Joycinator8

Based on a manga of the same this anime is all about Tanaka Yukio, better known by his nickname Koyuki is a 14 year old who feels disconnected from life in general. Through the act of saving a mismatched dog BECK (the somewhat frankenstein looking dog or whatever you call it), he meets guitarist Minami Ryuusuke, and becomes involved in Ryuusuke's new band BECK. Koyuki's life starts to change as the band struggles towards fame.

Along the way he encounters many awkward and new situations, things he has never had to deal with before. If you've ever gone through things similar to what he's gone through, you'll immediately connect with this anime.(Actually I somehow dun like how the anime ends xp)
Beck relies heavily on this connection with it's viewers, so if you do not make the connection, you will probably not like the anime. It's not the standard slasher series, and focuses much on the viewers emotion.

So if you like music (Has an awesome rock soundtrack so good I even imported it) and storyline and want a break from the overplayed bloodshed scenario, this anime is for you. ^^

Nemurimehime had a lovely slow paced slice of life premise for more casual readers. In having two volumes published, it's quite easy to start reading and makes for a nice daytime passing. The art style exhibited a simplistic design which was perfectly suitable for it's storyline. The climax is relatively subtle and its charismatic energy tends to die down towards the end of volume two but overall, 'Slumbering Beauty' was warm-hearted read. Similarly towards the end of the second volume, its ending seemed to be rather rushed and overglanced as a whole. Given that the first volume was slower paced and established a connection between the few two main characters overtime, I found that it wasn't able follow up with that connection in its later volume. Despite its misshapes, I would still recommend this manga to any viewers trying to get into the whimsical shoujo type of series.

So far, I would say it's good, but nothing extraordinary. Though with only a few chapters that's rather difficult to judge.

The story focuses on Sumioka and Azuma, a newlywed couple and their inexperience with romance. Completely ordinary so far. There are however a few things I would like to point out:
- Instead of just throwing a married couple at you and expecting you to now be emotionally invested into the characters, the author actually takes some time going back and shedding some light on how they met, and how their relationship developed.
- There is an age gap between them. Nothing too special, if I remember correctly then she is 18 and he is 25. Let's be real, 7 years difference is nothing.

Until now, quite a bit of it felt somewhat cliche to me, with the typical character traits of Sumioka being a pure, unexperienced softie, and Azuma being completely gullible and naive, or the typical pushy, energetic and slightly perverted best-friend side-character. But in the end I got some chuckles out of it, and I really like the art style.

*This review was originally posted for Tenshi no Wakemae, and has subsequently been merged into Idenshi Level Tsurugi*

Esta review también está en español.

One shots are fascinating, in the sense that they manage to tell a story in just a few pages. Resolution has to be quick. That's especially true for those with less than ten pages, in which character development and complexity in general are sacrificed in exchange of style, originality, or at least, a plot twist that surprise the reader.

Tenshi no Wakemae (also known as Angel Share) is about a man who killed himself, and now is in the bar "purgatory". He orders a drink, while waiting for his sentence to go straight to hell for committing the sin of suicide... and the bartender will give him an answer he wasn't expecting. That's everything I can say without spoiling n_n.

The art in this manga is very interesting. On one hand, both the MC and the environment have a serious and detailed design, with the protagonist always being painted in such colors as orange and violet, like accentuating the ugly situation. But, on the other hand, the other attendants and the bartender are very cartoony, with round shapes and simple features. The clash of styles gives this work a particular and very striking personality.

So, like in other five thousand series, movies and books, we have yet another vision of what happens after we die. As I said earlier, the main attraction is the way in which the conflict is resolved. The very limited amount of pages makes the final, at least, interesting. So, rounding up, picturesque script, striking drawing (full color, btw), and only eight pages. I think is a good enough combo to make it worth the read.
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Los one shots son fascinantes, en el sentido en el que se las arreglan para contar una historia en solo unas pocas páginas. La resolución tiene que ser rápida. Eso es especialmente cierto en los que tienen menos de 10 hojas, donde como premisa general se sacrifica complejidad en pos de estilo, originalidad, o al menos, un giro.

