ReviewRaptor's manga / #Unexplained Happenings(87)

The writing is really weird. For some reason it feels like everything regarding the male childhood friend is given detail and effort, but everything else, even the goddamn main character is feeling shallow, random and effortless. Basic, all in all. And it's weird since the core story IS filled with potential. It just wasn't translated in any shape. Which disappoints me quite a bit since I love the story at it's core. :( The art is okay, but it cannot carry this. The MC is not written well enough and the strange jumping from one moment to another without emphasizing emotions or working out a single moment even really makes it hard to say that there isn't much to enjoy here if you're looking for detailed writing, coherent storytelling and overall feelings to hook you. And I do not think the translation can be at fault. It's decent and aligns with what the comic itself is portraying, so it's likely really the writing that's the issue. If this has a novel as base, then I'd suggest giving that a try. I think it could be a whole lot better, given that what makes a novel so detailed is usually cut out from the comic adaptations by those who make them (emphasizing emotions, monologue, descriptor-type sentences to give immersion, etc.). I really see nothing of interest in here for myself, so I'll be moving on. Maybe if I have time to check out source material I'll give that a try tho. We don't get many non-cliche childhood friend stories that have an interesting storyline after all. Not my thing, wouldn't recommend either but I am sure for people less interested in detailed writing and whatnot, or simply just newbies, this could still be a good read. People gotta figure that out themselves tho, so give it a try I guess if it might apply to you.

Be aware, this is a review, so there will be negative things mentioned here that I noticed. Can't handle critique or negative things being mentioned? Please don't read it, instead of getting prissy in a comment about me not liking something you gush over. ( It's sad I even have to put these disclaimers here all the time. This should be common sense or simply unneeded. :') ) If you are able to ignore writing flaws and don't mind the lack of character introduction (for personalities), then give this a shot, otherwise you may wanna keep these things in mind that i noticed when giving this a chance: The art is okay, colours and character designs are pleasant and everybody gets 'equal effort', so to speak, when it comes to art detail instead of giving side characters the bare minimum of time when drawing them. Excluding bg chars, they are still stock assets. XD The base story is interesting but it is too basic and too little and simply is not being focused on as the base story (aka meeting a handsome stranger you wanna get involved with but then the story immediately ignores that and keeps going like a slice of life). Just as the character personalities. They come off as shallow and simple since we are not introduced to them properly, we just get thrown at them without any info. The little personality that they have is simple and nothing new (to a seasoned reader anyway) and they often come off as random, which may not be the character's fault but rather the writer's. Which brings me to the biggest fault here: The writing is half-assed in specific aspects. Within 4 chapters only, and I am merely talking about the start here, we had 2 or 3 moments that seemed to randomly jump or bring up things that did simply NOT happen before but the pages read as if they were connected to something. If it wasn't shown but the comic pretends it has happened, it simply comes off as random, is confusing as hell and can just ruin immersion greatly. Which is something that's simply not a good thing to do. I know some younger/less experienced readers may not care about this, but this is a huge writing fault which I hope the author learns to fix. I'm simply not interested after encountering this issue more than once, in such a short time and in so much as the start of the story. The supposed connection they suddenly had with talking and laughing never happened and it is too much to put on the reader. You need to enphasize emotions and make a connection clear. Otherwise the random boner moment he has in chapter 4 (which was VERY random) makes no sense to the reader even if it makes sense to you as the writer. Common rookie mistake but something very important to look out for when writing since this can be a make or break for readers. Especially when you ask for money per page, which most comics nowadays are. All in all I am simply not interested. There is too many issues and too little rewards for me personally. Again, younger/less experienced (with good writing) type of readers may not care about these things but seasoned readers with a standard for writing may very well be bothered by this. If at least the characters were interesting I could keep going and maybe endure the bad writing issues, but they are simply too basic and bland for that. I wouldn't per se say this is a bad read (maybe it gets better after a dozen or so chapters?), but it's not a good one in my book either due to the writing and lack of interest in the characters. I gave it 10/11 chapters but nothing changed my impression. Art isn't able to carry either so I suppose this depends on personal standards, preferences or simply how little you care about flaws being there/how well you can ignore them. Give it a try if these things may not bother you. Or if you think they can be ignored. Trying doesn't hurt after all.

I'm really TRYING to like this but the further I read, the more this comic seems like swiss cheese, riddled with holes which are either plotholes, MacGuyver moments, Mary Sue moments, amateur-ish writing or a combo of them. The art cannot carry this. The clothes are the typical uggo 'I have no idea what people wore back then except for Barbie dresses I saw' types of clothing. The anatomy is wonky and the heads all have the same shape which make the eyes, mouth , etc. look like they have been glued onto a copy-pasta mask (which is really unpleasant). And the plot gets distracted by itself and ignores itself just to rinse and repeat all the time. This can be a nice read for kids and people who have no idea about good writing or the capability of ignoring it all, but not for anyone else. It's giving 100% "I was 14 when I wrote this, for my 14 year old friend group" vibes and I grew outta that target group long ago. :'D I think I'll be dropping this. The base plot WAS interesting, but not enough to drag it out and keep dealing with side-track type quests the MC encounters literally every other step. Not my thing but for younger readers this could be a good option to start reading these types of shoujo stories that go for longer than 5 chapters and have a more mature-type story focus. Definitely not recommended for mid to experiences readers tho. Sad to leave, the core story was really interesting, but I'll go look for something more up my alley.

The character logic of literally anyone in this is so bad that it makes me thing this was written by a literal teenager thinking they know how to write a cool, awesome and intrigue-filled plot. I just can't. It's so hilariously dumb that I'm both crying and laughing at the same time. X'D The art is okay but cannot carry. But the base storyline IS very interesting, which makes the shitty character logic even more of an eyesore. But then there is also the TONS of magical MAcGuyver/Mary Sue-ish moments that make the writing pretty bad. This could have been amazing with better writing, the core of the story is super nice. So I hope someone, someday makes a better copy-cat comic of this storyline. Would be nice. ╥﹏╥