mittalyashu8

[This review is spoiler free!] TL;DR: Overhyped? Probably. Zero-to-hero with beautiful fight scenes and good pacing. Read if you like the isekai genre, or shounen mangas with a relatively simple plot.

Without a doubt, Solo Leveling is a top-tier read.

Our protagonist, Jinwoo, is the weakest of the weak. If you are familiar with the shounen or isekai genre, you know exactly what is about to happen. In this aspect, Solo Leveling can be a hit or miss. If you aren't a fan of the isekai genre, you may be turned off by the later chapters. However, when it comes to story telling and character development, Solo Leveling is unmatched.

I can comfortably say that Solo Leveling gets a 10 across the board from me.

Starting from the very beginning, the story begins slow. As mentioned before, Jinwoo is the weakest of the weak. He is a scrawny boy who he teammates dread having on their side. He is pretty much the bag boy, carrying the heavy items that the rest don't want to be bothered with. However, after a near death experience, Jinwoo comes out as a new man. He is now in possession of a "system," which entire goal is to turn Jinwoo from the weakest, to the strongest the world has ever seen. From there, his adventure begins, as does the story.

In the beginning chapters, you may feel like Solo Leveling is overhyped with the mediocre artwork that is showcased at the start. However by around chapter 20, the art takes a dramatic shift in the right direction and it only goes up from there. It works well with the read, as you watch Jinwoo's appearance grow into a strong young man, from the small, meek boy we were introduced to at the beginning of the story.

Watching these transformation before my very eyes has been the greatest pleasure any author could ever offer me. If you read the first chapter of Solo Leveling and compare it to the latest, you will see two completely different people. This is an aspect that is missing in a lot of similar isekai and shounen reads. From start to finish, you end up with the same character. Sure, they went through some hardships and made friends along the way, but their character never developed any. Solo Leveling doesn't do that.

Each character, including the side characters, feel more dynamic and realistic. They are not bound to the will of their creator, but instead feel fluid, as if they were actual human beings, with their own wishes and wills. Each character feels deliberate and meaningful, rather than canon fodder or just some sort of device to keep the story going. I have found myself growing attached to each and every character Solo Leveling has offered. I cannot say this for a lot of other books out there.

I am truly invested into these characters. Each chapter has me on the edge of my seat, desperately waiting for more. In each chapter there is something new that keeps me wanting more. The only negative thing I can say is that the chapters come to an end. I can, and have, reread Solo Leveling time and time again. I can earnestly say it is one of the best things I've read in a very long time.

In the eyes of many, Solo Leveling has definitely been overhyped. This might ruin your overall experience with actually reading the story. If you fear that is the case, I will add this:

Solo Leveling is not for those who do not like the isekai genre, or an OP protagonist. This is not for those expecting the MC to have a harem of women by his side, or a gaggle of adoring fans. Solo Leveling has very little, if any, romance involved. Solo Leveling does **not** have an outstanding or awe-inspiring story or plot, in fact, these are some of it's weakest points. In the story and plot department, Solo Leveling is as predictable as anything can get, especially if you are well-versed in the realm of isekai. Don't go in expecting the holy grail of stories.

What Solo Leveling does have is beautiful fight scenes, realistic characters and character development, and overall enjoyment factor.

I will say, half of the reason I probably love Solo Leveling as much as I do, is because I have waited weekly for translated updates. If you are binge reading 100 chapters in one sitting, Solo Leveling might not be as impactful for you. As I think this is the case for most people who are reading SL because of the hype. Regardless, I definitely recommend this to those interested in the genre and looking for some beautiful art.

This is the one and only manga that I actually read through and finished (well it is ongoing but whatever).
After watching the anime I was basically rolling on the floor drooling for more. The setting, characters, all were so captivating. Not to mention all the Buddhist parallels and symbolism that is integrated into the plot and world. Will not discuss this here it would be way too long, but is is very interesting if anyone is curious.
The art is not the best but whatever.

