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Continuing my resolve to review every series I read, here's SIL.

The story is touching, sweet, and heartrending all at the same time. The story is very well done, the characters are incredibly believable. Some of the actions are a little bit of a stretch, but nothing detracts from the story.

The art is good, and the different panels effectively guide the story.

Characters are the strong point of this One off manga. They all come across as believable, and the actions of the characters follow what you would expect the characters to do. Not in a predictable, plodding way, but as yeah, I could see that happening.

The story was enjoyable - as enjoyable as the inevietable end can make it. Overall, an uplifting story, even with the sadness from the main plot.

Well worth a look for Slice of life fans read more

I kind of got this manga on a whim, after reading some of the reviews.
WOW! I started reading this just for a little before I went to bed, and ended up reading the whole thing in one sitting - very unusual for me now as I tend to fall asleep easier than I did 20 years ago (yes, I'm old). But it definetly says something that I actually turned out the light, then turned it back on, walked over to the shelf and pulled Volume two off because I HAD HAD HAD to know what happened.

The story and characters in this story are outstanding - you really get a feel for the angst and pressures of school years, and the wavering quality of these times. And the emotions never feel forced or fake.


I went into this manga thinking the protagonists would be bad, but you never feel that they are evil/bad/wrong. Misguided yes - but you also really feel like they are trapped.
I especially liked the emotional quality of MR Money - the conflicting, contradictory events in his life are a source of puzzlement, but the rationalizations he uses hit close to what I have seen in real life. And the teacher without a true goal or purpose hits closer to home - as I get older I sometimes feel like that.

The art in good, it doesn't add or detract anything in particular. It goes between detailed and austere as the scene calls for it.

Enjoyment was high, pure drama, very thought-provoking. This manga earned a permenant spot on my shelf : ~ ) read more

Kingyo' Used Books is like a time capsule through Manga history. The stories deal primarily with people who wander into the bookstore and find that manga that triggers fond memories of childhood. I imagine I identify a little more with the characters, since most portrayed are in thier mid thirties or older -and as such childhood memories have become a little fuzzy, and also more cherished.

The book is full of little asides detailing what manga is being highlighted, with info on when and who published a particular story. It also is a little frustrating, because you get the feeling you'd love to get the volumes in question, and realize it is all in original Japanese!

The stories are all fun, the store is the nexus of each tale, but not always where the drama occurs. I felt the different stories were weaved together well with the common theme of the store.

The art was very good - clean, crisp, and the characters were very easy to identify - a particular pet peeve of mine when the characters are indisticnt

Characters overall were good - different aspects of life were highlighted and all eventually came to the bookstore.

Very high enjoyment - I will need to read this again as I tore right through each story.

Over all a nine. A great slice of life manga! read more

I have only read two volumes, but felt SOMEOME should write a review!

This is an interesting manga, the strength to me is the insights into everyday Japanese life. There is an index at the end of the book explaining different words, puns and concepts familiar to Japanese readers, but you would have to be a scholar to know them if you are American.
One downside for me is I am constantly flipping to the end to read the references - which breaks the reading flow and makes the read a lot longer than it should be. The manga almost demands two reads, just to get through the story unbroken once.

The characters are all over the top - taking one particular aspect and carrying it to an extreme: the eternal optimist, the control freak, the suicidal depressed teacher, etc.

Each volume consists of a series of chapters, pretty much unrelated, that deal with a character's personality, and the explanation of why a trait is ridiculous or useless in society. The teacher in the series is always pessimistic, but it ends up somehow improving his students. The students ALL have some issue, and the class is a collection of misfits that the school administration marvels at - because the teacher seems to have such a rapport with his class.

Not sure how long term of a read this is - it seems a little open-ended to me right now - like a series of sketch sitcoms.

