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Mar 9, 2023
This manga is very unique in its story, presentation and way the story is told. It tries to be very different and I really do appreciate that it is trying to do something else. That being said, the story itself has very slow moments and the overall narrative thread took a little too long for it to properly get going. Fortunately for you who are more patient than me, I really recommend it because it is a very slow-burn kind of mystery with some very intriguing premise.
The story is about Rob, a seemingly-immortal human that has outlived a 100-year jail sentence. Surprisingly, he
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has amnesia and doesn't really remember a lot of his past. There he meets a younger girl, a daughter of a diner. They bond and eventually decided to become a courier that delivers packages to people. Their nickname is Lady and the Oldman, a contradiction of what they truly are.
The premise is very interesting. They are a courier for clients that needs their help. It is a dice-roll of whether they are delivering some junk or a piece of a mutilated body part. The clients all vary from good to strange. The process of calling them is through a newspaper and I really like that touch. I also really like that it really feels like a very intricate web of people interacting with each other; almost everyone is connected to each other in some way and it just make the world very lived-in.
The story is very slow-paced and we get a lot of scenes with just dialogue between characters. There are some action scenes but it is very few. I also like that the story is very character-focused, so the thing that moves the story forwards are the character interactions, which are great. The dialogue is very great and the back-and-forth from the characters are really well-done. The mystery of the story is given to readers sparingly and let the reader take its time to understand things. It has a lot of quiet scenes with not a lot of things happening; I am quite torn as I really like this, but it makes the story a little too boring to read. My biggest issue in this is maybe just the very slow pace, as there are chapters where it just went too long and it doesn't give us much in terms of building the plot.
The presentation is great. The art style is very unique and I rarely see this art being used. It makes all the character look very unique and it gives a feeling of fantasy to the whole story, making it easier for me to suspend my disbelief. It has a certain way of just showing expressions that feels very raw and real. I really like it, it definitely makes the story way, way better than it actually is. To add, I really like that with this art style, it makes the weird becomes even weirder.
The interaction between Lady, Oldman and the people around them are also very interesting. There are people helping them and there are some who opposes them. It also feels like everyone is just another person living through life and having their own reasons for doing things. I really like the dynamic between Lady and her father.
Overall, it is a very unique manga. Disclaimer, however, I really feel like the story is too slow for me and I dropped it a couple of times due to that. If you are the type of person that would value a slow-burn manga, please do give it a try. If not, I would still recommend it to you if you want to experience a different kind of manga. I really enjoy it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 8, 2023
Have been reading this for a couple of years and re-read it around 5 times in my life. This manga means so much to me and it's one of the few gender-bender mangas that I really enjoy reading. Although I do agree that it doesn't try to do anything much with the themes present, it is still a great and enjoyable romance manga about acceptance and love that is very entertaining with some genuinely funny and very sad scenes.
Nao is probably the best character in the series and one that I very personally connected a lot with. Her sudden transition and the implication
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of that transition doesn't feel like just a one-time thing, but it is a recurring issue that she found a lot of trouble with. From her realisation that she couldn't do the things that she could do in the past, the realisation that she is not a man anymore and should see herself as a woman, the terror of having a relationship with a man and the most important, her utter fear of turning into her mother. There are a lot of moments where we could just see her cries and wails and to see her being in such a pain is very real. Still on Nao, I also really like how her character is just a female version of her past self. She is still a genius, so friendly with everyone and a person that deeply cares about other people. At the end, I could not feel anything other than pure happiness once I see her being happy and accepting herself.
The story itself is a bit cliche, but I don't mind it that much. It is very focused, fast-paced and I really would hate it if they made it way longer than it is. The story never feels boring and I only could remember one or two chapters that are just okay; I really believe that there is no bad chapters in the story, as every chapter is essential to telling this story. I also love the conflict between Nao and her dad, which basically just an issue of misunderstanding and lack of communication between the two. Now that I think about it more, a lot of the conflict in the manga revolves around that lack of communication from people. Fortunately for the manga, I never feel that this repetition is bad. As a matter of fact, I really think that it further cemented the struggles of opening up, accepting your fate and properly voicing out your concerns.
Overall, I really love this manga, despite its shortcomings. To mention a few, it would be the very cliche plot, the just-okay art and sometimes it is just too overtly-sexual to my liking. That being said, I think that it is a great read through and through + it is not that long so finishing this in a night is very possible and I would even recommend that.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 8, 2023
I really like this manga. It might be one of my favourite feel-good Yuri manga, due to it just fully embracing what it is and creating a simple story with simple characters. It is not trying to change anything and although it feels generic, it is very amazing for what it is.