In short the story is about what it means being human and the question of stagnation and suffering. If that peeked your interest, I'd recommend watching the anime first then reading the manga. Was totally worth it for me.

Throughout the time I read the manga (I haven't seen the anime. Is it good?), I was giddily bouncing in my seat and squealing. Yes, it evokes a deep sense of fangirlishness and, actually, suspense. A real page-turner.

Story: The plot is something I've never seen before. It is definitely my personal favorite, but if you want to do yourself a favor, stop after reading chapter 56-58. It gives you a sense of ending. After that, they introduce the new characters; L wannabe, Near, and chocoholic Mello. The plot gets a little tedious, and often I found myself wanting to skip through it.

Art: As far as I can tell, the art is pretty well drawn, though sometimes a bit sloppy.

Character: Not many people have noticed, but I have to wonder if the creators are misogynistic. All of the females portrayed are seen as weak and helpless - even dumb. For example, there's Misa, who will gladly give away her life for Light and is not so smart. Yuri, who was just being used for barely two chapters, Sayu Yagami, who was basically just used so Mello could kidnap her, the lady who was Raye Penber's fiancee, who is shown to be obviously in a more dominated side of the relationship, and though she was smart, was killed off soon enough.

Otherwise, I find everyone to be very lifelike.

Enjoyment: I enjoyed it very much; up until chapter 60. With that, it started up again (the plot) and it felt kind of forced - like fanfiction when the author had writer's block.

Overall: Overall...I find it very difficult not to give it a high score. Go read it. Now.

This is a criminally underrated manga and I'm not completely sure why. My guess would be that people don't like the art style, which is fair enough, but that's such a surface level criticism that I find hard to take seriously. I read another manga recently called Ningen Tokei, and although it isn't great, it still has its merits. Yet it has a 5.10 on MAL, just because of the art style.

I think anime and manga fans are a little spoiled. But I digress.

What makes this manga great? For one it is constantly engaging and exciting, its devilishly hilarious because of its dark and twisted sense of humor. Plus it just works as an over-the-top crime thriller. It's the kind of thing that Tarantino or the Coen Brother's would come up with if asked to write a manga.

Don't let the art or the low score scare you away, this one is a hilarious thrill-ride.

Time Paradox, one of the new manga coming from the new wave of Shounen Jump, being probably the most promising among them

Telling the story of Teppei Sasaki, who ends up receiving a Shounen Jump from the future ... This is strange, isn't it? This is bizarrely innovative, the people at Jump must have had the same reaction as the people who read the White Knight of the work itself, maybe it was inspired by that, right? hahah

The most positive point of the work I believe is the approach he takes on what makes a manga really good to be read by readers, which is not an easy task for the authors as the manga itself shows since it deals with everything they usually go through like: Blocking creativity, the fear of not making a work original enough to be appreciated or just constantly wondering if he did a really good work to the point of being in the magazine. It shouldn't be easy ...
Art does not have much to say, it is very standard but captivating enough for what the work proposes
The main characters are connected with the Time Travel factor, which is also what makes the work go. It can be a little worrisome for some people, as it is for me, since the level of works that have the theme Time Travel that are little explained and explored is quite large.
Overall, it is a good manga that will probably win anime in the future, as it is already making a big hit. At least for me, this success is deserved.

So, this manga was enjoyable for a short while, I thought it had potential and might be good for some laughs, but nope. I first read 15 chapters because at the time that was all that was out, the story seemed interesting at first: Dude finds himself in a new world, finds out a god cursed everyone and his only options of saving them is to either plow them all or kill that god.

Story: What I said just about sums it up thus far, the sex scenes were if i remember correctly far less forced in during the first 15 chapters, but after putting the series on hold for a good while and reading up to chapter 23 everything the story had going for it that I found interesting has been tossed out just about because the past several chapters focused *heavily* on sex scenes that didn't really further the plot in any way and only occasionally did stuff that furthered the plot. I feel this should be the other way around, this is essentially hentai currently because there is pretty much no plot to be had and constant sex scenes for the sake of having them.

