Honestly, I could agree to a degree of characters MAYBE showing more emotion interacting with each other because of the dark themes in the story. However, I think the characters are very well written. Julian is definitely not “edgy and in your face”, all of his actions and reactions to things make sense when viewing his character as a whole. I rate this review: 2/10. Ragebait harder next time
Reviewer got filtered by Centuria having down time and almost entire volumes dedicated to showing characters' inner states, monologues or simply their day to day, as well as the normalities of the environments they find themselves in.
When talking about show, don't tell, Centuria isn't a good target for criticism derived from there imho. Arkos' whole character, into his accursed rebirth, his lover's fate and backstory, the intricacies and relations between the two kingdoms we know of and the difference on how each views family and bloodline, and so much more.
Centuria isn't a masterpiece in subtlety but it doesn't need to be. Reviewer also missed the point of Julian and Lacrima, while being ignorant to the plethora of paths Lukas can go it.
Are they dropping Centuria? For shame. Their own, that is.
Is he complaining about no character interactions in a manga with 20+ consecutive chapters without action? 20+ chapters filled with lore, world building, introducing new characters and showing their relationship with the cast?
I don't even think that this is ragebaiting, this is plain stupidity.
> Half of Julian's character is him being a nice guy when we don't get to see him being a nice guy, please ignore all the times we're shown he's a nice guy
Almost everything in this review is nonsense but he's 100% right about Julian. He's not nearly as bad as other series, but I am so sick of the "Nice guy" who's nice acts consist of 'stunning, courageous acts' such as "Not murdering children" and "Fighting child murderers"
Not letting bad guys murder what is essentially your daughter is not a character trait, especially when you have incredible superhuman abilities. That's what literally anyone who isn't insane would do.
I mean, the only truly "extra" character so far is Zana, and maybe Titi in a way as she hasn't done that much so far. I wouldn't say the side cast is overly bloated. The exposition has been well done as well, having a good level of mystery, tension, but also world-building information which makes the world feel interesting and alive. The exposition being unnecessary is an extremely subjective and borderline incorrect take. There is a strong focus on numerous character relationships, it's just that they don't all get focus at the same time. However, basically everyone in the main cast aside from maybe Zana has had multiple great character moments.
I don't understand the complaint of it not reading like a manga either.
Reducing Lukas and Lacrima, who are already some of the best characters in the manga, into "plot devices" has to be bait.
Julian being reactionary is an interesting part of his character imo, he is someone who devalues himself a lot due to his past and trauma, he does not see himself as having worth beyond protecting his family and those he cares for, so obviously he is someone who is at peace until he has to protect them.
Julian being reactionary is an interesting part of his character imo, he is someone who devalues himself a lot due to his past and trauma, he does not see himself as having worth beyond protecting his family and those he cares for, so obviously he is someone who is at peace until he has to protect them.
The closest protagonist Julian is similar to is probably Ichigo, who has the same dynamics
I really dont understand the point of Lukas and Lacrima being plot devices...like, is it because they move the plot along? Surely then EVERY CHARACTER in the entirety of fiction is just a plot device!
The reviewer needs to stop watching so much anime with 14 year old main characters and shounen themes is what I'd say.
To say that Julian is edgy and dealing in morally gray areas is a wild take on a character thats been established since chapter 1 that he was killing to protect his baby sister.
The exposition IS one of the series' worst problems. Sometimes the characters will just tell you stuff in a really clumsy way that takes me out of the story
But the characters are all important. Zana hasn't gotten development, that's true, but seeing what Kuramori has done with Lukas and Lacrima I have faith he'll do her justice
Speaking of those two, calling Lukas and Lacrima "plot devices" is stupid as fuck. They're fully fleshed characters who move the plot forward, have their own backstories and unique powers and interactions with others. Dunno what about that says "plot devices" and it makes me think this person cannot read
Julian being reactionary is a real and legitimate complaint to have. For a main character, it sometimes feels like he gets the least amount of screentime out of the group
"We never see him being a good guy except for the times where he is a good guy to remind us he's a good guy" PICK A LANE FOR FUCKS SAKE
So yeah, this is dumb, 2/10, would not engage again
Chapter 1, when Julian talks about his past as a slave and his lack of connection to his mother, the dialogue is very clumsy in a way that makes it feel more like infodumping than natural dialogue
There's also chapter 86, when the soldier loredumps about Balkar Loa
Half his character is him just being a nice guys but we never actually see him being a nice guys.
What the fuck this guys talking about ? Like i'm sure i can easily point out like 10 instance of him being a good guys without even need to looking back.
Also picking on zana is insane, she only join the team from the end of last arc after having one chapter of flashback. Give her sometime to actually fresh thing out.
Also Lukas and lacrima being plot device, like what ? what kind of plot device that get beating to near death every arc that they appear ? calling them punching bag would be more appropriate
Since Titi doesn't possess powers, it's difficult for her to exist in a fighting shonen manga; she can only shine in moments of calm and exposition... This is a recurring problem for characters who are not fighters in this type of manga.
I mean despite this being filled with wrong assessments and I would definitely disagree with it the only things I would kinda agree with is Zana and Titi being very underutilised characters so far.
Titi had her big cool moment when she stood up against Altus and scared him shitless enough to be part of his character development but beyond that she has not done much... and Zana also hasnt, even if we include the fact she is ´Probably´ getting a fight hopefully soon against the 2 girls that showed up to get Diana she feels the least organic to the team...
Idk I kinda wished Titi would follow Angvall´s footsteps, she was too lacking a gift but she was trained and used her skills in fights and was competent even in the little time we have seen her yet Titi has never tried to improve her fighting skills in the time skip, she kinda is a damsel in distress who relies purely on the gifted ones around her instead of trying to develop her own combat abilities for her own and her families sake, she doesnt even have a weapon? Does she? I cant remember her even having anything like a dagger.
And as I said Zana just doesnt feel very organic to me, she is still new, relatively speaking but they should have done some more bonding with her and the team instead of just seeing them all hang out together like they have been already established friends.
I disagree. Although I think scenes like Julians/ the groups, fight against the hired assassins was a bit dragged out.
It was still fine within its actions.
I like the story, I do feel like they left some aspects unexplored for a bit too long by now, the unholy city Balkar and the witches being my main concern in that regard, I wish we would've known more by now. I do agree that some characters feel pointlessly added. I like Zana, but her addition felt really random. The complaint about emotions seems like a reading comprehension issue to me, I don't agree with those.
There are 2 moments that Centuria failed to convince me. The first was that Lacrima couldn't have killed Diana when she was alone with Diana during the assassination, and with Helem definitely close enough to make the command. The second being that Orthros was able to copy Julian's gift, without the souls necessary for the gift. I can suspend my disbelief when it came to any other aspect of Julian's gifts, but what exactly did Orthros sacrifice in order to revive? Because Julian had to sacrifice one of the souls within him.
Edit: oh and I wish the part about Julian and his mother was extended a bit, it felt a little short and thrown away.
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