BluePikmin111

WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD FOR BOTH THE MANGA AND ANIME!

Instead of doing the typical pros and cons lists, instead I think it's better to just compare the things I liked and didn't like about the manga with what I liked and didn't like about the anime.

To start things off, I saw the anime first, so I am admittedly more partial to it. Despite this, the manga I would say was just as good. The two follow essentially the same story, only differing in a couple minor points and the ending which I will touch upon later.

As for the manga, it did one thing that in hindsight was a pretty stupid plot point in the anime that didn't need be there, and omitted it (or rather the anime unnecessarily added it in.) That being the mentioning of L and Naomi's former colleagueship. The fact that the manga didn't include this made the brilliant, but admittedly, already confusing plot that much less confusing.

My one main gripe about the manga comes in the form of how L's death is handled. It just came out of nowhere and didn't give the reader any time to really feel the impact of it. As cheesy as the foot-washing scene in the anime was, it did give the audience a reminder of L and Light's supposed friendship after a long period of seeing them interact as business partners. While I do think the manga does a much better job of making it's biggest surprise that much more surprising, it lacks the emotional weight that made that part so powerful in the anime.

I really liked the way the manga ended....well.... sort of. The added epilogue of Aizawa and Matsuda conversing about previous events on their way to helping Near with another case was a very nice addition and led to a very satisfying conclusion to these characters. The way the manga ends, also, with the reveal of a secret Kira worshipping cult, I thought was brilliant. The only thing I liked better about the anime was the implication if Misa's death. Granted, they don't mention anything about it in the anime, but in the manga they don't even bother to trying close the arc of her eminent death caused by trading the eyes twice.

Anyways, this was still a great read. It made me appreciate the anime that much more due to the sheer faithfulness it had to the source material. The source material in itself, on it's own though, is still pretty great also. Check it out when you can.

Shun Umezawa reflects japanese society in his mangas (sometimes in a very pesimistic way) and Utopias is no exception. In this manga we find 9 short stories where the author touches a wide range of topics such as love, social relations, mass control... But he does it with his signature: absurdity, dark humour, metaphors and ridiculous situatios are a few of the resources Umezawa uses to trasnport the reader into a vast espectrum of feelings where he/she can find its own explanation of the story.

It is neccesary to have an open mind to aproach this stories since they are made to make people think and since Umezawa's style is kind of "special".

So this is my first time writing a review, but since this manga is fairly unpopular, I think it's worth taking a shot.

Let's start with what's good.

Art: 9/10

Honestly, not much to say about it. Character design is very good, backgrounds are too, action scenes are engaging, it clearly is one of the strong points of the manga.

Story 6/10

Don't let the note fool you, it's not that bad. This manga is very short (only 4 volumes), and it clearly suffers from it. The first 2 volumes are, in my opinion, really great. They are really intriguing, the pace is good most of the time (albeit it sometimes feels fast, it really depends on the scenes) and that's why I originally bought them. You really get a sense of tension, almost supernatural, and you really want to know more. The art also helps a lot at conveying the feelings of the characters. The 3rd book is still good, but it doesn't do much to advance the plot despite the lack of chapters. The 4th and final volume is the "revelation" volume, and without spoiling anything... what.the.hell. In the beginning, you feel like "yeah, ok, it's a logical conclusion" but it's very... unengaging. It's probably a spoil, but they just... explain it. Full-on exposition. Then there's more plot, and it's cool and interesting with somewhat acceptable twists, but the last chapter is clearly rushed, and the epilogue is just frustrating. The twists are there, but they just don't land. And in my opinion, in a mystery/intrigue-driven manga, if the ending is not good, then it ruins the whole thing.

TLDR: good start, rushed ending. Needed more time to develop its plot, and more importantly, the ending is unsatisfying/frustrating.


Character: 7/10

So once again, not the best score but far from the worst. And, once again, it's because the story is too short. The characters are interesting, especially the MC and a few side characters, but they lack the time to shine. Some are flat-out forgotten by the end of the story.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Despite the ending, I still kinda enjoyed it. Sure, the plot has problems. Sure, the "high school students uncover a massive conspiracy" trope is overused, but... it's kind of what I like and kind of the reason why I picked it up in the first place.


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Overall: 7/10

In a nutshell: an interesting if somewhat overused concept, with a very good setup and some good supporting characters and good art to support the whole, but an unsatisfying and rushed ending kinda ruins it and some characters lack the time they need to shine. Had it been at least twice longer, it would have been very good.

Hmmm where to begin. First off the final piece to make this six actually doesn't seem to exist or has no value as the scantalators did not decide to translate it. Second of all if one is seeking a smut fest you won't get it here. Now I'll break down the story along the above outlines for each one-shot.

