Once more, the art starts off pretty subpar, but eventually becomes stellar. The risks he takes are simply ridiculous, and the amount of excitement he gets from taking these aforementioned risks reminds you of what he really is- only to sweep you off your feet again when you realize what his plan was the whole time. The main character is completely insane- never has a degenerate gambler been this badass. The characters all have unique traits that make them who they are, especially the referees, making them very lovable and enjoyable personalities. I've often had to reread parts where theyĮxplain the mindgame in a gamble because they are always several layers deep. It's the kind of manga you need to really pay attention to while you're reading because it's easy to get confused at the crazy stuff that happens.
Though it starts off slow with a bad first arc and really subpar art, every subsequent arc is amazing and the art steadily evolves throughout the whole series to become fantastic towards the end.Įvery arc besides the first one is consistently amazing and offers tons of suspense and foreshadowing, along with insane mindgames and payoffs. Never has something kept me so hooked for so long. *Possibly my favorite manga I've ever readĪbsolutely incredible. I would not have been able to tolerate the suspense. *Thank the heavens I was able to read the series at my own pace instead of having to wait for weekly/monthly releases. The end is a spiral road of chaos and death that could only be navigated by a miracle.The plot is perfect, to the point that in the end of it all, no matter what happens, it's a win/win for the reader. *ART: The art is beautiful and it evolves to an outstanding degree throughout the length of the series. Baku-sama is a god among men and his story is one for the record books. There is a metric ton of adrenaline pumping action in this series and three metric tons of suspense. I've personally never been so attached to a fictional character's story. *CHARACTERS: The characters are each brimming with personality. And I'd recommend it to anyone interested in Seinen *What a gift it is to read this manga!! I am beyond grateful for having had the opportunity to read 'Usogui'. In the end, I can't stress how much I love this piece of work, and I hate the fact that my man Toshio isn't getting the recognition he deserves, since he's an incredible writer and artist.
It keeps on evolving from time to time, and each story arc features it's own, unique style, giving Usogui a sense of variety that's not usually seen in the media. Well, I must admit that the early art style is really awful, but it's just for the first 50 or so chapters. In Usogui, it is exactly the opposite).Īs for the artwork, it's just godlike.
Sometimes Baku is way too perfect for his own good, but that makes sense from a storytelling standpoint and is also the factor that makes him unique (making another parallel with Kaiji, the thing that makes it's titular protagonist stand out are his glaring flaws. This isn't a deep analysis of the human psyche, where gambling is used as a pretext in order to analyse the state of mind of people submitted to extreme circumstances. I do need to say, though, that this is nothing like other psychological series such as Kaiji. Baku and Kaji's extravagant personality contradictions make up for a great MC duo, and all presented antagonists have real purposes and ambitions. Almost every single character gets proper attention and development from Toshio. The characters are also really good and have a great sense of depth to them. With the exclusion of the first arc, I'd say that every arc is very well written, with the last ones being absolutely flawless. Unexpectedly good mix, and the way both of these elements are implemented in the narrative is just perfect. I'd say that anyone with an interest in the world of gambling or in the psychological genre should absolutely read it.Īlthough Usogui's premise may not seem very creative at first, the manga actually delivers a masterwork in storytelling and world building. It was serialized in the popular seinen magazine Young Jump (Tokyo Ghoul, Kingdom, etc) throughout the time span of eleven years, and is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Usogui is a criminally underrated piece of work in the West, sadly. *I'm not a native speaker, thus I apologize for any grammatical errors that might appear in this review*