Ranked #589

Kimi no Iru Machi (Manga)

Kimi no Iru Machi's another masterpiece by the ingenious Kouji Seo. He knows how to create and convey the exact emotions he wants to. He can entangle the audience with simple bittersweet romantic plots like no other. And that's precisely what got me to cling to this manga waiting for the next chapters desperately.
The manga's beautiful, enchanting and awe-inspiring despite of keeping an extremely close relation to reality.
The story line is intoxicating. Both deep and unpredictable.
The lead character "Haruto Kirishima" starts out very annoying according to my personal opinion but as the story progresses and the character develops he can be very amiable. The female lead "Yuzuki Eba" is my one of my all time favorite characters. A mysterious and kind person. The character development in this is certainly something one can talk about hours for.
The art's just as gorgeous. Really good for the eyes.
All in all if you're looking for a manga in the romance genre just go and read this. But if you hate waiting I'd advice you to start out after the whole thing is published.
(The ending may completely change my opinion on it though) read more

Let me just say I've never felt so compelled to share my opinion on something before. This has been an insane roller coaster ride of emotions through my time reading this. And I know that phrasing is cliched or whatever but I really really mean that literally. When you're on a roller coaster you have a sense of both enjoyment and absolute fright. That is exactly how this was for me.

But before I get down into the nitty gritty let me just clarify one thing first. This isn't to toot my horn or whatever but I think it's worth mentioning that I read the raws of manga and not the english scans. The story is in japan the characters are japanese - it's meant to be read and ultimately more enjoyably read in japanese. Any positive feelings I may have about a manga are compounded by reading it the way it was meant to be... so bear that in mind as I give my thoughts on this.

So let's first talk about the...

--ART--

If there's one thing I'm grateful for in a manga is one where I don't have to guess at what might be happening in a scene. And this does everything the right way. Excellent clear cut designs on everything from the furniture the to the country side/city scenery. And more importantly of course the character designs. And that's one point where this manga really really shines is in it's character design. Some really talented people worked on this making sure everyone had very distinct/clean cut features. All in all very easy on the eyes. Everyone and everything is just drawn beautifully. ten outta ten :D


Next up the...

--Characters--

Another thing that happens all the time in shows or manga is when characters are introduced but eventually are more or less forgotten. I can think of more examples in shounen manga in such classics like DBZ, bleach or maybe Naruto whatever.. Right now I'm pretty sure you could name some characters from those series that you just didn't/couldn't bring yourself to care about over time. I think that's always just kind of been the accepted/expected thing to happen with any long running series. At least that's how I've always felt. So it really came as a surprise to me with this one in that every major character that is introduced throughout the series I developed some kind of a feeling for them. Every character is brimming with a unique personality that just jumps out and demands your attention. You feel as if you're the main character haruto or at least somehow or another connected directly with everyone. I can honestly say that I developed personal feelings towards all the characters. That's something that's very rare I think. Not since the anime NHK ni youkoso have I connected on such a high level. So yes, excellent work 10/10 ^^

And finally let's get to the main course the..

--STORY--

As I'm sure you're already aware this is a Comedy/Drama/Romance/Slice of Life story. Going into the plot details I think is kind of pointless. You kind of get the gist from the summary up there and I don't want to spoil anything so let me just describe to you my emotional response throughout my time reading this. I had said this was literally like being on a roller coaster ride. But maybe it would be more appropriate to describe it as a roller coaster that may or may not break during the course of the ride. I can honestly tell you that I experienced very real feeling emotions throughout the course of reading this -- Happiness, Depression, Anger, Sympathy, Hope, Despair,Attraction, Desperation, Fear, Relief, Grief etc etc. It just tosses and turns you in every direction and you just hope that the ride will just end safely.

One thing that you see unfortuantely posted on the forums is people complaining about the the latest happenings. You'll see someone say "I'm changing my score to a 4 because blah blah blah" And y'know I think it goes without saying that it's unfair and childish for someone to rate this based on how they wanted the story to turn out. Being that it tries to be realistic for the most part (at least in terms of character reactions/dialogue/choices) I think we should judge it based on that. Did the author create believable characters? The answer is absolutely yes. All the while having a plot that continues to keep surprising you. It's twists and turns are very much like the possibly breaking roller coaster that you've never ridden before.

But y'know I can't emphasize enough the amount of connection I felt with the characters. As lame as this is going to sound I almost felt like I was in love with the character(s) that Haruto falls for. And that is something that I've never had happen before. To be so incredibly lost in a story that you forget that it's a story. It might even be for this reason alone that I'm writing this review. I was just so taken aback by it. I've never been so emotionally involved in a manga or book to the point where I would break into tears at the story's climax. Just a really, really excellent job. No matter how this show winds up ending I can't deny the emotional rush this has put me through this past week or so. I look forward to the ending and yes, I most certainly recommend this to anyone out there with a pulse. Big thanks to my friend Lee for recommending it -- you sir are the man.

overall 10/10 please check it out read more