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*Warning: spoilers for Taishou Otome Otogibanashi in story, plot and character arcs*

Taishou Otome Otogibanashi is one of the sweetest manga I’ve read. The story, while dealing with darker than expected tones about pre-war Japanese society and living with disability just ends up being so cute and sweet that I couldn’t help but have a big dumb grin on my face. The story itself is very engaging, and the plot progression makes it a very easy manga to read through in one day. The resolution of the problem our main characters face in the manga is very satisfying, and the ending just gives you diabetes.

Our main ... characters are the highlight of the cast, Yuzuki Tachibana and Tamahiko Shima just share the sweetest relationship and interact in ways that can make anyone smile.

This is the type of manga you read to feel happy and fulfilled. You don’t feel like you’ve wasted your time, and your happiness levels go off the charts. Until you realize you’ll never be them.

Then we have Tamako Shima, which is the easiest character to hate in the history of media. Joffrey Baratheon doesn’t have anything on her. Yet her motives are understandable; she is essentially just a daddy's girl seeking the attention she wouldn't normally get because of traditional Japanese society.

The rest of the cast just adds to the sweetness. In that sense, it’s a bit of shame that it doesn’t go much further than that, but in the end they made my grin incessantly so I don’t personally care.

Then we have the source of the diabetes, the art style. Everything is just so clean, cute and detailed. None of that Moe blob garbage; everyone just looks nice, the lines are very fine and the colour pages are to die for. The design of Yuzuki, and her quirks about her hairstyle also leads to some of the sweetest stuff you’ve ever seen. Even better is the quality of the simplified/comic versions of the characters, and also the detail they are still drawn with despite being really far from the frame. It’s all very impressive. Then we also have the screen tones and the flowery backgrounds that are just the cherry on top of the diabetes.

I grinned like an idiot all the way through. I can’t say enough about how much fun I had reading this manga. It makes me genuinely smile, everything is just so sweet and pure. And then that ending just makes you overdose on sugar. The bicycle chapter is the best thing to happen to shoujo and romance.

I loved it and it made my days just that much brighter. 10/10

The plot of Mousou Telepathy follows a whole bunch of clichés and tropes, yet it manages to use this setting to its advantage to setup the main plot point that drives the story. Ayako Nakano can’t read minds, as the synopsis would have you believe: she hears what people think. It’s this fundamental difference that establishes everything in Mousou Telepathy, and the concept is used very well. It’s not overused, and it follows a very specific set of rules that breathes originality into the ‘mind reading ability’. Furthermore, it’s a 4-koma style manga and its really easy to read in heaps, or to pick it ... up for a few chapters. It also has the quality of being really easy to binge, and since there are 620 chapters (1 page chapters) out right now, I have to warn you that its addicting.

Because it’s a comedy with undertones of romance (essentially an overarching romance), the characters are all lovable and fun. The interactions between our main cast of four is just a great source for fun interactions with a broad comedic reach. It’s also a big fan of lewd comedy, being set in high school and all. Ayako’s the introvert shy girl with glasses, Hayato is the perverted love interest, Manami is the love rival turned best friend and Akira is Hayato’s best friend. They are all archetypes, but they are handled very well, and they are explored as characters through Ayako’s mind reading in interesting ways, forming interesting bonds and relationships. I do however feel like the support cast is just there for support and comedy, but that’s no fault of the manga, it’s a rom-com 4-koma so it doesn’t need that (and it convolute things a lot).

The drawing style is very simple and clean, and I love it for that. The lines are clean, it’s easy to look at and read and it’s so simple that nothing can go wrong with the art. And then, we have the use of colours, and by Jove is it amazing. It’s just a rainbow of everything right with simple drawings that say a lot with little. And the colours have thematic purpose, which at this point is just asking for me to gush over it. Which I am doing.

What can I say, I really enjoyed this manga. It’s really to get into and to read through, it’s only 620 pages long right now. For what it’s worth in time, this is a quality manga that every 4-koma should aspire to.

I can’t give it a 10, simply because it’s not completed yet and I really want to know where the story goes specifically. I think it’ll end up with a 10, but I at least want to pretend I’m not super biased when it comes to it.