Tenshi no Wakemae (o Angel Share) nos muestra a un hombre que acaba de suicidarse, y que ahora está en el bar “el purgatorio”. Pide un trago, esperando que lo atiendan antes de mandarlo derecho al infierno por cometer el pecado de quitarse la vida… y el barman le dará una respuesta que lo toma por sorpresa.

El dibujo de este manga es muy interesante. Por un lado, tanto el protagonista como los fondos tienen una estética más seria y dramática, siendo el protagonista detallado y siempre presentado en colores como el rojo y el violeta, como para acentuar su situación. Pero, el resto de los parroquianos y el barman, son bien caricaturescos, con formas redondas y rasgos muy simples. El choque de estilos dota a este unitario de una personalidad particular, muy llamativa.

Entonces, acá tenemos una vez más la repuesta de que es lo que pasa después de la muerte. Como dije al principio, el principal atractivo es la forma en la que se resuelve el conflicto. La muy limitada cantidad de páginas hace que el final sea, como mínimo, interesante y llamativo. Resumiendo, guion pintoresco, dibujo llamativo, y solo ocho hojas. Me parece que el combo hace que valga la pena leer este one shot.

From the story and setting the series has similarities both from Attack on Titan and Demon Slayer, but finds some ways to deliver different ingredients to the mix. First of all what comes to mind is the great female character variety with the witches at the center of this world when in other shows you see an overrepresented cast of males to females ratio wise.
Some of the typical Shonen tropes are also put on its head when you consider that Manfasa the witch is more powerful than her guardian and can stand her own ground and only sometimes needs assistance. Some of her mannerism remind more of a man, so she doesnt act like a typical girl and bosses around her guard often.
Fafner the guardian has a unique fighting style with his sword and sheath, but seems a little overpowered at times. He goes through much change at the start and gets some fascinating philosphical ideas about how the safety system of the world should be. Natha the maid is also a good addition to the team with her knowledge of the world which translated into a convincing world building til now. Its also interesting that not much was revealed how Manfasas magic works only the dark story of how it came to be, so I see some potential in there which also says something about that the pace is right.
The artstyle is not bad, but not the best either but some of the villains look good I guess. The goal is set clear at the start without dragging on to much and you can see from there what to expect. Some elements from JRPGS could be found in here, but it doesnt have to be a bad thing.
The shady government is also part of the intrigue what opens up many possible conspiracies.

Ogeha sure is a strange manga. I wouldn't say it's bad, but it's not what I'd call a good manga either. It's… Particular. Here's my first review.

Story : 5
There is no real "plot", but there are some events, and some development.
Ogeha is a very short slice of life, between a bug and an adolescent, so there isn't much more to say on this point.

Art : 8
The main (and maybe only) quality of the manga. The art's clear and has precise traits, without looking too simple.
Also, I particularly like this style, it reminds me of Summertime Rendering.

Character : 7
This is quite an interesting point. The main characters are Ogeha (obviously) and Kijima. While I don't have much to say on Ogeha, Kijima is different.
He is portrayed as an insensible person, who doesn't pay attention to anyone or anything except himself, and is NOT a good guy. You could even say he's a bastard, considering what he did and how he treated Ogeha. But in spite of that, he still has some development in his relation with this strange bug-looking alien, and I found that interesting.

Enjoyment : 6
This is not really a manga you enjoy while reading, it's even pretty disturbing. But there is an evolution in the story and I can't say I wasn't curious about what would happen.

Overall : 6
This manga is a bit particular. It's not really good, but it's not completely bad, and there is something interesting, something special that makes the manga not a complete waste of time (even though it's probably just my curiousity).

Mod Note: This review was originally posted for "Yuuwaku Chocolate", which was subsequently merged into "Manatsu no Nureta Toiki".

A girl gets dumped and another guy instantly jumps in to be her boyfriend. They fall in love in a matter of a day and pledge to love each other forever. There it is, that's the plot, you can go home because you've seen it enough times to it yourself flawlessly, not that it is actually hard or anything.

