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Bakuman is the best animé I have seen in 2012.

First off, despite the unsual approach for a shounen series, Bakuman represents a masterpiece in this category. That is not only because it is extremely addictive, but also because it provides the best pacing I have ever seen in any shounen animé.

The story revolves around two young middle schoolers who come up with the idea of becoming manga artists. They decide to form a team of two, one designer and one storywriter. Step by step, they work their way into the creation of manga, all its different aspects and difficulties. At this point, it gets explained to the viewer how manga are conceptualized and brought into shape from scratch. Their motivation for keeping up the work and overcoming hardships derives from romantic feelings towards their classmates. The romance part of the story is slightly exaggerated and unrealistic, but it's still one of the best in all popular shounen shows.

The two boys, despite being middle schoolers (and later high schoolers), rush with the aid of their charismatic editor towards their goal of serialization in the Jump magazine (called Jack in here) and ultimately, of a broadcasted television animé series. Somewhere in this process, they encounter their first rivals and gain additional motivation to deliver even better manga concepts to the editorial department. Both of them also experience the hardships there are when trying to realize one's dreams, especially as a manga artist, and see others suffer under the risks that this career mean to the aspirant's future.

Bakuman has a set of great characters, a story that draws me in completely and a nice soundtrack. I watched all 25 episodes in two days and have no regrets watching through the whole thing at night despite being tired the day after. The best feature of this show is the pacing, though. It gains momentum exactly at the point when it's necessary to not become boring. It actually has one minor problem with the pacing somewhere around episodes 12-16, but it shouldn't be much of a problem in regards of enjoyment. The rest of this animé is like a rollercoaster that pushes you into the world of manga business and doesn't let lose anymore.

I am very excited to see what the second season has to offer since it got much better reviews than the first season. All in all, Bakuman is a show for nearly everyone I assume, for it dealing with manga and animé in which you obviously have a major interest (why would you have an account on MAL then?). So give it a try and see for yourself, how this show manages to capture your attention. I am also sure that you will have a different view on the structure of manga after you have watched Bakuman. You will be able to look more closely at the aspects of quality that are relevant for these media, and on top of that, you will know how hard it actually is to serialize a manga in a magazine like Jump, and that every manga you see in such a magazine has gone a hard and long way to come this far.

Bakuman is a good animé for: Shounen fans, people interested in manga and storywriting, people interested in drawings, people interested in manga business, Romance fans, people who still try to find something meaningful in their life read more

Natsume Yuujinchou is one of those rare animé shows that carry a very special and rare feeling. What I mean is the feeling of contentment and happiness, and that is, what I consider beautiful.

The first shows that come to my mind, which I would associate with Natsume Yuujinchou would be Aria, Mushishi and maybe Kino no Tabi. They all share this very special feeling, this unbelievable calmness, a heart-warming atmosphere, lovely characters and especially the ability to make you smile all over.

The story is held very simple and gives plenty opportunities for the lonely and introverted main protagonist to develop. He slowly bonds not only with other humans, but also with spiritual beings, called Youkai, of which most seek to obtain a certain item he has inherited from his grandmother. With his special ability of being capable of seeing these spiritual beings, he finds himself having a crucial bond with his grandmother, who was practically like him and sought the contact with the Youkai. Step by step, he gets drawn into the world of the Youkai by learning about them, helping them out, befriending them and seeking their help. Likewise, the Youkai start being drawn into his world, not only because of his grandmother's item, but also because of him being someone special to them. A kind friend.

Instead of talking about something mediocre, I want to emphasize what is really amazing in this show. That is, without any doubt, the lovely music. While I find myself skipping OPs and EDs very often in other series, the sheer calmness of Natsume Yuujinchou's OP/ED songs always made me watching them every single time. Also, the background music of this show is perfectly fitting to the plot and underlines the atmosphere. The OST in general resembled the one of Aria very much, and I loved Aria in these regards to begin with.

The side characters are not very deep in my opinion, but this might and hopefully will change in the upcoming seasons I haven't yet watched. Nevertheless, all side characters have their own charm and that is what's actually important. None of them disturbs the feeling of this show, all of them play a certain role, although it might not always be an important one. The protagonist's companion, a Youkai with cat appearance, is the most interesting of them, and I often had a good laugh because of his actions.

