vaberella12

Story: 10
At first you could imagine the story is pretty generic, wow Eren is going to be super broken and eventually save the world, get a girl blah blah. Sure it looks like that in the beginning, but no it builds on and on as it progresses. However, I can understand why this isn't just some overrated manga, I find myself enjoying it more and more, seeing all the conflict and how it all unfolds and connect with each other really well. I thought the story was getting a bit stale around chapter 90, but nope I was wrong. While it did take until 100 or so to get more into the action, I could see why it was worth using up all that time to slowly build up background information. Now, everything is starting to slowly tie in together, there is so much hype and you just want the months to fly bye so you can just read through all the chapters and enjoy it. Do note that the story at times can take pretty long to get into the action and such, so it may be pretty boring from time to time reading.

Art: 7
I wouldn't say the art is necessarily the best at the start, but it does improve as the story progresses and the general style is still kept. The art isn't something Violet Evergarden level of course, but you can deal with it, it's good enough and doesn't confuse anyone at all.

Character: 9
TEN FOR SURE. At first, I thought I'm with the main characters all the way, but nope. Even for some of the baddies, I'm feeling bad for them and what they have to do, they're perfectly sculpted and fit well in to the story. Yes there are some unneeded characters + some character development does take awfully long, but it is still something I consider definitely worth a 10. The thing I dislike is probably that it definitely takes a while to get to the side characters. Some of them we barely learn about them while they're pretty important, so it's a shame. That is why I decided with a 9/10.

Enjoyment: 9
The only things bringing it down to 9 are basically the flaws of what I've mentioned, some things aren't described properly, some pretty major characters are not really expanded upon. While it is good for me to be creative and imagine, there were moments where I was left confused, especially at places where everything just started to pour in.


Overall, a really enjoyable manga if you have the commitment, but I'd recommend waiting for the end or near the end to read through it. It's a huge pain waiting each month, often killing my hype and adding on to the confusion or sense of something lacking in the manga. Regardless, it is still an awesome manga which isn't just some human vs big titan action, it has so much more merit to it than just that. The story drags you further into the action and it's really great.

Warning: NANA has been on hiatus since 2009. Although faithful fans continue to hope for the end of this series, there's no real indication that our dreams will become realized.

However, even with such an unnerving warning, I still strongly recommend this manga to anyone who enjoys a multilayered story with human characters and beautiful art.

There was news last year that Ai Yazawa was going to return from her leave to continue the series, or at least, she had the intentions/desires to. So, I decided to reread the entire manga series from Volume 1 all over again. Even though I'm frustrated that there still remains any signs of a new chapter, I couldn't help but fall in love all over again.

The art is incredible. Every character is beautiful and their clothing and accessories an aesthetic bonus. Attention to detail... Tribute to Vivienne Westwood... There were so many artistically appealing qualities to NANA that I can't put all of the praise to words. Looks alone, I'm pretty sure I swooned for everyone.

The story is the most intricate that I've encountered in manga (or anime). As in life, there are many gray areas and many layers and perspectives to every situation. Because Ai Yazawa has crafted such a multifaceted plot, it's hard to speculate the ending. Although many fans have produced interesting and plausible theories to fill in the plot (and time) gaps, who knows what the Queen (that is Ai Yazawa) has in store for us. She's just THAT good.

Naturally, the characters have to be outstanding in order for the story to be. And they are. It's hard to hate anyone because they are so human (and with humanity, comes human error and flaws). I think I fell in love with every single one of the characters. Each one has their own story that is unique and gives readers a better understanding of how their faults came to be. However, that's not to say that some of them won't do things to completely upset you. I'm sure everyone who reads this series ends up liking some characters more than others. Regardless of your own story, I'm pretty confident that you'll find relatable aspects among the cast of NANA. Personally, I was a lot younger when I first read NANA and now rereading it almost a decade later, I found myself empathizing more, having gone through similar experiences in my young adulthood. Thus, I do truly agree that this is best categorized under josei. Even though younger female readers would enjoy this series, I think the enjoyment and appreciation is different (and deeper) for a more mature audience.

