I love Jinsei Kataoka and Kazuma Kondou's works. Ever since working on Eureka Seven's manga adaptation together, KataKondou™ have been a darkhorse duo in the realm of manga, working on works such as Smokin' Parade, the oneshot Kamisama☆Permanent, and possibly their most (in)famous, Deadman Wonderland, which proved so popular, it got an anime adaptation. BUT WE DON'T TALK ABOUT THAT.
So, when they announced Retropolis Scratch, their newest project, I was excited. When I saw that it was getting a simulpub, I was locked in. Then I heard it was ending. After 15 chapters. After it had just passed the 1-year mark...
Okay. How bad could it be.
The story begins as follows: Tsukimichi Dori, a newly-minted High Schooler, moves to Kyoto, to live out his dream of an easy-breezy High School life, but accidentally wanders into a world known as 'Higan', a space in where people who possess Irezumi (literally just tattoos, but Irezumi sounds cooler), which possess Ink Beasts, and they do combat. Tsukimichi gets hurt, and in order to save his life, he needs an Irezumi transplanted into him. Now, forced into this world, Tsukimichi tries to find a way out.
Cool concept, but, here's where it goes wrong:
3/5ths of the main cast are MASSIVELY, MASSIVELY, underdeveloped. We get some nice gags for them, here and there, but if your name isn't Tsukimichi Dori, or Hiyori Sangaku, GTFO out of here. Hell, even in the final arc, one of the Main cast get a line dialogue that, I just found insulting to my intelligence.
They've never seen fighting together until now, and neither of them have even been shown winning a fight on panel together.
Hiyori's brother, Habaki, is okay, but he's mostly used as an exposition dumper, seeing as he's effectively the muggle of the group. Plus, for some reason, the official translation makes him way to hard to understand, as they give him a stereotypical 'Delinquent' dialect, but since the fan scanlations are so wooden, it's the best we're gonna get.
Now, KataKondou™'s works typically follow a three-act structure. Deadman Wonderland had this with the Scar Chain Arc after getting introduced to some of the characters, then the Ninben Arc, and then concluding at the Shiro Arc, they continued this with Smokin' Parade, beginning with the Shikagura Arc after the introductions were out of the way, continuing with The Lord of the Night Arc, and Concluding it with the Spider Pandemic arc. Here... We get the setup for the first act... and jump immediately into the third. See, where the manga tricks you is that you think going to go into a tournament arc, but then it just... doesn't. You think they're going to go into an arc about the mysterious Irezumi Hunter...
And then, they just... Don't.
All these characters are introduced, which makes you think our main cast is going to fight them, as get some development, and their opponents can put on a good showing...
...And then... They don't.
So, after Chapter 9, the final arc begins, Spoilers ahead.
Spoiler, click to view
So, the main antagonist is this girl, Heika Senponzashi, or Pe-Tan.Her motivations are simple: She wants to open up Higan so all the Ink Beasts can be free, because she was free to do whatever she wanted as a child, because her mother was too neglectful to care. Yeah, I've heard worse. In order to do this, her and her goon squad hnt down people with Irezumi, and eventually, find Hiyori's Irezumi is the key to opening Higan. Also Hiyori is the masked Irezumi Hunter.
Yeah, it's not even treated as this big reveal, it's just laid out in passing, in a panel. Also, Tsukimichi had an Irezumi the whole time, to cover up a gruesome childhood run-in he had with a truck. Yeah. It's by this point, I feel KataKondou™ just threw their hands up, and said, let's get this over with ASAP. This being Shonen, Tsukimichi wins, and saves Hiyori's ink beast. Cool.
Then the last chapter comes around and it's revealed that Pe-Tan's plan was actually the work of another higher up of the Bokusenkon committee pulling the strings?! HUH?!?! Excuse me? Then a year goes by, and it's revealed that Tsukimichi WON BOKUSENKON!!! And the winner of Bokusenkon has to become a protector of the Ink Beast, Amaneko. And of course, Tsukimichi, after going through so much character development and evolution...
...fucking runs away again, we've learned nothing, you've wasted your time. Holy fuck.
People believe that this work got axed, and if I read this manga in a vacuum, I'd be inclined to believe so. However, considering how the LITERAL NEXT MONTH, KataKondou™ teased a new, upcoming work, makes me believe that they intentionally rushed the ending, because they wanted to work on that, rather than any more of Retropolis Scratch. I genuinely hope the latter isn't true, seeing as how open-ended they left the manga.
Well, I'm off to reread Hitomi-chan is Shy with Strangers, again... at least that doesn't disappoint.