I liked the idea and the first 30-50 or so chapters, but it soon became repetitive and ultimately concluded quite poorly. I also believe this manga is mislabeled. It’s not a Seinen; it's a Shounen with blood and a slight nod to basic realities. The main character has a childish "no killing" rule, as if he's a blind Batman with the morality of a five-year-old and no logical justification for his philosophy. The manga does eventually have some minor character deaths, but they're hardly significant after 170 chapters of "You can't kill bad guys because killing is wrong."
Anyway, the concept of the manga isn't bad. Precog loli—because, hey, everyone loves a blonde loli, and it'd be weird if it were a shota. The abilities and technology are often poorly explained. Like, how can he see anything with those glasses when he's blind? The echolocation creating an image is somewhat believable, but those glasses producing an image a blind man can perceive is pushing it. There's no way those glasses could push an image he can see through his eyes. It'd have to be directly transmitted to his brain, which seems highly unlikely, especially since it's poorly, if at all, explained.
Setting aside that gripe and ignoring all the others, because we'd be here all day if I didn’t, the story frequently pushes that typical Shounen attitude: *The MC is super strong*, *Badass x3 Stronger than Protagonist Appears*, *MC gets his ass handed to him*, *Momentary power-up, beats the bad guy*, *Return to status quo*, etc., etc. Many characters appear, disappear, and reappear haphazardly and have little value. The finale, though "happy," was pathetic, as leaving alive this literal superman by human standards is completely illogical and more "no killing" nonsense trying to impart some idiotic moral lesson anyone with half a brain would immediately discard.
I think throughout the entire story, ZERO major characters died, and one named side character met their end. Though this could be incorrect as it's off memory. Then Mamoru, at the end of the story, when the main villain is defeated, leaves the FMC alone for seven years where she lives unhindered, which is complete bullshit for a laundry list of reasons. She's an extremely valuable asset and has been involved in multiple high-profile incidents that would make clear to any intelligence agency or country worth its salt her value. This was just a poor excuse to insert a timeskip.
To summarize the story: nice concept, poor execution, poor explanation of technology and abilities, myriads of plot conveniences, childish attitude, and constant Shounen clichés.
The art starts off not great but improves over time, but otherwise isn't particularly noteworthy. Art is rarely perfect, and this one is no exception, with plenty of "what the fuck is that?" moments, but it's otherwise passable.
The characters are piss-poor. The precog loli is exactly what you'd expect from a child: childish and messed up due to the effects of her ability on her life. Beyond that, she doesn't change significantly throughout the series, the same being true for Mamoru. He experiences little growth and, while interesting in his dedication to his craft, is otherwise completely boring and often contradictory in character, whether regarding his past, present attitude, or situational responses. The author also tries too hard to portray him as a badass, especially since in each new arc he often gets beaten to hell by some new big bad and consistently fails. Igawa undergoes zero change and is pretty dull, the only character in him being the contrast between his abilities and appearance. Side characters are extremely uninteresting and, as previously mentioned, appear, disappear, and reappear randomly. Most leave little impact on the story as a whole.
I couldn't enjoy the entirety of this series. It started poorly and slowly got worse over time, never regaining any footing it lost. Most of the time, I was either facepalming at how this is labeled a Seinen when it screams Shounen or wondering how the hell this technology works or why we get these random ability contradictions.
Overall, this series was pretty fucking bad. It might be tolerable for a child or someone with the morality of a child. It was pretty much blind Batman protecting a loli for the entirety of the series.
This is a manga that features exceptionally good action sequences that are incredibly cool most of the time. Mamoru, as a swordsman, is truly amazing, and watching him handle conventional weapons far beyond what can typically be managed with a blade is awe-inspiring. As this starts to become repetitive, a series of unique enemies are introduced, each wielding strange weapons that require special tactics to defeat, which keeps the story engaging. This effectively supports the core of the manga quite well.
The overall plot, however, was somewhat peculiar. It begins quite promisingly, with a well-paced narrative and a scale that fits the story nicely. However, at some point, the pacing becomes inconsistent. The story escalates dramatically in terms of organizations and characters involved, as well as in scale, to the extent that it feels like significant elements are being omitted. I suspect this might have been due to the other mangas connected to this one, so perhaps it was a deliberate decision that makes sense. While this approach works for comics, I feel it doesn't align as well with stories like this. Nonetheless, the plot remains fast-moving and intense for the most part, though there are moments where it seems to wander aimlessly, along with a few cheap moments, such as deaths that feel forced, especially towards the end, which felt somewhat rushed.
