Manga Psyren [A Must Read for Shounen Fans]

[Magus]

[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred][center][img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/Psyren_Volume_1.jpg[/img][/center]

[i]One day while heading home, Ageha Yoshina finds a public pay phone ringing by itself. He picks it up, receiving no answer except a calling card with the word "Psyren" printed on it. After Sakurako Amamiya, a girl in Yoshina's class, disappears after mentioning "Psyren", Ageha uses the calling card in hopes of finding her. After answering a long and detailed quiz on a pay phone, he is asked if he wants to go to Psyren. The next day, he answers a ringing phone and is immediately drawn into the world of Psyren. A world which is inhabited by monsters called Tavoo. A world where players must fight to survive using the psychic powers known as PSI.

[spoiler]During their many trips between his world and Psyren, Ageha and his friends learn that Psyren is actually the world a decade into the future. They learn the cause of the world's destruction is a group known as W.I.S.E and a meteor known as Uroboros.[/i][/spoiler] ~Wikipedia~

[b]Edit: That last little bit is pretty spoiler-ish. (I just found out about some things that I didn't know/see lol)[/b]

Alrighty, it's about time we got a new series discussion going on here. Can't have Bleach, One Piece and Naruto being the only things that's talked about all the time.

I'll admit right off the bat it's not as, umm.., what's the word.. hooking (if you will) as the big 3, but I do find it a lot more intriguing than the 3 that's for sure. (Perhaps it's because I'm reading something new) Like the big 3, and almost every other shonen out there, it starts off fairly slow, but at the same time the slow moments are really interesting because of everyone trying to figure out their powers in the situations they've been thrown in. I'd say everything really begins to jump off around chapter 45-46.

If I had to compare this to something, I'd say it's a mixture between Bleach, Yu Yu Hakusho and Persona 3 and/or 4. (Yea, that's quite the combination there) It has Bleach's dramatic moments with Yu Yu Hakusho's character interaction. Just about every character gel together almost like the characters in Yu Yu Hakusho. The thing I like about the characterization in this series, from what I've read, is that there hasn't been an annoying character yet, and at the same time there is no damsels. And even better, almost every fight is similar to one of Kurama's fights... (A friggin thought process. I love that) It has Persona's whole [spoiler]traveling from one dimension to another dimension feel, although, in this it's traveling from present to future.[/spoiler]

I would take the time to describe each character but that would take too long, and it'd be giving a lot away, but think of them like this. There is a Kurama, a Yusuke/Ichigo, a smarter Kuwabara, a better Rukia, a Byakuya/Ulquiorra, a Grimmjow... You get the idea right?

And at this very moment I just finished reading chapter 66. I just found my hooking point. This is shaping up to be a favorite.

Anyway, give it a read some time. I'd really like to see others opinion about the sleeping heap of potential here.[/color][/font]

[rotlung]

sounds interesting might have to check it out

[Magus]

[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]Yeah, I think if you're into shonen then it's worth a shot.[/font][/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Weird, just noticed the series last night and was going to ask if anyone else was reading it to find out if it was worth getting into.[/SIZE]

[Magus]

[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]It's funny you mention that, Gavin, seeing how I just started this series Saturday and I'm almost caught up (Took me 3 days to catch up, just about).

I was told about this series some time last year, and brushed it off because I was becoming tired of shonen at the time.

Edit:

I've officially caught up with this series, and I have to say that this has grown to be one of my favorite series now. For those that seek death on both sides of the battlefield, you shall not be disappointed. [spoiler]Although, there are quite a few revival moments so you might feel a little cheated, however, with all the traveling back and forth between present and future, and alternating events[/spoiler] it plays itself out, and it makes for some interesting twists. (It may feel a bit repetitive to some as well)

It's not perfect by any means (but what series is?) but I'm on the verge of ranking this higher than the big 3 because of the characters alone (but that's just me). As I've stated there's not a single character in this series that I dislike. Main character all the way down to its villains.

