The art changed between 3 & 8 times, & the story shifted from a school horror comedy where Raizel is the protagonist, to a Hunter x Hunter/One Punch Man story where Frankenstein is the actionary protagonist & Raizel is his reactionary sidekick, despite the latter being the boss. In the latest arc, Raizel has been absent for a chunk of the story, but everyone is so focused on Frankie's fight with Crombel that no one in the Line Webtoon & Mangago comment section seems to have noticed he hasn't even made a cameo in weeks.
One season has particularly bad art, since the artist was sick & having anxiety problems. Currently, the character designs are on par with 19 Days & One Punch Man, which is great. I guess I would sum it up to an arena fighting shounen series with a quasi-realistic shoujo art style. The art is targeted at everyone; busty large-hipped women & bishounen who can't serm to keep their shirts on for more than 2 seconds.
It's true that occasionaly there aren't a lot of backgrounds. This happened in one of the art shifts after the artist had a meltdown & took an extended hiatus. But often there are gorgeous cityscapes & postapocalyptic-looking scenery. The artist excels at closeups around the 2018 chapters, so you get Hollywod style camera angles. As top-notch as the art is right now, there are 2 thing sthat keep bugging me; the continuity of hair length & muscle mass. At any given time, Frankenstein's hair witll be back-length to just below the shoulders, Raizel's hair changes with every art shift, breasts are simetimes inconsistantly sized, & men who appear slender fully clothed bulk up in muscle when their shirts are destroyed. But man, is this guy incredible with eyes & facial expressions. It's a face style that can appeal to both manga & comic book readers alike.
Frankenstein is the most interesting character & everything revolves more around him than anyone else. He's sexy, he's scary, he's cleaning up mess he helped start, he makes all the big decisions, he does all the best fighting. Raizel is popular with the fangirls, & it,'s because he's an attractive Woobie with a sad past. He is excruciatingly bland & spends most of his time merely existing or pouting. The team of Tao, M-21 & Takeo are a very interesting & amusing team that don't get a quarter of the time that they deserve. The other Raizel knights who are the youngest Noble leaders are also interesting & maturing characters. But like almost any shounen fighting series you can think of, there are way too many recurting characters that take away from the focus of the series. Many with aborted or minimal character development. Raskrea is popular as a shapely potential love interest for Rai & a woman in a position of authority, but little is known about her beyond a childhood crush & her determination to fill daddy's shoes. Karis used to be hilarious, but now he's super serious. The kids from the first arc are reduced to cameos. The most inconsiquential character would have to be Raizel's twin; He's never mentioned before his first appearance, & is never mentioned again after he leaves.
The formula lies in the fighting parts of the arc, where two of the 3 groups form an alliance aginst the common enemy. The allies warm the bad guys up, then get their asses saved by Frankenstein who wins after transforming into BAOH, then Raizel, who has stood there in total silence for most of the story trying to emote while worrying, delivers the final death blow in about 2 hits, & then the arc either goes into act 2 or starts a new arc. This is literally every fight in the series, but I love it.
Some battles are better than others, but which ones will depend on how the individual feels about the fighters & the enemies. The ante is certsonly upped when your in the 500s chapters, & the general audience is very excited by Frankenstein's battle with Crombel, long awited for years.
This series has had a lot of different translators who could not agree on how characters names were spelled or pronounced. One decided out of the blue to gve Frankenstein a southern accenr.
It's fujoshi-friendly. The one-sided over-the-top overprotective bromance Frankenstein has for Raizel is on par with Killua & Gon from HxH.
If you play MMORPGs, Nintendo sim games,or FPS games, you should have no problem with this kind of repitition. & since I can't resist comparing series to eachother, Raizel is a stoic depressed version of Saitama from One Punch Man, & Frankenstein is an adult combat butler take on Killua Zoldyck who can transform into BAOH & use the techniques of Shido from Nightwalker.
It also occured to me that it has a bit in common with Jojo's Bizarre Adventures: Stardust Crusaders. Frankenstein & Polnareff were supposed to be sidekicks but ascended to the characters with the most screen time, most dialogue, & most fight scenes. Raizel & Polnareff were silent protagonists who got less & less focus & became the finishing blow in most fights.
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