Kamisama no Iutoori

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"As The God of Death Dictates" is a very hard manga to review. It hides behind the shadow of Full Moon wo Sagashite, with which it shares a very similar plot...but after reading it, I have to say that I enjoyed this short manga very much, as much as I did Full Moon.

If you have ever read Full Moon, you will find "Dictates" very very similar to it, with less characters however. I thought that the storyline was not particularly original, but still quite enjoyable. The art is not particularly outstanding (I have seen better). However, Shiro-chan was drawn very well and I enjoyed the ... panels when he appeared. I wish all the characters were fleshed out a bit more though...I suppose that flat characters are inevitable when you have such a short manga.

Looking back at my own review, you'll probably wonder why on earth I gave it a 9 for enjoyment. Well, I have no idea why either, but when you read it yourself, somehow you will agree with me. Although "Dictates" is almost like a copy of Full Moon (but way shorter) it somehow stands alone on par with Full Moon. If you decide to give it a go, read it the whole way through - I guarantee you will want to stick around for the ending.

The visual content or the art isn't exactly the best you'll ever see and the story itself isn't original beyond belief. However, this ordinary manga provoked tears in my eyes.

A death god, a shy little girl, and the boy whom the girl loves. I'm disappointed in the amount of character development done by the author, but the plot was perfectly tragic.You don't really get to see the relationship between Ayumi (the shy girl) and Musashi (the boy she loves) develop, however, you can see her relationship with Shino (the death god) change. The amount of development wasn't adequate considering there were 8 chapters...at first glance ... you would think this manga was another one of those typical shoujo mangas. Can't say I disagree.

This manga, however, did provoke emotional interest in me. As you read this manga, you can feel the feelings of the author as she was writing and drawing this. The characters' feelings really come to life even if the art doesn't.

The author brings out human nature in this manga.

We naturally resent death.

But we naturally don't want those we care about to disappear.

I'm surprised this is getting reviews as high as 8. Though being a die-hard Full Moon Wo Sagashite fan, thus die-hard shinigami fan, I gave a read out of curiousity.

Story: It is hard to for me to resist a story with a plotline such as this....but the problem is, it's WAY too rushed. The part that's the most rushed is the whole love triangle. Girl likes boy (and that's all we really know about her, besides that she is an airhead who is kind) boy likes girl back (and that's all we know about HIM) and then the shinigami boy begins to like girl too ... because.....she's the main character.
Yes, that's all it feels like. She's the main character, thus he must like her. She sees him crying, they have ONE friendly conversation....and then he is supposed to be in love with her. So in "love" that he needs to go after her boyfriend out of jealousy and then stop caring about his own well-being.
After ONE conversation over the matter of a WEEK!?
*sigh* This doesn't work for me. Sure, it's only two volumes...but that's not a good excuse to rush the triangle. I've read ONESHOTS that are more convincing than this.
The premise is fine but the execution is poor. Very poor. Did I mention that we aren't even given a reason to why she can see him....she just can?

Art: Oh boy. I've read SO much shoujo....but Mimori Ao's character art is.....probably one of the worst I've ever laid eyes on. Her SD/"chibis" are fine, as the comical expressions (they are indeed cute enough) but when the scene is serious and she draws the faces and bodies in that "normal" way, they are really really unappealing. The lizard noses, the big under-lashes, and the thick bottom lips all combined in one face just look so.....ugly. o_O

Character: If you want characters you're really going to care about and relate to....and root for.....this isn't the manga for ya. There's nothing to Ayumi, the heroine. There's nothing to her boyfriend. The only one who gets development is Shiro and his doesn't make a whole lot of sense and it happens too quickly and it's also too much.

Enjoyment: I dunno if I can say I enjoyed it...though it was hard to stop reading it. Like I said, it's the premise that hooked me. If the art was anything decent, I know I would have enjoyed it a bit more.