two mangas i've read recently, but before, I want to explain how I rate things
5/10 is the bare minimun, if I finised it, it's at least a 5/10
6/10, it has an extremely big flaw, but it wasn't actually painful to finish
7/10, flaws that ruin a lot of the experience to read, not good but not really that bad, can be no flaws but still really just didn't really got into it at all
8/10, manga with almost no flaws I can tell, except that for some reason or another, I just didn't vibe with it
9/10, manga that I did personally connect with, but smaller in ambition, so a manga that I liked, that tries doing something smaller and just nails it, that is a 9/10
10/10, manga that either has been extremely enjoyable to read or just highly transforms the way I see the genre or medium, mangas that are very experimental or ambitious that's ends up doing it perfectly, stuff that you're still thinking about months after you end
MagMell Shinkai Suizokukan: 9/10, fishmanga, it's just a cute SoL which main objective is trying to teach you about fish, does this well, really liked it, it's still ongoing but i'm now caught up, really cool
The Horizon, (manhwa) 7???/10, for a little bit of context, I was looking for manga to read, I wanted to explore more genres, so I went looking for shorter mangas on genres i'm not the most familiar, and then, I found this manga called the horizon, it's one of the highest rated mangas of all time, and I think that it is in the top 3 highest rated manhwa, at least on myanimelist
I want to really like the horizon, I get what it's trying to do, however, there is just a manga I cant quite get into, if you read the first 5 pages you get what type of manga this is, it's the type of manga that's highly psicological, where a lot of scenes are not actually real, but explains the character mentality, has very few text because the enviroment a lot of the abstract art transmits the message and energy of the manga equally or not better, the plot is just a device to try to push a philosophical message
I want to say that this manga at a technical level is absolutely perfect, the art is really good, and the way it can say so much with so little text and runtime, it's truly a great archivement, however, the text that there is (which again, is very little)... just didn't actually seem that good?, like, the language just seemed off, I think this is a scanlation error but whatever, it's the way I've experienced this manga, and it's something that affects my enjoyement of it
The manga is divided on a few small arcs, every story arc is a little scene, with a clear enviroment and characters, and each tells a story about morality, one arc talks about how the value of life isn't something that is set in stone, but the value of a human life depends purely in the spectator, so someone can see someone else as low or as high as they feel it's accurate, another arc may talk about at what point self defense is guaranteed, why do we feel like we have to defend ourselves
I can appreciate the characters, the enviroments, everything, but the actual message it's trying to push, I don't know, it actually just didn't make me thing that much, these are not radically new ideas, it's portrayed really nicely, but it's not a philosophy that i'm not familiar with
and I think this is the problem I have with this manga, as I said, the plot of the manga is just a device to push the idea, however, if you dont quite interact with the idea, then all the character moments and a lot of the scenes just doesn't feel that emotionally charged, making this a experience way blander that what it's supposed to be
I asked if it was a me problem for not reading it right, for not understanding it right, however, no, i've just watched a couple of video analysis on this manga, and most of them talk about how they already in chapter one were feeling things, however, I just never reached this connection with the manga
It's not a genre that i'm too familiar with but still, I dont think that is the reason why I didn't vibe with this manga, i've read mangas that even if they have a wildy different imaginery and style, has the same structure, of mostly being philosophical, and the plot just being a device for the idea, and I've enjoyed those way more than this one, and I dont get exactly why, it's something i'm still thinking about
I don't know what to feel about this, I can understand why this manhwa may be amazing, but it's not something I connect with, and that kinda hurts, if this story grows on me on the months to come, and I start to feel it more, I might raise it to a 9, however, if not, I just may lower it to a 7
updated: lowered it to a 7 at least for now