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Isekai a.k.a. Another World web & light novels have saturated the market so thoroughly that some companies are actively discouraging up and coming authors in making them. Especially with how simple the formula has become i.e. (Another Fantasy World) + (Current Year Protagonist) + ( X ) = PROFIT. So as we reach "peak" Isekai, I felt like I had to check out this piece of trash, where the ( X ) = Smartphone.

And to my surprise, In Another World With My Smartphone is actually pretty good. Incredibly generic and as lighthearted as an "Iyashikei", yet it still kept me interested through these +100 chapters.

Starting ... this Fantasy, Harem, Adventure series with low expectations, the story kicks off with our seemingly generic protagonist (Touya Mochizuki), being killed and subsequently resurrected into another world, by a god of sorts. Since this god does feel a tad responsible for accidentally killing him, god decides to give Touya's new character a "slight" buff, but I guess like most game devs, god has over-tuned him to the point where now he is basically a Demigod of this world. But until Touya can unleash death and destruction upon the land, he must first utilize the one thing god allowed him to bring to this fantasy world... His Smartphone. That and his maxed out stats in "seduction", to unknowingly acquire a harem.

One way to describe the story is that there is an amazing amounts of world building, with no real direction. As Touya stumbles upon incidents, events & coincidences and just goes with the flow. Easily solving any issues with his god-like power. Which honestly should make this story and its protagonist bland and uninteresting. Yet I still found this story fun to read, as each event (large or small) flows from one to the next and affects one another. Plus certain developments do in fact lead to an overarching narrative. But most of all I enjoyed seeing how the mere presence of a being like Touya affects such a world, like with the introduction various forms of entertainment. It's during this downtime, in between major events that the characters are allowed to thrive.

Main characters like Touya are what anyone would think of when asked to picture an over-powered, dark-haired, male protagonists, who's amazingly dense he when it comes to his romantic encounters. Honestly I get sick of seeing such dull characters, plaguing the harem genre and failing to experience much in the form of romantic or character development. Because what is even left to gain, once one is gifted with so much and so easily? However Touya goes from someone with no goals, no personality and without a care in the world; to someone with musical interests, a sadistic personality, genuine romantic attachments and thus a stake in this world.

Part of the "stake" being the harem, who are an interesting bunch of clichés. Almost something for everyone (no kuudere though). But just like the protagonist, they gradually become less bland, as they also develop various interests, hangups and special traits. Although there is one major issue I had and it also affects the harem. There are just so many characters. Far too many to remember. The last I checked there are about 150 named characters and at least a third of them are important.

So here we have another Isekai Power-fantasy; featuring one the most overpowered anime, manga or light novel main character in existence. And yet the story manages to give this protagonist something to struggle with, something to fear. All while he improves his territory and dabbles in diplomacy, whilst the scope of the world constantly expands. A fantasy world that borrows more than is necessary from our world and is immensely full of fantasy tropes. Nevertheless if all you care about is the harem, then at least here you have one of the best harem stories that achieves the true harem-ending. None of that ambiguous BS.

Set in the not-so distant future, of advanced virtual reality and augmented reality. Sword Art Online has become a bit of a phenomenon within our cultural sphere, spawning numerous adaptations from: anime series, to movies, to video games and several manga titles. With its popular status, SAO has attracted a ton of scrutiny, the bulk of which being some form of "WTF! Why rush through the Aincrad arc?!" Well I guess the author, Reki Kawahara took a lot of the criticisms to heart, as he strives to reboot the Aincrad Arc of the franchise, with this latest iteration Sword Art Online: Progressive.

Not so much in ... this Manga adaptation.

Which immediately skips over any sort of prologue and thrust the reader and main character, right into the thick of it. So even those who have watched the series and or read the light novels will still be gifted with something fresh & different. As it begins from the perspective of the intelligent, yet dissatisfied highschool girl, Asuna. Who so happens to wind up trapped in a new VRMMORPG, with little to no knowledge of even the most basic of game mechanics. After being saved from perma-death, by the solo swordsman Kirito and his sly informant Argo; Asuna gradually learns about the death game she has gotten herself stuck in and the people she will eventually call friends. And from these few available volumes, I can tell that the author is putting much greater thought into the story, even with a fair amount of skipped content from the LN version. It still finds time to flesh out the world, the game mechanics and the nuanced characters.

