Edit 2: Please don't try to delegitimize my review because you don't like what I have to say. That is so juvenile. The only "new low" here is the crude and dismissive way you've attempted to discredit me. That is sickening. You're perfectly entitled to your own opinion, and so am I. Neither one of us is right or wrong. They are called opinions for a reason, and stories can and do resonate differently from person to person. There will never be a universally accepted opinion. So next time, kindly offer your own opinion without trying to tear down a contrary one. That's not what “good reviewers” do; it’s what inarticulate children do when they’re frustrated that someone criticized Something They Like (TM).
As to the content of my review, I feel it's sufficient in getting my point across. It was never meant to serve as an in-depth analysis, nor as the be-all and end-all authority on this particular work. Its primary purpose was to act as warning to like-minded (notice the emphasis there) readers so that they don’t have to waste their time wading through something they likely won’t enjoy. I have no need or desire to waste my time writing any more on this manga because frankly, I'm tired of this kind of schlock. Writers need to try harder and have more respect for their stories and their audience. I have absolutely no reason to excuse, celebrate, or otherwise promote what strikes me as lazy and uninspired writing. None. Now, if anyone would like recommendations for shounen series that I think are done well, feel free to PM me. But really, that's neither here nor there, is it?
Original Review
...and that's something I could tell from chapter one. I've read far too many trite shounen series, and from just one chapter of this mess, I could already tell it was on the fast track down to Overused Shounen Clichés hell. Before I even reached the end of that first chapter, I’d already uttered the Eight Deadly Words and had my mouse hovering over the little X on its tab. I don’t entirely know how to describe it outside of a visceral gut feeling, but I could just tell with that opening that this series would be insipid, uninspired, and a complete waste of my life. Actually, it wasn’t visceral at all – I was working off my carefully and lovingly honed Hack Detection Interface, and the readings were simply off the charts!
But far be it from me to deny a work a second chance. So I nosed around on the Internet and read reviews for both the manga and the anime. And, exactly as I’d surmised, this manga doesn’t pull a miraculous recovery and prove itself to be deeper than it initially appears. No, it stays exactly the same – boring, cliché-ridden, hackneyed, and pandering to the lowest common denominator. So as far as I’m concerned, this thing was DOA.
But you might like it if you enjoy (I’ll repeat) uninspired, follow-the-leader trend-chasers whose only aim is to be The Next Big Thing (TM) so that their creators can pull in the cash. And I, personally, have very little respect for such endeavors.
Edit: Just realized the author is actually primarily a light novelist. I am exactly 0% surprised.