Toumei Ningen no Koi
Invisible Girl in Love

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Mod Note: This review was initially posted for the one-shot, Matryoshka, and was subsequently merged into Toumei Ningen no Koi.

This one shot is from the point of view of a boy. He has dated many girls in his live before but he always broke up within a short time. He meets his childhood friend and they talk about Russian Dolls. He then thinks about the memories they shared to finally realizing something. I prefer reading manga from the point of view of a girl, but this didn't mind me at all, I would read it again many times.
I really enjoyed the story. Maybe it's a ... little predictable about what will happen at the end of the story, but I think about what happens inbetween is really original. And because of that I would give the story an 8.
It's not the typical shoujo art with really big eyes, but I prefer a different kind of art like Kimi Ni Todoke or this one. It's a more realistic art. I thinks it's drawn really nice so I give this a 9
It's hard to understand, see developments and feel the characters in a one-shot. It's about two people. I guess from what I read the girl is really shy, and the boy is really slow in realizing things. These two are likeable characters so I will give this a 7.
I really enjoyed reading this. I wasn't bored once, so I will give enjoyment a 10.
Overall it's an original one shot, with a predictable ending but when you've read this you'll get a satisfied feeling. It's a simple yet sweet story. So overall I would give it a 9.

Mod Note: This review was initially posted for the one-shot, Matryoshka, and was subsequently merged into Toumei Ningen no Koi.

Story: 8

For a one-shot, the story is well written even though it does have its clichéd moments. Its biggest asset is definitely the way the author presents the plot and how it comes altogether in the end. One shots are usually about 15-60 pages meaning authors don’t have time to waste a page on any frivolous scenes and this story manages to avoid that.


Art: 7

With this story’s art, one can immediately notice that the characters are not superficially drawn and looked more lifelike so it makes ... it more relatable. The art doesn’t falter and keep its style till the end.


Characters: 9

I must say that I was very content with the character development since one doesn’t see it often in one-shot stories. It wasn’t also rushed as if the characters magically became a whole new different person; there was meaning behind how the characters changed in the end. The author also did a fantastic job adding the backstory of the characters in appropriate moments so it doesn’t seem as if she just wrote it randomly to ‘support’ the character development in the end; it was well planned and carefully thought about it.


Enjoyment: 9

This story made me chuckle from here to there and definitely made me smile throughout the story so it’s only reasonable that it left quite an impression on me.


Overall: 8

To wrap it up, I highly recommend this story if you are looking for a short and sweet one-shot that actually make sense.

Mod Note: This review was initially posted for the one-shot, Drops, and was subsequently merged into Toumei Ningen no Koi.

This is a really good and very original manga.

The originality does not lie in the story "per se", but rather in the way it is structured. As simple and routinary the actual facts or events in Ando Yuki's stories may be, her plots always have an interesting structure.

Story - 10 / Character development - 8

The first time I read it, I thought the manga showed an instant, a brief moment, in the lives of several people that didn´t even know each other. All this ... mini love stories happened at the same time, on a rainy day, and were connected by some random event.

But after discussing it with another reviewer, and reading it again, we ended up figuring the whole thing is one sole story, with the same two characters or at least one of them in each mini-episode, flashback or memory.

Both options or interpretations would work. But the second one is even better. However, It’s a shame it´s a little confusing. It isn’t that clear the characters are always the same, and that is mainly because the female character changes hair color. Not that it can´t be, hair can be bleached... but I wouldn´t have done it in this particular manga, because it´s misleading.

I´m still rating Drops with a 10, because I honestly don´t think this is much of an issue. The charm of the manga lies somewhere else in my opinion. The charm lies in the "mood" of the manga, in the beauty of the instants it shows, in the great amount of small and almost imperceptible details that help construct the story, even in the chaos of the story´s structure: the world and memories are in fact chaotic.

Art - 10

Although Ando Yuki's manga is labeled as shoujo, neither her plots nor her art are the typical shoujo. Her art is clean and mature, with simple backgrounds, or no background at all. There is a vanguardist -black and white pop art- feel to it.

I highly recommend reading this one-shot, which may be her best.

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Mod Note: This review was initially posted for the one-shot, Matryoshka, and was subsequently merged into Toumei Ningen no Koi.

It feels nice when you come across good one-shots such as this one.

The story is simple and the ending is predictable... but it´s the way it is told what makes it special. Yuuri has just been dumped by her girlfriend, and looks for comfort in her childhood friend, Nina.

He shows her a matryoska he had bought for her ex-girlfriend as a present, and as the play around with it, Yuuri starts unfolding his memories with his friend Nina, just like the matrioskas open to reveal a smaller one inside.

As I said before, the ending is predictable, but the way in which it is told, isn´t. I think the last four panels in the last page may be the best thing in the manga... with everything being kept "implied" rather than "shown".

As regards the characters... obviously, in a longer manga, there is more time to work on them, so the characters in Matrioska must be judged taking into account that this is a one-shot. There is little you can do to develop a character in depth in a one-shot manga... but this two characters you come to care for. It is remarkable how the author managed -in barely 50 pages- to create endearing characters.

The art is beautiful. It is very mature, extremely simple, especially the backgrounds, and the characters are very expressive.

I highly recommend reading this.