Characters like Asuna, I feel are the right choice for main character, since she is as ignorant as some of us readers, on the new world she's found herself stuck in. Of course I am aware this is a rudimentary method of providing exposition, but it does allow this story to become more of a journey than a power fantasy. What makes the characters interesting in this iteration is that there's a great deal more context to their actions. And it achieves that without bogging down the story with numerous flashbacks and monologues, beyond the initial volume.

When it comes to the artwork of SAO: Progressive, only one word comes to mind... "clean". The artwork is just very clean, with simple panel arrangements making it easy to follow the flow of action. But that's not to say that detail isn't put into those panels, as a great deal of it is put into emphasising how menacing the bosses are. Then again what really made me fall in love with the artwork of this manga has to be with how it's able to express so much without dialogue. "Show, don't tell". So many examples of this are littered throughout the manga. With no dialogue it's able to express to the reader just how much Asuna has developed as a character.

So in other words this manga adaptation does actually have its own merits, which a lot of other LN - to - Manga adaptations fail to have. But mind you there are still flaws with this iteration of the story, most notably being the random tonal shifts, whereby the needless jokes are forced into intense battles. And the fact that it only tells the story of the first 3 Floors of Sword Art Online's Aincrad Arc.

May 2014, Grisaia no Kajitsu is officially announced to be receiving an anime adaptation. Fans of the Visual Novel are excited to see how Juicy this animated Yuuji can be. But fans are also apprehensive, as it is being adapted by Studio 8bit. The same 8bit that butchered the adaptation of another fairly popular Visual Novel title not so long ago (Walkure Romanze), however people were hopeful that maybe, this time round, they learnt their lesson. Well did they?

Short answer: not so much. Long answer...

Well I certainly was hopeful after the 1st episode, which did a fantastic job of introducing all the important characters the ... viewers will eventually follow. Characters that break the mould of the typical 1-dimensional cardboard cut-outs, you usually find in your average Highschool Harem. Where you cannot just label a character simply as a "Tsundere", "Kuudere" or "Dandere" and say that's all there is too them. Because even our generic male protagonist is opted for a more intriguing stoic individual, where you cannot help but wonder how he came to be the way he is (Unfortunately the series does little to explain this). And to top things off, the voice acting turned out to be quite superb, with the VAs able to portray their respective roles so well.

And yet I could not wholeheartedly enjoy the series. Mind you the comedy is fantastic, both intentional with its character interactions and unintentional with the haphazard developments. However it is the latter which creates one of the numerous flaws with the story.

Like in any VN adaptation, the first couple episodes are dedicated to the common route, where a lot of the "intentional comedy" takes place. Yet the story at this point tends to jump around, taking random events from the original source material and plopping them wherever it pleases the director. This causes the story to lack some much needed connecting tissue and unfortunately it only gets worse once it reaches the heroine's storyline. That is when the story shifts from 2nd gear straight into 5th, bringing with it breakneck speed pacing, but with it damaging the engine the drives any emotion you may feel towards the characters. Yumiko & Sachi's route suffering the most damage, where it sped through 7+ hours worth of story into single episodes. At least they did not completely ruin Amane's route but that's not much of a consolation when even her storyline is marred by pacing issues.

Another noticeable issue is with the show's animation, which at first, looks quite alright with its vibrant backgrounds & character designs. But that makes it easy to notice where they cut corners. Just pay attention to any scene a character is animated walking/running and whenever a vehicle is involved.

Honestly I find it hard to review Grisaia no Kajitsu as a standalone anime series, as this so happens to be my favourite VN (so far) and it's the main reason why I'd rate the "sound" so highly. But I cannot help for agree with this particular comment I noticed in the forums: "The people involved in this are obviously professional butchers and Grisaia was another piece of juicy meat for them to chop up." Because I saw how they were butchering the routes, by taking chunks of the VN "they" deem "most important" and cramming them into a 1-cour anime series. Thus creating a series that fans of the VN will not fully enjoy and non-fans will struggle to follow, due to its breakneck pacing. Nonetheless I can say that I enjoyed the series enough to give it this score. Does this mean I'll watch the sequels? Heck No! I'll just wait for those VNs to come out on Steam.

"What on earth is going on here?"

Pretty much sums up mine & Tenchi's initial thoughts on this new iteration of the classic Harem, Sci-Fi, Comedy...
Ai Tenchi Muyo! I could not tell where it actually fit into the Tenchi timeline; neither could I tell whether it was one story containing a flashback, or two completely separate stories, until near the very end of the series. Either-way this Takahashi, Okayama PV anime was enjoyable enough to not drop right away... to some extent.

