DearS

I hereby entitle this manga: "Mixed Feelings Galore!"

*Spoilers ahead*

Story-
"Love will save the universe!" Is by far one of the stupidest lines to come out of this manga, and certainly isn't the last. The story starts off pretty simple, with ridiculously slow pacing. The Dears have come to Earth because their ship crashed, and they're immediately welcomed through numerous exchange programs without any hesitation. We follow Ren, a "defect" Dears, through her misadventures with the "master" she chose, that being Takeya. For the first 6 volumes, there isn't too much conflict or an overarching threat that needs to be stopped. It's mainly "What is...love?" and "Whoops! Did I just touch a boob?"-which gets old pretty quick. More characters get introduced throughout the series (Which I'll get to later) that add a little bit of action and interest, but some of them get annoying very quickly. However, basically everything happens in the last 7 or so chapters. By everything I mean rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution. At first I found myself trying to rush through the chapters to get it over with, because while I thought Miu and Takeya had much better chemistry, and you know, genuine affection between them, in the end it was obvious that Ren and Takeya would be together. All of a sudden, I was rereading things because everything was moving so quick. What happened to Takeya's parents? What's the deal with his dad? What's with this space-war-thing? Well, none of these questions were answered, which is downright annoying. All of this time was spent doing literally nothing, then an entire half of a story was crammed into a couple chapters. I have never once read something with such horrible pacing. I'm feeling generous so I'll give it a 5/10.

Art-
Classic Peach-pit. Big eyes, big boobs, and the sharpest chins around. All jokes aside, there are some pages that were absolutely gorgeous. For the most part, the backgrounds are well developed, which is appreciated. I can remember the locations and character designs with ease, and I love the individuality of the Dears' costumes. I loved the over the top emotions, and the chibi panels were cute. I agree with many others when I say that the art is probably the most enjoyable part of this series. I liked it a lot, so 8/10.

Character-
I hated Takeya. With a seething, burning, inferno-like passion. He treated everyone like crap, even when they were trying to be nice to him. He was more tolerable in the last two volumes, but other than that he was a total jerk to Ren. Granted, I would probably get annoyed at her too, but he has no concern for her feelings or anyone else's. And this isn't some sort of tsundere thing, where the character actually loves someone and is hiding it by portraying themselves to be "tough". He's just an ass. I couldn't stand him and actually wanted him to be put in his place, and I think Nekoneko did something kind of like that in the last volume. Not on the scale I would have hoped for, though. As for Ren, I thought she was really sweet and honestly wanted the best for her. However, some of her dynamics bothered me after a while because they brought up the same things over and over. She likes melon bread. She is devoted to the idea that Takeya is her master. She doesn't really know what clothes are. All of these things were brought up so much that I got sick of them. I liked Miu and Nekoneko, though, as I thought they were the most likable and I can actually sympathize with them. There are many more characters but this section is long enough already. 6/10 because I genuinely like some of the characters but hate other ones.

Enjoyment-
5/10. I hoped and hoped that this manga would get better, that some sort of interesting thing would happen. Well, I guess it did in a way, but that isn't my point. My point is that there were a lot of things I enjoyed, such as the art, general concept, and a few of the characters, but there are so many things that I hated that I really can't see myself going back to this series anytime soon. I read it on a whim, and I'm kind of glad it's over. I didn't really hate it, but it wasn't that good either.

Overall, I'm feeling generous, so I'll give it a 6/10. I'll give it some points for an interesting concept and having unique characters, I loved the art, and there were some moments that made me laugh out loud. I think Peach-pit made some better series than this, so only read this if you're REALLY curious or like Peach-pit in general. If not, skip it.

Tl;dr: Boring story (until the end when things get rushed), good art, and characters that range from likable to intolerable. Read it if you like Peach-pit or the premise, skip if it not.

The manga starts off as mediocre from the very beginning, nothing really happens and it takes until chapter forty for any rising action to happen and then the climax, falling action, and resolution all happen in seven chapters. It took a couple days to finish simply because the story was that slow. The manga seemed to skip over the character's back stories and did very little to explain the DearS cultures.*Spolier Alert* Why Ren was "defective" was never discussed, what happened between Takeya and his step-mom before she married his father (the manga hinted at something that was between them), what interstellar war, and much more. *Spoiler Alert*
The artwork was really the only decent thing about this manga. It was very similar in style to "Chobits"; it wasn't simplistic but it wasn't as detailed as some manga such as "Kurozuka". It was somewhat cartoony but not to the point of it being childish. All in all, the artwork is the only good thing about this manga.
The characters were okay but the number of characters in the manga weren't as well thought out as others and were more cartoony than what the manga called for. Some characters seemed to be there for no other reason than to fill space(China and Ayu are excellent examples).

*Spoiler Alert* The lines "nothing wrong can happen when you try your best" and "love will save the universe" were undoubtedly the DUMBEST lines in the entire manga. I'm sure I don't have to explain why. *Spoiler Alert*

As others, I watched the Anime first. I noticed a lot of things I did not like about the anime, however after completing it, having fallen in love with the MC Ren, I decided for the first time ever to read a Manga of my own accord from beggining to end. Sure, that itself is weird. A lot of people complain that this is a clear Chobits rip off. I can barely agree. It has some similiar elements to it, however the development of everything is different. The characters are not close enough for that to be the case and it just feels more unique than most of this Genre. However, I speak as someone who loves both Chobits and DearS.

