Adam
In the home stretch of this series and you can really see Komoto's growth as an artist. The scale is so much larger than when this started, it's impressive. - That said, it's also miles away from where this tiny story started. It's tough to feel like there are any real stakes anymore because it was a fairly contained story once upon a time about a boy who couldn't use magic in a world of magic users and now there is an all-powerful antagonist who will eradicate all of humanity. This isn't what we signed up for, but it's where we are. I don't hate it, but I do miss the early days of this when it was more comedy. This is more spectacle art and less story craft.
I don't know or care what is happening anymore. It's so horny and angry and there was a tree that was veiny in a way that was just upsetting. This is a book of extremes and if the story was any fun to follow I might be able to stomach some of the gross/over-the-top stuff, but it just isn't. For how amazingly detailed some of the art is, there is very little else to hang it's hat on. The 2nd star in my rate is for the art, which is sometimes wasted on the crudest images I've seen.
I don't know how I missed posting a review for this one, but it was great! I had read the novel and was curious about how this would translate. You can read my full review on No Flying No Tights here. I will say that this worked well, for me, as a comic and while I would have loved some of the parts of this to get more time and importance, knowing there are more volumes coming makes me feel better about what is here. Totally worth picking up if you're even a little interested.
Every time it looks like series knows what it wants to be, something changes. Sometimes it brings me back in and I give it some more time. More often than not though I'm just left scratching my head. This series has legions of fans, were they all for the anime? Like, I have met people with tattoos of the brand on Guts neck. More than 1 of these people. What am I missing?
I followed so little of this that I'm actually mad. I thought I was keeping up, then some time jumping happened, we got information I wasn't expecting and totally forgot what was supposed to be happening in current time. We've left our main protagonist for quite a while to follow the antagonist(s) and learn some backstory, but the jump is where I got lost. The transition left a lot to be desired. - I still don't know who to actually root for or what is supposed to be going on.
I've never seen the word “vessel” used as much in my life as this series. There is a kidnapping plot here and some talk of promoting some of the younger students. I am still lost more often than not and I think I just need to make a character chart to keep track of everyone, whose side they are on and where they are from.
it was only a matter of time before this book got horny. We're there and I'm not into it. The plot took a couple big twists, but once again I am reminded of things that I don't love about this series even if the larger story was starting to win me over. Sometimes monsters/demons are important and some times they aren't. Please pick one and make that a larger part of the plot.
Casca and Guts have a bond forming that isn't exactly clear, but it's getting stronger and she's the person he's being most honest with. We get a lot of her backstory and it does help shape our understanding of Griffith and the Hawks. There is some palace intrigue entering the story now and I think we're reaching the point where the the break is coming for Guts and this crew.
Griffith's plan comes together and Guts starts a new journey. Some of Guts reasoning isn't exactly clear, but maybe it will be better explained soon. In any event I imagine we have 2 different storylines to follow, but I don't know that the author has shown us that before so I have no idea what happens next. This particular arc was at least easier to understand and follow.
This portion of the series is moving me towards a middle ground with it. Some of the art is unbelievable detailed, then at other moments 5 people have the same face. Griffith's plans and desires are coming more into focus and he's seemingly on his way to acquiring his own kingdom, while Guts starts to question what his purpose is and where he fits into the world. (I was surprised, but it was a welcome turn for what is essentially a sentient weapon and little else)
Ok, I still don't love this, and I know I complained a lot early, but the first volume is really not what this series is. I am learning that it pivots fairly quickly and at least becomes more readable. This book ends just about as horribly as anything can, but we're learning about how Guts journey started and it's a bleak childhood.
I'm waiting on holds from the library, so anything unlimited I can get from Comics Plus moved to the top of the pile- i.e. reading this. This starts about as horribly as a book can and I get that we're in a violent world with terrible people, but this is still a lot. The real takeaways from this installment are that Guts is a cursed child, strong beyond reason and has no quit in him. Griffith, one of the Godhand we met several volumes ago, was once a young man and here we see where he meets Guts and recruits him to his mercenary band, the Hawks. I still wish Miura spent less time crosshatching and more time practicing drawing faces.
As a second volume, this does a lot of things well. We meet new characters who help fill out the world and bring new information with them while forwarding the plot. We remember what was at stake at the end of the first volume, while also learning more about everyone involved. There is new magic and intrigue added to the world and this made me turn pages just as fast as the first volume.
I really love this series so far: great art, interesting characters, just enough questions in the volumes to keep you invested, the antagonists are riveting.
This series continues to be the break I need in both reading and life. Gentle, quiet, calm, caring, thoughtful, BEAUTIFULLY illustrated... In this volume some confessions are made, they take their big photos for the competition and parents get involved. It is a very satisfying installment and I couldn't love this book more.
Ok, so I've been sitting on this one till I could link it to my review for No Flying No Tights here. TL:DR This book was fantastic, has some really interesting twists and is setting up a series I'm genuinely excited to read. The art was had an interesting duality to it and that helped bring a fuller realization to the world and how it is both pedestrian and magical at the same time. Highly recommended.
This was a desperation read to kill time in line as all my holds weren't available. I read the first book and didn't get it, however I understand that there are diehard fans out there so reading the second volume might give me some perspective right? I will say that while I still don't know what exactly is going on in this world, I can at least appreciate the attention to detail in the art and the scope of the work. Miura has trouble with faces and hair for sure, but everything else is outstanding. The story doesn't really come into more focus in this installment, but it does start to give more clues and while there isn't much character growth we at least get more dialogue to start pushing that direction. It's gross, it's weird and it's sometimes busy. I will likely try volume 3 as it looks to wrap up the current story arc and I am at least curious as to where this one was headed.
This one has a couple interesting turns that are spoilers, so I won't dive in, but it made this a much more interesting installment. There are now 2 concurrent plot lines, 1 with the King of Media and 1 with Sherlock and it feels very much like they are on a collision course. The real question left is which of these is William prepared for and how far ahead is he? I'm curious and look forward to the next few volumes.
We find the next adversary (who isn't Holmes) in Charles Augustus Milverton, the media king of London. Apparently he was the one behind the Jack the Ripper trouble in the last story arc. He has resources, power and ambition, so there should be some real stakes to the battle between him and the Moriarty group.
This volume opened with a garden party as a light distraction for the serialized readers, but in the collected volume it mostly felt like filler.
Magari's sister is home from college, so she has to be quiet as she puts on her half of their “radio” show for one another. Nakami wants to raise the money for their big trip to take photos in a different town. We see family dynamics play out in both houses, friendship dynamics as both kids deal with the end of the school year and the start of summer break and Shiromaru finds them in a very intimate moment.
Big feelings are everywhere in this volume and I can't recommend this series enough. I love it as much as anything I've read, ever.
I think at this point it's fair to say the series is less “parody of Harry Potter” and more “One-Punch Man style book set in a Harry Potter parody.” The early chapters of this book were funny because it was taking a bunch of recognized conventions and poking fun of them in that school setting. Now, it's a ton of giant fights with named moves and it feels like One-Punch Man in more than just the spirit of Mash being a good person trying to do the right thing. - I don't hate this, but it is certainly a different type of book than where it started.
Mash is basically having to fight his way through all the Innocent Zero's sons now. Domina is most of this book, but we meet Doom at the end and he's even more powerful. Mash had bracelets limiting his power and speed at his father's request, but when he really cuts loose here we see he's even stronger than we knew. This series is rounding the bend towards its conclusion and it's not skimping on anything along the way there.