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Part 1: Introduction

“Otonari no Tenshi-sama ni Itsunomanika Dame Ningen ni Sareteita Ken” or “The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten” in English (Otonari no Tenshi for short) is an utterly sweet novel that will make you believe there are people in this crude world who can think of a story as sweet and wholesome as this one.

My first paragraph above might have described the series in shortest possible way. Basically, if you want to read a comfortably sweet romance that will make your heart run aflutter, stop reading this review and go ahead. This novel is for you. But if you want to know how ... I somewhat misunderstood this novel’s title and synopsis and threw an unfair judgement even before reading it, then by all means, keep reading. A cup of tea or beverage of your choice might be needed as I don’t know how long this review will be (I do love writing, so I can write a lot).

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Part 2: Prologue

Looking at the title of the novel, “The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten”, you may have guessed this novel to have a hopeless male and a Godly female leads. You may assumed that the male character is a hopeless human being who spend his daily life doing nothing. And suddenly, an angel come knocking and heal the male to be a better human. If this is your first thought of the novel by reading its title and synopsis alone, then I can’t exactly say that you’re wrong. But at the same time, you may miss how wholesome this novel can be.

I personally don’t particularly like a wish fulfillment story. Although it may sound contradictory as fictions are mostly written to create an unfulfilled reality, but please bear with me. In this novel’s case, the readers might seek an escape and hope to have a one-in-millionth fateful encounters with a certain amazing person who will pull them out of their misery.

Of course, such encounters can be a moment that will forever change a person’s life and will make them forever grateful to be alive for them to be able to experience such fate. And I’m not here to discredit that thought at all. I just don’t like the idea of people who are passively waiting in their nest for these “helping hands” to reach out to them. And this is the moment when I misunderstood Otonari no Tenshi as I assumed it to be a purely wish-fulfillment series where a hopeless male lead is waiting and having an undeservedly fateful meeting with an Angel as if she was falling from the sky and onto his lap. Thankfully, it is not the case with Otonari no Tenshi as the encounters between both lead characters happens because the male lead CHOSE to lend a helping hand to a distressing Angel.

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Part 3: Synopsis (My Version)

Meet Fujimiya Amane, our male protagonist. He’s a normal high-school student, standard look, gloomy, self-admitted hopeless slob, no girlfriend, yada yada yada. (Harmless spoiler: He is quite far from that cookie-cutter character description). He’s living a regular high-school student life with little to no friend. A seemingly gloomy and sad person at first, he is yes.

Another school day ended in an uneventful way for this person as he packs his stuff and getting ready to go home. The rain seems to be coming soon as he looks at the gloomy sky and ready his umbrella. The sound of rain surrounding him truly emphasize the boring, grey world he’s living in. Visiting a convenience store on the way to home has become a routine since he moved to this town. His taste buds have grown stale with eating convenience store food on daily basis. He can feel his upset stomach as if it’s telling him to eat something healthier. But he can’t help it. He can’t cook and touching kitchen utensils might prove to be too hazardous in his hands. But he still needs to survive. That’s why he settles with yet another set of convenience store food and a nutritional jelly to keep his stomach from grumbling at night. As he exits the store, the rain has not subside even a little. he then continues his walk to home.

There is a small park near his apartment. Around the time he walks home from school, there will usually be a handful of family spending their afternoon time together. A peaceful scene for one to look at, indeed. Today is raining, so he didn’t expect there will be a family crazy enough to play under such rain. Yes, only people with a loose screw on their head will visit the park in this weather. And there is actually such people, a girl in fact, who sits on top of one of the swinging chair, alone, without an umbrella covering her drenched body. Her sorrowful face under the rain tells him that she wants the rain to wash over the sadness she’s currently feeling at the moment.

The girl is wearing the same uniform as Amane’s school. Her flaxen, straight, and lustrous hair. Her caramel colored eyes. It’s none other than the school’s “Angel”, Shiina Mahiru. Not only is she a star athlete with perfect grades, she’s also drop-dead gorgeous. Truly, she seems like an angel who have fallen from the sky.

This angel is not only an idol in his school, but she also happen to be his neighbor. Although they’re neighbors, they rarely speak or meet with each other. That’s why he stops for a second to wonder what has happened to her. He’s thinking to approach her and ask her what she is doing. But he decided not to as he realizes that he is not that close to this angel to warrant him listen to her problems. And thus, he continues his walk home and past the park.

