Snowy-Sebastian1

If you are even remotely into anime and/or manga, "One Piece" is definitely a series you have heard of. I could not stumble upon a person who said they disliked the series and as apart of the "Big Three," I knew it must be a pretty good watch/read. But, as many people seem to be, I was initially intimidated by the length of the story. But, deciding to gather some courage and free a lot of my time, I began to read. Now, I am extremely grateful for my determination.

Eiichiro Oda has done an amazing job creating the world that "One Piece" is set in. For as many characters as there are, each one of them is unique and interesting. The Straw Hats are shown to be strong and a force to be reckoned with, but the villains are actually intimidating and a real threat to the main cast. It is amazing that a story that has been running for over 20 years has remained as great as it was when it began.

Solo Leveling is safe to say a gamers dream. I had many doubts when my brother recommended this to me but within the first 30 minutes I could not stop reading. The premise is bout your below average MC tryna make it big in the world full of 'hunters". These hunters are task to raid dungeons fight monsters and etc. The stronger the hunter the higher rank. Our MC is the lowest rank thus making him the weakest hunter. How he gets to the top is what this whole show is about.

Story wise I feel as though solo leveling was good. I mean its nothing out of this world and does have your typical manhwa OP character level ups. However if you enjoy this then its definitely for you. If you don't then don't read it. Besides if there is a sequel i'm curious to see where the story is going as well as how good the world building is within that sequel. For the most part solo leveling did a really good job with world building. My only complaint is how they kinda copied hunter x hunter in a way. While not necessarily a complaint I thought it was kinda funny how they did it.
Story- 8/10

Not gonna say much about manhwa art. The fact that it is all colored makes it even better. For the most part its flashy has good style and every character looks and feels different. Not to mention the amazing fight scenes, power ups, attention to detail and did i mention the character designs? Guys this is art and its beautiful.
Art- 9/10

Characters in solo leveling. Where do I start? Our MC is pretty freaking amazing. Not gonna lie while he does start of weak how he develops as the story progresses was done pretty well. There is a reason its called solo leveling. While he does get help its all other his own powers. Side characters on the other hand i kinda feel this is the weak part of the whole series. For one I kinda feel S rank hunters are the only things to look forward to in this show everyone else is kinda meh. On a side note the characters aren't bad but do lack depth in a sense. Im only giving this an 8 cause they wrote a pretty good MC.
Characters- 8/10

One word badassery
Enjoyment- 10/10

A lot of better things to read if you want a deep story, deeper characters, slightly better art. But i'm gonna put opinion up there this is amazing. I'm into badass stories this one is up there. Just go in there and keep the mind simple it won't be simple once you come out. Solo leveling is superb.
Overall- 10/10

One of the best stories I've read so far. It really hooked me with the protagonists' and the whole world's conflicts. It could just make me cry. Saying this is an over hyped manga/anime won't degrade the quality of its content. Would go down as a legendary manga.

The story never lacks exciting parts. It sows seeds of secrets and then reveals itself in the latter chapters. You're missing out a lot if you don't read. It's hard telling my friends the story because I can't help but include spoilers so If I were you, I'd one up as a normie/otaku and get over the stress of the SnK story being spoiled.

Shingeki no Kyojin presents a new world with kinda doing allusion with world's problems that connects the viewers and the characters. Also did a great job creating a world with a system that seems plausible and realistic.

One Piece... is just one decades long shonen battling series among others. Who likes what best and others not that much is a matter of opinion but saying that One Piece somehow objectively shines above all others is just masqueraded fanboyism.

Story? It is stupid IMHO. The main hero Luffy just one day decides without any real reason that he's gonna become the KING OF PIRATES and be the person to find the mythical treasure One Piece that countless others have tried in the past and present. Yes he has a special power, but so do many others and I'm sure he couldn't be fully unaware about that. So how can he be so confident in himself? Making the character 'stupid' is not an excuse for poor character development IMHO. Which in turn is no excuse for a simplistic plot.

After the average beginning the series goes totally downhill. Nowadays, it is too focused in inventing new sidequests after another, new islands after another, new strange powers after another so that the main story progresses nowhere in even a hundred chapters. Also every story arc is more and more comedy and less substance, which i suppose is the main reason why One Piece is slightly more popular than Naruto or Bleach, which may take themselves too seriously. But I for one like seriousness... So...

Most characters rely only on their personality disorders with doing things, and their role in the series becomes clear immediately when they're introduced. And it barely ever changes. Nothing surprising ever happens character-development-wise. Even the cowardly Usopp's henshin into somewhat more heroic SogeKing totally fits his tendency to put up blatant lie shows so it's not real development. Side-characters likewise consist only of their 1) design 2) powers 3) a quirk or few.