I hope this series gets animated and it's handled nicely. These fights are really good, and I'd hate to be misled like I was by Bleach when that first started out, and it took me about 130+ episodes to actually be entertained by the fights.[/font][/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Just up to chapter 30 and I'm actually quite enjoying the series. Certainly in my Top 4, maybe even Top 3 if Naruto doesn't start to pick up in the next few weeks.

[B]Edit:[/B] Just finished Chapter 116 and as usual there's that great sense of disappointment to no longer be able to peruse the series at will and see where the story goes. Psyren's definitely worked it's way into my Top 3 now, having pushed Naruto to 4th, about equal with Bleach (much, much better pacing that Bleach) and under Berserk.
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[Magus]

[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]Yea, Psyren has some great pacing, which I failed to touch on for some odd reason...

As far as rankings go as of right now, It'd probably look something like 1)Rurouni Kenshin, 2) Psyren, 3) Samurai Deeper Kyo, 4) Death Note, 5) Change 123 or Basilisk. I imagine that once I get back into Hunter x Hunter and possibly get back into Tenjho Tenge, the big 3 will be out the top 5 completely.

Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how I'd rank the characters in terms of favorites for Psyren.

....Dang, I've never had this much of a hard time trying to compile a list of favorite characters for a series.[/font][/color]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Magus'][FONT=franklin gothic medium][COLOR=darkred]Anyway, I'm trying to figure out how I'd rank the characters in terms of favorites for Psyren.

....Dang, I've never had this much of a hard time trying to compile a list of favorite characters for a series.[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]

[SIZE=1]For me anyway the hardest part is there aren't any characters I specifically dislike, everyone has at least one cool quality to them. Grana is perhaps my favourite character because of his lazy badassness.[/SIZE]

[Magus]

[quote name='Gavin'][SIZE=1]For me anyway the hardest part is there aren't any characters I specifically dislike, everyone has at least one cool quality to them. Grana is perhaps my favourite character because of his lazy badassness.[/SIZE][/QUOTE]

[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]That's the exact same problem I'm having. I don't dislike any character. Each character brings something unique to the table and have some type of "coolness" to them. Shao seems like he's what Neji was suppose to be. Marie is like Hinata, but way better (she's not useless). Kyle just has awesome written all over him. [spoiler]Especially in the future[/spoiler]. Ageha (Yusuke) is Ichigo done right in a sense. Yea, it's really hard for me to say who exactly is my top favorite since I like everyone almost equally. But one things for certain. [spoiler]I think I'd actually cry if Matsuri actually ends up kicking the bucket :(.[/spoiler] She has Yoruichii written all over her, but she has more of an effect on me than Yoruichii.

It's like the creator of this series took personalities from other shonen series and just improved them 100 fold.[/font][/color]

[Gavin]

[quote name='Magus'][FONT=franklin gothic medium][COLOR=darkred]It's like the creator of this series took personalities from other shonen series and just improved them 100 fold.[/COLOR][/FONT][/quote]

[SIZE=1]Certainly the lack of obvious obnoxious personalities helps (Dholaki reminded me of TTGL's Viral), even [spoiler]Oboro pulling an Aizen and looking to move beyond his previous limitations is done without all the "Just as planned" stuff[/spoiler] which makes it much easier read.[/SIZE]

[Magus]

[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]The lack of obnoxious personalities is definately a blessing. Kyle sort of seems to be taking on taking on that role... [spoiler]At least in the present[/spoiler] and even then he's done better than others.

Speaking of Kyle, I just read chapter 117. Even [spoiler]Kabuto[/spoiler], a wimpy, but yet funny guy turned out to be quite the character. I'm looking forward to seeing how much he's improved.

