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Aug 13, 2011
First of all, those of you who really dislike reading Shoujo Ai manga, then I suggest you do not read this because that is what Hime Koibito is, a romance story involving two girls. I personally have no problem with these kinds of things, as I will enjoy any manga of any kind as long as it is interesting. The problem is that I did not really enjoy Hime Koibito, I found it kind of plain and forgettable and I will tell you why in the following review.
The art is probably one the best thing in Hime Koibito and that doesn't say much. Anybody who
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has ever read a shojo manga will automatically feel at ease with this kind of drawing. It does not reinvent the wheel, but it works. Most of the panels in this one shot are centered around the character and their expression to certain news or events. Do not expect detailed background and breathtaking scenery. As a matter of fact, in more than half of the panels you will not see a background, here it is all about the main characters and what they are living.
The characters look good and their strange expression are sometime funny and really convey what the characters are feeling. Well this is only true for the main two girls in the manga, as for any other character they are often drawn with very few details and blank faces, like in most shojo manga. In short this is not an ugly manga at all, but it is not a piece of fine art either.
While the art is important and help you enjoy a manga, the story is without a doubt the most important thing in any work of fantasy. Hime Koibito's story is probably the main reason why I did not enjoy this one shot more. It is a plain romance story that is easily forgettable, as a matter of fact, I had to read it again before doing this review because I had already forgotten most of it.
It is a classic tale of a young girl in love with her sempai and a sempai who has to deal with some personal problem before she can start thinking about her underclassman. This is a formula that I have often seen and most of the time it works, but here it does not. I never found myself caring for Midori's problem or the romance between the two girls.
The conclusion makes it worse as it makes me feel like Midori did not face her problem or evolved at all, but instead got external help from Karen who by the way is the best half of this duo. Still I must admit that the fact that there is only 20 pages makes it harder to get a full-fledged story with real evolution for the story and on the character's side.
And what about the characters. Well, Hime Koibito introduce us to two girls very different from one another. The first one, Midori, is a shy girl with glasses. I personally though that this character was kind of plain and never really stood out in a way that I would like her or enjoy seeing more of her. This is not because she is shy, but rather because she is boring.
Karen on the other end is the best end of this girl duo and probably the best thing this manga has to offer. This outgoing girl manage to put a little smile on my face in this manga where most of the things happening did not really interest me. But no matter how fun Karen is, she cannot save this manga by herself.
In the end Hime Koibito is a manga that I picked up while I was looking for a quick and enjoyable romance manga, what I ended up reading was a quick trip to boredom. This is an easily forgettable manga and I'm glad that it is because this way I'll forget it faster. You can always pick up this one shot yourself and see if you might like it, but in my humble opinion this is a chapter that you should pass.
For more about Hime Koibito: http://www.squidoo.com/hime-koibito-manga-review
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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Jun 19, 2011
First you got to know that Fullmetal Alchemist Gaiden is an epilogue to the acclaimed Fullmetal Alchemist manga so if you haven't read the original manga you really should before checking this one if you want to understand and also because Fullmetal Alchemist is one of the greatest manga out there. With that said of course after the end of the Fullmetal manga people wanted more and this one shot serve as a closure and gives us info about what happens to our hero after the original manga.
For those who have read Fullmetal Alchemist and I hope you have, you will not be in unknown
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ground with Fullmetal Alchemist Gaiden's Art. It's the same old good visual that you're used to and that you liked in the original manga. Detailed background and nice character design is what you can expect from this manga. It might be a little short on content, but it sure does not cut off on the visual part and while we only see 3-4 locations they are all well drawn and live up to the expectation.
While the art part is well-developed, I can't say much about the tale that's being told here. First for those who wanted a last action packed adventure from the brothers you will not find it in this manga. As for those who were looking for more information about what happened to our favorite characters after the end of the manga then you might or might not be disappointed.
The reason for that is that there is indeed a little story here about what Ed, Al and Winry are doing with their life in these times of peace, but it's nothing substantial. It's not really anything that you could not have lived without or that make the story really advance, it's just a little tale with some funny and touching moments.
Nothing new is revealed and the story center around our main two character so in the end I see this tale as just an excuse for us to get more of the Fullmetal Alchemist we loved and there's nothing bad about that.
