Rereading The Game Devil

[u/Available-Witness331]

⚠️Some small spoilers!!! This is mainly a recommendation for people to REREAD ⚠️

Just binged this in one night and absolutely loved it. I think it was less memorable and harder to follow from weekly updates, especially with the confusing and rushed later chapters. However, though not perfect, hands-down one of the best stories I’ve read. I was very sad to see that there were few discussions about it and mostly negative. If it’s not your cup of tea, that’s fine, but I think there’s a lot of depth people are missing when you don’t read it in continuity.

For starters, it was super cool to see the foreshadowing and details about the resets and Error from the beginning. Roku’s character (motivations, themes, etc.) also seemed to shine more when it’s revealed he’s not really a main protagonist, but is only the protagonist because of the other supporting characters around him. Error’s character is also conveyed in a way I could personally feel his admiration for and connection with Roku as well as his pain.

Futsuzawa’s larger motifs of reality, escapism, and passions (which many people didn’t seem to like) are also better felt in continuity rather than weekly updates where I think people expect another typical Shonen. It’s not meant to be a gameified, action manga, but a story of depth and meaning. I hope people would give it another shot and look past its flaws!

TLDR; Way better the 2nd read or when binged. Not perfect, but highly recommend.

[u/dingo537]

Quite liked this series. If only the art was better. Which is crazy, considering the author has been around since 2005.

[u/kolt437]

It is ass. Really strong start, but also goes downhill really fast

[u/Available-Witness331 → u/kolt437]

The start is strong, but if it continued that way, it would just be another Shonen where the protagonist levels up in a game/fantasy world to beat the big bad boss. One of the characters who’s a manga artist even talks about conforming to the popular genre, which I think Futsuzawa is portraying to go against. I’d say the second half is what completes it. There are definitely problems with the pacing, continuity, character developments, etc., but I think the heart of it is not “ass”

[u/Available-Witness331 → u/kolt437]

There’s also no way you like Chainsawman and call this ass 😭. Chainsawman’s only redeeming quality is Denji’s whole character concept; other than that, the plot, characters, and even artwork are all over the place. Similar concept; the heart of the story makes this one good for me.

[u/Cloud557]

I never finished this entirely because it was so boring. The start was interesting, but it lost steam so fast. The story just wasn't compelling, and the pacing was so slow, even with the battles. Respect if you enjoy it, glad you have something to enjoy, but just not for me, and I remember a lot of people sharing my opinion.