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I was looking to chill for a bit and browsed around looking for a new manga to read. I ended up reading Hi Score Girl with at first not much hope for it : the theme seemed like some tweek of the ordinary, and the art, especially the design of the characters, suggested it was going to be a simple comedy.

I ended up feeling so enthusiastic about it that I'm a bit sorry to write about it while being so obviously biased. But in the meantime, I just want to tell how much I found this manga so surprisingly good. I'll push my qualms away ... and just go for it.


The manga is built around two themes : video games, and school life romance. Both of them seem pretty basic, but they are here used very smartly.

First, they are told through time. In a lot of mangas the pacing is a huge problem. And it could clearly have been -- and a reader less enthusiastic than me might very well feel that it's still slow -- without the fact that the author studies these themes through time. Years go by fast, and although the characters don't evolve that much in these 35 first chapters, consequences are told and it all feels dynamic.

Second, both themes are tightly intertwined. The video games just seem to be the excuse for characters to meet and interact ; the characters' story are also an excuse to talk about old school video games.


But all that would only be smart, while this manga is just beautiful to me. The reason is that all three of the main characters are very touching.

Haruo is completely addict to video games. A lot in him pisses me off. How can you spend so much time on them ? How can you be so oblivious to so many things because you're obsessed with games, all the more arcade games ? In the meantime, his struggles with very human things -- self-confidence, friendship, love -- made me forgive his flaws and root for him.
Also, the game addict characters' obsession is often depicted as coldness and despise towards the "real world" (for example : The World God Only Knows), Haruo is kind and often considerate towards others -- but can also be very selfish, but hey nobody is perfect.

Oono is an oujo-sama, again one of these perfect students all around, from a very rich background, popular on top of it. This kind of character just pisses me off, because mangakas use them so widely and are usually straight stereotypes. But nothing about Oono is ordinary. She just doesn't speak -- which kinda bugs me since I can't get how such a problem wouldn't raise concerns. And she secretly is also very passionate about video games.
Her rivalry with Haruo changes into a deep bond ; and with time Haruo is able to read her mind with just the smallest facial expression, or any time they have a conversation where Haruo speaks for both of them, I just smile, feeling like I'm witnessing a very deep relationship.

Hidaka, last but not least, is at first a very diligent student. She's studying all the time because she doesn't know what else to do -- contrary to Oono, her parents don't mind her fooling around, even encourage her to do what she likes. She seems to have very little friends at the first appearance in the story. She doesn't seem to have much in common with Haruo, except she admires his ability to just chill and have fun. So she follows him in his video game world with a touching sincerity. While Haruo can't seem to think about anything but video games -- with selfishness a lot of the time -- she sticks with him, carrying on admiring him all throughout. Her behaviour is paradoxical yet very human : we've all been amazed by things we didn't understand.

The characters are unique, they are studied with quite some finesse, and a bit of drama did the trick for me. I'd recommend it blindly even for people that don't care about video games since I haven't read a better manga for quite a while.

Comedies usually aren't that much my thing, though I enjoy reading some from time to time, but the psychological tag made my decision.


My first impressions were mixed. On the one hand, the first page got me in, since I do believe that there is a relationship of power in a couple. I took that from a Kundera novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, I found it to be quite true throughout the years. That's only the characters' motives though : take the advantage in the future relationship by making the other confess. So I'm on board with the premise.

Kaguya's first description, on the other ... hand, pissed me off a little. I tend to dislike the very wealthy family background, since it easily breaks the suspension of disbelief for me. And the fact that both Shirogane and her are depicted as geniuses added to my bad first impression. I'll admit though that from time to time, the wealthy background is required, especially in mangas talking about social differences, such as Velvet Kiss (in that manga though, the author builds up the characters nicely). I read the chapters available, the first 18, in a row, so my fears weren't met.

In Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai, since it's a comedy, the hyperbole is fine. Some developments on the characters are interesting, yet still very cliché (Shirogane has somewhat of an inferiority complex because of his more modest background, Kaguya has troubles dealing with everyday life because of her privileged background). Overall though, their background is pretty slim and revolve on these very archetype. To be fair, Fujiwara, their common friend, brings a breath of fresh air, by bringing to the conversations a bit of spontaneousness, hence often breaking the plans of the main protagonists. She's quite shallow in terms of background, but she is the spice and the charm of this manga.

