unOrdinary - Reviews

unOrdinary
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Ketan69's avatar
Feb 13, 2022

The world building is trash. Basically the strongest rules. But mc don't want to live like that so acts weak cause of his past regrets ( maybe) . The story circles around school. And yk how messed up the system is when the strong rule. So mc was a tyrant now acts like he sinned. And wants to live like that cause he is happy that way. But he don't take responsibility for shit. Even watches his gf getting beaten even when he have the power and still complains others why they didn't do Anything. This is basically the whole story. 

Art is fine. A lot of close up faces but pretty decent 

Except Arlo , Blake, Cecile and Isen. Everyone else is dumb and have no idea what tf is happening and are delusional. The worst is the Mc

Overally the world building is trash. Author have tried to send deep messages in this which maybe an eye opener for you. But even after like 120 chapters if you don't see the flaws then this review might offend your dumb mind. The irony is that The message this is trying to send backfires to the audience who actually like the mc which I saw on comments. Cause as I said, mc us trash 

3/10 story
5/10 art
1/10 characters
2/10 overall
iLive4Anime's avatar
Oct 28, 2018

I did not even no unOrdinary was even on Anime-Planet tbh, but enough of that I really am enjoying readin this web comic. I rated the web toon a 10/10 because I love how the story is progressing. I love how John is afraid to let other people know that he isa killing machine. I love how he is tramatized from his past self and wants to change. I like the progression were John is starting to fights those that are hurting his friend. I really enjoy this wen toon and can't wait every thursday. 

10/10 story
10/10 art
10/10 characters
10/10 overall
PZcolo's avatar
Apr 13, 2020

Warning, the scratched parts are slightly spoilers, I usually don't put spoilers but so many others have spoiled this already that it's hardly relevant, maybe? skip the scratched parts if you want no spoilers.

This story has 2 parts, the fist one is interesting and the chars are well done, some things don't add up but they aren't enough to ruin the setting, story and characters. The second part... has 2 problems imo, the first is that one of the strong points crumbles, namely, characters, not just because of the changes in the MC but because many chars become annoying. On the good side, the MC does a 180 degree turn and some asses become pretty decent people, I liked that, pretty original and many of the chars are well thought and consistent, Sera and Arlo are deep and interesting, the MC on the other hand is a mess which as a reader I keep wishing to go somewhere. Unfortunately, as I was expectating those dynamic characters to move in some direction, for the duche-bag to realize his failings or something, nothing much happens in that area, and this is the second problem of the second part, it drags the story with little progress and goes around in circles without moving much forward and perpetuating the immaturity and sociopath tendencies of the MC. This in consequence ruins the pace which was quite good till the second season.

There is also an underlying plot about how the government and those in power manipulate the society for their benefit, seen in the hunt for heroes and the constant effort to maintain the status quo, this is also very interesting.

Other than that, the setting itself is pretty interesting but I think the author didn't think the consequences of such society through enough.
For example, they speak of hierarchy but its manifested in just power/strength, unless it's a wild-west world setting, power and strength are not really important to society.
Likewise they speak of "contributing to society" or "being useful" but they just use powers to fight, there is no contribution of any sort, on the contrary, powerful people are mostly dragging society in most events that the author portraits.
Furthermore, all points to a society similar to ours, let's asume guns do not exist because the whole story becomes stupid if they do, still it's a society where people go to work and work on a desk with a computer... I would say it's a rather unbelievable setting for a society that developed with ESP powers as it's basis.
Take the MC, he's incredibly strong but he's a retard, it's easy to see that a strong power actually means squat in society.
There are many incongruences or minor contradictions, all based on not thinking the world through enough.
Also, as the MC also shows, most powers below elite can be overcome with just martial arts and some powers are way more useful that others, regardless of the strength of the power.

In short, it's interesting and the characters are mostly well thought out but sufers from some inconsistencies and an MC that's very annoying to watch and all this is compounded by the lack of progress in the second part, there is so much going on and many of those things are just put on pause while the story goes in cicrles about the MC's twisted personality and how those around it cope with it. If the author moves forward I have high hopes for this one still.

7/10 story
8/10 art
7.5/10 characters
7.5/10 overall
eatomipito's avatar
Dec 30, 2020

I have read up to ch. 200, and to me the development was way to slow, the story itself isn't bad, but the characters get tiring after a while. I was sympathetic to the MC at first, and could understand why he wouldn't want to use his powers. Then when he actually started using his powers, I thought it would be a "hooray" moment, But ended up being his mental downfall... I mean from then on he pulls a 180 and starts terrorizing everyone and being a total a-hole. I dont think it was all that neccessary to do, and ultimately turned me off from it. I like the premise and idea, execution is just lacking trying to make an MC different from other MC's of the same genere adding in more character problems then is actually neccessary.

