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Apr 25, 2020
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You is without a doubt one of the most true representations of its own title. We are about 12 chapters in and already a plethora of heroines have been introduced and conquered and I would be shocked if we didn't end up seeing the full 100 girlfriends by the end of this series.
Story - The 100 Girlfriends is built on a fairly simple and novel concept. That being that our main character, Aijou, has experienced 100 heartbreaks before seeing the God of Love appear before him and informing him that he was accidentally assigned
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100 soulmates instead of and that failing a relationship with any of the 100 will result in all the girls dying. Apart from this simple premise, the manga doesn't necessary contain any huge overarching goal or rival so far. It's mainly a flavour of the week type of chapter layout, with roughly every chapter or so dedicated to a new girl. For all its simplicity, this format is fairly riveting and so far I've found myself captivated by the concept.
Art - The 100 Girlfriends actually has some fairly unique artwork and is fairly nuanced in its character designs although a couple of characters can become a bit muddled. I think a real test of the series artwork will be as the story progresses and more women are inevitably added to the evergrowing harem.
Characters - The 100 Girlfriends is largely driven by character and its ecchi elements (and in some parts its wholesomeness) so this is largely where the strength of the series lies so far. Each character has unique traits and a character to go with them which makes them all completely different in the context of the wider harem. They are formulaic to a degree and this may become even more pronounced as the series goes on but I find that the characters are interesting enough to merit at least some acclaim in this review.
Overall - So far its hard to judge how feasible this concept can be and whether the flavour of the week approach to the girls that get introduced in this series will be enough to drive an otherwise lacking story but regardless, I think it is an entertaining manga that is captivating enough to warrant my further attention in the future.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Apr 9, 2019
Since this has no review I thought I'd chuck one down to help people that may want to get into this manga.
You may have recently seen a manga by the name of "Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta" climbing up the MAL rankings and cementing itself near the top of the all-time rankings. Aozora to Kumorizora has the same author as the aforementioned manga and in many ways, is similar in its tone and use of very light science supernatural elements combined with almost a Slice of Life feeling. I will try to avoid spoiling this interesting manga as much as possible and leave it
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up to you decide whether you want to start it.
Firstly is the story of this manga and while interesting, it does have its moments here and there where it gets lost in itself. Obviously the manga lacks the necessary chapters that are probably required to flesh it out and therefore I'm inclined to give it a chance until such a time when it is finished or nearing completion. With 16 chapters out so far, the story is interesting and captivating enough to merit a read with characters that open up on themes of death and the meaning and value of life itself. There's a few early twists and unexpected events to make this manga tick along nicely so that is a welcome addition.
The only other thing to talk about with this manga so far is its art style. I am of the mind that is unique in a sense but I'm not totally convinced on it. It may grow on me with more time but at this stage it is lacking the detail that I look for in character design especially concerning the eyes of characters but as I said before, this may change in the future.
Overall, this is a fascinating little read that I think many fans of "Jumyou wo Kaitotte Moratta" would enjoy with many themes and tones being borrowed to create a completely new world and fascinating characters.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Sep 20, 2015
Since this is the first review on this manga, I thought I'd introduce you, the potential reader, to its theme, tone and mood rather than focusing on specific areas and critiquing them.
The manga begins in a modern day setting where a group of college students are led by their classmate to the island she comes from. Now of course, this island is not what it looks like, with the sidelong glances of the hosts and the simmering mood that is present. This mood culminates in a hunt for "intruderss" (the college students) who are not allowed to witness the "ceremony" of the island. I'll
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leave the rest for you to find out but it's fair to say that the story goes down a dark path and over the duration of the manga (so far) it continues to decline into even darker themes.
Finally, to wrap up this review, I'd like to focus on Tarou, the protagonist of the story, who is delightfully explored over the duration of the manga so far. His descent towards madness is delightfully entertaining and it's interesting to see what lengths he'll go to in order to achieve his goals, something which many mangas fail to encapture.
Overall, this manga is not a masterpiece and neither is it spectacular. It is a good read with a plot that twists and turns, making the manga as a whole, very entertaining. A solid 7/10 from me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Apr 14, 2015
Half & Half is another manga by the well-known mangaka, Seo, Kouji. Delightfuly short, emotional to the core coupled with an outrageously good premise and idea, this manga manages to steal the show from some of the other mangas that I have read recently.
