Lost+Brain

[Kafriel]

Spoiler for Summary:

This is the story of a genius student called Hirama Ren, who always get the top scores and is chairman of the student's council. One day, he walks past a group of bullies and asks them to leave-because of that, they decide to teach him a lesson by beating up some students and framing him. Enraged, he chooses to search for a power that will allow him to change the world to one that he wants.When a hypnotist performs at school, he sets his eyes on the power of hypnosis, and with this new power, his quest to change the world begins!

Author:Yabuno Tsuduku
Artist:Ootani Akira
Monthly release.

I started reading this one yesterday, I have to admit I didn't think it would be this good The main character is a lot like Yagami Light (more of a villain than the hero) but instead of trying to escape from the good guys, he attacks them relentlessly until there's nobody standing in his way. Quite intriguing and well-planned, the only shame is the fact that it's monthly...but hey, good stuff always takes time~

[FateAnomaly]

Makes you wonder if hypnotism can really do all that.

[Kafriel]

Nah, not really...at one point, Ren hypnotizes someone by surprising them from behind and instantly giving out a "suggestion". Still, the planning is awesome if you think about it, and for once, the bad guys seem to be winning

[SehrKomisch]

Oh sweet people here read this! And I think a small bit of it is possible, but thats really all you need to convince a fanbase in manga. If he couldn't do tons of crazy shit like that even fewer people would enjoy it.

[Kafriel]

Well, he is the kind of villain who must have overwhelming abilities, so as to bring the good guys in a tight spot. Since his enemy is a master hypnotist, I'd like to see his new allies (who, despite being smart, are not on Ren's level) get caught or trapped in one of his plans, it's been pretty one-sided so far...but I still love it anyway!

[Kafriel]

ch.16's out today!

Spoiler for ch.16:

Kanbara is finally famous enough to meet the mastermind, the next chapter will be their meeting, but how will Ren avoid Yuka? It's all going smoothly, except Kuonji's super-hunches that are totally unjustified at times...how the hell could he even think that Ren's using the disappearing students to control the entire world?

[frubam]

Man, Kuonji has been 2 steps behind Ren since the beginning. I have to admit, that kind of takes the suspense out of all of it, esp compared to, y'know, DN(yeah, I HAD to say it (>.>)), where both Light and L were practically even, or going back and forth one-upping each other. Still, i have mixed feelings about him having two people he trusts, which kind of makes it unfair in Kuonji's regard, since it's like he assumes Ren is working alone. I can only hope that Ren gets truly pushed in the corner(something like figuring out Yuka was talking with Kuonji, but w/o getting the upper hand against him immediately) and goes on the defensive, and I'm sure it'll become a bit more enjoyable.

[Xion Valkyrie]

The problem is Kuonji is just too nice, unlike L and Light, whom were both really sociopaths, just on opposite sides.

[frubam]

Spoiler for ch 25:

And such a stupid end. Well, there's still one chapter to go, but this has been very disappointing during this last stretch, not even comparing to DN. To think Hirama screwed up his entire plans because he was so arrogant, Kuonji didn't even do anything really but confront him. No special plans by Kuonji, no hypnotism vs. hypnotism, just instantaneous self-destruction by arrogance. Even Kuonji was planning to just kill Ren off with a gun. Lol. Maybe, in that sense, he's smarter than L and Light. Still, to see so much intelligence and planning all develop into such a crude ending is just failure to me.

[Xion Valkyrie]

Originally Posted by frubam

Spoiler for ch 25:

And such a stupid end. Well, there's still one chapter to go, but this has been very disappointing during this last stretch, not even comparing to DN. To think Hirama screwed up his entire plans because he was so arrogant, Kuonji didn't even do anything really but confront him. No special plans by Kuonji, no hypnotism vs. hypnotism, just instantaneous self-destruction by arrogance. Even Kuonji was planning to just kill Ren off with a gun. Lol. Maybe, in that sense, he's smarter than L and Light. Still, to see so much intelligence and planning all develop into such a crude ending is just failure to me.

He doesn't let his ego get in the way of finding the optimal solution

[frubam]

Originally Posted by Xion Valkyrie

He doesn't let his ego get in the way of finding the optimal solution

lol, so true XD !

[Kafriel]

Ch.25 was a bit anti-climatic, but I wouldn't really call it stupid...

Spoiler for 25:

Ren was completely convinced that people would definitely follow his orders, and he trash talks a lot in front of Kuonji, so to back up his arguments, he did the most reckless thing evar...which just backfired and ensured his doom Overall I think this was a very smart series, on both "good" and "bad" sides.

[lightbringer]

Originally Posted by Kafriel

Ch.25 was a bit anti-climatic, but I wouldn't really call it stupid...

Spoiler for 25:

Ren was completely convinced that people would definitely follow his orders, and he trash talks a lot in front of Kuonji, so to back up his arguments, he did the most reckless thing evar...which just backfired and ensured his doom Overall I think this was a very smart series, on both "good" and "bad" sides.

Basically, to reach a resolution, they had to make the supposedly genius antagonist get overconfident and act like a complete moron. A quite common plot device.

[Kafriel]

His speech was actually very good, I was hoping he'd win Kuonji over and into his army...and rule supreme! Anyway, it's not over yet, I'm hoping for a better closure.

[Kafriel]

Final chapter is out~

Spoiler for Ending:

That was a good patch-up of the entire series, even though Hiyama ended up losing faith in his own ideals, there are others who still wanna follow into his steps...So, were the deliquents in the last pages hypnotized or not?

[lightbringer]

Why would they be hypnotized? It's just a bunch of losers whining about life being boring but unwilling to do anything about it.

[Kafriel]

That's what Ren was saying at the beginning too, so there's two ways I can see it:
1)They still retain his ideals even after the hypnotism broke
2) Another "Hiyama Ren" might pop up anytime in the future.