Before I begin that, I will actually say that I do like this writer; so you can see that I'm far from bias in my review. I think she makes good comments if you take her work very seriously and not superficially. This work however lacked a good story for each of the one-shots. I found several that definitely needed to continue because the road she was going was just throwing in stuff but it didn't seem to flow. The characterization was also sadly not up to par as her work in Kindan let's say.

First one-shot:
Girl has possibly unrequited feelings for love interest. Problem? These characters who have these crushes are in love with a fantasy than a real person and yet when they are objectified they act like they're the only ones; when in actuality to have a crush was to objectify him. The crush is put on a pedestal and admired as an ideal that the 'crusher' has created. See what I mean about social commentary. However this story falls short. The male was rather weak and definitely didn't come across to me as aware of what he was doing....he was definitely all over the place.

The girl was relatively weak and reminded me of the atypical girl who gives into all types of pressures by the man she likes because she wants to please. So within a few minutes she basically gives up herself to the guy. The guy, while not Alpha male-esque is able to ramrod her due to her lack of confidence, twisted feelings, and insecurity. The story could have turned out well had the characters been better executed. Really just not up to par with what I'm used to from her although the drawing was good. A few bouts of smut.

Second one-shot:
Admittedly I liked this the most. Besides the incest, the clincher for social commentary, the story was good. Young girl falling in love with male lead with money who happens to be her uncle. I just like the social issues involved. School friends wondering about the extent of the relationship. I wanted to know the "real" familial relationship since we really don't know the details. And everything else. I thought the lead female was good and could have been better. For those who are not understanding her, keep in mind she's in love with someone who says that he's her "uncle." She had never heard of him and knew nothing about him until the day her family died. She ends up falling in love with her guardian and he is handsome with money. However he seems in some way wanting to be closer to her while her uneasiness with him is due to her romantic feelings. Then it goes a bit too far and more drama ensues...having the reader want more.

The girl is good then and definitely more along the lines of what I like from the writer. She has balls although her feelings keep her from doing anything to the uncle she thinks sees her as his own but also doesn't know how to handle the issue if he does like her because of societies laws. As for him, he's a nice guy in my input with a slight streak of possessiveness. He's like an Alpha male being prepped but not one yet. He's definitely a nice guy who just wants to protect his 'niece' from the fates of reality and possibly more. A decent read that I believe the author actually says she might continue.

Manga three one-shot.
Another nice piece here. A story that's been done into live-action in almost every story. A young girl turns her male friend into her "pet" so to speak. However her "pet" turns on her viciously. I won't spoil this but it's a great read. Nice female character who although plays the princess sincerely loves her playmate and has a nice heart beyond her arrogance. The male lead is more along the lines of Alpha who unlike most Alpha's is not loaded with money but is loved by the girl and he has an even more possessive and controlling streak than the lead female. The balance is there which is good. This one also needs a continuation because of the ending but otherwise nice to read. I liked the characters and story. It's not fantastic because it's so short, but what it's given is a ground work for a nice piece. <---Another one that I believe she might continue, as a noted aspect the last chapter was supposed to be about the end of this one. There's a bit of smuttiness to go around.

Manga Four one-shot.
This one is good if you're into seriously possessive, controlling and crazy love. I mean seriously crazy. Read it for yourself to understand but damn..this was nuts. I'll just mention handcuffs and prison chains were involved----> CRAZY. Lead female was alright, although she should have had more balls to face her family. However, she was an alright character with some strength of character to persevere. However I do dislike the fact that she was able to ignore much of what her love interest was doing to her. Her love interest...wow. Crazy. He puts a lot of the Alpha males to shame. You'll see why and that's all I can say about him. Otherwise I actually enjoyed it and it had more smut than the others...if you can call it smut. The story is very interesting and rather risque. The characters are good except I wanted to understand the male lead more. But it was a good one-shot and no continuation needed.

Manga five one-shot.
I thought this was going to be an excellent start. Ugh it was the worst. It ended to fast. The male lead was hot (and I mean magnificent ...oy he was beautiful) but extremely superficial because we didn't go anywhere. The story was too short to go anywhere. The tall girl was the same poorly executed. Great potential poor execution. And ZERO smut. Ugh...very annoying.


Great art, however the stories are a bit mediocre with poor character development as a whole. I'm not too happy about that. Great art though, I was happy because it was my fave writer.

