Silver Diamond

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This is honestly a pretty lackluster series. It's another one of those guilty pleasure reads, terrible writing carried only by merit of h o m o s e x u a l m a i n c o u p l e. But then why am I writing a review for this? Well, if we sort all manga by "has decent non-angst-driven non-romance plot" and "ample h o m o s e x y," in the tiny little almost nonexistent sliver of overlap, Silver Diamond soars to the top.

Remember, kids, define your market and you will succeed, even when you shouldn't.

I honestly felt the strongest need to write this review since I adore this manga so much. Often the Shounen Ai genre is overlooked and not taken very seriously which is why it's really great that there are mangas like Silver Diamond out there to show that great manga can come from anywhere. I can't imagine anyone ever really regretting reading this.

Story: 9

It's kind of hard to believe that Shiho Sugiura didn't plan every part of the manga before it was released. It had that feeling of being meticulously planned out to play out so well. Although the pacing sped up as the series went ... on, I think this worked more in it's favour instead of becoming rushed like it could have.

A few people thought the ending could have been better and usually I am pretty picky about how stories should end but in this case I think things were settled nicely with a sense of hope for the character's and an openness to their futures. It's definitely not a bad ending although maybe not as final as some people might want.

My one and only complaint about the story is of course that I wanted the relationship between Chigusa and Rakan to be... more defined? It's not like I was looking for anyrhing explicit and they certainly have very strong feelings but... I can't help wanting more. The dynamics were just so perfect that you can't help but want more out of it!

Art: 10

The art in this is so captivating... Ah the drawings are just so pretty to look at but don't take away from the story focus at all. There are some little extras that the mangaka put in volumes every so often and one has detailing on the screen tones used... Ah I couldn't help but being fascinated due to my nerd status.

The character designs are really well done too. It's hard to get confused between characters despite there being so many of them. I find that this can be something a lot of mangakas struggle with but I was really glad that wasn't the case here. Each character is easy to identify and unique. Not to mention so beautiful!

Characters: 10

Speaking of the characters... I don't really think they could have been made any better. The main four guys (Rakan, Chigusa, Narushige and Tohji) are all really interesting with diverse personalities. Even with their lighthearted behaviour they all have something to struggle with and these internal conflicts make them so easy to connect with.

Not to mention the supporting cast... somehow each and every one of them feels unique and it's hard to call them minor characters when they often feel just as important as the mains. They all come together really well to create vital scenes and without one another the characters wouldn't truly develop properly. Chigusa in particular becomes more complex as the series goes on and his character develops without you even noticing...

One thing I often find in this particular genre is some sadly unlikeable and unrealistic female characters but in Silver Diamond, although there is few, the girls really are perfectly made. Karaku, Sae, Rinrai and Shigeyuki are all unique and interesting characters with their own complex backgrounds. I wish I had seen a bit more of them all but they were perfectly placed in the story.

Enjoyment: 10

I think I've made my point. Silver Diamond is extremely enjoyable. It's up there with other 'mainstream' manga and easily one of my favourites. I've read it a few times actually and with the length of it, I'm not just doing it because it was 'okay.'

Overall: 10

Please just go read it. Or if you've come here because you've already read it than go sob about it being over for half an hour before trying to move on.

Okay, I think Silver Diamond is AWESOME. It's lengthy but its for the development so I think it's ok and when I got to the end I was really sad because such an awesome story ended...Oh well moving on.

Story 10/10
It's very well thought out. I get the feeling as if the whole story was planned right from the start and it won't leave anything hanging (or at least that was it for me. Maybe i forgot about something...) There are some really good plot twists which you probably won't see coming, not with the fantasy theme of the story. It's really fun reading it IMO.

Art ... 10/10
I must say, the characters are all really handsome, or rather pretty since they are bishounens (hehe) and the background and the other stuff was really pretty too, really fantasy-like.

Character 9/10
Characters are well developed. I don't really know what to say but they are really awesome.

Enjoyment 9/10
The plot was amazing and I really really loved this story.The only thing, if I were to pick on would be that in the later part of the story, there are certain places where there are a ton to read and not much pictures if i am not wrong. But it is necessary so i can't really say anything about that can I?

Overall 10/10
Like I said, I really love the story so I will give it a 10 :)

Btw , I don't think all the chapters are out in English yet so if you can read Chinese you can go and find the rest of the chinese-translated chapters. Or you could just read the whole thing in Chinese from the start.

Thanks for spending time and reading my review. :DD