meth-e-meth · review
Spoiler warning
This review may discuss plot details.
This one intrigued me from the moment I saw the reissue in stores and struggled to tell what the hell the name was. I usually check reviews before buying something but I then found that nobody at all had bothered to even rate this anime here. All of that including the cutesy art style and premise got me curious enough to buy it and I definitely don't regret doing that. I, for the most part, enjoyed my time with meth-e-meth. The world it's set in is really cool, with what are essentially living robots that operate under written oaths. They are so well integrated intothe modern day setting that I really can believe that they have been around for hundreds of years. The lore is unique too. I never thought I'd learn so much about Jewish mythology from a manga. I mentioned liking the art style as, once again, it is very cute and also satisfying to look at. There is what I perceive to be some intentional and unintentional dissonance between the cutesy art and the gorey moments and the more detailed designs of the dolls respectively. This is a pretty small critique and is outweighed in my mind by the characters. I think they're all great, or at least the main characters are. I always love it when a friend group actually feels like a group of people that have been together for a while. I also found Fragilo's attempts at hiding her identity (which is never an easy job for her) to be very entertaining too. Supporting characters tend to be one-dimensional but it's not like they get much time for development. With that in mind, I do have to mention that this manga could have GREATLY benefitted from being longer. You can really feel it in the second half. The first several chapters go along at a good pace, giving an appropriate amount of space for developing the world, characters, and the situation they're in. After that though, the pacing suddenly picks up incredibly with what feels like a dozen plot twists every chapter. I wonder if there were plans for a longer series that were ditched after the first volume. The final chapters feel like the most convenient way to resolve as much plot points as possible in as little time as possible. Tsurubuchi pretty much just put all the important characters into one room and let them figure it out. I'm not satisfied with the ending either. But, as I said, I still enjoyed my time with this manga and I think other people who are intrigued by its obscurity should check it out. That reissue is actually at a pretty good price.