MrsChairmanMeow3

One Piece was one of the Big Three anime at the time that I was just not excited about. Naruto was so extremely popular in the west that I felt I had to watch it. And Bleach drew me in because of how sleek it looked compared to other animes at the time. Seeing the length of the show intimidated me, so I opted to read it.

It was an overall great decision. I love the story and I love the characters.

I will say though that it took a long time to slog through the beginning. I can rate the story a 10 now because, in retrospect, it was brilliant to see how everything came together in this absolute beast of a tale, but it was difficult having to putter through villains and conflicts I didn't find compelling. I would say that certain parts of the beginning are a weak spot for me in the grand scheme of things.

Of course, the world-building is brilliant. The world of One Piece feels like it's breathing. It's full of diversity in design, culture, and people. There is so much care put into each destination they reach, full of people who have their own ambitions and desires separate from the main crew. There are things that are beyond Luffy and there are things that Luffy jumpstarts himself, as is life.

I love the characters as individuals. Some quirks are annoying, but each character is fleshed out and lovable. I care about these people achieving their dreams. Each and every one of them. I wish the Strawhats would interact with each other more though and with different crewmates. I understand that One Piece had a large world with a large cast in a plot-driven narrative, but I still have my desires to see the Strawhats just be together, at the forefront.

Overall, a solid 10.

After an excruciatingly long time of waiting, at long last the seventh volume of Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria (more commonly referred to as HakoMari) has now been released, and with that it's finally time to close the lid on one of the greatest works of literature to have ever originated from Japan, and the overall best light novel I've ever had the pleasure of reading.

HakoMari's story is... *unique* to say the least. It can be classified as fantasy, mystery and psychological above all else, but it really touches upon just about every genre imaginable during the course of its progression. It starts out seemingly ordinary with a typical high-school boy named Hoshino Kazuki who is extremely fond of the idea of having a so-called "normal, everyday life". But when a mysterious girl called Otonashi Aya one day joins his class, announces that it's her 13,118th school transfer and that she's here to "break him", Kazuki's life immediately becomes as far from normal as humanly possible.

The plot progression of HakoMari is very difficult to explain to anyone who hasn't read it, because it's unbelievably complex and also very niche. It primarily revolves around a wish-granting device called a "box". The "boxes" are given to various people and function in different ways depending on the characters' personalities, what they wish for and also how much they truly believe in the concept of granting wishes to begin with. But either way a box can be considered a space like a fictional world which people can be trapped inside, and it operates under its own rules. In this way, effectively anything is possibly in HakoMari because all laws of normality are completely thrown out the window.

I think HakoMari can be classified as "Chaos Theory". It's completely erratic, yet very systematic. It's completely irrational, yet makes absolutely perfect sense. It's abstract, yet completely logical. It messes with your head like nothing else from essentially the first sentence of the first volume and it never ever stops, but neither does it stop fascinating you with what it's capable of. The plot twists are so incredibly difficult to predict, but they always make you feel like the answer was so obvious all along once the truth is revealed. It's just that well-written, and as a result it never fails to make you smile and impress you.

Almost every single volume is very different from the rest since every box operates under its own set of rules, but they still always maintain the same dark, cryptic yet incredibly captivating atmosphere. This is all possible because the writing and narration is simply superb. The author makes the readers dance to his tune like puppets with his almost cult-like writing style, and when all is said and done it's probably the main reason why HakoMari is so interesting to read. It's like trying to lay a three-dimensional puzzle in the dark, except the author is helping you by guiding your hands for you. In that way it feels like you're being presented an overall storyline that reasonably shouldn't be possible to write, except somehow it actually works out. But it's something that cannot really be explained in words alone, you have to read it for yourself.

Another interesting aspect is that HakoMari has multiple protagonists. It constantly changes perspective. Each and every character is thus provided incredible depth, much more so than you would ever expect from a novel only seven volumes long in total. Furthermore, given the abnormal nature of the story itself, the different perspectives give you vastly different impressions of the flow of events.

