Nabari no Ou Review (Without Spoilers)
Dec. 5th, 2018 08:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
arias_hollow**This is an old review I am cataloging and may not reflect my Current thoughts on the matter**
SO. I finished reading Nabari no Ou after first watching the entire anime. And I can officially say I LOVE this series. But for now I’m going to write a spolier-free review to help organize my thoughts in preparation for the spoilery review. Like my previous review, I’m going to simplify things for myself by seperating things into different categories: Characters/Relationships, Story/Plot, Visuals, and Summarizing Thoughts.
Characters/Relationships
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
This series is WONDERFUL at character writing. I LOVE ALL OF THEM. None of the caracters are what they initially seem, they all get beautiful character development, the side characters get attention and are important too, and every scene focusing on the relationship between a pair of characters is kind of perfect. And usually leaves you a SOBBING WRECK INSIDE.
It deals with depression and emotional struggles really well, but has enough light and uplifting moments so that the crushing sadness doesn’t feel overdone or pointless. Nabari no Ou is a very character driven story, so it’s fitting that the characters, even side ones, get a great deal of attention and keep managing to surprise you. I could spend a long time just ranting about how wonderful and lovely and well written every character is, but I can’t really say too much more without either going into spoiler territory or becoming reduntant. So basically, THE CHARACTERS ARE AMAZING AND WILL PROBABLY SHATTER YOUR SOUL BECAUSE THIS SERIES REALLY KNOWS WHAT IT’S DOING IN THAT REGARD.
Story/Plot
Overall Rating: 9/10
The premise of the story is fairly simple; Miharu, an apathetic teenager, discovers he has the sacred ninja power of infinite ability called the Shinrabansho in him and has to try to stay alive until it can be removed from him, since every ninja wants it to grant their wish. Yet despite its initial simplicity, it manages to remain exciting and interesting from start to finish, throwing plot twists at you every now and again whenever you start feeling like you understand things. I really like the pacing of the story, it’s a little fast at the start but feels very natural from there on, it never draws out plot points unnecessarily or abandons them. The ending I had mixed feelings towards, because while it wraps up everything in a believable manner, it just…wasn’t what I was expecting. I don’t actually know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I got. But all things considered, I think it handled things pretty well. (Although there were those two moments when I’m convinced a character SHOULD have died but didn’t which was…kind of confusing. But oh well.)
Visuals
Overall Rating: 8/10
The anime had extremely pretty animation and backgrounds. The characters looked lovely, and the backgrounds, which looked as if they were paintings, worked surprisingly well for the series as well as looking very pretty. The manga, however, was more of a mixed bag. The art was much sketchier at the beginning of the manga, which is pretty common with most mangas since the author hasn’t fully developed their style and decided what they want the characters to look like. Then there was the middle section of the manga, which was BEAUTIFUL and gave us some amazing backgrounds and chapter art. Then later, the art started looking like a combination of the sketchy early art and the smoother, middle art. I’m not entirely sure why that happened, but it did, which was slightly off putting.
So while I can’t say the art was ever bad, in fact sometimes it was really amazing, there was the fact that it seemed somewhat inconsistent. It didn’t really take away from the enjoyment of the series, but it was something I found odd about the series.
Summarizing Thoughts
Average Rating: 8.8
This is a really good manga. It has AMAZING characters, and exciting plot, and decent-to-awesome art. It is extremely impactful emotionally and keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen the entire time you’re reading. It is fun, interesting, traumatic, and most of all, memorable. It deserves far more attention than it gets, and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in reading a character driven, actiony, somewhat short (14 volumes) manga.
SO. I finished reading Nabari no Ou after first watching the entire anime. And I can officially say I LOVE this series. But for now I’m going to write a spolier-free review to help organize my thoughts in preparation for the spoilery review. Like my previous review, I’m going to simplify things for myself by seperating things into different categories: Characters/Relationships, Story/Plot, Visuals, and Summarizing Thoughts.
Characters/Relationships
Overall Rating: 9.5/10
This series is WONDERFUL at character writing. I LOVE ALL OF THEM. None of the caracters are what they initially seem, they all get beautiful character development, the side characters get attention and are important too, and every scene focusing on the relationship between a pair of characters is kind of perfect. And usually leaves you a SOBBING WRECK INSIDE.
It deals with depression and emotional struggles really well, but has enough light and uplifting moments so that the crushing sadness doesn’t feel overdone or pointless. Nabari no Ou is a very character driven story, so it’s fitting that the characters, even side ones, get a great deal of attention and keep managing to surprise you. I could spend a long time just ranting about how wonderful and lovely and well written every character is, but I can’t really say too much more without either going into spoiler territory or becoming reduntant. So basically, THE CHARACTERS ARE AMAZING AND WILL PROBABLY SHATTER YOUR SOUL BECAUSE THIS SERIES REALLY KNOWS WHAT IT’S DOING IN THAT REGARD.
Story/Plot
Overall Rating: 9/10
The premise of the story is fairly simple; Miharu, an apathetic teenager, discovers he has the sacred ninja power of infinite ability called the Shinrabansho in him and has to try to stay alive until it can be removed from him, since every ninja wants it to grant their wish. Yet despite its initial simplicity, it manages to remain exciting and interesting from start to finish, throwing plot twists at you every now and again whenever you start feeling like you understand things. I really like the pacing of the story, it’s a little fast at the start but feels very natural from there on, it never draws out plot points unnecessarily or abandons them. The ending I had mixed feelings towards, because while it wraps up everything in a believable manner, it just…wasn’t what I was expecting. I don’t actually know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t what I got. But all things considered, I think it handled things pretty well. (Although there were those two moments when I’m convinced a character SHOULD have died but didn’t which was…kind of confusing. But oh well.)
Visuals
Overall Rating: 8/10
The anime had extremely pretty animation and backgrounds. The characters looked lovely, and the backgrounds, which looked as if they were paintings, worked surprisingly well for the series as well as looking very pretty. The manga, however, was more of a mixed bag. The art was much sketchier at the beginning of the manga, which is pretty common with most mangas since the author hasn’t fully developed their style and decided what they want the characters to look like. Then there was the middle section of the manga, which was BEAUTIFUL and gave us some amazing backgrounds and chapter art. Then later, the art started looking like a combination of the sketchy early art and the smoother, middle art. I’m not entirely sure why that happened, but it did, which was slightly off putting.
So while I can’t say the art was ever bad, in fact sometimes it was really amazing, there was the fact that it seemed somewhat inconsistent. It didn’t really take away from the enjoyment of the series, but it was something I found odd about the series.
Summarizing Thoughts
Average Rating: 8.8
This is a really good manga. It has AMAZING characters, and exciting plot, and decent-to-awesome art. It is extremely impactful emotionally and keeps you wanting to know what’s going to happen the entire time you’re reading. It is fun, interesting, traumatic, and most of all, memorable. It deserves far more attention than it gets, and I strongly recommend it to anyone interested in reading a character driven, actiony, somewhat short (14 volumes) manga.
