Platinum End

I can't believe i got excited to read this trash. Story(3.5/10): I never thought a Tsugumi Ohba story, would remind me so much of all of the super cringy, gorefilled edgy manga, that were funnily enough inspired by Death Note, it's like seeing Akira Toriyama writing the FanFic plot for Dragon Ball Super. There was no real meaningful development aside of the first few chapters, no new powers, no new rules, no interesting new concept or even any event that would give any motivation whatsoever to the main character, or maybe make we see him in a different light. The story grew stale even before the endof the first volume, it could've been 30 chapters long and it wouldn't lose anything, it might as well have ended after the first main villain is defeated halfway through and it would've been better for it, but not by much. Art(8.5/10): Takeshi Obata delivers, as always, been a fan of him since the Hikaru no Go days. Even though this is not his best, Platinum End is nothing to sniff at, even with the bland designs, specially the "battle suits", i also expected a bit more detail or complexity in the artwork, since this is a monthly title and looking at his earlier weekly work. Characters(2/10): I don't understand what happened, every characters needs to be hyper over the top or as dull as a rock. After a certain point in Ohba's career, he stopped being able to write believable people, and he couldn't give even a little bit of a personality to Platinum End's main character, even if his life depended on it, don't even bring up female characters and the romance, they're as ridiculous as the respect Light has for his mother, sister and Misa. Enjoyment(3/10): Was there really any, aside of seeing Obata's work, and to see the trainwreck happen in real time, i wish he would find a better writer to work with. Conclusion: This is not the Death Note successor you were hoping for, you can see in Platinum End, all of the worse aspects of Ohba's writing style, how convoluted the story can get, exposition heavy and bs philosophy that leads nowhere. The ridiculous ending made me chuckle, overall score of 3/10 it is.

Simply put, Platinum End is a story about a boy who commits suicide, but is saved by an angel so that he may participate in a battle royale to become God. Disclaimer: Platinum End takes a very cynical view on the concept of God. If you love listening to Pastor Dave preach every Sunday, I would not recommend this to you. Tl;dr Platinum End is philosophical and presents interesting questions on the role of God, but suffers from a lack of character depth. However, I thought it was interesting and I think you should give it a chance and read with therole of God in mind. The story is written by Tsugumi Ohba, the critically acclaimed writer of Death Note and Bakuman. In terms of story telling, Platinum End does not reach the intimacy that Death Note and Bakuman. Platinum End is set in modern society, so there is little world building. Thus, it heavily relies on the characters for most of its story. There is a great emphasis on specifically human psychology and their outlook on life. Topics such as greed, depression, cynicism, etc. are used as a means to question the role of God. Many of them come off as simple and one-dimensional, but not out of place. The story heavily relies on the dialogue between these characters who have all decided to take their life and are chosen because of their dissatisfaction with the world. The core theme that this manga centers on is the role of God. How should God act in the face of cruelty and injustice? Should God intervene to make humans happy? And specifically, What is God? The art is by Takeshi Obata, the same artist that partnered with Ohba on Death Note and Bakuman. If you love his art style, there is more of it here! The art style is definitely not as radical as Death Note nor perky like Bakuman. It is more somber and blurred compared to his previous works. From here on out, I'm going to take a more polar stance on this manga. Personally, I found myself realizing that the scope of this manga is too big for its own good. That's not to say that it's terrible. First, characters in this manga are shallow. But I believe this was intentional and too much of it would take away from the core themes that Ohba was trying to establish. Second, this manga handles its main character in a somewhat unorthodox way. It establishes Mirai as a depressed main character, but he rapidly turns into a messiah character. I found him to be somewhat unrelatable toward the end. A similar thing happens with the main heroine and I believe that most readers would loose interest because of it. Third, the angels literally do next to nothing for the story other than being a plot device. There is little to no character building for them which I believe is a missed opportunity. Overall, I thought it was a fun read and the somewhat open-ended? ending was interesting.

Are you a fan of Death Note? Well look no further cause this is the awkward version of it. Heck even the MC is like Light except all his cool qualities got showered down to make him look like a normie. Instead of BiG BrAiN plot, we get something downright normal, almost making it closer to a slice of life anime then a thriller. The Beginning of the manga was not all that bad, but everything starts looking bland as the series enters its middle stages making me question is "this" or is "that" necessary, for instance the presence of romance in this partwas just bland and cringey. Then there is the "villains" who are supposed to have a good excuse for opposing the MC, but not gonna lie, the excuses are completely stupid and hilarious as if the author decided to copy a couple of Gintama gag villains Some people shit on Death Note saying that it has a bad ending, But once you finish reading this, you will start questioning your own existence on why you spent a week reading this manga. But enough of its bad qualities, let move to its good attributes: the art... and yeah that is all it has.

So, I am a gay woman. The series was just bad, but then we get the whole homophobia diatribe. Instantly dropped it to a one. Absolute garbage / a complete waste of time. I mean, at this point, we should not be forgiving such blatantly homophobic media. It further reinforces the prejudice against those who identify with LGBTQ+ or any other non-cishet identity. Seriously, "legalize gay marriage before you start coming after me," is as close as you can get to outright homophobia without incriminating yourself. Of course, it is presented as some centrist / moderate stance, but it really is not. After venting aboutgay people who claim discrimination not being discriminated against because...well, there really is no good reason. AND that Yuri believes that, rather than gay people being minorities / discriminated against, it is HER being discriminated because she BELIEVES IN GOD!? Garbage beliefs and terrible storytelling, unless you WANT your characters to be hated.