Overall, what you have is a light novel which is unlike anything else on the market, has some of the best writing I've ever seen and never ceases to amaze you with its unbelievable twists and turns. It makes you care about the characters something tremendously due to how captivating it is from the very beginning, and presents you with a storyline which is as about as close to flawless as you can possibly get. I don't think I've ever talked to anyone who's read HakoMari and didn't like it, which is something I don't think I've experienced with any other series, regardless of medium.

As it is though, HakoMari is only hyped in the west, but it's basically unknown in Japan. Thus the chances of HakoMari ever getting an anime adaptation are probably rather slim, even now after the novels have finished publishing. However, I do not believe it is humanly possible to make an adaptation of HakoMari that would do the novels justice anyway, so maybe that's for the best. Either way, I'm more than happy with what we got, because it is my all-time favorite light novel and quite simply one of the overall best reads I've ever had in my life. Highly recommended to essentially everyone.

I don’t often throw around the word “Masterpiece”, but I think it truly applies to this story.

In just 21 chapters, the author manages to build a believable post-apocalyptic world and attach you to the characters who are traveling through it. The art fits the story extremely well, with its dark, gritty style adding to the already heavy atmosphere of the story.

The Horizon does not hold back in addressing death, fears, and the darkest parts of the human existence, and is, at least through out the majority of the story, extremely nihilistic (or seemingly so).

With a great emphasis on philosophy and addressing the questions that every person must deal with at some point or another, The Horizon is a brutal story on the surface that contains a very hopeful message.

A 10/10, beautifully haunting story. If you’re considering reading, please check it out. You won’t regret it.

Somewhat underrated.

IN A FEW WORDS
Travel, post-apocalyptic, soft mecha, optimistic, and a plot that encompass the Earth.
A good start, but a last volume that feels rushed.


REAL REVIEW (please do not think that a few words are enough for you, you deserve better, so read it!)

After reading this, I came to think that Science Fiction might really be my favourite genre. I have yet to be disappointed by a work whose setting is a futuristic or post-apocalyptic world.


This manga in particular has many upsides. First, it is based on a post-apocalyptic civilisation, and yet optimism in mankind is shown all along. There isn't much devastation, so some of the emotionally tired readers might try to soothe their mental wounds after too much gore seinen reading - which, as you guessed, was my case. Post-apocalyptic yet optimistic is a combination rare enough to be worth first place in this list.
I just said it's comforting. But do not get me wrong, please: Asamiya-san no Imouto has nothing to do with romcom and their cast of stereotyped characters ; neither has it with 4-komas and their dedication to show the cuteness of the heroin and the bluntness of the man in charge. On the contrary, the main and the cast of supporters aren't really the main focus here : they are made charming enough, but the point of the manga isn't there.
Which leads to the third point of interest. This manga is short. So the plot has to go quickly, which makes everything a little rushed and put a little too much emphasize on the "truth of the world". But well, that's to be expected. And this is actually a positive aspect: the plot has much more to give. It shows potential precisely because it is good.
I mention the art, which fits the manga exactly: clear, bright and round for the characters, and it has a simple yet efficient design for the mecha. Not extraordinary, but to my liking.
About the narration overall: the first book places the setting, the two following develop the plot.

End of the "proper" review.








The following are rather subjective, but still spoiler free. If this manga awakened some deep thoughts in you, it might prove interesting to read.

If the last two volumes won't leave much of a mark in my long-term memory, I will remember the first volume.
What made my day, and gave me much to think about, is unexpectedly something that could be coincidental - but I believe inwardly that it was purposefully made that way. I want to speak about the setting. The backgrounds, and the travels in the beginning, in the form of a slice of life series of meetings, give somewhat the feeling that this world has more or less the same level of technology as the current world, but works differently. This world isn't mostly big cities. As the main characters travel, they come across little coastal towns, drive on land and on sea, meet people that are travelling too. This world give the feeling of a scattered civilisation, one that let a big place to travel and adventure. That's rather refreshing. People are also mostly benevolent and open. Even the military is nice!
Would the world be a better place if we came back, not to nature, but to a rural habitat ? Keeping the commodities of the current life, but leaving aside the complex urban way of life that make us all machines more than being able of choice. Would that make each life closer to an adventure ? I was glad I could see a little of that utopia in that manga.

