Scandalous

A ‘Scandalous’ relationship between siblings that aren’t related by blood (now where have I heard this before?). Well this Shoujo, Smut, Romance, Drama is a good quick read but offers little else.

Of to an abrupt beginning, Honoka is your average girl who idolizes the young rising star (Masaki Izumi) and when her mother decides to remarry, she is shocked to find out that her new brother will be that star. The problem begins here not only for this inevitable couple but for us readers, as the story is rushed to the point where things are left unexplained, for convenience sake. Not only that but the strife and problems they faced didn’t have much of an impact because it lacked any build-up.

The main characters are very typical for a shoujo manga, also with side characters that come and go as they please. Honoka is as average as a girl can be, which would make some of you wonder what the 2-faced celebrity, Masaki, would like about her. Also there’s another important character that adds a lot to the story, however her mentality is so straight-forward that it’s boring.

Unfortunately this manga looks awfully ‘plain’, as the artwork offers very little to compensate for the manga’s shortcomings. The characters look great but it’s the lack of variation, fine detail and shading that lets it down.

Overall this was an unsatisfactory manga that didn’t live up to its name ‘Scandalous’. Sure there are various reasons that shoujo readers would enjoy this, like being able to cover what some shoujo manga can only cover in a dozen volumes, however I couldn’t find anything outstanding about this cliché shoujo manga with a cheesy ending.

^_^