Dec 13, 2017
8.5/10 Very good.
This had great potential
Characters: 8.5/10
-Protagonist(M): 9.5/10 Has some very good conflict and the way the reason for his resolve changes over the course of the story is expertly written.
Starts out with resolve to make amends so as to justify his self loathing. This however changes over the course of the manga, and it feels natural and well written.
Also, the X marks / fantastic in conveying his mindset towards others. Unique.
-Protagonist(F/LI?): 8.5/10 A very good example how someone can become the product of their environment. Her self loathing is on par with the protagonist's, only, she has never been at fault.
This mindset is so
...
completely human, that she has garnered my sympathy in a way that few other characters across media have. Even though I cannot relate with her plight, her mindset is so classically "Good" that it makes no difference.
-Support: 8/10 A wide selection of dynamic supports. It is rare that you see dynamic supports when the focus is on the protagonists. However, a few of the supports are just horrible people. I've never read of supports that are this quick to resort to physical violence. And while they change in other aspects, they are still horrible by the end.
It is even said to them by the protagonist that "they are fine the way they are" and "they don't need to change", while this is in character for the protagonist, as to say otherwise would label him as a hypocrite, this doesn't really promote a sense of resolution.
The resolution doesn't have to come from the protagonist, but without it, it is all to easy to see this cycle continuing for a while. Better, but continuing none the less. Hurt, argument, fractured group, redemption, (fracture 2, redemption 2), whole group. Repeat.
Plot: 7/10
The overall plot was well written, however there are a few gripes I have.
-First of all the amount of physical combat in this book felt a little bit forced. And all it does is distance the reader from some characters that are already pretty horrible. Some of the fights are perfectly justified and are well done to express characters motivations and confusion and inner feelings.
However, when you constantly have certain characters ready to throw down, they turn from scummy characters into immature morons that I could not care less about and all I want is them out of the story in some way so they can stop hurting the ones they are trying not to hurt.
And these frequent fights only add to how jarring their unavoidable forgiveness is.
-Second, I felt that the romantic plot (subplot?) remained unresolved. The end of the book makes some extremely vague hints towards it's eventual conclusion, and is obviously intended for the readers to extrapolate, but the actions previously leave too many variables for this to be even a 50% confidence.
The hint at the end is hardly enough to further progress this plot and I think it does more to suggest the two protagonists slow healing.
To elaborate on the above point, the manga just... ends. There is a paltry final chapter that doesn't do the preceding emotion justice.
Art: 9.5/10
Some of the best I've every seen. The faces are so expressive. No dialogue is ever needed to explain what the characters look like. Many manga suffer from this 5 expression trap, where the facial features never really vary outside of the basics and never with any subtlety to convey anything more than the base emotion.
Overall: A good heavy read, but with lots I felt went unresolved due to a very abrupt end. While this can sometimes be done correctly, this whole story was such a whirlwind of emotions and voices (lol) that nothing can really be said for sure and it just leaves you wanting to read that little bit more to wrap everything up and leave you feeling content.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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