Netbug9

Frequently categorized with both Bleach and Naruto as one of the Shonen Big Three, One Piece is a romantic tale of pirates, treasures ...talking reindeer, panties, flying skeletons, Takoyaki selling Octopuses, and oceans roaming with Sea Monsters the size of which can take down fleets of ships. Crazy enough for you? This is the world of One Piece.

Being categorized with Bleach and Naruto, on the surface this might strike an unfamiliar reader as another generic uncreative Shonen series; but truthfully, comparing One Piece to Bleach and Naruto would be like comparing Disney World to an elementary school playground. If these three series are the big three, then One Piece would be the boss sitting on a lavish chair smoking a cigarette, while Bleach and Naruto would be the two henchmen standing side by side of the boss and nodding at everything he says.

Story:

Set during the Golden Age of Pirates, the story follows Monkey D Luffy as he sets sail with his crew to conquer the sea which is inhabited by formidable pirates who all aim to become the Pirate King, the Grand Line and claim the treasures of 'One Piece' left by the late Pirate King, Gol D Roger.

Of course the goal of being Pirate King really is just a loose objective set forward that eventually throws Luffy and his shipmates into a giant boiling pot full of problems and adventures. What's special about this story is that it takes the most run-of-the-mill concepts and turns it into something fantastic and exciting. The concept of traveling from drastically different locations after locations is filled with endlessly creative characters and creatures that sets it apart from ever being dull, as opposed to say, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle where traveling to new worlds is a borefest and you can only hope the next world is interesting, and well if it's not ...have fun reading an entire arc on that filled with recycled characters.

The main plot device used in One Piece are the Devil Fruits, which grant anyone that eats them inhuman powers though at the deadly price of sinking like an anchor in the water; here the strange irony being that this is a series about pirates constantly on water. What makes this concept actually interesting is that every fruit has a different power and no two powers are the same, and Oda's endless imagination to come up with strange and hilarious powers. Above that, what makes this concept better than say, Bankai's or Kekkei Genkai's, is that you never know how two powers match up, so the weakest Devil Fruit powers in the current arc could very well be the key factor to winning a battle in the next, in that way, none of the characters ever seem so overpowered that they can completely destroy the other characters and it certainly adds an air of suspension and excitement to the battles that you wouldn't find in something like Sasuke vs. Konohamaru.

The story of One Piece may be simple and often straight out silly at times, but if you read deep enough, you'll realize that oftentimes the stories are much deeper and well-crafted than you would think they are, from the spark of a rebellion through misunderstandings to the questioning of an unfair God, One Piece can often surprise you through the story. One of the great things about One Piece when it comes to the story is that it's unpredictable, you never know where a fight is going, what's going to happen to the characters, who's going to win and who's going to turn out to be a good guy and who's going to be a bad guy, it's this element that makes everything that happens so intriguing and an extremely fun read.

Another well-done part of the story is that the stories of the characters are all intertwined so that it doesn't seem like the only thing holding all these characters together is through the main protagonist, the main antagonist of one arc may very well know the supporting ally of the next, and that just contributes to a more interesting read. Another strong point of the story is that Oda isn't afraid to bring back old characters, be it enemies or comical side characters and villains, they aren't just cut out of the story once their arc is over, they come back, some as allies and friends, this, in a sense, really fleshes out the One Piece world and makes the reader feel that the world does not revolve around The Straw Hat Pirates, but instead, the pirates of the Grand Line, all in all, it adds a sense of dimension to the story and makes it feel not as linear as it could be in the hands of a less skilled mangaka.

But what ultimately makes the story of One Piece so grand and exciting is thanks to two major components: 1) the emotional depth, and 2), Oda's masterful storytelling. The emotional depth in this series is amazing and can oftentimes leave one speechless, from the simple departure of a character to join the Straw Hats to the rescue of a friend in need, it's not emotionally complex ...it's just plain raw emotion of wanting to be loved or the sadness of losing a friend yet it achieves such a level of pure emotion and excitement that the likes of Bleach and Naruto can only dream of achieving. Now the second component that makes One Piece great is how Oda tells the story, he can build up the story to the point where you can feel the urgency, the sense of despair, and the feeling of something great happening. He creates cliffhangers, yet never makes it irritatingly frustrating, he inserts flashbacks, yet they never feel out of place or annoying to read, and the way he builds up the fights is just, for the lack of better worlds, epic. People say Gurren Lagann is exciting, well I'd like to see those TTGL fans have a taste of what it feels as the Straw Hats infiltrate Enies Lobby or when The Eleven Supernovas gather at Sabaody Archipelago.