The mangled storyline did not help me enjoy the series, since what I could tell is that this all has something to do with ... "time-slips", "dimensional disruptions" and other sci-fi mumbo-jumbo they happened to make up. However all you'll know from the first couple episodes is that it's all just a roundabout way to get Tenchi, into his own girl school harem, as the sole male teacher. There's very little explanation as to what Tenchi seems to be up to and why he's been sent there, early into the series. As for the most part we just follow the usual high school high-jinks, with pantsu, and the nonsensical conflict between the school's student council & science club. Yet the confusing aspect of Ai Tenchi Muyo is that every now and again it will random cut to another story, where Tenchi has been sent back in time and seems to be looking for two people, lost in space & time. Knowing exactly how these two stories intertwine will take a lot of your own time & patience.

Now this all could have been interesting, if the writers knew how to structure the damn story. Instead it will leave you feeling baffled until things eventually start making sense, but by then you'd probably have given up on this series, which turns out to be nothing more but a promotion for the city of Takahashi, Okayama in order to promote tourism for the city.

Whether it achieved its goal or not, may never be known to us Western viewers and neither do we care, because all we care about is the story, characters & animation. Well pretty much the entirety of the new cast are rather uninteresting, except maybe Momo & Beni but little was done to fully flesh out those two. Even the old cast that fans know and love were underutilized. The animation is okay for what it is, but it's easily surpassed by the original 22 year old Tenchi OVA.

Honestly after watching Ai Tenchi Muyo, all I wanted to do was re-watch some old Tenchi Muyo: Ryo-Ohki to remind myself of why I got into this franchise. Because all this series does, is to tell its fans that the franchise has run its course and it is about time to abandon ship. In the end it felt like an insult to fans, as nothing about it harkened back to the Tenchi Muyo of old, nor did it bring anything interesting to the table like another spin-off series (Isekai no Seikishi Monogatari). Plus it felt like an insult to the general viewer, by having a re-cap episode every 5th episode, as if the viewers forgot what happen during the previous 4 episodes that week. Being a series with a bunch of 4 min long episodes, I wasn't expecting much, but I was expecting more than mediocrity.

When it comes to romance stories, I've always enjoyed "forbidden love". Be it between the same sex, step-siblings, student & teacher or cousins; I tend to enjoy these flavours over the vanilla stuff. So here I have Boku wa Imouto ni Koi wo suru. A Shoujo, Romance, Drama themed around the forbidden love between siblings and yet I did not enjoy this as much as I hoped.

Although Boku wa Imouto is a shoujo manga, it mostly follows the point of view of our male protagonist Yori Yuuki, where it is immediately apparent that he feels strongly for his twin sister Iku. So strongly in fact ... that he decides to act upon these feelings, but she is not all that accepting right away. So Yori ends up thinking of some contrived and immature ways to acquire his sister's affection, all without being found out, which is where the majority of the story's early drama comes from. However what's nice is that even if Yori is the main focal point of the story, situations are also given from Iku's point of view, making it a more interesting story in the process. Unfortunately that feeling does not last the full duration of this manga's story.

The main dilemma between the pair continuously changes as the story develops, like the inclusion of a 3rd or 4th party, yet it's obvious that it's the mangaka's way of trying to extend the life of what should be a really short manga. It eventually degrades into some Twilight-esque drivel. Two attractive young males, vying for the affections of some stupid little girl; even though it's all kind of pointless, since she obviously likes one over the other.

This is what led to the characters being the weakest aspect of this manga for me. We have Iku the ditzy blonde sister, Yori the dark-haired control-freak of a brother & his best friend Yano who's character confuses me the most. And we're supposed to believe the forced love triangle between the 3. I know I shouldn't be spoiling this love triangle for those who've yet to read it, but if you've read enough shoujo manga, you'd have seen this love triangle coming a volume or two before it even occurs. There are other characters to mention, but some you'll just despise and others that won't even become relevant until the final volumes.

Now when looking at Kotomi Akio's other works, I noticed that she happens to be the author for one of my favourite shoujo manga, which is a bit of a surprise because the artwork for Boku wa Imouto is painfully average. From start to finish, it just looks like any other shoujo manga that is playing it safe and not trying to stand out from the crowd. I can only take solace in the knowledge that Kotomi Akio has improved, since the creation of Boku wa Imouto...

