The World Is Mine

For the vast majority of this series, which, adding up to 163 total chapters, takes no small amount of time to finish, the scenes and the characters shine through the page and allow you to simply sit back and enjoy it like you would with any high-tension Hollywood blockbuster. Indeed, much of this manga feels like the stereotypical action movie with all of the traditional values turned upside-down. The main character is often mute, extremely unpredictable, and given to fits of violence. The sidekick is a nervous kid with an aptitude for explosives and a wavering sense of morality. The hook is that meanwhile, agigantic and still growing threat is tearing its way through the country. What really drives this manga is the characters. Each one of them has their own unique way of making you remember them and care about them, and they all tend to exist outside of the "stock character" tradition. The characters in this will really make you think about the complexity of human emotion, and whether the taboos and values that have been imprinted on society and on each of us can really withstand the scrutiny of the human soul. The problem then, is that this manga has a horrible tendency to start something that simply does not ever come to serve a purpose, and/or is never explained in any way. The main character has an unusual fear of dogs, the sidekick has a sudden urge to blow everything up, the useless chick goes from normal to manic in a heartbeat, the gigantic monster has no origin or destination, characters appear and disappear without reason; all of these things along with the shockingly over-the-top finale may leave a bitter taste in your mouth. So in conclusion, I advise those of you with an interest to read this manga in the same manner that the main character lives: moment by moment, page by page. It IS an enjoyable manga, and until the very, very end it keeps up a consistent level of tension and constantly leaves you wondering what is going to happen next.

TWIM's plot felt like something that should’ve never stretched across 14 volumes. It fails at everything. For a story that tries to push the psychological boundaries of its characters, it’s bland. For something packed with so much action, it’s not entertaining! And for a series that tries so hard to juggle multiple storylines at once, it ends up just being extremely confusing! __PLOT/CHARACTER: 1/10 TWIM's biggest flaw lies in its terrible storytelling. It introduces a huge number of characters while constantly shifting perspectives and timelines. Even during what should be a high-stress situation say, the peak of a manhunt TWIM will randomly jump to a completely differentstoryline or timeline for entire volumes just to tell you the backstory of a bunch of random characters. Then, five volumes later, it jumps back to the manhunt and expects you to care??? The main characters, Toshi and Mon, are incredibly bland, with no development or growth. More importantly, they never face any real opposition neither physically nor ideologically. MON is a savage who spent most of his life isolated from society. He doesn’t follow any laws, because... why? 'Power is absolute'? 'It’s your right to use it'? 'Don't resist accept, everything is connected'? He’s got nothing going for him just a boring, mindless killer we never get to know. He says maybe three words across 14 volumes. Same with his dumb friend who follows him around just because Mon is supposedly so cool. MON is basically a god with ridiculous powers that let him pull off all kinds of insane stuff like converting the entire world to his cult just by saying a bunch of random words. He can dodge bullets and take out an army of elite soldiers… with punches. How am I supposed to take him seriously when he’s constantly worshiped and protected by the plot But more importantly why don’t Mon’s own laws apply to him and Toshi? Why do those rules seem to affect everyone except them? What’s the reason behind their complete immunity? It makes no sense. The world bends over backwards to accommodate these two, and we’re just supposed to accept it? ___Higumadon is the only remotely entertaining thing in this manga mainly because he actually gets a real opponent in the Hunter. Add to that the fact that every time Higumadon shows up, the art goes all out, and suddenly you’ve got something that’s actually fun to watch. ___The Hunter is by far the best character—truly interesting, and the only one who actually delivers real opposition to ToshiMon and Higumadon. He gets a ton of page time, a huge build-up, just to suddenly disappear... Why would you stop his storyline like that? Then, you finally get to see his fate... five volumes later, when the manga is practically over. Switching storylines at that point? Great idea. What a massive turn-off! All that buildup was for nothing... ___The journalist... he literally just draws penises in his notebook. That’s it. Another uninteresting character who serves absolutely no purpose ___The two police officers—both of them fail to add anything to the story. They’re uninteresting, lack charisma, and have almost no depth, even though they monopolize a huge chunk of pages. But more importantly, they can’t deliver any real opposition to ToshiMon because, once again, ToshiMon's laws apply to everyone except them. __Maria of Odate—another boring character. She gets a massive amount of pages for no reason, serving absolutely no purpose. She's in love with Mon because... Mon is such a god, I guess? Even the fans of this series hate her, lol! __The Prime Minister of Japan and the US President—two pointless characters who somehow get a massive amount of pages. The first one is set up as the long-awaited opposition to ToshiMon’s ideology, but fails miserably because, yeah, Mon is a god. The second one is just your typical US president stereotype. The last thing this manga needed was politics. After a certain event, you never hear anything about the Prime Minister again, despite the enormous amount of PAGES he monopolized just like our Hunter friend. Hmmm, I see a pattern here... __ And then there’s a whole bunch of other random, pointless character arcs scattered throughout. They’re so useless that I challenge anyone to remember even one of their names or faces! _ART 7/10 __TWIM’s art is both mediocre and brilliant at the same time. Remember when I said the manga is confusing as hell due to its story structure? Well, there’s another issue you need to consider something you'll notice from the very first chapter. This manga is extremely confusing to look at. You just can’t tell what’s happening half the time. It’s especially obvious during action sequences. You’ll be staring at a panel, asking yourself, 'What is this supposed to be?' And that’s a huge flaw for a manga that’s supposed to have so much action. In the second half, this manga became such a chore to read because it’s so slow. There are tons of pages with gigantic speech bubbles full of mindless dialogue, just dragging everything out more and more and it only gets worse with time. The first few volumes were actually decent to read, but then it goes full filler mode. All this talking to tell you what, exactly? That Toshi is a god? Yeah, I get it... +++ As for the positives, the sequences where Higumadon goes berserk are truly impressive. His second rampage, with a seamless series of chapters, is simply jaw-dropping a beautiful display of Hideki Arai’s incredible skills. It’s the absolute highlight of the series for me. Some of the action scenes are really well done when they’re not confusing, and overall, the manga is filled with beautiful panels. The covers, too, are absolutely incredible. __CONCLUSiON 3/10 I can't recommend TWIM. It’s one of the worst cases of padding I’ve ever seen. The series is full of artificial plotlines that serve no purpose, with tons of nonsense that adds nothing substantial to the story. Random events are thrown in just to waste your time, and it never stops shifting between random characters and timelines, avoiding any resolution to what it started. The result? Massive pacing issues and confusion for the reader. TWIM fails to be interesting because the cast is laughable. It fails to be entertaining due to its awful pacing and the protagonists’ constant protection, with no real opposition to confront them either physically or morally. On top of that, it tries so hard to make you care, to shock you, but it fails miserably from start to finish. In the end, everything feels pointless because, well, everything in this manga is pointless.