These first chapters are stand-alone chapters, and revolve around psychological duels between the two main characters trying to make the other confess. Some are interesting with nice twists, some are really funny and made me laugh, some are even touching as behind the calculations the characters let genuine emotions through, some are pointless since you see the outcome from a mile away, and some are outright confusing and miss the spot. The structure doesn't bother me in itself. Stand-alone chapters can work really well on me. For example I hold Mysterious Girlfriend X as one of my favorites, because the atmosphere is incredible and the characters really interesting, at least to me.

The problem here is that with the lack of an overall story and the very simplistic background for the characters, the quality of this manga entirely depends on the quality of each chapter's plot. And I wasn't amazed overall. If the psychological part interests you, there are plenty of better mangas out there (if I had to cite only one : Liar Game). Yet, the combination of the psychological games and the light romcom has its value, and for that Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai is a refreshing read.

I came to Iris Zero looking for something in the same vein as Hyouka, and as such I did find here all that I was looking for. I enjoyed reading the manga, and could not stop until I couldn't find more chapters, yet it didn't leave that great of an impression on me, as an afterthought.


I wanted to keep my main point for last, but couldn't find a way to write about everything without refering to it. So let's start with the eponym set up : the irises. Most kids have the ability to see things normal humans wouldn't (and each individual have a specific ... thing they can see with their iris), and our main character, Mizushima, doesn't have such a special iris, hence he's an iris zero.

The idea is pretty good since it leaves a lot of room for creativity. But I feel like the author didn't make the best out of it. Firstable because throughout these 33 chapters that I was able to read, we didn't meet that many irises, which, to be fair, might not be that bad since it would rapidly become a mess in terms of story telling. Out of the maybe 7 I can think of, quite a bunch of them overlap in terms of the information it helps the main character gather, and would be easily replaced by any kind of sense of observation or deduction, especially as it is mainly a mystery manga. So I didn't find the "iris trick" that useful in terms of narrative, and I'd say it brings a bit of lazyness in terms of storytelling.


The characters' design is pretty nice overall. I especially like the girls' hair-styles, that somewhat reflect their personality. On that point I was a bit disapointed by the main character, Mizushima, as on the first page I thought "alright this time it's perfect !" I dislike when the design it too over the top, since I like my characters to be as credible as possible, but on the other hand it's a pain when in order to make the main character look ordinary, you confuse him with other characters (and it happens to me quite often). Mizushima looked great with his messy hair, but it doesn't catch the eye that much later on, and I ended up confusing him with side characters from time to time.

Anyhow, the characters are interesting, but lack depth. They often are a bit one dimensional, because they bear the weight of their iris, and we often don't learn much about them except their iris and the effect it had on them.

The main character is basically trying to hide because of his difference (his "minimal exposure motto"). In a chapter, the author takes the time to explain why he's so good at solving puzzles, saying that he developped an ability to conjecture, since he always was around people with an iris and tried to imagine what it was like. That's basically all we know about him in terms of personality.

His love interest, Sasamori, is paper thin in terms of character development. Amazingly I don't even recall the manga even studying the effect her iris had on her. She's the quite clichéd earnest and always full of energy, selfless young girl. We know about her popularity, her long lasting friendship with Yuki Asashi, the fact that she's somehow madly in love with the main character (I don't know if it's intended, but I keep trying to guess why she did confess to him in the first chapter), and that she loves meddling with other people's business (which isn't that clear to me, but you need that excuse for mysteries to be solved ; she doesn't have that amazing genuine curiosity Chitanda Eru from Hyouka seems to have about everything, yet they serve the same purpose as a character).

Yuki Asashi is one character that I'm quite sad about since I saw a lot of potential in her. She had an old conflict with the main character from younger days, and had quite an inner conflict herself because of her iris. Everything seems solved in one arc. To me, she's quite defined by her sole iris, in terms of personality, and becomes only a tool for mystery solving with her iris. Characters that join the group later on have a better background (a background at all), and better study even on the consequences of their iris. But she's the perfect example as to why the iris tends to lead to lazyness.

