Marmalade Boy

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Crazy wacky situations that bring about the sweetest moments. This is the essence of Shoujo, and Marmalade Boy is no exception. Marmalade Boy manages to get it's firm grasp around the reader during this very sweet shoujo experience, and it never lets go.

Like most Shoujo manga melodrama shall always peak it's unwanted head into our world. As to be expected with angsty teenagers, but never fear Wataru Yoshizumi is a smart women and knows how to handle this with care. The thing with Melodrama that makes it unbearable at times is it stays around far too long. However this isn't the case of Marmalade ... boy. Nothing is at a stand-still, everything is progressing forward at a steady rate, that never feels rushed, but it never feels like it's lagging behind. The Melodrama that comes with all teenagers is never exaggerated in this manga. It is laid out in front of the reader and it is quickly taken care of in a very tasteful manner that manages to please the reader.

Characters have always been what pulls me into any Shoujo material. Whether or not I find the characters believable as people and the way the handle the situations they are presented with are usually what I look for. Sure great character development and characterization is a plus, but that isn't what draws me into Shoujo. Yes the situations that these characters have to deal with aren't always believable, but it's fiction, I don't expect the plot to always be believable. But I do expect the characters themselves to be believable, since they actually represent people. So I look towards the characters to be something I can confirm reality in, and Marmalade Boy meets this very much so. Wataru Yoshizumi knows how to write good, believable characters, and you really get attached to them. She gives everyone's view-point and you really have a feel of where each of our character stands at. So you never get mad at the choices they make, they are of the most part very logical and I can totally understand and sympathize with the characters. Something which is very important to me and it really gets the reader attached to the characters.

And that is what really keeps us turning each page with such suspense. It's not the overly amazing plot, no it's the characters. Because in Shoujo the characters make the plot, it's not the other way around. You read shoujo because you want to get sucked into someone else's life and Marmalade Boy does a very excellent job with this.

I know I am focusing on the characters quite a bit but that is because they are so memorable. That is not to say that the plot isn't worth mentioning, because that isn't the case. It's just in a manga such as Marmalade Boy, the characters are the plot. Marmalade Boy is about following the characters we are presented with and their journey to find love. There really is no story outside of the characters desire to love one-another and the driving forces to stick that out. But that is all we really ask for. We read this because we went to be swept up into a romantic fantasy, not because we wish to unravel some mystery or defeat the ultimate villain. No we wish to follow this journey of love and that is what Marmalade Boy does.

Marmalade Boy will set you up on an epic journey that will in times leave you in laughter, tears, heartache, and overall joy. It's truly a thrill as we embark as wonderful ride as our characters set out to find love in their lives.

After reading Handsome na Kanojo from the same mangaka, I couldn't wait to reread Marmalade Boy after reading it two times and dropping it. This time I finished without dropping and read it in a duration of nearly half a day.

I dropped it twice before probably because I was still immature and hated love triangles not even giving it a second thought that they will end up together in the end anyway since most Shoujo manga do. But a third time, I've read countless other Shoujo manga and was exposed to many more genres, storylines and ending that left me sad and heartbroken but ... totally changed my view in life in a more realistic way. So when I gave this manga another shot, I read through all the hurdles and obstacles the main leads had to go through and I rather quite enjoyed the character development they had after going through those problems successfully.

The Story is pretty cliche but I give it out of nine because it has its own original elements and the last arc at the end of this manga made me think, wow, that was good and unexpected. Because this was a considerably old manga, I guess the act of incest wasn't approved in society's eyes unlike the less strict society today. So, the last arc was quite unexpected in more ways than one and in that arc I felt absolutely engulfed in Miki and Yuu's feelings. It almost made me cry too. Also, I gave it a 9/10 because of the supporting characters having their own story along with the main story line. I would probably get bored if the manga is all about Miki and Yuu ALL THE TIME. So I get refreshed every time the manga also tells the story of the supporting characters, like what happened to them, how they felt and what happened after so every time they finish telling the story of a pair of supporting characters and turn to Miki and Yuu back again, I feel even more excited.

The Art is to my liking yet again which is one of the reasons I gave it a 9/10. The other is that the mangaka really drew and displayed the characters emotions, inner turmoil and thought really well. She also used each and every panel according to the story arc to add up in the perfect portrayal of the drama, sadness, tremendous shock and other feelings of the characters. It totally add to the emotions you're feeling inside when you read it. Plus. because of the art, I nearly cried in the last arc when I literally felt the amount of love, sadness and despair portrayed by Miki and Yuu. Especially Yuu. Despite the story line not totally revealing the reason why Yuu fell in love with Miki, but the way the mangaka drew Yuu's emotions in that last arc made me truly believe, with not a single doubt, that he loves Miki with all his heart. It really touched me, man.

The Character in this manga is worth 9/10 as well. There are annoying, likable, and the idol kind of characters in this manga. I got angry, frustrated and fretful over the characters at times because of the decisions they made and all. But that made the characters all the more real and relatable as they go through character development. At the end some characters may be quite the same as they were at the beginning of the manga but there were some changes, albeit, unnoticeable. But the fact that I ended up having neutral feelings towards all the characters, losing all the hate and annoyed emotions towards them, is a feat that not much manga has, I guess.

Enjoyment is a 10/10 this time. I really enjoyed the ups and down the character went through. I enjoyed the Romance between the characters, the love triangles, the humor, the drama and probably everything in the manga. Sure there were flaws here and there, but it 's nothing much compared to the amount of fun I had reading the manga. I just LOVE old mangas!

Overall, it's a 10/10 and I have clearly stated the reasons why, I guess. The ending gave a good closure to the story. I was content with all the characters, the art is a favorite style of mine and the roller coaster ride I went through reading this manga was fun. The only thing left is probably watching Marmalade Boy Movie to get a good idea of the reason Yuu fell in love with Miki. I'm looking forward to it!! ;D

I do not know why, but I have this guilty pleasure of reading forbidden romances. Forbidden romance between family intrigues me (as long as they are not blood-related that is). That is one of the reasons why I picked up on Marmalade Boy.

Marmalade Boy has exceptional art for an old manga. In fact, it had quite a few beautiful panels.

The plot is quite typical for a forbidden romance manga, but it has a different turn. Instead of a regular step sibling, the two MCs families are living together under a same roof (and we can't forget the fact that their parents swapped spouses). ... The story had a good pace at the beginning where our female protagonist Miki couldn't accept her situation right away and had hard time settling in. Along the way, our main male protoganist Yuu is a bit mysterious who doesn't to express his feelings as much as Miki. Already, I liked the contrast and dynamic between the two characters, and it was a realistic, cute development between the two main characters. The love rivals in this manga also had good roles that successfully developed the relationship between Miki and Yuu, and I did enjoy their individual traits, especially Arimi.

Now here is where I start to be critical. While I really enjoyed the first half of the manga, I didn't enjoy the climax and falling action. I don't want to spoil, but I have to say that the drama was a bit far-fetched and could have been easily solved. The conflict/misunderstanding stretched too far to the point where I was almost laughing at how ridiculous they characters were behaving. I didn't even understand how the MCs reached to their "conclusion" and why they acted in such ways. Maybe I am bit too critical, but that is the only memory I have of this manga, which I finished only two weeks ago.

Overall, I did quite enjoy this manga. I just had several problems at the second half of the manga. The family situation was ridiculous but unique, and the forbidden romance was exciting to read. If you don't mind miscommunication and dramatic misunderstandings, then I would recommend Marmalade Boy. The love between Yuu and Miki is definitely strong no doubt, and their struggles were difficult to overcome... I guess.