I am gonna start by saying that i will definitely suggest you to read this manga, its a great read that doesnt have boring parts. Now lets get more specific. When i found this manga i was searching for a manga that hand violence and interesting characters, something similar to Ichi, TWIM was exactly what i was searching for. Story 8/10: The story isnt anything too impressive but its still really good. It follows two storylines, one that focuses on Mon-Toshi(the protagonists) and one that focuses on Higumadon(a giant bear), and the results their action have to the world. I wont go any further because idont want to spoil the fun, i will conclude the story review by saying that it might seem early on that there is no story but the manga puts some interesting questions on the table and makes you wonder. Art 8/10: When i saw the art of the manga i thought it was average and it wasnt looking good early on. Now that i look at it again i cant see that the art is good and it gets better with every chapter. The art its pretty detailed and it gives you a dark vibe,like berserk, that this manga needs. The only thing that someone might dislike are the faces. Character 10/10: The characters and the character development is one of the best i have seen in a manga. There are a lot of interesting characters but i will focus on the protagonists. Both go through multiple psycological stages and change during the story, its cool too see how they change with each decission. Both characters are interesting and a mystery at the same time, even if early on they seem shallow, you will soon understand that they are not. The other characters that play big role in the story are also extremly interesting and each one is different. The only downside i can find is that some characters can be comedic at times. Enjoyment 9/10: I found the manga to be pretty enjoyable and it keeps you interested during the journey. Ofcourse i would have to say that this manga contains extreme violence and might be hard for some people to read it. For the rest i believe its going to be pretty enjoyable. Overall 9/10: I give the manga a 9/10( or 8/10). I believe its an enjoyable manga that has interesting characters, great action scens, a story that would make you wonder what it leads to but also make you wonder about some stuff. I suggest this manga tou everyone that want to see an action packed manga that has violense but also an interested story that will make you question what humanity is.

"Good comes from God, evil comes from ourselves. " This is a sentence that can easily be quoted when talking about Hideki Arai's The World Is Mine. This work is absolutely nothing ordinary, and will necessarily provoke in the reader a before and after, in my opinion. It is a deeply political story, where two men will seek to test the wrath of God in a Japan fractured by its leaders. With this work, we go through all the feelings. Indeed, the work is of unprecedented violence. Whether it is in his crazy staging or in his drawings (beware! His style is quite atypical!) with his elaborate cut-outs, Hideki Araiconstantly shakes us in his universe. The scenes of rape and murder are recurrent, and we are constantly confronted with their fatality. All this is obviously not gratuitous, each of these scenes always serving the purpose of the author, who wanted to be very committed to this. The protagonists are very well-written anti-heroes, each of them having a very complex personality, difficult to understand in the first volumes, but which as the story unfolds and the objectives accomplished are revealed, all this to give us the keys to understanding the story. Much more, each character introduces to the story to a physical or moral character trait that describes him, which enriches the story ... Damn, hard to go further without spoiler. You have to know that if you enter the world of Hideki Arai, you will come out of it changed forever. I think "The World Is Mine" is a life changing work, and it is good to read it at least once.