The battles are IMHO duller than those in Naruto or Bleach. This is partly because the decisive move is usually something unbelievably weird stunt that only a person living in a quixotic world after watching too much comedy shows in a marathon would think of pulling out. Another reason is the concept of Devil Fruits which I liked and found having much potential. This potential however is wasted because some of the characters also have superhuman strength the origin of which is never explained, and their strength builds up linearly as the series progresses, and hence a character without Devil Fruit powers can be as strong as one having them, and a character with the powers can be much stronger or weaker physically than another user. This is stupid, and very generic.

Also some people claim it's objectively better that there's no knowing beforehand how two of the powers will do against each other. I think it's just a matter of taste, and like said above, even the potential for this to be really interesting is wasted, because the Fruit powers play only a little role in the grand scale. If a character loses Devil Fruit -wise they still can win by physical strength, and almost always do so. There simply is never the same kind of 'gaming' experience or excitement you find in the tournament arcs of some other shonen series, and good grief One Piece doesn't have one, it would be too boring for me to continue.

The only reason I gave it overall score that is "bad" instead of "average" is because there weren't any before, unlike with Naruto or Bleach which have many. It's not unreadable if you like series like it, but originality-wise it's definitely 1 like Naruto and Bleach.

I read 75% of the first volume before i dropped this novel . I must say that the concept was interesting and i liked the first part of the novel , but , as the story progressed it became a mess . First off , the characters are poorly described , the only one i managed to get an idea of his looks and personality was Daiya , all the others were pretty blank .
The main characters act irrationally , only after 20.000 replays (54 years) of the same day they get a deep conversation . They almost never leave the school and even who is responsible for the loop does nothing at all for 70 years . The story has some completly arbitrary twists and turns that the author randomly put here and there that almost never make sense .
I could rant more about how bad the story is and how little sense the action of the characters make or how poor the world building is but i won't bother .
I read this only because of how high the score was here ( 8.9 ) and i can't belive how bad this was . It's by far the lowest rating i ever used for a review and i think it's deserved .

So this Manga starts off absolutely Amazing and is thoroughly incredible throughout about 900 or so chapters. EVERYTHING AFTER THAT IS ABSOLUTE TRASH PLS DON'T READ IT I AM DOING YOU THE GREATEST FAVOR. This manga is as bad if not worse than the way Fairy Tail went out towards the end and i do not make that statement lightly. Essentially what i mean by this is the whole entire last arc is the worst thing to ever grace the medium that is manga. Ippo our MC goes on a large training montage and road to redemption which is all great and dandy but after that man......after that i can't even say without raging. Its bad guys, real bad. Like so bad i feel like my best friend of 18 years stabbed me in the back and stole my wife from me (if i knew what that was like i imagine it'd be the same feeling as this). Just dont read this after around Chapter 900 or you might break your laptop in anger and disappointment as so many other people have. Specifically chapters 1199-1202. Skip those or risk my voice in the back of your head saying "I told you so". Unfortunately this is just a Manga that went through the all too classic downfall of having gone on for too many chapters and eventually lost everything that made it so great from the start. After all 1200+ chapters is quite a lot and this was almost to be expected but just the way this manga falls apart is heartbreaking.

What to say about Pupa? It's dark. Depressing. Brutal. Revolting, no doubt (as you can probably draw from the summary). It doesn't hold back in showing the suffering between our two protagonists, as they are thrown into a world of chaos, and left to fend for themselves.

Before we continue, let me clear up some misconceptions about this manga that you might have:

- Yes, the relationship between the main characters is unusual for siblings, but not to the point of fanservice-y, exaggerated sister/brother complexes. Their relationship is justified by their horrific past (which I won't elaborate on for this review's sake). I'd actually consider it to be almost symbiotic. Neither can live without the other, as they've been left with no one else to depend on for so long.

- Yes, it contains cannibalism. Well, if you can consider the monster-like form that the infected take on to be even remotely human. (There is a scene where you see a human eating another, though it's not as explicit as you'd think). This manga doesn't shy away from drawing the gut-feasting scenes either.

And now, let's talk about the plot. Infectious, man-eating disease? Been there, done that. As the name implies, it transforms those afflicted with the Butterfly Virus into a horrific, butterfly pupa-like being that craves for human flesh. Our two protagonists are thrown into this confusing world of the Butterfly Virus, and the story follows them on their struggle to become normal again. Various mysterious, underground organizations dedicated to the research of this virus become involved, and our protagonists are left to find out just who - or what- they can rely on.

