My Two Cents: Review of Bloody Monday
Synopsis
A virus deal clinched in Russia on the Christmas eve. Purpose: unknown. Two clues: a mysterious lady "Maya", one of the gangsters, and "Bloody Monday", the keyword for the project. Then an incident happened in far-distant city of Tokyo. Fujimaru Takagi, a second grade student at Mishiro Gakuin high school, is commissioned to find out the truth by Public Security Investigation Bureau for his great ability as a super hacker. Now, Maya, approaching to Fujimaru, as his high school teacher.
# of chapters available: 86, ongoing
Score: 2.9 out of 5
In a nut shell
Bloody Monday is a story that starts off in a flashback around Christmas time in Russia. You a privy to an outbreak of some sort of bioterrorism virus outbreak. If it just continued along this track, Bloody Monday would be pretty boring. But then you’re transferred to the present day, where you meet Fujimaru Takagi a 2nd year high school student who is part of the newspaper club and the rest of its staff. Takagi is pretty unassuming, until you find out he is the renowned computer hacker Falcon. From this point, there is no breather in the manga as Falcon becomes entangled in trying to prevent another outbreak of the virus you see in Russia; dubbed “Bloody Monday.”
Pacing
I have a serious issue with Bloody Monday. While I love high end dramas, I love high end dramas that slow down every now and then. It doesn’t have to have occasional comedy. Nor does it need filler or some stupid plot device of fluff. But, what it does need is a moment where someone isn’t about to die, in fear of possibly being killed, or some other life or death situation going on. While the series has hit somewhat of a lull period, even in it there is a sense of urgency. I can’t say it makes me want to stop reading. In fact, if anything it does drive me to want to read more. But, the endings of each chapter are getting less and less satisfying since they are one huge reveal after another. I wonder when they jumped the shark.
Characters
Bloody Monday is mainly centered around “Falcon”, Fujimaru Takagi. As a character, “Falcon” is someone that entices you easily but the more you get know him you develop two distinct feelings about him. You either think he is a genius or you think he a smug douche bag. The problem with the characters as a whole is you only get to know them, for the most part, as machinations to the plot. Which is fine and all, but I wouldn’t really call any character fleshed out or anything. And, if you haven’t noticed, character development is pretty big in my book. Now, that’s not to say Bloody Monday is a revolving door of characters. I just wish they spent a lil more time fleshing them out.
Final Thoughts
Ok. So, yeah, I made up a score. Yeah, I know I usually use whole or half numbers. So sue me. I don’t care. Bloody Monday doesn’t deserve a 3. I just don’t like big reveal after big reveal story mechanic. There is only so much I can take of it. If you’re a fan of Lost, you may like it. Not that is all that similar to Lost. I just feel a lot of fans get off on that story progression mechanic. If you like fast pace, never a chance to breathe, than read Bloody Monday.
Read Bloody Monday here @ One Manga