Vancomycin4

Let me preface this by saying: my scoring is quite generous, where 7 is considered something decent and worthwhile.
TL;DR
-art (10): absolutely marvelous
-characters (6): alright characters, but not particularly deep
-story (7): pretty good, but doesn't seem to have a direction
-enjoyment (8): would recommend
-overall (8): definitely not perfect, but still good

Many people have said that Solo Leveling is not the average fantasy with an OP MC, but story-wise, I'm going to have to disagree. That being said, it's still a good read, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes action and fantasy comics.

What Solo Leveling has going for it is ridiculously good art and likable characters. To put it simply, the art is fantastic; not only is the actual art gorgeous, but the panel composition and layout also draws the reader in. The characters are likable, but as of now, the only character we extensively know about is Sung Jin-Woo, the overpowered protagonist. Of course, it's fun to see the underdog slay monsters and level up, but Sung Jin-Woo doesn't seem to have an end goal for all the stuff he's doing, making him a somewhat flat character. He is surrounded by members of the supporting cast, which we know basically nothing about since this is "Solo Leveling," focusing only on Sung Jin-Woo thus far, but based on the information given, they're fairly interesting and likable.

The main problem I personally have with Solo Leveling is the story, which at time of writing (Ch 106; end of Jeju Island Arc), doesn't seem to have a direction. So far it's only a decent "zero-to-hero" story despite what many fans proclaim. Sung Jin-Woo tirelessly fights monsters to level up, but what for? Even if grows without direction, I still enjoy it, but I can't help but feel that there is so much more potential to the story that goes unexplored. I have heard from light novel readers that the plot starts progressing and getting better with the latest arc, but being a manhwa only reader, I unfortunately cannot confirm that statement.

In the end, Solo Leveling is definitely a fun read, but I worry that if you come in expecting a nigh perfect comic that reinvents the action fantasy genre, you'll be a little disappointed. Don't think too much, and I bet you'll have a fun time.

here the most intense horse racing you would encounter in a story. the idea of a race crossing a continent which is united states is bizarre and awesome. i haven't read all part but i catch up with what happened through the animation series, and this one is within my TOP 3.

in this series everything is reset, i new start for new universe with similar element, it might be a dissapointment because all part 1-6 are kind of abandoned with lots of unanswered question, but..
i think it's just how jojos works.. for some peaople maybe this part is dissapointing to some point, but i enjoy this part without biased to the previous jojos.

the story telling as always, awesome. there are puzzling but this puzzling feeling is makes this series greats. i'm sure the dialogue are mean more than what it is.. it's hard to grasp what really happened through reading it only once.. but still got the rough idea about it. it could be considered as a skillful and genius story-writting. the plot and setting, the ambience, and culture at those timeline are neat + you still got the doofus jokes from the character.

the artwork are excellent, all those details within pannels really gives you the feeling throughout the story, all the movement, especially in battle really easy to understand, and if you actually really observe.. you might find some foreshadow.

++ since jojo is all about joestar, but it's fascinating hows the first-half story tend to more focus to this zepelli guy. unlike the other jojo that are quirky from the start, johnny is rather plain yet not the kind of this pure-boy dude phantom blood Jonathan. and as the story goes you'll find johnny evolving, changing little by little through the race, and what is more awesome is the fact that johnny cannot walk, the contrast point unlike the other superhuman jojo.
and what's best is diego brando existence that is less-jerk than original dio. the anti-hero of this series, meanwhile both facing the same villain yet still opposing the main hero.

overall
there's still this puzzling feeling when the story end.. but there's still jojolion(part 8) where the story migh be relevant to some point *since i haven't read it yet.
but i enjoy it so much, the reset plot is refreshing (because phantom blood is like a sitcom drama for me.. i can't stand it and i hate vampire..)
at first you'll think "wut. will i just read a horse race continect for 96 chapter."
but later a bizarre thing is actually happening without you realizing.

p.s: you'll love the cheese song

My biggest disappointment in 2019. Visuals won't be the problem but the story. The characters are thrown in the story without depth/development. Many of them (especially the antagonists) were killed instantly without leaving an impact on the readers. Likewise, the supporting characters were not given any color but fawners of the main character.

You can see the disregard for important characters in the family of the MC. The father arrived in action, then died without giving us any backstory. The sister just became a tool for the MC to show off his enraged side. While the mother was just a lame excuse for the MC to level up that did not even allow the readers to sympathize with because we are more interested in his fighting. Overall, the family that should be the drive of the MC is superficial. No love, care, or attachment in these characters.

Solo leveling is the antithesis of One Punch Man or Mob Psycho (Or even the classic Dragon Ball) on how it treats overpowered MCs in developing stories. He is just a plain "Gary Stu" (I cringe when I used this pretentious term).

I read the manga because it was promising with the visuals and good pacing of the story, but the impression didn't last long. I tried to redeem it by going to the source novel; however, it was faithful to the material so my disappointment lived up. Hahaha, it was wishful thinking.

