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Feb 14, 2025
Having a sequel manga release a decade after the original serialisation is always going to be hard, it will have a drop off of reader ship and might not be fully appriciated or properly adapted.
Manabi Straight! SAKRA has some interesting ideas to take with the "Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!" concept, however struggles to properly make this realised and co-heirant with the pre-existing source material.
The first volume (chapters 1-6) I really liked, featuring a new character who interacts with the original 5 main characters of the original series. While the new character was not nessessarily the greatest she was a good pick to use as
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a Point of View for the audience, as she was a worker to converted to going into Seioh, giving a perspective of a character architype which did not previously exist in the manga nor anime.
However, the second volume feels completely disconnected from the first volume featuring essentially nothing from the first volume and what made that a nice time. This is what brings this manga from an interesting perspective in the Manabi Straight! universe into little more than a time sink for an hour or two. None of the original characters appear meaningfully (this is not nessessarily a sin if they had at least developed interesting characters), only featuring 2 panels of Amamiya Manami at the backend and a short cameo bearly featuring the original student council members.
In short, if you have an easy way to buy them or you're willing to sink the money in to get it imported, it might be worth a die-hard Manabi Straight!'s fan time to understand a bit more about the universe.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Dec 28, 2024
Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight is a wonderful, adorable and incredibly melancholy series that I believe is horrifically underrated and absolutely worth your time if you've watched any amount of slice of life shows.
I was quite surprised to find that it had such a polarising score especially for a show where nothing happens, needless to say I expected a Moé show in which girls generally sat around a kotatsu and did club activities. I could not be more wrong; this show is possibly the absolute best CGDCT moé show out there, I do not say this lightly
The first half of the series (episode 1-6)
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is completely set on developing the characters. When I watched the show I was completely shocked, the amount of character development which in a weaker show would be completely brushed under the rug gag characters were fully realised and relatable characters who I feel had depth. This is shown no better in Aya Hirano's character "Mei", not only does she have the best episode but they take the general "shy-girl/tsundere" archetype and develop this character in 2 episodes better than any other show I've seen do in 12+. For example, I believe Mei has far more interesting character development than Sakaki from “Azumanga Daioh” which had significantly longer to develop their shy-girl character. This applies to all the five main girls sans Momoha. Manamii, Mika and Mei all have chemistry in between each other that makes you believe in that a real friendship can exist which is not something I can say for a good amount of other CGDCT Moe shows.
By the seventh episode you are on the end of your seat hoping these characters can get the best possible ending that they can and that they excel in their future prospects as adults.
The second half of the series (episode 7-12) is set on the goal of the school fair, this is the goal looming over the series. A deadline giving you anxiety on the ending of the series and a constant reminder that the series will end. I will be omitting this from the review due to the spoiling nature of it, but it is absolutely the pay-off and ending that this series needed.
The art-style of the show is nothing less than gorgeous, it has this “hair-gradient” style that I don’t believe was used in a show prior, and defines the look of these characters. This hairstyle I believe was used extensively in “Higurashi Gou” but in a way less visually appealing and cheaper manner, in comparison Manabi Straight is absolute visual eye candy, this goes from the opening song all the way to the ending Claymation sequence. The show looks extremely high quality and looks absolutely timeless whether watching on a CRT tv or a modern flat-screen monitor. The series relies on grungy greens and blues to emphasise the grim and gloomy nature of the series for a good amount of the show, while using warmer colours while showing the characters in a more “normal” setting.
As you may notice I have not mentioned the setting of the series yet, this is because despite the first episode constantly pointing out that it sets place in the future, the rest of the series kind of has it as a backdrop for the characters and plot which take the full centre-stage, this doesn’t mean that the plot isn’t .
The future of this world is a Japan in where the birth rate has dropped so low that there is not enough teenagers interesting in going into high-school that they begin to go into the workforce as soon as possible, to the point where high school attendance has completely plummeted and the experience of high school is getting so much rarer. This is not necessarily the most out there plot that anime has to offer but it is significantly more grounded and depressing than the outwardly cutesy and moé appearance of this show may let you on to believe.
I was constantly thinking while watching how the depressing nature of most high schools, this dystopian future depicted in the show and the hash blues and green used in the show could possibly even give conditions for a girl like Manami to exist. The students of this show represent this feeling and atmosphere, as every time they're shown they're generally depressed. This is for the one exception they're talking or referencing the newly revamped student council. Where they are generally off the walls energetic and what you'd expect most of the bland background characters to be in a show like this, I believe they are meant to contrast the off the walls main character types (such as Manami) attitude that most adults seem to share while looking back into their past as teens, to the attitude that 99.9% of high schoolers feel while in high school, complete apathy.
I know this may come off as needlessly harsh or edgy, but I believe if you do not see the beauty in a show like this after watching the full 12 episodes (plus the OVA) you have either: been home-schooled since birth by led sniffing cocaine-addicted parents, have an I.Q. below 50 or an inbred contrarian troll.
Thanks for reading this complete ramble review of a show I love; I hope that when/if you’ve watched it that you feel the same excitement for it that I do.
I love Manabi Straight and I hope that you do too.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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Dec 10, 2024
Minami-ke's second season is utterly boring, forgettable, ugly and a complete waste of my and most likely your time.
The first season was cute, I liked how the three main characters (Kana, Chiaki and Haruka) interacted with each other, it wasn't boring for the most part and it served it's purpose as a CGDCT show.
