Ranked #831

Arisa (Manga)

This manga is new, so I'll update this review later when I have more material to work with...

So far, the story has developed pretty quickly. We know that there are two twin sisters named Uehara Tsubasa and Sonoda Arisa. At first the series seems like a typical shoujo cutesy manga, but turns out to be a psychological detective-mystery. ARISA at times has charm, appeal, and comedy but also manages to send a chill down your spine. It definitely has a dark undertone and hidden meaning to it. The plotline captures interest and is pretty original. I admit I got sucked more and more into the story as it progressed. It's difficult to get bored reading this, as it is fast-paced and not slow at all. After reading a couple chapters, you will definitely want to know how the story ends.

The art is very good and fresh, the kind of art that you don't get tired of looking at. The characters look their age and events can be seen clearly from the reader's point of view. I love the backgrounds and the detail put into drawing the characters. None of them look similar (except for the twin sisters, of course, but you *can* tell the difference). I admire the steady pace that Andou Natsumi works at with her art.

The characters seem well-developed so far. They act their age and have distinct personalities; they suspect others and make mistakes in judgment. In other words, everyone acts human. Even the antagonists manage to be likeable on some degree. It leaves you wondering what everyone's "secret" is. I can't say much else for this category at the moment.

ARISA has moved at a rapid pace in only eight chapters, so I'm not quite sure if the manga will be long. For me, it's pretty impossible not to like the series. I enjoyed reading this and recommend it! read more

This manga is new so there isn't that much to write on. I'll update later once more chapters are out ^^

I randomly came upon this manga when searching mangaupdates, and I decided to read it. I thought it was going to be something like she gets jealous of her sister or their relationship grows as they meet secretly a lot behind their parents back. It definitely wasn't what I was expecting. It's a shoujo, but it's also a mystery and a psychological type.

You don't really know what to expect with this. Tsubasa, one of the twins, switches places with her sister for the day and goes to her school. The events afterward make Tsubasa come to the conclusion that she has to solve the mystery to help her sister. You don't really know who to suspect or who could be the "King". It makes you wonder what will happen to Tsubasa next.

I really like the art. It may not be the top-notched, most awesome drawings ever, but it's pretty good. It can be cutesy sometimes, yet dark other times. You can tell the mangaka took their time ^^

The characters are enjoyable. They're unique, in my opinion. There aren't that many that really annoy me. It also makes you wonder what secret each character could be holding. You don't really know what each of them is truly like.

Overall, I have enjoyed this manga immensely. Every new chapters makes me want to know what's going to happen next. I recommend this to any mystery lover out there. The only thing I hope for is that as the story goes on it stays great ^^

By the way, this was my first time writing a review, so I hope I didn't mess anything up :P read more

I was surprised that summaries everywhere don’t say the whole plot. Leaves you wondering what the heck it can possibly be about (left me wondering), which can result in some reviews not making sense (including my own).
Arisa is about secrecy, lies, friendship, trust, and bullying. What makes this one special? The only thing that kept me reading this manga is trying to untangle the “who.” Who is responsible for everything that is going on. It might help if you know more of the plot. At the risk of not making sense I feel like I have to shed a little more light on the plot.

Due to her parents divorce, Tsubasa and Arisa both grew apart, so after months of exchanging letters they finally decide to meet. Tsubasa, who is awed at her twin’s sister Arisa’s perfect life jumps at the chance to experience life as Arisa for one day. How can they look so alike but be completely different? Not only is Arisa more gentle as opposed to the “delinquent” Tsubasa, she is also more popular. Her school life is just the best according to Tsubasa.

After Arisa tries to commit suicide right in front of her eyes, Tsubasa decides to become Arisa in order to find out what drove her sweet younger sister to kill herself. Everything points to Arisa’s school. Turns out there are dark secrets there, and a note left in Arisa’s locker calling her a “traitor” starts Tsubasa’s story in understanding Arisa.