6/10 story
4/10 art
2/10 characters
3/10 overall
Epimondas's avatar
Dec 8, 2018

It’s true what most readers say, and the recommendations I received on my lists, that this is one of the best.  It only has one maybe two significant drawbacks.  The single issue keeping it from near perfection is how much things are dragged out.  Why so many manga and anime do this is beyond me.  Sure, it is good practice to keep audiences engaged and interested but there are limitations to bear in mind.  You can’t dangle major events or plot conclusions in their faces fore more than a season or year’s worth of comics unless they are a sort overall recurring one but even then, it only works if you divide it up into a series of sub conclusions before the main one is eventually disclosed and the next one is vaguely hinted at or you don’t unveil too much about the story arc too soon.  The whole hanging chad about Seraphina’s abilities or the gang behind it, is dragging on a bit long without much reward in the sense of revelations.  The question of John’s true nature was done much more masterfully.  Good hints were dropped and spaced out pretty well then the apex happening after Seraphina’s punishment, but the one about the group of psychopaths is dragging on a bit long and hints are fewer and further between.  I have a little bit of an issue with the idea of anyone losing anything that is part of their identity and uniqueness.  The properties that define John isn’t as epic as it might seem due to duration and retention.

The setting itself is very glum, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing just stating the obvious.  In such a setting it is hard to fathom that humans made any steps forward given how such environments in the past have unraveled in much the same way things start collapsing at the schools described in the story.  The idea that any government would ever be so apathetic to the problems of its citizens inevitably sets up an undoubtedly pristine nesting ground for vigilantes though I don’t consider the murders of that terror group as anything close to vigilantes but rather the people who are rising against them despite government apathy.  While this created a pretty good setting, I get the sense it’s not complete given how long the terrorist story arc is ongoing.  I can conclude she needs more challenges for her protagonists to overcome which suggests perhaps the focus is on the school or the town too much to easily transist to greater and broader obstacles.  The concept of an unruly school with difficult and belligerent students is not exactly unique or new, nor can I say adding the idea of mutations or super powers to the mix, but it is presented a bit more fluidly than usual.  I can’t help but think John may need a bit more evolution to truly shine since as it is, may still be a bit to limiting and finite since his skills roughly suggests he maybe the only character that has virtually no chance of evolving, improving, or growing in skills or diversity of skills.  His abilities a little too much of rigid set of limitations that no other characters has and I mean what he is like even after the events around chapter 60.  Sure, he can probably use what he has better than anyone but, it looks too much like he now has a ceiling which he has already reached that no other character has.

Seraphina is a great well balanced character and perhaps a bit more so than John since she’s not prone to random outbursts.  I can’t say if there is any one solid antagonist as yet, maybe it’s a missing element, but Volcan is closest.  Arlo is so far looking to be more like an antihero than a pure antagonist.  Some of the minor characters such as the dorm bully, Zeke have been closer to an antagonist. John displays epically good fighting skills that are competitive against some of the mid tier level magic users even.  He knows how to use any skills he has or acquired better than anyone in a virtually instinctive level.  When he isn’t emotionally blowing up, he can be calm, rational, level headed, and tactically brilliant.  How he struggles with his education is a bit confounding given how intelligent, observant, and adaptable he is in almost everything else.  John is a great lead character with plenty of upside and downside, and yet accomplished so without the overbearing step from believability seen in so many other manga and anime protagonists.  At times, the deceptive front he puts on is verging on sickeningly nice.  It could be one reason Arlo gets suspicious.  The world in this story is broad and narrow simultaneously.  While it implies The whole world is like this, we only see two examples and little sense of what or who else in the world might roll over everyone combined at those schools.  Some examples do crop up however such as the investigator/counselor, Keon who seems able to put anyone of any power to shame.

