Reviews for Level E

"See, I'm always prepared to put my life on the line when I bullshit." First of all, I have to say that this manga is the best I ever read. I'm not a big fan of aliens and si-fi but that didn't mattered when I read this masterpiece. Story 9 Only because the stories are a bit clichéd and very typical for alien theme. But that makes this manga better because the well know situations are warped by the wonderful humor. Another thing that made me reduce the points was the story detachment. They almost don't have any links so it doesn't draw you in as much asI would have liked.

Art 10

Art is beautiful. It's sometimes seems close to painting and sometimes it's simple manga pictures but the most important thing is that it doesn't interfere with reading and doesn't lower enjoyment.

Character 9

Eccentric nature of some characters and the simple down-to-earth attitude of others make a fantastic and bizarre combination. It greatly adds to the enjoyment of the whole. One thing that diminish the it though characters' types aren't the freshes thing. While reading not once I have thought "Where have I already met this character?"

Enjoyment 10

Oh, very much so. I enjoyed this work very throughly. It made laugh out loud. Since some of the chapters I have read it in a public place not once I got some very weird looks XD.

Overall 10

It's a masterpiece. Made with great love and dedication and worth every possible praise.

I do recommend this for those who can understand subtle humor and sarcasm, for those who like aliens and whatnot or just want a good hearty laugh.

Level E Review Story (7/10) Good This story is mostly follows the story of Ki El Dogra, Baka and we go over multiple arcs and mini stories that consist of Aliens existing on Earth. When the first time the story arc switched on me I didn't know how I felt about it and I think it was when I started Volume 2 with the kids (which is the one I found the most interesting) that I realized how this manga goes. And at first no story arc that was introduced was interesting to me but by the time the story arc was over I was indeedsatisfied and kind of disappointed that we are moving on to the next one.

Art (8/10) Very Good

The overall art I felt was good for a short series and also knowledge on the mangaka I know I've seen worse from him so I will cut him some slack on the parts that were suppose to look detailed you can tell he put time into to (which was most of the demonic and insect looking creatures he created which is where I see the Chimera Ants in HxH's inspirational character design initially came from)

Character (8/10) Very Good

I thought the characters in this series were all very good no character I felt was horrible but I also didn't feel any character blew my mind on how awesome they were the closest was obviously Baka Ouji because he is indeed a comedian, semi-deviant, cunning, smart and most of all a troll so he's definitely the reason this gets an 8 without him this section would be a 7.

Enjoyment (6/10) Fine

My enjoyment like I said earlier was never at the start of arcs but during the 75% point of each story arc. There is a lot of setup in the start of his arcs and understanding everything Togashi is trying to throw at you before starting the "good stuff" maybe a bit of a mini-grind itself because each time you have to now re-understand how everything works in this arc before he starts moving the story along and he does that with the initial characters of that arc explaining with a wall text that might be a turn off if you get confused, lost or tired. I definitely felt all 3 of those as given times during the beginning of most of the arcs especially the baseball in that guy's dream one.

Overall (7/10) Good

Obviously for something so short and right after finished YYH you can tell that with the some of the character in Level E like Baka Ouji's servants who played kind of the detective role in some cases you can tell that Togashi still have that Spirit Detective thing going on back from the early arcs of YYH before it went DBZ on us. And the creation of certain characters you can see the inspiration for the character designs for characters like Gon, Kurapika and the Chimera Ants for the manga he made after this HxH. So I fairly enjoyed seeing those things. I'm glad I took the time to read this short manga and will most likely want the anime adaptation of it in the future.