Art: The art is the best part of this, it isn't awful. It is in my opinion slightly above average, so I gave it a 7. It's not particularly beautiful or anything, but it is high enough quality that I don't have to worry about eye injuries.

Characters: I gave the characters a 5 to be nice, if I were a professional critic they would probably be rated much lower closer to a 3 or a 2 to be honest. There is hardly any personality to the characters, the character with the most personality is the main character Youta and his can be summed up with "Shounen protag".

Enjoyment: It was enjoyable for a while, but now not so much. I am going to continue to read it for now in the hopes that it begins to focus on the plot more, but chapter 23 ends in a way that makes me think ch 24 is gonna be another sex filled chapter and maybe at the end some plot development. So, I gave this a 6 because while I am disappointed with it at the moment I did have some fun before and I am hoping it will focus on the story more once the mangaka (to put it politely) cools his jets.

Overall: I gave this series a 6 because as I said I did get some enjoyment out of it and the premise seems like it could've been better if he took another route with it, perhaps rather than specify they need to be plowed to be saved from the curse, it just skips to him trying to help them kill that god. But, the mangaka clearly wanted to make something with a lot of sex in it, so naturally he went the route that he did. I have hopes that the mangaka of Elfen Lied can redeem this series to some degree, but I'm not going to hold my breath for it at this point.

While anime was more focused on triangle love between Makoto, Sekai and Kotonoha, manga version did add some variety to it. Manga has decided to do something different that would actually please the audience: Give Makoto an actual character development. Unlike an anime version, we can see that he's not only focused on sexual relationship with every girl he encounters but is aware of his weaknesess. That thing said, I beleve it to be better than any other adaptations of the series. The story hasn't changed that much, but the author had to make it cramped a bit. It'll make you glued to those pages.

This series is one in the large wave of Konosuba rip-offs that emerged after the drastic success of that series. Unfortunately, it doesn't really seem that the author of 'Level up by Eating' had any actual plans for a story or characters, simply the motivation to make something to make money.

My issue with the series largely came down to the characters. The MC is completely uninteresting. His personality is template-typical, and he does nothing new or innovative other than become op by eating things and amassing skills. It does the 'skill collection' trope just like many other series have done, but it doesn't take the time nor the energy it needs to do anything satisfying or new with it. Most everything is forgotten shortly after use.

I may have just grown too old or too senile, but the female lead may even be worse than the MC. She is just an idiot character, which can be amazingly done, but that's really all she is. She doesn't seem even the slightest bit deeper than that.

As a really short ending note, I can't imagine anyone actually liking the comedy in this series. It's juvenile and cringeworthy.

I suggest this series if you want to read something that will feel like a waste of time.

This 4-koma is quite refreshing, it's a very good romcom. The plot and the progression is quite original too. Let me explain : you have MC that starts to work as a newbie in the company and his boss that is, obviously, older in the comapany. The story progresses quickly in time, in 15 chapters, 1 year will be spent. The manga uses this point to show us the little differences in MCs's relationship each years. The differences are tiny but you are happy to see them + even if it's tiny, it's a 4-koma so 15 chapters are fast to read compared to a normal manga.

The story is quite simple, it's a 4-koma, not a depth drama. You will have some daily things that MC and the boss do. Eating together, valentine's day, christmas, working etc... It could seems repetitive but as I say, each time, there will be a tiny difference in their relationship so it's not repetitive.

The characters are quite good, if not really good for a 4-koma. Of course MC and the boss are quite tense but not that much considering it's a 4-koma, it's not that annoying because everything is fast for us, readers. MC is kind and he thinks about everything, he's not a pervert that will be considered like one by the boss. That's a VERY good point because the author could have fallen into this sh*t to easily create more "stories". The cliche of the "ecchi" scenes for fanservice or the cliche where 95% of the stories are made around the breasts of the boss, that kind of sh*t. So even if MC does not seem to shine by his originality, he's better and more original than 85% of MC in romcom...

