pluckaduck's manga / #Action(185)

the author mustve been high when they wrote this. it's so unpredictable, and off the rails with the amount of batshit crazy charas. i truly laughed a few times bc of how out-of-pocket some stuff were. the art carried for sure, but the writing shines thru.

it's underrated. it's entertaining, the banter and dynamics are hilarious, and the friendships are wholesome. all the charas have personalities and quirks, and the mc takes a back seat after his arc to focus on other charas. it's not a power fantasy in the slightest, and the author makes it clear that it's a just game with how lighthearted everything is, and how we don't actually know anything about the charas outside of it (save a couple charas) bc the story takes place only in the game. the author also plays with our expectations by framing the backstories in a certain dark way, then completely subverts them by shedding more information. well done author. also i love how antagonists are written, they arent necessarily demonized for trauma and mc to beat, but just players playing the game, as the author empathizes. but treating everything so lighthearted is selfish as it backfires on relationships built within. which is the main theme btw. finally, the plot: it is not much. it's very much character-driven. the quests/lore take the backseat. but i didn't read it for plot so whatever. also, id love to see more of isley and raiquia interacting.

now i get why people ship sherlock and Moriarty... damn, their chemistry and dynamic is palpable

ch7. girl that is why u should wear clothes. it's so ridiculous why she still not wearing any actual clothes; she's practically naked; it's so stupid, especially in a battle with a sword wielder who can materialize invisible sword ki, not to mention superior to u in skill so why on earth is she still not wearing clothes?? edit: the ending was satisfying and bittersweet. it was a bit hard to get into in the beginning bc it felt somewhat directionless with the mc's motivations, but the plot after the backstory reveal accelerated and i binged the entire series. the story's very intense and thrilling and the art's phenomenal. the mc's a well-written edgy loner character. and the other charas are well-written morally gray charas as well (ie the ki swordsman, and hong gildong's bandit group). ill say the most glaring flaw would be the sando's scantily dressed self; it's just pure fanservice.

honestly i was skeptical about the rating thru out most of the story, but in the end, i find that it's well-deserved. i love how lita is not reduced to simply being "bota's sister" but is actually very central to the plot; i love her and her relationship with bota and she is a great character. i love kana as well, she's a really good character by herself; but the fanservice in the beginning turned me off ngl, tho it does tone down as the story progress. the only other flaws that i can think of is the teasing of sonia and bota when they met; sonia seemed romantically interested in him, and there was even a CPR scene portrayed in a way that raised romantic flags; after which bota even blushed a lot. but that's about it. i think the author probably changed their mind and rewrote sonia as just a crew member instead of a potential romantic interest. and, i like her relationship with brune a lot; their deaths actually made me emotional. clark's characterization also seemed to have changed after the first meeting. at first, he screamed crazy psychopath with the scary faces and arrogance. he seemed like another version of that harpoonist antagonist who cared more about killing kana/bota than humanity's survival, but then he changed subtly. his arrogance and villainization toned down. also, the romantic subplot about kana/bota? there was buildup, such as the implication of bota liking kana, the kiss, but the author did nothing with it?

bruh im on ch 45 and the tag "war hero takes a child, etc etc" completely spoiled the plot twist, if it's true. don't put the plot points in the tags. on the other hand, i love how immersive yet informative of the story. it's not told in an info dump type of way, and it's entertaining. the action is quite good, the stakes are pretty high, and the few comedic moments are so funny. the antagonists are so interesting as well, the samurai who wish to recreate a war, the lieutenant who wants to take over hokkaido, and the other convicts with tattooed skin, their plotlines interwoven together by the allure of gold... it's a really goddamn good story. ch 72. LMAO this entire chapter was bizarrely hilarious. who comes up with 'psychopaths bonding over shared hobby of stitching human flesh together into clothing'? there's even a catwalk scene LOL. not to mention a few chapter back about the gay couple?? that was absolutely peak comedy. ch 120. ok the author's either bi, or he just like men's bodies. the scene where the guys got all sexually aroused because of the sea otter meat's smoke? and the sauna scene where the men's muscular bodies were on full display?? jesus damn I'm not complaining tho.

made me cry a bit when tenka was executed. love their relationships. it's pretty short, but wraps up nicely

as i write this right now, im sobbing my eyes out. i came here expecting the two mcs to be canonically in love with each other, but it turns out ash is more like the protagonist, and eiji is more like his driving force that advances the story, and at best it's stated they perhaps loved each other like lovers, but that's just speculation. still, the story's fucking amazing, and the action is fast-paced, and ash is one of the most resilient mcs I've ever had the pleasure of reading about. i knew it was a tragic ending, and i was prepared to get teary-eyed, but i did not expect that ending. it just made it a lot more sad, bittersweet, and painful, the fact that he could've lived, but chose not to. the author really ripped my heart out in this one.