Hoshi wa Utau
Twinkle Stars

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Looking at what other reviewers had to say about this manga, I went in not expecting much more than a good story with a decent ending. Wow was I undersold on this one. Twinkle Stars is genuinely on par with Fruits Basket when it comes to Natsuki Takaya's other works and I'm honestly surprised I never hear people talk about it.

As other people have said, this story starts off slow. We are being introduced to characters and getting some setup to later plot threads but the payoff is well worth it. Takaya is amazing at what she does with story threads and tying certain aspects ... of characters to events that we weren't informed of yet. Nothing is a surprise just to surprise you, it all is interwoven together.

The art is exactly how I remembered her style to be. I will say I always enjoyed Takaya's earlier style but still the way she draws emotions is phenomenal. She can either pull your heart strings or make you cry from simple facial expressions.

The last chapter was a bit unsatisfying of an end. It felt a bit rushed but usually I don't hold this against the author. Most times in that case, the publication rushed the deadline or just not enough popularity during serialization can make series' end prematurely. However it wrapped up the story perfectly either way.

Twinkle Stars Review. From the Author of Fruits Basket.

If Fruits basket is half as good as this, I'll probably hate it cuz this manga isn't that great either.

Twinkle stars revolves around the theme of stars. If the title wasn't obvious enough. Our FMC is currently living with a family friend because her parents hate her because this is a manga and loving parents is an alien concept to the Japanese. She meets the male lead whom she immediately falls in love with the male lead because he's the male lead and he said the one thing no one has ever said to her ever in ... her life because every person around is a complete asshole.

For real the manga has a huge problem of making majority of its characters complete dinguses... Dingi? The worst people imaginable. God Forbid you are a parent in this series because you are useless, a pushover, a cunt, or just someone that can push someone to the brink of suicide.

The series had this over the top comedic villains which is almost every parent in the series. I think 1 couple is the only decent parents' in the series. Even then there child is super fucking annoying.

The reason I'm hammering to hard on these problems is because the author tries to hammer the reasoning of MMC's behavior. Like I mentioned this is a shoujo manga, and no shoujo manga is complete without a dickish male lead that opens up slowly throughout the series. Even though I get it. I get his behavior, with parents like those. But its still goddamn annoying. There are series that do the exact same thing but they do it with a much more resounding success. This isn't one of them.

The series is at its strongest when it isn't dealing with parental drama. The parental drama drops the series hard. Even the dramatic crying moments from running away from home cuz your parents' don't love you didn't tug any heart strings.

The series fails on this front because I just don't have the emotional connection the author tries to build between the characters and the audience. So I can't cry with him because Frankly I don't care.

The series later turns into a decent love triangle. Because at this point. Either its Stockholm syndrome or Sunk cost fallacy but I've become somewhat attached to the characters. Even the male lead by the halfway point turns into someone that I actually enjoy reading about. However the love triangle is a bit odd. In the sense that the FMC compares the male lead to a star and the other guy to a Sun. But here's the thing. The sun is a fucking star. So what the hell. I get that she means that one brights up her world, whilst the other is a dream (shooting star concept) but I just found it hilarious.

In the end I'm kinda disappointed with this series. This is made by Fruits basket author. I haven't personally read Fruits basket but that is the main reason I picked up this series.

I think the fact that the author didn't try to redeem the parents characters was a good bonus because after everything they've done I would've hit my screen if they suddenly turned good for no reason.

The main cast is solid (though shakey) enough for me to continue reading this series. It's probably going to be enough for you too. Some of the characters are downright monsters and some characters are fun to hang out with. The art is great. the main Story kinda sucks. The ending is lopsided.

Overall. Medicore with some fun moments. But mostly Medicore. 5/10

It started off really well in the first two volumes, the first omnibus. There was mystery and Chihiro was actually two sided. Chihiro meets Kanade on Saku's birthday. He's holding a present, and when he meets Kanade, he tells him he's her boyfriend. Saku comes home and meets Chihiro for the first time. She thinks he's Kanade's close friend and Kanade thinks he's her boyfriend.

She finds out later that that's not the case. He's neither her boyfriend nor a close friend of Kanade. He's unwilling to be who he really is. He tells her he can be anyone she wants to him be, other ... than himself. So I thought the writing was really good at the beginning. This would be as good as Fruits Basket.

I thought the series would talk about duality within people, how we have who we wanted to be perceived as and who we really are. It'd explore the roles we play in our daily lives. It depicts bullying in a really subtle way and explored the dark side of people, even within a classroom.

That fact was too much is revealed too fast and Chihiro loses his edge. He loses what made him difficult to approach. Chihiro becomes bland. Before, he was sarcastic and rather rude, but blunt and honest. He's not willing to reveal anything about his life in Tokyo. His character to me becomes inconsistent once the hat's out of the bag. And somehow Sei-chan, the rich girl, digs up his file. How's that even possible? Like when Tohru's relatives hired a private investigation and dug into her living conditions. Then all the mystery's gone.

Good storytelling doesn't need to be told. It needs to be shown. Not revealed in a file.

And then it fell into a melodrama and became riddled with shoujo cliches: rich girl with a butler, a love triangle, girl crushing on a teacher, fireworks, and lastly girl in a coma. I've seen this done so many times in the "romance" genre that it's become old and stale. I already knew what would happen and yes I've seen and read Bokura Ga Ita.

Everything that made the first omnibus really good fell to the waist side and it became another angsty boy with baggage who can't be with his one true love for whatever reason. Of course he lashes out as his love interest at some point, for the added drama. He could be a jerk but he didn't need to physically put her to potential harm. Another Bokura Ga Ita, but with much better art. It plays out almost like Bokura Ga Ita. Chihiro becomes another Kakeru from Orange and that flighty boy from Bokura Ga Ita.

I was so disappointed. It started off so well, but devolves into this disheveled heap of a melodrama. Once they introduced the coma girl, I already knew what was going to happen. It's that predictable. I regret reading it or even investing in it. It honestly went on longer than intended.

Stick with Fruits Basket. This ended so badly.