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Feb 14, 2017
Is there such a thing as a perfect girl?
This is the question that our main character attempts to answer in Gekkou. He is cold, distant, and bored with the world, while she is kind, popular, and perfect in every way. He finds her utterly boring until he finds a "murder recipe" in her notebook. While the "murder recipe" itself is poorly planned and written, the fact that such a perfect girl was in possession of it interested our main. This interest skyrockets after her father dies in an accident exactly like one described in the "murder recipe".
Story - 9
As our main is drawn further down
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the rabbit hole of investigating this perfect girl, he and the reader are forced to question just how deep perfection can run before it becomes disturbing. The girl becomes interested in the main as he tries to become closer to her, creating some of the most enjoyable interactions of the novel. The book somehow strikes a balance between being a romcom at parts and analyzing human nature at others. For most of the novel, you ask the question yourself, "Did this girl kill her own father?" You may be unable to answer.
Despite being a read that will only take a couple hours, there are several interesting plot twists and developments. The ending, while it does not tie up all loose ends, concludes the book very well by showing that these loose ends do not need too be tied.
Art - 8
It's a light novel, so there isn't much, but the few pictures portray our characters quite well.
Characters - 10
Here is where Gekkou truly shines. Our main character provides a cold, calculating, totally amoral and apathetic view of the world that twists the entire perspective of the novel, sometimes tricking the reader into thinking from his point of view. The perfect girl shows herself to be an extremely clever and capable woman, often manipulating the main and entering into amusing verbal sparring with him.
Although these two have the spotlight, several side characters add even more to the story. The violent unwed woman, the stereotypical high school girl, and the flamboyount detective all help further our understanding of the main character through his interactions with them.
Enjoyment - 9
Gekkou had me eagerly flipping to the next page, and then quickly turning back to make sure I hadn't missed anything. The interactions between characters made me laugh, the plot made me think. Although I read it in an afternoon, it was a very enjoyable afternoon.
Overall - 9
Gekkou might fall just short of a true masterpeice (mostly due to it's short length), but it is far better than almost any other light novel I have read. It has the clever interactions of works like Oregairu, in addition to its deeper questioning of human nature. Of course, the special Gekkou flavor is that you are questioning whether someone is capable of murder the whole way. Even if you don't like it as much as I did, I am sure that you will enjoy this short peice.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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Sep 1, 2016
Masamune-kun suffers from an interesting phenomenon, something I like to call the "Guilty Crown Effect". At the beginning, we start with a very unique plot with tons of potential, and several different characters with what looks like room for development. However, after a short feeling of general oddness it takes an absolute dive into the abyss.
In the beginning, there are several very interesting characters. Our hero is very handsome, but also extremely narcissistic. Our heroine is beautiful, but a terrible tsundere. As they draw closer together, we see that there is some depth to these characters that is making their interactions more interesting. The side
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characters are slowly introduced, most of them contributing an interesting and unique something to the plot.
The first few chapters are quite good, and set it up for an excellent story. As the manga continues, there begins to be a slight air of indecision, as if the author doesn't know where to go from the beginning. Characters will have important dialogue or realizations, that will then be completely forgotten by the next chapter. In spite of this I foolishly kept reading.
There was an important reveal about one of the characters, and the manga looked like within a few chapters it would reach a very satisfactory ending. And that is where everything went to absolute hell. For absolutely NO reason, new characters and a terrible plot began to be introduced. The only possible reason for this that I can think of is that the author realized he wasn't quite ready to butcher this cash milking machine.
I, being young and naive, continued to read, still holding on to that desperate hope that somehow this would all fix itself. Alas, I just got to watch my heart be broken further as the story continued to sink into the dregs of manga that exists as some sort of capitalistic, never-ending hell. Like someone in an abusive relationship, I just kept thinking that maybe next time it will be different. Spoilers: it wasn't. I eventually dropped it.
I rated this a 2. Some people may think that this is harsh, but stories like this are far worse to me than any "Mars of Destruction" catastrophe. I can easily detect poor writing, but I can't detect good writing that becomes terrible. Maybe some lucky souls are capable of sensing this sort of thing before it comes to pass, but this review is for everyone else. I implore you, in the name of good stories everywhere, do not read this manga. If you're so desperate to read something, read the first five chapters or so and then make up your own ending. Literally anything would be better.
TL;DR Starts promising, goes to shite.
Reviewer’s Rating: 2
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