’t feel like it was trying to be that heavy and it had some decent comedy. In terms of characters, relationships, etc. it was pretty solid, wherein the relationship between Kazuki and Maria was only beginning to bloom, but had a really solid start. These arcs also had good concepts in terms of mechanics that were implemented in an interesting and intelligent manner with the goal in both instances was to break the mechanics and escape from them essentially. However, how that was carried out was handled in a pretty weak manner that left me far from impressed, so the psychological aspect didn’t feel as strong as it could have been.

The third arc spans the third to fourth volume. The tone gets a decent amount darker and heavier, but it still feels like it’s well written and there’s still some comedy. Kazuki goes through a large amount of growth in such a way that the relationship arc between him and Maria starts getting interesting. Most of the stories of the new characters introduced feel solid as well. This arc still has the same issue as the previous arcs, in that it has interesting mechanics to the plot line, and unlike the previous arcs it actually spends a good amount of time just using those mechanics in various ways in an interesting fashion. However, like with previous arcs, the ultimate goal is to break the mechanics and escape from them, and just as before how that was handled felt kind of weak.

The fourth arc spans the next two volumes and to put it bluntly I felt it was trash. The tone gets even darker and heavier, but to the point that it starts feeling ridiculous and no longer has any impact. One of the main reasons for that is that the story is equally told from Daiya’s view point in addition to Hoshino’s, and Daiya is a pain to read the thoughts of. I thought he was a pretty interesting and likable character in the first three arcs but that completely fizzled away in this one. He has the cringeworthy type of edginess that just sounds like overtly melodramatic whining to me that really got annoying incredibly quickly. His character arc is in getting over that, but the way it was handled with what was focused on did not work out at all. On top of that he just simply pretty dumb. A core part of this arc is relationship drama involving him and Kokone, and I understand and empathize with Kokone, but Daiya’s actions just make him look awful. In addition, there’s also relationship drama involving Kazuki and Maria, which feels painful and completely pointless, which makes the entire arc even more annoying to read. On top of that, this arc was a battle of wits, but it really wasn’t that great of one with everything involved being incredibly simplistic. Regardless, for some reason this arc involves Hishino and Daiya especially overexplaining everything they do to the point it really feels like things are dragging on. Hence, there wasn’t anything of value to be found in this arc at all but rather it was actually kind of a pain to read. 

The final arc I felt was a decent amount different from the other volumes, in that other than the epilogue it was solely focused on Kazuki and Maria’s relationship. This involves some background for Maria, but it ultimately all leads to what’s important. There is still a plot line with mechanics that have to be overcome, but the way it was presented felt very different, wherein in other arcs it felt like it was trying to be something cleverly put together, here it felt like it was just various things put together in order to push the story where it needed to go, and honestly I felt that worked a lot better as the author wasn’t really able to pull off the more intricate aspects very well in previous arcs. There were some parts that felt like they were dragging on, but largely I felt that this was well told and wrapped things up really well. To do so it minimized a lot of what happened in the fourth arc, which may have been a bit forced but was definitely for the best. The epilogue was also really intensive and I think very well put together with a really optimistic tone, and in the end, I would have to say despite the series having an incredibly awful arc, the ending left me satisfied with the series overall. 

As a random note, the illustrations are bizarre. The first volume has a different illustrator from the rest so I understand the illustrations on those being different from the rest, but the rest have a good amount of variance too. The second volume looks pretty different from the third and fourth. And the fourth look dramatically different from all of those, with the characters suddenly looking like they’re adults in their twenties. The last volume brings back the art style form the third and fourth volumes. 

My first thought as the story progressed was this:

"I didn't sign up for this."

Don't be fooled by it's light and youthful art and its very young characters. Don't.


I honestly thought when I picked up this manga it'll be like Pokemon, Digimon or something that shows a bunch of kids going on an adventure of a lifetime. You know, like a kid friendly show.

But I was wrong. So, so wrong.

This is anything BUT a kid friendly show. This manga is very, very dark with fantasy and psychological elements mixed in. It has strong gore too and, in my opinion, I'd go far and say that the characters, especially the main protagonists, are created just to suffer.

Heck, I'd say that Re:Zero, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica would look like cute, little kittens against this manga.

You have no idea how much the first 42 chapters broke my heart. I cried. I mentally screamed. I even almost threw my phone in frustration. Almost. I hate how such young children are forced to go through things that even adults can have a hard time dealing with. Like, are you freaking kidding me? They're just children! They're too young.

But even with my complaints, there's no denying the fact that it shows reality; which is really ironic since this is set in a fantasy world.

It's real that kids suffer even at such a young age.

And aside from that, I can't jump on the ship in this one. The couple in this manga is very obvious. It's already glaring at me.

I'm a shipper. I live for the shipping. But not this time. I just can't bear to ship two kids. I mean like, they're freaking kids. I don't care if they're 12 or 13, they still look like 8 year olds to me. And I find the idea of shipping them to be disturbing.

Now, I know what you're thinking. What about Sakura and Syaoran from Card Captor Sakura? They're kids too but many people ship them. So what's the matter with the ship in this one?

