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This manga was a pretty fun read, and felt fairly unique with it's variation of sea-creatures used for the different character designs, which range from fish to shellfish to octopuses.

While one could suspect romance in a manga with a bunch of handsome males and next to no females, there is little to none to be found. There are some elements of fanservice within the panels, but mostly it's just a bunch of hot guys getting together for random, childlike fun.

I would like to recommend this manga, but it's tone changes a bit too much during a couple of chapters.
Most chapters are just one-offs with ... a neat little story, some chapters are two parts.
If it was just comedy that followed the same format, sure, it'd be a fun read.

But in some chapters the author introduced new elements with a much more serious tone. It would have been interesting if that new element was explored more from the point it was introduced, but it never was. Similarly, some characters were introduced, but then never appeared after their one or two-part chapters were done.

I would have liked to recommend this manga, but where the author got experimental, it brings down the overall experience. Mainly due to the sudden tonal shift of some chapters, with no time to explore the new element introduced- such as a character's newly discovered powers or abilities.
Some chapters, themes, and characters, really makes the manga feel like the author wanted to write something with a bigger story and much more serious tone. But the format they went with from the beginning, or time restraint, or whatever was the issue, lead to them not following down that path and reverting to the more simple, fun and silly type of stories, after dipping their ink into something less silly and cutesy for a couple of pages.


Outside of the couple of chapters where the author seemed to want to experiment with their medium, it's definitively a cutesy, silly, and kind of wholesome manga.
If you like "monsterboys" just relaxing and having fun, you could give it a read.

DearS, the ainme, is nothing compared to the DearS manga- given that Khi and Rubi got more screentime and a more intimate relationship with each other, but all of the fun, deep, emotional parts of the series were lost in the anime.

I say; you might want to watch the anime first, because if you have read the manga first, you'll be heavily disappointed in the Anime.

I had read the manga, eventually found out there was an anime, watched it- and was very and very disappointed. Many of my favorite parts were gone, and i could definitely see DearS being just as great an anime as ... Rozen Maiden or Chobits, if it had been given more of the actual story from the books.

A Huge bit of story missed, so by all means- watch the anime, but also read the manga, since all of the good things are inside of the manga.

The anime is cheerful from the most part, but manages to catch at least my attention through the first episode and a half. Normally it takes about 3-5 episodes of an anime to actually catch my interest and for a story of interest to be revealed, but Escaflowne threw you into the interesting parts right away.

Though by the end of the series, which progressed into very sad plots and storylines for many characters and the anime itself, there were still many holes to be filled, many questions unanswered about the series. At least that's how i felt.

There are a number of characters with interesting stories, ... but i miss knowing the past surrounding other of the characters showing up- except for the few things one can figure out by just watching the characters in action. I liked the main theme about the anime though, and it had a large story centered around the giant armor Escaflowne, something that can't be said about the movie.

I'd say seeing the movie after you have seen the series would be a good plan, but there are still questions that feels unanswered and i would love to read the manga myself one day to hopefully find out the rest about it.

Completing the anime, i then watched the movie; the change in the story, plot and mood was more than radical!
I had heard rumors before that the movie was something of a short summary of the series, and that it was much darker than the anime- but i could never have imagined it was to this extent!

The beginning was like a sort of introduction to a psychological horror, and it continued to pull those strings through the very most of it. It was nice to recognize the characters from the anime, but they were all much different from the series.
Though it could have been a bit ... longer.
Rather anti-climax close to the end and just like the anime, i was mildly unsatisfied by the ending -it could well have been another hour to fill in the holes of the story and environment.

-Having seen the first series (and movies) of Evangelion, i couldn't help but compare the lovely (not) flesh-armor-robot theme they had going there.
I'd say you should watch the Anime series first, to get the most of the story and get to know the characters, and the plot- since the movie seems to be mostly about the blood, gore, torture and speeding things up to a rather unsatisfying end.

I would love to read the manga sometime so i could get the whole picture of this series, both the movie and the anime were much better than i had anticipated -though i missed a few elements in some places.
I'm still very happy that my strange favorite character of this series wasn't violently torn to pieces -though still suffered through a lot of pain...