This manga was one of the first I ever read, almost a decade ago, and I reread it whenever it pops back up every once in a while. Its flaws are both significant and numerous, but I still can’t help but love it.
The premise is actually rock solid, and it performs the same tropes it parodies with a clumsy charm - using metahumor in a self-deprecating way rather than in a smug way. I’d love to see it rewritten / redrawn with a stronger framework, but at the same time the scuff is part of its identity.
Ultimately, I guess I’m just one of those comments saying “I liked it.” I don’t know if this series ever got recognition, or ever will; but perhaps that’s why it’s all the more meaningful to me that I recognized myself in it.
The fight continues.