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"Wings help us achieve freedom, they free us from the curse of gravity and defy god...."

But for Vendemiaire, there is no freedom.

"Wings of Vendemiaire" is a poignant manga that focuses on the lives (or unlives) of a group of winged puppets, all called Vendemiaire. These Vendemiaire are the penultimate caged birds; beings that extract sympathy from man and are sequentially tried to be set free.Though it is Vendemiaire that must come to realize that the cage is not as strong as it may appear.

Story:
Mohiro Kito is damn good at creating stories that are both disturbing and beautiful. They are not, by any means, simple ... or easy to understand. "Wings of Vendemiaire" contains several sub-plots, but all seem to fixate on one central theme (I'll let you decide what exactly that theme is). Some of the sub-plots are hard to understand and if you don't pay attention to the words you may miss some vital information in trying to get the story as a whole.

Art:
I don't love the art in Kito's works as much as I love the story and the characters, but many of the simple backgrounds and expressions of the characters help carry the weight of the heavy theme.

Character:
The Vendemiaire know that they are not human, and yet their actions and personalities progressively change with each chapter. They are inevitably kind and good-hearted, but deep seated in their want to be set free is a strange similitude to the one great human flaw.

Enjoyment/Overall:
I wasn't quite sure if I really understood this manga, even after I went back and re-read some things that I didn't pay attention to the first time. I believe that the enjoyment of "Wings of Vendemiaire" depends on if you think it has meaning, or is just a stream of consciousness from the great Mohiro Kito. I can leave you with only one representative question: "what would happen, if the caged bird fought back?"

Sometimes the most simplistic stories can have the biggest impacts on our hearts. "Suki" would be a fantastic example of this. The love presented in this short manga is at such a level of pure beauty that one can't help but fall captive to it.

Story:

Meet Hinata Asahi: perhaps (and at no exaggeration) the world's happiest girl. She is, by quote from her friends, an "absent-minded savant". She excels in academics and sports at her High School all while managing to be extremely naive. Hinata's life takes a spectacular turn when an attractive, older man moves in next door to her. Hinata (who likes ... to be called "Hina) is thrilled when it turns out that the man next door is a substitute sensei for her class at school. When Hina develops a crush on her new sensei, her friends try to convince her that not everyone is as caring as they seem.

Art/Characters:
CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP, CLAMP. Can I say much more? The art in Suki is part of what makes it so simple and unadulterated. The beautifully developed Hina not only delivers the goods in pure, innocent, absent-minded moe-ness. But also makes it impossible not for someone who picks up and reads a few pages of this manga to fall in love with her.

Enjoyment/Overall:
If you are going to read this story expecting for it to be about the struggles of large age differences in dating, and a lot of ecchi teacherXstudent...you might as well forget it. Suki is NOT about age difference. It is first and foremost about trust in the most unlikely circumstances. And hey- I'm not especially thrilled about the idea of a 16-year old and a 32-year old dating in real life, but CLAMP made it work. The age difference thing didn't even cross my mind. I never thought to myself, "it'll never work because he's too mature for her". The story was pure and simple. Period.
I definitely recommend this one.

Please note that I haven't finished reading "Kobato" yet, because it is still in the process of publishing.

Kobato is one of those mangas that makes you smile. And I don't mean just any smile; the kind of smile that comes from seeing acts of kindness (and cuteness) that only our heroin, Kobato Hanato, could create.


Story:

Kobato Hanato is a mysterious girl who's mission is to fill up a bottle in order to grant her wish. The only problem is, the bottle can only be filled when she heals wounded hearts. With the help of her strange and foul-mouthed friend, a stuffed dog like thing ... name Ioryogi, she ventures off into a strange world that she doesn't seem to be familiar with.
I don't want to ruin anything for you, but I will tell you that the story raises a lot of questions. It does a good job of getting your interest at the beginning, and doesn't let up as it gets more in depth with the characters and Kobato herself.

Art:
It's CLAMP. So if you've read any of their mangas before, you know it's going to be just as lovely as the rest. Kobato is beautiful (and somewhat reminiscent of a long-haired Sakura) and Ioryogi somehow manages to be cute and scary all at the same time. As far as the art goes...this is another masterpiece.

Characters:
Kobato is perhaps the most lovable character I've come across in a long while. She's kind, ditzy, adorable, and strong. I find myself wanting to go and help someone after every chapter that I read. I also love how they manage to add some mystery behind what Ioryogi is and where he comes from. The character development is fantastic in general.
(P.S: be on the look out for characters for other CLAMP classic characters that make guest appearances)

Enjoyment/Overall:
In two words, to total it all up, I would describe it as "Heartwarming, and Mysterious." CLAMP manages to make Kobato's wounded heart healing interesting by adding in several major questions along the way. And I never find myself doubting that the story will reach a dead-end.
I highly recommend that if you are a fan of CLAMP, you should check this one out.
Thanks for reading!