Finally, I couldn't give this manga a solid 10 because in spite of how amazing it is, it's still unfinished. Not that I think Ai Yazawa could really botch NANA at this point, no matter how she decides (if ever) to conclude the story, but to be fair, enjoyment and story wise, it's not really ideal to have an open ending with so many questions left unanswered.

Last Warning: This manga pulls hard at heartstrings. Don't read if you can't handle drama, angst and heartache.

Hi no Matoi is a great story and I cannot wait until more of its chapters are translated. The art is BEAUTIFUL and the characters are very enjoyable. So far the story is a little typical (not too much but a little), but everything else makes up for that. If you're a sucker for romance then this is not the book for you. This is a book about brotherly love and the struggle to be accepted- and the heir to a samurai clan trying to escape people who would kill him for his title. The main protagonist, Sakura, ends up staying with the ku-gumi a sort of firefighter like squad that helps out their district often. He ends up befriending the ku-gumi, but finds that one of thier members absolutely HATES samurai.
Even though he is pretty scrawny and fragile looking, Sakura proves to be one of those characters your always rooting for, and he doesn't disappoint.

I love history so I was expecting to really enjoy this series, but it's so disjointed, I felt like I was missing pages of action. It seems that the author's pacing and ability to tell a story are awful. It's a shame cause what I got of the characters was interesting and it seemed to follow history fairly well. The disjointedness of the story flow makes it impossible for me to read though. Oh well.

As a massive fan of Takashi Miike, I was surprised I hadn't ever heard of the manga for One Missed Call. Being one of my first Miike movies, I've always had a small soft spot for the franchise, so upon finding the manga series, I immediately rushed into it.

My average manga score was finally starting to increase and look better, sigh.

This was pretty much an insult to Takashi Miike's franchise. An insult is pretty much putting it nicely.

The artwork just seemed lazy with two of the characters in the second volume looking so similar you couldn't tell them apart. The story followed the film exactly with literally no differences. The second volume was so rushed, there was no telling what was going on even with knowledge from the film. Again, the artwork just looked simple and basic as though the artist didn't even care about what they were doing.

This was just an overall mess and I can't even describe how much of a mess it was. Watch the films, skip this and thank me for it later.

This is not a review, since most of the points I could talk about concerning this manga has already been said by others. The score I'm giving it does represent my opinion, but this "review" is more about the background information surrounding it.

Right of the bat, this kind of situation did happen in history. In fact, there are so many similarities that I'm convinced that Samura, the mangaka, was directly influenced by it(more on this later). The event I am referring to is the second Sino-Japanese war. Specifically the comfort women in the war. I am not going to go over any details about the war itself since I am qualified enough for it and you can Google it at your leisure but I will specify what "comfort women" are.

If you are an eastern Asian, then you probably already know what those words mean, but it is very rare that a westerner knows them. During WWII, the Japanese military would trick young Japanese girls, often underage, into joining the military and turning them into sex slaves. They would lie to the girls about how they can become nurses or medics on the front line. Telling them that if they join the army, they are serving their empire and making the emperor proud. After they run out of domestic girls, they start to kidnap girls from China and Korea.

As I said, there are a lot of resemblances between the manga and the real-world event. The manga promises the girls in the orphanage a better future in the theatre. While the military manipulates girls with patriotism and a promising career. The manga states the carnival has been going on for 7 years, while the war lasted for 8 years. The cabinet abolished the carnival after learning they could be exposed, while the military executed most of the comfort women after Japan lost the war to silence them. A very interesting point is that the noble who started the carnival was killed by a plane piloted by two men crashing into his castle, while Japan lost after being hit with two atomic bombs, named fat man and little boy.

What I have provided is just one example, but not the only one. There are tons of instances in history where young, innocent girls are traded as sex workers, either for money or supposedly stability(watch Sandakan No.8 for more details). Orphanage forcing its kids to work under harm condition is nothing new.

The final question then becomes why? Why did Samura create a manga with such cruelty and depressiveness inspired by real-world historical events? This has to do with how he writes and draws women in general. Samura believes women are superior to men, and in his work, women are always mentally or physically better. Makie is the strongest character in the blade of the immortal with most female characters being either very courageous or strong-willed. This all might sound conflicting considering the ill-fated girls in the manga, but that is kind of the point. Just like how the festival is abolished in the end, the treatment for women is getting better as time goes on. But we must not forget the poor treatment of them in the past. Or he is just a huge hentai who gets a kick out of seeing women suffer to an extend.