There aren't much things to criticize about the first volume in comparison to the two following. Some spite about these two: Why the rushed plot ? Why is it SF and yet there are practically no backgrounds ? Why even though the first book was seen from the point of view of a supporting character, which worked just fine, the other are seen through the main, which takes away the natural unravelling of the mysteries linked to the discovering of the world ? Why so many lolies ? Why are the bad people in power old men, while good people in power are lolies ? Why are successful examples of inhuman experiment in ALL the fucking sf stories all lolies ?
Seriously, why lolies ?

Hope my non-native English wasn't too hard for you.
That's all folks, thanks for reading this to the end !

So this is your typical ecchi sports romance manga with a martial arts twist. It starts with the MC, a strong guy who wins a Karate competition before getting KO'd by a woman.

This woman turns out to be his teacher. As far as this point, I could see the promise. With all of her high kicks, fan service criteria was met for the ecchi side of things. The fights were also entertaining and also the romance side of things was also pretty funny.

So we continue on this manga, which I was actually enjoying when it just suddenly ended. I thought it was still ongoing, the last 2 chapters were VERY rushed, and very fast paced, but I had given it benefit of the doubt.

But what troubles me the most was it wasnt even an ending. So much needed to be resolved. This manga which had potential had gone to waste. Honestly, unless you're really bored, don't read it.

A DWINDLING PLOT!

I wanted to read an enjoyable gory manga, and picked up this manga, at first Dead Tube did seem enjoyable, but then the plot went off the rails and sometime later it made very little sense.
The original premise was about uploading any type of videography to a website called D-Tube (definitely not ripping off YouTube) and gain many views to earn huge sums of cash but later as the story progressed, the arcs just contained only references to D-Tube i.e. just do anything in the real world and D-Tube will cover it up.

I enjoyed the degenerating status of the main character as the story was advancing but at a certain point a tragedy occurred and it all stopped. It basically becomes a Revenge-obsessed story. The only thing that was keeping me to not drop the manga was the heroine, but she too has just become a disinteresting character, I really like her character and since I have read up to the 52nd chapter, I'm hoping for some kind of plot twist/ major shock from her. Nevertheless, I still find the main character unenjoyable as his character development just went off the rails.

The enjoyment level at the beginning was hype and becomes pretty sub-par as the story progresses.

I expect great things from the mangaka and for now will definitely read Dead Tube till the end.

Because this manga is a collection of one shots its a bit difficult to normally rate this series so I will talk about what one shots I've liked the most and say a few words about the others one.

When I started to read the first 1-2 one shots I was a bit confused because I just didn't get what I've read because it was too short and unclear to understand but then came the series "Natural Born Scissors" and it started to be understandable.

So the series "what a wonderful world", "Chijou 10 Meter no Ori kara", a bit "Natural Born Scissors" and a bit "Heaven and Hell" I liked the most.
About the ones that I didn't added to the "liked the most", I just didn't get them adequately because they was too short for me and I just didn't got the point of them.

[SPOILER]

If u did read them so I want to tell what I got from the one shots.

So the first 1: "what a wonderful world" - I think that all of u who already read this one shot got that the doctor was himself already "crazy" and I really liked this one shot (I think this 1 the best from all the collection), its just shows u that even a doctor who had learned all this sickness and craziness can also get mad in the place like this because its really makes a big stress also on the doctors and it important to know.

Second 1: "Chijou 10 Meter no Ori kara" - I think that I don't really got the story right but as I understood the boy who watched jumped from the place he saw that women with her kid and then came the police and from then I didn't really got what happened so I would be grateful if someone will answer.

