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Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Manga Review: Platinum End, Volume 7, by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata


Rating (Out of 5): ~3-3.5
Publisher: Shonen Jump (VIZ Media)
Release Date: December 2018
Volumes: 11+
Spoilers?: No.
Volume: 1. 6. 8.

Goodreads Synopsis:

From the creators of Death Note! Mirai may have been saved by an angel, but his battle is just beginning…

As his classmates celebrate their middle school graduation, troubled Mirai is mired in darkness. But his battle is just beginning when he receives some salvation from above in the form of an angel. Now Mirai is pitted against 12 other chosen humans in a battle in which the winner becomes the next god of the world. Mirai has an angel in his corner, but he may need to become a devil to survive.

With Mirai and Mukaido trapped in a mirror house at an abandoned amusement part, Metropoliman thinks he’s won. But Mirai has one last desperate plan!

Review:

Mirai is still in the stand-off with the crazy woman as the volume starts, with everyone around him analyzing his potential moves. Honestly, the stand-off goes on for a weird amount of time, where he's just holding the woman's arm, deciding whether he can kill her or not. And then in a weirdly slow-motion-like dramatic move, everyone moves and tries to protect each other, and the conclusion is very much not surprising.
But then this leads to just another stand-off, now between Mirai and Metropoliman. This is also a weird to-the-death stand-off. During this, at least, we get a backstory on Metropoliman. We see what led him to suicide and thus the angel offering him this chance. It's, uh... just as disturbing as expected, I would say. This whole sequence also includes him broadcasting the battle, and declaring to the world what he intends to do once he's God—you know, kill off all the poor and ugly people.
This whole series is rather disturbing, particularly a few of the characters. Women are treated as side-pieces, essentially. The whole battles are shown in such a weird, dramatic way. I also don't quite get the whole social-media aspect; I will admit it makes sense in the modern times, and I can see the added aspect of tension and drama. It played a role in Death Note, as well. I don't mind it, and I can appreciate it's significance, but I wonder if it's necessary.
I really don't care for this series, as a whole, but I was surprisingly interested in the latter half of this volume. To the point that I actually want to know what happens next. So there's that.


A review copy was provided by the publisher, VIZ Media, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

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