eishe's review against another edition
3.0
Xavier should have gone to Japan as well.
I picked up the latest Imagecomics bundle for the full price mainly because I really loved the art in Wayward preview and it did not disappoint. I loved everything about the visual side - rich colors, character design, backgrounds, the general cuteness of everything (even though I'm usually drawn to darker and more toned down designs). I also really enjoyed the artists' notes at the last pages as well about character design and digital composition.
The story/plot however seems to be a hot mess that's all over the place. There's almost no justification for character actions and the plot seems to be the characters fighting increasingly difficult monsters and gaining more power.
4.5/5 for the art, 2/5 for the story.
I picked up the latest Imagecomics bundle for the full price mainly because I really loved the art in Wayward preview and it did not disappoint. I loved everything about the visual side - rich colors, character design, backgrounds, the general cuteness of everything (even though I'm usually drawn to darker and more toned down designs). I also really enjoyed the artists' notes at the last pages as well about character design and digital composition.
The story/plot however seems to be a hot mess that's all over the place. There's almost no justification for character actions and the plot seems to be the characters fighting increasingly difficult monsters and gaining more power.
4.5/5 for the art, 2/5 for the story.
carroq's review against another edition
4.0
I read volume one of this series previously and really enjoyed it. This deluxe book (which I got as part of a Humble Bundle) contains the first two volumes of the series. Volume one was just as good as I remembered.
Volume two takes a hard shift in the story. It sort of makes sense based on where volume one ends, but it disrupts the flow of the story in this edition. I might not have had a problem with that if I had read the second arc separately instead of back to back as it is collected here. I had to reorient myself to the setting.
Once the story gets back on track and I could see how this ties into the first arc it was a lot more interesting to me. I really dig the characters. Zub does a good job of introducing them. The art team helps to make the important characters readily recognizable. And the setting is pretty cool. It's set in Japan and contains a lot of culturally appropriate mythical creatures.
The back matter goes in depth of a bunch of them to give the reader an idea of how they are identified and what they are capable of. This was one of my favorite parts because it shows how the creators actually thought about what they were using in the book.
Despite some issues in the second volume, I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely try to track down some of the later volumes to see what happens next.
Volume two takes a hard shift in the story. It sort of makes sense based on where volume one ends, but it disrupts the flow of the story in this edition. I might not have had a problem with that if I had read the second arc separately instead of back to back as it is collected here. I had to reorient myself to the setting.
Once the story gets back on track and I could see how this ties into the first arc it was a lot more interesting to me. I really dig the characters. Zub does a good job of introducing them. The art team helps to make the important characters readily recognizable. And the setting is pretty cool. It's set in Japan and contains a lot of culturally appropriate mythical creatures.
The back matter goes in depth of a bunch of them to give the reader an idea of how they are identified and what they are capable of. This was one of my favorite parts because it shows how the creators actually thought about what they were using in the book.
Despite some issues in the second volume, I really enjoyed this book. I will definitely try to track down some of the later volumes to see what happens next.
michelle_neuwirth_gray9311's review against another edition
4.0
Very interesting story and I definitely look forward to book two coming out. I really enjoyed all the action too.
notwaverly's review against another edition
3.0
Ok, that was really cool! It was a little scattered, at first, and had a lot to set up (though maybe the story would have seemed to be slower-building/not as scattered if I'd read it issue by issue), but it started to pick up a lot by the end, and I really enjoyed it! I have to say, (SLIGHT SPOILER), having the "New Gods of Japan" be super white-looking, and one of them be half-Irish is a little... culturally awkward? But the story itself is really cool, and I was really into how much they actually acted like teenagers. This is similar to Runaways by Brian K Vaughan, with the superpower-teenagers-without-parents thing, but I have to say I liked this a lot more than Runaways. (Despite the surprise spiders, which were just awful. Fuck surprise spiders. Who does that? That's just mean.) I'm 100% going to be reading the next volume, or "deluxe book", and I can't wait.
melisag's review against another edition
5.0
Love it. It only took me so long to finish because of a hectic and tiresome few day. I really didn't want to put it down. Almost missed my train stop being so deep into the story. The art is Excellent and the story captivating.
archytas's review
4.0
Gorgeous, eye-popping art; an intricate, mythology-based plot, and characters who feel distinct, if not yet fully real - what's not to like? This book moves at a rapid clip, which those (like me) who are strangers to Japanese mythology may find hard to keep up (I wish I'd read the excellent material at the back first, and it will make future installments more interesting.) But it also means there is a lot of story in the first 10 issues.
