Silver Diamond

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I love this mangaka, she did this and Ice Cold Demon’s Tale, both really great stories.

There is no sex, but lots of implied feelings. This focus more on the story than the romance, but I like light and fluffy too! Though of light… It doesn’t have much when it comes to its themes.

Our protagonist has the power to grow greenery in our world, so his house and garden are like a wild forest, but he’s used to it, even tho it’s not normal to have that kind of power. So when a stranger appears from a hole from nowhere, carrying tree guns and full of ... bandages, he’s very weirded out.

We quickly find out there’s another world, one which is a desert, where there’s almost no water or greenery, and is slowing dying. People have it tough there, and have been waiting for a person that is capable of bringing greenery to their world. Since our protagonist has those exact powers, he accepts going into the other world to help people.

This one has lots of fighting, cool moments, super pretty art, some dark themes once you got further into it, plus some twists and resolutions.

I cried when I finished it, it had so much impact and its message is so beautiful, it definitely shines light in the dark!

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.

Ever since a young age, watching anime and doing related activities was already the norm for me. I have watched, read and experienced many different types of genres from mainstreams such as One Piece and Attack on Titan, Shoujo anime including idol and magical girl concepts, darker themes such as Death Note and many lesser known titles and classics such as Taishou Yakyuu Musume, and even both Yaoi and Yuri, including the good and terrible titles. Even so, I can confidently say that Silver Diamond is the most thought-provoking, tear-jerking, exhilarating roller-coaster ride and beautiful manga that I have ever read.

Story 10/10
Honestly, I went ahead ... and read Silver Diamond expecting a trashy, but lengthy BL because I ran out of stuff to read, but my expectations were blown out of the water by how amazing the story surpassed many adventure anime/manga I have read thus far.

Although the complexity of the story relies on heavy dialogue which was somewhat intimidating, it was necessary for the story that the author often had to recap the events that happened in the manga.

Art 9/10
No, I'm not being biased or lenient just because Silver Diamond was written around 14 years ago, even compared to today's standards it still deserves a high score for art. It's only natural it'd progressively get better as well since the manga ran for a long time. As an adventure story that focuses on a mystique and alluring fantasy-world, the backgrounds were so stunning and detailed that I often take a moment to pause and simply admire the art.

Character 10/10
There was a large cast of characters, even so, my favourite is still the main protagonist - Rakan Sawa. As a normal person born in a normal world such as ours, his views and morality often clash with those in the other world, especially when it comes to death and/or murder. It was nice to see the others change due to his influence, and his persistence for goodness and justice is something I will value for a long time.

Not to mention that each character was necessary and taking even one out would change the outcome of the story drastically. Also, Rakan's relationship with Chigusa whom he brings back to his world was written amazingly well. Although Silver Diamond is classified as Shounen Ai, it's actually somewhat misleading, especially how off-putting it is to most people when they see it. More often than not, most would believe the item they are viewing contains fan-service or the device is used as click-bait. The fact is that the relationship that occurs between Rakan and Chigusa which could be interpreted as romantic, but their bond extends much further that; it's actually somewhat difficult to explain with words.

Enjoyment 10/10
Honestly, I feel like I can connect to this author so much that I'm not even surprised we share the same birthday and was so happy with the way everything turned out, especially the author's philosophical view that is indicated in her work. The overflowing amount of love put into this manga, to bring this story to life, was almost palpable.

Overall 10/10
Thank you, Shiho Sugiura, for this beautifully written masterpiece.