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Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo: TokiKake.

Yes its called TokiKake for a specific reason, to differentiate it from the Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo manga released earlier.

Is there a difference? Yes. In the MC of the story. In this its Makoto, in that its her aunt Kazuto.

I'll touch on the other manga later on, but first, TokiKake.

Story: 7/10. The concept of time leaping is interesting, but the pacing of the entire manga felt rather rushed. At the end I was left with a feeling of 'Was that all?' Not the best feeling, but that has to do with the pacing. But even when it comes to raw ... content there isn't much to really be impressed. Maybe its because the manga was based on the movie, and hence is a more condensed version to hopefully get people to watch the movie. But the point stands that I was left teased and its extremely frustrating. Now if the manga were slightly more slower paced, with the character really coming to grasp with her powers, and more character development, then maybe it would have been better, but then it wouldn't be the same.

One thing I found weird was the aunt's open attitude towards the MC's powers, as if it was normal. Then again, she herself had experienced time leaping powers earlier. Of course I only found that out later when I picked up the original manga, and I'll go a little into the difference between the manga and the original in the last few pages of the TokiKake manga.

Also, regarding the orange-haired guy (Chiaki), what was his actual purpose there? It was never explained. There were a number of small plot holes that were also left unexplained (like the painting Kazuto is restoring as well as the machine that allows for time leaping) and it really bugs me how there isn't an answer for it, at least in the manga.

Art: 7/10. Not much to complain, the linework was normal. Nothing too special, nothing too bad.

Character: 8/10. I enjoyed the little dilemmas that the MC has, and the fact that her actions actually have repercussions that she herself is affected by. Especially the whole confession scene(s), I felt sad. I won't lie I actually teared up a bit. Quite a few times. Maybe I'm just a sucker for tragic love, but that's what happened. The MC's friends too have their own purpose. Orange-haired guy (Chiaki) was the mysterious one, and the big buff guy (Tsuda) was the helpful one, with the aunt providing advice here and there. I like how she never really gave a straightforward answer, but let Makoto learn for herself the effects of her powers.

Enjoyment: 8/10. I like how I was affected by the mood of some parts of the story, and interested in Makoto's time leaping adventures, but ultimately the plot holes left me pretty frustrated.

Overall: 8/10. The story is fine, the original is better, and so is the movie. Ultimately, I can't really find a reason to read this, unless you have some free time, or want to get a brief summary of what happens in the movie, and to hype yourself up for that.

--

Extras:

I want to get this off my chest. The last few pages of the manga, after its done with Makoto's arc, switches to the aunt's arc when she was in high school too.

Now, the guy she fell for, like in Makoto's case, is a time traveler, but without prior knowledge about her arc, the mini-section makes little sense.

From here on out its gonna be spoilers, I guess. So beware if you haven't read the original.

Now, what annoys me the most is that in this version, she has a countdown just like Makoto, and she didn't wanna use it because she had the memory of the guy she loved. The thing is, he erased her memory, so in the end did she regain it back or was it lost?

Also, she never had the counter in the original. In fact, the entire encounter happened pretty differently. The guy she fell for was a time traveler who was experimenting on the possibility of transporting people, but his supervisor came back to retrieve him since he was messing with Kazuto's memories and this caused untold consequences. The reason for this was because he was wavering through different eras and had to rebuild the time travelling drug. When he met Kazuto, I think she inherited the power to travel through time, and he was trying to get her to willingly travel to the future, not the past. In order to do this, he implanted memories into her that he was actually a childhood friend, not some stranger.

However, she accepted this all and promised to wait for him to complete his experiment, and then he would return for her. Then he wiped her memories completely and she was left at the instance where the both of them met for the first time. However, she was left with the feeling that someone important (him) would return.

In short the difference is that in the original she had the power to time travel, but she just forgot about it, while in TokiKake she chose not to time leap.

So. Wake Up Girls! Let me set this clear first before I continue with this review, this is my first idol show that I've watched (TV series one at least) and as such I had pretty much no expectations of it whatsoever.

My first impressions of this anime (after watching the 7 Idols movie) was that it was a surprisingly realistic anime that wasn't sugercoated. And the show carried that throughout in terms of plot.

Story: 10/10
Art: 8/10
Sound: 8/10
Character: 10/10
Enjoyment: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
...
Plot wise, this story is amazing. It shows the trials of a small and upcoming idol group that struggles with internal and external disputes. It also shows how each character/idol has her own problems and how they work to overcome them. It's a really moving story in that sense.

Art wise, it's... nice. There's all there is to it. It wasn't bad by any means, nor did I find it particularly spectacular. The animations were a little rough around the edges, but that kind of made the art style what it was. I like it that way.

Same goes for the sound.