To summarize, Boku wa Imouto is a manga that initially grabbed my attention with the way it handled this particular form of forbidden love, and how such love is never a smooth experience. Unfortunately story winds up degrading almost into soap opera territory, rife with the some of the usual tropes. This and several other issues I mentioned are what hampered my overall enjoyment of what should have been a rather enjoyable manga.

It was a breath of fresh air when the Shounen Jump title Rosario + Vampire came out, bringing with it an interesting take on the harem genre, within a Monster Academy setting. But alas it came to an abrupt end, along with the Monthly Shounen Jump magazine. Fortunately it was popular enough to warrant a continuation in the form of Rosario + Vampire II.

Rosario + Vampire II being a Shounen, Supernatural, Harem manga, with a bit of Comedy & Action thrown in for good measure. Although this is technically a sequel, R+V II feels more like a reboot, as it re-introduces the characters and ... setting from the ground up. Making it fairly accessible to those who have yet to read its prequel. Even if that means having to rehash various moments of character development or plot elements from R+V (especially regarding Tsukune). But now it is set during their 2nd year in the Monster Academy, a couple months after the madness during the school fair and begins with the male protagonist getting right into the usual comedic-mishaps with his harem. Nevertheless the mangaka has learnt some lessons from his previous outing, as the whole "monster of the week" angle has been scrapped completely for a more character-driven tale. With the tales ranging from the 2 chapter outings, to some fairly lengthy arcs that shape the rest of the story.

This means that the characters end up a whole lot more fleshed out, from being given their own chapters to shine; whether that is in combat, or just some character-building. Yes that includes even the likes of: Kurumu, Mizore, Yukari and Ruby; making them all worthy members of Team Tsukune. Of course Moka, being the "best girl" gets a whole volume of back-story to herself. As for Tsukune, he continues to progress from the badass he eventually became towards the end of the prequel, which is all fine and dandy. Yet there were some missed opportunities where the mangaka could have taken things further with Tsukune's relationships with the girls, if only he wasn't too afraid to stray from the status quo.

Now I remember reading R+V and witnessing a mangaka go from several panels of mediocre scribbles, to artwork that's beyond what you'd expect in a harem. Now I have to say the artwork in R+V II is superior to its predecessor, simply because the mangaka had already found his own style to settle on and so there was no need for him to improve that much upon it. So the pages contain characters with a superb level of detail put into their facial expressions, fully fleshed out vistas and some rather elaborate monster transformation designs. Though be warned, as towards the end things do get Gantz-level gory once the story intensifies.

In the end R+V II helped remind me that a harem manga can be very entertaining, by not even being much about the harem in question but by just being an enjoyable & rather compelling to read (even if that means turning it into a shounen battle manga). Although this manga has its fair share of flaws, like the usage of the "shounen power-up trope", there's just so much to like about it. I like how it feels when the mangaka takes a step back to assess the various relationships; whether in a jokey manner (like in Ch.23), or a more serious manner (like in Ch.17). I like the contrast in the artistic style and quality between the comedy and action. But most of all I like how this is a harem with a solid plot and a well-developed plot at that. I just wish it ended better, but that seems to be the wish I have with most manga & anime out there.

Fortune Arterial feels like every other manga with a visual novel out there. Whereby it pieces together a decent narrative that cannot possibly satisfy all the fans of the visual novel and this is further marred by having the most bland artwork imaginable.

Nevertheless it is a generally sweet manga, or that's how it first comes across; as Kouhei Hasekura transfers to a prestigious boarding school, situated on an Island off-shore from Japan. Though this isn't his first time, as he has transferred schools multiple times, due to his father's work and is hoping this will be the last.

And there we have our manga, that ... at first appears to be about as original as modern vampires basking in sunlight, but then the story actually gets somewhat interesting. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, this story involves vampires. Which honestly this manga does a good job masking, as we initially follow Kouhei getting used to the school, making new friends and working with the Student Council he's coerced into joining. Then it is the sudden shift in tone which makes this title quite jarring to follow. Where characters that seemed rather light-hearted at first, are given some pretty heavy back-story. And it's up to not only us the reader, but also the main character, to adapt and wrap his head around.

But the main character in question is one I hold no strong emotions for. Kouhei does start off like every other male protagonist I tend to despise, monologuing how painfully average he is within the first couple pages. Yet he eventually grows as a character, thus cancelling out my earlier disdain into a rather muted feeling. Then we have our generic female protagonist Erika Sendou, who happens to hold some awkward feelings for our male protagonist. It isn't until her ancestry is revealed that things are explained and she becomes an interesting character in the process; with a greater sense of depth and a broader range of emotions, those chapters provided. I found her and her supposed rival (Kiriha Kuze) to be the more interesting characters of the lot, however readers may hold a different opinion.