*Warning: spoilers for Annarasumanara, they was necessary to gush about it*

Annarasumanara isn’t like any manga I’ve read, and it probably will be the same for you too. I don’t mean that in the sense that it is a Manhwa, it does far more than just ‘being a manhwa’. Despite this claim, the story, or at least the setup for Annarasumanara isn’t anything particularly special, a girl living in poverty, tragedy and harsh reality. It’s a great way to make people empathize and root for a character, when it’s done well; and in this case, it is! Annarasumanara stands out not in its story and plot. ... The story is good and it carries a valuable message about life and society.

That isn’t why Annarasumanara is as good as it is. It’s all in the art and the visuals.

Speaking of, the visuals are simply amazing. They are so original, they blend so many styles and incorporate so many techniques that throw the ‘draw on paper and scan it’ standard out the window. It’s just breathtakingly original and different. Just scrolling down that first chapter (Manhwa format) is like the best thing since sliced bread. Collage, panorama, patterns, photos, heavy contrast, good grayscale, landscape arranged in portrait it’s just an amalgam, and It just works™. I mean the guy even used LEGOs, like excuse what, and he made it work!

Back on topic, the art isn’t the only thing compelling about this work, the characters are very interesting, in that they are used to great length by the author to explore universal ideas and challenges that people face. Each of our three main characters suffer from very bad cases of misfortune, and all three feel stuck. Yoon Ah-ee is stuck in poverty, Euh Lee is stuck in the child-like wonder of the past and Il-Deung Na is stuck on a predetermined path. All of them are great, they aren’t one-dimensional sheets with no discernible personality. I personally found myself easily having empathy and sympathy for them.

I really enjoyed reading this manga, it’s a treat on a visual level, and the story and characters are very engaging and well made. They don’t come close to the level which the art has obtained, but this is still a once in a lifetime read.

10/10. 

*Warning: spoilers for Koe no Katachi (Manga) ahead*

Koe no Katachi is a story about bulling and heavy themes likes being ostracized, so you already know it’s going to make you cry.

It’s a really good story with a very gripping plot, but it’s not for the faint of heart. It explores the discrimination and ostracizing/bullying that takes place in school, and it’s not done with finesse and subtlety. It’s really open about this, and I find this to be an admirable quality of the story. It also isn’t drama and tragedy just for the sake of having it or to make you cry, it carries ... actual meaning.

It has a nice average length as a manga, and as such doesn't have problems with pacing and filler. Some people have found it to end abruptly, but that I think has to do with what they expected/wanted, not what the manga had set out to do. It says what it wants to say and ends on a strong note, with an uncertain but bright future. Think along the lines of Steins;Gate’s ending.

The main pair and how they interact is the star of the show. Given that Shouko is deaf and mute, everything she expresses is done so visually, both in hand language and facial features. It’s the extreme of visual storytelling, where the main characters interact without much text at all, in a similar manner to the main characters in Fujiyama-san wa Shishunki. The group dynamic when the whole cast is together is also great, and everyone faces their own monsters in the same way Shouya does. This is a story about redemption through and through, and about owing up to the past, or to oneself.

Given that the story revolves around this communication without dialogue quite a bit, I’d have expected the art to be cleaner. In that sense, I expected the artist to use fine lines to capture the subtly of human facial emotions. Instead, it’s rather rough on the form, and the lines themselves are very inconsistent. I don’t think it’s a bad art style by any means, and the way they adapted it for the movie was sublime. I think it suffers from that inconsistency, and the artist certainly did not make it easy on himself. He does the backgrounds beautifully, and the inking is great, and then the lines defining the characters don’t fit the mood of the scene. It’s some great art overall and the only real problem is that inconsistency, that and his choice of screentones can become repetitive.

Koe no Katachi a smooth read, and not an especially long one at that. It flows well, and the plot and themes make the story very engaging, at least it did for me. It’s the type of manga that can have you empathize with and understand the characters, while also making you utterly despise others. It’s a great quality to have, and for such a rollercoaster story with heavy themes, I’m glad it had it.

Overall, it’s really good, but it’s also pretty sad. Especially at the start, like holy shit what a way to start the manga. That first volume gets heavy right off the bat, and even explores some touchy aspects about the way in which children and adults act.

It’s a 10/10 from me, whatever merit that has.