There is only one official word that comes to my mind when I think of Cardcaptor Sakura: Beautiful.
Everything about it is simply the epitome of beauty. The story, the characters, the art.
It's a CLAMP cult classic, and perhaps one of the most famous mangas ever written.

You think you know magical girl manga? Well, you haven't seen ANYTHING until you've read Cardcaptor Sakura. As far as your concerned, this is the ultimate magical girl manga. This is what inspired 100's of other artists to rip off the idea.
(Oh, and as I usually say, the Cardcaptor Sakura Manga is waaaay better than the anime. So ... don't even think that you shouldn't read the manga series, if you've already seen the show)

Let's get started, shall we then?

Story:
Sakura Kinomoto is a do-good 10 yr old who finds a mysterious book in her father's library entitled " The Clow". Upon opening the book, Sakura discovers that The Clow is in fact not a book, but a container to a host of 19 magical beings who were originally sealed in "Clow Cards". As well as releasing the cards, Sakura also releases the guardian of The Clow, which appears as a plushie like animal with wings, whom Sakura nicknames "Kero". Kero tricks Sakura into becoming the next "Cardcaptor" after sensing that she had magic in her. And so begins the adventure of Cardcaptor Sakura, but collecting the cards is only the beginning.

Art:
CLAMP's art is always breathtakingly beautiful, so it's no exaggeration when I tell you that I have never seen anything more amazing than the art in Cardcaptor Sakura. Some of the designs for the outfits Sakura wheres while "Cardcapting" are so original that it begs the question "where did they come up with this stuff?". CLAMP is truly the best of the best, the creme of the crop.

Characters:
Throughout the manga, one has to just fall in love with Sakura and her optimistic views on life. Her character is developed very well throughout the series, and each volume she starts to look more and more amazing than the last. The Clow Card designs are equally as wonderful to look at, and leaves the reader anticipating what the next one will look like.

Enjoyment&Overall:
If this manga was a person, I would marry it. So yes, to answer the question "If you love it so much, why don't you marry it?", I would. I most definitely and without any hesitance, would.
Cardcaptor Sakura is like a nice batch of fresh-baked cookies, but for your eyes. And what always gets me is that it's not just the art that makes this manga great- it's the fact that it manages to keep a well-thought out plot with plenty of questions and mysteries to keep the reader going.
I truly and from the utmost pit of my heart, suggest that you give this manga a try.
Thanks for reading.

Let me just start off by saying: DO NOT WATCH THE ANIME.
Compared to the manga, the anime is complete crap. (My apologies if you have already seen the pita-ten anime and are scouting out the reviews to see if the manga is worth-while.)
The manga is much darker, and more in depth than the anime.

Pita-ten is the first, and by far the best, manga I have ever read. And this is coming from a life time lover of CLAMP's mangas.
Koge Donbo- I salute you.

Another thing to remember: Yes, this is a pretty common shoujo story-line. A boy befriends a magical being, blah, blah, blah ... skip to happy ending. Pita-ten is not like that.

Story: 8
Kotarou Higuchi is a calm sixth grader who lives in an apartment with his ever absent father. His life is considerably normal, until one day he gets a new neighbor who has an unhealthy obsession with him. This neighbor is Misha, and as it turns out, is a dysfunctional angel whose mission in life is to make kotarou happy.
As Misha and Kotarou's friendship grows (or inevitable love, in Misha's eyes), Kotarou learns that his past is shrouded in more mystery than he believed was possible.

Art:9
Koge Donbo's style is unbelievably adorable, but she has a way of making her characters very emotional when the time calls for it. Of course, Pita-Ten is not without it's comedy moments, and the art makes it 10 times better.

Characters:8
Again, the manga goes more in depth into the main characters than the anime. You may be suprised to find that Shia (another mysterious resident who moves in with Misha) has a darker personality than you remembered. The characters in Pita-Ten are all memorable, and all play in part in Misha's unexpected interruption into their lives.

Enjoyment: 9
I never found myself doubting where the story was going through all 8 volumes. Sure, things get a little bit stranger near the end, but in a way that it's not unrelated to what was happening earlier on.
I can honestly say I laughed at some parts, I cried at some parts, and I was generally glad I had spent the time to read it when I was done.

Overall:
Pita-Ten is a story about love, the mistakes we make, friendship, death, and the hard choices that come our way.
Trust me when I say you won't regret reading this wonderful, sometimes heart-wrenching story.
Thanks for reading.