Tomoshibi no Otr - Ch. 34 - Otr of the Flame

[2662]

Might be the most sudden axe ive ever read. I didnt see it coming at all

 

[Gu7]

It was very generic but the art was great, rip

 

[fight2live]

see you later, Kawaguchi-sensei. i still adore the stories you tell and your artstyle. you'll get that 100-chapters-minimum serializations for sure

 

[kuma]

series has solid art and very unique settings and premise. it's just walking around circle really quick and didn't advance beyond premise except the very end. lot of author need to learn to keep reader engaged to their series.

 

[kyrex]

For the best and the worst, they are still the ones carrying the industry.

Most of their titles are solid good, where competitors are struggling to pull out a solidly good work out there.

They should pair the author with a veteran for the scenario.

That's kinda what I mean, though. Shueisha and Jump should be working with and helping their creators in every way possible. "Your story isn't really jumping out at readers. We can pair you up with another author to work things out or just give you some pointers." or even just advising on character design, story arcs, etc. If the series fails, that's because Jump failed. They saw enough potential in Kawaguchi to give him two chances so far, but then shrugged when it didn't immediately take off and do JJK or One Piece numbers, and then axed it a few months later.

If Jump doesn't know what readers want and doesn't know how how to support the talent that keeps coming to them, how the fuck do they expect to find the next One Piece or the next Demon Slayer by blindly gambling on random authors and then leaving them out to dry?

 

[detarameMangadex]

I'm going to disagree with people that Kawaguchi needs a writer; they clearly had a story to tell. What they need is an editor they can trust in to adjust pacing, cut down pages wasted on unnecessary developments, and maximize the ideas actually present.

Otr started out slow with a training arc that did literally nothing – introducing a magic system, heroic vigor, and Sixten, all of which never got expanded upon – then immediately had to rush at a breakneck pace and cheapen the impact of just about every subsequent plot point to cram as much content as possible for reader engagement.

Honestly, if Kawaguchi had gone the Jun Harukawa route of just telling a story even with axes looming, I think they at least would have stayed for 10 more chapters. Though, I suppose they are equally as likely to use that freedom to do a dragged out fight that results in nothing.

Really, that's my main complaint with Otr: everything that could have mattered would have been seriously cool. Except they didn't matter, their coolness was never emphasized, and we just skipped right on to the next thing for Otr to do sword attack #3 with more fire this time.

I really wanted to like this series, and for a few chapters I really did. Otr is at its best after an axe round finishes. The story of Otr that is in Kawaguchi's mind is much better than the story of Otr they put into manga form, as they scramble with the tightrope act of balancing reader engagement and natural development. Every once in a while, the intended story comes up and it's good or even great.

I wish Kawaguchi-sensei good luck with their next serialization.