My dear friend, here's the problem. Sakura and Syaoran depicts the innocent side of puppy love. The one that gives you good memories. The one wherein if you recall your first love, it'll bring a smile on your face. It doesn't have too much drama and just light. It's positive.

On the other hand, the ship in this one is not. Yes, the two of them are perfect for each other. They handle what the other can't and together, they're really strong. But the fact that they look like they're 8 year olds and this manga has too much sexual innuendoes for me to truly appreciate it, I just can't.

I honestly found myself thinking "I wish they were teenagers or older" A LOT while reading this. I kept on seeing a lot of lolis since they're kids (not a fan of too many lolis) and reading about the sexual innuendoes on, let me remind you again, KIDS is really awkward for me.

I don't have anything against kids and sexual innuendoes. It's just not my cup of tea. So is the concept of making kids suffer a lot.

I'm sure at this point you're wondering, why did I give it a 9 if this review is just full of complaints?

That's because this is a masterpiece despite all of my rants beforehand.

The art is misleading but beautiful. The concepts, the plot, the characters -- everything is almost perfect. I love the idea of The Abyss and more. So much thought has been put into the story that after finishing a chapter, you're filled with a lot of questions.

And in hopes of answering those said thoughts, you can't help but immediately read the next one and ta-da! More questions. And before I knew it, I reached the latest chapter (as of the day this review was written) which was chapter 42. And I had more questions than before.

It's mysterious. It's captivating. You get dragged into this world whether you like it or not.

This is that kind of story.

So at the end of the day, despite my complaints and awkwardness, I'll still continue reading this and watch the anime. I'm emotionally and psychologically invested on the characters and I sure hope they'll have a really happy ending. They deserve it.

If you're a fan of dark fantasy and children suffering and sexual innuendoes (on KIDS) is fine with you, then go and pick this one up. You'll be in a really wild and psychologically scarring ride.

P.S.: And in case you're wondering if there's nudity involved, yes there is.

Story: 9/10
Art: 10/10
Character: 10/10
Enjoyment: 7/10
Overall: 9/10

Overview: One punch man is a story of an unknown hero named Saitama, who once was an average employee after tirelessly training for three years; he has achieved great power. And with great power comes hair loss and responsibility. After obtaining this great power, he found his new carrier in being a superhero. Despite his over the top physical ability, he was ranked one of the lowest tiers in the hero association; hence the name, the unknown hero. Despite being viewed as one of the weakest heroes, he manages to destroy every monster that comes across his path, rending bored and hoping for an enemy strong enough to defeat him.

Character: Saitama, the main character and protagonist of the story, the strongest hero but is placed in low ranks. Finding no thrills in battle due to his incredible physical abilities. Genos, the disciple of Saitama, a cyborg who became a disciple of Saitama in hopes of becoming as strong as him. (Together, they balance the growth of mindset and the growth of physical ability)

Story (8/10): I understand that this manga is mainly for laughs, but the story just follows a traditional hero journey, lots of fighting and destruction, lacking a bit of depth to the story. But still, get an 8 in my book because of the contradiction between his strength of a god and inconsistent attitude. Becoming super serious when face even with the smallest average day problems while paying no attention when fighting. This contradicting character development makes the story very interesting and compliments the comedy very well.

Art (10/10): Murata Yusuke, the artist for this manga, did a fantastic job matching the expression of the characters to the story. The drawing was able to bring out so much more action in the manga and further compliment the serious and sleepy attitudes that Saitama often have. The detail and clarity found in every image are great for helping the reader to feel more emerged with each character and more emerged in the world of One Punch Man.

Enjoyment (9/10): I personally enjoyed this manga very much; I look forward to new characters that will be coming as the story progresses. (keep in mind that the manga is not finished yet) It is easy for readers to get bored of a manga where the main character is this powerful, but the author who goes by the name of One is able to connect the daily struggles of Saitama and present it in a way that makes the story so refreshing and keeping me want to read more.

Overall: I would recommend this story to anyone who enjoys comedy or action, it is a easy to read a piece of the manga, and it is very entertaining. And for those who have read the manga, the anime version is also enjoyable.

I'm not a huge fan of the way the plot has been progressing lately (spoil chapter 80).

I like this series, but I can't help but feel the quality of the writing has degraded ever since Phos went to the moon, so I thought I'd discuss it a little here and get some opinions. This might get a little long, so there's a TL;DR in the bottom.

The major issue with this arc is that we're switching from a mostly character-driven story to a mostly plot-driven story. While LotL obviously has a good plot, most of it came from how characters interact with each other and Phos learning about the world and changing within it. Other than "lunarians are attacking", there really isn't much happening in the world.

We take a sudden shift from Phos just wanting the truth to Phos tries to end the war between the gems and the Lunarians. The arc starts off great, because you're not sure who's side you should be rooting for, or if you should even be rooting for Phos because he seems kind of evil and suspicious trying to lure people onto the moon (granted, it's for a greater purpose, but being a lunarian spy is just creepy).