[Mild Spoilers] and what they don’t tell you.
After her sister’s close call with death, Tsubasa can’t understand what could have happened to Arisa. Under the pretense that she is Arisa and has lost some of her most recent memories she stays in her sister's school and uses her sleuthing skills to detangle the mystery that was Arisa. After days and days of searching all she has to show for it is a reserved boy who everyone in class avoids. That is until that week’s “King Time” arrives. A game that involves everyone making a wish to the King and only one gets chosen. The one wish which is chosen will come true. They ALWAYS come true.



That’s the real mystery of this manga, figuring out who King really is. Because as they say, it is all fun and games until someone gets hurt.
What really bothered me is that it was all child’s play to me. I mean, I’m a skeptic. I don’t believe at all that King is an almighty deity, so why not give a wish he really can’t grant, like world peace? Then he’d be declared a failure and the students wouldn’t believe in him…but again, that is just one girls opinions and since the idea of King reminded me of, a small, tiny almost inexistent amount, of Lelouch. But then it went again before it could take form because King is/was just a kids game in the grand scheme of things. So far.
I did think the darkness of bullying was grasped well here and with more than one character, we see how trapped they felt and how far they felt the had tog o to make it stop.

There are a few characters in this one. Since it’s kind of like a guessing game of “who do you think King is,” that makes sense. To say the truth none of the characters were great or amazing. They were just ordinary in manga world.
You have:
The lovely and enigmatic Arisa. I have to say that she’s one of the characters we know very little about. I also feel for Tsubasa that she's learning the hard way , how little we know of the people close to us.
Sweet and brave Tsubasa with her fun nature and bad social skills. Not to mention her ability to surprise you by being kick-ass. It makes me feel better that Tsubasa is just as lost as we are in this manga. No idea what is going on that girl. But you have to hand it to her on the not giving up front.
The mysterious and aloof Manabe. Who could be son of The Dark Lord (referring to Voldemort) for all we know because we know next to nothing about him. Except that he has ulterior motives to everything. And lets be honest, since the beginning he’s sketchy.
There was one other character that his role is more or less a weird one seeing as he only appears sometimes and others he is nowhere to be seen. Making us wonder if the mangaka has plans for him in the future.

The art is really attractive. Just the way the characters are done shows that it took time and planning. Otherwise the making them look evil wouldn’t have been so convincing. Other than that Arisa and Tsubasa do look exactly the same except for tiny differences and the big difference that it their hair color. No flaws that I could see on the art section.

So far, “Arisa” is unfolding rather slowly, we still have no clue as to what’s next or going on. Hopefully there is new development in upcoming volumes. the plot is a little weak because of the whole lets suspect this person this volume/chapter but it's worth a read. I won’t lie I have suspected everyone at least once and even characters from other manga, like some characters from Doubt could be King. Weirder things have happened in the manga world that’s for sure.
read more

Though this seems like a "i love my sister so much" type of mushy shoujo manga, it is actually dark and sinister. The protagonist in trying to live the life of her sister is thrown into a strange classroom with creepy classmates that are all too perfect. She has no one she can trust or rely on, even the ones that seem trustworthy might turn out to be her worst enemy. So far it feels like a horror movie... I cant comment on the romance yet but in terms of mystery i will say that this is recommended

I’ve read up to chapter 28 in Arisa, I’ll update my review when I pick this up again later.

I’ll spare you most of the details but the story starts off with Arisa and Tsubasa who are twins at different middle schools. Tsubasa takes Arisa’s place for a day and thinks her sister has the ideal life. After Tsubasa returns home from Arisa’s class, Arisa says’ her life isn’t actually so ideal. Tsubasa doesn’t know the secret in her class or even Arisa’s own secret. With that Arisa attempts suicide and falls out her bedroom window. Tsubasa is left to solve Arisa and class 2-B’s secret.

This one you just have to stick with it. Around chapter 9 I was rolling my eyes. It becomes very repetitive in many ways. Series of characters appear, you’ll peg each one to be the king but after the chapter ends you have no choice but to rule them out. Then new characters are introduced and this process begins to repeat. ..Once you get through all that though, its starts getting pretty good. I really had no idea who the King was.