A short moment later, although he has decided to not meddle with someone else’s problem, he can’t get rid of her sorrowful sight. He stopped yet again and turn back towards the park. He thought that if he let a girl alone under the rain, he won’t be able to have a good night sleep later. And so he approaches the angel.

He arrived in front of the distressed girl as he leans his umbrella towards her.
“What are you doing?” Amane said. Surprised by a sudden approach from her neighbor, she puts her guard up and replies.
“Please don’t worry about it. I just need to cool my head for a bit.”
Amane has decided to put further questions down as it’s apparent that Mahiru is putting guard on him and wanting to be left alone. He initially wanted to leave her as she wish but he just stood there instead. A moment later, he decided to put the umbrella near Mahiru and give it to her.
“Please use this. And don’t bother to return it.” Amane walks off leaving Mahiru and drench himself under the rain. Really, Amane just can’t stand the thought of that girl to get cold under this rain.

Sometimes, life can throw its humor. Amane gave his umbrella to prevent Mahiru from getting cold, and yet he’s here, in school, wearing a mask as he bears himself through his own cold. It can be really difficult to be sick when you’re alone and you have no one to nurse you. But he’s here alone in this town, separated from his parents. For someone with hopeless surviving skills as him, curing a cold can be a challenge.

The walk back home has been nothing but torture. He feels like collapsing at every step he takes. By the time he arrives at the lift of his apartment, he has lost most of his strength. Leaving him a need to use the lift’s railing just to keep him standing. The lift finally arrives at his floor and opens its doors. On the other side of the doors, he meets the fully healthy Shiina Mahiru with his umbrella on her hands, surprised by the sight of a walking corpse in front of her.

“I told you to not bother returning it.” Amane grumbles.
“Of course I will return what I borrow. Wait, are you perhaps ill?”
“No, I’m fine.”
“No. You definitely don’t look good there.” Mahiru then slowly thought. “Can’t it be because you helped me yesterday?” A slight guilt shown on her face.
“It’s none of your business.” As Amane gives her a cold shoulder and continues his walk towards his apartment’s door. Once he opens his door and enter his residence, his legs suddenly gave up and finally being relieved from their duty to arduously walk his body home, ended up making him fall hard on his own front door.

Mahiru sees at such a pitiful sight and says,
“See? You can’t even stand up.”
“Leave me alone.” While Amane continues to lay down on the floor.
“(Sigh…) It can’t be helped. I will nurse you back to health.” She then enters his apartment and picks up his right arm to lift his body.
“Really, you don’t need to do this.”
“I’m doing this because I want to. I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I leave you here alone.”

And that is the start of their strange and beautiful relationship.

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Part 4: My Thoughts

That was my own version of the initial story, mostly written out of memory, which is quite fresh actually. There might be a little offs that are not quite accurate with the novel, but I think it’s close enough with how I imagined the world and two main characters personality when I read it.

I think if you’ve read my synopsis above, any further speculation of what you might be thinking and expecting from the novel will be safe. As you may have assumed, it’s a warm and sweet story where two main characters will slowly and steadily warm up with each other. Admittedly, there are many stories which use such premise. The difference will lie on the way the author handles characters slowly progressing relationship.

I have to be honest, the author, Saeki-san, have the exact same taste of developing a super sweet and wholesome romance as I do. It’s as if Saeki-san has put my longed imagination of wholesome romance into a real work of fiction. The characters, Fujimiya Amane and Shiina Mahiru, their personalities, and a very tasteful “slow and steady” romance. I simply fell in love with it.

I always viewed a romantic relationship as something so much more than a relationship to fulfill one’s lustful desires or to leave one’s offspring in this world. I view a romantic relationship as “a simple desire to be with your partner for your entire life”. (Yes, I’m a proud Vanilla-Man.) How truly simple and wholesome of a relationship that can be? A friend for life, a desire to not be alone, to go through happiness and sorrow of life together. That is the ideal relationship for me. That’s why I love Lawrence and Holo from Spice and Wolf. And now, Fujimiya Amane and Shiina Mahiru from Otonari no Tenshi.

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Part 5: Conclusion

Dear readers. If you survive the long read until this point, I want to sincerely thank you for your time to read my wall of text.