Comprising of 13 chapters (the last one is set to come out in a month), Half & Half manages to delve into the themes of betrayal, love and the misfortunes that both of these themes create. Our two main characters are left to deal with these problems after both of them die, resulting in an inteference by god that allows both
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of them to live for 7 days before one has to die. It's simple and elegant but it's able to pull it off so well, creating a manga full of beauty and emotion.
My review is short and to the point. If you need a manga to read in a short amount of time but you also want a deep and meaningful story, backed up by great charactes and an emotional premise, then Half & Half is perfect for you.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Jan 2, 2015
Due to a lack of reviews for this light novel I thought that I'd give my thoughts on Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou in an attempt to make future readers understand a little bit about the series. Before I begin the review I'll say that the anime adaption went from volumes 1-6 and if you feel like skipping the parts that you already know about then i recommend starting from Volume 7. In saying that, it's probably a far better option to begin from the beginning like I did.
Story - 8/10 : The premise for this light novel series is one that you'll often see.
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Sai Akuto is a demon king who has transferred into a magical academy and from there his wonderful adventures begin. This story is built on the foundations of the Ecchi/Harem genre but by the end of the story I felt that the novel managed to surpass its own foundations even if it did retain its unnecesary fan service. The story starts out fairly weakly and for the most part stays like that as the basic school premise restricts any form of creativity and prevents the story from escaping its cliche bonds. The story however, does begin to pick up pace considerably after Volume 6 as the novel turns its attention from a school to a global issue and the theme of a "story" or "fake world". This is where the novel begins to shine and I felt that the writing turned up a notch with the story becoming more complex in the face of more universal themes and ideas. We have an especially metaphorical ending with Volume 13 reaching completely different grounds to the rest of the story in its attempt to convey its ideas and themes to the reader. The story becomes muddled in this section and instead turns towards a view of the world from a god's perspective. It's enjoyable storytelling for the most part and represented a huge change in pace for the series. For the most part this novel sticks to its foundations and only begins to escape its own shackles in the latter half of the series so it can be a fairly lenghty wait.
Art - 8/10 : I've never and will never expect art in a light novel to be anything special. It is not a necessary part of the story and is really only useful in putting a face to a character or creating an image of a scene. Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou however, has some great even for a novel. The characters look great and some of the drawings are plain hilarious with many a comedic scene being converted into art. The art was helpful and pleasing to look upon and therefore gets a good score from me.
Characters - 7/10 : Once again shackled by its own genre, this light novel series failed to create characters that were three dimensional and instead opted to continue along the given path of a harem series and gave us some typical characters with a few twists. Sai Akuto was probably my favourite because he was by far, the most fleshed out character and had a unique way of looking down upon the world. I quite enjoyed having Akuto's view upon the world evolve as the series progresses and his mentally slightly shift in the wake of a far more serious problem that occurs in the latter half of the series. It's his evolution and retention of his former characteristics that make him so unique at the end of the story that he transcends the characters below him to become a truly three dimensional character albeit with some cliche elements inside him. I wish i could say the same of the other characters. Many of them felt muddled and were either one or two dimensional and I lacked the connection with them that I had with Akuto. That isn't to say that I didn't sympathise with them or didn't sympathise with them. I'm trying to say that their cliche characteristics really threw me off from completely liking them. Yes, they are great characters and I enjoyed reading about them but their lack of dimensions meant that they were sub-par at best even at the end of the story.
Enjoyment - 8/10 : Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou was a great read for me. You will hear talks about light and heavy stories in the series and if you've read it you'd understand that for a good part of the series (probably volumes 1-11) the story was extremely light until Volume 12 where the story became extremely heavy in its attempt to convey a message. I think the author mentioned a bout of depression and panic disorder which clearly showed in his writing. This is by no means a bad thing and in fact I throughly enjoyed the latter half of the series. I felt that the sudden shift in pace was oddly jarring and threw me off for a bit before drawing me back in. Overall though, the series really drew me in and held me tight until its final moments where a satisfying yet saddening ending ensued leaving me, like usual, feeling a sense of emptiness at finishing another series.
Overall - 7/10 - Simply put, Ichiban Ushiro no Daimaou, presents a great theme and presents par if not good characters in a fictional world (pun intended (you'd need to finish the series to understand that one) ) full of magic. It falls flat however in the blindingly obvious shackles of the Ecchi/Harem genre that prevents the story from ever davancing beyond its light theme. That is, until Volume 12. You will find yourself jarred by the odd change in pace but I found it delightfully pleasing reading something that didn't advanced far but sent across such a deep message (volume 13).
