Hey everyone, after yesterday regarding that whole argument on the camps of Nue's Exorcist vs Kagurabachi, I decided to give a good analysis regarding on both on what makes them special on both their strengths and weaknesses. It will be hard to discuss one over the other without certain biases, but at the same time, the feuds have got to stop along with the slander, cause I don't want it to be the same case as Black Clover. Having said that, here is my analysis.
Nue's Exorcist:
-Strengths: The girl designs are good, along with some of the monster designs. But it varies depending on if Kawae can step it up and improve. Even the wardrobe is good when you look at the girls fighting outfits along with Gakuro's second outfit. There will be a negative here at some point, but not right now since I am trying to find the positives. Along with that Gakuro is the nice boy arch type who does good, but needs confidence. Again, there will be a negative here cause there is much to discuss. But when he is serious and is determined, the look in his eyes makes it much more engaging to look at him. Also, the levels of how the spirits are good, not going overboard with the power scaling. But at one point during the training arc (the current one), I mistook Suo's training as her fighting level 25's than 2's (I misread 5 for an S, how stupid I was in that moment). It tells me alot that there is a fair balance in terms of scaling along with getting stronger in regards to breaking spirit weapons. But I want to know how that works cause when compared to Bleach, I would assume that Zanpakto's were going to take quite a while to repair themselves, along with Bankai's not being able to heal along with knowing the "True Name" of the Shinigami's Zanpakto. But what is the level when the characters are to weak along with a barrier to grow? I do think there is some good comedy, but it varies as sometimes the timing can feel inappropriate, and can even sour the mood, even when I don't care. But it has its fans, so I can let it be.
-Weaknesses: It started off with a very limiting location as all we got was the school. But afterwards it was starting to expand, but it took way to long to do so. It's like the common complaint that people said they didn't like in Red Hood as it took to long for us to leave the Hamlet. But still, there was some limitations to some locations, and we rarely see an ever changing wardrobe with are cast. Another aspect that is its greatest weakness is how I don't like the male character designs. With the limited amount we have seen, it has felt that Kawae is not good at drawing them unless there a few diamonds that can shine once there is more practice. In comparison to other artists that have been drawing for a while where we do see changes and refinement, I hardly have seen any change that showcases that growth, especially Gakuro who I want to look more attractive because I still think he is the worst when compared to the others. But another aspect that I also don't like is that black patch that is encircling his eye. Aside from it being enhance to be like a flame when he activates his abilities, how does it affect his lifestyle. I don't want an excuse to say it makes him look cool cause for every reason why characters have an anomoly with thier design, there is a reason. Luffy has that scar under his eye, Kenshin has that scar on his cheek, Andy had that card in his head, Mutsumi has that silver streak of hair, and so on. You need alot more to acknowledge it and give some important weight to it. And with the mens outfits when they fight spirits, Gakuro's was terrible where it hardly changed his school outfit but had those black long gloves, a belt holster that he could have borrowed from Yuno from Black Clover, and those flaming arm bands. That does not cover in making a full transformation. But when the second mode came from the last arc, I felt it was a major improvement and I think Gakuro looks more bad ass than anything. But then when we saw in the recent chapter who Gakuro was going to train with, that armor was a disapointment in an ugly sense where I didn't mind the asymetry of it, but do it in a way that makes it more presentable. And speaking of looking more presentable, I just hate Gakuro's baseless expression and when he gets anxious. I know it is supposed to be a joke, but at the same time, when he opens his mouth, those teeth make me cringe as you do not want to see all the detail in there. It also doesn't help that he is also stiff and awkward like how I mentioned countless times and made that Anakin and Pademe comparison in my review. It just makes Gakuro look more like a pushover than anything. I want to see a connection, but due to him being so stiff, it makes it that much harder for me to want to root for him cause I want him to develop more courage. A good comparison of that is in Back to the Future when you see George McFly who is so unconfident that he is just pathetic. And you can see why Marty had the ability to change that as it wasn't Marty's arc but mostly George as this was his time to change. But without any reason, then it means noting. But the one thing I will give that I do think has promise but didn't have impact is the progression of the story and the villains in this group. Now I know that the recent story arc had some issues along with the underwhelming character designs of the villain faction. Now despite this, I do think there is some chance to improve, but those villain designs, I want to know what will distingusih them from past villain groups so I can feel engaged. And the whole political angle is kind of boring without any weight compared to what I have seen in the history of Shonen Jumps line up with stuff like One Piece, Naruto, Bleach, ect. But they also suffer from the same issue that plagues the villain group (except the one member from Fujino's family that one is a real jerk). But who knows if there will be more distinguishable ones. Despite its flaws, I haven't been that turned off that I wanted to walk away from it so I am still reading it.
(Note that in the weaknesses part of Nue's Exorcist, if it sounds more complaints than weaknesses, I am truely sorry as I did have a bit of my bias in there and I will try to do better going forward. So to Nue fans, I apologize and if there is anything that you can say that I am missing with this seires please let me know.)