Story - 9 Ok, So i know it seems hard to believe but I love this story. I am a complete sucker for this kind of story, Boy meets Girl is just something I enjoy. No particular reason why. However this one turned out to be different. Just like Toradora! I fell in love with it gradually. it kept pulling me in, leaving bread crumbs of interest to lead me deeper into it. By the end, I was shaking with emotions because I didn't know what to feel.

Art - 9 Ok, some people claim to hate the art for its inconsistancy, Now while I can agree that it has inconsistancies, that is what makes it good. Those chibi sloppy little doodles add so much to it and they just make me laugh. It adds a light tone to contrast the serioues points throughout. The designs of the characters and the backgrounds just drew me in closer to the Manga, What else can I say, its wonderful

Character - 10 Now, I know a LOT of people will disagree because you'll see similiar to older series. But I just love how they progress and regress at stages, How the characters develop themselves and develop others with their own actions, They all learn equally, though some of them have far more development, that is because of the supporting characters developing as well. Not to mention the love of Melon Bread that Ren has. That i just can't not love, its just to funny.

Enjoyment - 10 I absolutly love this Manga, I have so much enjoyment from it as it is the first series I have ever read through and through simply because it pulled me in. I tried to do it with others but it never worked because I could not get invested into the characters or anything else enough. Peach-Pit did a magnificant job with this and I am incredibly happy with the ending. I wish there were maybe 2 more chapters released as specials to show how things progressed through after the end, But hey. I won't complain. Im completely satisfied.

Overall - 9 I can't give it a perfect 10 because the other aspects arn't unanimously 10's I think that the rest of this review can state strongly enough how I feel for this Series as a whole.

Recommendation - Highly, Go in with an open mind and do not drop it if things aren't going the way you want, give it a few. Have a little faith and try to see it at least half way through. However. I strongly advise against the Anime. it was done poorly and brings great shame upon this wonderful peice of art.

This one is similar to Chobits but the female lead is your typical magical girl with angelic face, dynamite body and willing to do anything for the I-only-care-for-myself super-jerk male lead and it's easy to see how the story goes before it starts. Although I like the 'simple' drawings in jokes, the mangaka abuse of this style in this manga (it's like that in all the mangas I've seen so far from this mangaka) and it become annoying to read. No worth the time to read.

Let's start by saying that I watched the anime, and after that, I wanted to know how the story ended so, I dug into the mnga, and it was totally worth it. Honestly I don't get why's there so much hate towards this particular series, I found it to be quite enjoyable.

Story: 6
So here we go Again.
guy meets weird girl.
She happens to be an alien.
They're bound through some sort of ceremony and then cute girls fall everywhere around this apparently boring regular guy.
The typical harem-ecchi-comedy plotline.
Except, that this one focus on the mysteries of a species sumissive slaves, the DearS, and the mythical "gift" that gives one of them the right to choose their master.
I gave it a 6 because the story kinda drags itself trough the volumes, only to climax real suddenly - though with a great ending- in 2/3 volumes.

Art: 7
Notmuch to say there, love it, specially the chibi skits that popped really often through the manga.

Character: 7
You get to see ll the characters grow, as the manga takes awhile to develop, you kinda get attached to all of them, and in a way you can see how the dearS kinda "humanize" themselves, while interacting with the human species.

Overall: 7
It's a light manga with lots of funny stuff that's really great for when you want to relax and read some light story with some ecchiness involved.

Alright. Let's make this quick

Story: 5
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DearS is a blatant Chobits ripoff from the word "go". Fortunately, it does not stay a blatant Chobits ripoff. Though it starts with the normal harem hijinks and unnecessary amounts of fanservice, it does find its own voice. Unfortunately, it rushes through everything with tremendous speed. Introducing a new character every two-three chapters for a while and half of them don't even stick around, it's as if Peach-Pit was struggling a lot through the manga to find ways to keep it going. Because of this, it feels like a NaNoWriMo project rather than a well-thought-out story, and the massive cliche of a finale is halfhearted enough that it's hard to care what happens to who.

Art: 3
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When Peach-Pit wants to make the girls look pretty, they succeed in spades. However, it seems to take a lot out of them, because the majority of the manga is told in a range between decent work and amateurish doodles that would make a How-To-Draw-Manga-taught artist envious at the thought of how such terrible skills could warrant a paycheck for this.

Character: 4
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Like I said earlier, about the middle of the manga, a barrage of new characters come in one after another. The result means characters that should get character development never do. Some are lucky if they get a whole chapter focused on them. The manga only seems to care about Ren, Takeya, and Miu and it shows. The shame in this is that those three have the most cliched developments to their person. There are some good bits of original development in Ren at the end, Unless you're new to the harem ecchi genre, it's nothing you haven't seen before.

Enjoyment: 7
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And yet, despite it all... it's fun. It's really fun. Though it goes through all the motions and often feels desperate to keep going at times, Peach-Pit puts a commendable dose of passion into each panel and it shows. I was never truly bored reading this, but nor was I astounded. It's funny but not enough to make you laugh, it's cute and sweet but not enough to give you diabetes, it's ecchi but not enough to warrant shrink-wrap, and it demonstrates what effort can achieve from an otherwise poor work.

Being the first work from the exceedingly-prolific Peach-Pit, it's a solid effort and a good sign that the things to come of them would be even better. Overall, DearS gets a 5/10.