Psyren Review: What it Holds in Store for Us?

Talking about manga in general, you’ve probably noticed the following tendency: now many comics are getting longer, going on for several years and have a silly ending. By contrast, Psyren is a finished piece and the author doesn’t ruin the ending. That’s already one of the pros.

Table of Contents

A short description of Psyren

As for the contents of Psyren, I wouldn’t call it something offbeat. We have the same old OJS who is meant to save the world. However, the author’s representation and conception really impress.

The illustration from Psyren

In Psyren, there is no needless trash used to drag out the plot, for example, long boring workouts or heroes’ “I’m getting stronger!” bawls. Everything is quite fast and to the point, and at the same time the author manages to represent a full-scale easy-to-understand story without any rashness.

I would recommend Psyren as a good start for those who want to immerse in the world of shonen but don’t feel like coping with such “titans” as Dragon Ball, One Piece, Naruto, or Bleach.

The plot in brief

Ageha Yoshina, a high school student, finds a calling card with the word “Psyren” written on it. Later, he notices the same calling card inside the wallet belonged to his classmate, Sakurako Amamiya. Ageha questions the girl about the card but Amamiya runs out and disappears.

Ageha uses the calling card and gets into the world of Psyren, to the future where Japan has been completely destroyed. He meets Amamiya there and finds out that he and some other people were chosen to change the future. They are trained to fight an organization known as the W.I.S.E that is going to turn the whole world into a wasteland.

The pluses of Psyren

As usual, I’d like to start with the positive moments. I’ve found six pluses. Have a look!

1. Artwork

The artwork is undoubtedly up to the mark. The author pays attention to every small detail. The depiction of the landscapes and backgrounds is at high level. Moreover, the action scenes are vivid and dynamic so that you see exactly what the author wanted to show.

Illustrations from Psyren

2. Story

Although the storyline is of no originality, it is well-wrought. To be honest, I’m always in a doubt about time-travel concepts because it’s hard to piece everything together and not to make any mistakes.

What do we have in Psyren? Surprisingly, the author thought everything through down to the butterfly effect, making the story true and logical. The characters have connection with each other in the present as well as in the future and their actions are interrelated in both realities. Besides, the ending is quite original. I wouldn’t call it banal at all. Actually, there are two endings but here I’ll stop and won’t make any spoilers. I suggest that you read it yourself and form your own opinion.

3. Characters

The author developed the characters from top to bottom: their motives and personalities as well as their actions. The characters don’t behave like slow-witted ones as it occurs in other similar works. Quite the contrary, their moves seem to be right and reasonable. For example, if the protagonist has the advantage of quantity, he will certainly use it.

Additionally, I like it that the personages resort to cunning and come up with wise solutions. It’s quite rare for this kind of manga, and usually so called “ruse” looks childish and naïve in other titles.

By the way, the relationships between the characters fit in quite well. You won’t feel bored. Maybe, the relationships don’t seem to be tiresome because the series is not very long.

All in all, we have colorful characters that will remain in your memory.

Ageha using Nova

4. Narrative organization

There is lots of action in the story so it will leave no one bored. Forget about the scenes that drag because here everything is developing swiftly. Moreover, each chapter is informative enough which is a great plus in comparison with overlong ongoings.

5. Logic and balance

Talking about logic and balance, the author’s work really impresses. He follows all the laws and rules he created himself in the world of Psyren up to the end. No contradictions.

6. Fights

If you are less than thrilled about preludes and long talks between opponents, the fight scenes in Psyren will hit your fancy for sure. The battles are spectacular, massive, and dynamic. You can feel all gravity of the moment.

Fights in Psyren

The minuses of Psyren

What’s on the negative side? There are also six minuses.

1. Limitation

To tell the truth, I sometimes had a feeling as if I watched some kind of a sitcom. What I mean is that we can count on fingers all the locations where the plot develops even though the events affect the whole world. I think it would be more exciting if the author added various interesting locations the more so, as the scenes are set in a post-apocalyptic world.

Depiction of locations in Psyren

2. Few characters

There are so few characters in the manga that it looks like a sitcom even more. As a result, it feels like everything revolves around the internecine war of two opposing parties, which has nothing to do with the rest of the world. Again, if the author added a few so called “extras”, it would be much more epic.

3. Abilities and powers

As I mentioned earlier, Psyren is a shonen manga. It’s typical for shonen to contain a large number of various abilities and powers so that it becomes more interesting. In addition, an author should follow the logic when representing characters’ abilities and powers and also bring something new into their techniques.

As for abilities and powers in Psyren, the logic is excellent but originality is poor. We’ve already seen almost all of it in other titles. By the way, some of them are different variations of the same techniques.

Nevertheless, I should say that some abilities look really cool:

Grana using telekinesis

However, if you are a “beginner”, this minus won’t be a problem for you.

4. Looks like other titles

Personally, I got the impression that I had read a cut version of hybrid of Bleach and Gantz. No, I don’t mean that Psyren is a copy but a lot of moments look similar to the scenes from other titles. You’ve already seen them and you know exactly where.

5. Something is missing

There are some details wanting to complete the storyline. I know that it’s hard to remember all the plot threads but the series is not so long. The author could have developed some characters adding more details and fine points. In some cases, he shouldn’t have included them at all. Sometimes, it comes to my mind that the author just wanted to include a new personage (maybe, because of his cool appearance) but didn’t know what to do with him.

6. Poor humor

I would understand if there weren’t any humor at all. In that case, the piece would have been rather serious. Nevertheless, in Psyren, there is a little humor and it looks awkward.

Conclusion and Scores

So, I’ve given my opinion of Psyren and now I’m going to weigh up all the pluses and minuses.

	Сriteria	Scores
	Story	7/10. Interesting twists, well-wrought ending, not very surprising but still good. I enjoyed it.
	Artwork	7/10. Although the artwork reminds me of Bleach, it delights the eye.
	Atmosphere	7/10. The post-apocalyptic world is depicted quite well but could be better. As for the present world, it’s nothing special.
	Characters	5/10. The characters are well-produced, charismatic. However, there are so few of them considering the theme.
	Drama	7/10. On the whole it’s not bad but nothing special except the ending which “saves” the situation.
	Logic and balance	10/10. No contradictions.
	Action	8/10. Wants diversity, though the fight scenes are spectacular.
	Originality	3/10. There is nothing special about the plot and the way it develops as well as the characters’ abilities.
	Narrative organization	7/10. Nothing is dragged-out. You won’t get bored.
	Humor	3/10. There are few funny moments. In general, humor is very poor.