The drawing is bad, characters aren't that interesting, the plot feels too lax since it doesn't go hard on the action but progresses quite well during the conflict parts. Overall not quite tense and serious enough.

Truly an outstanding piece i was lucky to come across many years ago and was impressed enough to remember this title up to present day and even come back to rereading it once again after failed attempts to find something similar. Which proves the fact that this manhwa is not to be compared to any other it may find itself in the same genre with. The story, being deep and touching many various subjects, presents itself the same dynamic and unexpected way the artwork does, complementing and balancing it so that the combination of the two brings brilliant results. It's really amazing how visually stunning and emotionally involving the story gets eventually, and how much it manages to accomplish for its genre. This piece is for true connoisseurs though, since an average shounen reader approach may turn out a bit overly superficial and leave such readers dissatisfied due to having missed the key features of the story and art.

... Last updated on March 15th, 2018, 2:03pm

Horrible series, and horrible art too in my opinion. The story is really bad the chars are so-so till you get to the betrayal part of the series, I didn't find any sense at all to it and there is little to no explanation either (read crissio's comment on it). Fight ain't good either and with that art they look just awful. And last, the translation was not very good.

In every single fight there's a weak no-name posturing that he's the strongest, and then they're easily defeated by children, and there's a fight or a war every 5 chapters. That could get on your nerves. For all the wars and warfare, they're not explored or depicted with any depth or strategy and there's almost nothing in the way of politics. For all the edginess and murder, there's no gore to be seen. This is just a simple little shounen with atypical art for you to enjoy or not. Two meta points: I'm amazed by the volume of comments on this page, and the scanlators who produced the copies I read were complete incompetent fools and their credits pages enraged me with their stupidity and entitlement. The rage I felt removed from my enjoyment of this series. The work has a very happy ending despite all the deaths. I would have liked to have seen more of what happens after. One guy commented on the 'depth and realism' - I'd like to know what he read because it wasn't ares.

I simply love it! Couldn't stop reading it. The plot might be predictable to some but it went smoothly unlike some mangas. It didn't feel like the author made the plot as the story goes. Only flaw is that some of the side characters look similar so I was confused at times, especially during the war. Other than that, everything is pretty well done, including the art. My advise, you need to read it to the end to understand everything that is going on. Love the ending lots, there was closure to everything, I think.

This manga seems to resonate well with some and not at all with others. I was the latter. Maybe it was because I walked in with high expectations, or at least with the idea that it would be slightly similar to others of the same genre, but I was sorely disappointed.
It definitely started off well; battling to gain a spot in a well-regarded guild and it just so happens that three youngsters completely defy the expectations of everyone due to their unlikely skill and hidden talent. But the story that unravels after that is completely awful. At least, that's what I believe. Everything that occurred afterwards was out of place or unnecessary.
Maybe I wanted to see the trio hanging out as friends, having good times and making great memories before the big plot twist. I was hoping for Ares to somehow actually work to get his revenge, and that his actions made sense. Read the other comments to get a better understanding and explanations to the (VERY MANY) flaws in the manwha.
Throughout the entire manwha I was wishing for it redeem itself. That I wouldn't be dreading, no, forcing myself to flip the pages in hopes that it would turn out better. But it didn't and it was simply a disaster to read. I barely enjoyed this, and the only time I did like it was at the beginning; otherwise, it was completely boring the entire time.

Ok, i can't express how much i ADORE this manhwa. But, i have to say this: if you are looking for a manhwa with the most realistic art or the kind of drawings what you normally see in others mangas, well, maybe that will pull you back for reading this serie. I personally loved the drawing, it was wierd, but perfect fot this story.
Even so, that apart, i really think it's worth give it a try, because every character do his part in the story, the funny, and the dark ones. If you read it 'till the end, you'll probably won't regret it.
While reading, try seeing the whole thing, not only the drawing or the characters; it's about their lives, the way they lived and the reason they do what they do(and of course, the actions parts), but you won't appreciate it if you think that some part is bad because it has nothing to do or is out of place with what was happening.

Ok, if you didn't read all the thing above, is fine. Just try it, i loved it, as every work this artist did. Enjoy it!! (and sorry if i wrote something wrong)

All I can say is that I tried, and tried, aaaaand tried reading this manhwa until the end, but couldn't. There was something about the whole plot that just didn't manage to keep me hooked until the end. It is unique, yes, but it lacks in so many areas that I don't even know where to start.