The enjoyment of this show is, like animé of this kind imply, very high. After approximately five episodes, I felt myself grabbed by the calm and relaxing atmosphere. Personally, I liked the second half more than the first one, but anyway, I have very high expectations for the upcoming seasons. Overall, this show sets a great beginning for a four seasons long adventure that brings you not only a feeling of satisfaction, calmness and contentment, but also an opportunity to seclude yourself from your daily life for a short moment and might let you forget everything around you for the time being.

If you need action and/or dislike ghosts, you won't probably enjoy this show.
If you, like me, love light-hearted and beautiful storytelling, and/or consider the atmosphere of a show a major factor of enjoyment, Natsume Yuujinchou is the next thing you should watch. read more

There are three types of KHR viewers. The first type gets incredibly annoyed by the introduction arc, lasting about 35 episodes, and eventually drops the anime before even a small part of the 203 episodes have been watched. The second type continues watching beyond this and discovers the huge change this show goes through, but ultimately comes to dislike it for certain reasons. The third type finds itself hooked by the new style and cannot really believe that a show with such an annoying beginning can become this exciting.

I clearly belong to the third group.

KHR is an anime featuring a lot of half-heartedly conceptualized and executed characters in a somewhat complex story within a world in which 'the mafia' actually represents a couple of artificial families with mostly kind people. The Japanese protagonist and middle-schooler, Tsuna, which is totally surprised by the fact, that he seems to be the main candidate for the tenth boss of one of the strongest mafia families residing in Italy, cannot really cope with what he is being told to accept and tries to continue his daily life as best as possible while being dragged (together with his acquaintances) by his new baby-hitman-tutor into the mafias' way of life.

Story evaluation:

KHR intends to introduce most of the characters which are supposed to play an important role later on very slowly, and surely takes its time to become actually interesting. What in other anime is being told within 10 episodes unfortunately takes close to 40 episodes in KHR. This is the most annoying fact about this show. Nevertheless, KHR has a storyline which gradually becomes better as it goes. Although the overall concept of the plot isn't the best, KHR manages to achieve the most important goal for a shounen series: addictiveness. You cannot, under any circumstances, predict what is going to happen in KHR. On the one hand the story is a typical shounen type, but on the other hand it's still quite unique and builds up a lot of excitement.

Art & Sound evaluation:

The animation of KHR is fairly decent and cannot be criticized very much. The characters seem authentic and their emotional expressions fit well. The effects are well executed and acceptable. Unfortunately, the soundtrack lacks good bgm music. There are only two remarkable tracks: the Hibari Theme and the "Rocky"-like theme. The openings and endings aren't worth mentioning.

Character evaluation:

Due to the wide range of supporting characters KHR provides for, nearly everyone will be able to find one that he or she likes. All characters in this show (maybe except of Spanner) are very simple-minded and not very realistic. They are either maniacs, hard-boiled assholes, freaky aggressive killer-teens, fragile victims and wimps, or Mr. & Mrs. Composed. The most ridiculous example is the protagonist Tsuna, who despite of his unnatural power remains being a wimp. Therefore you cannot take KHR characters serious. They are clearly and solely meant for entertainment and for nothing else. There is no deep meaning behind them and they don't carry a message that you can evaluate for yourself. Thus, if you don't expect KHR to be thought-provoking like Naruto for example, you will be able to accept the character style.

Overall:

Apart from the first 35-40 episodes, KHR is entertaining and addictive; filled with (very good) action and interesting and stylish characters which actually lack meaning; provides for random laughs and jokes and some very annoying and literally childish features; and manages to have a decent ending that can be considered somewhat rare when it comes to shounen.

Pro: action, shounen-features (power-ups, gear-ups), character variety, abilities/weapons variety, very few fillers, ending

Con: annoying features (running gags), dull characters (+ wimpy protagonist), introduction arc (first 35 episodes)

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This review covers all three seasons of ARIA.

The ARIA series as a whole carries a truly magnificent treasure. It confines itself to showing us only positive things by filtering out everything that is potentially able to arouse negative feelings. I'll talk about this later.

