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Ran to Haiiro no Sekai has a nice slice of life beginning to the story. The first few chapters introduce you to the main character 10 year old Ran and her family. It presents their unique family dynamic of being sorcerers and sorceresses and the father and brother struggling to keep tabs on Ran who has much power but little control.

After characters are established, the story smoothly shifts into the main plot, building plot points that may seem episodic or irrelevant at first but are relevant later on. The author also does a great job of showing all the characters' faces, even the not ... so nice ones. However, at least from my experience reading it, all the characters are loveable/likeable.

Lastly, the art is a perfect match to the comical and light vibe the story creates. The character designs themselves do a great job complimenting the characters' own personality traits.

While there is a main plot, the main focus of the story is watching Ran feel her way through her young life. If you're looking for (depending on your definition of light, at least in the beginning) a light, funny slice-of-life read, I recommend you check this out.

Magnolia makes for a great story that just scrapes the surface of the complexity of gender roles and gender identification. This is probably why I did not enjoy this series as much as I could have, because I was expecting the plot to go deeper into the psychological struggle of defining /identifying with one's self and their gender/orientation. But the main plot with all its fluff, harems, and twists made for a classic dramatic romance read.

Art: One solid point hands-down in Magnolia is the art. It gives the impression of being very fluid and elegant which is appropriate since the it revolves around a ... royal family. It made the story (at least to me) feel like fantasy or a fairytale. Overall the art was exceptional in delivering the atmosphere of the story.

Story: While I love loose ends here and there, the ending seemed a tad abrupt and left more things open than desired. If you like bittersweet endings with some open ends, I would recommend trying Magnolia. Considering its length, it is a catching dramatic rom-com good for light reading.

This story has/had so much potential. I would absolutely love to give it a higher rating if the mangaka so chose to finish it, but that's not the case. If you hate cliffhangers, don't even think about touching this manga.
Even though the story had me pulling my hair out by the roots multiple times, I thought the story was very realistic and I liked that it did not sugar-coat some elements. While the elements used are considered perhaps crude in real life, they are certainly things that take place in reality regardless.
The characters: ARRRRRGH This is where I pull out my hair. The main character ... is so irritating. I'm not sure if the author intentionally wants the readers to hate the main character but I do. Yura is a very emotional character. She is quite bitter because of her family circumstances; her actress mother neglects her and her father lives overseas. and like most kids, acts out impulsively against them. Makes sense. But while she aggravates me to no end, her character is well designed and I think she is a perfect interpretation of a spoiled brat. Including Yura, the majority of the characters act quite selfishly, making bold requests right from the get-go. The select few characters who aren't so selfish tend to get the short end of the stick, so the story and characters make a strong combo in essentially outlining that nice guys finish last. Show-biz is cruel.
Overall I really really wish this story was finished even though reading it caused me some emotional stress. It is one of my desperate wishes that this series gets picked up again one day, it deserves an end.

This is my first review, but I was really compelled to write a review for Code Geass because it is the first anime to grab me in quite a while. Although I wasn't very interested to watch it because I heard CLAMP did the character designs, I was drawn in from the first episode by the (I mean this in the best way possible) exaggerated animation; close ups, angles, movements and facial expressions from the characters. Seeing the driving forces behind the main characters and the royal family members gives them a human side the watcher can somewhat identify with, making you unable to completely ... hate them. Like Cornelia is a battle hardened merciless commander, but has a soft spot for her sister and her other siblings. The storyline continued to surprise me, not pulling any punches and had great development for its genre, giving plot twists that knocked me off my feet. The only downside I saw lies with Lelouch. I can say his character is really great and fits the leading role of his other identity Zero well. But there were times I was hoping he would show a little more remorse or regret for his actions. However it's that same trait that makes him a solid leader a good character. Awesome show I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.