Shades of Grey (blog)

Shades of Grey is a blog primarily about Manga (and occasionally anime) started by troper Shotgun Ninja (known on the blog as Yerocha). It features both discussions of new manga chapters and video reviews of whole series. What separates these reviews from many others is that they generally avoid both excess cynicism toward the series reviewed and the generalization of the target audience. Rather than strict pros and cons, the end of the reviews list off which groups of fans should and shouldn't be reading.

It can be found here.

Manga Reviewed:
 * Black Cat
 * Change 123
 * Chobits
 * Deadman Wonderland
 * Historys Strongest Disciple Kenichi
 * Kimi Ni Todoke
 * Shinryaku Ika Musume
 * The World God Only Knows

Shades of Grey contains examples of:


 * Accentuate the Negative: Generally averted. While some manga can have specific elements that are raged at, the series as a whole is judged fairly.
 * Alt Text: Most of the images in the chapter discussions have this.
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: This post was written shortly before the final chapters of Mahou Sensei Negima were announced. Crosses over slightly with Hilarious in Hindsight because
 * Heroic Self Deprecation: The first video contained a disclaimer that the quality was not very high and viewers should adjust their expectations accordingly. This very video would later be posted at Desu Des Brigade under "Featured Bukkiteer"...with the disclaimer intact. They became less negative after that.
 * Hide Your Lesbians: Discussed here, regarding Konoka and Setsuna.
 * Hype Backlash / Opinion Myopia: "The Problem with Madoka Magica" is primarily about this.
 * Needs More Love: The main reason the site focuses on manga.
 * Overused Running Gag: Discussed regarding Sanae
 * Precision F Strike: The word "fuck" has only been used twice thus far. Both times were warranted for very different reasons.
 * Review Blog
 * Running Gag: The videos all start with a joke warning label. Sometimes the warning is legitimate, but it's still presented humourously.
 * Take That: During the Kimi Ni Todoke review, the ways the series avoided classic shojo archetypes were listed off, but Yerocha decided not to list the manga that followed those tropes out of respect. Except for Black Bird, for which he had no respect.
 * Wild Mass Guessing: Many of the discussions contain theories about future events, such as possible character deaths, or how Sawako and Kazehaya's First Kiss will happen.