Kyle is shaping up to be the top favorite out of this hard-to-choose-from cast of characters. [spoiler]While in the present he has the bratty-ness to him, but at the same time he still has some charm/adorable-ness (I don't use the word "adorable") to him. His future self, I see a lot of Spike (Cowboy Bebop) in him. Either Spike or Dante (Devil May Cry) perhaps.[/spoiler]

I keep using Yu Yu Hakusho as a reference, mainly because it was the only other series where I've had any real attachment to its characters. Yu Yu Hakusho was the first series to get me into characterization. At the same time, it had characters I can relate to, and that holds true to this series as well. Well, not so much as seeing myself in a specific character, but the attachment is there.

The only thing that's keeping this series from being #1 is the fact that it's not finished, and even then, if Psyren continues to go in the direction it's going I don't think the completion will matter at all.[/font][/color]

[Gavin]

[SIZE=1]Kyle funnily enough reminds me a lot of Goku, that off-beat, loves fighting yet laid back personality with a good heart. His current fight against [spoiler]the guy from Scourge[/spoiler] has a real DBZ feel to it for me which I can't say is a bad thing in the way it's done. His level-headedness is one advantage he has over the Saiyan anyway.
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[Magus]

[size=1][font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]Hmm.. In a sense I can see Goku in Kyle, but at the same time Kyle's arrogance and level-headedness is keeping me from seeing Goku in him too. If anything, I'd say he's closer to Jin (Yu Yu Hakusho). But his fight with [spoiler]Ulquiorra's double[/spoiler] is a bit DBZ-like.[/font][/color]


Edit:


[font=franklin gothic medium][color=darkred]Finally figured out who Kyle's [spoiler]present self[/spoiler] reminds me of. A more tolerable/awesome Gotenks. (I can't stand Gotenks) It didn't strike me until I saw the back of Kyle's head and the way he was standing while fighting that shadow thing.


But like I once said, even a character like Kabuto is such a great character. Being compared to Grana... That's quite something... Now I just gotta get a handle on what that thing does for him.[/font][/color][/size]

Edit: Wow... Um, Psyren has just crossed into One Piece's / Bleach's epic "entrance" moments... I don't know why or how I didn't [spoiler]expect Ageha's father to appear. Army-fatigued out lol. Never thought I'd see one go from scientist uniform to army uniform[/spoiler]. It's sort of equivalent to [spoiler]Shanks appearance during the war[/spoiler]. I did figure out my favorite character though. Junas. The guy is definately similar to Byakuya (almost identical). Abilities and all. Only difference is Junas don't have flower petals as blades. His blades just break apart. I know I said Kyle was turning out to be my favorite, but I just can't pass up the people that have that dominating mentality.

Edit 2: Re-read the chapter again and I have to say that I am shocked at the difference in the level of the W.I.S.E. Seriously, the leap between 3 and 5 is already crazy, but from 2 to 3 is truly insane. Shao was certainly the clear-cut victor between him and Shiner, but he is nothing against Junas. Kubo, take notes from the creator of this series. This is how you have characters live up (or succeed) to their status. Edited June 5, 2010 by Magus

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Holy moly.

Lord knows what the jump between Junas and Grana is going to be if the 2nd Star Commander is strong enough to total both Shao and Ageha without any visible effort on his part, but yes certainly Iwashiro has a far better grasp of how to make characters live up to their introductions. Given his performance against Kagetora back in the present and now, those Illuminas cores have really augmented his power something ridiculous.

[spoiler]Ageha's dad[/spoiler] showing up was a bit of a shocker too, first Isshin and how this, seems badass dads coming to the rescue is the order of the day now.[/size][/font]

[Magus]

[quote name='Gavin' date='05 June 2010 - 11:28 AM' timestamp='1275751692' post='694661']
[font="Tahoma"][size="2"][spoiler]Ageha's dad[/spoiler] showing up was a bit of a shocker too, first Isshin and how this, seems badass dads coming to the rescue is the order of the day now.[/size][/font]
[/quote]
True in a sense. I've only seen awesome dads popping up in this, Bleach and Fullmetal Alchemist. I guess you can include Naruto, but he's already dead and gone... And I'd call that moment more of a touching moment more than an epic entrance, but that's probably just me.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I supposed depending on what Kushina does this week I may have to change it to "badass parents".[/size][/font]