Instead of reading the comments/reviwes here I recommend you,(yes -you-), should read it and make up your own opinion about the manhwa. Because, as you can see, the ratings are veeery varied and I think it actually depends in your taste. If you have a picky taste like me that's only satisfied with the best, then sorry...this isn't for you.

... Last updated on December 5th, 2013, 1:01pm

A typical shounen adventure manga, right? That's what it is for most readers, I'm sure. But Ares has surprising depth. It doesn't go into detail in any of the serious parts which is what I like about it.

The over-the-top fights, fantasy weapons, superhuman-like strength. They are all plot devices. What's the point of them being realistic? This is, after all, a shounen adventure. The only criticism I've read here seems to be on very shallow things like these. It's natural that the story seems immature for someone who is immature themselves.

The character relations, motives, personalities, warfare, the psychological and social effects of war, politics. All of them are more realist and complicated than most anything you'll find it modern popular fiction. Most of it is on the background and it just follows Ares and his friends on their cliché-ish quest. But this is a good thing. It's kind of a light hearted story and with all the drama and tragedy it doesn't lose that light heartedness. The ending does have melancholy but it is also a happy ending. A deep story doesn't need to be a dark tragedy. Ares doesn't gloat on it's depth but focuses on the simple drama and slice-of-life.

You don't need to over-think it—it is simply an adventure story after all. But it's the detail what makes that simple adventure story a small masterpiece.

I read all the chapter until the end, and sadly I have to give it 3/10

I read many different kind of manga , and Ares definitely falls into the category of dark medieval fantasy genre. First thing, if you want to read a really good dark medieval story , read : Berserk, Vinland Saga, and Historie . That's some perfect example of how a really gritty dark medieval manga should be written and drawn. When I read this manga , it has :

1. Bad dialogue
I don't know why, but the dialogue in this manga is just plain shallow and weak. There are so many conversation that is just waste of space, not giving any useful information, and just plain nothing.

2. Bad artwork
This is why I mostly don't like korean manga. The art sucks ass , I am having hard time to differentiate face in between the character. The mangaka is a fucking lazy, and doesn't spend time on drawing character. Especially if you really looking at the war section. There are so many characters that look exactly the same, you cannot tell which one is A , which one is B.

3. Bad fighting scene
The way the fight scene drawn, was kinda confused me too. I cannot make sense when I tried to read between first column, and the next column. The fighting scene doesn't seems to be in cohesion together. I didnt understand if this particular character getting stab or slash from vertical or horizontal , or diagonal. There's also lack of "death face" of the character that got killed , the mangaka solved the problem by just drawing every grunt with full helmet so he can have the excuse to not draw the agony face. And really, it kills the hype. I never really get immersed with ANY battle scene throughout the story.

4. The mangaka tried so hard to make the characters to be cool, but failed hard , because apparently the characters cannot look cool without smoking or atleast have something to suck in between their lips.

This is seriously pisses me off, people are really smoking while in they are in the war killing people? Even in one battle scene, there was this character that tried so hard to be cool by picking up his "cigarette" even though he was in the bad situation? give me a break. There are a lot of way to make character cool, and the worst way to do it was by giving the character "cigarette" to make them cool. It really ticked me off because the credibility of the character just went down dramatically because of this shit. From war veteran persona to become high school delinquent persona.
SPOILER SECTIONS HERE, BEWARE:
5. Weak ass plot, the mangaka made the plot as it goes .
There is no really good plot in this manga, everything is predictable. Even the main antagonist ( Michael ) had a weak motivation as to why he went in the killing rampage , and it never really gets explained until the end. Yes, he protected Ares , but why killed all the citizen and used his soldier very inhumanly? What made Michael went a drastic change of his character from being neutral evil, to chaotic evil? there was no any single explanation to that. The mangaka just wanted the plot to go that way without proper planning what kind of background motivation to make Michael to do what he did after he left Temple Merchenary. After that, the story went downhill to the battle of attrition without any good motive than just : I want to rule the world. Its just plain weak , dear korean mangaka.
6. Naive, gullible protagonist
Not that I hate naive character like Ares. But in this particular case, this is how you make a BAD naive protagonist. Ares is just plain shallow, there is nothing memorable about this character. Even in the last two battles , he is still being a pacifist idiot when he supposed to be taking his revenge against his nation, his people, and his master. There's too much misguided chivalry being committed by this character. it really getting into my nerves.
I do understand the question: why do I kept reading this manga even though I said it was bad? Well, its like watching bad soap opera drama, you hate it but at the same time you want to know the ending, so I kept reading it while still being pissed off just so I can get done with it , know the ending, and not looking / reading this manga ever again. In conclusion, do not read this manga.