Story: [10/10]
The story is amazing. Light and Ryuk both think their world is rotten so they try to make it better. Ryuk escapes his world and looks for entertainment on earth by dropping a notebook. The best entertainment he could wish for, Yagami Light, picks up the book. This is when one of the biggest geniusses on earth starts to make that world a place worth for a god to live in... by killing criminals! Of course that makes him a criminal himself in the eyes of the law and the police and detective L. Light searches for L and L searches for Light, both to stop them. As they are both invincible since nobody knows anything about them, desperate needs lead to desperate deeds.
I found myself a few major plot holes, but I just think of that as "That person wasn't smart enough to do that" but it really was searching for them and almost as hard to find as L for Light and visa versa.

Art: [10/10]
Simply the best art I've ever seen in manga, shonen at least.

Characters: [9/10]
Light and L both have my deepest respect. L is extremely cool besides his lack of social skills and Light is exactly how I would imagine an insanely smart person with that kind of book. He acted in most cases how I would act.
the -1 is because of the position of women in this series: they are all relatively dumb and half of them is used. They also all fall for light like autumn leaves as if they have no mind on their own. Besides that: the heroine is very annoying.

Enjoyment: [10/10]
This is the part of the review I wanted to write the most:
This manga challenged me mentally and logically. It made me question moral and death and it learned me to look at things differendly: more conciderately. The only other manga's/anime's that accomplished this so far are Liar Game and Akumetsu, but none of them was as strong as Death Note.

Overall: [10/10]
Why are you still reading this review instead of Death Note?

The Cigarette Anthology is a collection of one shot mangas with very wild variety of genres, going from straight up action, sci-fi, comedy, a few romances, and dramas. I think it's impossible every single one-shot to be 10/10 for everyone, because of the vast variety, but most of them were very enjoyable reads.

The story in some were actually amazing, considering the short amount of space the mangakas had, but others were too straight-up and not that creative.

As for the arts, I can say that more of the mangas had their stylistic approach influenced by the mangakas, which is expected. Even so, I was happily surprised by some details, here and there.

In this kind of production, you can't establish characters with great depth, but you can atleast hint for their complexity. Especially in the second one-shot story, the characters were very well established and the story was bittersweet and compelling.

Overally I think this collection is one of the better collaborations of this type, since some of the stories are insigthful, others hilarious, or just straight up cool.

I came across this manga online when I was supposed to be taking online classes. I turned down my teacher's volume and started reading this manga in search for a 'hidden gem' in the ecchi genre. After reading the first volume- around the first 18 chapters, I find it is safe to conclude that:
This is no gem, this is merely one's over-obsession (with the fats that accumulated on the female upper torso, or breasts for short) depicted in manga form. Chapters over chapters, readers are taken on a journey through the land of pleasure derived from the admiration of ENORMOUS BREASTS.
[ART]: 7/10 the most positive aspect of the manga. In view of the breasts- the main focus, they are delineated well.
[DEVELOPMENT] 5/10 the only thing that seems to develop is the main girl's breasts size
[ENJOYMENT] Nevertheless, all men fail to resist lust, and I'm not an exception. Therefore, I still enjoy this manga to a certain extent, a solid 7/10
{OVERALL} 6/10. If you want a story with plot that captivates readers, you are in the wrong place. But if you like watching a guy's stick being sandwiched for chapters on end, you have found the holy grail.

Umareru Kachi no Nakatta Jibun ga Anna no Tame ni Dekiru Ikutsa no Koto (holy shit that's a mouthful, let's just call it Umareru) is a pretty odd manga series. I wasn't compelled to continue reading it for beautiful art, witty humor or a compelling and original plot. I kept reading it to see how much more shocking the series would become. It has a sort of "let's go on live leak and watch fucked up videos" appeal to it. You just watch to see how much worse it can get and depending on what mood you're in, that's enough to keep it entertaining.


The story follows a fat hikikimori named Izuya who after learning his school age crush is pregnant with one of his best friends child, gets drunk, falls off a school building and dies. After being killed though, he finds that he traveled back in time to when he was 11. He then vows to get his crush and fix his life for the better. So it basically follows the same premise as Erased but the difference being that in Erased, it was about a man trying to stop a serial killer and in Umareru, the main character eventually gives up on trying to make his life better, says "fuck it" and just does whatever he wants. This gets into some real messed up territory involving murder and rape. I found myself reading just to see how much worse the main character can get. and maybe I'm an awful person but that was actually entertaining enough to me to keep reading. That isn't all there is to it though with a supernatural mystery and an antagonist get involved. The story never gets too deep or anything though. It's more or less the same kind of entertainment like reading fucked up copypastas on /b/ or something. Luckily, the manga is only about 20 or so chapters long so it's short and to the point. Something relevant is always happening, there's a consistent pace and the story doesn't overstay its welcome.

Umareru's art is extremely average. There's never really anything exciting here. There were a couple of panels that looked above average but nothing amazing. One gripe I have with the art though are the character designs. They're just too bland and generic. The only character who stood out was the main character and he just looked like a young version of L from Death Note complete with the same outfit and haircut. Everybody else's designs are just painfully average and I sometimes even got characters mixed up because they look similar. In short, the art is just mediocre.

