Episode 32
I’ve heard the argument before that war is good because most technological advances occur during it etc. and it prevents stagnation and corruption. Yang’s rebuttal is just absolutely brilliant – that he’d accept that if people didn’t lose their families or lives because of war. What is brought up here is whether the costs and essential immorality of war are worth it for the potential benefits – and I’d argue that stealing a wallet is also wrong but has potential benefits. What I mean by this is that a wrong action is not justified by any potential benefits, ever, unless more wrong is stopped by committing that wrong. Though I am a negative utilitarian, mind you.
Review
Artwork: 9/10 – Very suited to the scenes, very picturesque and detailed. It can be disturbing at times too in terms of the sheer detail put into (murderous and pained) facial expressions and what not, and generally adds very much to the feel of the manga without distracting the reader too much from it. I do have issues however with the lack of anything besides the monotonous streets – even when it’s daytime things that aren’t action or faces look a little boring.
Characterisation: 9/10 – Perfect character growth in this series. Every character of note makes progress bar a few villains and a few sidekicks. Towards the end you feel as if the characters are almost different people from their previous selves, though the growth is so gradual and flawless that you don’t immediately think this. The only thing I note that isn’t too good here is that the character exposition for some characters is rather lacking. While there are fleshed out traumatic backgrounds for Izawa and Kamishiro, the “ordinary” characters have no such backgrounds and their base personalities are barely revealed at all, even if they grow as characters later on.
Theme: 8/10 – Themes are generally to do with violence and fighting: can fighting ever be fun? Adding to that, can it help people develop their self-esteem? When will the cycle of hatred ever end? Also, not in line with fighting, themes of how does one come to love oneself, and how does one heal from trauma in one’s past come up regularly. The themes in general were handled very well – though I can’t help but feel that they could have been handled better. There were no eureka moments in this manga. It didn’t add anything to my already existing knowledge. Although its themes were somewhat unique (fighting being portrayed as having disadvantages AND advantages), and it did give answers to the questions it raised, I didn’t feel at the end that I was at all enlightened by this manga, as other manga have made me feel before. I don’t doubt that this manga could have great worth to some people, but I doubt it has worth to EVERYONE, because the lessons it teaches are somewhat generic at the end of the day.
What I tend to accidentally do when I rate something is criticise it overly, making people think something I’ve given an 8 for example was sub-par. Let me tell you something: I don’t arbitrarily pick those ratings. They are not too high. This manga had a great theme overall, my comments on it are nitpicking to explain to my readers why exactly I haven’t rated it as a 10.
Pacing: 8/10 – Paced quite well, but there are parts where this manga feels a little segmented – the pacing is slow, then suddenly becomes very fast. You CAN change the pacing in any form of media, I agree, but you can’t do it at disjointed speeds like this – people need to be eased into a change of pace, and this is something the manga does not do particularly well.
Story: 10/10 – Absolutely brilliant. A thrill-ride, if ever there was one. Through the dark corners of the human psyche we crawl until we slowly, step by step, edge our way towards the light. In less pretentious terms however, there are two main reasons why this story is so good: one the fighting is unreal – realistic yet flashy, scary yet clear-cut. I don’t think I’ve seen better realistic fighting ever in a manga, though granted the fighting manga I normally read are more unrealistic in kind. Two, the story is a whirlwind of emotions, and is crazily addictive. I can’t say much more than that, really. It’s genuinely a heartwarming tale, even if it’s darker than every Disney movie ever made I expect.
Big Question #1 Would I recommend it? – For the story alone you must read this manga. If you like fighting manga, or dark manga, or character growth etc., then that’s an irrelevant bonus, because without those features it would still be an awesome read.
Big Question #2 Is it a classic? – Now while the theme is unique, I did have some trouble with it as mentioned above. However the story more than makes up for the slightly generic theme, and pushes this manga into the realms of the classics.
wisheshewereamecha 