As I write this review, the more I think that this novel isn’t really “special” or ground-breaking for it to have an objectively 10/10 score and claim it as one of the timeless masterpiece. But I will give it a 10/10 anyway since I feel super comfortable and I genuinely had a great time reading this novel. And thus, it is indeed special for me.

As I said in my initial paragraphs, if you like a slow, comfy, and wholesome relationship that will make your heart bleed sugar, this is your novel. I hope you find this review useful. Leave a comment in my profile and feel free to tell me your thoughts about my review and the novel itself. May you have a good read and a very nice day.

- YosepRA

First of all, I’ll give you a fair and honest warning. If you are either:

1. Under 18.
2. Over 18, but you don’t have a mature head over your shoulder yet.
3. Or you expect this manga to be some sort of entertainment for your off time.

Then I will kindly and respectfully tell you to get the F out of this manga right away. I’m not saying it in an elitist way that this is not a manga for weaklings like you (condescending laugh). But if you are not ready with it, you may as well ended up with a lot of mess in your head. And I’m not even ... exaggerating here.

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Okay, to the review. Well, the warning above is really all I have to say about it. When I finished the manga, I have a mixed feeling about it. But if there is something crystal clear about Oyasumi Punpun, it’s not supposed to be enjoyed. I tried to enjoy it (and I believe many other readers do as well), but I simply can’t. To put it in the simplest way to define what Oyasumi Punpun is, it’s reality in its crudest form.

It’s a story about a boy named Onodera Punpun as he goes living his life. That’s it. Whether you’d expect the story to be one kind of a hero story, or would you expect it to be something of the opposite, I’ll leave it to your own head for now. Because I’m sure only a few chapters of it will be enough for you to tell the direction of the story.

That’s pretty much it. I usually write a very long review such as Senryuu Shoujo and Shadows House, but I can’t put up that much words into this one. Why? It’s because the premise is so dead simple. You don’t need to be a smart-head to read this manga, you just need to have a mature one. I’ll give you another warning again. If you can’t handle difficult stuff, then go away from Oyasumi Punpun.

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Conclusion:
I give Oyasumi Punpun 8/10. As I said before, I didn’t enjoy the manga at all. A bit contradictory for sure. But the topic of the manga is very brave because you’d often expect a media to be sold and make money for you. Oyasumi Punpun, I believe, does not attract that much people from the market. I wanted to give it 9/10 at first because I agree with many other people about the uniqueness of this manga. But again, I didn’t enjoy reading it at all. I don’t say it was a torturous read, but it was just simply unpleasant. Perhaps, I myself don’t have that strong of a mind yet to handle such topics.

That is it. Thank you for reading my review. Mind the warning. But if you decide to go through it. Well…. I hope you come out of it still with a sane head. Cheers!

This will be a long read, so buckle up.

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Imagine you are sleeping inside a box. As the bell rings loudly, you open your eyes while your hand is opening the box which you’re sleeping in, it will then signify a new day in the house. You change your outfit and prepare yourself for the day. You don’t know who you are or even what you are. The only reason for your existence that keeps ringing inside your head is to serve your noble master, a living shadow. Every day, you have to serve your master starting from cleaning the room, helping with their needs, and ... most importantly, keeping your appearance similar to your master’s.

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That’s all I need to say about the initial phase of the story. I’m sure you already have imagined many different scenario based on that one paragraph alone. I don’t know what ends up in your mind, but I can say for sure that what you have imagined are only half-truths at best.

Introducing Emilyko, a living “doll” who is serving her shadow master, Kate. Emilyko is an innocent and pure-hearted girl who is more than happy to serve Kate. While serving her master’s needs is her duty, cleaning the room is one of the more important thing to do as a servant. Why? Because shadow masters produce soot while they are asleep, leaving the whole room dirty with black soot all over the place. Also there is another duty which isn’t stated that much between Kate and Emilyko initially. Since Kate is a shadow, she does not have the ability to express herself through her face. Therefore Emilyko must fill that role and become her master’s “face”. Hence why she needs to keep her appearance to be similar to Kate's. Although you may have recognized the uncanny similarities between shadows and their living dolls. Again, I’ll leave those questions to your own mind for now.

