Voynich Hotel
The Voynich Hotel

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If I suddenly came into elaborate amounts of money, I would track down Dowman Sayman/Douman Seiman and fund this to be an anime out-of-pocket.

It sounds cheesy as hell but I laughed, I cried, I rejoiced.... I felt it all here man.

This is a remarkably quirky, original, romantic, and funny manga in many ways that I was not expecting. The art is unique and western inspired but it only adds to the fun of the characters and the plot.

Seiman is a master of keeping multiple plot lines going at once that intertwine without one ever getting boring. I genuinely feel this is a perfect ... manga in terms of story telling. There were no loose ends left even for the most minor of characters. Seiman has a gift of in a sexual, gross, quirky, and funny way making everything enjoyable.

I read it all in one sitting and then after had to go outside and experience "post good story ending" syndrome.

This is what got me aboard the Seiman fan train. I have since hunted the ends of the earth for every work translated to read in entirety. I literally never shut up about this manga or Seiman and their mastery of awkward romance comedy stories.

Short version: Voynich Hotel is a comedic slice-of-life series that excels at not taking itself seriously, and ends up being a lot of fun to read.

Medium version:
Voynich Hotel is a slice-of-life in a weird setting, much like Aria or YKK. But instead of focusing on the imaginative world of Neo Venezia, Voynich Hotel emphasizes the characters. The backstories of Elena and Taizou aren't tough to figure out, but they comes out one piece at a time, revealed through actions instead of straight-up exposition. In the meantime, these two go through the motions of a normal daily life, but in the midst of witches, zombies, and ... murderers.

Everything that happens is over-the-top crazy, but Voynich Hotel treats it like it's a normal everyday occurrence. This matter-of-fact attitude makes each interaction strange and unpredictable, and that combination is addicting. I read this always thinking, "how could they possibly react to this??" ...and still got pleasantly surprised each time.

So what's the worst two things you could put together? Great, now combine them and make it work out. That's the whole feeling of reading Voynich Hotel.

*Disclaimer*
Just personal scratch.
Advised, possible spoilers.
Opinion & Informal

Art: 8/10 The unique art style of this was fresh and surprisingly fit with the mood and direction the manga went in. Cartoon-cute style. Anatomy and proportions weren't realistic but were instead part of the style so it was fine. The backgrounds and environment weren't too impressive. There weren't any 2-page spreads or impact-panels to note. This manga made up for it in storytelling and the atmosphere it was able to build.

Panel Progression: 7/10 Easy to follow but was very particular about details that added a lot of information. There were some nice use of panel-spanning art and ... panel-cutting.

Characters: 8/10 This manga did a really good job in keeping me interested in the characters. I actually wanted to know what would happen to the side characters. This manga did a good job in keeping even the side characters interesting and getting me to want to know more about them. Although the MC could be said as an average bland MC, he did have enough mystery to him and substance that I didn't hate him. The MC was alright. I liked the two maids. I also really liked the ghost chick genius who got high and died. She was cute. The relationship with her and that manga artist was to die for. That one super short bit on how the manga artist hid the manga draft she liked because he was afraid of her finding happiness and ascending was just so touching and practically made this manga for me. I loved how each chapter could just be some shit show and not have too much meaning to it while others could just give you such well done character and world building.

Plot: 8/10 The synopsis does not do this manga justice. The plot though is actually super simple. It's a slice of life with a whole lot of twists. It does such a brilliant job of introducing the supernatural to reality. By the end of it I didn't even realize how casually I accepted everything that was thrown at me. This manga was able to blend so many crazy things like demons, witches, zombies, assassins, drug dealers, gangsters into a slice of life with smiles and mystery. It just all seemed so natural. I did not so much as question any of those and why they existed in the story.

Development: 10/10 Wonderful, absolutely wonderful. Each chapter was very short, maybe no longer than 10 pages each, but each and every chapter had impact. Each chapter slowly added to the story. Bit by bit you were introduced to the characters, their backgrounds and the story. At its roots this manga is a simple love story between the MC and the main girl, but this manga throws so much more at you in such a natural way. The characters, their deaths, their departures... everything was done in such a nonchalant and natural way. The chapter and story progression also is like Haruhi but not as annoying; that's the best analogy I could think of. The story is non-linear and can jump from going chronologically, reverse, or all over the place. However, the way it's done is clear to understand and uncluttered. What this manga did so well was tell the story without using exposition. Things just happened and we were left to think about it. Nothing was too deep or confusing. Like I said, it's a simple story but the storytelling is what was so great about this.

Conclusion: 10/10 This type of open-ended ending was appropriate. There was a time skip in the chapter before the last to wrap up the side characters, then it jumps back to the circa present for the MC and main girl to go on a vacation together. The final reveal of her being a witch and his response was just too appropriate. The idea that they will continue on together and the future unknown was a good ending for this, I mean the story wasn't over the top but was over the top at the exact same time which is why this was so good. A super simple ending, for a super simple over the top love story. Great.

Overall: 9/10 Took me a bit to get my thoughts collected for this, but this was truly a great read once I thought about it.