Back to DreamingSomeday's Profile DreamingSomeday's Profile

This is more of an expansion on the synopsis rather than a true review since I've only read the first couple of chapters due to the translations being so recent. However, I hope with my "review" I can add some information that might intrigue others to read this so-far-so-good series. ^-^

STORY:
As previously stated, the story is based in a high school setting where the students must fight for survival. What we read and learn is that the high school is unknown to the majority of the public due to supernatural forces. If you can see the school floating among the clouds on an island, ... than you are one of the chosen ones who are accepted, otherwise you are ignorant to it's existance. Once a student is accepted into the school they are given the power to choose a special ability that will aid them in coming battles against supernatural beings. The students must fight these battles everday for a whole year before they may graduate, failure means death.

The story is unique in a sense that it hasn't been done yet, but there are similarities out there. So far it has been set up nicely and I'm eager to see what shall unfold.

ART:
The art is awesome. It was the cover art that caught my eye before the manga was even published. I stumbled upon Gangan Online -a Square Enix project that is an online manga reading site where the story is published -saw Momiji (main protagonist) and knew I had to read this one. So yeah the art is awesome.

CHARACTER:
Well as I've previously stated I've only read a couple of chapters so it would be unfair for me to critique the character development. I can say that so far it would seem that both main protagonist are going to be doing some soul searching to discover who they are and finding inner strength to face the problems at hand.

OVERALL:
All in all I've really enjoyed this thus far. I had my hopes high for this one and Karuna didn't disappoint -pretty good manga considering I believe it to be Karuna's first published work. But as I've said so many times, I've only just begun, so please oh please don't let me down. ^-^

I'd like to start off by saying this series was ended prematurely. From my understanding they canceled the series after 7 volumes. By the end of the 6th volume a huge climax had appeared. I haven't read the 7th volume yet, but I can only imagine it to be a "rushed job" to reach some conclusion in the story.

Story: 8
The story itself was what caught my attention. It focuses on humanity and the order of things. Within the story there exist a new food chain. There are the ogres who eat humans, humans who eat livestock, etc. and then ***spoiler, don't read the rest of ... this paragraph if you don't want to know*** above all sit the ones who eat the ogres. They are the ones who create ogres in order for their own survival. This is where the conflict emerges. Our protagonist in the story wants to fight for humanity, but how can you say it is wrong for the ogres to eat humans when that is the nature of things? How can it be wrong for the ones on top to eat the ogres? Are humans not the same in the sense that cattle is consumed for survival?

Art: 7
The art is okay. It's not exceptionally good, just average. The drawings are clean and easy to perceive. The ogres tend to look similar, if not the same. The characters are drawn distinctly different from each other; a breath of fresh air from the mangas that have all the bishie look a likes.

Character: 7
Detail is given to make the characters apart from one another. Background information on the characters is not common, but it does happen. More could have been done with the evolving of the characters, ***spoiler***especially the ones who stand above the ogres. We don't get to know them very well even though they are a key part in the story.

Enjoyment: 8
Despite the short comings I really enjoyed reading this manga. It was interesting and the story was something I haven't read before. Sure there are similarities, but each story is a bit different. It would have scored higher if my joy in reading it wasn't dampened by the knowledge that it was a canceled series. When knowing a series has been canceled it's a fact the end is either rushed and disappointing, or left open like a major cliffhanger.

Overall: 7
Even though the manga has interesting characters and a unique story, it is apparent that the story is being rushed a bit by the 6th volume which leads to dissatisfaction while reading. I have to admit I'm not too eager to read this 7th volume because I fear I'll be disappointed. I believe there was more potential to this manga, but it wasn't handled as well as it should have been.