The second season however drops the ball on absolutely every aspect, the characters' designs look ugly, the episodes are nothing but filler, the main characters who were enjoyable in the first season are completely boring and I struggle to even remember a single thing that happened the entire season. I say this
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as massive fan of this genre famous for being boring filler.
The characters who were generally in memorable parts in the first season are fine Housaka and Makoto/Mako-chan for example. But for characters that were in a bigger focus this season I have absolutely nothing to say, there is a massive reason why this season is seen as a massive drop in quality.
This is amplified in the anime original character, Fuyuki. After getting tortured with 13 episodes I cannot even remember any surface level information about this character or the entire season.
I would not recommend this season to absolutely anybody, if you loved the first season I would highly recommend skipping this season.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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Jul 28, 2024
Given how unpopular/niche the Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight anime already is, it isn't really surprising that the manga has no reviews as of writing. Added with the fact of how different this version of the story is, makes it not really worth reading unless you're a crazy superfan of this kind of thing.
This is the weaker version of this story, missing the best episodes of the anime and character centric episodes of the Anime.
The reason I haven't mentioned the Manga stand alone, is because it isn't really meant to be read by itself, but more as a "Companion Piece" for extra content. This means that
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reading this without the context of the 2007 anime is going to leave you confused and underwhelmed.
An added bonus with this manga however, is the added "screen" time of characters like Momoha or Mutsuki who didn't get that much time to develop in the anime.
Aikoh is almost entirely removed from the manga, despite a few mentions and Takako.
Overall, I would only really suggest you would read this after watching all 12 episodes and the OVA, and wish to read even more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 6
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Jan 20, 2024
Higurashi Meguri is a manga exclusive series of arc which is the alternative answer arc for Higurashi Gou compared to the Anime only sequel series Higurashi Sotsu. It is by far the more accepted and liked version of the Answer Arcs for Higurashi Gou's Question Arcs due to Sotsu's general unpopularity, poor execution and not to mention the unfortunate character assassination of Satoko Houjou which hurts the first two seasons of Higurashi, as it kills the otherwise optimistic and good ending of the story while killing any sorts of closure Ryukishi07 had for Matsuribayashi (Festival Accompanying Arc). However, Meguri remedies this and provides a more
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enjoyable and far more closer experience to the original few arcs of Higurashi, while still giving you answers for Gou. This means that it is not necessary to endure Sotsu to begin or enjoy Meguri, this is a major upside to save you either a few hours and/or your enjoyment of the original 8 arcs and Gou.
Sotsu and Meguri share similar plot points and are quite similar, however it isn't an exact copy of Gou like Sotsu (granted it was from the perspective of Satoko/The Victim of Hinamizawa Syndrome). And because of this fresher take, I have to say I prefer Meguri overall compared to Sotsu because of the aforementioned newer story. Along with Meguri cutting out a lot of repeated scenes that Sotsu dragged you through an example of this being Satoko and Rika's time in St. Lucia's Academy which definitely could've been cut from Sotsu and saved a decent amount of time, which was featured to an extent in all of the Arcs in Sotsu.
Most of the arcs aren't necessarily notable on their own, besides the final arc Akarigurashi which is a major shake up and shows a less insane ending that Sotsu delivered. That being the Shounen battle between Rika and Satoko being replaced with a far more realistic ending which fits in far more with the original ending of Higurashi. I am at a loss of words at how to even begin to compare these two endings as they are so far separated in any sort of metric, but just take my word that the ending for Meguri while feeling a bit out of the blue is better than the far stranger and immersion breaking ending of Sotsu.
On the contrary, I do feel the size of Meguri is a contentious part of the manga as it can pretty much be binge read in less than an hour without engagement lost which means it doesn't really let you linger in it like the first two seasons of the Anime, the longer scrolls of the Manga adaption or the massive size of the original VNs. However, I would rather a shorter story like what we got compared to the more grueling length of Sotsu.
As of writing this review, I cannot say how the final chapter of the manga will end, I am very happy in the way that it is looking to conclude, but judging from how short the chapters are and the amount revealed already I am extremely happy with how this turned out.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Nov 22, 2023
That was certainly something... I wouldn't suggest this to anyone unless you are specifically looking for more Higurashi/When They Cry content, this is just due to the way that these kind of fan service-y OVA's usually are (this is the 10th anniversary celebration[?]) One episode that is specially hard to get through is the first episode, which harder to stomach compared to literally all of the first and second season, while still being as strange as Rei (this isn't a compliment).
And similar to my feelings on Rei, you can completely skip this and not miss out on anything, but it still has something for fans
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of the last 3 seasons, so if you are going to watch this, just start from episode 2. It'll save you 30 very awkward and cringe minutes of your life.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Feb 9, 2023
Don't go into this anime expecting much, its not Season 2 Lucky Star, if you do you are going to be disappointed. The Miyakawa Family's Hunger should be seen more as supplementary material to watch after you've completed a few episodes of Lucky Star, and for that I think it works pretty well and provides a nice side story completely disconnected from Lucky Star's main cast. The show isn't revolutionary and doesn't hold a candle to Lucky Star, however is a sweet and slightly sad look into two side characters who are pretty forgettable.
What I'm trying to get across is that if you're expecting something
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in the same league as Lucky Star then you'll be disappointed and not give it a fair shot, don't be led on by the score it's much more enjoyable than it's score may suggest.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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