As good as the story may be, so far I haven’t seen that many story arcs so the scope and range of the world and what’s possible is less than most.  What’s good about it is probably as good as anything can be.  What is bad are only a few things such as no strong and clear antagonists and overly long story arcs.  The little rewards for readers often are delayed more than necessary from the little foreshadowing teases that take two- ten chapters longer than other comparable stories to conclude.  Pacing is important to any good story.  I can almost see all the near misses of Seraphina finding out what everyone is hiding as a running gag of sorts.  Most of the other secret surfers do time it well with all the short peaks and valleys but some take so long they almost appear forgotten by the flow of the story.  The bag attacker is a good distraction however I am a bit puzzled why something so imminently close to a school that loves gossip, why either it isn’t a bigger more widespread topic or causing any students or teachers to broadcast school wide warnings of dangers and more since the terror attacks are also close in proximity and victim profiles to the students and staff as the are.  Sure we may know it isn’t on par, but the characters for the most part shouldn’t.  The big problem I have at the moment with the terror enemy arc is, we the readers only just recently found even the name of one member in the story.  Any previous arc, never took that long to reveal anything and it was a missed opportunity to establish perhaps a good strong antagonist or two.  After this many chapters I still can’t really name a solid antagonist.  Maybe the story wasn’t meant for that sort of conflict however if you just go with a simple statement on school bullying that would still bring such a thing out.  Arlo doesn’t work as a clear cut antagonist because; John didn’t know until very late in the story he was behind some of them; Arlo’s motive isn’t to bully but to seek truth even if he doesn’t personally like John, Arlo never attacks people just to pick on them but in fact gets mad if he sees it since he considers such behavior beneath those with power; Arlo has intervened to help before and after he lead the pick on to reveal the truth campaign; Arlo isn’t a bully nor does he seem to truly care about the King title but only cars about order and ensuring people qualified fulfill obligations suited to their talents.

Arlo is rough around the edges and may struggle to express personality and motivation but he isn’t a total narcissist or abuser of power either.  I may be missing the intention.  This kind of story with bullies; school staff demeanor towards conflict and rank jockeying; superhero’s with either magic or mutant power; and an enemy organization with far reaching tendrils does not equate to a story without a hero type story and a nemesis.  She certainly fueled fire in readers about how easily it becomes to hate such a villainous and loathsome sadistically violent enemy.  It was a great thrill to learn the secrets some characters hide from all others or the past of those who keep quiet about their pasts.  Kudos to the sense of friction so eloquently espoused between parents and offspring with several good examples.  The overbearing authority, fear, and power so well expressed by Keon and his interactions with students and staff is well demonstrated while nicely and simply by playing on the natural fears citizens often worry over authoritarian figures.  The story gets high marks in most every literary facet rarely seen at all in similar venues let alone completed so well.  However, at the same time, many of those same venues make the same practice of slow overly long reveal.  Black Clover might not be much better than most other virtual carbon copy style stories but, it does a slightly better job of offering those micro reveals leading up to the major ones.  Stories are supposed to work like radio waves, surfs, concertos, air shows, magic shows, or even sporting events.  By this I mean, you foreshadow major and minor events.  Major ones you do so slowly a little at a time up to a peak crescendo when it’s unveiled.  Usually, this is done as one major event a season for shows, such as the season ending encounter with the trained spy in ncis; the miniature killer in csi; or the Yin Yang killer in Psych.  Some nemesis type arc can recur over multiple seasons each ending with some dramatic action and a significant revelation about the nemesis until a final showdown is made which rarely goes beyond maybe 4 seasons but not always back to back seasons.  This same pattern can be found in manga and comics that usually last over the course of a year. You see it in many best selling novel series or serials too.  Minor ones are usually done over 1-4 episodes or chapters in manga or books in novel series and then revealed or concluded. This is where this story is perhaps weakest.  

Readers expect enlightenment after so much time passes and the type of enlightenment dictates how long one might anticipate or expect to wait.  I am not seeing that pattern and consistency here.  This doesn’t mean after a major reveal the story has to end. A good writer will start faintly foreshadowing the next major arc before the previous one comes to conclusion and often fairly far in advance such as just before or as the arc descends as it winds down.  One example, Cobra was often found to behind the schemes the protagonists uncovered through progressive stories but might not always have anyone directly involved so that the minor reveal had its own conclusion.

Unordinary makes few mistakes and mostly avoids mistakes so common in quite a few other manga and anime.  At least one detractor arises which is too common which is the long winded story or taking to long to connect all the dots and close that arc so another can take a turn.  It still does that.  As good as the story and buildup are, it’s lacking sufficient substance and has too many unanswered questions/open contiguous arcs.  It really drags its feet to deliver answers to questions pretty far back.  I’m fearing this might like a grift game. Where players are lead into an endless game to fleece them as much as possible.  Uru-chan has foreshadowing, but she doesn’t show the results of them as often as she leads on with foreshadow.  She should close a few more open arcs before starting new ones.  For the most part, the style and structure capitalize magnificently on writing standards seemingly absent from too many other similar media.  Solid characters, abhorrent enemies, gripping surprises, and dramatic engaging and emphatic story make unordinary as good as they come and with a few minor tweaks it may outlast all the other manga.

10/10 story
10/10 art
10/10 characters
10/10 overall