The bullying is at a whole new level in this manga but I actually found it to be interesting. The king became a dictator or even god to the 2-B students, if you think back to our own world history there similar cases on a larger scale. It’s a new way or looking at things, I came to like what the author did with the class. The amount of suicidal students is a little ridiculous and several students go through momentary period’s insanity. It’s just one of those things you have to let go. Like the fact that Tsubasa hasn’t been to her own school in months and no one seems to notice…
I have my issues with it but at the very least its interesting.

Story: 7 [good]
Art: 8 [very good]
Character: 8 [very good]
Enjoyment: 7 [good]
Overall: 7 [good] read more

When i saw the cover of this manga, it looked like regluar romance to me. with two sister and boy trouble. but no. i was wrong. its a physicoligial manga that had me thinking a whole lot. i didnt want to stop reading, but now i have to wait for the next chapter.i keep egging for more and when i read i cant seem to keep my eyes from it.I havent seen much romance yet, but i can start to see it. I really like this manga because its..not original. its something different that is also refreshing.


the story: 9 its good. but not enough to get a 10

the art: 8 its very good ^^

characters: nicely done with own uniqe personailty. 8

enjoyment: 8

overall: a good 8 it was good. but not perfect read more

Its a awesome story that will want to make you know more
At first it seems like a story that would be about twins getting closer to each other but later u find out that it's not at all like that but of mysterys
U will want to find out about "the secrets" and about "the kings true identity"
I recommend this to everyone
The art is great
This story will make u mant to read more and more it will get u exited at some part and at others u will be shocked

So.. I was browsing some kind of shoujou to read when i stumbled upon Arisa(though means of a photo on a facebook group)
I looked up the manga because i like the way the art was drawn. Thus the rating of 10/10 :D.
Read this manga in one night cause the story was different to most shoujous I'VE read 10/10, but different doesn't always mean good.
The way the story portrays each character and how much I WANT TO KILL ARISA AND HER BF.... Getting ahead of myself.. Anyway.. This story really toys with how you feel with each individual. thus the 10/10

Heres where things get tricky... My enjoyment of reading this went from 10 first few chapters.. Then dropped to a 5 because of how f***ed up it all was in the following chapters.. RLY HOW CAN YOU DO THAT TO SOMEONE WHO LOOKS LIKE YOU hhhnnnnngggg....

Overall.. It wasn't bad.. Story was good (even though i feel like i wont ever be able to look at cute shoujous the same way again) i give this a 7/10 for having good art,story,characters and how that mixes with my overall enjoyment of this manga...

BE WARNED ITS NOT AS CUTE AS IT LOOKS :( TSUBASAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA read more

I got shallowly interested in this manga because it has quite high of a rating here and decided to read it to fill my nothing to do moments. In the begining i thought it was a spinoff of that Erich Kastner novel about separated twins, but then it surprised me the realisation of genre (psychological, mystery) also the depiction in the undertone of the plot of the psychological group processes, group thinking.... yeah, social psychology stuff.

So the plot is interesting, kept my eyes glued to the pages, mystery was good and suspense, even made me do making my own theories who the mystery man was, so to say. Downsides are too many cliffhangers and too many soap opera-ish twists and general feeling that it could be better.

Art is your average shoujo style, sparkly eyes.... very girly, but character design wasn't very well executed, characters were drawn very generic, so un unexpirienced shoujo manga reader like me had trouble to differentiate the characters at moments, and i probably wont remember what they looked like tomorrow, but their personalities were rather well made.

In the end it was a good read, and i would praise it more and give it better score if i were between 13 and 17 years old....this just wasn't my cup of tea, but still likeable, nevertheless. read more

This was a very unexpected manga. it starts out looking like your normal twins switch places and shenanigans ensue but it is that and ten times more. it turns into a high-grade mystery, with a story that is both interesting and seriously thought provoking.

Its definately something to give a try, especially if your into stories involving alot of twists and turns. I for one cant even speculate what the end outcome of this story will be, but im going to enjoy it till then.