I remember reading this on Bato.to, but I dropped it around 3 years ago for some reason. And since it's finished and I completely forgot where I was in the story I'm gonna have to read it all over again.
The ending was satisfactory, and I tend to like when endings leave the cause of the plot ambiguous, as it leaves the cause to the imagination. People who didn’t like the ending would probably still be dissatisfied if it ended with the ZQN outbreak being explained, so I don’t know why they’re whining.
Hideo is one of my top favorite manga characters of all time, and this manga is one of my favorites as well, right next to Gantz and JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure and Dragon Ball. It was an exhilarating ride, even if in the end,
Hideo ended up looking like Steven Spielberg
. Thank you, Hanazawa-San. And thank you, Todome. By the way, the beginning is a little boring, but I promise it’s worth it in the end.
This manga was garbage to me in the long run. The main selling point is the art but it and the plot get tiresome and repetitive. Not enough happens in it that really entertains. It starts off exciting but the characters aren't compelling, there's no mystery to be super interested in, there's no really witty dialog or humor and it's in general not very suspenseful. It really lacks impact and if something is 264 chapters long you need potent material unless you're just content to kill time with something that goes on forever. I think I read over a hundred chapters and kind of gave up on it multiple times. Then I see people saying the ending is bad and leaves a lot unresolved and I bet that both statements are highly likely to be true. On top of that I try jumping to one of the last chapters and the art looks worse than how it started out and everything comes as very bland and lifeless. The combat and dialog is tiresome yet the manga is like 10 chapters away from its end. Perfect example of why not to read because you'll just be disappointed in the long run.
Without reading the side stories I can say:
This Manga is more... interesting than it is good or bad.
It is made clear that the whole time the ZQNs were meant to make us think of the stereotypical "zombie", but the story takes it to a slightly different stage somewhere between alien invasion and universal indifference.
I can't help thinking that the story needed more to be truly great.
After reading the side story:
Ahhh, now I remember why I liked this manga so much.
I shouldn't have taken such a long break after Oda.
It feels like I got lost somewhere along the way, but it's a good manga overall and it feels like it stayed true to the author's intent. the beginning, at the very least, deserves a read. Like any manga: if it gets tiring at any point, drop it. Now that I've had time to mull it over, I really enjoyed the manga, and will probably reread it in the future to get a better on the subtext (which seems like what was really meant to be conveyed).