[Lawliet]

So I don't like that Oboro and Hiryu haven't been seen for a while. I'm curious how Hiryu and friend's raid on the tower went and I'm super curious about Oboro. When he and Hiryu were fighting the guy that Oboro healed the core of to "save the people" he was made of and Hiryu suspected he was just curious about his power... I started to like him a lot more than ( even though I feel like he is made to be the popular character, you can't help what you like I guess). I hope that he is still the same person after he is reintroduced from his hiatus but I'm feeling like he went and willingly became a tavoo and that would make him a lot less appealing. If anything his new power and the weird way he looked makes me think that he is going to be different in a big way. Edited June 9, 2010 by Lawliet

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I'm rather curious to see what Oboro and Hiryuu have been up to lately myself, the former more so than the latter because he seems to be going all Aizen on us and Lord knows I'd like to see that character type without it becoming Boring Invincible Villain as the *****-Curl has. I think after Elmore we have a good chance of seeing the plot shift again for a while.[/size][/font]

[Magus]

And yet again, Psyren does not disappoint. [spoiler]The minute people seemed to wonder about folks they pop up... lol[/spoiler] (That's more of a coincidence though)

[spoiler]Nova.... Um.. Wow, if Ageha's dad is not dying, I see either a training arc or someone's going to achieve that power up some time soon...[/spoiler] But man... Made Junas look like a joke, but I'm impressed that he's up like nothing happened.

I must admit that I am feeling a little underwhelmed though. It's not Psyren's fault, it's shonen in general. I like how Psyren takes elements from different series and makes them better, but in the end it is still the same thing all over again. (The tournament style fighters that is) Truthfully, I've been feeling like this ever since I started (and finished) reading Fullmetal Alchemist. I think I'm going to take a much needed break from reading shonen for a while and look for the shorter series that don't have teens/kiddies as the main lead. Perhaps Trigun and Hellsing. Heck might even go back to Black Lagoon. I just hope none of these are too fanservice-y for me... (Seinen type stuff)

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Personally I think [spoiler]Nova[/spoiler] is part of what Grana was talking about when he called Matsuri an Almighty-type, in other words a fighter who is able to use each type of Psi to its maximum capability. [/size][/font]

[Magus]

Got quite an interesting development. [spoiler]Guy in helmet healed Ageha....[/spoiler] But I'm stomped as to who it could be. I'm doubting it's Oboro considering the little time he'd have to get acquainted with everyone in the W.I.S.E., but then again.... Who knows how these creators thinks these days. But when I think about all the characters that's been introduced so far, he's the only one I see it being at the moment. Unless I'm looking over someone very important, but had a very small role at the beginning of the series...?

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]I'm somewhat curious about Odo myself and based on "his" mannerisms and speech, I have to admit does remind me quite a bit of Oboro. [/size][/font]

[Lawliet]

I forget what happened to Matsuri in this future, but I think I want it to be her. She's to cool to die/ not be in the story and I don't want it to be Oboro. Also Matsjri is the only other person I can think of who can heal... or at least I thought she could.

[Gavin]

[font="Tahoma"][size="2"]Suppose it could also be Kagetora, after all if he's survived up to this point in the future he may have become frighteningly powerful seeing as there's nobody hiding the truth about Psyren and PSI from him any more. It would also be terribly ironic that he ended up serving Junas.

On second thought that pose and his attitude are about as deeply un-Kagetora as humanly possible...It does still make me want to see what happened to him and Matsuri though.[/size][/font]

[Magus]

You know, I completely forgot about the event that occurred during the present. [spoiler]Ageha saving Matsuri and getting rid of those spots that were tatted on her.[/spoiler] That could very well be Kagetora or Matsuri, but the guy's too big to be Matsuri (and the bust size is not there "coughs"), and as Gavin pointed out, that pose, speech pattern and attitude is un-Kagetora-like. But I agree, Matsuri is too cool of a character to die. Edited June 21, 2010 by Magus