Now one opinion that I feel strongly about is the artwork of Fortune Arterial and how it brings down the overall quality of the work. The problem is that the art style is so generic and rudimentary that it simply does not fully portray the type of manga this is. It doesn't even work to juxtapose the contrast, between the upbeat day-to-day aspect, with the more darker vampiric aspect. The artwork simply is bland and boring.

Overall Fortune Arterial is a manga that gives the readers the impression they are about to read a simple light-hearted high school romance. But they will sink their teeth into it, only to find a dark and bloody tale buried within and honestly... I liked that about it. Though the transition felt somewhat jarring, the change in the story is what held my interest. It's a shame that the mediocre artwork couldn't change along with it. And this isn't helped that after all the tension, anguish and drama the story builds up, it all just resolves quite easily and smoothly. A bit too smooth for my liking.

Walkure Romanze is a great Harem, Sports, Romance visual novel that garnered a bit of success, so I guess some studio had to make an anime adaptation of it. However this is simply the case where a title is better left untouched, in its original format, rather than being half-arsed like this. Because at least there, each of the girls are given enough time and development for the players to even give a damn.

Watching this series gave me flashbacks of the Princess Lover anime adaptation, but in this case, the male protagonist attends a fairly prestigious academy with "Jousting" as its main extracurricular activity. ... Although in this universe, jousting seems to be a sport predominantly done by knights with a bit less gruff. Yes, that means young cute girls, because apparently boys seem to be useless unless they are piloting giant mechs. But even with how immersion breaking it is to see dainty little girls, covered in plated-armour, holding 2-3m lances; the actual jousting itself is handled quite well and managed to hold my interest. Unfortunately far too much time and effort is put into nonsensical stuff un-related to progressing the story, characters or relationships. In other words, pretty much every aspect a good visual novel is known for is left out, but instead all of what makes a mediocre harem is crammed into this series. Which simply is a waste considering this is a 12 episode anime and those 12 episodes should have been used to make me fall in love with the story & characters... not the character's alluring physique.

But speaking of characters, the male protagonist Takahiro Mizuno, happens to have a rather refreshing personality and in this anime with its 1:9 male to female ratio, it is nice to see that he's not initially considered useless. Just a shame that what little personality he has, is later stripped away and he becomes nothing more than a walking plot device. As for the girls that make up the bulk of this anime, it's a shame to see them as nothing but 2-dimensional tropes. No doubt they are certainly made to be appealing, depending on your tastes and a lot of the voice actresses did fantastic jobs on their characters. Nevertheless I can just imagine them being some fascinating female characters, if given the time & effort to flesh out their relationships & back-stories.

At least the animation for this anime is rather fleshed out, with its vibrant colour palette and the character's bubbly erm... personalities. Heck even when it transitioned to the 3D rendered jousting, it did not feel all that jarring. It looked all round good. Just like the animation, the soundtrack happens to be decent and ramps up nicely during the jousting. From the clashing of the lances to the sounds of the horses, it all sounds pretty good. But overall this isn't an anime I'd remember for its audio.

Walkure Romanze is just another anime I'd remember for its lost potential, when it comes bringing something interesting with its jousting and romance. And frankly there's barely a hint of romance, for it to even be in the title. So if you're just here to wet your seasonal appetite for girls partaking in strenuous activities, then you won't be left high and dry, at least once the Blu-Rays come out. But if you're actually interested in seeing an anime, balance such an unusual sport with romance, or simply just a fan of the source material, then you're likely to come out of this feeling somewhat disappointed. Having seen how Walkure Romanze was poorly mishandled, I fear to see what will happen to future visual novel adaptations (i.e. Grisaia no Kajitsu).

Koibana Onsen is a manga that requires a bit of caution before venturing into it, due to its mature sexual content. But with that said, Koibana Onsen is something I could - maybe not wholeheartedly - recommend for those looking for something a bit more raunchy than ecchi, as this is a fairly decent Romantic, Harem.