At first I really enjoyed this series. I thought the protagonist has a very strong personality and fights until the end, and most of the time doesn't take creap from anyone, but there are many sides that made me dislike her. This series talks about a girl who was a geek before and when she entered high school she gave herself a makeover and made herself beautiful. I thought this was very superficial. I thought this girl tried to hard to become beautiful, and I believed she was a fake (she's trying too hard). This series talks about a girl who just makes a disguise "beauty". And in the story she falls in love with basically the most handsome guy (and major player), I believe he was a major man whore. I believe she only liked him because he was good looking and because he was the first to hit on her. Upon seeing her he runs over and sticks to her like glue. In the series it is discovered he has had multiple relationships with other women (incluing a cousin and women that are old enough to be his sensei). I thought she was in fact weak enough to not ditch the guy, but she decides to fight her "sisters" (aka his other girlfriends). I hated how she how she's all into getting a boyfriend and losing her virginity. I was actually rooting for his best friend.

So basically if you like a story that talks about a superficial beauty who is pretty desperate, but is sort of strong, and likes a playboy. This is a series for you!

Minor spoilers
They go to kill a mage who is killing tens if not hundreds of people and turning them into undead ok noble goal stop the serial murderer but then the dumbest thing i have seen in a manga happens the characters look at her research about undead while burning it and think "What is justice?" Like bro she murdered people for RESEARCH massacred a whole village and you are like hmm what would my father do in her situation is this really justice? Tf you mean is it justice you killed a necromancer who murdered for her own gain you were in the right.
She gets 1 chapter of background which for me made me hate her even more at least we have a reason why she did it (Spoiler it's a decision she made as a goddamn 8 year old and kept to her whole life) Her pet died and she didn't want a replacement so she murdered people to find a way to bring it back. That dosn't justify shit she bad get on with it the justice was right.

This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it wasn't great either. The stories were all cute, I guess, especially the first two ("Short-Tempered Melancholic" and "This Love is Nonfiction"), but the second two were pretty boring. Honestly, "The Style of the Second Love" was downright annoying. All of the characters were pretty stupid and I was glad it was short and over quickly!

If you're bored and this book is sitting around, it's worth picking up to read the first half, but I wouldn't go out of your way to read it otherwise.

Esta review también está en español.

WARNING: despite being a prequel, I really think it's recommendable to have read/watched the original work before Zero. There are so many details that might ruin the first series if you pay a minimal attention (I even had to edit the synopsis of this page, cause it contained spoilers!). So, don't read Zero unless you know the whole story of Another. Understood? Great.

Another 0's story focuses on Kouchi's aunt during her experience with the calamity. Reiko is an ordinary high school girl, that likes to draw until late in night, and has not the vaguest idea of what she wants to do in the future. Ryoko Akiyama, her best friend and classmate, ask her if she heard the last rumor: she obviously talking about the curse, in which both students and family members die in mysterious ways. Of course, Reiko thinks that's a lot of bologna... until the first poor bastard dies. From there, what it seemed stupid at one point becomes a grim reality, and Reiko seek, first, answers in the mysterious school librarian, and second, consolation from her sister, who returned to the city to give birth.

Story is what to expect in a prequel. The problem is that, it doesn't cover much. Unlike Another, where the uncertainty of who will lives and how many will die, and even more importantly, who's the extra, in Zero that's not relevant. The only character that really matter is Reiko. Other three side character appears (Ritsuko, Ryoko and Chibiki) and does something (barely) relevant. Another thing is that there's not much emphasis on the deaths. Don't expect deaths by cranes, by lightning, by yoga, or any other of those funky causes that made us laugh really hard in the anime. They're just mentioned, sometimes just showing where the incident happened. Maybe this will disappoint some people, but come on, this is supposed to be dramatic and tense. And this prequel is. Although not much is done, and there's barely any character development, the mood is well established. Also, and what I find the most redeemable of this project, is the brutal irony (and little hint) that strikes at the end of the second chapter. Predictable, but well executed.

So, although a bit scarce and not taking advantage of many possibilities, Zero is, at least, interesting. I recommend it only for people who have already completed the main story of Another (and liked it, of course :P). For those who didn't, start with the manga or anime of Another (the two are essentially the same, except for some minor differences).
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Advertencia: a pesar de ser una precuela, realmente creo que es recomendable haber leído la obra original antes que Cero. Hay... detalles no muy sutiles que podrían arruinar la primera serie si se presta una mínima atención (incluso tuve que editar la sinopsis de esta pag por que contenía spoilers!). Así que, no lean Cero, si no vieron la serie completa (o si no leyeron el manga o la novela). Entendido? Genial.