Combine this with the perfect blend of humor (this manga is absolutely hilarious) and the sheer creativity of Oda and you got yourself an adventure of unequaled proportions.

Art:

The bad thing with the art is that Oda's action sequences are so fast-paced and ambitious that it often times becomes muddled and a bit too messy; it gets hard to tell what's happening in these fight scenes and it takes a bit of imagination to understand what Oda is trying to do with these fight scenes, or else they come off rather cheesy at times, such as Luffy's Gomu Gomu no Gatling or Zoro's Kiki Kyūtōryū: Ashura.

The good on the other hand outweigh the bad of the art through the creative character designs that Oda just never seems to run out of, even if it's a character that appears in one panel and may never show up again, the utmost attention is given to his/her design so they never appear out of place compared to the other crazy designs he gives his characters. From the Okama Mr. 2 to the CP9 crew, the characters are all so different in appearance, size, and demeanor, it's hard to imagine how Oda keeps up. The sheer variability of the Straw Hat crew itself is a primary example of what a creative mangaka Oda is, as opposed to the recycled designs of his peers, Kishimoto and Kubo. Be it skeleton, reindeer, cyborg or witch, anyone and everyone is a likely candidate for the Straw Hat crew.

Aside from character designs, Oda really make the scenes feel cinematic and exciting, the tension and the sheer majestic and romantic quality of the adventure of the Straw Hats would never be fantastic without Oda's use of great art, from the crew getting ready to bombard Arlong Park to the storming of Enies Lobby, the examples go on. In short, Oda really knows how to pump you up through his art.

Lastly, the exaggerated expressions sometimes are just downright hilarious. I swear I laughed my ass off for at least five minutes when Enel made that huge WTF face after confronting Luffy.

Character:

This is where One Piece is particularly strong in, and where this series shine at its greatest. One Piece's cast is colorful, hilarious, and unpredictable. Currently, the Straw Hat crew consists of a rubber man, a pirate hunting pirate, a thief, a long nosed sniper, a womanizing cook, a transforming reindeer, a "witch", a cyborg that doesn't wear pants, and a walking skeleton.

Yep.

Each character is unique, and when you throw a bunch like them together, the chemistry and interaction between the Straw Hat crew is comedic gold. And while they are almost always fooling around, each Straw Hat member has their own back stories that truly make them much deeper than what they appear to be at first. Brook is not just a joke character for variety, Nami is not just there to act like the straight man, Luffy isn't always a senseless fool, and Robin isn't just there to act like a damsel in distress (okay maybe she is ...kidding). The thing that needs to be pointed out is that the Straw Hat crew is a complex cast that is often much deeper than meets the eye.

Outside the crew, both the friends the Straw Hat meet and the villains they confront are so freshly colorful and original, it never gets boring. The Shichibukai are just a perfect example of the variety of the One Piece cast, as well as CP9 and of course, Baroque Works. I would say it's pretty hard to find another cast so distinctive and creative as One Piece's. Of course the Devil Fruits certainly help in bringing the characters to life.

Like previously mentioned, a strong point of the characters is how connected they are. The connections between characters are complex and can get pretty surprising sometimes. Who may appear as an old man could very well be friends with the former Pirate King and that whale that you saw at that mountain? Oh he's related to a guy you'll meet up with in a couple of hundred chapters. Some authors pull this kind of stuff out of nowhere (see: Kishimoto), but Oda plans out these kind of relations so intricately and carefully, you can't help but be impressed.

Are there weak points to the characters? Certainly, there's a storyline that seems awfully repeated for the female crew-members of the Straw Hats, but the scale of the story is so big, that in the end, it doesn't matter that much and that one little slip-up never seemed like a big deal to begin with.

Enjoyment:

This is the most enjoyable manga I have ever read. It's an absolute pleasure to read. Are there dull parts? At the beginning of every arc, there is always some exposition to be done, but once things enter full swing (and that is rather fast), damn, the chapters fly by in the hundreds, this is crack in manga form. If you want to know, I have spent entire days reading One Piece, that is how addicting this stuff is. With One Piece breaking records in sales in Japan, I think it speaks for itself when it comes to enjoyment.

