Back to Fancyjasper's Profile Fancyjasper's Profile Retired Moderator

Going into this manga it’s important to know that it’s a comedy series first and foremost. When people see a shoujo manga of this length I think it gives them certain expectations going in and it’s best to get them in order before starting such a lengthy manga. For one, I’m sure people would expect the leads to have gotten together by the end or half-way through the story at least. That’s not what happens in The Wallflower. It’s unconventional and this is true from beginning to end.

A young girl living in a mansion with 4 hot guys certainly sounds like a dream come true, ... but the protagonist of this story, Sunako, is far from your normal shoujo heroine. Her best friend is an anatomical model and she sits in her room giggling at the gory scenes in horror movies. After being rejected and called ugly by her crush, she's become extremely reclusive and thinks of herself as a hideous creature of the darkness, whilst calling the beautiful men she lives with "radiant creatures of the light". Hearing a premise like this I think it’s easy to imagine the story going in a certain direction. Maybe Sunako will slowly become a normal girl? Maybe she’ll finally realize she’s beautiful? Eh nope, that doesn’t really happen and I love it for that. The characters try over and over to change her into something she’s not and she resists this every step of the way. Sure a lot of this is for comedic effect, but I think being true to who you are is a big part of this story.

As the manga goes on it’s clear to the audience and many of the characters that the two leads, Kyouhei and Sunako are perfect for each other. They’re just not ready for a relationship at this point in their lives. For anyone worried this means there’s a lack of romance, don’t be. 2 of the 4 main guys have established relationships with some very cute scenes together. Whilst I don’t think you should read this just for the romance element, there is some of it here and it’s nice to see characters actually in relationships for a change.

The art seems to be a real issue for many people. Whilst I agree the art didn’t translate well into the anime adaptation, the manga art is super pretty. We get a lot of chibi depictions of characters, but I found the detailed drawings of the men and women to be stunning. The author has certainly perfected the ultimate bishonen look.

Whilst I had no problems marathoning this manga, I’d probably recommend others not to do that. It’s very episodic in nature so it doesn’t require a reader's undivided attention for the whole 36 volumes. I’d say give it a few chapters here and there and leisurely make your way to the end. Give it a go if you want a more wacky shoujo that doesn’t follow the norms of the genre.

Here we have another anime getting a remake for its anniversary. With a fairly lengthy anime adaptation for this series already existing, the question is whether this new adaptation is worth it. This review and score reflect both seasons as a whole.

Characters suffer quite a bit in this new series. Mint is practically a different character now and Zakuro is way too talkative for a few examples. I'm not a fan of the changes and even without comparing to the original series, most of the characters are just okay. Aoyama as the main love interest did tend to be criticized for being boring back in ... the 2000’s series. I never found that to be the case. Megumi Ogata voiced him and it’s true that probably added a lot to his character back then. In New I really do feel like he’s a boring love interest, in due part to his new actor. The new voice cast is fine overall, but replacing someone of Ogata’s caliber is a real shame.

There’s quite a few anime original episodes and new scenes. I didn’t find most of these that interesting and I only really started to enjoy the newly added content towards the end of season 2. I actually preferred how the final conflict played out this time around, as we got more time with the big bad which expanded upon ideas brought up in the original show that never had any pay off. Plus seeing what the cast is up to after the main conflict was over was really nice to see.

Music is a mixed bag. On its own the music is great - really grand and epic sounding. Problem is it lacks identity. This is the same composer as the Sailor Moon Crystal OST and that’s all I could think of whenever these grandiose tracks started playing. The original anime really nailed its OST. Each of the Mew Mew’s had their own transformation music that reflected their personalities, now it’s all the same and blends together for me. Again, the music is great on its own, it’s just not a great fit for this series.

I noticed there’s quite a few scenes where the characters start singing an insert song. The cast sings the opening and ending too. It’s cute, but I suppose the cynical side of me was starting to think this anime was made purely to promote their new idol group, thus we got quite a few songs out of nowhere sometimes. It’s not like there’s a new insert song every episode, but I did feel most were a bit intrusive when they happened and felt out of place.

Tokyo Mew Mew New is a totally fine anime. Despite my complaints, It isn’t offensively bad, nor does it butcher the original material. It just doesn’t have much going for it to recommend it to anyone other than hardcore fans such as myself who want to see more of these characters. Everything from the character outfits to the characters themselves are downgraded. I only got excited during the odd new scene I liked or whenever Quiche was on-screen. Give the 2000’s series a try instead and only watch this one if you’re dying for more content...Or if you’re a depraved Quiche fan such as myself and need to see more of him to survive.

Murder incarnation is a very short episodic manga, so i'll try to keep things as vague as possible to avoid spoilers.