I really like the simplicity of the story. They just placed these two characters into one household and we see their life. It is really sweet to see and there are some genuinely funny and emotional moments where I teared up a bit. The arc that both characters went through feels very believable,
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especially for Akebi. It doesn't have a lot of subplots either, so the story is very focused to developing these two characters and their relationship with each other.
Akebi, other than being drawn very adorably, is surprisingly amazing. She has her very unique quirks, like her nervousness, timidity and her tendency to just eat everything given to her. I also really like that they managed to do something about the weird-prodigy archetype character by just simply adding a one-sided love to her. She never understands what love means, so the only thing that she could convey is through gifts. She is oddly clueless with things around her, but could become very protective. Her arc with her mother feels very pure, as it was a simple case of misunderstanding and a strong lack of communications between the two. She feels genuine and she has a lot of very, very cute moments. Love Akebi.
Little Sister, similar to Akebi, is also surprisingly amazing. Although I feel like that her luck towards men was played off a little too much, I really feel that it gives a lot to her arc and some of the conflict in the story. I really think that her character are very compatible with Akebi and their dynamic with each other is very understandable and not forced at all. Her character feels like a plot device of what Akebi needed to change and I really like that. They are quite different in some ways, but due to that differences, they managed to fill up what the other lacks. I really like their relationship, but I'm kinda feeling conflicted to see them being in a relationship. Maybe I could be wrong.
Overall, it is a simple story that just makes you feel a lot of things. Whether that feeling is happy, sad or angry, this manga is very nice-to-read. I like it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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Mar 8, 2023
Genuinely amazing art with a very captivating story. I won't say that it is very distinct to other mangas in this sub-genre, but I really do believe that it might be one of the best, even though there are still a few glaring flaws. It is a great revenge story with a very satisfying flow.
The premise of the story is interesting, but not that unique. That being said, I really like the introduction to this world, as it is very riddled with injustice, corruption and just filth. There are some characters that are genuinely good, but a vast majority feels very one-dimensional. The power
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system is nothing special, so I wouldn't comment anything on that. One of the few things that I genuinely enjoy about this manga is that it has great pacing and after 50+ chapters, the story still has the same energy and seeing the story unfolding is very satisfying.
The pre-time-skip is a great introduction to the story. Introducing the world, the harshness, the characters and the main plot and it did all of that really well. It has a great pacing and there is no chapter that feels boring. I really like the MC, despite his lack of depth. He represented well as this younger force that is needed to change the status quo and a lot of his grief and pain is really understandable. That being said, a lot of the other characters are not as good and there are some characters that is just so annoying to read due to them being too much.
The post-time-skip is where the story becomes better. It gives a lot of satisfying ending for characters and giving more to this world and its structure. It also has great pacing and I really appreciate them not wasting too much time. I was a bit afraid that it would take more chapters for the MC to finally get his revenge, but I was wrong as they really made this act of revenge a very satisfying domino that waste no time.
It tries to comment about the danger of revenge and I'm not really sure that it succeeded in doing that. There are some lines that hints of commenting that, but it never goes that far. I would like it to comment more about the nature of revenge and the fact that they didn't do much with it, it made me feel a little disappointed. Although, I would say that I really like that the MC realises that he is too far gone to back out, which made his descent very tragic.
The art, as per usual in this kind of manhwas, is very beautiful. The characters have a lot of characters to it and there are a lot of flashy colours, but they managed to not use it too much and let the readers use a lot of the imagination. I really like the design of the characters, especially post-time-skip MC, just because of how menacing he could look. The white hair, the lanky tall figure under the cape and his eyes is just so, so beautifully-made.
Overall, enjoy it for what it is. Although it sometimes feel too generic due to it not doing a lot of things different from manhwas similar to it, I still really like it. I am excited to see how the story goes and would be very, very disappointed if they managed to make the story longer than it supposed to be, due to the last few chapters feeling very conclusive. Well, maybe I could be wrong though.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 8, 2023
A thoroughly beautiful manga about joy and finding your purpose. It captures that feeling of alienation in a place where you don't fully belong and one that society wouldn't let you feel that you are a part of it. It manages to tell a very simple story with a very simple character really, really well. Enhanced by the amazingly-beautiful art from every page, I really do believe that this might be the best manga out there.
