I was surprised that summaries everywhere don’t say the whole plot. Leaves you wondering what the heck it can possibly be about (left me wondering), which can result in some reviews not making sense (including my own).
Arisa is about secrecy, lies, friendship, trust, and bullying. What makes this one special? The only thing that kept me reading this manga is trying to untangle the “who.” Who is responsible for everything that is going on. It might help if you know more of the plot. At the risk of not making sense I feel like I have to shed a little more light on the plot.

Due to her parents divorce, Tsubasa and Arisa both grew apart, so after months of exchanging letters they finally decide to meet. Tsubasa, who is awed at her twin’s sister Arisa’s perfect life jumps at the chance to experience life as Arisa for one day. How can they look so alike but be completely different? Not only is Arisa more gentle as opposed to the “delinquent” Tsubasa, she is also more popular. Her school life is just the best according to Tsubasa.

After Arisa tries to commit suicide right in front of her eyes, Tsubasa decides to become Arisa in order to find out what drove her sweet younger sister to kill herself. Everything points to Arisa’s school. Turns out there are dark secrets there, and a note left in Arisa’s locker calling her a “traitor” starts Tsubasa’s story in understanding Arisa.

[Mild Spoilers] and what they don’t tell you.
After her sister’s close call with death, Tsubasa can’t understand what could have happened to Arisa. Under the pretense that she is Arisa and has lost some of her most recent memories she stays in her sister's school and uses her sleuthing skills to detangle the mystery that was Arisa. After days and days of searching all she has to show for it is a reserved boy who everyone in class avoids. That is until that week’s “King Time” arrives. A game that involves everyone making a wish to the King and only one gets chosen. The one wish which is chosen will come true. They ALWAYS come true.



That’s the real mystery of this manga, figuring out who King really is. Because as they say, it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
What really bothered me is that it was all child’s play to me. I mean, I’m a skeptic. I don’t believe at all that King is an almighty deity, so why not give a wish he really can’t grant, like world peace? Then he’d be declared a failure and the students wouldn’t believe in him…but again, that is just one girls opinions and since the idea of King reminded me of, a small, tiny almost inexistent amount, of Lelouch. But then it went again before it could take form because King is/was just a kids game in the grand scheme of things. So far.
I did think the darkness of bullying was grasped well here and with more than one character, we see how trapped they felt and how far they felt the had tog o to make it stop.

There are a few characters in this one. Since it’s kind of like a guessing game of “who do you think King is,” that makes sense. To say the truth none of the characters were great or amazing. They were just ordinary in manga world.
You have:
The lovely and enigmatic Arisa. I have to say that she’s one of the characters we know very little about. I also feel for Tsubasa that she's learning the hard way , how little we know of the people close to us.
Sweet and brave Tsubasa with her fun nature and bad social skills. Not to mention her ability to surprise you by being kick-ass. It makes me feel better that Tsubasa is just as lost as we are in this manga. No idea what is going on that girl. But you have to hand it to her on the not giving up front.
The mysterious and aloof Manabe. Who could be son of The Dark Lord (referring to Voldemort) for all we know because we know next to nothing about him. Except that he has ulterior motives to everything. And lets be honest, since the beginning he’s sketchy.
There was one other character that his role is more or less a weird one seeing as he only appears sometimes and others he is nowhere to be seen. Making us wonder if the mangaka has plans for him in the future.

The art is really attractive. Just the way the characters are done shows that it took time and planning. Otherwise the making them look evil wouldn’t have been so convincing. Other than that Arisa and Tsubasa do look exactly the same except for tiny differences and the big difference that it their hair color. No flaws that I could see on the art section.

So far, “Arisa” is unfolding rather slowly, we still have no clue as to what’s next or going on. Hopefully there is new development in upcoming volumes. the plot is a little weak because of the whole lets suspect this person this volume/chapter but it's worth a read. I won’t lie I have suspected everyone at least once and even characters from other manga, like some characters from Doubt could be King. Weirder things have happened in the manga world that’s for sure.