-- Introduction to ARIA --

ARIA's plot takes part in a replica of Venice called Neo-Venecia on the planet Aqua we know as Mars after a terraforming process has been executed. After this terraforming, the planet's surface changed and got covered with water what enabled people to build a Venice-like city. Within this city there are gondoliers working as tourist guides and carriers. The story revolves around three female apprentices of three different gondolier companies and their training to become a A-rank gondolier, called Prima. Although all three of them work at competing companies, they are good friends to one another and cherish their relationship.

-- What you get to see --

Within the three seasons you get to know not only the beautiful scenery of Neo-Venecia together with its diverse people, wonderful miracles and exciting mysteries, that are all developed beautifully and give us a calm and satisfied feeling, but also the three undines (gondoliers in this story) and the people around them. Among them are the three seniors with a distinct character and a very important role in this story.

-- Atmosphere --

All characters in this story are full of life and enjoy every day in Neo-Venecia. They share their happiness with the people around them and never show us a depressed look. The music is soothing and fits perfectly into the Italian atmosphere and into the story. The art is quite good, there aren't any special effects or such due to missing action but everything that is shown is developed very well. Also the fact that you get to see (and get to listen to) the beautiful water in every episode supports the creation of this really calm and friendly atmosphere.

-- Not a single negative occurrence --

Yes. Neo-Venecia is like utopia to us. All things that might cause stress and fear like accidents, illness, anger, arguments and conflicts, etc. are completely ignored in this piece of art. Instead we get confronted with friendship, a beautiful city filled with warmhearted people, gorgeous arts, bright feelings, love and cuteness. A perfect place to release one's mind and to get away from it all. This is why 'slice of life' works in this show perfectly.

-- Inspiring content --

It's inspiring yes. You can take a lot of things with you after watching ARIA. This show might change your view on certain things because it shows you the bright side of everything. Not everything in life is always bright, but ARIA might give us motivation to change our way of approaching issues and it's giving us back the dream of a perfect world in the case it has been lost. Outstanding enjoyment!

-- Animation, Natural and Origination.. the differences --

While Animation is a brief introduction into the world of Aqua and Neo-Venecia, Natural focusses on occurences and mysteries in Neo-Venecia aswell as on its people. Origination ultimately takes all this and drives forward. The first half of Origination doesn't give us a feeling of an approaching plot, but the second half covers everything there needs to be covered.. in a wonderful way.

-- Rating --

Story: 6 (doesn't matter anyway since there's no need for a real story)
Art / Sound: 8
Character: 9
Enjoyment: 10

Overall: 9

-- Recommendation --

ARIA is a show worth watching. Whenever you feel depressed or stressed, ARIA is like medicine. Whenever you feel happy, complete and satisfied, ARIA is like a drug. Everyone who is interested in watching a completely peaceful and calm anime has made an excellent choice considering ARIA. Let yourself get enchanted by its beautiful scenery, interesting and funny characters, a story that you don't have to think about very much, and a lot of moments that actually show you what the pain of joy is about. read more

Clannad ~After Story~ is a wonderful piece of art. This show is presenting something that is hardly to put down in words, and it actually gives me a hard time writing this review.

In only 24 episodes, that means approx. 24x25min = 600 minutes = 10 hours of actual content, Clannad ~After Story~ succeeds in presenting a piece of life itself in an unbelievably beautiful and lovely way. There are few series out there which can be considered as something that can fundamentally change your way of thinking. Clannad ~After Story~ can.

I don't give a plot summary at this point (!)

As I finished this series for the first time I noticed that this show has had a dangerously huge impact on me. Despite its supernatural elements C.AS does have the most intense feeling of reality I’ve ever felt in all the shows, movies and series that have been produced for the purpose of entertainment. The more reality is presented, the more inspiring the show gets. The more inspiring the show gets, the more conclusions you can find for actual problems you are facing in reality. But what is reality to begin with? How can reality be shown in an animated series? The answer to this is pretty complex: Given the fact you are experiencing hardships with your family; maybe you're living alone and don't have any contact to your parent(s) anymore because of a major incident in the past, and you are suffering under these conditions, and now you see Clannad ~ After Story~, the reality that is presented in this show is much more intense because of the situation you’re in. Tomoyas problems with his dad and his way of dealing with it can actually influence your way of thinking and acting regarding the individual situation. And I'm quite sure that this has been found to apply to many people out there.

