apopoi's manga / #Shounen(9)

This gets on my nerves. I want to give this a one star but I have to give two stars objectively. The MC is an asshole, his personality is rotten to the core. He reminds me of a novel I read that was blatantly racist and makes no sense. It is all over the place. The gap between Ch 1 and 2 is humongous, although it is fiction there is no amount of relatability and is just absurd. The world is his oyster basically. It seems like everything and everyone serve him. I don't like that at all. How did I manage to read until Ch17?

I love everything about this. First of all, the characters are spectacular. The MC is amazing, he is lacking in so many things but that is compensated for his one useful asset : his brain. The way he maneuvers through situations by reading the situation, people, expressions and body language, tone and arrive at a sound conclusion is a sight to behold. I don't even try to think anymore, whatever Nagyun says, I'm like 'Yep'. At least more people know about his identity now so the risk is significantly reduced. The plot itself is pretty solid. He is trying to enact revenge or vengeance whatever you call it to the murderers of his prodigy brother, Najin whom he assumed the identity of. Further down the line, we find out Najin might be a member of 'The Descendants of the Dragons', and he betrayed them so therefore he was killed. But there has to be more to it, right? They called him 'A child of the fire' so he must therefore be extinguished. The fact that Najin sacrificed himself for our MC by killing himself with MC's hand since it was the only way to ensure MC's survival is heartbreaking. Also that silver-haired knight was the only one who figured out MC's identify from the get go without any hints. And she seems to deem MC important. So our pal is a descendant of the dragon too..he conveniently lost his memories but when he regain them, he will change, won't he? I like him as he is now. He was implied to be strong from the flashback scene. Also our MC, is he special? Is he actually the 'child of the fire'..it would be incredible if he isn't as that would go against the usual norms of this genre and that itself fits into the theme of this manga. I also love how the MC is not blinded by revenge, he did not leave his companions to die to chase after the people who could give him information on his brother although they were seriously injured. His ability to read people and mimic the 'aura' that only skilled people can sense is so intriguing. No matter how formulaic the plot gets when MC faces hurdles, he overcomes them by bluffing, I look forward to it every single time. It doesn't become redundant. Also Nijin must really love his brother, huh? So why the secrets? Was that his way of protecting him? The way he was enlightened about his power was because the MC was seriously sick and he felt powerless and resolved himself to get stronger to protect him. The theory that Nijin might actually be the one to start the fire in the village and the MC took the blame for it is also highly plausible. The way the MC commands people using psychology and his glib tongue will never bore me. Him analysing situations and acting on it is my absolute favourite. His quick thinking is so attractive. Him being bullied by his brother's "lackeys" was annoying and unpleasant to watch..just why? Blaming a child for that is so wrong. Even the adults, spitting on him, seriously?

So many things to unpack. I have read the anime and loved it..of course..duh. It's a classic shounen and I loved all the elements. It wears its inspirations on its sleeves..and I love everything shounen..the angst, the characters, the plot and the energy. Gah!! Itadori is the perfect protagonist for this world..Panda is such an icon..Maki a girl crush..Megumi a mood..Nobara so relatable..I love useless Miwa too. Nanami is my man!! Still upset he died, Nobara made me feel a certain type of sadness when she died too but Nanami..I felt hopeless and empty..I couldn't accept it. Hollowness is all I felt..Gojou and Geto..my ship!! That line from Gojou.."My best friend. The only friend I ever had"..That made me feel all types of things. Furthermore, I was of the opinion that they were a trio..with a female..like girl with the heavy eye-bags who is a doctor that deals with corpses...does Gojou not view her as a friend. Man he was such a mess in his youth..honestly he is still that way but man was he wild!! When Getou finally cracked..the reaction Gojou had was so heartbreaking. He toned down after that and their aspirations were changed..he thought that weak people were useless with Getou ideology being that weak people be protected but that's ofcourse reversed as Getou is a villain now. Also, the reason that Gojou could be sealed was because of his love for his only friend..he legit said "My eyes are telling me that this is not real..but my heart.." and that moment of hesitation was all that was needed for him to be sealed.