The manga does the usual mistake to forget about the characters' relatives. The parents all work late, or are absent somehow. It struck me as in one the last chapters I read (chapter 32 to be precise), Mizushima is woken up by his little sisters, and was amazed the author didn't use them before ! It would have been quite interesting, as oftentimes, when a character lacks social skills, their relationship with their siblings is even more important. Here what would have made it especially interesting is that it does seem that his sisters have an iris (one of Mizushima's friends comments saying they treat him "like an exotic animal"), so how does the family cope with the "iris zero" issue ? That would be interesting, and could take a frame here and there.


The romance in itself is forgettable. Sasamori confesses from the first chapter, and as the main character, I couldn't believe it was sincere. At first I thought it was a trick that was used to get him to help her, doesn't seem likely since she carries on with it. I thought she saw something with her iris, but it's contradicted by later events. Anyhow, Mizushima was quite suspicious but shows to be quite considerate towards her, and even protective later on, while he actually never responds to her confession (at least up to the 33rd chapter, but it's building up). That being established, their relationship is a bit of the common theme throughout every arc, but rather a tool to come to a resolution rather than the focus of the story.

Last arc I could read, a rival appeared, which pisses me off because I hold it as a pretty cheap trick in terms of romance stories : it's an easy way to get drama, but when they aren't a couple yet, it doesn't bring that many interesting questions, since their relationship has no solid grounds (for a counter-example, see Horimiya, the rival appearing while they already are a couple is much more interesting, asking the characters to reassure their love, deals with jealousy, its boundaries, can show other sides of the characters). But I can't hold that much of a grudge against the manga since it's pretty much used every time in romance stories.


All that being said, Iris Zero is mainly a mystery manga. The structure of the arcs revolve around each mystery the characters solve. The pacing is pretty good, and are interesting to read, although not that complicated (I could see the resolution coming from a mile away pretty much every time). This is where the "iris theme" is not the strongest. Although most mysteries revolve around the iris of a given character, the data the iris provide not that relevant, and the characters don't use the iris that much in order to come to the resolution, which makes sense since the main investigator is the iris zero.


Overall it's a pretty good read if mystery and romance are your thing, but is not the best manga you can find. I prefer Hyouka all the way, the characters are deeper, more credible, the mysteries are far more interesting, and the main love story far more touching.

I would have waited to read more before reviewing this manga, but since there lacks any, I thought I'd give my thoughts on it so far, as I read 19 chapters. Let's put it straight already, I enjoyed it, therefore I'm surely biaised.

This manga has all the ingredients you'd expect out of a romance josei, yet it was a refreshing read to me. The characters are quite unusual, at least to me, while being steadily believable, finding myself relating to quite a few traits here and there.

The main characters are of this manga's strengths. I'd argue the secondary characters rely a lot on clichés, being ... somewhat one-dimensional (big-hearted deliquents, superficial/hard-working girls/guys), it didn't seem that problematic, since in contrast the main characters are quite interesting.

The female lead, Shibata, is a failure in most things you'd expect in life, be it in personal matters or professionally, and seemingly being unable to take the right decision on pretty much anything. It's not for lack of trying, though, as she has quite a strong personality, even somewhat of a bad temper, and is willing to fight back with life, even though hers sucks (worse of all, it sucks because of her own failures). While quite a few times I'd stop reading a manga enraged at how stupid a character seemed to be, I couldn't hold grief against Shibata's mistakes, because they'd genuinly feel believable to me, and I liked the way she would carry on, even when realizing the errors.

I found that same balance in the other main characters. The male lead, Kurosawa, is quite often depicted by Shibata as a demon of a boss (as he was her former boss), and can be quite harsh with her in every day life. Though, even from their first encounters in the first chapters, you can tell he's touchingly considerate towards her, and even protective throughout the manga.

Same things could be said, while Shibata gets to know more about Kurosawa, she meets other women in his life. At first, I'd think that the manga would build up some kind of a romantic rivalry. Instead, and maybe too easily, their nicer side would be told.

