Ranked #813

Crossroad (Manga)

Story: I guess the story plot wasn't too original. The heroine moving in with her two stepbrothers and a little stepsister (and oddly none are not bloodrelated.) I wish that was explained. And it is pretty certain living as nonrelated stepbrothers, something is going to happen. And oh yeah, something does happen. So basically the story is filled with plenty of love traingles, and bad pasts. Pretty cool, I only wish it was more original.
Art: Pretty good...No comment
Character: Man, I love strong heroines. Ones that are independent, strong-willed, caring, and yet have a complete insecure side. Character development was cool, I just could never remember everyone's names right, too confusing. The main heroine at times was incredibly stupid, and at times I couldn't stand her weakness. The oldest brother needed more attention...I still did not understand how everyone was related...
Enjoyment: I was not bored with this...pretty enjoyable. Good romance!
Overall: I loved the series, I skipped the last two volumes because it was too predictable...I wish the ending was better...but it was decent....Yeah...Awesome romance to read on a lonely Saturday night! read more

The story of Crossroad isn't really original... The protagonist, female, 15 years old has to move in with her stepbrothers due to some circumstances and love develops between her and one of her brothers; some developments between her and her teacher are also involved.

However, overall I still give Crossroad a 9. Why?

This is why: Because, putting the story aside, what makes this manga so awesome are the characters. All of the characters are hilarious and make you feel good, in my opinion you cannot really dislike them.

The main characters family for example:
The brother in which she isn't interested is really... well... dumb and tries to behave like the dependable man of the house that he wants to be, yet keeps being pushed around by their little sister that only just entered elementary school that her mother, who only comes home once in a while (Once in two years...?) because she's always out to find true love with another man somewhere in the world, left with them as well.
Her schoollife isn't much less entertaining: Putting aside a guy who's being called feudal lord even though he can't afford paying the electricity bills chasing after her, and her second brother who all the teachers adore because he is a Tokyo-U candidate, there's her caligraphy teacher and her home economic teacher that constantly sexually harrass her. The conversations between this two are really awesome and are sure to make you laugh if you got a soft spot for... perverted jokes and suggestiveness.

The characters are really what makes the whole thing so enjoyable. I suggest to at least read the first volume (even though the two teachers only pop up beginning in the second volume) to get a good taste of the humor. However, if you are really interested in hardcore shoujo manga full of drama, I don't think this will be your taste. While I admit that there sure is some drama going on, it still differs from "real" shoujo manga because of the big load of humor mixed in.

Cheers. read more