It is a typical martial arts story with a male lead who is hell-bent on getting revenge against those who have wronged him. What was a surprise tho was how quick he debated whether revenge was really worth it and at least thought if not considered about living a normal life in hiding. The Central Alliance and the Northern Sect, two organisations that were supposed to be side by side ended up in such position. The former created the latter by summoning (?) martial masters from across the globe to battle against the 'Silent Night'. But in the fourth generation that is the MC's father gen, the Silent Night supposedly disappeared after centuries of fighting countless battles, soon after there was internal struggle or dispute over control of the mainlands. The Northern Heavenly Sect had grown too powerful so the Central Alliance devised a plan that was possible through the betrayal of the brothers (not biological) of the Northern Sect leader. Politics..ugh..such is the way of the world both in reality and fiction. They are more concerned for themselves over the safety of the world and the people. They were granted the highest status befitting the role they played in the murder and framing of the Northern Sect leader. Tho it is an open secret that they collaborated as the leader was an honest man famous for that trait. I don't wanna dictate everything cuz noone but me will read it so just a review is enough. The Silent Night were said to be the perpetrators but that seems to be an assumption following how the story progresses. Also the MC while being OP is not the top dog. There is potential romance between him and Ha-Seol ( the next in line for one of the position of the Four Demon Lord of the Silent Night), he even named his Bewitched Sword after her so..My fav characters are between his Uncle, love his loyalty and dedication, and his first blade (?) who swore allegiance to him and spread the word that the MC was dead and supported him in the shadows.

The misunderstanding trope...It was fun at the beginning but it is starting to get stale. It is very formulaic. It is not a total misunderstanding per se..he is strong in the sense that he is quick, agile, bloodthirsty and has quick reflexes. He just doesn't have much force behind him, and his weak constitution is to blame for it. He could be a villain with that backstory, he killed his family in cold blood as revenge for neglecting him since childhood and putting him up for the war as collateral. He is a double spy for the Emperor and the Demon King tho his loyalty lies with the Demon King more or less since his hatred for the Emperor is sky high. His older brother is scared of him and asked for protection from the Duke in exchange for him becoming his dog. The princess and prince aren't much. The princess acts dumb and pretends to be head over heels in love with the MC to get people to ward off him and to ensure his absolute loyalty to the Emperor. His memory is split in half, so he has two egos I think. Tho I think this fiasco will be ongoing for a while since this seems to be that trope.

The start hooked me right in and I read through the chapters in a flash. Then, it felt like the author started losing their vision for the manhwa, because sometimes things felt so cliche. When they were talking about friends and family, the way the subject matter was approached felt so childish and without a strong foundation like the bald guy from 'Fast and Furious' kept saying 'For Family' or some shit like that. I liked the ML when he was a child and I still like him for his thirst for knowledge. Ofcourse he's OP but it felt like watching someone who was truly passionate and would do anything and everything for magic YET the story started falling flat after a great start. His friendship with Rian although cute felt so cliche and inorganic. The way he was willing to die because they are friends, and the way his whole family sentenced him for execution over that silly thing felt like a necessity for the plot and not for the flow of the story. It just feels like this is something that is scripted, rather than a living and breathing world. His interaction with the Headmaster was my favourite. It felt like a genius recognising a genius. Their interaction, I wanted to absorb and memorize every moment of it. The FL is the tsundere redhead, the same one that traumatized the ML. Her thinking pattern was so anime-like that I felt like ripping all my hair off. If she just apologised instead of making all those mundane threats and made him give her coffee every morning to make it seem like (to the public) that he has feelings for her so when she inevitably rejects him, his words would fall on deaf ears. The logic is not reasonable. Instead of this roundabout way of doing things, just apologize. He isn't the type to spread rumours, she is the one who is spreading this like wildfire from her unnecessary actions. Also him going over to the place the 'kidnappers' abducted(supposedly) the MC was so... Ofcourse she got into trouble because of some boys who couldn't handle rejection. They used anti-magic so she couldn't defend herself, then the MC appears and by making his spirt zone more solid, he was able to deflect it. Then the teachers appeared as per the MC's request to the redhead's friend then they calmed the situation down(not sure how to put it). Then they regret, even tho they attempted murder. Sure we will gloss past that. But I hope that there would be character growth for the fl but she made things worse, saying that he is her boyfriend so that they won't pry into their business and find out about their secrets. I thought she had a moment of realisation when she was truly in danger, that she thought 'Is this how he felt then?'

