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May 20, 2013

Otona♡Pink (Manga) add

Not Recommended

Spoiler

First off, I'll start by saying I picked up this manga because a friend asked me to read it, curious about what my thoughts on it would be Just by reading the synopsis, I already knew what the story would be about and how it would end. When I actually started reading it, though, I changed my mind and said, "Maybe I was wrong; maybe it will be different, after all." How terribly, terribly wrong I was. It was EXACTLY—correction—it was WORSE than what I thought it would be. I can't believe I actually thought it might be different.

Before I start the actual review, I ... should warn you that this review contains lots of negativity and major spoilers—not that that really matters, since I bet anyone with half an intelligence can probably figure out the contents of this manga just by reading the synopsis. And, mind you, this won't actually be a review; it's more of a summary of the whole manga colored with my hateful comments about it.

Onward now. Where do I even begin? How about how unrealistic this manga is? Shoujo has always been a genre full of unrealistic elements, I know, but this is just too much—or at least, too much for me to handle. Every story, no matter how fictitious, needs at least some realism in to be a foundation for the story.

The story starts with Mikuni Senou, your would-be typical, everyday high school girl. Her dad passed away, so she's living alone with her mom. She goes to school and there, the narcissistic idiot (or at least this is how he is referred to as in the manga) she's in love with, Chiho, calls her out to confess to her. Since she's been in love with him for a long time now, it's dream come true for her! But just as they're about to kiss, they get interrupted by their homeroom teacher, Nishizono. After some pointless prattle, Nishizono tells Mikuni that their relationship will only last three months. Later that day, Mikuni gets called out by Nishizono to the library. He tells her to organize some books, and If she doesn't do it, he'll report her "illicit sexual behavior" he saw earlier that day. He then practically sexually harasses Mikuni, but of course she doesn't report it.

Now my biggest problem with this manga is Mikuni's mother. She gets a job transfer to the South Pole and, instead of taking Mikuni with her, decides to leave Mikuni in the care of a guardian. You guessed it—she chooses Nishizono as Mikuni's guardian. "What better person to leave you in the care of than your homeroom teacher, right?" Um, how about no? No person in their right mind would leave their teenage daughter in the care of a stranger—and that stranger is a grown man, no less. There are countless reports where girls' step-fathers (or even fathers) rape them; how much more a man you don't even know? Did she seriously not consider the possibility of him raping Mikuni? But wait, this is a shoujo manga, so anything goes, right? I mean, if he was a close friend, at least that would make sense... Does Mikuni's mother not have any friends or relatives in Kyoto that she'd have to resort to a strange man? No, of course not. Anyway, Mikuni is of course opposed to the idea, but she doesn't breathe a word about Nishizono's sexual harassment earlier that day.

The next day, Nishizono licks Mikuni. No, you didn't read wrong; he actually licks her. Mikuni of course does not call her mom and tell her about it, nor does she report his actions to the school. Even though she claims she wants to get rid of him. Even though she's supposedly so in love with Chiho. Mikuni of course hides the fact that Nishizono is living with her from Chiho because she fears her relationship with him will crumble if she tells him. Of course, this is very typical development in shoujo, so I won't say much. Moving on. After Chiho finally finds out, he moves in with Mikuni too, and after several unimportant events, Chiho tells Mikuni that she doesn't realize she's in love with Nishizono, and then dumps her.

When Mikuni finally realizes that she is indeed in love with her teacher, her love for Chiho just magically disappears—just trashed like yesterday's news. Mind you, this happens just a day after he dumps her. Eventually, after Mikuni spends the night with Nishizono, he vanishes. Of course the first person Mikuni talks to about this is her ex-boyfriend. Yes, talk to your ex-boyfriend about your new boyfriend. That's a brilliant idea. Anyway, when Nishizono finally returns, he confesses to Mikuni. Oh, did I forget to mention? He's engaged. To a woman he's been with for years, and who's in a coma. But by confessing, he's made it clear that he doesn't believe she'll ever wake up, and just chooses the student he spent a mere few days with over her. What an unfaithful, two-timing bastard. It hasn't even been that long since she fell into a coma. Well, that's the end. What a perfect ending... as far as the author is concerned, anyway.

I did not enjoy this manga. At all. The story was poorly written, not to mention very rushed. The art was decent, at least. It's your typical, run-of-the-mill shoujo art. I will say, though, that the volume covers made no sense to me. I mean, who IS that, anyway? As for the characters, I don't even know where to begin. Mikuni's got to be one of the most unbearable heroines I have EVER seen. I mean, shoujo heroines can be pretty stupid and irritating, but Mikuni really drove me off a cliff. Then there's Nishizono. He's a sexual-harassing asshole that should have lost his job LONG TIME AGO. To me Chiho was the only decent character in this manga. But of course the only decent character in the manga gets tossed aside like trash.

If you do end up reading this, I hope you enjoy it, because I sure as hell didn't.

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Mar 1, 2013

Kubera (Manga) add

Recommended

Preliminary (132/? chp)

Time and time again I try to get my feelings and thoughts about Kubera across, but each and every time I feel I haven't done the manhwa justice. So here I go, once again.

You've most probably heard the proverb: "Don't judge a book by its cover." I didn't judge Kubera based on its cover, but I did on its art. I by chance heard about Kubera and decided to give it a shot one boring night. When I did, the first thing that bothered me was the art. The overall art was poor and just cheap-looking—the colors were too bright for my taste, I didn't ... like the "thick and pasty" coloring style, there was a lack of decent backgrounds, and both the characters and the backgrounds lacked detail. (Despite this, though, I gave the art a thumbs-up for its consistency—something I find very important.) As a result, I didn't take Kubera seriously because of its poor art.

