Law of Ueki 4
February 13, 2007
I’ve been overstimulated lately, reading too many good series right in a row. I need to read something next that I’m not entirely sure I’ll like so that it doesn’t sound like I just love absolutely everything.
Actually, this volume, though part of one of my current favorite series, felt slightly choppier to me than previous volumes. This may be because I read two rather continuous stories before it (Nana and Eroica) and the jump to a more episodic series was jarring, but sometimes it felt like there was a lot of action crammed into the pages just to make sure there was enough content in each chapter. One chapter in particular, where one of the defeated contestants trains Ueki, felt really short and seemed like it should have been a few chapters long instead of beginning and ending all in the same chapter.
There were three battles in this volume, though I feel like I’m spoiling it if I say anything about the powers since that’s always my favorite part of reading it – the quirky powers all the characters have. There’s never any “power to get stronger than my opponent” or “power to outsmart my opponent” or anything at all that seems far superior to anyone else’s power. Turning trash into trees may be novel, but so is the power to spit water and turn it into fireballs, or the power to dig holes wherever you want.
The quirkiness of this series and its rather original flavor are still what draws me in, though this volume manages to be more serious than the others. Ueki does get a new talent though, which is very funny and lightens the mood after a rather serious battle.
Even though I thought this volume was choppy and slightly too serious, I still love it dearly. With a serious tone, it threatens to blend in with every other tournament-style manga out there, but with its weirdness and sense of humor, it manages to stand out quite a bit and stay as one of my favorites.
February 14, 2007 at 4:57 pm
[...] and the staff kicks in some Small Bodied Manga Reviews. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vol. 4 of The Law of Ueki. At Mangamaniaccafe, Julie is not too crazy about vol. 1 of Inubaka: Crazy for Dogs. [...]