Even if Clannad ~After Story~ doesn't appeal to you in that way, it offers a wonderful executed story with focus on emotionality. Everything in this show is based on emotions. It's about pure happiness in moments the time seems to stand still, and heartbreaking tragedy making you cry easily if you provide for certain empathy. It makes you aware of the fact that progress is something inevitable in life, and that the only thing you have to worry about is to keep your calm and get the things in order. C.AS communicates a message consisting of two major aspects: First is the fact, that life doesn't wait for anyone to open his or her mind. You can vegetate in some corner and do nothing, your life wouldn't be concerned very much about it and things won't get better. The second thing is that even if you do something about your problems, there will never be any guarantee for your success. Life is unfair. At least it seems so for many people. When you have watched this series you know how unfair life can be and that being a helpful guy won't give you credit. It's pretty harsh, but that's what reality is about. And that is, what makes Clannad ~After Story~ so real.

That doesn't mean you can live your life carelessly and ignore everything that doesn’t suit in your plans just because you have not that much influence on its development after all. C.AS shows that you can brighten up your dark view of the world all by yourself and evolve into better times, no matter how difficult and cruel it has been in the past. It's all about your actions. It's all about how you tend to do something for your personal advantage. This doesn’t mean that you do something good for you in the first place; even if you do something good for other people it might help YOU in the future, and maybe a miracle will happen (!) and you will be offered support in times when you really need it.

After all, Clannad ~After Story~ is a milestone of the „slice of life“ animé. Nearly everyone can find a sense in its plot for oneself. The most important requirement for being able to receive its message is a certain emotional receptiveness. Of course, even Clannad ~After Story~ is no perfect work, some things like the character design could have been even better, but there is no sense in criticise something that is plain wonderful in its outcome and maybe even surpasses its original purpose by providing for a much higher value than expected.
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First of all, School Rumble is my favorite comedy anime. And I've seen a lot of comedy stuff.. so yes, it IS definitely something special to me.


Story [6/10]

The story of School Rumble isn't something special though. A girl likes a guy in her class, another guy likes the girl and some other characters are meddling with their love triangle. It's a pattern you're already used to if you've seen some anime of the romance/comedy genre.

The development of this love triangle is quite interesting. Maybe it's because the characters are somewhat unique in their own way and all of them appear to be clumsy as hell. But that's the proper foundation for a slapstick-monster that School Rumble truely is.

If you're someone who necessarily needs a perfectly logical and exciting plot, then School Rumble isn't the best choice. But even if you do, this anime could have a huge impact on your preferences, so I recommend you to read on.

Characters [9/10]

Yes, I REALLY like the characters in this anime. At the first glance, Tenma appears to be like a crazy, clumsy girl, primarily looking like a child in both her appearance and her behavior. In my opinion it's the weakest character of this series what prevents me from giving 10 points to this section. There's not much of a development on her side, she's mainly meant to be the "source of laughter" since she does a lot of childish stuff ending in a complete failure in most cases.

The character I'm most impressed about is Harima, the guy who loves Tenma and tries to capture her heart. Harima is originally a tough badass and a delinquent but changes little by little because of his love to Tenma and his efforts to make her fall for him. Harima is one of the few characters I would consider as unbelievably real. Although he is only an anime character, he really manages to touch my heart with his train of thought and his actions. Maybe it's because he's such a tough looking guy on the outside, but kind and warmhearted on the inside, with a clumsy way of approaching things and facing problems. His desperate struggle to make Tenma fall for him is also really cute and makes him the most likable character in this story.

The guy who Tenma has fallen for, Karasuma, isn't kind of a help for the progress of the plot. He has a certain distance to the other characters and acts quite strangely. In my opinion he represents the goal for Tenma and her efforts, but the story revolves more around Harima and Tenma than Karasuma.

The side characters of School Rumble play an important role, like Yakumo, Tenma's little sister who's the complete opposite of her, Eri Sawachika, a girl in Tenma's class with quite the attitude (^^) and her origin in Europe, and some other girls who all have their very own character which somewhat differs from the rest. In later progress all their relationships become essential for the story.