This being the only manga from Itokatsu that I've read, I can't comment on how this compares to his other works, I can however say that this is a good read.

Firstly, the art isn't all that special and neither is character design, it even looks similar to Yotsuba& but the design fits well with the feel of the manga in a very low-key and simple manner.

The story is what really brings this manga together, a light-hearted and funny comic that establishes character relationships very well and makes you enjoy the time spent reading the manga. Nothing too gripping or depressing in the manga's plot but a very good read.

Overall, a nice short read that'll make you feel warm inside. Definitely worth the read for those looking for something funny, simple and heart warming.

This is one of those mangas that the more you read it, and the more you think about it, the less you like it. I mean, to tell you the truth, the only reason why I liked it to begin with was because the main female protagonist, Ai, was actually kinda hot, and because of the bewbs. ^_^

Lemme break it down.

Story: 5
It actually started out pretty well, in my opinion. It had a strong opening and I actually enjoyed how Ai went from being a jimi (homely) to being a beautiful young lady. In fact, I loved it until the end. Then, after the end, I decided to go through it again. This time, I realized just how stupid and superficial the plot truly is. But I give Izumi-sensei kudos for being able to hide it so well (by inserting bewbs somewhere in the middle).

Art: 9
I actually did quite like the art. It was very unique and that's pretty much all I can say, simply because I'm not that good at criticizing bad art and praising good art. Although, I must say that I did like the shading on the bewbs. And yes, I am inserting a random comment about a woman's breasts at the end of each paragraph.

Character: 6
Sou is a douchebag. I mean, he could honestly care less if Ai fell off a cliff and was hospitalized for the rest of her life. He'd just move on and find another girlfriend. After all, he is a total bish. That's what girls are into these days, right?
Ai has no self-confidence. I understand that that's supposed to be the theme of this entire manga, but seriously! Make her at least a little interesting.
Yuichiro is sorta different. He's actually kinda funny and somewhat interesting. Yes, I understand that since he's a supporting character he has less personality than Sou (which only serves to make the series worse).
Mina is probably my favorite character in this whole thing. Even though she isn't really hot enough to be mai waifu, and she's a bit of a bitch at times, and extremely creepy, she actually has a likable personality compared to Sou, and she isn't simply a vapid and uninteresting character whose only purpose is to doubt herself and have big bewbs.

Enjoyment: 7
I actually enjoyed this, to tell you the truth. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed it so much if I had read it now, but I still actually had fun the first time I read through it. Even though it had a stupid plot, Izumi-sensei figured out how to distract me from that just long enough to keep me interested. I also enjoyed seeing the bewbs.

Overall: 6
Two years ago, I probably would have given this a 10. After two years of thought (actually, I made up my mind after one week, I just hadn't gotten around to posting a review) I have decided that this manga is most certainly not the best that I've read. Also, the bewbs only lasted for one panel and they were somewhere in vol. 4 (I don't know what page exactly and I have to go, so I can't be bothered to check).

My inital review of this manga was rather poor, but now I'm glad that I've finally finished the whole series. I have to say that the later chapters have the "roller-coaster" plot that kept me going.

Yori's love for Iku was that of sacrifice, for a better future for her; while Iku had to find her own strength and determination to prove her love for Yori. Their deep love came with a hefy price tag; alongwith challenges which will test if their love was true.

The author left the ending to reader's imagination; thou not the perfect ending but I think it is good enough.

SO, GO READ IT AND DECIDE FOR YOURSELF IF YOU WILL WISH THEM HAPPINESS. ( I do. q/(*.*)p)

I haven't finish reading this manga yet but still I want to write something about this. Currently I'm on the middle of the whole story, volume 5 and the next case that I'm going to read is about Assassin Bob. Anyway this manga have some similarities with Q.E.D where there is a brain and body on every case but to be honest I love Q.E.D more on this because Q.E.D sound logical for me in terms of solving crime while Remote are more on action instead on the story of the crime presented but still I recommend to manga for mystery crime genre. One of the things that make me enjoy reading is that the author incorporate some romantic thingy as the story progress about the situation of the main character with her fiance and his current boss in the police.