As I've noted earlier, the art in the more suspenseful scenes is very detailed and horrifically gory. You'll see human guts spilling out, heads blown off, eyeballs plucked out…you get the idea. The expressions of horror and malevolence on the character's faces are also well drawn - you can really get a foreboding, "oh crap!" sentiment from it.

The art in the more normal scenes is an almost sudden contrast to all this. For the most part the almost cutesy appearance of the characters - namely, our female lead (the sister) - will throw you off. I find that it gives it a greater shock factor though, because soon you'll be seeing these poor innocent kids go through absolute hell.



Conclusion:

Basically, you'll need a strong stomach and an open mind to read this. I've found myself cringing as I try to imagine how much pain - both physical and mental - our poor protagonists are experiencing as they strive for a better, normal life while putting their horrific past behind them.

While approaching the end of the second chapter, I've found that the story seems to be headed towards a very generic, predictable path. I can't say I've been amazed by the plot, despite the shocking but revolting gory scenes. I'm always left expecting both of the characters to "man up" or at least attempt to fight back against the antagonists. To me, they just seem like the punching bag that functions as the source of "shock" and "horror" - and that's what makes Pupa just another generic horror manga.


As a horror manga, I wouldn't say that it's so frightening that I'd call it nightmare fuel, but if a depressing, merciless story chock full of slimy bits and gore is what you're craving - go for it.

As the first person to review this title, but to say the least...so far this one is disturbing. A VERY DARK AND SUFFOCATING FEELING through-out reading just vol. 1. Currently having to 'hold it' for a later read, but will make myself continue and add more details to this review.

This will be similar to my preliminary anime review because of recency bias.
Story - 3
The story is the premise and that's it. It's a great, fun premise so I'm not complaining. I've given it a low score because there isn't enough to call a story, and the events - at least initially - don't clearly occur in any particular order.
After some chapters, something unexpected happens in the story - which is quite enjoyable. During it and afterward, the events do clearly happen in order.
Art - 10
The art is great. It's one of the best parts. In particular, I like how for all chapters, it is monochrome in the first pages, and then it's myrichrome (myriad) in the main page. The contrast really adds to the enjoyment.
Enjoyment - 10
I've sung it enough praises in the art section, I can't muster up any more.
Overall - 10
For a work in the short format, this is amazing.

You know, a lot of anime and manga out there get shafted because of very limiting and unreasonably universal standards people apply to them. Everything must have some kind of unique story or characters simply must be developed to the point you know everything about them. Those are standards that give no chances to smaller and eccentric titles focused on new experience and adventure which I like quite a lot. Titles like STONe. Now for the actual review that explains why despite the intro I rate this 5/10.

Art: hands down the strongest point of this worn. The visuals do an excellent job of bit by bit introducing you to a bizarre post-apocalyptic world filled with the ocean of sand (that everyone can still swim in) as well as hideous creatures living below and above it (get it? I just called humans hideous creatures cause they do bad stuff here, poetic).
There are small style inconsistencies like there are a few super detailed old people whose wrinkled faces can take up nearly entire page yet everyone else is done in more stylized yet still detailed style with only main heroine sticking out like a sore, cartoony ass thumb.
Ship designs are in particular interesting cause it's a mix of sci-fi, pirates and horror of all things. I won't spoil the fun of seeing it for the first time so I'll just say expect some neat little references even if they are not at all subtle.
Overall the look of this manga is sketchy and unique with refreshing creativity.

Story: STONe is a pretty bare bones adventure story about a young girl with shady heritage getting exiled from a religious cult and using it as opportunity to look for her parents by sailing through sand ocean to the fabled "lost continent". If I added a few more sentences it would be a plot summary rather than synopsis. STONe is rather light on story and characters but it doesn't really claim to be anything more than a simple adventure which is why I think it's only fair to judge it as one.
And it fails as one. The hook is interesting enough and then you see the monstrous sand whales, weird tribe living on a destroyed aircraft carrier with their own interesting traditions and rituals. It's good enough to pull someone in. Then you meet the pirates, ruthless empire assholes with horror themed ships and crustacean army that looks a bit similar to enclave from fallout. Sounds fun, isn't it? Then you find out there's some genetically engineered race of humans designed to resurrect humanity and then there's an all out battle between empirr and pirates who have a ship that turns into a skeleton that fires a giant death cannon. Adventures thrive on constant barrage of excitement like this but then after all this there's an abrupt end that leaves what little plot threads there were unresolved and adventure unfinished.
In my opinion build up isn't worth shit when it doesn't lead to anything worthwhile so that leaves STONe to be little more than a collection of cool drawings.

Fun factor: I had decent enjoyment right until the end but if manga wasn't a dear hobby of mine I wouldn't consider reading this. If however the description above sparked something in you it should be worth a read, it's only two volumes and cool things are cool.