Welcome to Koibana Onsen, the place where love blooms. A family-run Inn, within a secluded rural setting, provides a unique romantic atmosphere for the couples that use it for their little romantic gateways. So it was quite the surprise when Akiyama, rather than cancel his reservation, decided to go to ... the Inn after being jilted by his girlfriend. Little did he know that such misfortune would turn into its own form of fortune, as Akiyama's experience in Koibana Onsen led to his decision to help the owners and begin working there. The owners being 3 fairly attractive sisters and, well you know where it goes from there, being a Harem and all. Yet that is only true in the beginning, with Akiyama getting into perverse situations - ranging from ecchi to raunchy - with the sisters. But unlike the majority of Harem, there's a greater focus on the Romance. Sure there are enough moments to keep a steam room well steamed, sometimes in some very odd and unnecessary ways; but Akiyama's relationship developments are the greater focus. Later on it branches out to include a variety of characters.

The characters being what I thought were the strongest aspect of this manga, however even as I say that, Akiyama can be so spineless at times that it can get annoying. It's what makes him less interesting and more or less into another generic kind of male protagonist. I would have continued to feel like that if the characters remained 1-dimensional but they didn't. What I like is that there's character development where I didn't expect it. Like the sisters: Fuuka, Nonoka and Moeka. All follow very rudimentary character archetypes in the beginning, but with more depth added to them as the story goes on, and those aren't the only important characters in this story.

On the other hand, one of the main issues I had whilst reading Koibana Onsen was the artwork and how horribly inconsistent it was. From jarring facial features to slightly misshapen limbs and awkward postures. Such things really stick out once you first notice them. Sure it is serviceable and a lot of readers could care less; but the lack of style and technique, on the mangaka's part, really gets to me.

Overall Koibana Onsen did certainly feel like a place love would bloom and it proved to be rather enjoyable to see the relationships start off as a simple seedling and eventually blossom. However I really didn't enjoy the contrived ways the mangaka tried to get his characters into some rather questionable, sexual situations. But other than that and some other minor annoyances, Koibana Onsen is a decent Romantic, Harem worth checking out and maybe one day I'll try my luck in one of these Japanese Onsen.

I've read a fair number of manga with some rather odd set-ups but I rarely come across one as jarring as Chokotto Sister, which requires the reader to suspend all sense of disbelief just to get into it. But once you've passed that initial barrier you’ll discover that Chokotto Sister is just a light-hearted Slice of Life, with a fair amount of Romance and really not much else.

Haruma Kawagoe is a university student living independently, then one day out of the blue; his decade old wish is granted in the most unusual of fashions. Now he has a cute little sister, haply named Choko that ... he must care for, whilst dealing with the various other affairs in his life. This sort of premise, of a young male forced into a sibling/parental role they aren’t prepared for, is nothing new however the way it was established was rather odd, to say the least. But beyond that this was a very ordinary slice of life and that’s one of its failings. Things that occurred just felt too ordinary; from doing a bit of shopping, to gradually making friends; it’s the things we are all used to doing in our day-to-day lives. I must admit that certain moments were rather entertaining or compelling to read, however it was really only the potential for romance that spurred me on, when the slice of life occasionally got tiresome.

Well at least the characters involved in this slice of life were of course ordinary, yet interesting enough for readers to give a damn about them; something that is particularly vital for this kind of premise. The mangaka did a fine job in developing Haruma & Choko separately; effectively dividing entire chapters between them, in order to flesh out their story’s however it fell short again, when it came to deepening their relationship. The problem is that their relationship with one another felt forced and it lacked any real drama and much in the realm of progression that may come in the relationship between siblings. It was really only Haruma’s & Choko’s relationships with others that steadily progressed, which is what helped make up for their lack of progression with one another.

Being a slice of life, the art worked well in capturing the light-hearted tone the story was trying to achieve. The artwork appears to looks simple, yet there quite a far amount if detail added to where it’s needed... especially during the close ups. Now it’s not really that much of a negative but it would have been nice if the character designs had more variety. It is an issue a lot of manga have when try to go for simple, ordinary looking characters, because without colours it can be difficult to tell them apart.

So Chokotto Sister was a decent slice of life, without much in the realm of drama, outside of the romance, so it was mostly a mellow experience. I just wish it as better, because I felt it had quite a few failings here and there. The chapters were somewhat disjointed and going from chapter to chapter just felt like going from one moment to another moment, with no real continuation. There was quite a lot of unnecessary ecchi scenes, for what didn't feel like an ecchi manga. The romance did a good job in keeping me interested but it severely weakened one of the characters, due to its implementation and in the end I just wish it and many other aspects of Chokotto Sister were handled differently. Even with all that said, it was still a decent slice of life nonetheless.