The boss is really good too. She's really kind and thoughtful. Once again, it's not the cliche of the big breasted boss with ecchi fanservice scenes who will scold MC for his perversion. She's smart and knows that her breasts create fantasm for a bunch of men but she knows that MC is not a perverted freak that is with her only for her breasts. She can be quite cute at some moments obviously.

Secondary characters make some appears there and there. Some are useful like the funny perverted fat boss who give precious advices, the MC's big sis who gives advices too. Others are not that useful but they are focused on a comedy point like MC's little sis, the perverted colleague etc... They will obviously not be appearing every chapters but it's a good change of "pace" when they come and sometimes they are funny. The author masters the balance where he needs to put some secondary characters in the story or not. You will not have them to focus the attention. I'd say it's 80% based on MC and the boss and the 20% remaining is for secondary characters.

Art is decent, you can see that the author knows how to draw the characters, it's just decent because the drawing are fast. It prioritises the quantity over the quality in this aspect. Of course it's a 4-koma so the choice is understandable.

Overall, it's a very good read, pleasant and light hearted which will please romcom fans. The more you read it, the more the chapters become interesting, I definitely recommend to give it a try for at least 20 chapters to know if it's your thing or not.

*Please beware of this manga mature sexual content*

Koibana Onsen, the place where love blossom, is a family run-inn by 3 sisters. To no surprise, it is a perfect atmosphere for a couple who just want to escape the world and express their love. It is filled with beautiful scenery, delicious food, and wonderful open air baths that just make the perfect mood. However, one day Akiyama Kazuhiro, after being dumped by his girlfriend and feeling bad on cancelling the reservations arrives at the inn. This is the first time a customer has come in without a partner, so the 3 sisters decides that they will try their best so he can have a good time like the other customers. After seeing how hard the girls worked, Akiyama decides to work there with them and help love blossom.

Story: 8/10
Koibana Onsen is an ecchi, slice of life romance type of manga. In the beginning, when Akiyama starts working there at the inn, it is filled with ecchi situations and some slight humor as he adjusts to get used to the inn. These somewhat standalone chapters are stories of the customers coming in and the different situations that love could create. Like two young lovers eloping or even a couple having their honeymoon. But as the story goes on, it becomes more focused on the romance. The transition from standalone ecchi chapters to more romance oriented chapters was done very well. The romance part of this manga does not simply focus on the romance between Akiyama and Nonoka, but also the supporting characters romance, like Moeka the youngest of the sister. The story at first may seem like a generic ecchi manga, but as you read on, you will find that it gives a pretty good love story.

Art: 6/10
The artwork of the story is pretty decent. The characters look alright, not much detailed put into them though. The variety of background characters is done pretty well since, each chapter has a new couple and they all look pretty well done and not repetitive.

Character: 8/10
The character development was truly well done in this manga. The love between Akiyama and Nonoka really does start off as a seed and slowly blooms to full love by the end of the series. The series does not only focus on Akiyama’s and Nonoka’s love, but also the love of the other characters too like Moeka, the youngest sister, and Fuuka, the oldest sister. So don’t be surprised by the lack of character development at first in the beginning of the manga, because as it goes on, the seed will slowly grow into a beautiful flower.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I thought that this manga was a pretty good manga. It was really ecchi, but ignoring that fact, it had a pretty good story line. The beginning started off as a nice slice of life, ecchi, comedy kind of feel that made it quite entertaining. Then it slowly becomes more focused on development and finally ends in a pretty good romance story.

Overall: 8/10
Overall Koibana Onesen is a pretty good ecchi/romance series. Since Koibana onsen is a place where love blooms, there is obviously a lot of loving going on there, so if you’re going to read this manga be prepared to see some pretty stimulating stuff. It has a decent storyline that goes at a nice pace, and does a superb job of slowly changing from a bunch of standalone chapters, with not much development, into chapters that is more focused on development. The transition happened so subtly that it was impossible to notice it. So if you’re looking for a nice read with decent plot and character development, Koibana Onsen should be good for you.