On that note, I must mention that while romance is apparently a crucial aspect of the manga according to its self-description, and it certainly seemed that way from the ending, it was not developed at all. By that, I mean absolutely not at all. There was nothing. Zero. Nada. It occasionally surfaced but never in a way that was actually developed, so even though I'm fine with it and think it's the right direction for the story, how it concluded felt weak.
Beyond that, Mamoru is a really cool character who was developed very well, particularly regarding his backstory. Haruka seemed to grow as a commander too quickly, but the growth was still solid, making it enjoyable to witness. Other than that, the characters were developed decently. I felt many had more depth to them, but it seemed like this wasn't fully explored here in favor of focusing on them in the other manga, which is somewhat disappointing. I did find it odd how Mamoru could become comrades with former villains so effortlessly. Collaborating towards a common goal makes sense, but he appeared to genuinely become their comrade and vice versa, with them no longer seeming as menacing as initially portrayed, which felt somewhat inconsistent.
The art and designs, aside from the superbly drawn action, were just average.
<p>tl;dr: A manga that consistently delivers strong action and battles, despite having a plot with scaling issues and main characters who, while individually well-developed, don't seem to develop together at all.</p>
Picked this one up at the start of the week, looks pretty good.
Story: (9)
"Until death do us part" revolves around a blind assassin who can only perceive the shapes of objects thanks to supersonic technology. He's an absolute badass with his walking cane and katana. Accompanied by a tech support guy and a small girl who can "predict the near future," they form an unconventional team. With the help of the tech and the girl, the blind assassin patrols the streets, saving people and handling odd jobs that the police can't manage.
To put it simply, it's about a blind GAR kicking serious butt with a sword. Unfortunately, such a storyline isn't very original.
Art: (8)
Given the high level of action in the manga, the artist did a decent job depicting the action scenes. The drawing style is quite serious, lacking humorous faces and clumsy situations (think Shounen series like Angel Heart or City Hunter). The main criticism is that the faces are drawn somewhat too simply (think Naruto).
Characters: (10)
Cold, insensitive GAR: 10
Damsel in distress: 10
Tech support with a lazy attitude and smart-ass comments: 10
These characters are essential to the plotline of "GAR protecting the streets in his own way." It might be a bit repetitive, but that's exactly what we love.
Enjoyment: (10)
Personally, I enjoy GAR mangas filled with fight scenes.
"Until Death Do Us Part" satisfies all my needs.
Overall: (9)
With such a classic storyline, cast, and pretty good battle scenes, I really wanted to give this a 10. However, its lack of facial detail and originality hit a weak spot.
Popular Reviews
I liked the idea and the first 30-50 or so chapters, but it soon became repetitive and ultimately concluded quite poorly. I also believe this manga is mislabeled. It’s not a Seinen; it's a Shounen with blood and a slight nod to basic realities. The main character has a childish "no killing" rule, as if he's a blind Batman with the morality of a five-year-old and no logical justification for his philosophy. The manga does eventually have some minor character deaths, but they're hardly significant after 170 chapters of "You can't kill bad guys because killing is wrong."
Anyway, the concept of the manga isn't bad. Precog loli—because, hey, everyone loves a blonde loli, and it'd be weird if it were a shota. The abilities and technology are often poorly explained. Like, how can he see anything with those glasses when he's blind? The echolocation creating an image is somewhat believable, but those glasses producing an image a blind man can perceive is pushing it. There's no way those glasses could push an image he can see through his eyes. It'd have to be directly transmitted to his brain, which seems highly unlikely, especially since it's poorly, if at all, explained.
Setting aside that gripe and ignoring all the others, because we'd be here all day if I didn’t, the story frequently pushes that typical Shounen attitude: *The MC is super strong*, *Badass x3 Stronger than Protagonist Appears*, *MC gets his ass handed to him*, *Momentary power-up, beats the bad guy*, *Return to status quo*, etc., etc. Many characters appear, disappear, and reappear haphazardly and have little value. The finale, though "happy," was pathetic, as leaving alive this literal superman by human standards is completely illogical and more "no killing" nonsense trying to impart some idiotic moral lesson anyone with half a brain would immediately discard.
I think throughout the entire story, ZERO major characters died, and one named side character met their end. Though this could be incorrect as it's off memory. Then Mamoru, at the end of the story, when the main villain is defeated, leaves the FMC alone for seven years where she lives unhindered, which is complete bullshit for a laundry list of reasons. She's an extremely valuable asset and has been involved in multiple high-profile incidents that would make clear to any intelligence agency or country worth its salt her value. This was just a poor excuse to insert a timeskip.
