Magu-chan: God of Destruction

As of this review, this shounen jump manga has ended. It wasn't the most outstanding, but I looked forward to the new chapter every week. It's super chill, had some bits where I would laugh, and overall a wholesome read to wind down from all the action packed series in shounen jump. Although it seemed like the series could've continued a bit more, it was probably axed. HOWEVER, usually when series are axed, the ending is abrupt and hardly makes sense. I have to say, following this series since its first chapter, the ending was perfect and had a tearful goodbye. I really hope this mangawon't be the last from this author. I'll be looking out for more of their works in the future now!

I decided to dedicate my first review to a manga that ended one month ago at the time of writing so I'm just going to get this over with. Story: 8/10 Magu Chan is a simple slice of life series about a girl who finds the god of destruction Mag Menuek as the form of a cute little squid in which they go on and have daily misadventures with a colorful cast of characters. For the most part, I like their daily misadventures which are a nice break from all the shounen battle series currently serializing in Shounen Jump. I also got some Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maidvibe from it so if you enjoy the laid back misadventures of mythical creatures in human society then I definitely recommend this manga. Art: 7/10 It is serviceable for this type of manga so I like it. Characters: 8/10 The human characters are pretty good to passable while the various gods are pretty good to amazing. My favorite character is easily Naputaku the god of madness. Enjoyment: 8/10 Very funny and wholesome... nothing else to add. Overall: 8/10 Nice fun series that I will miss dearly in the Weekly Shounen Jump line up. (P.S: the ending is a masterpiece)

Short version - Overall (5/10): ‘Magu-chan: God of Destruction’ is a wholesome comedy slice of life, which remained behind it’s expectations. The author clearly missed adding some kind of goal or a redline to bring out the full potential of his/her great characters. 60-70% of the manga are boring/generic one-chapters, but the monster designs and the bigger, wholesome arcs definitely helps to enjoy it until the end. Long version - Story (3/10): To start with the worst part, let us begin with the story. Our protagonist, Ruru, finds a supernatural being similar to an octopus, Magu-chan, at the shore of the little island where she lives. From this momenton our two characters (and later more) explore the daily life of a demonic creature learning about humans and their creations. And to be honest, that’s all. Of course, from chapter to chapter their little microcosmos is expanding, by adding new characters (humans and supernatural lifeforms) and situations, but after a while you get the feeling it’s heading nowhere. Yes, you get some great arc’s, really feel-good ones, partly sad ones or funny action ones. But without a clear goal all these just happen to introduce maybe 1-2 characters to the plot, which later get their own (not so) funny one-chapters. And these comedy mainstream slice of life chapters are 60-70% of the whole manga. Most of them are not or just barely funny (of course, there are exceptions) which you probably will totally forget in a couple of weeks. The mangaka definitely knows how to introduce characters, build up a story and create dramatic arcs, but this manga has just too little of them. So if 60% of the story is meaningless cliche one-chapters then it’s hard to enjoy and you will get bored. - Art (6/10): On the other hand, the character designs, looking at the cute demon gods, were outstanding! Generally the art was mostly sloppy, yes, but every time a new character got introduced it was refreshing. It was like experiencing a new Pokémon game and every time you encounter a new mon, you get excited. But as I said, everything else was most likely average. The designs of the humans, paneling, shading and background were all good, nothing disturbing or extraordinary. The lining is slacky which sometimes dims the dramatic, wholesome and/or serious moments, but works good at the funny parts. While the action scenes were not so well choreographed either. - Characters (7/10): In my opinion the most important part of a good slice of life is the good chemistry of the characters. And to be honest, this worked out amazing! It was the main reason why I enjoyed following this manga until the end, even with the boring story parts. Every character has its own gimmick and bond with another. For example, we have the stupid hero and his non-human trickster master. We have a money/gambling loving seastar (Neputaaku the best!) and his rivalisation with Magu-chan, or the main part: our protagonist Ruru who sometimes scolds and sometimes is grateful for what Magu-chan did. - Enjoyment (6/10): Altogether, to fully enjoy this manga it definitely needed a better written story or comedy. However, the strong characters and the bigger arcs (2-3 chapters) save a lot. Everytime a new character appears it boosts the fun for a short time. While the longer arcs always lead to well written wholesome moments, but just too few of them. There were also a couple of really funny one-chapters, but again, 5 out of almost 80 chapters, is just poor. However, at least for these highlights it is worth a try.