Character wise, it was interesting to see the characters grow. There wasn't a significant amount of change, but the idols in particular did undergo changes in themselves as a result of the stress of being an idol and interacting with each other. I really enjoyed seeing that.

Overall enjoyment was a 9 because well I cringed mostly when watching this because of how realistic I felt the plot was. I wasn't prepared for that, but maybe I've been watching too many flowery shows. Who knows. But besides that it was a really really good show worth watching. Recommend it if you want a more realistic and serious plot as compared to flowery anime.

Hope that I helped someone decide whether or not they're gonna pick up this series.

Ohhh boy. Nisekoi, more like Clichekoi.

If you came here from the manga, unless you're a generic tsundere sailor don't bother with this anime. Really. The last what 3/4 episodes gave me cancer. And I'm on SS Marika and SS Kosaki.

Let me rant a bit before I go into the review proper, because I need to get this out the way. In all honesty the manga was way better. I wouldn't recommend this unless you have a ton of time and a ton of patience.

Story: 5/10
The story is unoriginal (obviously) but with the characters having way out-of-this-world backgrounds. Which makes it interesting, for like 5 chapters, ... then you realise it doesn't make that much a difference. Since the anime follows the manga closely in terms of plot you don't actually get any plot progression besides a larger harem because that's essentially what happens in the duration of the first season: more grils with different character tropes to suit pretty much every type of girl you could be into (except lolis). Nisekoi or plot, choose one.

Art: 5/10
The animation/artwork is very SHAFT-ish, which means its 80% fine, with 20% being seemingly awkward looking characters, and a ton of head tilts. I didn't like how the lock was 3D (felt like it to me at least) but everything else wasn't and it distracted me a lot.

Sound: 7/10
Eeeeeeh sound was normal I guess. Kosaki's and Marika's VAs were HNNNGGGGG.

Character: 6/10
Oh damn. I'm trying to not be as much as an anti ship girl as possible but holy crap Chitoge properly made me cringe. Her character was half the time okay and the other half annoyed me. I almost couldn't stand watching episodes with her, but I pushed through. And I regret all the time I wasted. Kosaki on the other hand is the queen of cockblocks. Very very very cute and adorable character but literally she doesn't get anything done plot wise. BUT HER SMILE DOEEE SO INNOCENT AND PURE. Tsugumi felt like a less annoying tsundere. And finally Marika. Single handedly carrying the plot progression. Ruri and Shuu were great supporting characters though.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I didn't really like this anime.

TL;DR:
Read the manga, watch the OVAs if you wanna hear your favorite girl with sound

So here we go. The movie prequel to the TV series.

Let me just say this at the start that the idol genre is an unknown territory for me. I've never watched an idol show before this and I didn't know whether I'd honestly like it.

But that said, I did enjoy this movie and this is due to the pacing of the show. Being a movie and not a TV series it had the opportunity to take a slower, more progressive approach to plot progression.

And what this means is that it had a very refreshing pace which made it enjoyable to watch. Story wise it ... isn't entirely sunshine and daises since it had its fair share of darker than normal moments, but as a result it portrayed a what was to me more realistic view of the idol world, especially of people who want to debut and their management. I found myself cringing a lot but that didn't have to do with the quality of the story, but more the content. The way the characters acted wasn't something I was entirely used to, but I didn't have any problems with them.

On to the artwork. I found the still artwork to be rather pleasing, though the animations did seem awkward some times, though it didn't distract too much from the actual story.

Sound mixing wise there wasn't anything bad about it. Voice actors suited the characters and the background noises were fine too.

Ah the characters. The 7 idols did feel like a rag tag band of aspiring girls, but that's what you would expect of a small talent agency that scouted girls with a mix of personalities. And it was evident that some of them didn't really have a mature way of thinking and I liked that. Though the story didn't focus on all of the girls, but mainly 2 of them and their character progression. What I enjoyed the most about the characters is that they (I know I'm repeating this) seemed like actual girls starting out.

Overall it was a movie/canon I'd recommend if you're into idol shows. Hell I'm not but I wouldn't mind watching this series. 9/10 because I enjoyed it but I'm wasn't an idol fan so I couldn't completely immerse myself.

This. Doujin. Doe. Came for the loli cover. Stayed for the story.

If you're in the review section to see if you should read it or not, take my word for it and read it. Its not NSFW, but can get suggestive.

But hold on. Don't close the page. Read it.

I don't usually write reviews unless there's only like 1 other review, but for this I'm writing it because its just simply amazing.

...

... And now I'll start my review proper.

The first few pages really depict 'that' kind of doujin, if you're a hormonal person and into that you'll know what I'm talking about. But the plot twist in the middle. Man was it so well executed.

Then you stop and let whatever happened in the previous pages sink in, with all the possible meanings. Then you continue reading and the feel train doesn't stop.