Reading these laudatory thoughts about the characters, I'm sure you'd think "fine, but there's nothing that special". Overall, the manga isn't a masterpiece, a must read of any sorts. The art is quite standard, there isn't some incredibly deep backstory, it doesn't tell any grand truth about life, it isn't moving to the tears, or anything that stands out that much. The manga doesn't hold that kind of ambition, but the story is well told. It isn't overly dramatic, even if some backstories could get over the top, the characters handle them with modesty and/or maturity (not so much from Shibata, but that's her).

What makes the whole read worth it is the pacing. From a comment that made me read the manga, I kept "I enjoyed every chapter of it". And I would not say that about most mangas I read. There's always some part that I dislike, sometimes because I find some character not coherent enough, or the story not credible, or just too much drama of some kind. This far into the manga, the rythm works well, it doesn't rely on cliffhangers or plot twists, while in the meantime the characters evolve steadily through each chapter.

I can't wait to read more of it, and might update this review when I'll have a better grasp on the whole story.

Stumbling across this anime, I tried it without much hesitation. The story of a shy character getting in the drama club is appealing. You already see the conflicts the main character will have to overcome, and the change in her personnality as a consequence. As I haven't seen mangas about drama clubs, though I'd be surprised there wouldn't be any other out there, the idea isn't overused, and quite relatable since people tend to recommend acting classes for shy kids, and since I was quite a shy kid myself, I've been through that.

The anime, though, did not make a very good first impression on me. ... I found the first episode clumsy : too much exposition, for little knowledge about the characters. They all looked shallow to me, with some exceptions. Nishida Kai, the male lead, is well introduced, lively, boisterous yet considerate ; and Chitose Kanna, one of the main character's friends, somewhat of a rival to her, who touched me with her love for drama, something I could relate to and felt real ; also the character is funny, I laughed quite a few times throughout the anime thanks to her. On the other hand, the main character seemed defined only by her shyness, her best friend seemed lackluster - as I felt her love for photography was more or less a way to botch her up, since we don't know anything else about her - and the Drama Research Club, a bit too cliché for my taste.

The art didn't appeal to me that much. I found the sakuras overwhelming, and all this red everywhere, the uniforms, the hair, too much for me. All throughout the anime I had this weird feeling that the voice of the main character didn't fit, although the actor does an impressive job playing out her shyness. The music pissed me off : I found it most of times not that befitting to the scenes, not helping that much conveying the emotions at hand. All of these little things that put me off at first.

Still, I carried on, and found myself willing to watch an episode after the other. Some change of scenery throughout the episodes felt refreshing, and the struggles of shyness while learning acting little by little is an interesting topic. What especially saved the anime for me was that the character development clicked. Through learning the backstory of the characters, they somewhat gained a bit of that depth the first episode couldn't give them. Yet, the second half of the anime was a bit of a struggle to watch for me, as I found it unnecessarily overdramatic, didn't find the story very compelling and as a consequence, I didn't enjoy the resolution that much.

Overall, the show can be enjoyable, but not of the greatests. The idea is good and the anime does a fine job working it out. I leave opened the fact that my impressions can be misleading, as there's no accounting for taste. However, I'm pretty confident that there are better stories out there.

This manga made an incredibly good first impression on me. As it went on, I ended up finding it ordinary, a pretty good read overall, but nothing that special to it.

The first chapters are about how to fit in. It is a theme that I relate a lot to, so I'm quite biased about it. Truth is, it is a very overdone theme in mangas, and especially in shoujos - Kimi ni todoke or the likes - and has been done in a more in-depth manner - for example OreGairu.
What struck me about Ao Haru Ride is that the viewpoint was subtly different and ... realistic. The main character doesn't have a major lack of social skills, she's just looking for the right way to make friends. So at first, she adapts her outfit and her behavior to what would please the other girls in her class, but ends up realising that it isn't the best way, creating only superficial relationships that way.

But that only takes the few first chapters of the 49 in total. The rest is a romance, which is after all what you'd expect.

