March 20, 2024
Relevant gradings from other volumes
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
spaghettiman graded
Well, I'm all caught up on this series, so I guess it's time to do my overall thoughts on it as a whole. This turned out to be an incredibly fun and engaging series, and I'm still jonesing for more after reading it nonstop for over a month. I was worried that it might get repetitive or too mean spirited, but it gracefully transitions from "Tom and Jerry for weebs" to "Seinfeld with Demons" while still keeping a lot of that violent slapstick that makes it so unpredictable.
What makes the series great is the vibrant cast of characters. By this point there's quite a few (18 or so main characters), to the point where the number of characters is actually the joke and basis of the plotline in more than a few chapters, but despite the book literally admitting that having so many decreases other's screentime, I think the series actually does a pretty good job of giving everyone something to do. The author has a good grip on which characters can carry their own stories and which ones work better as a compliment to others, and that blend of quirky personalities popping up in different scenarios makes the world feel really alive and active.
The other key element is that there isn't really any pressing question or overarching narrative that you feel like you need an answer to, but there's still character and world development. I always hate getting strung along for years by TV shows only for the big reveal to either be lame or never come (or the show gets cancelled before a proper ending). It has that good sitcom vibe where you can throw on a random episode and have it work, but things still change overtime. Jashin-chan starts out as a nuisance, but we also get to see her positive traits. Pekora's almost always in a financial rut, but she gradually gets steadier (albeit still miserable) work that makes her situation a little more stable, and the other members of the spirit world who come in during the second half of the series add a lot to the lore, but also the comedy.
The humor is also really well balanced. In a western dark comedy like Family Guy or Rick and Morty I feel like they'd just go for the bleakest, meanest punchline every time, but Jashin-chan does a good job blending happy endings and heartwarming moments even with the extreme violence and Kafkaesque bad luck. Sometimes Jashin-chan gets a bloody comeuppance, but sometimes things turn out well for everyone and that variety keeps it from getting tired. That Jashin-chan herself is such a wildcard means that her simply appearing in a chapter can be a punchline in and of itself. Sometimes she comes to cause trouble, but sometimes she's there to bring you some food she made. My favorite chapter in the entire thing is where she's just dancing outside of Pekora's house for no reason and invites Pekora to join in, with no cruel twist (though there is a pretty good punchline delivered by one of the other characters).
It was really fun to immerse in this series for a month or so and I definitely felt my reading speed getting a bit faster. I think it was around volume 9 or 10 that I was able to start knocking out one or two volumes in a single day and the language is still pretty approachable aside from some really specific cultural references every now and then. I'd say I only really bombed out on maybe one or two chapters and even then a lot of the puns are still pretty easy to get. I do think it gets maybe a bit tougher in the latter third, I still have trouble sometimes with very terse, chaotic manga lines compared to the longer, more properly constructed sentences you get in prose books, but it will be interesting to dig back into say the Kirby novels and see if I start reading those any faster.