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The side characters are handled well too. Her struggle to hone her craft while also keeping control of her identity is an intricate balancing act, and watching Kei inch closer and closer to the brink is frightening and thrilling. Against a sea of brash male shounen protagonists, Kei is a unique take on a determined, talented, and broken female character. Kei Yonagi is an incredibly refreshing protagonist. Act-age is very much a character driven series.
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This is where Act-age's writing really shines. It makes Act-age visually distinct from the many other manga and anime with cutesier art, and helps sell the darker moments. I appreciate the lack of fanservice as well. Her style of eyes in particular reflect an expressiveness that I have never seen in any other series. It has a very "raw" quality to it because of her sketchy and angular style. Usazaki quite possibly has one of the most appealing and beautiful art styles I have ever seen.
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It's prettyīasic on the surface, but the manga makes up for it in other areas. Kei's goal to become a top actor is a compelling enough premise that gets her to interact with colorful characters and reflect on herself. The story's purpose is to create interesting scenarios for the characters to do the heavy lifting. In my opinion, this is the weakest part of the manga but it is by no means bad. I can only judge what has been completed, and imagine what could have been. Now we will never see the end to this wonderful story.
BALLROOM E YOUKOSO KISSMANGA SERIES
What we've had up to this day was wonderful.īefore its cancellation, Act-age was my favorite running manga series and I was excited to see how it would developed. If the prospect of reading a promising story that will never be completed does not turn you off, do read it. A rational, respectable decision on her part, though sad nonetheless, since the story was essentially terminated midways, with no advance notice or even a semblance of a closure. Of a non-battle battle manga a rare case of a purely character-driven shonen work that was neither a romcom nor a slice-of-life.Īlas, with the author arrested for the dubious hobby of groping middle-schoolers while passing them on a bike, the manga was promptly axed, and the artist allegedly decided against continuing it on her own, unlike what would normally be expected when one drops out of a writer/illustrator collaboration. It was, to use a term coined in Bakuman, an excellent example It really was a head-turner in many ways: a colorful, female-heavy cast, unconventional topic, plenty of quality character drama, unusual art, no forced romance or any sort of physical fights as a means to move the plot forward-and at the same time it dutifully adhered to the basics of the shonen sensibilities, such as rivalry and continuous progress on the path towards fulfilling a grand ambition. Act-age was one of the most promising series in Weekly Shonen Jump throughout 20, and one of my personal favorites alongside One Piece and Chainsaw Man.