And the last 1: "Natural Born Scissors" - So in this one shot I understood that if u want to change something in ur life u need to do something (in this series was do something with the hair), besides starting something new like find a job u need to clean up ur brain with doing something like change ur look or maybe clean up ur house or something like that to feel refreshed and it will be a good start in ur new way, it will be a good motivation to start something.

[END OF THE SPOILER]

So I really recommend to read.
Here u don't need to be Sherlock to understand the meaning of the one shots and besides that its easy to read and get it can give u a point to think about.
That's all.

I enjoy my fluffy shoujos, but I enjoy my dark shoujos even more. And Puzzle is one of those. Sort of. I’ve read darker, but I still appreciate the existence of this manga.

This story touches topics that have been covered plenty of times by plenty of people (bullying, not fitting in, being who others want/see you to be rather than being true to yourself, finding someone who understands you), but I can’t roll my eyes at it or hate it. The story uses the idea of puzzle pieces, and though it’s not an original idea, I still can’t help but find authors/writers who use this premise clever—especially when it’s used with romance.

Essentially, Miyabi has lived her life with a façade and has been trying to find a place where she belongs. When it seems like she’s finally found solace in a boy named Kounoike, he’s shunned by everyone else because of his criminal of a father. Miyabi loses her solace, but she changes herself to better fit with Kounoiki. They are pieces of a puzzle that fit together and Miyabi refuses to connect to those who do not fit her “contours”. All she wants is to finally connect with someone, but Kounoiki knows that if he allows himself to be with her, he’ll just drag her down with him.

I can see why this story doesn’t appeal to some readers—as they prefer their shoujo light and soft. But stories such as Puzzle, which is gritty and sticky deserve love too. And I happen to prefer these darker shoujos than the majority of lighter ones. Overall, the raw emotions displayed in Puzzle satisfied me and I only wish that—on occasion—other shoujos will take a risk to a darker “psychological” approach in their stories as this manga did.

While the story is not the best it is still good, the art is for my taste not outstanding but stil very good and the characters are loveable. I very much enjoyed this manga.

I first thought it might be a typical mothercon manga, but i can say it's definitely worth the read for the last few chapters.
The time traveling aspect was poorly explained and some aspects of the story seem to be poorly thought out, which is why i can't give more than a 6 or 7 for the story.
The characters develope over time and the gags are funny, even if i am not a great fan of the many lucky sukebe moments. But thanks to the comedy and characters as well as the romance aspect at the end I could get a great akmount of enjoyment out of it.

Also Hanada-san best girl.

A quick review for a fast manga! I want to preface this by saying that I really wanted to like the manga and expected I would, because it seemed right up my alley. Sorely mistaken for the most part, albeit easy to read (with some eye rolling).

The setting itself is not a unique idea, but it was still interesting to find out about the mystery of a group of friends being thrown 10 years into the past, but ultimately, it is not handled properly. We are given false hints by purposefully hiding important information, because the key answer to everything was obvious but it just did not fit without the manga finally revealing the events. From that moment on, it starts spiraling out of control, which is understandable to some extent, because humans make mistakes and stacking them all together makes a mess. But that is the thing with this manga, the mistakes and lies those children did and said were not really even that important and while the actions of a certain individual are comparable to the story, the rest are really too much.

Unfortunately, the characters were not the saving grace either. They start off normally, but most of them start acting so… nonsensically, to put it kindly. For some crazy reason (which is not that crazy I suppose, since this is a shoujo), EVERYTHING must revolve around romance. EVERYTHING. Which in turn makes everyone act like an imbecile with the main female being the most cliché archetype of goody-two-shoes, who everyone wants and she just can’t hurt anyone, but she’s always oh-so-helpful, etc. The main trio of protagonists were kind of barf-inducing after a while. The rest is… interesting, to say the least.

All in all, I find the concept cool, but the main characters just destroyed any potential it had and it tried too much to be this soul-cleansing work with ill-timed comedy. The art is good, above average, but nothing memorable, just like everyone else. Just don’t expect anything good and it’ll be a breeze to read.