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To be completely honest, this is my first time writing a review on a manga. I've written reviews before, but only on anime so when I stumbled upon "Bonnouji" I decided to give it a try mainly because of the intriguing synopsis. I was completely drowned in tears of joy after finishing this light-hearted, masterpiece of a manga...

For those who have not read the synopsis, "Bonnouji" is a story about 2 people, who by chance met and quickly became friends. Naturally, these 2 would spend more time and the relationship between them eventually bloomed into love. While most romance manga tends to follow a ... certain set of principles or cliche to make the story somewhat enjoyable, "Bonnouji" doesn't stray from these sets of cliche, but it also doesn't focus too much on it. The story is simple, yet extremely heart-warming and this may-be because of how relatable it is to reality.

To give you a better understanding of the mange, I'll make an analogy. Imagine one day you broke up with your boyfriend/girlfriend, and you decided to go drink with your friends to ease your depressive state. After a good night of drinking with your friends, you walk back home and gets into a troublesome situation (whatever it may-be) and suddenly, a person you never knew helped you out. Naturally, you would say thank you and ask that person what you need to do in order to repay for his or her help. Then suddenly, that person said "to become friends", what would your reaction be? You accept the request and at first glance, you might think that this person is never going to become your future boyfriend or girlfriend just because he doesn't fit your "ideal" type but to only find out that later on, he or she would become the most dependable person in your life. Only then will you realize that your "ideal" type was just you fantasizing, but in reality, only time will decide whether you two are a good fit or not.

It was most definitely an enjoyable and pleasurable ride when reading "Bonnouji". For those into romance, I heavily recommend reading this manga for it provides you with everything you need while maintaining a realistic viewpoint.

For the first time in years, I cried...

What if you hold romantic feelings for a person, then that person dies, and suddenly came back to you but only just to disappear again... how would you feel?
I've never gone through what it feels like to lose someone precious but after watching this masterpiece, I understood how and what it means to be empathetic; to learn or share what another person is feeling; and in this case, I learned what the characters in this anime show felt...

(SPOILERS FREE)

Story - 10:
If someone ever says that Anohana is not worth watching, ignore them and watch it. This anime is ... a masterpiece. Despite seeing many sad and tragic-romance anime such as Clannad, Orange and Your lie in April, I am shocked that this anime was the most recent one I've watched. The story is quite original and I was surprised that there weren't many clichés as I would've expected from a tragic-romance anime. The pacing is excellent, it wasn't rushed, nor too slow, it was perfect. The execution of each episode kept me watching nonstop. I couldn't stop myself from watching it and was fully immersed. Every episode gets more interesting and I can't help but continue. As soon as the anime came to an end, I found myself crying... which is odd since this was the first time in many years that I've cried. Even the aforementioned tragic-romance anime such as Clannad and Your lie in April didn't have that much impact to make me cry, but this anime, it was different... It taught me many things, and just to list one, it taught me that our mistakes are fragile, so learn from them instead of neglecting them.

Art - 9:
The art for this anime is amazing. Though it doesn't really deviate from the recurring art style of most anime, some scenes were just so detailed that I didn't want to blink. It's not the best art style out of all the anime; it doesn't have extremely delicate and detailed art like Your lie in April, but it is not the worse either. I'd say it's great.

Sound - 10:
Now the sound, it was just amazing. The ending song sang by the voice actor of Menma (Kayano Ai), Anjou Naruko (
Tomatsu Haruka), and Tsurumi Chiriko (Hayami Saori) was truly beautiful. I downloaded the song on my phone as soon as I finished watching the anime, and intentionally, I'm listening to the song right now as I write this review! Notice how some anime also have great soundtracks and great openings and endings, but some fail to attract us. "Why is that?", you might ask. The quality of a music/song in an anime is just a partial section in evaluating the whole sound department of the anime as a whole. What really takes the cake is how the creator chooses to execute it. Let say that an anime has great soundtracks, but the execution of each soundtrack doesn't really fit each scene, then the scene itself is easily forgettable while the only thing on the viewer's mind is the soundtrack itself, not the scene. But on the contrary, Anohana not only has great soundtracks, but it does well in executing it in every scene as well. If I was ask to remember what happened exactly in each episodes, I would be able to recall each scene vividly and it just goes to show how stunning this anime is.