Even at the end with the open ending its open for people to interpret it as they like, which makes discussions about this fun because it can train you to look deep into the panels for any hidden meanings, if you're into that. If you're not then you can believe what you want.

I won't dwell into into the characters because its a 1 chapter doujin because there isn't much to say about them. As for the artwork its simple but sufficient.

Somehow or rather this review makes me feel like I'm shortcoming the manga, but its really really 10/10 quality. S-s-s-s-sugoi

Sugar Dark. Neither very sweet. Neither very dark. If you don't consider the topic about death dark.

Seeing as how this LN doesn't have a review, and I prefer to write reviews for stuff that have few/no reviews, here it is.

Do note it contains my raw, biased opinion, but no spoilers because there isn't much to spoil. Having read the manga and this, I will compare them but after the review of the novel itself.

Sugar Dark is an interesting story to read. It may say 3 chapters, but each chapter is divided into sub-chapters and all in all will probably take about 4 hours to finish. ... That said, the story itself is pretty interesting. It isn't light hearted but nor is it dead serious; just that the MC doesn't have flowers inside his head. If you're looking for something deep in the abyss, this isn't the story for you. But if you're looking for a change of pace from the typical shounen story, this may just suit you.

The characters aren't a lot, which makes remembering them easy, and they do play their designated roles perfectly. Character development was there for the characters that mattered and that was pleasing. Now onto the plot. The story isn't particularly long (its only 1 volume) but it progresses nicely. There're isn't any particular repetitive things that make it dragged out. The way the translator(s) did the structuring of the sentences reflected a more mature tone, which was befitting of the story.

And finally the ending. It was bittersweet. It felt satisfying to read. I'd rate it higher if the canon continued, but that said, I'd still recommend this story if you're looking for a seinen that isn't so serious.

On to the comparison between the manga and the novel. If you prefer pictures, you'll like the manga. If you prefer text, you'll prefer the novel. It sounds obvious but I'll explain. The manga doesn't show his thought process in detail, the novel does. But the manga is easier to follow and visualise because pictures.

Now which do I prefer? The novel, but only because I'm a novel person. When I read the manga I was still pretty fresh so the mature part hit me because its pretty graphic.

I guess that's about it. Hope it helped someone decide whether or not to read it.

Ayy lmao let's have another review here that's an opinion from someone else. That said, most of the things here are biased.....probably

I'll cut it straight to the point right now. Toradora's a nice read. And that's what I mean. Its nice. There isn't anything I'd change in this story. That said, its not amazing either. There weren't any heart wrenching or deeply moving parts (if that's your thing) It did have its share of serious moments, but to me it was awkward because it was like it was trying to tell me something about my life but it was vague and I couldn't properly understand, ... but that's just me.

Progression itself was nice, I didn't feel like there was any time when the story felt boring. The characters are all like-able too, and the whole story had a nice flow to it. The spin-off volumes are nice too, and there is one mini-arc that concentrates on Ryuuji's dumb best friend who's name I forgot.

I haven't watched the anime yet but based on the episode least, at least the last 2 episodes don't follow the plot in the novel.

Anyhow. Toradora: a nice, lighthearted read to fill in time when travelling or before going to bed.



Since this is a review, there are gonna be spoilers and here is where I'll say some of them because I have some things I have to say about it. For example the ship that sails in the end. If you have even half a brain you'll figure out which ship sails, but you can continue to hope that its not, though the writer doesn't mercilessly shatter your dreams the way she focuses on the interactions between the characters, so you won't be heartbroken if your favourite girl didn't win.

Also I said I wouldn't change anything above, but I lied. The ending could have been better. Felt like it ended abruptly, but somehow the ending was fine. Also this being a SoL it ends the way it should end, though there could have been better closure. (I know I keep saying I want better closure, but I can't exactly explain how better I want it)


That's the end of my review. Hope that I helped someone decide if they should/should not read Toradora. Thanks for reading this probably lengthy review.

Eromanga-sensei. Deceiving title, yes. And here we have another siscon story brought to you buy the author of OreImo.

Now, the story itself. A harem rom/com in my books but with an interesting setting. Gives insight to the life of a (still studying) novelist and the hardships he face like competition and personal issues. The progression is nice, maybe slightly bordering on being slow, but I didn't have any complains, since there never really seemed like the story wasn't going anywhere in any point of the story.

The artwork's nicely done. No complains. The girls are drawn cute, and that part stays largely the same during the ... more erotic scenes.

Each of the girls gets their share of screen time, and they do get developments in terms of character, not that its a lot, but its enough for a light-hearted comedy like this.

Giving it a 9 since the story touched me in some ways (its a totally personal thing so it may be different from you). Not heart-wrenching but there're enough feelings invoked to make me remember this story.