Overall, a fun read, with lots of cultural references. Worth a look. read more

General reviews overall a 10, but the art is a little too fluid for my liking. Still good art, but not perfect from my perspective. It in no way detracted from the story, but I can't give the art a perfect score.
This is a perfect melding of hard scifi, classic scifi, classic manga and new manga.
Like all great stories, the plot, characters and themes are universal. The setting and media are one that appeal to comic readers, but could easily be modified to reflect any era.
I always like stories that take us off the beaten track a little, and let's face it - the most popular series tend to get into formulas as they stretch out longer and longer. Which is why using a secondary character as the main protaganist resonates with me - we get to explore the universe of astroboy from a different angle, and being a newer title, it is from a bit of a more adult perspective.
I also found myself really thinking about the impact of robots on human society- unlike some early scifi themes, robots slip into society as people, not pure objects or servants. I found myself questioning why I thought about certain robots certain ways - I cheered for the human looking ones and felt apathetic towards the mechanical looking ones. Obvious - and yet I had to ask myself why.
All the potrayals of charcters seemed natural and real from the emotion they felt to why they felt that way. And the supporting society was believable. I didn't even need existing countries from today to think it was a real place.
The end of volume 6 also brought about a radical change in the series - one I always wanted to see/do in a story, but rarely have seen - and never so naturally.
The manga focuses more on drama than action - which I thought worked well. The action sequences were looked forward to without being so prevelant that they became the entire story.

If you haven't - check it out. One of the best in my short manga reading career - and I am already looking forward to rereading it! read more

I am reviewing with only one volume read to give some impressions to future readers - will update as I read more.

This is a slowly developing, subtle story. Not an action or violence filled manga, pure drama. The main character is intriguing, a shy, unimposing, depressed samurai who has trouble holding a job. A change of pace from the typical samurai fare - and it makes it seem a bit more interesting - you know there had to be more than the honor bound fantastic warriors typically portrayed. I find myself curious as to what will happen next, and where the story will lead, but not in a "can't put it down" type of way. Supporting characters seem to be rounded well, and generate enough interest to balance the main plot.

The art is a bit weak for my taste. I consider it blurry, where I prefer crisp. The one action sequence so far was ill defined, I had no idea what had happened, had to piece it together from subsequent panels.

A solid effort, will continue reading - I have the second volume on order. read more

This is a little out of my normal field, but I got seriously caught up in this story. I originally got this manga as part of a lot on Ebay, and only started reading it because it was the closest book to the door for an outdoor trip, but couldn't put the book down!

Story is hard to beat, being a true story that exploded onto the national scene. It's one that resonates with just about everyone.

Art is fantastic. There are no giant mecha or too cute girls or rampaging monsters, but real life portrayed very well.

Characters are great, seeing real growth and development. Hard not to be jealous in some ways of a person willing to change so much, for such a great reason!

Enjoyment - I tore through two books today, have been waiting for them on the mail. Sure to reread!

Overall a ten. My favorite manga to date - and I am definetely an avowed scifi geek! read more

This manga was enjoyable - I am sure I will read it again and given my schedule that actually means something! I have gone on to break down each gradiant individually - but overall the manga is well worth the time!



This is one of the better post apocalyptic stories I have read. It's not a violent story, residual gore only. What's left of humanity lives side by side with androids, who are indistinguishable from humans. Humans put into cryogenic sleep randomly awaken, and must ive in the new world. The story of the world they live in is thoughtful and well-reasoned, and above all, BELIEVABLE. Not always the case, IMO.
There was a huge ten year delay from start time to finish, it is evident the author wanted to do more, but had constaints due to outside circumstances. I felt the weakest part was the " they lived happily ever after ending". This is a rich world that could benefit from more volumes. I would look forward to revisiting this series or a spin-off!

Art was a nice mix of clean , crowded, busy, simple, and indistinct. Signs in the background you can almost read, literally faceless crowds of people, empty, featurelss rooms.
A drawbacks of the artwork is the androgynous nature of the characters. I often found myself with NO CLUE as to who was male or female, and even the main characters lacked distictness.
I also found transitions to be abrupt and jumpy - scenes changed and I felt I had no idea I was in another town, situation, etc.

Characters were the weakest part of the story. I found them to be a little one dimensional, and indisctict in their personalities. Although refreshing to be in a world where not every woman looks like a centerfold, nothing about the way the characters look or act gives any indication they are female. I seriously wondered if part of the poblem in the new world was a lack of women. It was only the introduction of a character bio in Vol 3 that helped me know who was who.

Overall enjoyment was high - I will only benefit from a reread of the series, and look forward to visiting it again as much as I anticipated reading it the first time.


With a few tweaks - I could rate the series a ten. Characters, the choppines of the transitions, and the abruptness of the ending draw the final score down, but it is a testament that even the flaws keep this series at a 9 for me. read more

El Hazard is one of my fond memories of anime viewing past, so in my recent manga obsesssion, it became a #1 priority to read.

The Manga story follows the general plot of the anime series, and it moves fairly well. Art is clean, and I find it easy to follow

The one drawback I found was the Antagonist who followed from earth was almost an afterthought. The humor was a little weaker than in the anime, but the same basics were there.

Overall, a fun read, I will read it again