You really cannot talk about this for very long without spoiling it utterly, but I tried in a long review I wrote for it. Birdmen is strongly unique for a lot of reasons, the most major of which I honestly can't discuss. I usually see people saying "just read it" and yeah, just read it. My review tries to explain why you should bother at all rather than just giving a vague line about it, but this is definitely something that you shouldn't look into too deeply before starting. There's a lot to it that's not exactly "surprising", but instead it's like there's lots and lots of new information regularly given out. It's a special series for sure and it seriously deserves more recognition.

Full review:
https://terrenceswiff.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/birdmen/

I didn't find the main protagonist interesting at first but now he's starting to grow on me after reading the later chapters. Similar to Kekkaishi, the humor is great and makes the story more unconventional. However, the story seems to be slower than Kekkaishi. I skimmed through the chinese raws and found that the action picks up around ch12.

Now I wouldn't say that this is the best piece in the world, but damn is it one of my favorites. It's slow-paced, but not too slow. Only about 30% of this manga is fighting (if you can even call it that), which is unusual for a shounen. Honestly, this series is only shounen for the first part of the series, then it shifts into more of a seinen with shounen undertones.

This series really develops the characters through the story. The main character goes through some very notable changes. I mentioned earlier how this series shifts from shounen to more of a seinen; this shift is brought about actually by the changes in personality of the main character. I find it interesting how in the beginning of the series, the MC is super self-conscious and acts like a total shounen MC. But as the story progresses, MC slowly starts to disassociate with the world around him, turning him into more of a seinen character. It'll make sense when you read the story, I promise.

The main reason I love this series is because of the ART. I kid you not; I have paused during every single chapter to admire just how gorgeous the art is. Each expression is so clear and variant - you never see quite the same expression more than once. But man, the art is fantastic, and if this series is ever made into an anime, we have some GORGEOUS scenes to look forward to.

Basically, this series is a very fun read if you just want a good supernatural drama. I have enjoyed the hell out of it and am rereading it for the third time.

This manga starts slow, but it has gradually been gaining momentum now that the characters are all introduced. It's an extremely well written story with crisp art. Definitely recommend to anyone who like more serious, character driven stories similar to Hoshi no Samidare

I'm a huge fan of the manga-ka's prior works and this is her newest series with great art. MC is a fairly typical angsty teen (yeah, I know) but I'm glad the story didn't go in-dept with his self-defeating thoughts which is nice. The cast looks to be OK and although there's many characters introduced I can tell them apart and they have different personalities.

I find the mysterious student to be overdone trope but somehow it works for now. MC is obviously not a happy person but he doesn't seem to be dislikable (?) and I can predict him improving w/his self-esteem problems later on. Great use of space for 2-page scenes and backgrounds are drawn w/clean lineart.

I suppose none of this sounds very original or creative but the manga itself is a interesting take on young boy gains special skill which changes life.

2/2/21: I caught up all the scanlations and I felt the ending did feel rushed but it resolved p well compared to how many different sub-plots were brought up. I still don't really understand the Adam/Eve parts and the clones but so it goes. I kept thinking it would end up w/a huge sacrifice but not too sad as the story could have gone.



I'm looking forward to her future manga series with great art.

... Last updated on February 3rd, 2021, 3:59pm

I love this manga. Everything about it was carefully planned until the last volume. You can tell the mangaka was either forced to end the series abruptly and had to wrap things up somehow, or she just got tired. But considering the amount of work put in, I doubt it's the later.
It was a good ride while it lasted. I'm looking forward to her next work.

... Last updated on April 10th, 2020, 10:26pm

I like the start, and the story's going along in a nice flow, not too slow nor too fast. There's also enough things to keep you excited and anticipate the next chapter (if not excited). The atmosphere's nice too, I especially like the funny moments. I can't wait to see how the characters would improve especially the MC, he's quite the negative one, he think things through too much which is good and all (I actually find it funny at times)

Anyway, I'm not really good with reviewing anything also this is subject to change. I just say what I want (Opinion's opinion)

I'm going to wait for more chapters and see if it would be worth buying and adding to my collection
I hate to buy a volume only to not complete it because it became absolute shit in the end.

The greatest strength of this series is how it incorporates a lot of serious topics and genres.

I think that if the emo and psychological parts are reinforced it can further elevate the story.

It's a very dense read for a "shounen" and don't feel light and easy to read at all, you gotta be kept on your toes and keep track of things. The vibes are often overbearing on the tragedy side. I think that making it a bit more melodramatic might be more immersive, this series is more on the cold side (think of Houseki no Kuni), but it has none of its comedy.

Instead of a standard shounen, it paces and reads like an American TV series show.

There's a lot of philosophical, geopolitical, ethical, etc questions that could be raised based on this interesting premise of children turning into birds by a shadowy organisation unfortunately the story stay as a superficial shounen till the end. This is also supposed to be a coming of age angst manga but it doesn't really explore much. A good coming of age story with loads of philosophical conundrum is something like Eden its an Endless World. I still rated this pretty highly because only the last 15 chapters that drag everything down. I do not mind pure shounen manga but the last 15 chapters seemed to be that the author try to elevate it but fail.

... Last updated on May 15th, 2021, 5:57am