Umi no Misaki

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Fact of the matter is this; it’s the single greatest harem manga ever written, other than Domestic Girlfriend if you subconsciously retcon that disaster of an ending. But I digress.

Ecchi manga is nice. I love tits. We love tits. They’re great. Yet it is a genre plagued with mediocrity. Shallow characters, often sub-par art work, no plot or character development, shitty tropes, and spineless protagonists. Fortunately for you, Umi No Misaki was written and it manages to subvert all of those negative expectations you would have for a ecchi/ harem manga.

It’s a manga that does a great job at feeling mostly organic when it ... comes to relationship development and the characters. You see a seemingly dull protagonist fill out into someone of significance that you care about. You see the perspective of the various heroines and how he begins to appeal to them, and grow on them. You don’t get deadlocked into a stagnant relationship that climaxes with a kiss. Let’s just say the author doesn’t pull any punches here.

I have a fondness for Japanese island settings and this scratches the itch perfectly. Vivid detail goes into the cape setting. It’s beautiful through and through, with vivid depictions of the ocean, the island, the surrounding sea caves, or even the ancient religious ceremonies depicted. Character designs are simple, but effective given that Soyogi is so damn cute.

It’s a romance anime. You’re not going to get your mind blown like you’re reading something written by Naoki Urusawa. But the underlying narrative keeps you glued, and can often be quite unpredictable.

I thought it impossible to find a manga or anime that some how manages to find the delicate balance between the trifecta of tits, plot, and genuine romantic sentiment. But alas, it is now proven that it can be done. As someone who is a Stan for romance but always found the genre completely and utterly underwhelming, this manga is one that I was searching for, for literal years.

For 7 straight years, this manga continued its magical run until it got its formidable climax and conclusion.

Also for 7 straight years (or 7 days, AKA the time it took for me to finish reading it), we got the ugliest hairstyle of any male MC I've ever seen in my entire life. I've read over 10k chapters worth of shounen, romance, comedy, drama and action manga, and I've never seen a man with hair so unbelievably distracting that I wanted to snip them off myself through the screen.

But anyways, let's get to the actual review.

Story - 8
Umi no Misaki was as creative as it was ... powerful in its world-building and story progression. Seldom did I witness a chapter diverging away from the main plot, and even if it did, the next chapter ensured we were right back on track. This could've EASILY been a two-hundred-chapter manga if we slipped off the beautiful pace the story was written in. Additionally, the lore made things even more creative, especially compared to your typical harem rom-com. However, I felt that it definitely needed better foundations before being injected into the plot, as we didn't exactly get an answer on "WHY" Nagi was who he was (I'll avoid spoilers).

The story itself walked to a climax in linear fashion, making everything easy to follow. It was in this aforementioned climax where readers were thrown drama after drama, right in their faces; a satisfying experience for some, and a deteriorating read for others. I see both sides: a dramatic climax only enhances the already creative plot line, but it also runs the main happy atmosphere (established in the first half of the manga) completely off-course.

Finally, one thing I want to point out is that after the story’s climax, the conclusion is quite short-lived. A few more chapters to really linger out the resolution would’ve been a nice follow-up.

Art - 8
I’m not even going to jump back into the issue with Nagi’s hair. Like I said: grab a pair of scissors, and cut that sh*t off. I’ll focus on everything else now.

Fumizuki-sensei’s art is quite unique in the manga world. He draws his characters distinctively and with a unique style: larger eyes, detailed clothing, classic blush lines on the cheeks, and beautiful backdrops for scenery. The one component distracting me at times are the eyes - sometimes they may appear bigger than they need to be, but that’s a minor aspect (and obviously a preference-based comment).

Characters - 8
To sum this part up: there are both good and bad sides to describe, but the good outweighs the bad.

The good: I loved Nagi’s character development - it followed the pace of the story itself well. I could even argue that the story’s progression was dependent on Nagi’s growth (a regression coefficient of almost 1, if you will). While obviously his indecisiveness probably bothered readers as much as it did for me, his confidence visibly grew as the chapters went on, and - for someone traumatized by the typical indecisive “wimpy” male harem MC, Nagi was perfectly fine with me. Another thing I loved was the initial development of the three maidens (AKA Nagi’s harem). What started in hate, confusion or refusal quickly turned into love, and the maidens showed their growth exponentially near the beginning.

The bad: Depth of characters was alright, but breadth of characters went into the bin. Besides the introduction of Keiko (Mike) around the middle of the story, hardly anyone else got any spotlight. The supporting characters weren’t exactly there to add diversity, and Tama-chan didn’t get much screen time for an in-depth look into her past. Why is she so interested in island folklore? Where’s her conclusion in this story? Heck, what are the primary characters going to do in the long-term future as well?

Overall Enjoyment - 8
The most memorable moment for me was when I began reaching the climax. I couldn’t stop flipping through the chapters - the story dropped the ball on a wholesome and happy vibe, and completely flipped the script. It made me excited to see something different within the harem genre, on top of what was already a pretty interesting story.

Obviously the manga has its faults: a rushed conclusion without a look into a long-term road, lack of supporting characters, and some island lore that needed more foundations before jumping into action. Yet as a reader, the story was interesting none-the-less, and I genuinely think it deserves at least a 8/10.

Last but not least - sensei, please… don’t draw someone with Nagi’s hair ever again. Please.

I have a really hard time buying into the premise: falling in love very very very deeply with 3 girls (actually it's more than 3, you know it yourself if you read it) in such a short amount of time.

Story:3
The main point of the story is a folk tradition that forced the MC to have a certain relationship with the heroines. I find this setting to be very clunky, considering that the MC HAVE to choose someone for the sake of ritual. The progress is also boring: encounter-rejection-acceptance-wobbawobba-final date; times three since the flow is all the same for each heroine.

Art:3
Not a fan, just ... not a fan. The proportion sometimes warped and there's 3 characters that looked too similar to each other. Shizuku, Soyogi, Rinne; sometimes I confused between shizuku and soyogi when she do not wear her glasses. When it comes to Rinne I sometimes confused whether it's a flashback into younger Shizuku or it' s just Rinne.

Character:3
The premise is so focused on the ritual which is tied to the 4 main casts. This makes another characters only functioning as an extra, with exception of the sensei, girl number 4 and girl number 5. And you know what, number 4 and 5 is already out of the loop since they obviously do not have relation to the ritual. Makes me wonder why they even there aside from forcing age diversity. Among the 4 main casts the three heroines are terribly inconsistent. Maybe, the concept is that "the girl change after falling in love with the MC", but the change is too obvious to the point that they feels like a different character. The drastic emotional change from hate-neutral-'terribly fall in love' in such a short timeline also... do not help with their character building.

Enjoyment:3
The three heroines have similar template in character building and story flow, which makes reading this whole series once feels like already three repeat of the same story. Not an enjoyable experience to be honest. And the ending... My god... It's one level below bad harem manga.

Overall:3
If you're familiar with generic visual novel storyline, that is what you'll get. Encounter-rejection-acceptance-competition-wobbawobba. Yes all that in that order times three. You see one heroine in rejection phase, then expect another two to repeat. One heroine in wobbawobba phase, expect another two to do the same. Very predictable and to cbe honest just boring.