Aaahh! I thoroughly enjoyed this. If we were to rank mangas on the level of enjoyment it gave us, it would be a 10/10. The plot itself is not the forefront of the story, it's the characters, the gags, the side tangents, the impossible physics of it all. Everything is illogical, it is not realistic at all. The mass absurdity of everything is at such a level that u kind of leave all your apprehension behind and just enjoy it. The MC is 'One punch man' and 'Mob Psycho' mixed into one. The former because of the physical strength and the latter because of the character design. I am certain the author heavily draws inspiration from the two. The MC is OP as hell and grows at an unprecedented level, like he just powers up without any apparent reason. Even God is shocked at Mash for his strength. Cream buns are his lifeline and his subtle shade gives me life. Poking fun at other shounen mangas while at it is also another element that I appreciate. It is a parody afterall. Sister complex on steroids is essentially Lance. Like that bro breathes in air from his little sister, Anna. He has pins of his sister all over his body and gets literal whiplash when seeing her face. I do think Mash comes second to him with maybe the hot-blooded Dot following suit. Ah! Dot and his dynamic is worth exploring. At first I think Lance just puts up with him because of Mash so they always butt-heads with eo but when they fought the third brother, it was the moment Lance actually acknowledged him. "I will fight for your sister's sake as well", he said. The brothers are also interesting though they are one-dimensional. The first is the most interesting to me because he has a principle he follows, the second is just a nut-job with a bit of an inferiority complex (?), The third who btw looks the oldest, he looks like a typical middle-aged Japanese business man, is arguably the most insane one to me, he believes in Puddingology, creates potions sucking life and magic energy from people. Which is why Lance lost his cool since Anna suffered from that. The fourth..hmmm..who was it again? He escapes me..I guess he was the least memorable. Oh! He fought against the siblings..Raynes and Finn. The Fifth..Dominas was born in the same year as Mash and possess the most magic energy out of all the siblings...it doesn't mean he is the most powerful (just in terms of magic). What else? He has a bit of a redemption scene..he craved his father's love and would do anything to obtain it. So he was unsettled when he came across the kind of love that Mash and his pops had for eo. He envied them. He used his last magic energy he had left to stall for time for Mash's recovery. The pops isn't that interesting..did it say he is 75 years old now? Mash is only fifteen as of now so that's a big gap. Maybe that's also the reason he is so doting towards him, he scolds him but then easily forgives him when Mash seems like he regrets his actions. Mash never learns from it tho. He doesn't know if the door should be pulled or pushed up until now. If it were grounded in reality, I would worry that Mash would've had to see his pops die. Considering that he spends most of his time in the academy and only goes home during holidays, he doesn't have a lot of time together with his pops. The one who made Mash attend the academy coming to truly care for Mash was heartwarming indeed.

This is actually super interesting. I couldn't get into it innitially but it just sucks u in. I like the MC a lot, I also like the og ML. Flame is a bit of a boring character but I do like the og FL. I like the villainess as well. I also like the professor. Although this concept is very common, it executes it perfectly. I like the examination, the way the classes are divided and the deal with the three questions. I despise MCs who try to take everything easy so it's nice to see an MC who is very passionate and mature. I like that he also doesn't have any biases. I look forward to the interactions between him and the main characters. Jeremy is the only one he hasn't interacted with yet, right?

I really like this. I like the MC and his two brothers. The second not so much but I digress. I never knew I would see a doting father like big brother.... Love to see it. Also I was worried for a second that it might turn into a harem of some sort but thankfully we didn't take that route. The girls are barely there in the story but better that than an annoying fl who is a liability to the main cast since that's the only trop shounen action mangakas can write. I like the MC's dynamic with I forgot his name... Sword Saint Disciple. He's so pure and sweet, it's a shame that it seems he will be in the background going forward since it's obvious that he's falling behind The second brother being a simp I did not foresee at all. Also the minor 17 year old proposing marriage scared me but the MC considers her a minor younger than his sister. But I hate that he blushes and seems to ve somewhat hesitating. I love the dynamic between his Master and him... They are so alike it's crazy... They shout and aren't honest with their feelings, brash etc etc. I like how he's so attentive and so braggy about his disciple's accomplishments. Also I fell for the misdirect regarding the Sword Saint tho I felt that it was a bit much when he told his disciple that he wasn't his friend.