Kagurabachi:
-Strengths: Despite the roughness of the art in the beginning, I think it has found its groove along with the fact it has good composition. After hearing from that latest interview with Hokazono, it helps explain things that showcase the art in a meaningful way. The story had a clear direction when it started and despite its meme worthy lines, at least we know where the writing comes from with our lead Chihiro. As for everyone else, we had some moments with a few characters like Char and Hakuri that gave some good character depth but still have some ways to go for other characters like Shiba and Hinao (but the former is going to be that much harder cause until we see any skeletons from his past, it seems like Shibi has everything together). The set pieces as well as the fights taking part are always amazing as if Hokazono learned everything about what makes great fights and finally had the weight and substance to make it spectacular. As for the villains, I was a bit worried about them, but as the story went along we had probably 2 great villain's (now with a third) that are making this world feel a bit more dangerous and how everything has to be put together. But most importantly, the story is taking its time and knows where it is going. It is ironic cause after chapter 1 I felt confused as I thought it was empty and a writing mistake. But to learn that chapter 2 had the other half that was missing made the whole thing come together. It almost makes me want to do a comparison to Hunter x Hunter due to how sure of a chapter 1 and beginning of an arc it had compared to all other series we have seen that are a bit episodic or have a small arc in the beginning to see what sticks. And for what the story promised in the beginning when it talked about an auction arc, it did. So there was a commitment and promise made to say what to anticipate for the series. And even if I have alot of complaints that I will go over in the weakness category, there will be less casue of how many of my initial criticisms I had have been improved upon.
-Weaknesses: Now this is where I am going to see what are its flaws when it comes to the series itself. Well, for one, sometimes the mouths can be a distraction if not careful, but othertimes it is always a way to say, "I am now going to have my character say something." It isn't bad and it improve over the last 30+ chapters it has been out, but now it doesn't seem like to much of a distraction like how it was back within the first 10 chapters. Another complaints is how certain characters had a stiff face in terms of giving off more expressions. But over time and with the growth of the abundance of characters, they more than help to give more variety to help diversify our main characters and the different factions and clans within this world. But with certain characters that do have mute expressions like Chihiro, he does have that baked in deadpan demeanor that we have seen when he was younger and him currently. But over time there have been good expressions where we do see him either sad going into tears or feel a sense of fear when conquiring other characters that did him wrong or worry for the lives of others. It was limited in the beginning when you see that in chapter 2 but over time we do see it, but it took time, and I am glad that it improved. Another problem that even Hokazono acknowledged is learning the maner of stillness in his art when his characters are doing stuff, but sometimes when it happenes that stillness can lead to stiffness. But with some time the characters will losen up when they are not going directly into action. Another element that I think Hokazono has learned, probably since he got the earlier feedback was how he handled the humor in certain times. After that first chapter, it was hard with how he wrote the humor along with who was giving it. But as we saw the ever growing cast, Hokazono handed that responsibility to those characters and allowed the characters who were serious to be themselves without it being shoehorned and allowing it to feel natural. The best comparison that I can give is in Naruto where Sasuke was the serious type and with Naruto, Sakura, and his cell (more specifically Karen and Suigetsu), it allowed him to be more serious. But when it comes to loosening up we saw that in the training section of The Land of Waves arc with him and Naruto due to that small competitive build that was happening there. But in Kagurabachi, Chihiro is spared along with Shibi (whose comedy was awkward and thankfully relieved of that responsibility) given to their other allies in Hinao, Char, Azami, and Hakuri. It's about having that well balance dynamic. And now I will get into more of the concerns that could be weaknesses going forward. One aspect is not having a well balance on the power scalling in regards to villains and a build of that. If everyone remembers in my review on how I felt that showing the leader of the group to soon could make the other members below him weaker. And so far we have met and dealt with 2 other villains that have had crazy levels in Sojo and Kyora. By introducing them to soon, to me it looses some of the buildup, and potential to become much longer than what it could be. But I could be wrong and if someone can give a counter argument I would love it to be proven why I am wrong. And the one thing that I will say that Hokazono could be making a mistake if not careful are the deaths. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind deaths in a series, as they bring out the emotional weight of the series when done right. But if there is no attachment or purpose, then it will either be pointless or a waste (a waste in 2 ways, the first is why should I care, and the second is when they have built enough on it and them not being used effectively [example: Darth Maul from The Phantom Menace, or in WSJ manga some of the characters that were first introduced in Dear Anemone or Double Taisei {and then did those terrible resurrections}]). I say that cause of that group from that organization that is supposed to keep the order. There could have been some massive potential, but ultimately, they were just used to weigh down Sojo. But they did have their purpose as it was a plan that Chihiro and that group made in order for Chihiro to rescue Char and be ready to take down Sojo when they have the chance. So I just hope that Hokazono doesn't kill when needed. It is true cause in storytelling, weather it is in film, television, novels, and comics, one term that is always used is, "Kill your darlings." But it is important to know when to kill them and if there will or not be any consequences from that. But even though those characters are dead, it hasn't fully made me that upset as the other characters that have been built up had made a much greater impact and are expanding the world.
And those are my observations on these series on their strengths and weaknesses. It was tough and I hope there can be alot to discuss about cause during the time I was writing this, there was alot that happened like Nue being in the bottom 3 and Kagurabachi selling almost 40k on volume 2. But that is someting that we need to break down and analyse why these placements and what is in the material for both in what they are doing right and what can they both improve upon.
edit: since this post was 2-3 days in the making there was a lot of things that happened so it took more time than I realized along with other things that happened. So I will catch up and have some of my commentary on these events.