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The Asterisk War Manga #1
The Asterisk War, Vol. 1 (manga)
The school-city of Rokka-also known as "Asterisk." Here boys and girls of the Starpulse Generation all compete in the Seibusai-the "star battle festival," fighting for glory on the greatest combat entertainment stage of the world. Ayato Amagiri has just arrived at one of these academies at the express invitation of its student council president, but when he begins his career by making a dangerous enemy, his life on Asterisk is off to a rough start!
160 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 22, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
August 8, 2016
The Asterisk War manga is based on the popular light novel series by Yuu Miyazaki. It's a unique story for of late in that it is dystopian, but doesn't take the theme where many novels do. It's in the far-future where a meteor shower caused mutations in the populace and lead to mana being created. Now a select number of folks can use said mana to do amazing feats. This is on top of having enhanced strength, speed, and durability.
In this setting the nations of the world disintegrated in the chaos of first the devestatioin of the meteor shower and then the resultant appearance of such super-humans. A group called the Integrity Enterprises Foundation assumed power and now basically rules as a world government. There are other governments officially, but the Foundation is in charge of everything behind the scenes.
What makes this story unique is that so far (and here is a spoiler from the anime which extends several volumes forwards) there is no effort to fight for freedom against the Integrity Enterprises Foundation. Folks fight for some more autonomy here and there, but so far, everyone is accepting of things. Instead the story is a more personal one of various folks who have goals that they want to reach and their fight to do so against this backdrop.
So far in this first volume of the manga we are introduced to four of the main characters. Ayato, the main male protagonist, Julis, the main female protagonist, Saya, a female deuteragonist, and Claudia, who moves back and forth between secondary protagonist and deuteragonist. They each have issues, goals and desires to grapple with and this is the story of that.
Despite my giving away some spoilers before, that was mainly to explain how this series - so far - differentiates from others of a similar flavor. The rest of what is going on I can't really say, as this story is more of an introductory one as it is the first half almost of the first book.
To be honest, many of the things to judge a book on are hard to do at this point in time, given how this early in the story, there isn't much to go on. I will say that the manga does a better job in some areas (so I think the light novel likely does as well) than the anime. It has better characterization by showing the characters' thoughts and interactions in a way that makes some effort to make them unique from the cookie-cutter generic harem story it's veering towards. Also, the art is a lot better than the animation. It's actually quite lovely, though some might not like, and some might like, the fan-servicey parts.
That is really all I can say, but it looks promising. I enjoyed the anime, so I do think I will enjoy this one too. I can't wait for the light novel official English translation to be released at the end of the month, and I look forward to future volumes of this series as well.
In this setting the nations of the world disintegrated in the chaos of first the devestatioin of the meteor shower and then the resultant appearance of such super-humans. A group called the Integrity Enterprises Foundation assumed power and now basically rules as a world government. There are other governments officially, but the Foundation is in charge of everything behind the scenes.
What makes this story unique is that so far (and here is a spoiler from the anime which extends several volumes forwards) there is no effort to fight for freedom against the Integrity Enterprises Foundation. Folks fight for some more autonomy here and there, but so far, everyone is accepting of things. Instead the story is a more personal one of various folks who have goals that they want to reach and their fight to do so against this backdrop.
So far in this first volume of the manga we are introduced to four of the main characters. Ayato, the main male protagonist, Julis, the main female protagonist, Saya, a female deuteragonist, and Claudia, who moves back and forth between secondary protagonist and deuteragonist. They each have issues, goals and desires to grapple with and this is the story of that.
Despite my giving away some spoilers before, that was mainly to explain how this series - so far - differentiates from others of a similar flavor. The rest of what is going on I can't really say, as this story is more of an introductory one as it is the first half almost of the first book.
To be honest, many of the things to judge a book on are hard to do at this point in time, given how this early in the story, there isn't much to go on. I will say that the manga does a better job in some areas (so I think the light novel likely does as well) than the anime. It has better characterization by showing the characters' thoughts and interactions in a way that makes some effort to make them unique from the cookie-cutter generic harem story it's veering towards. Also, the art is a lot better than the animation. It's actually quite lovely, though some might not like, and some might like, the fan-servicey parts.
That is really all I can say, but it looks promising. I enjoyed the anime, so I do think I will enjoy this one too. I can't wait for the light novel official English translation to be released at the end of the month, and I look forward to future volumes of this series as well.
July 27, 2016
Perhaps this is a stupid complaint, but mostly what I got out of this manga was this: if she's so upset that he saw her in her underwear, then why on earth is she wearing a "dress" so short that her underwear is constantly visible?!
Also, I shouldn't read manga when recovering from a migraine. It clearly makes me weird(er).
Full (serious) review eventually appearing on ANN.
Also, I shouldn't read manga when recovering from a migraine. It clearly makes me weird(er).
Full (serious) review eventually appearing on ANN.
December 10, 2016
While I fully realize that the target audience is teenage boys, I wish that interesting story lines like this could do humor and female characters without so many panty shots and boob jokes. I may be a prude, but it just isn't funny to me and I can just see parents of the teens I work with getting upset over it when the creators didn't intend it to be a big deal.
Otherwise, it was a decent start and I am picking up the next one.
Otherwise, it was a decent start and I am picking up the next one.
January 13, 2017
It was fine. I like the premise so I'll probably read the next one. If it turns into a harem manga, it isn't unique enough to keep me involved.
October 15, 2018
Fan service took away from this novel. No woman wears something that short.
January 29, 2021
The way it started out seemed to formulaic I really like the world building it starts off with, but that kinda doesn't help the book because it shows that they could of made a better opening if they used this world building to its strength.
June 23, 2017
Interesting volume.
June 28, 2019
If you like the fan side of anime this is for you. Not reading any more as I wasnt able to find plot or much of anything to enjoy.
January 10, 2018
Pretty standard manga, guy sees girls knickers she gets mad. The love story starts there, from that point onward a harem builds for no reason other than he's a generic guy.
The good bits get tossed aside like people having fire powers from a meteor, this is another one of those magic high schools which are just pumped out these days. I like it but that was it, there isn't anything to grab hold or interest me beyond that.
The good bits get tossed aside like people having fire powers from a meteor, this is another one of those magic high schools which are just pumped out these days. I like it but that was it, there isn't anything to grab hold or interest me beyond that.
July 27, 2016
This seems okay, but... it's a battle manga about a school where students with magic powers fight to be number one. Taste for this trope may vary, but unless there's a serious surprise ahead, I just can't see myself continuing with yet another one of these stories.
August 24, 2016
HS fiction, fan service. usual manga tropes. mean girls, etc. fighting.
October 26, 2016
Reviewing for a professional magazine, see review there.
Did Not Finish
May 10, 2017Not for me.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews