This Review Has Been Substantially Updated I originally gave this manga a score of 89 based on its first 13 volumes. Since then volumes 14 15 and 16 have been released in English and the series has ended. I found those volumes disappointing in two respects which I will elaborate on at the conclusion of this review and have therefore revised my score down to a 78. I still think the series is good and is worth your time but I can no longer recommend it as enthusiastically as I previously did. Original Review I observed in another review that because writing reviews on AniList.co is a lot of work and because its hard to find 400 words of this is great or this stinks I usually write reviews when I am in some way conflicted about a mangamost often when I feel let down by one. For example I am currently working on a review of Hells Paradise: Jigokurakuhttps://anilist.co/manga/100994/HellsParadiseJigokuraku/ but Im struggling to find anything to say beyond this manga is Just Good and I think you will really enjoy it. Who knows whether I will ever manage to publish that one. This review is the rare exception. I dont feel let down by Marginal Operation. Just the oppositeit is much better than I expected. I have some reservations about the series but on the whole it is excellent and if you read this review and still think it sounds good I think you will really love Marginal Operation. Minor Spoiler Warning This review is going to have some spoilers of the first three volumes because the premise of the series changes in an important way after that point and it is impossible to talk seriously about this series merits without discussing what the series is really about. And there is also a very minor and general spoiler of a decision Arata makes around volume 9. Background The protagonist of Marginal Operation Arata starts off as a NEET with almost no employable skills. He has a very good memory and the stereotypical video gamer suite of patternrecognition and decisionmaking skills but nothing he can make money with. He takes a desk job at a private military company because it sounds easy and its the only way to make rent. I wont go through his moral arc in detail but he quickly realizes three things: He is very very good at being an operator of operatorsa tactical commander of mercenary forces. He cannot tolerate the do anything to make money morality that prevails at his current employer. In particular he is disgusted by his companys use of child soldiers read: untrained slaves who happen to have guns as bait. Arata gets himself assigned to operate a unit of about 30 child soldiers puts a stop to the use of that unit as bait and gets them out of a couple of very sticky situations where any other OO would have abandoned them. This harm reduction approach to horrifically immoral situations is a recurring theme in Marginal Operationmore on that later. The third volume ends and the series proper really begins with Arata and his lieutenant Omar having a fallingout with his employer and effectively adopting the childsoldier unit who by that point are devoted to him. His overriding goal for the rest of the series is to protect these children and give them a normal happy peaceful future. But the core problem is that his only skill is war. And the kids who are all 1213 at the start of the series are from a poor country in the Middle East so without him they will have nowhere to turn. That brings us to the true premise of the series: The only way for Arata to provide for these kids is to start his own private security company. Using the children. As soldiers. The Bad Ill start with what I dont like about Marginal Operation. Surprisingly theres not much. First events and circumstances in Marginal Operation are a bit contrived to make Arata the good guy. I can think of two good examples of this. We are told that there is literally no way for Arata to provide for these kids other than running a military company using them as soldiers. And if you accept that premise his actions are at least understandable. But its a bit hard to accept that premise because we see throughout the series that Arata is extremely intelligent a shrewd negotiator a natural leader and an effective organizer. It feels a bit contrived to say that Arata couldnt have found some way of providing for these kids other than putting guns in their hands. The children in Aratas care love him and Omar are happy working for him and seem relatively welladjusted. Marginal Operation is not a lighthearted series and it shows real psychological costs to what Arata and his kids are doing. But on the whole events in Marginal Operation seem to vindicate Aratas opinion that employing the children as soldiers is the leastbad option for them. To some extent I think this is inevitable: If Marginal Operation were about the kind of monsters who actually use child soldiers in real life it would be totally unreadable nobody can root for that sort of scumbag. And if its protagonists all had the kind of trauma that being a child soldier actually causes the series would be too tragic to enjoy. So I dont regard this as a fatal problem with the series. But it is at least a minor flaw. Second at about Volume 9 Arata expands his operations dramatically employing hundreds more children. He has good reasons for thisthose children were from slums where they had no other option but sex slavery he takes them in for their wellbeing rather than because he wants a bigger company and he has a plan for ensuring that in the long term these kids have a good futurebut I still dont like it. My basic problem with the expansion is this: When Arata was responsible for 25ish children he could treat them as if they were his own children his own family. And it was obvious that he did think of them as his own childrenone point that is absolutely undeniable throughout the series is that he is completely devoted to the children in his care. Whatever decision he made it was obvious that he made it out of love