The story follows Rintarou's want to become a rhythmic gymnastics performer and the hurdles that he needed to move past to be that. He suffered from stigma of people
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around him and society. He suffered from the refusal from his father to acknowledge him. He suffered from the fact that he won't fit in, no matter how much he proved himself. The story itself is very sad and somewhat dreadful at times, but the story never becomes too dark or too miserable. With every hurdle that he needed to jump, there will always be people around him that fully supports him. Whether it would be his sister, his teacher or his friends, he is not alone and even though the message is simple, to see Rintarou fully smile just from the joy of dancing is so, so beautiful to see and I cried a lot of times reading it.
This manga manages to evoke a lot of emotions in me. That feeling of suffocation of the difficulty of being what you want to be. That fleeting feeling of happiness of that brief moment when you just feel alright. That feeling of desperation of knowing that the person you care the most not believing in you. This manga is about freedom and purpose and I really do believe that it works so well in evoking those exact feeling to the readers.
Lastly, the art is beautiful. Every character is drawn beautifully and with a lot of character, especially Rintarou. The movement and motion of everything feels fluid and imaginative. As someone that is not the most familiar with this sport, I really feel all the impact, swiftness and beauty of everything. There are also a lot of beautiful individual scenes where the artist is just flexing its muscle and I really welcome it. It is beautiful.
Subjectively, this is one of the best mangas out there, as this story and its message feels extra personal to me. Objectively, it is not a perfect manga, as a majority of the characters feel a little too flat, there are some cliche moments and the story is quite generic. That being said, I really enjoy this manga despite its shortcomings. This manga is about human's resiliency, or stubbornness, to get what we want and the utter joy of finally getting it. It is a short and beautiful manga.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 7, 2023
I was surprised that this manga was as good as this. My first impression wasn't that good, as the story, vibe and art feels very generic. A magical school, full of girls that are somewhat lesbians, an impending war and a "chosen one" with very special powers; it is a very template-y story. Turns out, I was so so wrong for thinking like this. This manga manages to do differentiate itself in so many ways and I really love it for that.
The characters are genuinely amazing. Everyone feels very real and genuine. They have their own distinct quirks, personalities and sets of beliefs that
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made them stand out. They fought, argue, reconcile and forgive in a very believable manner. Their interactions are also very entertaining to watch, as every dynamic between the characters feels very unique to one another. The development of the characters are also very nicely-done and there is no incidents where this development feels forced at all.
At first, I really dislike how Mimi is portrayed, as I never feel comfortable with seeing loli characteristics in characters. That being said, her character is surprisingly deep. At first glance, she is this naive, childish character that is all-powerful and due to that, she becomes very disconnected with reality and people around her. Then comes Sheena that changes how she thinks of the war, her powers and other people. She became more attentive and aware towards people around her and genuinely start to believe what it truly means to live, although she misinterpret it many times. I really enjoy her development, as it made her from your usual OP character to a genuine great character. I also really like how her powers are basically just immortality and whenever I see her recover, I am genuinely baffled and horrified by the process of it.
Sheena is a very complex character as a lot of what she is feeling is very subjective to her. She fears the war, due to her lack of actual magical abilities and her fear of death. She wants to understand and connect with people around her, but she always manage to put a wall between her and everyone. She is insecure, fearful and her lack of confidence on herself is not that apparent, as she puts a veil in front of her. As she meet with Mimi and changes her, she also is affected by that change. She started to be more open, trusting and brave; she finally found something that is more important than her own life and that is Mimi's happiness and wellbeing. I really enjoy how this selfishness of her is never seen as a bad thing, but rather as a thing that she need to change to become better.
I really like their dynamic with each other. Mimi is a child so she basically just clings to Sheena, but Sheena is not as open to her, but as time goes on, she becomes as clingy as her. Both of them needed each other. Mimi needs to understand that her powers are not as important as her happiness and although she has the obligation to save everyone, she doesn't have to do it until she herself sacrifices herself so much. Sheena needs to understand that she is important, needed and are worthy of being taken care of. Both of them accepts each other and I really like it. That being said, I am still very in-the-middle of whether they should have a fully romantic feelings to each other or not. To add, the parts where they hug each other or cry together or sleep together are very, very, very adorable.
This manga also has a surprisingly mature way of seeing the world. All of the character's death are given so much attention and care to how people react afterwards. The romance between Seiran and Airi is one of the most beautiful romance I've ever seen and it is so, so harrowing to see the fate of both of them. The fact that even until the latest chapter, Airi has not moved on from Seiren and her attitude and actions are very believable. I really like that the war itself is just perpetual and even the children doesn't even know what it is that they are fighting for; It really gives a commentary on how pointless war becomes after a long time, as even the soldiers don't know what they are fighting for and who they are fighting for. Other than that, it gives a different interpretation of this chosen-one archetype, as it showed that even if Mimi doesn't suffer anything permanent, the people around her suffers so much more and I really cannot imagine how distraught Sheena feels when seeing Mimi reconstructing herself from the heavy injuries.
