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- BirthdayJan 1998
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Apr 17, 2024
I really, really wanted to recommend this manga. Collections of horror stories within a shared universe, experienced by a single set of characters? Sign me up! I've been hungry since I finished 'You will hear the voice of the dead'.
I admire the creativity that goes into this series. No two 'part time job' or 'gray job' is the same. Each 'job' usually lasts around 3 chapters, so at 150 chapters, that's a lot of unique content! The art is for the most part consistent, and a bit unsettling (which it should be, being horror!) and the two protagonists are also pretty consistent in their
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characterisation.
That being said, there's something about this series that just misses the mark on a lot of occasions. Good horror makes me take that intake of breath when 'it' finally comes on page. It's the moment of 'oh sh*t' when whatever creature stares at you from the page. It's about the building of tension and the release. Ura Baito, while being incredibly creative, oftentimes does a terrible job at tension building. It's horror, but it doesn't send chills down your spine. It's not scary, just a bit disturbing. It's horror junk food. Not terrible, but not great.
My biggest gripe is the worldbuilding. Oftentimes, a lot of the jobs have too much of an implied lasting impact on the world. For example, a haunted doll will affect one family. An entire product line of cursed dolls, a commerical success, is a completely different level of impact. And that level of impact happens *regularly* in this series. And over and over again, nothing is resolved. There is no satisfaction, no closure. And while that's not entirely uncommon in horror, doing it over and over and over again in a single series, and in a shared universe at that? It's unsatisfying, it's testing my suspension of disbelief. How is anyone is this world alive? How does it operate? When will any of our characters see any growth? The answer is never. The implied apocalyse never happens. The downfall of humanity is put on permanent hold. Our characters never use anything they've learnt from a previous lesson. You could read any of these stories randomly, and it would affect almost nothing.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jul 13, 2020
I can't believe I'm writing a review for this, but I feel as if I need to give a quick warning to whomever is unlucky enough to stumble upon this entry.
There is a strict criteria you need to meet to enjoy this show. Do you think cringe humour is funny? Are you like 12, and discovered s*x jokes for the first time? Do you think inc*st and r*pe is hilarious? Are you looking for an anime SO bad, it makes you cry? If yes, you have come to the right place!
Kyoto Animation, I knew you had obscure, dark roots, but oh my good. This
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wasn't even a 'so bad it's funny' show. Please don't watch this.
Reviewer’s Rating: 1
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May 21, 2019
I thought I'd write a new review for this manga, since an anime adaption is on the way, and the other reviews are a few years old. I'll begin with a short spoiler-free summary, and then move into a deeper review.
Summary:
Mairimashita Iruma-kun! is a fun school-life style comedy. The art style is somewhat simplistic, the comedy lighthearted and innocent, and the characters are bold and likable. The story is comprised of short arcs, episodic in nature, and there is little to no overarching plot. Characters still maintain the development they received during said arcs, however, so all good. Recommend for a light read, lots of
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potential for the future. 9/10
More in-depth (still mostly spoiler free):
Story: 8
As mentioned previously, Mairimashita Iruma-kun is a comedy manga, and a school-life manga; however I was pleased to find that it is somewhat free from the more annoying tropes associated with the pairing. No major harem plot or perverted misunderstandings here; just a school-life finally free from the ecchi tag. The arcs occasionally follow the typical school-life formula, but just as occasionally deviates.
There is little to no overarching plot, however this does not hinder the manga significantly. Characters who learn and develop as they go maintain their development as the manga progresses, giving a sense of time passing within the story. World building is slow, but consistent, and hints are dropped at a larger, overarching story in the works for the future.
Art: 8
Art is consistent and well-proportioned. The art style is is somewhat distinctive and soft in areas In coloured pages, characters are often well-defined by singular, distinctive colours. Expressions are well-drawn and evoke emotion. The art could be better however, as it is a little simplistic at time, and uses a lot of blocking.
Characters: 10
Characters are simplistic, bold, and likable. Even the villains are enjoyable to watch, and every character is distinctive from each other. Despite being simplistic in design, the characters are often expanded upon gradually.
Enjoyment: 10
This part is more a personal opinion, and I think this part is heavily dependent on the person. Some may think that the lack of consequence-heavy conflict is boring; I however, enjoyed this manga as a light read quite a bit.
Overall: 9
A well-rounded manga driven by excellent characters and lighthearted humour that works well in the supernatural, school life and comedy genres.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Oct 15, 2018
There are a number of reviews already here, but I thought I'd contribute anyway. Shiyan Pin Jiating (or Creature Family Days, or, even weirder, Frankenstein Family) is a slice of life anime that, thanks to limited budget and an inexperienced staff, comes out completely average. Now, most of the time, being disadvantaged like this usually results in a bad anime; however, the plot and characters of Creature Family Days is what saves the show (to an extent).
Firstly, the story. The story follows a simple plotline - monster children attempt to live life on a nearby island and learn about human culture without being found out.
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It's not a highschool anime, and I've seen some people salty about that but really? We don't need more highschool stories, and I'm glad they let the characters explore the island as a whole, because it brings a sense meandering tranquility fit for a slice of life. The challenges faced by the characters often involves forming new relationships and questioning the decision to distance themselves from their origins. It's not a spectacular plot, mainly because the pacing is a bit wonky in some places, and it ends on a very uncertain tone. Saying anymore would be spoilers, but it does leave you with some questions.
Art and Sounds are both mediocre at best. The opening is probably above average for me, but in anime sound design is not notable, and the animation quality is well below industry standards at times, likely because its an original chinese animation with an inexperienced crew and low budget.