To summarize the story: nice concept, poor execution, poor explanation of technology and abilities, myriads of plot conveniences, childish attitude, and constant Shounen clichés.
The art starts off not great but improves over time, but otherwise isn't particularly noteworthy. Art is rarely perfect, and this one is no exception, with plenty of "what the fuck is that?" moments, but it's otherwise passable.
The characters are piss-poor. The precog loli is exactly what you'd expect from a child: childish and messed up due to the effects of her ability on her life. Beyond that, she doesn't change significantly throughout the series, the same being true for Mamoru. He experiences little growth and, while interesting in his dedication to his craft, is otherwise completely boring and often contradictory in character, whether regarding his past, present attitude, or situational responses. The author also tries too hard to portray him as a badass, especially since in each new arc he often gets beaten to hell by some new big bad and consistently fails. Igawa undergoes zero change and is pretty dull, the only character in him being the contrast between his abilities and appearance. Side characters are extremely uninteresting and, as previously mentioned, appear, disappear, and reappear randomly. Most leave little impact on the story as a whole.
I couldn't enjoy the entirety of this series. It started poorly and slowly got worse over time, never regaining any footing it lost. Most of the time, I was either facepalming at how this is labeled a Seinen when it screams Shounen or wondering how the hell this technology works or why we get these random ability contradictions.
Overall, this series was pretty fucking bad. It might be tolerable for a child or someone with the morality of a child. It was pretty much blind Batman protecting a loli for the entirety of the series.
The overall plot, however, was somewhat peculiar. It begins quite promisingly, with a well-paced narrative and a scale that fits the story nicely. However, at some point, the pacing becomes inconsistent. The story escalates dramatically in terms of organizations and characters involved, as well as in scale, to the extent that it feels like significant elements are being omitted. I suspect this might have been due to the other mangas connected to this one, so perhaps it was a deliberate decision that makes sense. While this approach works for comics, I feel it doesn't align as well with stories like this. Nonetheless, the plot remains fast-moving and intense for the most part, though there are moments where it seems to wander aimlessly, along with a few cheap moments, such as deaths that feel forced, especially towards the end, which felt somewhat rushed.
On that note, I must mention that while romance is apparently a crucial aspect of the manga according to its self-description, and it certainly seemed that way from the ending, it was not developed at all. By that, I mean absolutely not at all. There was nothing. Zero. Nada. It occasionally surfaced but never in a way that was actually developed, so even though I'm fine with it and think it's the right direction for the story, how it concluded felt weak.
Beyond that, Mamoru is a really cool character who was developed very well, particularly regarding his backstory. Haruka seemed to grow as a commander too quickly, but the growth was still solid, making it enjoyable to witness. Other than that, the characters were developed decently. I felt many had more depth to them, but it seemed like this wasn't fully explored here in favor of focusing on them in the other manga, which is somewhat disappointing. I did find it odd how Mamoru could become comrades with former villains so effortlessly. Collaborating towards a common goal makes sense, but he appeared to genuinely become their comrade and vice versa, with them no longer seeming as menacing as initially portrayed, which felt somewhat inconsistent.
The art and designs, aside from the superbly drawn action, were just average.
<p>tl;dr: A manga that consistently delivers strong action and battles, despite having a plot with scaling issues and main characters who, while individually well-developed, don't seem to develop together at all.</p>
Story: (9)
"Until death do us part" revolves around a blind assassin who can only perceive the shapes of objects thanks to supersonic technology. He's an absolute badass with his walking cane and katana. Accompanied by a tech support guy and a small girl who can "predict the near future," they form an unconventional team. With the help of the tech and the girl, the blind assassin patrols the streets, saving people and handling odd jobs that the police can't manage.
To put it simply, it's about a blind GAR kicking serious butt with a sword. Unfortunately, such a storyline isn't very original.
Art: (8)
Given the high level of action in the manga, the artist did a decent job depicting the action scenes. The drawing style is quite serious, lacking humorous faces and clumsy situations (think Shounen series like Angel Heart or City Hunter). The main criticism is that the faces are drawn somewhat too simply (think Naruto).
Characters: (10)
Cold, insensitive GAR: 10
Damsel in distress: 10
Tech support with a lazy attitude and smart-ass comments: 10
These characters are essential to the plotline of "GAR protecting the streets in his own way." It might be a bit repetitive, but that's exactly what we love.
Enjoyment: (10)
Personally, I enjoy GAR mangas filled with fight scenes.
"Until Death Do Us Part" satisfies all my needs.
Overall: (9)
With such a classic storyline, cast, and pretty good battle scenes, I really wanted to give this a 10. However, its lack of facial detail and originality hit a weak spot.
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