Surely there isn’t only one shadow master and her doll in the manor. Thus far, Emilyko’s duty is only limited to cleaning Kate’s room. And once the time is up, she will eventually join other dolls to clean the whole manor. As she encounters fellow living dolls, she experiences tons of new things that leave her in nothing but pure awe. Looking around the manor, it fills her with happiness and pride to be able to serve the Shadow House. At this time, Emilyko feels that as long as she happily serves Kate and the Shadow House, she will have a happy and carefree life……………… not until she questions her “existence” and the shrouded mystery of the house.

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I will leave the story section at that. To say the least, Shadow House is at least on par with The Promised Neverland’s first arc. The mix of mystery, mind games, and the innocence of children are all there. If you love The Promised Neverland’s first arc, then you simply can’t go wrong with Shadow House.

Now, let’s talk about the other aspect of drawn media, the art. Simply put, it is sublime. The series is colored, which is the first time for me to read a fully colored manga. Oh ho ho… Do you really think a mere colored manga can steal my heart? No, sir. There is so much more into it. I will thoroughly explain how Shadow House is more than a series of paneled pictures and texts, as it is rather a work of art that will please your eyes.

Character Design:

Aside from its stories, the other most important trait that differentiates between good characters from the great one is their design. How can your design be memorable to your audience? How can your reader easily identify between different characters? How can your design emphasize the story of its character? The artist of Shadow House truly nails it in this department. I really love the choice of garments for the characters such as long coats, thick dresses, and glaring pattern and laces. The amount of details are simply surreal. I often find myself stopping while reading to appreciate the clothing and to try drawing it myself. Yeah, I have a preferred taste on classic western noble clothing.

Interior:

When an artist is good at drawing figures, sometimes they are bad at drawing something more rigid such as interiors. I know mangas are not necessarily created by sole creator. Some mangakas will only draw the characters while there will be another person who co-create the manga by drawing its background/interior. In short, again, the interior art is also a feast to my eyes. There is another important aspect that emphasize the already good quality of the background which I will explain in the next section.

Composition:

Absolutely wonderful. You know the thing that right-handed artists will tend to draw based on their comfortable “sides”, which is drawing from left to right. It often results in a static and predictable layout and composition for characters, interiors, and compositional directions. Shadow House artist challenges themselves to draw the most dynamic panels I’ve ever experienced. Sometimes the perspective will shift to the bottom as the character is frightened with the situation at hand. Sometimes the perspective will be angling on top of character’s forehead to signify the condescending and cunning nature of them.

I occasionally draw myself, and I often find myself shying away from challenges like this. Drawing from unique angles are very difficult. I have to take into account things such as perspective and foreshortening. The drawing will get weird very quickly if I lose my focus while drawing. Drawing this kind of unique situations purely out of imagination is difficult at first. To get used to it, you actually need to draw from references. I really have nothing but admiration and respect towards the absurd dynamicity of the composition which will never leave you bored while reading and appreciating it.

Now, all those aspects are good and all. But there is one part of the art that shines the brightest, taking the spot light, and definitely stole my heart. And that is………

Facial Expressions:

(…………………..) Can you see me being speechless? Yeah, that’s pretty much it. My praise won’t be enough to express my utter admiration to the facial expressions in the series. Have you ever seen the happiest laugh? Emilyko has it. Have you ever seen the most adorable tearful face when you mess up your job? Emilyko has it too. Have you ever seen the brightest smile that is so bright that it will literally burn your eyes? Guess what? Emilyko has it.

This is a probably a subtle spoiler which I have mentioned earlier, the thing about shadows couldn’t express themselves through their face and therefore rely on their living dolls as their face. Hence why facial expression is simply the life or death of the series. Shadow House doesn’t manage to either live or die because of its facial expressions, but it rises beyond and break the heaven’s roof instead. Seriously guys, I can’t think of a word of praise for this part of the art. All I can say is that humans are natural at reading facial expressions of their peers. Even something as subtle as a twitch of a smile, a raise of an eyebrow, or a widening of an eye lid can signify the emotion of the said subject. The best thing I can say to you is “Just look at the god damn expressions yourself and you will understand”.

