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Art: What a feast for the eyes. This is a truly beautiful manhua. It is colored throughout, but even without colors, the character designs are absolutely gorgeous.

Story: Sadly, no matter how beautiful the art, it wasn't enough to make up for the poor story line and characters. Granted, this is a very short manhua. Thus, there's not much room for development. Nevertheless, the heroine is complete mess. We're forced to think that she's a strong-willed woman when really she's just a whiny brat.

This is fine for a quick read and great as candy for the eyes, but don't go in expecting anything more.

Mangakas of the romance genre often try to spice up their plots by putting their main couple through many dramatic obstacles in their relationships like third party involvement or family affairs, dragging the readers along for a roller coaster ride of heartaches.

Bonnouji has none of this. Nothing really happens. The best way to summarize this is that 2 apartment-mates meet and fall in love. And yet it manages to capture your attention from page 1 all the way to the very end.

Relationships don't need to be spiced up and dramatized. Bonnouji zeroes in on the comedy arising from the awkwardness and trickiness of 2 people ... falling in love. It reminds us that at the end of it all, love is about companionship, and it is wonderful.

It's a simple read with simple art to match. But don't make the mistake of thinking it lacks depth. Get ready for lots of cringes and chuckles, and loads of warm fuzzy feels. It's truly a manga that'll put a smile on your face :)

Inconsistent. This applies to everything from its characters to the plot lines, and even the art, which makes it really hard for the readers to sink their teeth into the story.

I believe the author tried way too hard to make it an epic historical romance like rurouni kenshin or saiunkoku monogatari, but this definitely was a let down.

The greatest bane of the story is the main character herself - Shin Bia. In fact, the title is rather apt. She is quite the nutcase. The author sets her up to be the stereotypical strong and independent orphan who knows all sorts of martial arts. However, ... as you progress in the story, you'll find that she is anything but. She is as weak as some of the most annoying heroines of reverse harems (angelique, hakuouki, etc.). In fact, I'd she's worse because of her constant whining and lack of cerebral capability.

If you can't stand annoying leads, this is probably not for you. It wasn't completely horrible, so if you're looking for something to pass the time, give it a go. Otherwise, don't expect too much.

One of my most favourite genres is historical. And I get really excited especially when it's Chinese as I love the beauty and elegance of the Han period. Sadly, entertainment of such a genre is hard to come by. Even harder to find is a good one. After incredible shows like Saiunkoku Monogatari, I've always been on the search for similar works. I thought I had finally found it in Flower Ring.

I thought wrong.

Where shall I begin to describe my disappointment?

Everything from the characters to the plot is shallow. The antagonist literally pops up of nowhere, and the ending came so suddenly that it ... felt like the mangaka was forced to end it. There was some attempt to add dimension to Yun Qie's character, but it was done in such a cliche manner that it failed terribly.

As for plot, it seemed like the mangaka just thought of a couple of major events and just went straight from Event 1 to Event 2 and then event 3. The transitions are either horrid or nonexistent.

It's saving grace was the art, but even then it wasn't enough to actually "save" the series. At times the art is beautiful, at others it's just crummy. The technicality of the visuals is bad as well. 2 characters could be facing each other, but were placed in a panel as if they were standing side by side.

From the first few pages, I knew the manga would be bad. Yet I thought I would continue for the sake of the moments of beauty in the art. It wasn't enough. I was utterly bored.

And thus the search goes on for something to come to par with Saiunkoku Monogatari.

I shall spare you a summary of the manga and go straight to my opinion of it:

Art: Not the best. The facial shape of the characters were quite strange at times, but every now and then the art was good.

Characters: Very one dimensional. The mangaka tried to add some complexity to the characters, but then again, short mangas are usually without real characterization. The female is your usual weak damsel in distress and the male is forceful and somewhat introverted, constantly keeping his "true love" hidden.

Plot: Very very cliché. You knew exactly what was going to happen.

Overall, it was a fair quick read, but ... definitely not something to get into it. Good to read in between seriously epic mangas or to take a break from more serious ones.