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Title: Beet The Vandel Buster
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents don't have to worry about whether or not this is a series that is suitable for their children, as "Beet The Vandel Buster " is a very safe series to read. However, this series does have a possibility that it will bore kids. Fans of "Shounen Jump" will be SORELY disappointed, as this series is so sloppy and poor, that it actually gives “SJ” a bad name! “SJ” fans are urged to pass this book up. |
Seeing as how this book just completely bored me to tears, I'm going to start this review explaining the story of "Beet The Vandel Buster," and if the story sounds familiar, I want someone in the audience to raise their hand. The story of "Beet The Vandel Buster" revolves around a ten-year-old boy named Beet (obviously). Beet is a lazy, playful boy with a dream: to become the best Vandel Buster in the world. His inspiration for this goal comes from a man by the name of Zenon and his group of Vandel Busters, who protect the village. What are Vandel Busters? Vandel Busters are basically monster slayers who protect their village (personally, I think that Vandel Slayers would be a better title, but this IS an A rated series). Not a complicated or original job... but on the other hand, neither is this series. Seeing as how Beet is incredibly lazy, the readers and characters in the story don't take Beet’s goal seriously, yet several of the Vandel Busters see hidden potential in Beet and... oh, it looks like almost all of you are raising your hands. Good, then I'll stop.
Seeing as how the story of "Beet The Vandel Buster" isn't very original, the series has to rely on the strength of its characters and personality to shine and make this series worth reading. So how do the characters hold up? Not very well. Beet is the typical shounen hero who is lazy, has spiked hair, and makes a very unlikely hero overall. Yet when Beet’s friends or family are in danger, he unleashes great power from deep within and easily defeats his enemies. Boring. Beet has a girl for a best friend named Poala, and if the fact that Poala is a girl doesn't give away the inevitable upcoming romance, then Beet’s "when I'm strong enough, we can get married" comment will. Of course, maybe the fact that these two fight like they were brother and sister may also be a hint; either way you look at it, the upcoming romance is obvious from the very first panel we see Poala.
As far as monster slaying comes, the only unique thing about the Busters is that they level up (and when they level up, they get an I burned on their chest, just so that they won't forget). I admit that I didn't expect the characters to level up in this series; however, the leveling up doesn't seem to really add anything to the series overall, and this twist (if you can call it that) would have made more sense in an RPG starring Beet. In fact, it turns out that there really IS a “Beet” video game in Japan, and apparently it is a very fun game! Unfortunately, I'm not playing the game, I'm reading the comic, and the comic reads like someone writing a diary about his video game experience. You see Beet fight monsters, you see him use special attacks while shouting the names, you see him defeat them and level up, you see him travel the world with companions, you see him use healing potions... in fact, you get to watch him do everything done in an RPG, yet the major difference is you don't get to actually PLAY a game! There is so much monster fighting and leveling up in this series that the story just takes a backseat to the action, and sometimes the comic feels like an advertisement for the game. The artwork of this series even feels like a video game, with very little detail for any of the characters or the backgrounds, as if the author knew that the characters’ designs would be more like blueprints for the 32-bit PlayStation RPG.
I wish I could make this review longer, but I can't. The thing about “Beet” is that there is really nothing for me to say about it. It's clich, it's boring, and it's a stereotypical shounen series of the worst kind. Reading the description of the series alone will make you realize how desperate the series is for a reason to exist, and the RPG elements just feel too tacky and too commercial. Seeing as how this is a "Shonen Jump" title, I have to point out that the high point of this release is the cheap $7.99 price tag, which is a good price, but that $8 is better spent on something else. If you are buying this for real little kids who've never really read a manga before, then this may be a good way to introduce them to the world of manga as the story is simple, the characters are simple, and the action is nonstop, and kids will love that. However, Beet really is a boring character, the action is tame, and the series really is just terrible overall. Kids will like it, everyone else can take a pass. One of these days I'll figure out how such turds for manga end up getting licensed and released here in America, but until I find the answer to that question, my advice is to not buy series like “Beet”, and instead buy series like "Bleach." However, if there is a game publisher reading this, I DO want to take a moment to say that I AM interested in playing the game! Just in case anyone wants to release it here.
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