The main complaint with this one shot apart from it being to short, would be that we don't see some of our favorite character what they ended up as. Al and Ed are still the same and still very entertaining, but it would not have hurt to show a little of what happened with Mustang, Scar or any other fan favorite.
I'm a Winry fan so I'm glad she was included in the chapter, she does not have much to say, but it's OK. Other than her and her grandmother, the chapter mostly centers around Ed and Al and while I understand why the author did that (they are the main cast after all), I still would have liked to see some of the other character we've learned to know and love over the years.
In conclusion I would say that the one shot is quite short so not a lot is said, but for those who just wanted to get more of our hero than you will probably be satisfied by it. For those who wanted more answers or adventures than you won't. I personally found it satisfying and even if some of my favorite character did not appear, I enjoyed reading this chapter.
For more about Fullmetal Alchemist Gaiden: http://www.squidoo.com/fullmetal-alchemist-gaiden-manga-review
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 29, 2011
I don't really read tons of sport manga, but when I heard that Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, would be doing a baseball manga I could not help but wonder how that would all turn out. Well the result is good sport One Shot that sometimes reminds you of Naruto, but still manage to have a life of its own.
If there is one thing in this manga that definitely remind me of Naruto, then it's the art and that's not really a bad thing. I was always a fan of the art style in Naruto and I guess that if both manga are drawn
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by the same guy, then it's bound to look alike so there is nothing wrong there in my opinion.
So what that art style give us is a strong emphasis on the character, their facial expression and the way they move. We also get a background that is full of threes and other natural elements mix with building just like in Naruto. Some of the character design look similar too, but not so much that you would think he just took a character from Naruto and put it in Bench.
If I had one bad thing to say it would be that the characters have strange nose and haircut, the haircut I can do with because in most shonen manga the characters have weird haircut, but the nose really are a little weird. I realize he drew them like that on purpose and that he probably just wanted to make the characters look different from those in Naruto, but I can't say I like it. It kind of remind me of the nose of the Who in The Grinch and I never liked those either.
Apart from that minor detail the rest of the One Shot looks great and it's drawn well enough that we don't have any problems figuring what's going on.
Being a One Shot it's sure that Bench will not have the most detailed or complete story, but that does not mean it's not a well-made and interesting tale. As a matter of fact I loved it so much that by the end I wished that it would have been made into a full-fledged manga.
A group of Baseball player that are laughed at by the rest of the team because of their poor performance, but there is more to those young players than what you would expect. It's not the most original setting, but it works. The story is well-developed and picked my interest in more than one way. The flashback here and there reminded me a lot of Naruto, but the tale itself is quite different from Kishimoto's hit manga. Of course you will find a few elements that are shared by all shonen manga, but apart from that Bench is a manga that can stand on its own without looking too much like Naruto.
Not only did I care a lot about the tale by the end of the One Shot, but I also cared about the characters and wanted to know what would happen to them after.That's all because those characters are quite likable. They have goals of their own, strong and different personalities and actually make sense when they talk. Too often you see a manga with characters that are total wuss or that don't face the situation and would rather flee, well that's not the case here.
Even if sometime you can see a little bit of Naruto, Sasuke or other characters from the ninja world in them, they still manage to differentiate themselves from those popular characters and make an impact on their own.
So overall Bench is quite a good manga and even if you can't help but compare it to Kishimoto's other manga you don't really need to because the two of them are different. The art might look alike and some character design too and they are both shonen, but at the end of the day you're reading Bench for what it is, an interesting sport One Shot and not just a manga made by the guy who did Naruto. So for those who are still hesitating, I say read it, you won't regret it.
For more about Bench: http://www.squidoo.com/bench-manga-review
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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May 23, 2011
Overall Sukima Suki is a good manga. It has an original setting and an interesting story that follows some quite funny characters. The art is kind of odd and not very detailed, but I find it charming and fitting for the manga. The main problem with Sukima Suki would be that it's too short. There is only 10 chapters and sometime I felt that certain things could have been developed more if the manga would have been longer. It still is a good read and I recommend it for anyone who is looking for a romance/seinen type of manga or to anyone who would be
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interested by this original premise.
Go here for my detailed review: http://www.squidoo.com/sukima-suki-manga-review
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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