La historia de Another 0 está centrada en la tía de Kouchi, durante su propia experiencia con la calamidad. Reiko es una chica común y corriente, que se desvela de noche dibujando y que no tiene ni la más remota idea de a que quiere dedicarse en el futuro. Ryoko Akiyama, su mejor amiga y compañera, como al pasar, le pregunta si escucho el rumor que ronda su curso: obviamente habla de la maldición, en el que tanto alumnos como familiares mueren de forma misteriosa. Por supuesto que Reiko no cree nada... hasta que el primero muere. A partir de ahí, lo que en un momento parecían estupideces se convierten en una siniestra realidad, y Reiko buscara, por un lado, respuestas en el misterioso bibliotecario de la escuela, y por el otro, consuelo de parte de su hermana, que regreso a la ciudad para dar a luz.

La historia es lo que podíamos esperar de una precuela. El problema es que, simplemente, no abarca mucho. A diferencia de Another, donde es una incertidumbre quienes viven y quienes mueren, y lo más importante de todo, quien es el extra, en Cero nada de eso es realmente relevante. Solo un personaje importa realmente, y es Reiko. Otros tres personajes aparecen (Ritsuko, Ryoko y Chibiki), y a penas si hacen algo. Otra cosa a tener en cuenta es que a penas si se hace hincapié en la muertes. No esperen ver en este manga muertes por grúas, por rayos, por yoga, o por cualquier otra pintoresca causa de esas que nos hicieron llorar de la risa durante el anime. Simplemente se las menciona, a veces solo mostrando donde sucedió el incidente. Tal vez esto decepcione a algunas personas, pero vamos, que esto se supone que es dramático y tenso. Y esta precuela lo es. Aunque es poca cosa, y no hay mucho desarrollo de personajes, sí que hay un ambiente bien creado. También, y lo que me parece más rescatable de todo esto, es la salvaje ironía que golpea al final del segundo capítulo. Predecible, pero bien ejecutado.

Así que, aunque un poco simple, y no aprovechando del todo las posibilidades, Cero es, como mínimo, interesante. Lo recomiendo solo para las personas que ya terminaron con la historia principal de Another. Para los que no lo hayan hecho, empiecen con el manga o el anime (los dos son esencialmente iguales, salvo por algunas pequeñas diferencias).

A light novel following the LitRPG genre (in a way), the "new" Isekai troupe, the "SAO Copy" troupe but with a twist.

The plot follows these tropes but the twist is that the MC doesn't get sent to another world, he actually gets stuck behind because he was sleeping. The God who sent his entire classroom to another world ends up "accidentally" (there is more to know about how he gets his powers) giving him the power to level up while sleeping and basically create skills. Because of the incident where his entire class disappears but not him, he ends up being questioned by the police for a while but they let him go. By his fault and carelessness, he ends up being found out by a Police Officer who is a detective in the force, who asks him sometimes for help bribing him with food. So a few years pass by and he ends up really OPed with some nice skills. And after that, the plot starts.

The main twist of the trope is original, at least I haven't read any other LitRPG or Isekai Light Novel and Manga with the same or similar idea. It starts interesting as if the MC is actually smart and want to do something. But a little after that you realize that the MC is just another passive MC who actually has no goal, no objective, there is no wanting to be King of Pirates or Hokage, there is no ambition coming from the MC, something I may as well consider it to be a cliche from this point on. Don't get me wrong, the MC's lack of ambition isn't the most annoying characteristics coming from an MC. The worse so far that I have read is the "MC can only complain and complain and complain" troupe. The MC from this, however, isn't like that, he does complain about how bad things keep showing up getting in his way of sleeping and not complaining about everything like the above troupe.

The secondary characters are kind of interesting, especially the first angel he fights, it introduces something I found rather amusing - the fact that heaven is basically a company with rules and employees, wage and stuff like that. This here can be considered a type of spoiler, but this doesn't ruin the novel, just show something interesting (since it doesn't spoil the actual plot, I won't consider as a spoiler"

The main problem in the light novel, besides the MC lack of ambition, is that eventually falls into some cliches like the clumsy character, the tsundere (which sometimes can be considered a cliche), the shounen feeling I got sometimes, and there is some level of protagonism (which is to be expected from all Isekai and LitRPG novels and Mangas).

In the end, if you are like me and like the Isekai/LitRPG troupe go for it, it isn't bad even if it isn't the best one.

Two paragraphs might do it. Spoilers ahead so you were warned. This should be renamed Baki - A day in the life of Orochi Doppo. It shows Doppo way before he got his scars. Which may seem to not make sense according to original Baki but I thought about it this is where he first meets Yujiro on the streets before he opened a dojo; I remember him saying something along the lines of "oh it's you" and then he got the scars in a bar after he opened his dojo. So things do line up a bit.

These stories aren't necessary nor do they add to the world of Baki, it is 5 chapters that focus on a specific characters. The only story which was good was his fighting tiger one which i was surprised they didn't do in the original story but whatever. Like my score shows it's about average, only read once and never look at again