My first impression of Kubera, after having read a couple of chapters, was "a funny, silly fantasy story"—far from being something I'd call good, but still fun to read. When I returned to Kubera several days later, and read many more chapters of it, that's when I started to realize there was more to this series than met the eye.

Currygom, the author of Kubera, is an exceptional writer. She is without a doubt my favorite author. Plot and characters aside, the world of Kubera is one of great intricacy and, because it is one, must have taken her a long time to create. The thing I like most about the intriguing world of Kubera is that it's logical. We see in so many fantasies that aspects of their world are simply blamed on the fact that the story is a fantasy, or on some other fantastical element of that story—most of the time, without a plausible explanation. This is one thing that is different about Kubera. Its world, despite being purely fantastical, makes sense. The magic system, the three major species, the universe—all of it makes sense.

Perhaps the thing I like the most about Kubera is its unique narrative. It combines flashbacks of the past with events happening in the present with "insights" of the future. Unlike many other series, flashbacks hold great importance in Kubera. In the beginning of Kubera, it was like I was thrown into the middle of the story—I didn't know what was going on. Slowly, as I read on, the mysteries of the past started to unravel and things started to make more sense. I started to understand why certain events took place and what roles the characters played in everything. However, it didn't stop there. Piecing together the information obtained from the flashbacks and insights is solely up to you. I have always viewed Kubera as a sort of puzzle. The middle of the puzzle has already been pieced together, but the beginning and end have not. I view the middle of the puzzle as the foundation of the story—the part you begin reading—and the missing puzzle pieces as the information you must obtain through the flashbacks, insights, and progression of the story, in order to see the bigger picture. I really enjoy piecing together the story.

Now that I've explained two important aspects of Kubera, let me tell you about another important aspect of this series: the plot. I won't give you a summary of the plot, since you can just read the synopsis (however bad it is), and also because the plot isn't something I can easily summarize, but I will tell you what to expect. This manhwa is incredibly plot-driven. If I had to describe the plot in one word, it would be "grand". The plot really is grand—it's by far not simple, and it involves so many different things. Though it's seemingly simple and straightforward in the beginning, things change—sometimes so quickly and sometimes so drastically—and the plot just seems to get more and more complicated the further you read. One thing is sure in Kubera: nothing is sure. This series is really unpredictable. When you think everything is starting to make sense and things are starting to calm down, Currygom will surprise you with a plot twist hiding right around the corner—leaving everything in a bigger mess than it originally was, and leaving you with more questions than you originally had. This story has so many plot twists and, on top of that, it has pretty unbearable cliffhangers to support them (which I actually really like).

Now for the fourth and final important aspect of this series: the characters, of course. If the manhwa didn't already shine, the characters definitely do the part. I've always been a fan of big casts, but it is true that a big cast can make the story lose its focus. However, this is not at all the case with Kubera. With a cast of about ten main characters (that may increase or decrease over time), it also has numerous supporting characters. There are two things I really like about the character department of Kubera: one, how every character is important to some degree and plays a notable part in the story (Main cast aside, the supporting cast, though obviously not as important as the main cast, does play a significant role in the story—sometimes a supporting character even plays a very major role in the overall plot); and, two, how every character is somehow related to each other—whether by circumstances, persons, or something else. (The complex relationship web is one very fascinating aspect of the characters. It always surprises me when I find out that a certain character is unexpectedly connected to another certain character.) Moreover, most of the characters (namely the important ones) are, of course, well written and developed.

Although art isn't a very big concern of mine (if the rest of the story is good), I have to say, although it started very weak, the art improves greatly over time. I really like how the art turned out. To name some changes, the toning and shading changed immensely, more detail was added to specific things, the backgrounds look better (though I still wouldn't call them good per se), and some things—such as the hands—are drawn much better. Even my brother, who read the first chapter in the past, remarked, "Wow. The art is pretty now." He couldn't, however, put his finger on what changed, because the characters still look very much the same—which, to me, is a good thing. (I just hate it when the characters change to look almost nothing like they did when the series started—even if they come to look a lot better.)

So far, I've probably described Kubera as an overly serious manhwa, haven't I? Well, it's true that Kubera's plot has dark undertones (Tragedy is one of its genres, after all), but it's also filled with comical moments that will have you laughing out loud—especially in the beginning (Another reason I didn't take Kubera very seriously at first). Though there aren't that many action scenes in this series, it has some pretty intense battles—and, to my liking, they don't span out for chapters and chapters. In addition, Kubera may not be flooded with romance, nor do I think it's lacking any (considering what the series is about), but the author did say its core is a love story, so that speaks for itself.

Although Kubera started slow and maybe even weak, it is now my number one favorite comic and is the first series I've given the score of 10 to. I believe it deserves it. Currygom has written and outstanding story and both Currygom and her series definitely deserve praise. Kubera is truly a hidden gem. If you're even a little interested in Kubera, I urge you to read it. It's not filled with (mindless) battles every chapter nor is it a very easy story to follow, but if you're interested in a good mystery with a great plot and cast of characters, then Kubera is definitely the thing for you. I'd recommend this series to anyone looking for a well-written story.

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Feb 12, 2013

Kyokugen Dasshutsu Adv: Zennin Shibou desu Prologue (Anime) add

Mixed Feelings

This OVA is a 13 minute-long promo for the game Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward. So unless (a) you are planning to play this game, (b) you are finished with VLR and are searching for related material, or (c) you are merely curious about this game, there's honestly no need for you to watch this.

On a side note, if you are planning to play VLR, then don't worry, there are no spoilers in this OVA. It's mostly just an introduction to the game (the characters, how it works, etc.). In fact, I'd say it would be good if you watch this to get you started.

Overall, ...

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