Dolly Kill Kill

Symka Jun 30, 2019

6.5

     The first few chapters of Dolly Kill Kill are incredible, if you're into bleak, dark, post-apocalyptic horror-esque stuff- which I for one, definitely am. The art in the beginning of the series is very reminiscent of Jhonen Vasquez- Big crazed eyes, and ear to ear grins. It starts off with 'dollies' big, cute, fearsome aliens invading the world and sucking people up. Alien bugs make people's skin rot right off their bones. A wonderful set up for any horror manga.      That said, somewhere towards the middle it starts to lose track. It becomes less of a horror manga, and more of an all out battle manga. Still good in it's own way, but definitely a noticable shift into a brawl type series. It feels a little drawn out, and a little rushed at the same time, somehow.      The series tries to build up the characters with their own unique personalities, but ultimately falls short of making them relatable. Each character gets a few key points / gimmicks, and that's pretty much where it ends. (example: The main character, Iruma, is mainly focused on killing a particular Dollie ((Marie-chan)) for revenge, having the motto of "if I say it's gonna be okay, it's gonna be okay!" and being infatuated with his senpai. But... that's kind of it). After introducing a few elements for each of the characters, it basically ends there. There's not any big character development, other than winning/losing fights. Not a lot of personal growth, and not a lot to make you feel attached to any of them.     Towards the last few chapters, the series feels very rushed, and ends somewhat abruptly. It turns out the series ended up being canceled, and you can definitely see where the Mangaka rushes to finish it up before the cancellation deadline, resulting in honestly not really having an ending. It ties a few points together, but you don't get to see the final outcome of the battle, leaving it rather open to interpretation. Not necessarily a selling point for a horror-battle manga. It created a  lot of build up with no actual delilvery.      Without a doubt the real selling point of this series is the ART. Really unique, and really fitting. The premise of the series was still great, but the lasting impression on me is the art of the dollies, and the dollhouses.   tldr: Read it if you want to. Sort of disappointing ending, but unique enough plot to enoy it nonetheless. Not particularly anything special, but a nice way to pass some time.

Ebonyslayer Oct 5, 2017

6.5

Now that the series has ended as of 2017, I will now do a review for the series. Story- The world is invaded by the strange monsters that are later dubbed as Dollies, in which billions of people die, including the friends of the main character. With the desperate struggle of the humans vs the monsters, and it portrayed in a similiar fashion to Attack on Titan. The story is still pretty standard - not to call it a tad generic: the MC undergoes some kind of tragedy - finds a goal in his life (destroy the source of said tragedy) - joins the resistance - gets to fight the monsters. If you've read any kind of "humans vs monsters" story - prominent examples being Attack on Titan and Seraph of the End - then this will all sound very familiar. This familiarity might work out if you're looking for more of the same as the aforementioned series, or if you're new to these kind of stories and it's all still fresh. If none of those 2 goes for you, you might find it a bit boring because of that: DKK doesn't really do anything new, and I don't think it ever really will. Memorability isn't really a factor here either As for me: I wasn't really bored by it, especially not at the start of the story. Do note, however, that this is a manga best read in batches: it's a weekly series on mangabox, and only 8-10 pages come out every week. Although there isn't really any wasted space, making the pacing okay-ish, it gets a bit tedious to read it weekly.  On a positive note, the manga is quite good at creating a feeling of "suspense", the monsters are scary, and nothing particularly dumb has happened yet either. Characters Although some of the characters are interesting (yes, including the side of the dollies - some actually have a personality), there's still a large number of characters that are underdeveloped (although it's ongoing, so development can still happen) or just plain boring. The protagonist feels like Eren 2.0, but with a bit less whining and more suicidal tendencies. There are no particularly memorable characters either, as befits the rather unmemorable storyline. I'd say that the main antagonist (the guy who was helping the Dollies) that was charismatic, mysterious, a lot of the qualities that made me like Sousuke Aizen from Bleach. Without spoilers, let's just say he reveals a lot towards the end. I'd say that he's at least one character in particular that I liked from the series. Artwork The artwork is quite good: the dollies look scary, the fights look good, and there are very few panels that don't look good.  Overall: Recommended for fans of post-apocalyptic, horror and action stories, but nothing memorable - you can give it a try, but you won't miss anything big by not reading it.

thor123 Nov 9, 2015

6.4

Review after reading 62 chapters  Updated after 75 chapters Story First off, you should try to think back about the dolls you had as a child. Whether they were bear, rabbits, bears or something else...  The imagine in your head would probably look a little like this:   cute, right? Now imagine a huge, monstrous version of it that's trying to kill you.  very cute too This is exactly what happens to the world in Dolly Kill Kill: the earth is invaded by the strange monsters that are later dubbed "Dollies", and billions of people die, including the friends of the main character. After this, we get to see the desperate struggle of the humans vs the monsters, and it's portrayed in a way that's very similar to Attack on Titan: while a portion of the people really want to kill all the Dollies, there are others who have given up hope and wish to see coexistence with these monsters. So far, the story is still pretty standard - not to call it a tad generic: the MC undergoes some kind of tragedy - finds a goal in his life (destroy the source of said tragedy) - joins the resistance - gets to fight the monsters. If you've read any kind of "humans vs monsters" story - prominent examples being Attack on Titan and Seraph of the End - then this will all sound very familiar. This familiarity might work out if you're looking for more of the same as the aforementioned series, or if you're new to these kind of stories and it's all still fresh. If none of those 2 goes for you, you might find it a bit boring because of that: DKK doesn't really do anything new, and I don't think it ever really will. Memorability isn't really a factor here either As for me: I wasn't really bored by it, especially not at the start of the story. Do note, however, that this is a manga best read in batches: it's a weekly series on mangabox, and only 8-10 pages come out every week. Although there isn't really any wasted space, making the pacing okay-ish, it gets a bit tedious to read it weekly.  On a positive note, the manga is quite good at creating a feeling of "suspense", the monsters are scary, and nothing particularly dumb has happened yet either. Characters Although some of the characters are interesting (yes, including the side of the dollies - some actually have a personality), there's still a large number of characters that are underdeveloped (although it's ongoing, so development can still happen) or just plain boring. The protagonist feels like Eren 2.0, but with a bit less whining and more suicidal tendencies. There are no particularly memorable characters either, as befits the rather unmemorable storyline. Artwork The artwork is quite good: the dollies look scary, the fights look good, and there are very few panels that don't look good.  Overall: Recommended for fans of post-apocalyptic, horror and action stories, but nothing memorable - you can give it a try, but you won't miss anything big by not reading it.