*Warning: The reviews has spoilers for Kakukaku Shikajika*

Kakukaku Shikajika is a manga with a genre so rare in this media that the MAL synopsis and genre tags fails to mention it: it’s an autobiography. And a damn good one at that.

In being an autobiography, at least personally, the story gains far more emotional weight than one that would be fictional. I don’t know for sure why that is, but it probably has to do with the empathetic responses that occur when knowing a story is real. This particularity of the story helps it resonate with readers, or at least it resonated with me. That ... also has to do with the settings and themes of the story: high school and college and having high ambitions but not wanting to put in the effort needed.

Kakukaku Shikajika has a very easily digestible cast of characters, cause there are only three real characters in the manga. However, in this instance it's very much a case of quality over quantity, and had the author attempted to include more characters, it would have ended poorly. We have the main pair, Hidaka Kenzou and Hayashi Akiko which form the mentor-mentee relationship. Akiko is our main character, an insufferably whiny and lazy teenager who is our author/artist Higashimura Akiko. She has her best friend Futami, who is the best support Akiko could’ve had, in that she puts up with her.

The dynamic of the mentor-mentee relationship is what makes this manga for me. It feels so real and genuine, and despite the attitudes they outwardly show to each other, they truly care about each other. That is especially reflected in the best character, the mentor Hidaka Kenzou. You really can’t hate the guy, because no matter how insensitive and harsh he may seem, we alongside our main character Akiko come to realize that he behaves like this out of genuine care for his mentees. He’s the kind of character in life you never realized you needed until he’s gone.

The drawing style is interesting in a meta sense and in giving even more depth to the connection our pair has. Akiko’s artstyle is anything but what’d you’d expect a student who took those art lessons and went to an art college would create. And in that, it reflects the sort of attitude she had towards her mentor. The art is very different from anything that's expected of manga, and I think its good. I personally saw it to be too different for my taste, and because the story doesn’t have as strong a connection to art as her other breakthrough work: Kuragehime, it can be a turn off for some people. I think that this particularly has to do with the way she draws her characters, its not in her lines or her inking but her character design that she stands out. If anything, its because they look far more human than we are used to, or at that, far more imperfect than shoujo and shounen character designs where everyone is literally a 10/10.

I really enjoyed it, in that I really was enthralled to read about this pair. It felt real, and because most of it was real, I always wanted to read more about it. The story doesn’t have any real turns, twists or hooks. Instead it pulled me in and kept me going by virtue of its characters, how they interacted with each other, and what they went through. It was also definitely an emotional ride, and it is likely that some people will connect with our main character Akiko. She is portrayed both in her angsty and hopeful teenager years, and then when she is thrust into the world when she goes to college and begins her career as a mangaka. She goes through human hardships that a lot of people have also gone through, and it can move people in very specific ways; it can feel like the story doesn’t have to be about Akiko, but any teen with a dream with no idea of how to fulfil it.

I think it’s a 10/10 overall, but I also don’t think its for everyone, particularly in that the main character can evoke frustration, specifically because she is a real human like us, and she makes a lot of mistakes and bad decisions. It’s really a story about regret, but it’s also an homage to her mentor. It’s the best biographical type literature I’ve read.

*This review contains spoilers*

The thing about Steins;Gate Onshuu no Braunian Motion is that, as a standalone manga, it's really mediocre. It only has genuine value, and what it brings to the reader can only be brought forth if that reader has at least watched the S;G anime. Tbh I'd go as far as saying that the minimum is playing the VN and completing all the routes (Essentially 100% completion); that's how contextually dependent this manga is.

Still, inspite of this glaring limitation, Steins;Gate: Onshuu no Braunian Motion is able to tell an engaging story that gives much needed depth and characterization to the most criminally underused ... character of S;G: Yuugo Tennouji. This manga's story is essentially Tennouji's backstory, and it doesn't suffer from this nature because of its short length.

But the thing about the story is that, while compelling on its own, it wouldn't work the way it does were it not for the characters. More importantly, its how the mange explores Tennouji's past with his family and Amane Suzuha that stands out, at least to me. I think the reason for that is because they were made to interact in such a way that, for people fond of S;G everything feels nostalgic and bittersweet. I think the strongest example of that came with how the manga handled the confrontation between Okabe and Yuugo and the new perspective that it gave us. Its able to evoke genuine empathy in readers, or at least in me.

