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The STORY... The POTENTIAL... SUCH WASTE!!! SUCH WASTE!!!
And now with less drama.

Reimei no Arcana or The Dawn of Arcana at first glance reminds about a dozen similar manga. A sad heroin has to marry a bastard prince of the enemy country. There's the loyal dog (literally) and she's not very well liked in that country. But everything is ok, because, of course, the prince turns a new leaf and falls madly in love with princes, who (oh surprise, surprise) has a mystical power. Everything's well known and familiar.

BUT, now I will talk about the reason for all the drama in the beginning. But, the ... story isn't just that, it's much much deeper. We have the racial discrimination and species discrimination, we have imminent war and genocide. Which are heavy and dark topics. And we have the wish to change the broken world and to bring happiness and safety to those we love. These are typical topics but they are presented quite nicely. But why the drama?

The idea is not very fresh, but it is solid. The surrounding context has so much potential you could build an epic poetry piece around it. And then comes along the editor who decides to push everything into fewer chapters that it is humanely possible. Or maybe the author doesn't have the skills for exposition and everything just like deflated balloon flops on the ground. Something that could have flown has to flop (dramatisation). My point is that it could have become something really good. For example, a character dies, it's death heavily affects main characters both emotionally and story wise. But the reader can't possibly feel this emotion because the *ing story is rushed. What do I care if that bastard dies, I never knew him anyway. Wasted... The moments, key points in the story are wasted... Everything feels unnatural and flat. No depth, no feeling. It brakes my heart.

Overall, a less sensitive (or less crazy and bored) reader will enjoy this manga immensely. It's a fair read certainly not the worst I have read (not even close). The art is cute, the characters lovable though underdeveloped and the story is ok (if you don't analyse it at all). I recommend to read to both casual readers (for enjoyment) and fanatics (to know what can happen to good ideas).

"See, I'm always prepared to put my life on the line when I bullshit."

First of all, I have to say that this manga is the best I ever read. I'm not a big fan of aliens and si-fi but that didn't mattered when I read this masterpiece.

Story 9
Only because the stories are a bit clichéd and very typical for alien theme. But that makes this manga better because the well know situations are warped by the wonderful humor. Another thing that made me reduce the points was the story detachment. They almost don't have any links so it doesn't draw you in as much as ... I would have liked.

Art 10
Art is beautiful. It's sometimes seems close to painting and sometimes it's simple manga pictures but the most important thing is that it doesn't interfere with reading and doesn't lower enjoyment.

Character 9
Eccentric nature of some characters and the simple down-to-earth attitude of others make a fantastic and bizarre combination. It greatly adds to the enjoyment of the whole. One thing that diminish the it though characters' types aren't the freshes thing. While reading not once I have thought "Where have I already met this character?"

Enjoyment 10
Oh, very much so. I enjoyed this work very throughly. It made laugh out loud. Since some of the chapters I have read it in a public place not once I got some very weird looks XD.

Overall 10
It's a masterpiece. Made with great love and dedication and worth every possible praise.

I do recommend this for those who can understand subtle humor and sarcasm, for those who like aliens and whatnot or just want a good hearty laugh.

Mushishi is a great anime for viewers with patience.

It has everything a good anime needs and though it lacks action it still is great. Each episode tells a different story about peoples problems caused by mushi beings of pure life. The stories are told slowly but they don't get boring because each story has something comprehensible to all. Each story is similar in a way because deals with primitive fears of unknown common to every human being.

Story is rather slow and you can't see a plot behind different episodes thou they have very similar themes. And even thou the story is bitty you can easily ... follow it.

Art is beautiful and detailed I especially enjoyed colors because the main colors of the series are green black and white you can see them everywhere and they have various meanings behind them.

Sound was beautiful the opening song is my number one right now and the soundtrack overall is just wonderful. Each episode has it's one musical theme based on the sounds of nature. And even thou the music made a good impression on me it wasn't very outstanding sometimes I barely noticed it.

Characters are interesting they have sometimes queer habits and tempers. But I was disappointed of characters appearance. Most of the female characters were almost identical.

Sometimes it was hard for me to really enjoy this anime because it requires lots of concentration and thoughts.

Overall I think it's a great anime for experienced watchers also for those who like to listen for tales legends about gods and demons also for those who enjoy something slow paced and requesting a bit of mind work.

And I really recommend this anime for those of you who loves nature ^_^