Overall:

One Piece is my favorite manga. Period. The story is such a grand and epic adventure, with each arc topping the previous; the characters are so tear-inducingly hilarious, and the art is so cinematic and exciting, One Piece is without the doubt, the greatest Shonen manga I've ever had the pleasure of reading, and I doubt it will be topped anytime soon, if ever, as my favorite manga series. Cheers to Oda for creating this Shonen masterpiece, and may he continue to keep on going, One Piece is a manga that I love and hope to read for many many many years to come.

Yohohoho a pirate's life for me~

This is my first review (sorry for my bad english)

When I began to read the manga (and it was about 4 months ago), the story immediately captured me, I sat and read for two weeks until I read 101 chapters, now every month I waiting for a new chapter.

Events are incredible, chapter goes only once a month, and is plagued by fans themselves: "What will happen next?", The plot is simply stunning, and with each chapter becoming more interesting. This manga will end soon, but probably for the better,I do not want FMA to become 400 serial shounen.

Drawing is very simple, you should not strain your eyes to some strange details, everything is pretty understandable.

I think this is one of the best shounen ever. ^_______^

One of my top rated manga, it has an uncommon and interesting story, due to the mysterious vibes it gives off mostly because of the lack of background information. (There are many clues around the series which i personally think that they are currently in a post apocalyptic earth whose humans 'dissapeared')

Character
Although, the change of personality because of a traumatic experience is similar to other mangas such as Tokyo Ghoul. The main character of Houseki no Kuni whose name is Phos has a particular character development that differs from them. Maybe it is probably because of her/his lack of perception and the ways she/he tries to achieve her goals.

Overall
Aside from the character development and the unique story, I think this manga also provides a nice food for thought because of the philosophical chats about relationship, growth and others which I appreciate.
However, a negative aspect of this manga is the amount of time it takes to release a new chapter.[T_T]

You have seen 55 episodes of Akatsuki no Yona
Your Review:
Akatsuki no Yona is one of my all time favorite mangas so far even though when I first picked it up my immediate thought was “this is sooo shoujo.” At first sight it basically looks like the typical manga full of lovey dovey scenes, bishounens and pretty and spoiled princesses who need constant protection from the bad guys, but I am SO pleased I was wrong.

Story 9/10

The idea is not that new to be honest, when I picked this up I had already read similar stories from Watase Yuu- sensei (Fuushigi Yuugi and Fuushigi Yuugi: Genbu Kaiden) where there was the same atmosphere feel: political intrigues involving royalty, the heroines must travel around the country looking for her destined warriors.. but I never get bored of these kind of stories because there’s so much going on: politics, war, friendship, love, loyalty, drama, adventure.. This story has all my favorite ingredients and is very well told so far, with a good pace that allows proper character development and interesting subplots. It has also very funny moments, so it’s all good.

Art 10/10

It’s brilliant, clean, and the mangaka seems to be able to draw just about anything and I’m really really picky when it comes to art.

Characters 10/10

As I said at the start of this review, when I first picked Akatsuki no Yona I thought it was crawling with clichéd characters which I would end up getting fed up with, but it was a delightful surprise to find out that every single main character is consistenly growing and changing as the events of the story develop (and I must say I love the direction they’re taking.)

It’s not your usual heroine or your usual love triangle and that’s a breath of fresh air and it effectively grabs your attention.

Enjoyment 10/10

I’ve been following this manga for about 2 years now and I must say that it’s been one of the most enjoyable mangas for me to read. When I started to read it I simply couldn’t put it down until I read every single published page and I’m really glad that the anime is just as fun.

Overall 10/10

I highly recommend it! You can be shoujo fan or not, in which ever case I think you’ll enjoy it (especially after chapter 2 haha)

Thanks for reading my review and I hope you enjoy this manga as much as I do!

One Punch Man is a superhero comic, a genre I've never really got on with. Thankfully One Punch Man falls into that category of superhero comic that fully realises how silly the whole superhero idea is. It tells the story of Saitama, a man who trained so hard at becoming a superhero that he became really strong. So strong that he ends every single fight in a single punch.

The central joke to One Punch Man is that Saitama is so powerful that he's bored. Nothing poses a threat to him anymore so he just sort of wanders through life in a mild unimpressed sulk. He shows up on the scene of the crime a little bit late because sure what's the rush anyway, listens to the villain blabber on about how they are the strongest for a bit, before eventually getting tired of that and punching them through the nearest wall.

