This was the first thing I read for the School manga challenge and we're not off to the greatest start.

The art style, character designs and overall setting was at first all quite cool. The premise made me immediately curious where it would go...I just didn't expect there. At first I was fully invested in the lore of the world, intrigued by the monsters that inhabited it and the mysterious Guild. The beginning felt a little bit rushed and Grimm's decision to have Velou join felt strange, but it wasn't anything that made me want to stop reading.

However, once the training 'arc' began the cracks in the writing really began to show. I understand that there was likely time constraints, but it was a shame to see no real training for the characters, no chance for us to really bond with them to add to the satisfaction of the final exam (which was quite a few chapters long in comparison). We didn't get to see Velou grow or characterize at all, the same goes for all the other characters that ended up being fundamental in the exam at the end. The training camp would of also been a nice opportunity to flesh out his relationship with Grimm or the inductor. The three months flew by in a single chapter and my relationship with all the characters was the same it had been in the start.

The final exam itself was fun, interesting and well thought out. I think that Kawaguchi really showed off Velou's strengths and potential as a protagonist. But there were several times in this manga where a side character would start monologuing or giving their backstory and it didn't feel necessary or I just didn't have the patience to hear them out because I felt nothing for them.

Now as for the ending...oh man. I understand why Kawaguchi made it meta: we're in a world with pre-established customs, characters and story arcs we're all familiar with. Thematically it made sense. The only problem was...it didn't make sense. Having that 'reveal' in the last couple chapters and then it snowballing into a bunch of information and lore overload was not a nice way to finish off a manga I otherwise would've enjoyed. It made the final message Velou gave at the end feel corny and extremely cliched.

I'm thankful that it was only 18 chapters. I think Kawaguchi has the potential to become a really capable creator, I just think he needs to not lose focus of what made his writing shine in the first place. Perhaps if I read a longer work I'd see that this wasn't as much of a problem. But if time was the main issue, he should of avoided introducing the whole meta thing at all in the first place. I think without that tagged on at the end he would've had a much more satisfying conclusion.