The characters themselves have serious potential. I didn't dislike any of the characters, but some of them, Snow in particular, didn't have very strong or deep personalities. There were nice touches of character development, particularly for Aisley and Ashie and their sister Suishi. The main character, Tannis (or Deniss, depending on your subtitles) was handled...somewhat poorly. On one hand, he's what 9? And therefore, definitely for the most part, acted like he should. He makes some rash decisions, and can be tunnel visioned at times, and DEFINITELY should NOT be responsible for a group of people up to nearly double his age, and the show demonstrates why. But on the other hand, he doesn't have much beyond those traits. He's a sympathetic character, but maybe not a good MC. He demonstrates above average reasoning for someone his age (especially when contrasted against someone his actual age), but he's never given a chance of out flashbacks to demonstrate his full potential.
Overall, I liked this anime. It took me forever to dig up all the japanese audio episodes, but I did anyway because I was enjoying it so much. Overall, Creature Family Days is a average slice of life that has/had potential because of its characters and fantastic premise, but mediocre execution, and a poorly paced plot. Watch it if you need some time to kill and want a no-action non-plot heavy show. Otherwise (and it kind of hurts to say it) probably just skip it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 8, 2018
Okay, before I go any farther: THIS IS NOT AN ACTION-ORIENTATED SHOW. There. I just solved half the problems people seem to encounter when going into this show. Note there will be some minor spoilers in this review. Death March is a pretty standard Isekai; we have our MC show up as a 15 year old boy, he's suddenly transported to a fantasy world, he's pretty OP, and yay, he has a harem. However, despite the fact that I tend to loathe harem situations, I'm actually really enjoying this show. I'll give you a run down.
Story: 7
Honestly? There really isn't one. Why? Because, despite
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the Isekai genre, its a Slice of Life anime at its core. There are some pretty cool action scenes, but a great deal of the show is world building, and exploring the culture and magic of this new world. We get a short action-orientated arc here and there to break it up, but sometimes they feel a little rushed in their execution. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the MC learn about the world and take care of his companions, and I like watching him learning his new skills and showing off occasionally. It's relaxing.
I would like make a disclaimer that there is, in fact, slavery in this anime. Is it sexualised? No. Is is glorified? No. Does it gloss over how morally wrong it is own to slaves? Yeah, sometimes. The world is meant to parallel the traditional European medieval setting, where slaves were a thing, and often uses the all-too -common racial discrimination trope as a basis. In this world, its demi-humans with the short end of the stick.The slaves are not abused by the MC, and I'll concede that they do still show a significant amount of mental scarring that came with being treated, as well, slaves. The justification they use to insist on remaining slaves, though, (because, well, gratitude?) is a little weird. Overall, it's not really clear, and I'm not super comfortable with it, but the MC gave up arguing and now they're assigned companions now I suppose.
Art: 8
Everything is quite high quality, in the typical modern anime way. The whole anime seems to have a bit of a blue 'film' over it, which becomes more intense through the MC's point of view, which gives the whole 'hey, this is a video game like place, yeah?' feel. It can get a little annoying sometimes in areas that supposed to have lots of yellow. All the characters are distinctive in their looks, and the backgrounds are very good.
Sound: 7
Nothing memorable, but overall decent. Opening and ending aren't amazing, but I don't skip it every time.
Characters: 7
Honestly? A little bland. They're all likeable, and have very distinct personalities, I don't want to kick even the villains in the face, but they feel very NPC. I suppose that's kind of the point, but he is supposed to be in a fantasy world that works like a game, not the other way around. For example, the children do not actually act like children. No child doesn't at least get grabby sometimes, or a little whiny. The characters don't seem to have proper flaws beyond 'this one is naive' and 'this one is prideful' and even then it's 'not too prideful though' and 'not too naive though'. The MC is a little bland. His two settings seem to be 'this is okay' and 'this is slightly worrying'. He very rarely gets surprised, or angrier beyond annoyance, and maybe it's the disassociation that comes with have an interface over everything you do, but he doesn't ever say anything 'wrong' or mean'. He also makes very few mistakes. The fact that's in actuality a 28-year old stuck in a 15 year old's body makes for a refreshingly mature character at least, and really tones down the romance, where he's more playing along than invested. Overall he think the teen crushes are all kinda cute and temporary, which is kinda refreshing, if somewhat assholish.
Enjoyment: 8
Overall, a very relaxing anime to watch, with a lot of world building and fantasy concepts. I liked watching the MC adapt, and I especially enjoyed the video game like aspects of levels, skills and titles. So watch if you want slice of life, aren't that interested in intense harem situations and like a dose of fantasy.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 17, 2017
Servamp is a decent manga with a fairly refreshing storyline and a range of interesting characters, including sympathetic villains, heroes and even the occasional anti-hero.
A basic synopsis of the plot is as follows: Mahiru, a kind if somewhat occasionally short tempered 15 year old boy decides to take in a stray cat off the street. After coming home from school, he find the cat is actually a vampire, specifically a 'servamp'; a vampire able to form a contract with, and serve a human master.
Main character then gains powers and discovers new supernatural world, ect cetera.
The art is nice, and the character designs are
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easy to tell them apart. Expressions and inking is great, though it can get a little dialogue heavy in later chapters.
Overall, the story is a little lackluster, but it has a decent premise, and the world building is done well, re-using elements introduced earlier in the story.
The characters are all indviduals; it's hard to specifically hate any of them, as wacky, or in some cases, downright evil they might first appear. In fact, the villains are some of my favouirte characters. Mahiru can be a little generic at times with how resolutely he sticks with the approach of peace, but is a generally enjoyable character; he acts, not reacts, and has a discernible motive, which immediately makes him a 'Decent Character'.
The pacing flows well, and I never felt like I was lost. An enjoyable supernatural manga that's both light and serious at the same time. Definitely recommend.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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