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This is not a manga that you read for your fix of quick paced, hot blooded action. This is a manga that you read for it's outstanding artistic, and literary merit. This manga is stunning. But that is to be expected having been drawn and written by Minikura Kazuya the artist and author of such popular manga as "Saiyuki", "Wild Adapter" and "Bus Game".

Stigma is illistrated in beautiful full color on each and every page. It is exciting and refreshing in a world that is domintated by black and white manga. The subtle details in each pannel make it a real delite to read.

Stigma is ... the time of manga that you -really- need to -read- and not just look at. The story is veague and complex. It is truley a psychological masterpiece. You really fall in-love with "Stork" and Tito. You feel for them and and experiance each emotion as they do. You are angry when they are and you want to cry when they do. Dispite being a short manga, with only one volume and eleven chapters, you get the pleasure of seeing these characters learn an grow in ways that wouldn't seem posible for such a short story. There are some small implacations of a sexual relationship between "Stork" and another character but nothing that should run off any male readers. It can barely be called Shounen Ai.

Some people may have a hard time with this manga as there is little actual diologe between the characters and is largely dependant on the interpratations of the reader. But I would really suggest this manga to any fans of Minikura Kazuya and her work as well as anyone who wants a short break from the world of quick paced and in your face manga. This manga is a true delite. A ten out of ten in my book.

Ok. I will start of by saying the I have not read the original novel for this series. I just kinda happened upon this show wile looking through different shows here on MAL. Now another thing I want to say is... I don't understand why this show has so many bad reviews... It literally baffled me when I saw how hated his series was.

Let me start with the music. The soundtrack for this anime has to be one of the best I have ever had the pleasure to hear. The music is hard and raunchy as well as soft and melodically at times. They know ... what music to put where and when.
There is a different song for the end of each episode and I never heard one that I did not like. The ending music did a great job of wrapping up each episode with a mood that matched with the mood of the episode.

I saw a lot of complaints about the story in this particular series. Again, I'm not sure why. The story and plot where intriguing and managed to hold my interest so well that I rarely paused wile watching this series. I was so engrossed that I finished the show in one day with out even noticing how much time had passed.
I saw a lot of people say that they weren't sure what was going on and that the sow was all over the place. I really don't agree with that. Again, I have yet to read the original novel but I never found myself lost and always had a pretty good understanding of what was going on. This show kept me guessing and was not predictable at all, and I love that.
And wile some had problems understanding Nano an important character and at times the narrator, due to his tendency to speak in riddles and indiums I, again, had no problems.

I really enjoyed watching the characters. Wile it is true that there is not a whole lot of growth in the characters and there personalities in this series it was fun to guess and learn about each person and why it is they are doing what they are and why they are playing the game. I did find myself wishing for a little more back story for some of the characters but by no means did this keep me from enjoying the show. Nano had to be my favorite. I never stopped wanting to see and hear him. I loved Shiki too for the most part. Toward the end (specifically the last two episodes), however I did find myself a little annoyed with the guy. Some said that they didn't understand his whole "power" trip... thing. I did. He wanted more power so that he could never be that weak boy who stood there in fear watching Nano kill ever again.
I understand it but I do wish they had introduced that back story a little sooner.

I fond the art to be really enjoyable. I loved the color palate and the animation, wile it had some glitches wasn't too bad. I liked the character design for all of the characters aside from Rin and Albrito or whatever his name was. He upset me a little bit. The backgrounds and environments were really beautiful, however.

Now I will say that the whole reason I watches this was because it was listed as Shounen Ai. It really shouldn't be. There is a little tension now and then but nothing worth mentioning. There is implied sex and homosexuality but that is about it. Nothing to really keep men from watching this series and nothing to make the fangirls squee. But I got over it pretty quickly and ended up really enjoying the series. I really think that it is worth a shot to watch this series. It's not the best I've seen but it sure as shit isn't the worst either.