The weakest aspect of the manga has to come in the form of the art, specifically the switch in artist between volumes. It just doesn't feel right to me, and it's unfortunately the single greatest issue with all manga adaptations of S;G. Independent of one another, both artists to a great job. Though I must say that the better style is that of the second volume, done by Yoshida Tadasu. The key factors in this are the character designs, the super thin lines, the facial shading and his use of screentones and overlays.

I really enjoyed reading this manga, but I think it's because I can easily overlook its flaws and shortcomings. I think that has to do with me having had consumed all S;G related media before reading it. It was something I never knew I always wanted and also really needed.

One Punch Man is a really fun manga to read. Like it's so fun to read that the filler is fun to read. And what's interesting about this manga is how it achieves this quality, in that the story isn't anything special. It's a shounen through and through, an action fighting manga. It encompasses an endless amount of tropes, and OPM would only be an average shounen if it wasn't for its characters.

The star studded cast of OPM just elevates the manga into something more than just another shounen, it feels special and different. That stems from our main character, Saitama. He is outstandingly written, ... and the way in which he is placed in the story amongst the rest of the characters that allow him to work the way he does. On the subject of all the other characters; ONE (the author) does this thing where they all belong to a certain trope of the shounen genre. And then, he uses Saitama, as a subversion to explore these characters and their motivations in such a way that it leads to some of the funniest comedy and most engaging scenes / arcs / characters I've ever read.

On the other hand, the art of One Punch Man doesn't push to envelope, but it is outstanding and breathtaking. Yusuke Murata is just able to reach a level of detail and linework / inking perfection that makes me wish all shounens were drawn by him. Everything just possesses of intricacy and no aspect of the picture is compromised even during the most taxing and spectacularly grand scenes of action. The engaging nature of OPM wouldn't be possible without this art, and that is reflected in the original Onepunch man webcomic by ONE. It's the same story and characters, but its the art that elevates OPM above it by a mile.

OPM has the ability to be a thrilling page turner, but it really isn't for everyone because at it's core, it is still a shounen. I enjoyed it, and I'm not exactly of fan of this genre of manga, nor a big fan of action and fighting. I find this manga really enjoyable to read, and I've quite my share of it .It's the type of manga that can become a classic, and I really hope it reaches the audience it deserves.

*This review is spoiler free*

Taiyou no Ie is a really sweet romance manga, and its my favourite strictly romance/shoujo manga. I think a lot of this comes down to the characters and the story, while the art is just consistent throughout.

That isn't to say the art is bad. Taiyou no Ie has very clean art with very fine lines; nothing is bold or powerful and this consistent fluffiness is very fitting with the overall theme of the manga. This particularity of the art is also used to great effect to emphasize moments of sadness and give them far greater weight. Theses moments simply don't fit ... the art style, and this juxtaposition really helps with making readers feel genuine empathy for the characters. This whole fluffiness would also not be possible were it not for the great (and very liberal) use of screentones and panel specific shade shifts (like washed out greys or deep grey gradients). Another quality of the art is the use of the overall background shade to reflect the depth of the emotions present, or sometimes to localize a specific emotion like sadness to one character by through darker shades/gradients.

The strongest part of Taiyou no Ie is really the story, but my hands are tied in this review because I don't want to spoil any of it. Simply put, Taiyou no Ie is a story about someone finding their place in life and within their family. It is overall very sweet, but it isn't some diabetic shoujo romance where everything falls into place nicely and quickly. The story allows for genuinely interesting interactions between characters and the highlight of the story for me is the intricacy of the relationships between characters and how fragile they can seem. It feels real, and the story is the enabling factor for genuily engaging character interactions and dynamic relationship.

On the subject of the characters, Taiyou no Ie does this weird thing where you just like all of them. There isn't a situation in the story where you feel like characters have acted irrationally or even in opposition to what they believe and want. I was able to understand where they were all coming from, and that goes back to me feeling genuine empathy for characters while reading the manga. To me, it didn't feel like they where specifically serving the story, or that some were one-dimentional, static foils that only existed to make the main characters stand out. They all had their own problems and to me at least, none of them felt like 'missed opportunities' or 'wasted potential'; at the end of it, I was contempt and happy for all of them.

