Nabari no Ou

Goodness gracious, calm down. Before you bash this series for being unoriginal, please stop for a moment and take time to at least read my review. Nabari no Ou's synopsis might seem like your typical shounen series; a boy main character who only wished for a peaceful life, but he somehow possessed a really great, inhuman power. That is like the basic setting for every shounen manga -- and with Naruto around, who needs another ninja series? We have had enough. But believe me, Nabari no Ou is none like those cliches. Story - To sum up without any spoilers, Nabari no Ou tells the story about RokujouMiharu, your average teenage boy, and his adventure which revolves around the Shinrabanshou, a ninjutsu which holds the greatest wisdom humankind could ever imagine. The intro of this manga is really overused, I know. But if you read this and you have successfully reached the 'starting point', everything is going to change. Nabari no Ou's story needs around 20 chapters or so to fully blossom, so please mind the earlier chapters. While the premise is common, the execution is... I don't know man, beautiful. The story might seem confusing with weird explanations from time to time, but just try and understand okay. It is really deep, meaningful, and bittersweet. Yes, there is more to emotion on this series rather than actual storyline and action. Art - The art is really funny on earlier chapters, but from chapter 30 since, the art is GOOORGEOUS. All the ladies are pretty, the boys are also pretty, we have Yukimi and Raikou. You won't get disappointed. As I stated before, you only have to go through the 'starting point', which is the actual start of this story to fully enjoy this series! Character - There are various characters in this series, and they all have really different personalities. While other shounen series focus on the good and the bad, it's not the case for Nabari no Ou. As the story proceeds, you will find yourself wondering, which one is actually right? Who should I support, which side should I take? These kinds of questions are what makes this manga very interesting. Some characters that you think to be good will suddenly turn evil without you knowing what happened. Everyone is not what they seem to be like, and even though the one who opposes the main character should be considered the antagonists, in the end, you'll just never know... The characters are also very engrossing, be it good or bad. Various personalities are shown, and the characters' development is also really enticing. You shall have a hard time deciding your favorite. Enjoyment - I enjoyed this manga. This manga has its ups and downs, and its downs is mainly because heck, I don't get what's going on! This manga is more emotional and less practical, so at some points in the story you might start wondering about everything. But the reason I truly enjoyed this is because it gives me this weird, warm feeling inside my chest. And even now, after I finished the series, I still feel the warmth.

Nabari no Ou is the first long-term work of x-gendered author Yuhki Kamatani who's most recently found some notoriety in their most recent work as of the writing of this review Shimanami Tasogare, a far cry from what Nabari no Ou is. It's very easy to write off Nabari no Ou upon its first few chapters and synopsis. It sets out with decent art and semi-interesting characters among a fairly over-done plot. So, you may wonder, why I say this and give it a ten. That's simple; it improves. Story-wise, as before stated, it starts rather typical of shounen series from the era. As areview, I refuse to get into spoilers, but characters drive a series and as the story goes on the characters and their loyalties are put to the test in increasingly interesting and straining ways. Bonds are severed, trust is broken but the same can be said in reverse. At first glance it may not seem anything more than a simple action series about ninjas- and maybe it's not underneath it all- but it's full of heart and it is, underneath it all, a character-driven story. With that little about the story said, time for the characters. As a character-driven story while also being a 2000s shounen action, the cast is initially as you'd expect. Spontaneous with lots of quirks that play off each other well. As the series goes on, the characters become much more grounded and you feel much more for them and the way that they deal with the many roadblocks that end up in their paths feels increasingly believable in a way that it makes it hard for you to not understand where they're coming from. That being said, talking characters is hard to talk without talking spoilers so this will have to be kept brief as such. Design-wise, every character is unique as so that you should be able to recognise their core trait(s) from a glance and, following common practice, should you see a silhouette you'll likely be able to tell who it is. Kamatani, as you may have noticed if you've read their following works (Shounen Note, Shimanami Tasogare) is very visual in their storytelling method. As previously stated, this is their first long-term manga and the art style at the beginning is almost entirely unrecognisable when compared to what they draw now. Even so, it improves very radically over the course of the run of the series in a way that's reflected as you start to see a lot of their common art quirks shine through such as spreads, visual symbolism and so on so forth. Aside from what's to come, even at the beginning Kamatani uses a lot of visual gags as a way of portraying humour alongside speech. Show not tell becomes increasingly prevalent as their skills improve. For some people, this may not be their cup of tea. Even as charming as the initial chapters are, some people may not be able to stomach it. And that's fine. For those who are, you're in for a ride. Nabari no Ou, in the end, is a heart wrenching tale with many twists and turns; a must-try for anyone.