Only I Know That the World Will End

7.4/10
Read: 21/21+
Bookmarked? Yes.

God, looping stories are like crack to me and there needs to be more. However, this trope massively depends on the plot and characters more than any other genre as it can become anticlimactic or frustrating simply because of the buildup.

To note on this manga’s twist and take on the looping trope, it follows the basic plot line and isn’t anything ambitious. There’s also not much wiggle room for a diverse goal, but that’s most system stories nowadays — to survive. Although the plot/story isn’t the best or the most original, it’s still enjoyable, and you can’t really knack it for following a successful formula by the predecessors like Re:zero.

Oh man, the characters are human with a human mental state. What do I mean by this? Well, most readers love a detached from reality mc that overcomes the mental barrier of killing and the reality of death instantly; to shatter that expectation, I’ve noticed that only Japanese authors care enough to write a realistic human mc. Of course, internal conflict isn’t the most enjoyable read as anyone would prefer gore + bloody fight scenes over mental struggles, it does add opportunities of development of not only the mc but the side characters as well. All in all, don’t expect “useful” characters as they will probably need a plot point boosted development.

Deus ex Machina, in other words, when the author suddenly decides to resolve the conflict through a bs scene; yeah, it’s in this manga as looping causes this massive build-up, rushed or not, but the ending isn’t satisfying enough to be worth all of the struggles the mc had to endure. Though, I will note that the art makes up for the lackluster writing as it’s still a badass visual, plot armor or not.

Rating this story as a manga is a bit harder since there aren’t many looping tropes in general, but it would be an injustice to say this wasn’t the slightest bit enjoyable or engaging despite its flaws. I’d give it a shot, but if you don’t enjoy the realer side of characters, then I’d steer far away from this as it would only be frustrating.

PS: I just read a romcom looping webtoon and I scaled this according to what I would’ve rated the webtoon as I didn’t enjoy this manga as much. (Webtoon Character Na Kang Lim)
Reading Rankings (Portnoy inspired)
10 – God’s penmanship
9 – Must-read. Drop everything else.
8 – Instant bookmark
7 – Entertaining
6 – Good to pass time
5 – Why are you reading this?
4 – Bad. 
3 – Typical garbage. 
2 –  My head hurts. 
1 – Retirement is a thought.
0 – “Did they even give you a story?!”