Story+Characters-
Murder Incarnation tells 4 different stories over the course of its 10 chapters. They all revolve around the goal of bringing someone dead back to life through the killing of 3 people.Each story has a different twist and i thoroughly enjoyed all of them, the last one being the highlight for me.

There is only one constant character throughout this manga, Mikuni Maya. The mysterious girl with twin tails who has an interest in corpses and offers to bring the dead back to life in exchange ... for 3 murders.The other characters of a story will only be around for 2-3 chapters, but they all bring something new to the table. Some characters make you want them to succeed in the killings and others don't.

Art-
The art has a strange style to it. It seems as though the artist has created 3D models and then altered them digitally to look black and white.I don't know the exact term for this style, but it added greatly to the manga's tone for me, as everything looked very "otherworldly".

Final thoughts-
I stumbled upon this manga whilst browsing Crunchyroll's manga section and i was a lot more than just pleasantly surprised by it. The only negative for me was that we didn't really learn anything about Maya. Why does she do this? Where does she come from? One chapter from her perspective would have been perfect,as this just held it back from that perfect 10 for me.

If your looking for something short to read in one go that has interesting stories with twists and turns give this one ago, it might surprise you.

This is one of my top manga series of all time.It's going to be getting an official English release this year and despite the series not being finished yet, i thought it'd be a good time to write a review of it for anyone who's curious about it.
------------------
Story+Characters
------------------
The story is very interesting and contains a lot of mysteries. It presents many questions about this world and it's characters. Like, who and what are the moon people? What is the managers goal? Where do these gems come from? and is there anyone else on this world?The series is not all dark and depressing either,as there is ... a lot of comedy here too which i enjoy.

The most intriguing part of this series for me were the gems themselves. All the characters aren't just named after gems, they literally are that gemstone and take on their real world properties.For example, Cinnabar is toxic and keeps himself away from everyone, whilst Diamond is one of the strongest fighters due to his hardness level which prevents him from breaking easily.

I really enjoy all the characters in this series,while some get more time in the spotlight than others, their personalities were distinct enough that i remember them well. Phosphophyllite is an amazing main character,without spoiling anything, lets just say he gets a LOT of character development.

Also an interesting thing to note is that all the characters are androgynous and refer to each other using male pronouns. Just another element that makes this series so unique.
------------------
Art
------------------
Very stylish. I love how the art shows how shiny these gems are,like how their hair refracts the light onto their shoulders. Although it is a little morbid seeing a character broken into pieces sometimes.

The character designs are great too, despite how most of the characters wear the same uniform, their hair styles are unique enough to tell them apart. Backgrounds art is also great, and it really sets the mood in some scenes.I like the use of solid black.
------------------
Final thoughts
-------------------
Since it's not finished yet and i don't know when it will i'm giving the series a 9 overall for now. If it keeps being this amazing and answers all the questions i have,when it's finished i could easily give it a 10.That's how good this manga is.
Please give this manga a go if you're looking for something different from the norm!

(I also recommend watching the beautiful anime style trailer too, so you can join me in wishing it gets an anime series someday.)

I decided that my first review would be of my number one manga series of all time. I was shocked to see how few people have actually read this series when it's just so great and easily surpasses the more popular long running manga series out there, in just 14 volumes.
------
Story
------
The story for Animal Land is like a Roller coaster ride, in the best possible way. Things keep escalating and the story really evolves (heh) throughout the manga. It doesn't waste anytime doing what it wants to do and had me hooked the whole way through.

The creator has done an amazing job at showing ... the audience just how brutal and difficult it is to survive in this world, as well as how changing it, isn't going to be easy.
-------------
Characters
-------------
I'll just give my thoughts on the two main characters to avoid spoilers, but just know that the rest of the cast is great as well!

First we have Tarouza, our main character. He's kind,smart,determined and has a heart of gold! He's a great protagonist, as you really want to see him to achieve his goals. He goes through many hardships that challenge him, but seeing him get past them is incredible.(making him one of my favourite characters of all time!)

Then we have Monoko, the Tanuki who adopts Tarouza and raises him as his her own. She's more than just a comic relief character, as she definitely has the most mental growth out of everyone in my opinion. She really does her best to be a the mother Tarouza needs and helps him to survive in this world.
----------
Art
----------
Very impressive! Considering the amount of different animal species he had to draw he did an amazing job. The artworks really expressive too and you can really see what a character is feeling. The fight scenes get very intense and bloody, and i was blown away by them!
------------------
Final thoughts
-------------------
I love this manga. I've read it three times now and enjoyed it every time. Yes, it's very quirky and weird at times but it's also thrilling and epic. It's the only manga that has made me cry so much i had to stop reading it!

Please give this manga a chance. Go into it with an open mind and you won't be disappointed.