for those children. And that earned him in my opinion a lot of leewayenough to let me suspend disbelief and accept the premise of the series. But once Arata expands his operations that moral pillar of the series gets a little bit shaky. Arata simply cant feel that way about all of his chargeshe is obviously devoted to all of them but he cant have an individual relationship with each of them. It is a little harder to accept that he is the good guy when hes running a company of hundreds of child soldiers he recruited from the slums than when he had a platoon of two dozen that he personally rescued. This too is a comparatively minor criticism. Arata is clearly devoted to the children the children are clearly devoted to him. But I felt it was worth mentioning. The Good Now for what I love about Marginal Operation. First the premise is great. I know that I said earlier that the premise is a hard sell. But Marginal Operation sells it. And it turns out that this premise is worth sellingit makes for a really really interesting story. The action/tactical thriller elements of the series are great in their own right but the relationship between Arata and his wards makes them and the series as a whole so much better in so many ways: Conflicts have intense emotional tension. Aratas original platoon is like a family. The thought of any of them dying or even being seriously hurt is upsetting. Even when Arata expands his operation the idea of even one of his soldiers dying has an emotional punch to it. Imagine for comparison a war story in which a handful of recentlyintroduced adult mercenaries dienot much of an impact. Aratas always the underdog. Even though Aratas troops are welltrained and even though hes a brilliant leader the conflicts always have a satisfying rootfortheunderdog feeling. Moral aims are comprehensible. Arata is singlemindedly devoted to his wards and will do anything to protect and provide for them. But he is also deep down a softie which is why he adopted a bunch of kids instead of getting rich blowing up villagers for oil. He doesnt want to commit atrocities he wants to intervene when he and his troops can protect others. This might feel phony in a story about regular mercenaries but it feels real in Marginal Operation. The characters bonds are real and deep. This one speaks for itself. The emotional bonds between Arata and his wards and among those wards are convincing and have a poignancy that ordinary comradesinarmstype relationships sometimes lack. Second Arata himself is fantastic. As I said his moral arc is pretty quickhe goes from a feckless NEET to someone with blood on his hands and lives depending on him in the span of months and he rises to the occasion spectacularly. From that point onwards his love for his children and his dedication to providing for them never wavers in the slightest. He has flaws of courseall good characters do. But in my opinion it is impossible to watch him struggle to lead these kids protect them provide for them and build a future for them without rooting for him and becoming invested in his struggle. Third Everything about Marginal Operation is wellexecuted so the strengths of the premise and protagonist can really shine through: The overall characterization is very good. Aratas wards are complex likeable characters. So is Omar. The supporting characters are interesting characters from early volumes have a way of resurfacing that feels natural and contributes to the story. Even the villains are goodsome of the other military characters feel a bit cartoonishly evil but unfortunately their actions are totally within the historical norm for military atrocities. The plotting is excellent. Conflicts are exciting intense and plausible solutions almost never feel contrived. Military matters have an air of realism. Fighting is mostly experienced on the tactical level from the perspective of Arata who usually is not directly fighting but is thrilling anyway. Gunplay and the like do occur and are similarly wellexecuted. Aratas tactical brilliance feels realthat is it feels as though his decisions are actually very good were not merely told that theyre very good. And it never feels as though the tactical situation is contrived to create an opportunity for Arata to be brilliant. The art is very good. Its not flashy but it supports and never detracts from the story. Conclusion For some people a manga about young soldiers that depicts them as anything other than miserable traumatized victims will never work. And thats totally fair. But for anyone who feels like the premise of Marginal Operation could work so long as its well executed I recommend Marginal Operation wholeheartedly. It is very good and theres really nothing else like it. Update Everything that went before is based on the first 13 volumes. Unfortunately volumes 1416 let the series down in a big way. There are two major problems with the final three volumes and they share a common theme: This series needed more time. First lets start with the plotting. The ending of the final arc of the story comes out of nowhere. If at the end of volume 14 you had asked me how long it would take to finish the war Arata was currently engaged in I wouldve said at least three volumes. Marginal Operation did it in two counting a weird side story and the series finale. The pacing of volumes 15 and 16 is just really off. The manner in which that ending came about was disappointing too. Although Marginal Operation had always taken some liberties with the details of warfareAratas CC technology for example is probably a decade ahead of anything currently on the marketthe tactics and strategy were sound. In the final volume some of that faithfulness to reality went out the window for the sake of a strange inperson confrontation that went nowhere. Second there is another choice that the author made that I found objectionable. The following spoilers are very specific because theres really no other way to do this part of the review. Sorry.