This was compared somewhere to a Japanese Buffy, but it felt much more like a Japanese Rick Riordan to me, only way more gory, and that's no bad thing. I just wish the women would stop holding down their skirts when they fall - like they have nothing else to worry about. (But seriously - that artwork - even when it's hard to follow it's always amazing to look at)
This was compared somewhere to a Japanese Buffy, but it felt much more like a Japanese Rick Riordan to me, only way more gory, and that's no bad thing. I just wish the women would stop holding down their skirts when they fall - like they have nothing else to worry about. (But seriously - that artwork - even when it's hard to follow it's always amazing to look at)
smokebalm's review
Just OK. Not interested to find out what happens next.
my problems with the story are ROTM in accordance w/ my interests (unchecked teenage precociousness, godmoding, ugly clothes, violence as shorthand for "mature" themes).
another aesthetic gripe -- use of brackets <> to indicate when people were speaking in Japanese. It was not helpful, it was just distracting. Also bolding of words in script to show emphasis, this is endemic to american comics, and it is unnecessary.
my problems with the story are ROTM in accordance w/ my interests (unchecked teenage precociousness, godmoding, ugly clothes, violence as shorthand for "mature" themes).
another aesthetic gripe -- use of brackets <> to indicate when people were speaking in Japanese. It was not helpful, it was just distracting. Also bolding of words in script to show emphasis, this is endemic to american comics, and it is unnecessary.
mossyforest's review
2.0
This one is about a girl who is half Irish, half Japanese who goes to live with her mother in Japan. Only when she gets there strange supernatural things start happening to her.
I really liked the start of this book, Rori is an interesting character and I wanted to read about her and her relationship with her mother and how she would adjust to moving to Japan and starting school there. However, all that really interesting character depth got quickly sidelined for the supernatural stuff. I didn't want those things to be the main focus but they were definitely hinted at and I thought the writer was going to explore them but then they were just forgotten.
The supernatural/mythical stuff was kind of cool but again. not enough time was spent with the characters for me and there was a lot of smashing up monsters. I felt like there wasn't much of a plot and so I never really felt much of a connection to it and probably would have put it down after the first volume if i didn't have this bind up.
The art work is very good and showed the action very clearly. It was probably what I enjoyed most about this book.
I think if you are interested in reading a story set in Japan dealing with Japanese themes and myth which isn't Manga give it a go and if you know that you like this series this volume does have a lot of extra material. Not just art, but information about the making of the book and the culture that inspired it. But overall it just wasn't for me.
I really liked the start of this book, Rori is an interesting character and I wanted to read about her and her relationship with her mother and how she would adjust to moving to Japan and starting school there. However, all that really interesting character depth got quickly sidelined for the supernatural stuff. I didn't want those things to be the main focus but they were definitely hinted at and I thought the writer was going to explore them but then they were just forgotten.
The supernatural/mythical stuff was kind of cool but again. not enough time was spent with the characters for me and there was a lot of smashing up monsters. I felt like there wasn't much of a plot and so I never really felt much of a connection to it and probably would have put it down after the first volume if i didn't have this bind up.
The art work is very good and showed the action very clearly. It was probably what I enjoyed most about this book.
I think if you are interested in reading a story set in Japan dealing with Japanese themes and myth which isn't Manga give it a go and if you know that you like this series this volume does have a lot of extra material. Not just art, but information about the making of the book and the culture that inspired it. But overall it just wasn't for me.
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