This series has potential, but that just means it's lacking and nowhere near a 10. Both the quality of the art and the characters reflect this point. For example, there are numerous times where you witness a character's personality being contradicted by their actions. Also, like others have already stated, the relationship between the two brothers is awkward, impractical, and detracts from the overall plot.



... Last updated on February 4th, 2011, 8:21am

The premise of a special boy who is the target of every bad guy out there who learns of his own powers and develops them at a magical school with friends, with all kinds of cool monsters and abilities is a good one. It's cliche shounen, but it usually works. And it works well here. The action shines, and his inner conflict of his capabilities and his limits seem very believable. Add in ambiguous villains with seemingly relateable traits (Satan is obviously the main villain, but I'm talking about the others), and you have a good complex action theme going on here.

The main problem that I have is that with such a diverse cast, the characters seem to be lacking something. For example, I think that a manga like this should not only focus on the development of his powers, but the development of him as a person. What does that mean for me? It means there are good opportunities a romance angle in the story. The main female protagonist is too soft and clueless, and although a valued secondary character who admires our hero from afar, she is not a strong enough character to carry on the role of a heroine. There seems to be a tsundere but her personality is still quite annoying and she lacks the charm or the good character design to pull it off.

The other problem I have is that his peer, his brother, was all of a sudden his authority. This is quite disconcerting to me. And he doesn't teach his brother anything. The main character goes off and does what he wants and gets the proper result. So what is the point of a mentor? And the fact that he treads the line from mentor to peer is not good UNLESS the common point between the two is a point of comic relief. I don't like how serious he is, yet his advice seems to be useless... he seems to be on a ivory tower and should be inaccessible yet he is his younger brother... also the fact that if you see his character design in the 1st chapter and like.. the 5th chapter he obviously aged around 6 years. It's clear the author did not intend for him to be an authority figure, and the hurriedness of that connection shows its inherent flaws.

It has good action and a good premise for an interesting development of the fantasy world - for example, I love the architecture in this manga. It's something out of final fantasy, 18th century japan, modern day japan, and harry potter. However, ultimately I find that the main problem is that I can't love the manga because of its flaws in its cast. There are opportunities to explore both magic and fantasy and development within the school life role a la mx0, but in this aspect the manga is lacking.

However, if you just care about action and shounen elements, this is a great manga.

... Last updated on December 15th, 2010, 10:44am

I've loved this story since it came out: it has so much potential. This could easily develop into a top shonen series, depending on the direction it takes.

The premise isn't anything you haven't seen before. Seemingly normal boy inherits massive power. But the quirks, twists and characters give it a fresh, exciting feel. It doesn't feel like the worn down, run of the mill shounen.

I love the main character, Rin. He's the right combination of cool guy, idiot and silliness.

And did I mention the art? Its gooooorgeous. Katou might be one of my favorite mangaka. Its clean, stylized, smooth, and articulate - detailed and beautiful without being ridiculously ornate and gaudy. Its my favorite kind of art style. The colored chapter covers are some of my favorite ever.

Even if the plot wasn't great, I'd still read it for the art (but fortunately its very entertaining!)

... Last updated on April 4th, 2010, 9:26pm

okay, I just have to say this: where do people get D.Gray-Man out of this...it's not even close. It's like saying Death Note and Bleach or something...yeah.

Anyway, I love this manga. It's a nice change on a typical shounen manga. In fact, it doesn't really feel like most shounen manga. Of course it has main character with special powers and that whole bit, but I just like this one a lot for some reason. The art is cool, main character's motives aren't too cliched; justice this, i want to be-number-one-that (he want to kill his father. Nice.) I like the classmates and the scheming half-brothers. Like mentioned below, I like the relationship between the MC and his twin brother. It's great and it's fun and a little complicated.
A bit of angst, but not too much. Nice amount of comedy (Rin). A nice wholesome shounen.

PS Rin is such a cutey lol

PSS For the haters: it's a SHOUNEN. All genres have to follow certain guidelines. If it didn't follow at least a couple cliched elements of the genre, it wouldn't be shounen! Some people just don't seem to get that.

... Last updated on June 14th, 2011, 12:49am

This is awesome. Well compared to D Grayman most stories are. But I like the connection between the brothers. The art style is a bit different and the demons look well-done. I'm looking forward to more chapters.

As a few others have said, the overall story is pretty unique. The basic summary might seem a little cliched or familiar, but its the details that make it stand out.
I love the characters. At first I thought Rin was just going to be a protagonist like all the others; hot headed, kind of stupid, always getting into trouble and using violence, and having a strong "hero complex" and wanting to get stronger to protect everyone, blah blah. But he isn't. Yes, he can be stupid and he isn't all that brilliant at studying, but he still has common sense and isn't goaded into reckless action every time someone slings an insult at him. He shows glimpses of maturity.
Other characters like his brother and friends are also fleshed out so that they are three dimensional.
I also really like the art, and of course the plot is intriguing, too. I've just read chapter 7, and I'm glad we're starting to get hints of what the bad guys are doing.
Overall, one of my favorites.

this is noting like DGM beside the fact their fighting demons but the demons are completely different. if you think its like DGM you probably think its like BLEACH too an anyother manga that people fight demons in it

The story sounds a bit cliche when you read the summery. A half super awesome demon/monster boy fights with the other monsters has been done loads in Shounen manga. Don't let that put you off. Something I have heard from Pixar story writers is this. "most of the stories you come across are going to be pretty much the same, they have really all been done before. Our stories aren't more original than the next story. It's how you tell the story that makes it fun to watch."
In other words, having an original story means nothing, original stories can be just as bad as cliche ones, what is really important is how the story is told.

Characters 9.3/10 The designs are original, and you never get the feeling that you are mixed up with two smiler characters when reading. The personalities are interesting and compelling. You never feel like you want to skip reading a few pages because boring characters are just talking about the plot. There are some overused stereotypes, such as the tough smart girl with long hair, but they later get fleshed out so that they still seem original.

Story 9.2/10 While not a unique story, I still stand by my view that a story doesn't need to be unique or new to be good. It just needs to be told in such a way that is fresh fun and interesting. Kazue Kato is really good at this. Even though I've read tons of shounen material with a smiler concept, this still feels fun and original. The major plot hasn't surfaced yet, so I'm excited to see where the story will go from where it stands.

Art 9.7/10 Just beautiful drawings. Detail is added where needed, and taken away when it becomes unnecessary and clogs the frames. Backgrounds match style and don't change from cartoony to realistic (when the BK art is obviously a copied over photo reference) Characters look different not only in cloths and hair, but also in body type and face shape which is nice. Anime style often creates what looks like a bunch of different dressed up manikins with different hair and cloths which is something I hate. Also I will add that Kato should be a master at story telling by panel. It's one thing to have a good story, it's another thing to be able to have it make sense and flow correctly through the frames. I often feel that some of the weekly manga suffer in the panel art area because they are rushed to get a chapter out per week. It is possible to change the readers perception of time and speed of reading through the frames,but that takes planning and revising. When you are rushed a lot of that is lost. This is a monthly manga, so it has much better reading flow.

... Last updated on March 6th, 2010, 11:48pm

It's confusing in the first few pages but then it get's pretty good, the arts nice and the plot outline is pretty different than most shounen mangas (maybe similar<not really>). I really don't see why people say it's similar to D.gray man theres nothing alike except theres 'excorist' but theres a lot of mangas like that..so basically it's worth a read

... Last updated on October 14th, 2009, 2:36pm