Reviews

Things are definitely picking up and the story line is beginning to make sense and be easy to follow again. Thank goodness. Because I truly do enjoy the art style of things manga. It’s beautiful and has its dark moments. It’s just sometimes I can be so confused as to the actual plot. Vols 2 and 3 were especially hard. But 4 and 5 really started to change. Waiting to see where it goes

moonlightarcher's review

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adventurous slow-paced

2.5

Lots of action in this one. The Akaza Shiori arc gets wrapped up, I guess - I honest to god don't even really care about the yakuza plot because 1) it is confusing and 2) narratively it feels so inert. Again, it's just people explaining things to each other after the fact. Also it would be nice if we could get some actual, human emotion from any of our lead characters. Other than bafflement or anger, that is. The lack of character interiority is driving me crazy.

One small step forward:

Spoiler

This whole convoluted affair concludes with a conversation between Yoshino and Kirishima where she tells him that throughout this whole ordeal, she has observed that his feelings for her are, indeed, legit. This should be a pivotal moment in their relationship but it's just... all delivered in such a flat, dramatically uninteresting way. And then their dynamic hardly changes even after all this, so it makes me wonder where this is all even going.

I did like the scene where Renji punishes Souma and Kirishima with a beating. It hints at Kirishima's upbringing but also at there being some kind of arrangement between Renji and Kirishima, which I'm curious to learn more about.

Anyway. If I'm harsh on the series it's only because I feel that there is so much potential being squandered. I feel like the series is being carried mostly by the artwork. I just wish the writing was better.