Taiyou no Ie struck a very specific cord with me, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it through. What kept me going on a sort of binge trance that made me complete the manga in less than week had to be the themes it explores and what kind of relationships it played around with. It just clicked with me.

*Some minor spoilers in the review for the overall story of 5 Centimeters per Second and its nature*

The manga adaptation of Makoto Shinkai's 5 Centimeters per Second is a very peculiar piece of literature in that, without first having seen the movie it cannot fulfill its sole purpose for existing: to expand on the ending of the film. Some people misinterpret this in saying that this manga has an 'alternate ending', when it really is just the 'full ending'.

If we go further and start comparing the manga to the film, objectively it would stand no chance. It has none of the music, colours, and photographic ... composition that the movie has and the art of the manga isn't anything special. That isn't to say it is bad, mediocre, fine or just 'good', the art is really good: but nothing special. Of greatest note are the backgrounds; they are outstanding compositions of fine lines and rougher inking that allow the fine lines and whole grey shades of the characters to be well defined while also having those characters fit in nicely within the environments. Another thing of note are the panel compositions; the amount of zoomed out angles used are a thing of beauty when combined with the background sceneries Yukiko Seike draws with great detail.

What's a challenge for me is reviewing this in terms of aspects other than the art, which is the only real change between the original and the adaptations. With the story being the same one being told in a different format, the biggest changes don't take away from the overall experience. It's still 5 Centimeters per Second. The pacing is most notably different, but that is really only the scene by scene pacing; overall the story flows very well and it is understandable why the change in format would lead to scenes flowing differently. It's also important to note that when I say 'differently', there is no negative connotation attached to it.

On the subject of characters, nothing is really different, it's still the same story. The only changes are really improvements because they take two characters specifically and do something more with them. This expansion of characterization and resolution of their personal stories is brought about through the final two chapters, 10 and 11. Chapter 10 is the manga take of the 5 minute 'One more time, One more chance' song ending from the film and instead of it being the ending, or where the film ends, there is another chapter and that is reflected in the dialogue and presentation of the chapter. Chapter 11 is the 'full ending' I mentioned prior and ties up everything far more tightly than in the film, and I'm not here to claim that one is superior, its all up to personal preference. However, what i will say is that the ending gives that extra bit of characterization and a '5 years later' representation of that character. It's great, and when looking back at it, the nature of the how the original and adaptation end aren't too far apart.

I really enjoyed reading the manga adaptation of 5 Centimeters per Second, and I found that it made me feel the same way as the original film did: that is really sad at how bittersweet the story is. I could've enjoyed it a lot more had I know about it shortly after watching the film. It really is a manga that has to be read right after watching 5 Centimeters per Second; and like the movie, its very short but very well made.

*This review is spoiler free*

This manga is something that doesn't come along very often and I recommend to be careful when picking when you start reading it; once you start, you can't really stop. That is because Made in Abyss starts off as a subversion of its presentation, the art and the character designs doesn't reflect the themes the story explores.

Akihito Tsukushi's art is what hooked me in, for without his unique art style, Made in Abyss couldn't begin with this subversion. The art is a very well made blend that serves as a well fitting medium through which the story is told. The ... highlights for me are the backgrounds/sceneries and the qualities of the base character design slate that allow for the fantastic variety of character designs and the emotive movements and facial expressions. To go even further, what specifically makes this art special is the weight in the emotional and action climaxes of each chapter that the art creates. When something of note happens in Made in Abyss, it is conveyed through the art with lines and contrasts so perfect for each event depicted that its a little scary how good Tsukushi is at this.

The characters themselves are great, and the main group is naturally the highlight of the manga's cast. Without spoiling anything, Made in Abyss has this ability to make me genuinely feel and root for characters. I think this comes down to the great art; the emotions that the characters are able to express feel real and have the weight necessary to make readers empathize or simply understand them. When a character grieves, I can't really help but grieve alongside them in a weird sort of sympathy.

I've thoroughly enjoyed the 47 chapters that have been scanlated, and I can't help but check every other day for new updates. I thoroughly enjoyed and will enjoy this manga; it's so different to anything else I've read. I've personally never really enjoyed genres like sci-fi, fantasy and adventure but this manga... This manga has something special, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.