Jiken-Jaken!

Seeing as there isn't any review for this, I'd might as well take a crack at this being my 1st review Story (3): There isn't much story to talk about, even for your average slice of life. Even in other stories that were similar, there was some overarching story line that slowly progressed, but In Jiken Jaken, there really wasn't any story line that developed over the course of the manga, or any important character arcs. Sure there was the whole MC-Kun harem but that barely develops. There was a decent character arc towards the end of the manga, but that was literally like the tail endof it's run. Also, I really am not a fan of the ending, it felt too rushed for me, but I can excuse it on the premises that it was premature. Overall, the lack of actual story elements and rushed end makes me feel think what could've been, as the cast of the series was relatively decent, but at the end of the day, there wasn't enough, leaving me to give it a 3 Art (6): I saw some complaints about the art when I read the manga, but I personally enjoyed the art style of the series. I enjoyed the illustrators character design and felt the art could be pretty high quality and detailed. However, I have 2 major criticisms of the art. One, the artist rarely draws the high quality facial expressions of the character, and instead normally opts for a simplistic chibi approach. I personally hate this as the illustrator has a talent for drawing faces, but It's extremely annoying to see a really high quality and detailed expression drop down to a goddamn keyboard smiley face that a 2nd grader could draw. Also, a lot of the character designs, while nice and realistic, looked similar at points, which made it difficult to distinguish. There are a few points where the similarity reaches a T. If my 2 complaints had been less egregious, I would have given this an 8, maybe a 9 if it wasn't Monday when I wrote this, but honestly, these complaints become huge problems at points and I considered giving this a 5. Character (5): I like the character's in the story and the writing never feels inauthentic or out of character (unless for a gag), but holy shit, the personalities are so stock that I feel like they may have been ripped out of another story. MC-Kun is the only semi-unique character, but he's a borderline simp at the end of the day and that certainly doesn't take an ounce of creativity. Main Girl is quite literally a girl with a wierd hobby that she takes too seriously like EVERY SINGLE OTHER niche slice of life girl, 2nd Girl is typical, ooooh i've liked MC-Senpai-San-Kun since I was a fetus and I'm really shy around him uwu, why won't you notice me character. There's also the tsundere but she's just there to annoy you and serves no purpose. Also the author hates character development with the passion of Allah and the Prophet Muhammed himself. The Character's are so static, you feel like you're stuck at Motel 6 in the middle of Nebraska at 3 AM. I would have given this a much lower rating, but the author doesn't force the characters into their personalities and they behave like normal people with quirks (for most of the characters), and when their personalities take stage, It's utilized decently Enjoyment (6): Alright, I'll admit, I'm a bit biased on this one. I read fanscans of manga, and there was a brief period where I wasn't getting a lot of updates to the manga I was following, especially at the beginning of the COVID crisis. However, Jiken Jaken stayed consistent and was uploading every few days, and for that I have to say I enjoyed it. There never was a point where I got excited for the manga, but I couldn't say I was disappointed when it was the only read. For that reason I'd Give it a 6. Overall, I'm giving this a 5 out of 10. It says here a 5 is mediocre and well, the story certainly is Mediocre. If you wanna give this a read, I'd say go ahead. If you like the mystery genre and want to learn more about it, this manga is great. But if you're in it for the relationships or Slice of Life feel, there plenty of better options. I feel like this could be lower, maybe even a 3, but I'm a bit biased and enjoyed my experience enough to throw a 5 it's way