Just having Saitama show up and punch dudes in the face would get old pretty quickly. What makes it click as a joke is how unassuming he is. His superpower didn't come from magical beings or being rich or anything. He just did lots of push-ups and sit-ups. He's a bit of a loser really. His superhero costume is a yellow jumpsuit and red kitchen gloves. He looks like a man play-acting superhero, which is kind of what he is doing. Plus he just looks silly, with his blank bored expression and bald head, which is why it's just inherently funny to see him surprise these superpowered hyper-evolved beings with that big dopey face of his and immense strength.

That's...sort of it. For something that has been getting as much praise heaped on it as One Punch Man has, I'm surprised at how little there was to it. It feels like a Saturday morning kids cartoon, having more in common with Powerpuff Girls than anything else. Not a bad thing, but still rather shallow and hard to get invested in. It's difficult to care about anything that happens when there's no tension. Because Saitama is so ridiculously overpowered, none of the fights have any doubt about what the final result will be. The author tried to introduce some challenge for Saitama to overcome by introducing the superhero levelling system, but Saitama is so lackadaisical about life that if he can't bring himself to really care about events, then neither can I.

There's only 3 volumes out at time of writing, but you'll breeze through that in barely more than an hour. There's very little dialogue and most of the jokes are visual anyway. The artwork is pretty great. The over-designed villains and other superheroes fit with the theme the story is going for. Everyone else looks like majestic beings of frightening power and destruction, while Saitama just looks like some prat in his pajamas. But it does have a tendency to get repetitive. Yes it was hilarious the first time 10 pages in a row were double spreads of the camera swooping around Saitama as his enemy encircled him. But repeat that once every few chapters and it loses its effect. There was one chapter that consisted almost entirely of the cyborg character doing a transformation sequence on his arm to unleash its super charger laser. I appreciate the sentiment of over-dramatising what everyone does, but it loses its effect when you do it too often.

One Punch Man is very easy to like, but its shallowness and speed at which you'll fly through it makes it feel like real throwaway entertainment. The only thing that really stuck with me is the burning question of what would happen in Saitama punched himself in the face.

Bone Collection is a relatively new manga (at the time of writing), and it proves to be a promising one. At first, I was not that interested in it and had my doubts about it because it is being published in Shonen Jump alongside another yokai manga called Ayakashi Triangle, which isn't very good, in my opnion.

Nevertheless, I gave it a chance and boy oh boy is it good! The story is very fun, the art is pretty good, the characters are quite simple, but overall it's quite an enjoyable story that you should definitely give a try.

The story is that there are beings called yokai in the world, and there are being called exorcists who need to kill those yokai. How this manga surprises you in the beginning is by giving us the two options to become an exorcist. Either by being born into a family or by getting good grades in school. Normally a shounen protagonist would be the one getting grades and rising to the top, in an underdog fashion, but instead the twist we get is that the protagonist is born into a good family but instead has no powers.
Then we get to see a girl fall from the sky and turns out she's the yokai queen and the protagonist takes her power to turn into a real powerful being.

Overall the story is pretty good and you should definitely give it a chance.

If you've ever wanted to read a manga about a young otaku in highschool with no social life getting powers from a girl from hell who is collecting a resource that comes from the negative aspects of girls' lives and the otaku must assist her by solving their emotional issues and gather this resource or else he'll suffer extreme physical harm, with each girl being tossed aside after being "conquered", have I ever got the manga for you:

Kami Nomi Zo Shiru Sekai.

Oh and also this blatant derivative which isn't quite as good but holds up alright.

To highlight the quick differences: Kaminomi is romance. This is Ecchi BDSM. Both focus on the emotional stories, but Kaminomi focuses more on real world issues like depression whereas this focuses on traumas that led to girls becoming "bad girls" and criminals. As such, kaminomi has the edge in terms of realism (heh) and relatable stories, whereas this one is more ecchi. Neither abandon story, but Kaminomi is definitely better. Meanwhile in terms of art, they are both great.

Kaminomi wins in terms of characters as well; having to make the villains clearly bad girls immediately after you meet them hurts Oshioki considerably, as the introduction of all the characters is very black and white before it gets into their root problems later on. Pacing in Oshioki is also an issue; it has been quite fast so far with not enough time devoted to the investigation part wherein he discovers the problems; instead it opts for a more mystery-novel-like "tada!" moment wherein he exposes it to the audience.

All in all, if you haven't read Kami Nomi, read that. If you have, this is a worse version, but considering Kami Nomi is a manga I'd give a 9/10 to, that's not saying a ton, and I'd still recommend this, assuming you can stomach over the top ecchi fanservice.

