| Average |
8.8 |
| Design |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Rave Master was everything I expected out of it, and a little more. If there was one key example of what a generic shounen is nowadays, Rave Master is the very definition of it. It is filled with deus ex mechanics, one speech wonders, goody two shoes, antagonists that are down right evil, etc. Despite it being a typical shounen and having a trainwreck of an ending, Rave Master is actually one of the more enjoyable reads out there. It breaks no new ground, but it doesn't falter in any areas either, and one of its more refined areas happens to be its characters, which is the most important part of any form of entertainment.
Haru, like other teenaged protagonists out there that for some reason, is tasked with saving the entire world, sets out with a variety of different colourful characters to collect the Rave stones. Their goal is to defeat the organization known as Demon Card whom is creating stones called Darkbring that grants those who hold it supernatural abilities. Along the way, Haru fights against tough opponents, faces obstacles that needs to be overcome, meets new friends, and is saved by luck at the most convenient times. Sounds like the ideal way to set up your own shounen manga.
It is complete with the typical character archtypes of any shounen cast. Elie, the mysterious girl that is beautiful and the soon to be wife of the main character; Let, the calm, patient, and steady hardass; Musica, the dive in head first bestfriend of the main character, and a lot lot more. Although a generic cast of characters, the most important part is execution and the development of the characters are as good as any other manga out there. The only problem though is that although Rave Master is a somewhat lengthy manga, a lot and a lot and a lot of new characters join the cast, and although all of them are great in their own respect, sometimes there isn't enough time to appreciate them all.
A lot of the fights are pretty average. None of them are cleverly set up like Law of Ueki, but they aren't bland like Inuyasha either. Just slab dap in the middle of things. A lot of interesting things are introduced though, such as how time is used, the use of magic, the darkbrings, etc. Though it never really felt like Hiro Mashima utilized the concepts of his fights to its truest potential and instead settled for half of it. Not to mention its overuse of resolve and the convenience of being lucky ruins some of the battles. For the most part though, the fights are not bad enough, but not really great enough to make it a distinguishing title from other shounens.
The story is a step up and some of the arcs are interesting enough. It started off really slow to the point that I was wondering if I should have dropped it, but it picked up pretty fast 30 or 40 chapters in. Rave Master starts introducing a lot of different story elements, and amazingly enough, towards the tail end of it all, it all comes together to create a satisfying cohesive story. There is one hole that did bug me about the story, but for the most part, the story is pretty good, and the arcs are paced pretty neatly. Some of the enemies though have weird and random goals, but they serve their roles really well.
Now, what makes Rave Master so different from other reads is its humour and character designs. Hiro Mashima's character designs are some of the most beautiful out there. The designs for the woman are just incredibly sexy and the various animals that travel around with the main group are just so adorable and cute. And fortunately it doesn't like to waste panel space unlike Bleach. In fact it shares a lot of similarities with One Piece in both humour and how active all the panels are. Often in a scene, something humourous in the background will be occuring that will make you laugh.
It really makes Rave Master such a complete and wholesome read, and the great part is that it has plenty of rereading value because of its awesome humour and just beautiful character designs. The ending isn't the most epic since it ends in the most epicly typical shounen way, but at the end of the last chapter, you can't help but smile as you complete another young man's struggle through his extraordinary life. Rave Master is good enough, but not great enough. Entertaining fights, great characters, beautiful art, what have you got to lose?
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