The romance had potential. The male protagonist is quite interesting in himself, mysterious, with a trauma to overcome. But the manga doesn't make the best use of him, in my opinion. The build up around his character is forgotten quickly to focus on the usual tricks to drag on the story. From the first chapter, we know that the two main characters are in love with each other, and they can't stop missing the timing to find each other.

I liked the art. The characters have all these cute moments that made me fond of them, making me carry on even through the parts of the story that didn't appeal to me that much.

Overall I would still recommend the read. It has some very good ideas, and the first chapters are worth it. The story, though, will not surprise the readers familiar with the genre.

This manga is about the set up. The story of a letter from the future, telling you how to prevent the mistakes you are about to make, is nothing new. But it isn't overused, at least in mangas. It provides a lot of interesting possibilities for the author to study.

On top of that, Orange has a very ordinary romance shoujo storyline, with a lot of the mechanics of the genre used. But it really doesn't matter, because the manga isn't about a romance, it is about the letter.

The most obvious example would be the main character. It is a shy high school girl, quite ... typical in shoujos. You'll find all sorts of clumsiness moments, and most of the story focuses on her overthinking the reactions of her love interest. But the letter puts a twist to it : you'll find yourself, as a reader, asking yourself about the male protagonist's feelings, not towards the girl - as in most mangas of the genre, it is made quite obvious from the first chapter that he is at least interested in her - but regarding the letter from the future.

Yet, the bunch of friends are nothing out of the ordinary either, you'd find that tomboy, that girly girl, that otaku, and that childhood friend. But the letter set up has its twist again. Orange isn't focusing on the little high school rants, but on the interactions with the letter prediction. The male lead is what you expect : that dark mysterious handsome guy. But there is depth to him, as he is not dark and mysterious for no reason, and the art is doing a great job at conveying his ambiguous feelings.

Other example of this twist, there is a love triangle. In any romance shoujo, it would mean that two male character would go all out competing with each other. Here, while you'll find the usual doubts in the mind of the main character, it doesn't matter that much, because the focus isn't on the love story, but on how the actual events interact with the predictions made in the letter.

Still the "letter from the future" set up has its draw backs. Although it brings depth to the story, the tricks the author uses are sometimes a bit obvious. For example, the whole story stems from a mistake made in the first chapter, that happened because of how ambiguous the letter was written about that event. In comparison, further events are thoroughly explained, but the first recommandation is just straight forward with no explanation, and obviously the main character doesn't pay that much attention, since she's still wondering what to think about the letter itself. If you, reader, sent a letter to your past self, wouldn't you make sure that he doesn't make that same mistake ? Wouldn't you give him all the tools ? Yes that mistake needed to happen for the rest of the manga to unfold, but I hate seeing the narrative's construction lines. I would argue that the main character's clumsiness throughout the manga serves the same purpose, but let's be real, it's in every other romance shoujo out there. Still, in this set up, it takes it to another level since the manga isn't only about succeeding in your high school love story, but about preventing the mistakes foretold by the letter to happen.

Another issue I have is that the manga feels tricky. The male lead character is quite an interesting one. There are a lot of psychological aspects to this manga, that could be incredible. But if you compare it to a manga with a more realistic set up - I have Koe no Katachi in mind, but to be fair that one is on a whole other level - you have this feeling that Orange stays on the surface, on how to comply to the letter's instructions, rather than telling us about the characters. Not that the characters' feelings are overlooked, just that the approach is biased.

And to finish with my draw backs, the manga has a pacing issue. The story is set to take place during basically a year long. And, although at the time I'm writing this review, it is still ungoing, it is near the end, the manga being relatively short. The love story is as slow as any shoujo can be. And still the set up is very rich, there are a lot of questions to be explored, in the relationships between the characters, in the consequences of the letter, in the drama itself. I wish the author could go further and tell us more about all that.

Yet, while often being frustrated while reading the manga, I still enjoyed it a lot, and consider it to be one of the better shoujo out there. The manga goes back and forth between the characters now adults in the future and the high schoolers, which I found interesting. The suspense - will the main character succeeding in chaning her future ? - gets more intense as the end draws near, and I can't wait to read the next chapter. Still it is not just a manga about changing the future, it is about human feelings, how to help a friend in times of need, and is a read that stays on the mind of the reader.