Enjoyment [10/10]

I've never laughed that much in my entire life than within the week I was watching School Rumble for the first time. This anime really set the benchmark for me when it comes to comedy. Yes, it is kind of a silly humor, sometimes childish (primarily because of Tenma) and sometimes totally random (because of Harima). Then, there is this kind of "calm" humor (thinking of Yakumo and her experiences with guys), and at times the reactions of some characters are really dry and sarcastic. Some scenes are exaggerated like hell, and some are totally lowered in their status. School Rumble doesn't even lack parody of other anime and cultural things. This anime is a huge pot in which all sorts of humor and jokes are getting mixed in, and maybe the only critical point is, at times, the exaggerated childishness of Tenma, which seems too silly.

The fact that I've only been talking about comedy until now doesn't mean there's nothing else to expect. This show gives me an incredible feeling because of the soundtrack which is perfectly fitting into the scenes. I really like the music's atmosphere. The opening is remarkable and fast-paced like many parts of the anime. The endings are cool aswell, there's hardly a song of the soundtrack I don't like.

The romance in this anime isn't something special at all, but it gives School Rumble a peaceful touch as compensation for the hectic atmosphere in some episodes. The romantic relationships between the side characters and main characters are interesting to observe and there's gradually something changing in the different personalities. That means it doesn't become boring after a certain time.

Problems of this anime:

Unfortunately, the second sequel "San Gakki" was not finished. It only contains of two episodes which were originally meant to be episode 25 & 26 of the third series. That means, if you wanna know how the story goes on between "Ni Gakki" and "San Gakki" you have to read the manga at this point. The ending itself isn't elaborated in the best way, and tragically it's "slightly" different from the manga. My recommendation for you is to read the ending, instead of watching it.

Sometimes there's no connection between the single episodes regarding the story. It also happens that you get to see a filler episode once in a while, but it shouldn't matter if you like the style of this series.

Overall [10/10]

I don't consider a comedy anime to be something with an incredible and fantastic storyline. The jokes were literally breathtaking at times, and some scenes moved me to tears. 1.5 years after watching this series for the first time I still have the soundtrack on my MP3-Player for the winter season. All these facts are more than enough to say "YES! this is it!". If you're more into romance anime, go watch Kimi ga Nozomu Eien or ef - a tale of memories/melodies. If you look for comedy and you still haven't seen School Rumble, go the freakin' hell out of here and watch this series! read more

First: Sorry for my moderate English, I'm not a native speaker ;-)

Short subjective evaluation and interpretation of "Ef - A Tale of Melodies"

As the recipient, you find yourself in a complex story building made of a huge network of relationships in which every single detail is elaborated in a way of perfection I've only seen in Clannad - that is "Ef - A Tale of Melodies". The story revolves around two main protagonists, Kuze and Yuu, who already appeared in the prequel "Ef - A Tale of Memories" and set the fundament to the really great experience of the second season.

Story: 9/10

The story is not far away from being a masterpiece in my opinion. It was a lot times better than the story of the prequel "Ef - A Tale of Memories" due to the mysteric way of presenting real circumstances in everyday's life. A person who is condemned to die early and his desperate struggle to find a 'conclusion' for his life in order to experience a kind of fulfillment; and another person who has to reflect on his actions he made out of desperation and fear, which finally led to something even worse.. that is the kind of story I would definitely call a true drama. From the beginning up until the end there's no time to release one's mind. Just like in the prequel the recipient get bombed with extremely well reasoned dialogues, creating a thick and heavy atmosphere and encourage the viewer to reflect on the behavior and actions of the protagonists.
The ending was pretty good as well, but it might have been a bit more realistic if it turned out sadder. I don't want to spoil at this point.

The only thing that prevents me from giving 10 points to the story is just about the dialogues (especially those about the love scenes), which at some parts should have been less intense in my opinion (for instance the part with Mizuki on the roof answering Kuze's questions).

Art: 9/10

This anime is indeed a really great work of art. With some simple means it creates a terrific atmosphere which is absolutely necessary for this kind of story. The drawing is well-done, the animation authentic (especially the wind flowing through the hair and partially the movements), and the character design also really good. But the fact that makes this anime to something very special regarding the arts is the style of blending the images, using many different colors and shapes, implementing words and sentences from romanian languages and telling a parallel story besides the animation's story by using just these technical means. At this point it's pretty sad that some of those screens fade too fast so that the viewer has to pause the video in order to read what's written on the screen (and especially to think about the relation to the story).