BRIEF REVIEW W/spoilers: Hilarious tale that I'm glad to have embarked on. Admired the jump from cartoonish to hyper realistic art styles. Was also surprised how often this story becomes closer to sci-fi/horror, than comedy at times. That being said, as much as I loved that component of the story, I really loved it for the comedy and any time Baka Ouji gets involved. I can't help but get major Gintama vibes from it. From Baka Ouji probably being a source of inspiration for Prince Hata, and the ending looking surprisingly familiar to a certain era of Edo Japan that's been taken over by Amanto.I'm a little confused by the ending, does this mean that Yukitaka and that girl are now together, and WAS THAT THEIR CHILD?! So many questions and I wondered if this was axed or if Togashi-san ended it on his own terms. Although I do wish it stayed predominately comedic throughout all of its tales, I do admire how it used aliens and sci-fi to create unique and hilarious situations. Best chapters were the early chapters, followed by the Rangers. I also got a huge kick out of the panels that were just a cacophony of random, deformed, life forms that were reminiscent of Berserk's eclipse, especially in the chapter were we witness the girl accidentally putting her dad into her subconscious where he's then subject to seeing a monster-ized version of him and his wife bickering. With this juxtaposition between comedy and sci-fi in mind though, unlike Gintama which knew how to properly balance both, Level E comes off more strong in its approach to both creating a stronger tonal whiplash from one to the other. In Level E, where I'd be looking forward to a predominately funny chapter, I'd get met a chapter with body horror, long paragraphs about alien life-forms, with an ending that leaves me scratching my head wanting more, not because it was particularly engaging but because it didn't feel fully fleshed out.

All in all though, when this series is funny, it's one of the funniest manga ever. When it's good, it is DAMN good and for that reason I love it. Wish it had more chapters, but I'm glad to have picked up this series as I have thoroughly loved my time with it!

Urusei Yatsura meets Alien. Instead of demons, UMA, or cryptids as the west knows them, are alien creatures that secretly inhabit earth with their own political goals and culture. While that may be an interesting story, Togashi writes it as a casual gag manga that switches around quite often. There are moments of seriousness, with insane plots akin to the Chimera ant arc, but Togashi doesn't seem all that interested in exploring them with complexity. By volume two, the story switches entirely to something akin to Hunter x Hunter's Greed Island, mixed with a little Dragonquest Dai no Daibouken. This is not a surprise atall, as not only was Togashi balls deep in his Dragonquest obsession, nor is it a drawback as this is one of the earliest manga to grapple with video games in general. While Dai no Daibouken is a literal video game manga, similar to Pokemon Adventures, Level E takes a .hack, and dare I say, Sword Art Online approach to video games. The main characters are transported into a world almost identical to what happens in HxH, except the mains end up a Super Sentai hero team that must defeat the Dark Lord, with art akin to Chimera Ant aesthetics. This leads nowhere, however, as a gag ends this "arc" of the manga.

Normally these things are not negatives, however, when thrown together this way, and when written in a disjointed, jumbled a-typical format , it makes it hard to really put together a contained narrative. As a result the manga reads more like Dr.Slump or Urusei than it does a shonen like Yuyu Hakusho, or HxH, but not a particularly good gag manga either. The additional gag comedy breaks from Togashi's normal serious tones, which isn't a bad thing but doesn't tend to be one of his strong suits, as Togashi's hallmarks have always been psychological expositions of character through combat. The lack of either of those in this manga ends up weakening the overall story, and prevents you from enjoying the main characters. As well as the convoluted shifts of story, which potentially can be forgiven as an editing decision, don't help with that tonal consistency.

Another drawback for this is that Togashi was clearly still drained from YYH. As a result, those gag stylings which serve to lift up Togashi and motivate him to write the story feel like more of a side show than a well woven story. Overall this tends to give the story a mediocre feel, without a clear narrative there is little to draw a reader into this manga.

Individually the parts of this manga have greatness, but together it's sort of a mismatched effort. As usual, Togashi is a complete pioneer, as video game worlds were a topic many major series would deal with over the next two decades, as well as one of the earliest depictions of a more serious trans character, and homosexual themes. It's not just some "trans character" either, but an entire exploration into the sexual reproduction, soul, and "true gender" of the trans character, woven into the plot in seemless Togashi style. Again, this is not just some "genderless" or confused character, or some "brief homosexual portrayal" like a Hisoka, it is a literal discussion and scientific analysis of the XX-XY chromosome genetics in humans. It's deeper than serious political discussions of the topic tend to be, and it's moments of brilliance and pioneering that really, in my eyes, put Togashi among the pantheon of legendary mangaka. Even when writing a "mediocre" work, completely burnt out from a shonen series, Togashi still manages to have flashes of brilliance that shine brighter than anyone in the industry.