Ranked #256

Suzuka (Manga)

I wasn’t going to bother writing a review with six other reviews for this manga written; however, after seeing that all the other reviews are a total lovefest without actually attempting to get to the heart of it, I had to do something about it.

Essentially, this entire series is a slice-of-life “love story” about one guy and one girl revolving around track and field in high school. Yamato lives in a womens’ bathhouse with his aunt, who owns it. Suzuka, a star high-jumper, also lives there, right next door. She’s a perfectionist, he’s clumsy, but hard-working. Yada, yada, you see how it goes.

It’s actually a simple singular issue that defines this manga. The creator of this manga, Seo, is a very good story-teller. The artwork is above standard, the issues are complex and hardly betraying of its goals and the characters are sublime if not too badly clichéd. (Although sometimes a few of them look way too alike.) The world around them is magnificently established – once you get 50 chapters in, you feel like your know Tokyo by heart and you feel like you know every room of the bathhouse and the school. Seo turns the clock fantastically and from great angles to always give you a new experience. Plus he has a solid grip of the human body and watching the characters in action almost makes them move to the readers’ eyes. However, there is one matter that every reader should know about before starting this manga and it was something that I wish I had been told before I started it myself

Suzuka is a total bitch.

Now, for some people, maybe even most, that’s ok. They find it appealing or cute in some way, especially when she drops her barriers and seems cute. But for the majority of the time, she treats Yamato like dirt. And I’m not talking in a normal tsundere way. There are many times when she’s outright cruel and vindictive, stubborn beyond belief and hardly appreciative of what Yamato goes through just to win her affections. It got to the point where I was literally pissed at her, but there was nothing I could do because I was already so far and I wanted to know how it ended. But the readers must know this going in and hopefully I at least warn some people so they know what they’re getting in to. I didn’t end up hating Suzuka in the end, but I was close, because I knew… I absolutely knew… that Suzuka didn’t deserve Yamato, not by a mile. Yet, he remained blind, even when she treated him so horribly. She had no excuse and the author never gave us one.

All in all, this is a good manga, especially if you’re in the mood to find someone to despise. And while it could be spoiling, the romance is still quite good with several original moments. This is a recommendation… but a recommendation with a warning.
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In my opinion "Suzuka" is one of the best romance mangas out there in the market. It is definitely the best romantic manga I've read thus far largely due to the great artwork and character development (I know a lot of critics will argue with me on this one).

The plot of the story starts out just like many other manga, boy meets girl in an all female populated location similar to Love Hina. However after a few chapters, the similarities between this and most other "traditional" romantic mangas end. Another thing that I like about the plot of this title is that Akitsuki Yamato (the male protagonist and lead character) is the one who is exerting the effort to get close to Asahina Suzuka (the lead female character), this is something that reminds me of my own high school endeavors to capture the heart of my first girlfriend. Anyway aside from the similarities between this story and my own, the real reason why I like the way Akitsuki is the one who exerted the effort to get close to Asahina is that it is more realistic compared to most other romantic comedies where a hot chic would fall in love to a complete nobody, I mean come on am I the only one who thinks this sort of thing is totally unrealistic?

As the story unfolds, the characters face challenges which I believe many teenagers face such as peer pressure and dealing with their own feelings. I particularly like the part where the anime version left off because that's where things really get complicated for the characters and it's interesting to see what they will do next.

As for the characters, there is a mix of good and bad characters in the story. I particularly like Asahina Suzuka because I believe that she does not fall on any particular female anime stereotype (although I know that many people who read the manga and seen the anime are not quite fond of her). She displays a personality that I don't think I've encountered in any other character thus far and she personifies the complexities of the female mind. This is why remains one of my favorite anime characters to date.

The artwork of this manga is increible. the attention to detail is unbelievable and I like the way the characters' expressions are shown, plus I also like the large arsenal of clothes each character posses (this is something many mangas don't have, characters who have more than 1 set of clothes)

Overall Suzuka combines great artwork, great story and great characters. This is definitely a must read. read more