Where do I begin? This title is very famous for its erotic visual novel version as well as its anime one, due to the fact they have great artwork. The manga follows suit, as the characters and scenes are superbly drawn. Since you have probably seen, or at least heard of, the anime version, I will be mentioning some comparison points later in this review, but I will still treat this as a stand-alone one.

The story follows Itou Makoto, a boy who started noticing a beautiful girl commuting with him to and from school. Her name is Katsura Kotonoha, she likes reading books, and she goes to a different class. After hearing about a charm, that if one takes a picture of the person he/she likes, put it as wallpaper on one's cellphone, and keeps it hidden for three weeks, his/her love will come true, Makoto does the first steps, but is discovered too soon. Enter Saionji Sekai, Itou's energetic classmate. She finds out about the photo, and while initially threatening to give Makoto away, she decides to help him get together with Kotonoha. However, why is Sekai helping Makoto? Is there something she hides?

That is the premise, which is also undertaken by the anime version of School Days, and this is where I will get into my comparison points. First of all, this, the manga version, is definitely not ecchi, where there is no fan-service, unlike the anime one. It concentrates more on the love triangle, not the anime's love polygon. Itou Makoto, the protagonist, genuinely cares for the heroines in the manga, making him a more likeable person, whereas in the anime he, well, cares for other things. Also, his friend from middle school, Katou Otome, is noticeably not even mentioned in the manga (she just has a cameo), while in the anime she plays a major role (she breaks the three-way relationship), and could be considered to be on equal footing with the other two heroines (refer to Valentine Days). Finally, the question often asked by those who have finished the anime is, "does the manga end the same way?" The anime has a dark ending that is shocking for those who have not played or heard of the game version, which contains quite a few similar endings. To answer that question in a non-spoiler manner, yes, the manga's ending does technically differ from its anime counterpart (if you are a Sekai fan, you may want to see this one), but it still contains a similar atmosphere, albeit less gory.

To sum up, as I mentioned, the artwork is amazing; the story flows smoothly with wonderful romantic/dramatic scenes; and if it were not for the final two chapters, I would have given School Days a perfect score. This beautiful story is right for you if you like comedy, drama, romance, love triangles, and a short-lived (literally) high-school life with an unexpected twist. Oh, and hot girls. ;)

first of all this manga is not fully translated and might not get translated anytime soon.

story - wimpy loser mc miraculously finds a gorgeous girl,both ends up living together in same room and generic romantic drama follows.

art- this manga is by my fav hentai mangaka so obviously it has quite a lot high quality ecchi scenes, the characters are beautifully drawn and the all the ecchi scenes are top class level.

Character - the main girl is a kinda tsunadre but not rude or mean or anything shes is average, our main guy is a pervert which at least is better than having a dense mc. All other side characters are also in no way generic.

Enjoyment- boner? check, finished manga in a single sitting...intriguing? check

8/10

Uhhhhhhh. I don't know where to start with this one. Not being a massive Metroid fan (only having played Zero Mission and a bit of Prime) I don't think I should really review this given the deep and involving lore that this epic requires knowledge of. (obvious sarcasm is obvious).

Story:
The story follows every Doujinshi artists favorite bounty hunter, Samus Aran as she does stuff or something. Okay, there is no story. It's just a bunch of lame jokes revolving around Samus's love for round things (no, I'm not going to make a joke cause that's too easy), and when I say lame, I mean 46 year old dad joke lame. They're really that bad. These honestly seem like strips you'd get with a capsule toy or bubble gum or something so you can't exactly ask for Evangelion.

Art:
The art is actually quite good. It takes on a very cutesy look and OHMYGARD, SAMUS IS ADORABLE IN THIS!!!!!! It takes a very clean simple look that just looks really cute and combined with the bad jokes actually make this really charming

Character:
Who can forget such great characters such as scientist #1, Scientist #2, and last and certainly least, Scientist # 3 and who said Samus. Remember how Samus is supposed to be this broken soul who's few allies have met death so she secludes herself as to never be hurt again which along with PTSD caused by the memories of her parents being murdered in front of her have turned her into nothing but a shell of a human who lacks the capability to express even basic emotions. Well, forget that. Now she's just a ditz who loves round things.

Enjoyment:
GOD WHY!!!!!!!

Overall:
I guess if you like Metroid
"8/8 m8"-IGN