User blog comment:Mangetsu20/Is this Series Self Aware? (FTC - 448)/@comment-4072803-20150824030708

Okay...

Like a lot of people, I got into anime thanks to Dragon Ball Z (specifically Dragon Ball Z Kai). And while I love DBZ, and do so to this day, I didn't really consider myself an anime fan, didn't feel any need to judge any other series, felt like it was... I dunno, a vague interest that I indulged heavily in, but I just couldn't really call myself an anime fan in any real way yet. It was until I read a certain manga, and when I read that and finished it, did I cosnider myself a huge manga and anime fan, and when I began to do things like examine series and actively seek out series. So, while this manga was far from the one that started me off, it was one that I will always consider the beginning of my true love for manga and the standard by which I judge every other series that I've read, for better or worse (though I'm hugely biased towards better in this case, almost every time).

And that manga is the godlike Konjiki no Gash!! by Raiku Makoto-sensei.

I don't know why I love this series as much as I do, or, rather, I can't entirely put it into words, but it was something that really just clicked with me, that made me realize how glorious anime and manga could be when they truly wanted to. It remains to this day the only manga series to make me break down and start crying, ESPECIALLY during the final arc, because its the sort of manga that makes you care for ALL the characters, both good and bad, and its main cast is an incredibly likeable one that you want to see succeed. There wasn't a single powerup or change of the tides that felt like bullshit or undeserved to me, because it all flowed so well and they were only given once the characters had reached a level in development where they DESERVED that boost in power. It created a universe that I genuinely wanted to know more and more of, a constant cast of characters that were always interesting and entertaining, arc after arc that somehow managed to throw me off every time, twists that felt incredibly well done and led to development in their own way.

It dealt with themes that I really hadn't seen in shonen before (Earth's entire final fight is focused around the inevitabilty of death and the fear that it inspires in someone, as well as why that's a reason to live to your absolute fullest), ranging from the aforementioned to the likes of years of physical torment vs years of the emotional variety, and the misunderstandings and horrific accidents that can result from both of these things. It gave us a duo of main characters who actually grew and developed throughout the series and were vastly different people from when the series first began, to the point that they still kept developing EVEN IN THE FINAL CHAPTER ITSELF.

Its battles were epic, exciting, and made you genuinely worry about the characters because it had developed them in such a way that you honestly cared about them and wanted to see what happened to them, would be praying that it would work out alright and getting scared out of your mind when it looked like they were about to lose. It didn't necessarily have the huge, universe-spanning plots that other shonen manga can demonstrate, but it had an emotional core to it that I haven't seen replicated or done better in ANY other manga series to date, even with the likes of One Piece and other greats and modern classics.

I haven't even gone into all I could see about how I freaking adore this manga (not to mention my hatred for that piece of trash that Toei decided to label an 'anime adaptation'), but I've rambled long enough about the series that I reread every year and love more and more every single time. XD

And that's the series that's stuck with me since I first became a fan of anime and manga.

*Bows and exits stage left*