
a review by BoredOY

a review by BoredOY
Racing games supposedly make up a huge portion of video game sales, yet I know basically no one who plays racing games.
I feel the same way about this manga. I've never heard anyone talk about this, but it's the 4th most popular manga of all time on Manga Rock, with nearly 30 million reads.
The main character, Mo Fan, is possibly the culmination of every boring shounen stereotype. His personality is douchey to the point that it really starts to make him unlikable; he'll act like an arrogant stuck up asshole and justify it because people act like arrogant stuck up assholes to him. In particular, rich guys in this manga are completely unrealistic pricks who think that money and status are everything, going so far as to claim "money is a type of skill too."
As for Mo Fan's powers, there's pretty much nothing unique about him. In a sense, there's literally nothing that he can do that other people can't also do. While it may sound impressive that he gains twice as many powers as normal people, this feeling quickly goes away once you realize that this just makes him about as tough as two people.
The powers themselves are pretty boring and standard, mostly just being the ability to produce an element. Leveling up these powers doesn't really change them much either. Lightning just becomes bigger lightning, fire just becomes bigger fire, etc.
While this may seem like a nitpick, I found any semblance of immersion completely ruined when characters consistently couldn't figure out that he was Mo Fan when he put a mask over his mouth and called himself Fan Mo. I guess when the author is stupid it's hard for them to write characters that aren't also stupid.
There isn't really any sort of overarching story. We mostly just watch Mo Fan try to get stronger and get caught in the middle of random crises along the way.
The art isn't bad, but it isn't that technically impressive or unique either. Its artstyle can be found pretty commonly in Chinese manga and just adds to its forgettability.
It's hard to comment on the overall quality of characters in this manga, as everyone but Mo Fan is wholly recognized as a side character, with him being the only one consistently appearing over the manga's duration. Most of the side characters can be categorized into two parts: super impressed by Mo Fan, or antagonists of Mo Fan.
Luckily for this manga though, it does have a saving grace: tropes exist for a reason. Sure the manga takes literally 0 creative risks or innovations, but if you follow a working formula you'll still get something somewhat entertaining.
Overall, there's not a whole lot that makes this manga feel unique. Pretty much every aspect of it has been done before, and the execution this time for each of these aspects is honestly pretty disappointing. While some series, Boku no Hero Academia for example, manage to compensate for their lack of originality with production quality, this series doesn't have that benefit.
so yeah, that's about it
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