Character - 10:
Just splendid. The author really did well to develop the relationship of each character with each other. The anime delve into each and every one of the characters well and I was able to understand their feelings. The anime also does well in making each character memorable. As for me, the most memorable character is definitely Menma. It is without a doubt that she will forever be one of my most favorite anime characters of all time... (starts crying again) .·´¯`(>▂<)´¯`·.

Enjoyment - 10:
I truly love and cherish this anime from the bottom of my heart. I can never forget what I've gone through and learned along the way when and after watching this anime. This anime, even if forgotten by others, will always hold a special place in my heart. I just to want to reiterate the fact that this anime, Anohana, is a masterpiece.

Overall - 10:
When I finished the last episode of this anime, I remained stagnant for minutes as tears gradually fell from my eyes... From the anime, I learned that to know what true love is, you must know pain along the way. The world is ugly and it'll continue looking that way, but through your adventure of life, you learn that the world is beautiful in many ways unknown to you before...

First and foremost, I would like to say that this anime, Classroom Of The Elite, is by far, one of the best anime I have ever seen and also, this will be the first anime I am writing a review on.

Story - 10:
Okay, if you have or have not read the synopsis, I'll just summarize it. A school system simply based on meritocracy, where students are given these so-called 'points' according to their merit. The school divides and categorize students into 4 classes. Class A, the highest ranking class amongst the 4 classes. Class B, the second highest ranking class, and so on. Now, ... our main male protagonist, Ayanakouji Kiyotaka has just transferred to this school and is placed in Class D, which is the lowest class you can get into due to him scoring exactly 50 out of 100 on all of the entrance exams. Classroom Of The Elite gives off a strong and vibrant vibe where when you start watching it, you cannot contain yourself to stop watching it. Well at least, that's how I felt. As the story progresses, the anime starts to elaborate itself more and more, giving the audience a better understanding of the situation and circumstances of the students. Now, I will say that this anime has a lot of cliches but I will only be mentioning one, and that would be the main character being cold, cruel, and overpowered but seems very quiet and carefree on the outside. Overall, the story was much better than I expected it to be, and though it had some flaws, it can be easily overlooked, which is why I gave it a full score.

Art - 8:
The art itself is actually kinda common but they do go above and beyond on some occasions. Overall, the art is actually pretty good, but I wouldn't say it's perfect.

Sound - 9:
Now, this is one of the factors that I enjoyed most about this anime. The opening, "Caste Room (カーストルーム)" by ZAQ, and ending, "Beautiful Soldier" by Minami, to me, is by far mediocre at best. But what really intrigues me, is the background music. They managed to execute and integrate the music perfectly within specific scenes, especially the suspenseful piano, which only plays at moments where the main character shows his superiority by being super overpowered, and I have to admit, it is by far one of the best theme music I have ever heard. Overall, it is great, but because there was only one that I truly enjoyed, it didn't hit the perfect mark.

Character - 10: (Spoiler Alert)
Right, now let me just say that this anime, did an outstanding job at displaying each characters' personality, aspect, and characteristics. Not to mention that the character development was also at a steady pace, it wasn't rushed but it wasn't sluggish either making it very smooth and enjoyable for the audience. Okay, now let start. Ayanakouji, as I mentioned previously, is pretty badass. The reason for this is because he went through a period during his childhood, in which he was put in this "White Room", where he was taught martial arts, and academics. After going through this, he developed a mindset (which is shown in episode 12 of the anime) in which he thinks that all humans are simple "tools" to be used when Horikita was speaking to him. The author managed to kept his identity a secret, and only displaying it at certain times, which makes us viewer want to continue and keep watching until we know who he truly is. Character(s) development wise, other characters want and thinks that they managed to progress and develop some kind of relationship with our main male protagonist here, but little do they know that he has been manipulating and using them all this time to his advantage. Overall, the character(s) personality was kinda cliche, but unique at the same time due to how the author executed it, and I would say that in the character department, this anime deserves a 10 out of 10.

Enjoyment - 10:
Overall, this anime was very enjoyable and memorable because of everything it has to offer.

Overall - 10:
In one sentence, I will say that this anime was and is truly worthwhile.