Half & Half

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

Half & Half is a love story that I can only imagine as tragic, yet beautiful. It has that classic Seo Kouji feel to it, that both brings in his delightfully intrinsic art style, and his fabulous characterization.

I started this manga on a whim, after completing another one of Seo Kouji's works (Kimi no Iru Machi) and found it to be both the shortest manga I have read in a long time, and the most heartbreaking. It is my new Shinichi Nagakawa and Yuuki Sanada are my new Romeo and Juliet.

If you are a hopeless romantic looking for something special; This is it!

The premise is actually nice and, as a short story, you can read it all very quickly. I don't usually like this kind of romance manga but this one had me intrigued and i think the author did a good job in expressing human feelings (something a lot of mangaka's lack). Overall i'd recommend to read it, but keep in mind it's far from a masterpiece. I really didn't enjoyed the ending, not to mention all that scenes where the girl is cooking and then washing the dishes while boy just keeps smiling and thinking he could live like that forever...

When I write, I tend to go straight into being a hypocritical a$$hole. However, for this manga, I feel obligated to say that I actually recommend it. If you are in the mood for a white night, entitlement fantasy (wish fulfillment), sort of a romance then this is actually a pretty good pick. This manga is about a guy and a girl who end up in this situation where one of them has to die, and they have a week to decide which one it is. During this week, they share each other’s senses and emotions, hence ... the title Half & Half. This all happened because they accidentally died together and in what I assume to be purgatory, some random voice that claims to be god set up this ultimatum were only one can live. So basically, this manga is a like Future Diary except with a lot of the fat cut off, and it goes straight to the ending in less than half the time Future Diary took.

I would say the biggest strength to this manga--not counting it’s convenient length--is how the manga actually details out the seven days they spend together. I am one of those people who wound want to see a day in the life actually be a twenty four hour experience. That is obviously a hyperbole though, but I do enjoy seeing as much detail as I can get without it turning irrelevant. And this manga, despite its short length, did a decent job with that. It left me satisfied at least.

Now that I got those few sentences of praise out of the way, I can start being a bully. This manga is as arbitrary as it gets. The whole story is based a premise that is just there as an excuse for this beta male to meet a pretty girl. In any respectable romance, the characters should meet naturally. Girls don’t literally fall out of they sky and get stuck with you until they love you. Despite what this story might say, it just isn’t how reality works. Stories like this I think can be detrimental to its beta male readers. If people actually think this is how relationships happen, then they are gravely mistaken. I really hope I am wrong and that single men don’t expect beautiful girls to fall from the sky and fall in love with them, but you never know.

Honestly, that is about all I am going to harp on. Everything else I could critique I think is kinda irrelevant. I say irrelevant because this story is a cute little traject romance for anime fans that happen to be in the mood for it. Breaking it down would be a waste of time. If I did, I would probably be putting more thought into this than the author did. Consequently, this manga is another Future Diary/Guilty Crown/Darling in the Franxx except it is short enough were you can get the same emotional high in a bathroom sitting rather than 20 plus episodes. And despite my ratings, I actually enjoyed all the titles I listed above. This manga was a fun read, and if you’re in the mood for it, go for it. Since it isn’t anything life changing or super profound, it just gets four in my book. Not entirely bad though.

Like my pretentious rambling? Then please check out my twitch where I ramble about anime live (https://www.twitch.tv/infinite_fiend). I do anime discussions/analysis live for all to comment on in real time. Peace.