Talking about the art, it is great and beautiful. The characters are very greatly-drawn and adorable, especially Airi with the contrasting colours of her hair and her skin. There are some surprisingly horrifying scenes with gore that took me back for a while. Although I would say that the action scenes are not as easily-readable, but I really enjoy it nonetheless.
Overall, I love this manga. It manages to subvert a lot of expectations in this sub-genre and gave a lot of interesting twists. It also manages to make the world very lived-in and filled to the brim with consequences. It has great characters and enjoyable interactions. I really enjoy it and loved to see how the story continues, or just to see Mimi and Sheena again.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Mar 7, 2023
I really enjoy this manga for what it is and what its trying to do to make it different from other mangas in this sub-genre. The characters are entertaining to watch and there are some great moments here. There is no bad chapters, although I would say that as the story moves, it becomes more generic. That being said, I really like this one and it has its own strength that made it very unique.
I really enjoy its characters and I like how they managed to keep the cast very tight. There are basically only 3 characters here, but they are written very well
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and they are not 1-dimensional at all. Hinako is presented as your typical manga character that suffers from depression, but I really think that she feels more genuine and different from other mangas, which I really enjoy. Shiori, at first, feels very one-note, but as the story goes, she becomes more fleshed out and although her story feels very generic, I still enjoy her character. Miko is, by a slight margin, the best character because of how surprisingly deep her character is. The cast of characters are entertaining and I really want to get into detail.
I love Hinako's character design. She is very cute, especially with how her hair is drawn and her fashion looks perfect on her. I particularly love a lot of her facial expressions. The way she smiles, her default expression and some of the most harrowing scenes, she has this emptiness and hollowness in her eyes that feels very fitting. I also really like that this portrayal of depression feels very genuine and it doesn't feel over-exaggerated. Yes, her thoughts are very dark at moments, but the writer put in a lot of restraint on when, where and how often it came up in dialogue. She is also very stilted and expressionless, but there are some scenes where her emotion get the better of her. These scenes are very few, so when it came up, it feels very impactful. I also really like that she isn't just sad and miserable all the time. She could still be happy and genuinely feel relieved and grateful with Shiori and Miko for being with her. I really like her character and her character is my favourite, due to me personally connecting with her.
Shiori, by a very slight margin, is the weakest character in the manga. At first, she feels very one-note, as her only purpose is only there to be the change in Hinako's life. That being said, I really like her being this one-note character as it feels like a strong allegory for depression and suicide. As she has mentioned of her desire to eat Hinako alive, she feels like this inevitable being; I think it is a really good allegory for depression and how suicidal thoughts will always looms over you. Although I really like her character development in the newer chapters, I really feel like her backstory feels too generic and it lessens that allegory. Still, I enjoy her character and her mermaid form is genuinely horrifying without it being too much.
Miko is the best character in the manga due to how fleshed out her character feels. She has a lot of quirks that I really enjoy. She often goes to clubs and leave Hinako behind due to her character basically cannot say no to anyone. She is childish at first, but she could be surprisingly mature at some moments. Her feelings for Hinako, mostly stems in guilt rather than love, gives her a lot more depth, as she should be this guardian spirit that protects everyone. I like the scene where she is exposed as the fox spirit and I thought that she would be this evil spirit, but turns out, she just feels guilty and she wanted to do something for Hinako. She cares so much about Hinako and I really enjoy how they immediately resolved their issue.
The art in this manga is amazing. The characters are drawn with so much polish and care. There are some great pages that has very beautiful art and I never see some bad drawing at all. As I said before, I really enjoy Hinako's character design, but I really think that Shiori and Miko is also very good. I love Miko's Fox Spirit form as it feels very raw and horrifying without being full-on horror. The way that her form would always fill the whole panel is also a strong touch. It is a very beautiful manga to see and read.
Overall, I really enjoy the manga so so much. Although it feels very generic here and there, I really do believe that it has a lot of very strong points and I never feel very bothered by the genericness of some stuff. Its portrayal of depressions feels genuine and it has a lot of restraint that I really respect. The characters are amazing and entertaining to see + their interactions are great! I love the manga. I really reommend it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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