The problem with this is that after that point, we almost get no character interactions outside of Phos, Adamant, the Prince, and Cairngorm. Everyone else seems to have been thrown to the side so we can get more time to move the plot forwards. Characters like Dia, Amethyst, Alexandrite, etc have barely appeared at all in the last ~15 issues other than a few cute scenes, and we barely see the perspective of any of the gems on earth. This already makes things iffy, but lets talk a little on what the main characters have been doing in this arc.

The prince and Cairngorm
I like the idea of Cairngorm being broken of their curse and becoming more like their own character, while some people called him evil it really isn't the case, as he did thank Phos for bringing them to the moon and did show some appreciation despite everything. Other than that, the relationship between the prince and Cairngorm really isn't going anywhere. Other than Cairngorm wanting to become a lunarian, all their time spent together could've been utilized better. I'd rather have seen the rest of the cast getting some love.

Feels like some parts are missing?
Since we're mostly spending our time on the moon, we don't get any perspective for what's happening with most of the characters. We see the earth gems visibly upset about some of them leaving to the moon, but that idea doesn't get expanded at all. Also, some things that should've been there just... Aren't. For example, we never saw Rutile's reaction to Padpara being revived and shattering him other than this one panel in chapter 70 (which was heavily rushed and hard to follow imo). Considering we just had a huge time skip, I doubt they'll ever talk about this.

I wish some characters would explain how they're feeling so we can understand their perspective. Dia looks alright on the moon, but are they happy? The earth gems look frustrated, but do they not have any doubts about killing the moon gems they used to love? We never got any of that.

What the hell is going on with Cinnabar?
Cinnabar's arc just makes NO sense. The first encounter with Phos, he said he wanted to go to the moon. After that, they literally thought to themselves "If you had just asked to team up... I would've said yes". When talking about finding the truth, Cinnabar said they haven't decided on trusting Adamant or not, indicating that they're willing to work with Phos in finding the truth. In general, they're distant but very close friends with Phos. After all their interactions, Phos FINALLY tells him the truth, and FINALLY asks to team up, but CINNABAR SAYS NO?????

What the hell? It felt like they threw out all of Cinnabar's development away in one chapter. Not only that, but cinnabar treats Phos as an enemy and even attacks him in chapter 70 FOR NOOOO REAAASOOON. Literally just tried to kill the one character that legitimately cares about them. Are you telling me he didn't actually care about Phos after all this time? I hate what they did with cinnabar this arc, hopefully there's a reason for it.

TL;DR
This arc is kind of messy story-wise. Everything is happening a little too fast and we're not getting developments in the right spots. Some characters like Cinnabar aren't acting like themselves at all just to cause trouble for Phos. I honestly doubt most of them should be as heartless as they're being now. It feels like the writing has gotten a little lazier and more plot-heavy but sacrifices character development to move things forwards. Hopefully things will get better in later chapters.

I still like the story and would love to see what happens next though.

The waves find their way past the shining streetlights and crash onto the eroding street. There's someone watching, a figure made to look, act and feel human. Here she stands, taking in this beautiful sight. There's no hurry, she's already closed her shop. There probably wouldn't be any customers anyway...

This is the setting of Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (YKK), a calm beautiful and post apocalyptic slice of life manga.

Story(10/10): YKK is the journey of Alpha Hatsuseno, a human like robot, through the "twilight age of humanity". Human civilization is in decline. Sea levels have risen and once big cities became small towns or were abandoned completely. Alpha lives alone in the countryside, her next neighbors live a few kilometers away. Waiting for the return of her owner, she takes care of the house and runs a coffee shop. People come there just to see her. She has developed a habit of sitting down next to her customers to chat and drink coffee with them. However the shop is located in the middle of nowhere, so only a few customers visit each week. Because of this, Alpha has a lot of free time and ends up spending much of it with her neighbors or roaming through the countryside.
Throughout YKK's story, we learn more about the mysterious world, the robots and their development and accompany Alpha and her friends through years of living and growing up in the countryside.
The story is not great because of any exciting things happening, but because of the care for detail and the perfect pacing.

Characters(10/10): Alpha is a multilayered, realistic, yet interesting and unique character. She's more of a human with a few robotic properties than the other way around. These robotic properties were implemented in an astonishingly brilliant way. While reminding of their robotic origin, they're often used to instead emphasize their fundamentally human abilities to feel and to imagine. This results in Alpha and the other robots having a uniquely different but still "human" perception of the world. Alpha is one of the best protagonists to be seen in manga and anime.
The side characters also don't disappoint. They're all likable, interesting and understandable in their actions.

Art(10/10): Not only is it exceptionally beautiful, but the art is also used as a way to communicate large parts of the story itself. This manga doesn't use a lot of words and instead decides to use the strengths of its medium to the fullest extend. This results in a unique, calm and subtle way of story telling.

Enjoyment(10/10): There's no feeling quite like reading YKK. It is interesting, beautiful and relaxing in a way that'll have you starve for more. Even after reading it, its mystery and themes will keep you thinking for a while.

Overall(10/10): It feels wrong giving this a 10 in every category, as nothing, not even YKK, is perfect. However with this manga everything fits together so well and the strength outweigh any flaws, that you could only find with a magnifying glass, by a large margin. While it's not something everyone will like, YKK does what it sets out to do almost flawlessly.