Now that it's pretty much confirmed Golem Hearts is dying, what do y'all think it should have done differently?
In my opinion, I still think the one-shot would have been a much better introduction. Sure, it was obviously inspired by One Piece's beginning, but it was a lot more solid than the actual introduction we got. Plus, the forced marriage conflict in the one shot was better executed than the kidnapping conflict in the serialization.
I think the main problem though was the lazy execution of the exam. Compared to HxH's and Naruto's exams, which had multiple stages with many characters being introduced (some of them becoming fan favorites), Golem Hearts' came across as a poor excuse of an exam. For something as sophisticated as an arcanist, you would expect the exam to be thorough and extensive. Instead, we got a cheap retrieval mission that seems more like a beginner RPG quest than an exam. Plus, the whole "only one person out of hundreds pass each year" is such a cheap way to create tension (although that problem isn't necessarily unique to Golem Hearts as Naruto did it as well).
The other problem with the exam being so short is that there was no time to establish any characterization for what seems to be the main characters or even introduce new characters. We really only got a few characters out of it. One is really just a side-liner, the other proclaimed his friendship for Noah with no apparent reason, and the last is an edge lord with hazy motivations for being an edge lord. I'm not asking for the characters' entire back story to be revealed, I just want to know who they are and why they're there. The aforementioned manga's exams gave us personalities, back stories, motivations, actual reasons to care for the characters. Sadly, it seems like the mangaka wanted to quickly rush into the action leaving characterization behind.
I'll admit, I was biased towards this manga. I liked the one shot, the art and premise was unique, and I was interested in how a proxy battle manga would do in Jump. Plus, it seemed like this was his passion project considering how there were multiple one shots. Unfortunately, Golem Hearts was something that brought my hopes up then quickly turned into a disappointment.
. Sad because out of all the fodder series in the last few years, it's one of the few I would actually buy. Interesting to see how well Lycopene's doing though. We always knew it would be safe, but I didn't expect it to get such a solid start. It probably won't grow much considering the general trend of series like that though.