Unless you're here to stare in awe at the single well drawn thing, which was a half naked girl in very nicely detailed underwear, you literally have nothing to do with this piece of crap. In fact, considering how much focus was on nothing else but the girl being all "uwwa", I'm pretty sure whoever made this just wanted to see their OC in a particular situation and thus, shit were made.

Featuring such treats as,

Victoria's Secret Ad,

a mysterious boyfriend from the past with no role whatsoever,

three minutes of your life, gone forever.

Since this manga is pretty unknown i thought i should make my own rewiew to advise people about it (sorry for my english).

Story :

Even though there is plenty of stories about the same theme, the plot of this one is still interesting.
Due to the short lengh of the short lengh of the story, the development is (too ?) quick without breaks. Still there is few good plot twists which are really unexpected.
Furthermore, the misteries about some of the characters and about the whole game are really intriguing.

Art :

The art is pretty decent overall. The gore scenes are well drawn, the background is okay. The design of the side characters is really basic so we hardly remember them. By contrast, the few main characters have an interesting appearance especially the hero who has an unusual look for a main character.

Character :

Again the side characters are a bit underdevelopped but this can't be helped with only 3 volumes. However some characters (especially the two investigators) lack of development.
Finally the whole plot is carried by 3-4 characters trough all the story who are the only ones with a decent evolution.

Enjoyment :

Even if it has some defaults, it's still an enjoyable read. I really appreciate the fact that the author managed to keep his plot interesting until the end while dropping some clues about the truth behind the game through all the story. So you can draw your own hypotesis and still being entertained.

Overall :

If you like this kind of manga, you will most likely enjoy Touhyou Game. Don't expect too much about it, but it's worth giving it a try.

Moderator Note: This review was originally written for Haru no Ame, but has since been merged into Koi wa Hito no Hoka.

I gave this manga a 3 because the art is nice, but seriously... is there even a story here?

Yuina doesn´t know why her boyfriend has started avoiding her since the very moment they started dating. The story basically consists of revealing the reason for his behavior. The reason, however, is not only absurd, but also lacking in originality.

Needless to say, there is no character development. I didn't expect it either. Short one-shots work differently. They obviously don't give space to get deep into the characters psycology. They only allow us to get a glips. That´s risky. If there is no overwhelming or charming feature in any of the characters, if there is nothing special about the plot or the art, there is a great risk that the manga will end up being absolutely forgettable.

I don't think the author expected this manga to be unforgettable, though. I guess the aim of the manga was to depict a funny scene. I didn't find it funny. Doesn´t mean others won´t.

In any case, the manga is only 9 pages long, so -if you want to read it- even if you agree that it is bad, at least you will not waste too much time reading it.

This collection of four stories is like a mixed bag. You won't find the quality or enjoyment derived out of each story uniform. The art while beautiful and refreshingly clean and happy in the first story consistently declines throughout each story and the 4th story was just a plain torture to get through.

I personally found the first story the best, based around a school setting it's bittersweet and a wee bit angsty. Character development, while a bit convenient for the sake of the story, does occur and you realise your own anxiety is somewhat alleviated when the heroine or hero do or say something vulnerable and how their ensuing relationship blossoms. It's got heart, this first story.

Second story while not groundbreaking in its premise, is still cute. Humorous character development to some extent and you feel sad for the protagonist when she weeps or screams in frustration, so it's definitely engrossing. Art is clever enough in this one that you continue reading even when the plot starts to drag or become mediocre.

But the third and fourth story are completely skippable. The way the third one progresses alone is so annoying to me! There's an almost non consensual incident, after which the perp has the cheek to suggest they "just stay friends" and then gets annoyed at the heroine's interactions with her ex! What Nerve! The Gall! The Gumption!!! It's just a ridiculously annoying and misogynistic tale in my opinion, maybe I'm a little sensitive about it seeing as how he behaves crudely to hide his own feelings and vulnerabilities, but it's not easily digestible, his character or the way the story progresses.

Fourth story's art is very dated and stunted looking and the scanlation or dialogue itself must have been clumsy to begin with. Add to that a poorly thought out storyline and you have the hot mess that it turns out starting page 2. Skip.

Overall, I would highly recommend the first story and the second one to kill time but not the third or the fourth.