Feb 8, 2019
Since this Manga doesn't have a Review at the time I write this one I supposed it would be at least a good starting point for those that come across this title.
So in general this Manga is a story about a Genius Kid that builds Robots with his 'Special Power', the world is at war and the conflict between nations doesn't seem to calm down anytime soon.
Maybe you are thinking "That sounds pretty Standard/Generic" And You are Right! but hold on, actually that's just the surface because in this Manga there's always a lesson and meaning to the stuff the characters do.
While you can
...
take everything literal and have a fun time with it, Seiketsu no Haguruma was made to be analyzed. This Manga is actually a criticism / analysis on Racial discrimination, nationalization racism and even government military administration.
[Characters] 9/10 - Great development and some of them are not only Likeable but Realistic too.
The characters is where this manga shines the most.
Starting with Kodo our MC, he's a kind and pure kid in a world of corruption and lies, his development is clear thorough the whole story.
Azuma. Kodo's Best Friend is a very very well made character, he's a artificial life form created by Kodo with a clear personality, but what it makes it so great is that he complements Kodo in a perfect way is worth to mention he's one of the most Rational characters.
The rest of the cast is great and some of them are extremely human and believable like the King and Faria.
[Story] 7/10 - Nice story but has it's flaws- Nice pacing
The story moves fordward by the war and Kodo's Actions. *Slight Spoilers ahead*
There are two races the Blue Blood and the Red Blood. The Blue Blood where the MC is from it's a parallelism of both the real life Aristocrats of the Colonial period and the 'White people' from the racial conflicts.
The Red Blood and often called 'Hizoku' are more uncivilized and emotional bunch, they hate the Blue Bloods more than anything by the reject and cruelly treat towards them. The Blue Bloods wants to destroy the Red bloods just because they are 'Inferior' and that's pretty much it.
The story actually has a nice pacing and progress regarding all the political issues. It's also interesting and some great adrenaline moments.
But why the 7/10 then? well while it explains all the Conflicts and most of the purposes, we never have the chance to fully see what's going on behind the scenes, How big is the scale of the war? How many deaths? Is Kodo the only one Fighting or what? these are some of the questions you won't get an answer for, some part of the interesting cast of characters only appear a few times which is also a shame.
Just Before we pass to talk about the Art i wanted to mention that the Ending was actually good, it may not be the liking of everyone but for me it was the perfect conclusion for the story.
[Art] - 7/10 - Great Art but...
The Art while nice looking has some flaws, the people's expressions can feel weird sometimes and when the Author puts effort on making a nice believable expression it only makes it feel worse when the faces aren't well realized.
Same happens to the Hagurumas (Mecha like Giant Animals), some of them look really good, but other times they are just too complex and it's hard to figure it what they are at first.
There's also some colored key parts in some pages from time to time which makes it feel more "shocking" (by the lack of a better term), it's also a unique form to liven up the overall experience, good work on that part.
[Enjoyment] - 8/10 - Quite Enjoyable
Whether you just take the Manga Literally or not it is Enjoyable, however all the analogies just make it harder to fully enjoy the story specially if you are like me and are constantly thinking 'Dang what a Roast to {insert country} they just did'.
But even with all the Analogies involved Seiketsu no Haguruma still manages to have quite the charm and some good moments in it.
tl;dr
[Overall] - 8/10 - Quite Good
It has some Unique ideas but lacked polish.
The characters are great but you wish some of the side characters would had a little more of screen time.
Overall it is a great Story, it's not too long so you can read it relatively fast.
However this Manga full potential comes to the surface when it's read as a critique for the politics and even morals of society.
Note: Please forgive my poor grammar and excessive use of commas (Still working on my English). I also know i shouldn't be clarifying this but just in case; This is only my opinion, You can disagree on anything i have stated in this review and that's completely fine.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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