Sound 8/10

As it can be assumed when looking at the title, in "Ef - A Tale of Melodies" the sound/music plays a very important role. In my subjective interpretation, those "Melodies" are first based only on music, later the whole story building (including the end) gives this "Tale of Melodies" a new meaning, some kind of "life melody" with images as well as music. But this doesn't concern at this point.

The melancholic music of this anime, primarily composed by Tenmon is perfectly fitting into the story and underlines the atmosphere created by the plot. The fact that Kuze is musician and plays his violine makes me feel of the music as a firmly integrated part within the story - and that makes it even more fitting.

The opening is not one of my favorites, but that's not important at all. The ending music changes from episode to episode making the anime appear more dynamic. Something I've rarely seen before.

Character 9/10

Well, what do I have to say? The protagonists both totally convinced me in their train of thought, in their actions and behavior - you can mean that the author himself experienced these cruel situations - and especially in their appearance. Kuze and Yuu are two very different human beings, both struggeling.. Yuu with his dreadful past, Kuze with his fearsome future. Both try to find a way out of desperation, but they have to learn that it's not possible to solve one's problems that easily. While Kuze slowly abandons everything around him, Yuu seems absent from the world itself unless he meets Yuuko. Remember, those two storylines take place in different times - Yuu's story in the past, Kuze's story in the present of the prequel "Ef - A Tale of Memories".

The development of those two characters influenced by feelings from other people and its outcome of finding strength and courage is the thing that makes me consider this anime as something 'real'.
"Miracles don't exist in this world. There are only coincidences, inevitabilities, and actions that people take. I'll just have to make this miracle into an inevitability."
Well, it's not something new at all, but it's just perfectly shown in this anime.

The side characters also play a very good role and round the whole thing up.

Enjoyment 9/10

I enjoyed this series from the very beginning to the end. There's no boring dialogue, some funny scenes, a lot of tearful scenes, fitting music, authentic characters, an original style, romance, slice of life, changing timelines and plots.. the composition of those things absolutely fulfilled my requirements of enjoying an anime, contrary to the prequel "Ef - A Tale of Memories" which was too far away from reality and was kind of boring at the beginning (due to the fact that the viewer feels lost in such a dark atmosphere with no characters to stick to). I know, most people prefer the first part, but when it comes to my view of things, I prefer those animes which contain more valuable information about the real life, like for instance "how does someone behave if he knew he would die soon". Well, it's a subjective thing..

Overall 10/10

..due to the epicness I longed for a certain time now. The package of all those aspects make this anime an incredible experience. Its fancy style of presenting the story is the most interesting I've seen so far. The feelings don't reach those I had when I saw Clannad but the atmosphere in "Ef - A Tale of Melodies" compensates for this. Truly an amazing work.

Btw. if you have any recommendations regarding my English I would gladly appreciate your help, just write me a message with my mistakes or something XD read more

Well, Ichigo 100% was the first manga I've ever read. That was just because the anime ends at episode 13 and I was very curious to see what would happen next. Before I started reading, I kind of disliked manga because there are missing important emotional aspects like music, color and such.. but Ichigo 100% totally convinced me of the fact that it's even possible to carry a lot of emotions through this art without any music.

I cannot really compare with other manga so I will keep it short. There are some things very special in Ichigo 100% and I will try to explain them.

- First, there is this great character design. I totally liked the different style of those girls, the different way of acting, the visual aspects etc. The fact that Junpei tries to decide for one of them and cannot come to a final conclusion involves the reader the same way. I am pretty sure that there are a lot of readers out there who wouldn't be able to decide which girl they would prefer.

- Second, there is this "magical" relationship between Junpei and Nishino, which first started by accident but got more serious throughout the whole story. I, for myself, noticed directly after beginning to read the manga that Nishino acts differently than the other girls around Junpei. A girl like her is actually hard to find in real life, while it's easier to find girls of the other character types shown in the manga.

- Third, there is this absolutely brilliant interplay of comedy and romantic scenes. I was really touched by the key scenes with Junpei and Nishino.

I enjoyed the whole manga and loved the ending. The emotional part, which is very important to me, doesn't lose weight up until the end. All in all, a great manga to read for all fans of harem/ecchi comedy and romance which involves primarily the male readers in a kind of "I hope he will end up with ***"-feeling. read more