nathandouglasdavis

The intended reaction is laughter, but the actual induced reaction is (more often than not) glazed eyes and boredom. It's a parody of sentai cartoons--mocking the way they'll have stupid move names, strange-looking costumes, a lot of inexpicable explosions and massive items appearing out of nowhere, passionate exhortations, overdramatic poses, corny speeches about bonds and friendship, and general stimulus overload. It's basically trying to rely on the mixing of genres: isekai + sentai. I also noticed some passing references to Yu-Gi-Oh! and Majora's Mask, and there are probably a lot of other nerdy easter eggs that I didn't pick up on. The problem is that I get the impression the manga's still intending for the character designs and fights to be interpreted as epic and cool. They're trying to both say "isn't this stuff silly?" while also saying "isn't this stuff cool?"

The overarching plotline is of the same variety as InuYasha. Red, Idola, and other allies are traveling from place to place looking for the various magic seeds that are scattered around. These seeds can turn people into monsters and give them magical powers. The magical powers given (called privilege magic) are based on what the infected person most wants and values. And in that sense, it's also got a set-up similar to Jagaaaaaan. I wonder how many other manga there are that use this type of idea. Probably a lot.

The monologues and banal storylines bored me. The joke where Red always goes off on spiels about the bonds between people isn't nearly funny enough to make up for having to actually read through those dialogue bubbles. I did appreciate how they had Rosie be brutally honest whenever fe was asked to be honest. I thought that was an interesting character quirk. But basically every other aspect of every other character was just cliched or shallow or half-baked. The main characters suck. I don't even find the romantic sprinkles between Red and Idola to be heart-warming or anything. The art is also inconsistent. In some of the two-page spreads and action sequences, the art can be really nice. But during a lot of the more normal panels, the characters start looking a lot more mediocre and boring. 

[Reviewed at chapter 10]