I have a Japanese friend who loves this series and would post fan-art on Twitter. So when I found out it had been localised, I really wanted to get it because she seemed to like it so much 😝 The art looked nice and it was from Shonen Gangan, so I felt it had to be at least decent.
Review
I feel like this is the most “Weekly Shonen Jump” title I’ve read in a long time 😂 The timing is good, if I had read this a couple of years ago, I feel like my reaction would have been a lot more cynical. But in this time and this case, I really enjoyed:
- The POWER OF FRIENDSHIP!!!
- No-one is irredeemable. No one is really a bad guy, just people with tragic pasts and (very) misguided actions…😅
- Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend!
Combined with the quality staples of Shonen Gangan (really nice art, well thought-out plot, great humour, very fun extras), this ended up being a really solid series. I actually felt it was kinda short, or is that just me being used to WSJ drawing things out? I wouldn’t have been annoyed if it had spent a bit more time on training/leveling-up or the more gradual building of friendships. But hey, I won’t complain about 1.5x speed progression either 😁
It would have been nice if more of the Ennead got page time though. I really appreciated all the explanations about the different gods and groups of gods in the extras, which made me more interested in Morishita-sensei’s take on each god and their relationships. We mostly only ended up with takes on Seth’s relationships, and backstory on Atum’s vessel. It would have been cool to see more about the vessel ‘system’ – there were probably so many stories that could have been told, not just about this round of vessels but the continual trauma over the ages. I suppose Khonsu was a good ‘summary’ of it all.
If the series was longer, I reckon Morishita-sensei could have incorporated some more cool reanimations of previous Pharaohs and Queens from Egyptian history. Cleopatra and Ramses were really well done. But it would have been cool if there was a reanimated ‘bad guy’ that actually aligned more with Apophis’s goals.
Top 3 Favourite Characters
Third Place – Atum
I seriously thought they were a girl and was very confused at all the extras talking about Atum (the original God the character is based on) being male. Besides, love the tracksuit 😁
Second Place – Djoser
His sunny disposition (in the flashbacks) was so sweet (and therefore extremely tragic 😢) This was probably my favourite interaction/scene in the whole series, starring first and second place 😭 Im’s two besties, joining forces 🥰
First Place – Hinome
I liked that she actually ended up with powers, I was worried in the beginning that she was just a way to introduce Im, and then was going to get relegated to the sidelines. I liked how nice and neat her backstory was and also that she and Im were just friends. Morishita-sensei does good facial expressions in general, but this one beat them all 🤣
Conclusion
I was surprised at how candid Morishita-sensei was about wanting an anime. But seriously, why hasn’t this gotten an anime yet? I’m afraid that ship has sailed, but given the length and the pretty art, it’s not a bad candidate. There are definitely worse series that have been adapted. And given how Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer turned out, maybe it would be for the best that this doesn’t get a belated anime…
I think Morishita-sensei has very nice art and tells a tight story, so am looking forward to their future series 😊
Categories: Series Review
Leave a Reply