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 26, 2014
Seeing as this series lacks a review here, I decided to write my little thing on Yukarism. This won't be the most comprehensive review as I feel that giving people an understanding of the series is more important than presenting my own opinions
Yukarism begins in modern-day Japan with our eccentric and wondering male protagonist, Yukari Kobayakawa. He's a 17 year old author who writes novels about the Edo Period. The curious thing is, he doesn't research the period. He's lived in. The theme of reincarnation is used well in this manga and you'll see numerous crossovers and parallels to the Edo period as Yukari is
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thrown into the period as his past self. Now this is where the Gender Bender element is introduced. Yukari's past self works in the Red Light District so there's some hilarious scenes when he's in his past self. Added to this is the addition of other characters who share Yukari's memories of a past life except theirs are more instinctually based then memory based. The story presents these characters and there's an element of mysery as Yukari tries to connect the characters of his past life to those that have been reincarnated. There's a few twists here and there but it's fairly easy to follow.
Yukarism's art is good and the scenes that contain comedy are especially good with plenty of hilarious faces to accompany Yukari's bemused attitude. The area that the art falls down on is the more detailed drawings and especially far-away shots of characters. The characters themselves might look fine close up but they look almost unnatural when they're further away.
I quite enjoyed this manga and although the English translations haven't yet caught up and are quite outdated it's still worht a read. If you like Gender bending and a simple, unique and interesting story with plenty of comedy added in then Yukarism is definitely worth a try.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 23, 2014
I would like to start this review by saying that I'll be covering all 6 volumes of the light novel in this review. While the first volume might be used as the framework and even the basis of the entire novel, the volumes that followed Volume 1 are equally important and I'll try to focus on the series as whole instead of talking about the almost flawless first volume. [If you see me say Hakomari it is another title for Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria. It's just easier to type]
Story - 10/10
Assuming you have read the synopsis of this novel you'd have
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some kind of idea about the setting and atmosphere of the story. I feel that the synopsis really doesn't describe the novel as a whole and even though it focuses on outlining the first volume's plot, it fails to encompass the entire theme and idea behind the novel. Hakomari's first volume flawlessly expands on the synopsis provided to create one of the most intriguing and complex stories that you'll find. You will constantly attempt to solve the mystery yourself and while the story may provide clues to the reader you will often find yourself mistaken in many aspects of this story. The novel does this throughout its entirety and although Volume 2 falls slightly in this regard the rest of the novel is almost perfect. The story is constantly evolving, changing and twsting itself into a seamless expanse of "mind-fuckery" (as I like to call it).
Art - 8/10
I would have liked to leave Art out of the review as I felt it played no part in the novel whatsoever apart from putting a face to my beloved characters. I've given it an 8 simply because it didn't feature prominently in the novel and wasn't an integral part of it. Added to that is the art itself. I liked it but I felt something was off. No idea how to describe it.
Characters - 10/10
Hakomari might seamlessly twist and weave a story that leaves you wondering what's up and what's down but it is the characters presented in the story that manage to steal the spotlight. Throughout its entirety, Hakomari creates some of the most fleshed out and developed characters that you'll ever find. I'll take for example, Kazuki Hoshino, who begins a transformation in the latter half of the 6 volumes that leaves him as a completely different person. Eji Mikage manages to make this transformation seamless as Kazuki slowly but surely transforms into one of the most amazing characters. He's my favourite character for a reason as his transformation uses some of his most defining features and amplifies them due to his obsession with someone. I used Kazuki as an exaple but I can promise that every single character is just as fleshed out and many of them do go through transformations or personal makeovers due to their indivual challenges.
Enjoyment - 10/10
Hakomari is my favourite light novel for a reason. the very first volume takes place in literally one classroom and for most of the volume the setting never changes. Even though the setting doesn't change the story and characters are phenomenal and I was simply drawn in and wasn't let go until I finished all 6 volumes. All 6 volumes are unique, diverse and above all interesting and enjoyable. Hakomari is simply a masterpiece.
Overall - 10/10
I wish more people would recognise the masterpiece that is Hakomari. Today's manga and anime industry is flooded by copy-paste, bland and unoriginal content that uses the same formulas. Hakomari surpasses these constraints and manages to pull off a unique concept flawlessly. If you haven't done so already go pick up Hakomari now and get nice and comfortable because you're about to go on a ride that you'll likely never want to get off of.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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