The character designs are representative of the actual characters. There's not a whole lot there. The main protagonist and antagonist are the only real interesting ones here. The exception would be one of the MC's friends and she's only interesting because the writer uses her to demonstrate that kids aren't only aware of sex but some are even curious, something you don't see a lot in media. Back to the main character Izuya though, he's an awful person but you can't help but kind of sympathize with him at the beginning and it keeps him endearing through the story. He's not a bad person at first. He's just someone who got the shit kicked out of him from life and you actually do get the feeling he actually really does care about the people around him at first. He eventually just realizes that what he does doesn't matter and just becomes a psychopath. The antagonist is also interesting for her motivations and back story which I won't spoil here but are genuinely surprising.

I oddly enough, enjoyed this series very much and it makes me feel kind of sick saying that. As I said before, this is the shocking kind of entertainment. It's the same draw that you see for something like Elfin Lied, a series I despise. The difference here between that show is that it doesn't just start in fucked up territory, it eases you in. A hot shower is enjoyable sometimes but you can't just start off blisteringly hot, you have to start warm and turn up the heat and that's something Umareru understands. If the idea of watching someone slowly become a psychopath sounds interesting to you, give it a try. It definitely isn't for everyone though.

its a VERY cliche isekai power fantasy. The main character might not instantly be a god-like being in this other world, that trope is still VERY much in play in other ways, some bordering on the bottom of the barrel of trash isekai tropes

while the story is somewhat original, every trope has been done before, and done better, while that is not a bad thing, the main character is so passive about just about everything it borders on insane

If you want a good time while reading trash isekai, this is for you, but if you want something with depth you might want to look elsewhere

"A single cell phone. That's all it took... to drop me into a deep, dark hole."

At only a single volume, Line has a limited space to fit its ambitious concept into. What results is a fast-paced, frenetic, somewhat haphazard but ultimately compelling story about the value of life and the power of one person. While the story can seem a bit thin and disorganized and thematic exploration is limited, to say the least, the brief chapter count, quick pace, and inherently compelling subject matter make it hard to pass up.

Line's strength is in its core concept, which managed to take much of the danger out of a "game of death" premise without losing the bulk of the suspense or drama. Plot progress is fairly sparse, with about one point of development per chapter and the rest of the time spent on characters running around at top speed. It follows, then, that its weakness is in its focus on the running rather than the implications. The manga never bothers to name the people Chiko is seeking to save, or to explore the reasons they need saving. They're implicitly brushed off as inconsequential with a cry of "Well everyone has problems!" Task's identity and motivations are brushed off and glossed over with a line or two of inadequate explanation at the end that really don't give enough information to satisfy or even spark the imagination. Line ultimately relies on the reader's prerogative to mull things over in the aftermath, but is sparse in the delivery of salient plot points to think over.

The art of Line is similar to the plot: good, but not great. The character designs are somewhat generic but cute and nice enough to look at without being inappropriately cutesy, and while the art tends to be rather stiff much of the time, it conveys the plot well. The backgrounds are detailed enough for one with a knowledge of Tokyo geography to recognize the setting of various scenes (for example, Shibuya Crossing) without being so cluttered as to distract from the characters as they rush about. It's good enough to get the job done, but there's nothing really special about it.

The issues of characterization and character development in Line is an odd one. Chika seems like a fairly straight forward character: a calculatedly popular and stylish girl who learns about the a darker aspect of society and the value of life over the course of the plot. Still, the story tosses in random traits that seem intended to round out her character but ultimately seem puzzling in their lack of relevance -- for example the fact that she only pretends to be endearingly clumsy (but has klutzy tendencies nonetheless), or a baffling throwaway line about how she's working hard to get along with her stepfather. What was that all about, anyway? Bando is an even more hopeless case, with practically nothing being explained about her character. The readers knows there's a rumour she's a lesbian -- but that goes nowhere. She smiles in inappropriate situations -- but an explanation isn't even hinted at. Aside from her being a model student, there's really nothing to characterize her with. It's hard to believe a handful of pages spent doing nothing but running couldn't have been put to better use with a bit of basic character development.

But while Line can seem a bit sparse in its core elements, just scraping by with a passing grade, it's hard to begrudge such things of such a quick read. And it's quick not just for its limited chapter count -- the frantic, kinetic disposition of the characters and the story itself demand a quick move from panel to panel and one page to the next. Even if the story doesn't reveal much, the desire to know just what will be revealed is hard to resist, and the single volume is all too easy to devour in a single brief session. Although Line leaves much to be desired, it is definitely the kind of work one can get more out of than was put in, and even if only for that, it is well worth the paltry timespan it'll take to read.

Im no good at these things, and now thats out of the way.

To me the art is strangely very good to me. Its not your typical art work, its eveb kinda scary looking.

The characters are great, Wakamura has a reason for what she does its not just because. Riku and Wakamura both develope well, the dont just some how change.

I enjoyed this manga, its not one of my favorites, by I think its worth the 10 minutes that it takes to read.