The Music of Marie

I disagree with most of the fans of this. Is it good? Yes Is it underrated? Yes. Do I like it? no. The art style felt way too shoujo which distracted me from what could have been very good looking artwork The story took too long to go anywhere, half of the entire thing and even then it wasnt satisfying considering I had to slough through half slice of nothing happening.characters were bland and got better but again a bit too late. 6

The world in this manga was without doubt the main selling point, or rather, the only selling point. Which is perfectly fine for me, as I can easily enjoy a piece of work immensely as long as it has at least one very strong and creative point. Unfortunately, I can't say the world was perfect, or even brilliant; at most, I can say it was decent. I found the world presented in the early chapters highly bizarre and full of wonder. Yet as the manga progressed, I couldn't help but lose interest in it. The main cause of my disinterest was the fact that the author didn'tallow for reader interpretation; he diluted the wonder by leaving little to the imagination. It's a problem in the same vein as the author's not trusting in reader intelligence; they believe that the reader won't be able to read between the lines, so they jam in exposition dump after exposition dump to explain everything and ultimately leave no subtlety in their work. There were multiple subtle world-building moments in the manga that were completely negated by an unneeded explanation soon after. Basically, the world was explained, the meaning and theme were explained, and even the very last questionable point in the manga was explained, which I find is a pretty bog-standard path for a manga that had such imaginative potential to take. Interestingly enough, the characters were actually harmed by the world they inhabited, which I find has a bit of a deeper meaning than the author intended. You see, all the characters, with the exception of two, were merely mouthpieces for the world; they existed to explain the world, which, even though it sounds philosophical, is ultimately shallow. If the author had replaced these exposition characters with fully realised and interesting characters, it would have improved not just the characters themselves but the world as well, allowing it to appear even stranger and mysterious. The only two characters actually worth naming are Pipi and Kai. Even though both of them are fairly shallow in their own right, Pipi more so than Kai. Pipi is actually a pretty terrible character by all standards, yet she can at least be called a character, unlike the world-expositors. The problem with Pipi was that her entire character was defined by her love of Kai. She had no goals, motivations, relationships, or traits outside of the box known as Kai. Funnily enough, the one shown interest she had outside of Kai, her garden, was even revealed to be some esoteric profession and dedication of love towards Kai in the final chapter, which fully rendered her character as 100% Kai defined. Kai himself was also fully defined and obsessed with another character, though in his case it worked much better, simply because it worked in tandem with the theme of the manga and raised some interesting personal questions. Though he had basically no personality. There was one plot twist right at the end of the manga, which I felt was pretty ridiculous. The plot twist itself didn't surprise me, as I had thought something along those lines was going on in the first chapter, where the first foreshadow for this twist appeared. The bit that I found ridiculous was the other characters complete lack of reaction (with a few exceptions) throughout the manga, in what should've been a pretty telling situation. Really, I feel the twist shouldn't have been explained at all, and the author should have simply left all the foreshadowing as an interesting little mystery to those paying attention; it would have at least kept my suspension of disbelief in tact. Overall, this manga felt weak; it unequivocally answered every question its theme brought up, which I don't doubt some enjoy, but which I find a pretty boring form of world-building, a form that makes the world feel tiny and unimaginative. The moral questions are also given answers, and I shouldn't have to explain why that's dull. In spite of all the problems I had with it, the manga was much more interesting and creative than what is usually served in this medium, so I would definitely recommend it.

Let's get the good out of the way first here. The art is incredible and very creative here. It's not to be understated how wonderful it is and how easy it is to immerse yourself into the world solely off of the art alone. Without a doubt the best part of the manga is its artwork and visual aspects. Props should also be given to this manga when it comes to the general idea and concept of the story itself. Wouldn't get into it in order to avoid spoilers, but the concepts for this story could have worked if it wasn't for one thing... Thatbeing it really feels like the author thinks the reader is a complete idiot. The dialogue/writing in this manga actively frustrates me to no end. At every chance the author gets, instead of letting the reader understand what is being shown, there is a dialogue box to tell us what is being shown. It is hard to explain without an example. SLIGHT chapter 1 spoilers. So our ML is walking up to the workshop where our FL builds robots. When he gets there, he tells us that all of the 10s of robots were partially maintained by her constantly. This is fine internal dialogue by the ML. Not the most creative way to tell us that, especially when you were already showing us that. Then, the ML says something along the lines of "There are so many of them. It must be hard work" and then while looking at her smiling "She looks so happy laughing like that". See...this is annoying to me. You just SHOWED her working. The art perfectly shows how much effort she puts into maintaining the robots, and how much she cares for them. You don't need to say it too. SHE IS LITERALLY SMILING. YOU DON'T NEED TO TELL ME SHE IS SMILING AND LAUGHING. IT IS A MANGA!! I CAN SEE HER LAUGHING AND SMILING!! ...Okay. Now what if I told you it was like this for the rest of the manga. Every chapter. Practically every page. This example is like from the 2 and 3 page. **This is Important** For the most part, anime/manga isn't a particularly subtle medium in what it tries to do for the most part. I can stand some stupid dialogue or something lazily explained in manga. It's a medium in which showing the story can sometimes be difficult to convey without an explanation. However, this manga far overcorrects for this problem. It partially removes all subtly and interpretation on the readers end. It feels like the author is holding my hand and doesn't respect the reader to interpret the work in any way. I know I am being harsh, but it genuinely ruined my experience reading this manga. It has interesting ideas and incredible artwork, but it doesn't let it speak for itself. Which is especially disappointing for this manga, since the artwork really does say so much for this manga in particular. It's too bad that the author didn't trust the reader to find the meaning by ourselves. This manga could easily be a 7 or 8 out of 10 manga if 40% of the dialogue boxes were removed.

did god create man or did man create god? an ambitious and unconventional work, Osamu Furuya's masterpiece The Music of Marie is a thoughtful and psychological manga that, despite its few chapters, presents a story full of meaning, accompanied by multiple points of reflection. story The world is watched over by the mechanical goddess Marie, who watches over her creation from above the heavens. Life flows peacefully and serenely in a world with advanced technology that makes men happy and immune to all desires. But why can't knowledge progress any further? Had the world always lived in this state of peace? the story can boast of the variety ofits content, presenting a development of the relationship of the 2 protagonists, giving a big space also to a world building cared to the smallest details. in the second part the manga will become more and more introspective and philosophical, without abandoning what has been developed before. all this is seasoned with spectacular twists that will make the reader's point of view over and over again. the antithesis between technological progress and religion is the central point, the key to the reading, which Furuya, in my opinion, focuses on the most. characters Pipi is a rather lively popular girl, persevering, impulsive, pure and kind. right from the start we can see the strong feeling she has for Kai. her evolution will be touching to say the least. Kai, on the other hand, is a quiet, reliable and thoughtful boy. a certain event in the past has marked the course of his life, causing a constant inner conflict on many levels. he can hear sounds that are imperceptible to other human beings. Gule, a secondary character, is both a priest and a scientist, he will have a good development and presents the dualism that will be central in the manga itself. the secondary characters are simple but functional and enjoyable. Art the drawings, even if they have not yet reached the apex of maturity, are however of remarkable workmanship, especially the wonderful and extremely detailed backgrounds that help to immerse oneself even more in this fantastic world. Unfortunately there are still some uncertainties in the trait of the faces and in the perspective in the long fields, but this does not prejudice the reading in any way. A masterful work that will appeal to those who want to immerse themselves in existential and philosophical questions as well as those who enjoy a painful and never-ending story of passion. Must-read.