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Conclusion:

I first rated Shadow House at 8/10, which means “normal good” in my book because of its slow start. But then as I go forward and I notice how astronomically good the artwork is, the score bumped up to 9/10, which means “something that stands out” in my book. And finally as the story and mystery unveils itself, it becomes the cream at the top and it gets 10/10, which means “something special for me personally” in my book. I hate the word “Masterpiece” because it sounds too objective. My masterpiece is definitely different to your masterpiece. That’s why I use the word “special” instead. And Shadow House is definitely special to me. I’ll save up to buy the digital volumes because this is the least I could do to express my gratitude to its creator.

“If you do have the time to spare, then read it” is all I can say. This has been a damn long review and I’ll actually be surprised for you who manage to reach this very word. I want to say thank you for reading my review and I hope you can experience the enjoyment I’ve had with the series. Have a good day :D

To be honest, I came here from watching the anime, thus I've never read Senryuu Shoujo manga before. My impression of the anime is not that good and I come to read the manga without a slightest bit of good expectation beforehand beside cheap reasons like "The Girl is Cute". But surprisingly, what I'm reading is something much.. much more than that. Welcome to my review of Senryuu Shoujo, I'll try my best to not spoil anything. Please enjoy the ride.

Story 8
Senryuu Shoujo is a story of a girl who cannot express her thought and talk it out like other people would normally do and ... a delinquent boy who got suddenly interested in Senryuu. The story is mostly about their pieces of daily life and expressing them in a form of 5-7-5 syllables Senryuu. Story wise it is not that complex that will twist your brain so don't judge this series from its story point of view if you like brain-twisting stories. But sure, it still has story progresses along the way, so don't worry about it.

Art 9
The art is cute and appealing. It is drawn in a simple slice of life style. It also emphasized more, wait.. I mean MORE in expressing Nanako's cuteness. So please be aware of your daily dosage of sugar and Nanako. Another thing is, it got what I'd like to call "Sakuga for manga" where certain panels is drawn in an "Illustration Level". To the level where you just have to put some color in it and it will be perfect.

Character 9
As stated in story part, Yukishiro Nanako is a quiet girl who can't express her words like people would normally do. And Busujima Eiji, the feared delinquent who have a cute gap of loving to write Senryuu.

The MCs are as simple as it is. Nanako the cinnamon roll that will trigger your "MUST PROTECT" instinct and will always and always put her big wide smile onto her face and you can't help but to smile with her. She is always happy when she is around Eiji and vice versa, Eiji will always be at ease while around her. Both of them doesn't have much friend beside each other, so you can guess... Their relationship is so simple yet so genuine, you can't help but asking if such a couple does exist in this world.

While the story is mainly focused on Nanako and Eiji. The side characters are entertaining as well. The prez... Oh the prez.. You know what? I'm gonna write my own "English 5-7-5" just to express my pity of her.

"The four leaved clover",
"Oh all human has it, but",
"Not our sweet lil' prez".

Does her luck really that bad? YES, it is that bad... If there is one word to describe her, I will choose "MVP". Yes.. The MVP.. You can't help but beg to God to give her a single luck in her life. Other characters are also good so you can check it out.

Enjoyment 10
The enjoyment I can feel from the series is as good as having to lay down on green grass field while breeze wind gently stroking your body. The series is so light, you don't have to put too much mind into it. The series is formatted in 4-koma style (four panels per individual story). It seems like too little but believe me, it felt like so much more than that. Just watching the characters interact with each other and having a good daily school life. Doing something funny and something dumb that will put a smile as big and wide as Nanako's while reading it.

What I wondered the most is that this is not a romance series, there isn't romance tag in its genre list, and yet all I can tell from reading it is that this is everything I could ask from a romantic series. A bittersweet interaction between two cute young teenagers who are literally a heaven-made pair. No matter what you think, they are destined to be together. Truly adorable and wholesome relationship you will see between them.

Btw, if your definition of romantic series is that of DomeKano. Then this is not for you boys. Get lost xD

Overall 10
If you want a simple read and a whole new level of wholesomeness that will put your stiff face to a big and wide smile and a series that will put warmth into your ice cold heart and soul. THIS IS FOR YOU. Do not ask anymore and give it a shot. In my opinion, the first 12 chapters should be enough to judge the series but I may urge you to go further if you find it to your liking.

That's it for my review. Well.. My FIRST REVIEW in MAL. Thanks if you read every single word of it. Sorry if it's too long and not too helpful but I really want people to experience what I've had from the series. See ya...