Suzuka

I wasn’t going to bother writing a review with six other reviews for this manga written; however, after seeing that all the other reviews are a total lovefest without actually attempting to get to the heart of it, I had to do something about it.

Essentially, this entire series is a slice-of-life “love story” about one guy and one girl revolving around track and field in high school. Yamato lives in a womens’ bathhouse with his aunt, who owns it. Suzuka, a star high-jumper, also lives there, right next door. She’s a perfectionist, he’s clumsy, but hard-working. Yada, yada, you see how it goes.

It’s actually a simple singular issue that defines this manga. The creator of this manga, Seo, is a very good story-teller. The artwork is above standard, the issues are complex and hardly betraying of its goals and the characters are sublime if not too badly clichéd. (Although sometimes a few of them look way too alike.) The world around them is magnificently established – once you get 50 chapters in, you feel like your know Tokyo by heart and you feel like you know every room of the bathhouse and the school. Seo turns the clock fantastically and from great angles to always give you a new experience. Plus he has a solid grip of the human body and watching the characters in action almost makes them move to the readers’ eyes. However, there is one matter that every reader should know about before starting this manga and it was something that I wish I had been told before I started it myself

Suzuka is a total bitch.

Now, for some people, maybe even most, that’s ok. They find it appealing or cute in some way, especially when she drops her barriers and seems cute. But for the majority of the time, she treats Yamato like dirt. And I’m not talking in a normal tsundere way. There are many times when she’s outright cruel and vindictive, stubborn beyond belief and hardly appreciative of what Yamato goes through just to win her affections. It got to the point where I was literally pissed at her, but there was nothing I could do because I was already so far and I wanted to know how it ended. But the readers must know this going in and hopefully I at least warn some people so they know what they’re getting in to. I didn’t end up hating Suzuka in the end, but I was close, because I knew… I absolutely knew… that Suzuka didn’t deserve Yamato, not by a mile. Yet, he remained blind, even when she treated him so horribly. She had no excuse and the author never gave us one.

All in all, this is a good manga, especially if you’re in the mood to find someone to despise. And while it could be spoiling, the romance is still quite good with several original moments. This is a recommendation… but a recommendation with a warning.

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In my opinion "Suzuka" is one of the best romance mangas out there in the market. It is definitely the best romantic manga I've read thus far largely due to the great artwork and character development (I know a lot of critics will argue with me on this one).

The plot of the story starts out just like many other manga, boy meets girl in an all female populated location similar to Love Hina. However after a few chapters, the similarities between this and most other "traditional" romantic mangas end. Another thing that I like about the plot of this title is that Akitsuki Yamato (the male protagonist and lead character) is the one who is exerting the effort to get close to Asahina Suzuka (the lead female character), this is something that reminds me of my own high school endeavors to capture the heart of my first girlfriend. Anyway aside from the similarities between this story and my own, the real reason why I like the way Akitsuki is the one who exerted the effort to get close to Asahina is that it is more realistic compared to most other romantic comedies where a hot chic would fall in love to a complete nobody, I mean come on am I the only one who thinks this sort of thing is totally unrealistic?

As the story unfolds, the characters face challenges which I believe many teenagers face such as peer pressure and dealing with their own feelings. I particularly like the part where the anime version left off because that's where things really get complicated for the characters and it's interesting to see what they will do next.

As for the characters, there is a mix of good and bad characters in the story. I particularly like Asahina Suzuka because I believe that she does not fall on any particular female anime stereotype (although I know that many people who read the manga and seen the anime are not quite fond of her). She displays a personality that I don't think I've encountered in any other character thus far and she personifies the complexities of the female mind. This is why remains one of my favorite anime characters to date.

The artwork of this manga is increible. the attention to detail is unbelievable and I like the way the characters' expressions are shown, plus I also like the large arsenal of clothes each character posses (this is something many mangas don't have, characters who have more than 1 set of clothes)

Overall Suzuka combines great artwork, great story and great characters. This is definitely a must read.

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The drama in this series isn't well-done in the slightest, characters instantly end up contradicting themselves instantly after saying or doing something. Anyway, onto the review:

Story (1/10):
There's something I must get out of the way before criticizing the story aspect of the show; I understand that writing a quality, well-written romance is difficult. I mean, a good portion of authors working with the romance aspect of any series tend to believe that melodrama = realistic, well written romance. Anyway, the problem I faced with the series is that...it has absolutely no idea what it wants. The series on one hand introduces various concepts and themes it wants to drive forward, including moving forward, competition and the aim to succeed...the list goes on and on. Yet what if I tell you that by the end of the series, it ENDS UP CONTRADICTING EACH AND EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THOSE CONCEPTS. Not only that, but the series has what I consider to this day, the single worst ending I've ever seen to any romance manga. It was sexist, ugly, and absolutely pathetic; I'm no feminist, but God did it tick me off. The story also suffers from major pacing problems, due to the fact that the author has no idea what the heck he wanted to do with the story. I mean, seriously, in the middle of a character arc, somehow they end up going to the beach (ecchi scenes galore) and there's still time for the author to place melodrama! There's nothing good about the story; I was relieved when it was over.

Art (5/10):
The art is another aspect that needs to be commented on; I don't really mind art, I mean, if other aspects were enough to compensate, who cares what it looks like?
Yet the art, despite being this series strong point, wasn't even average; it was mediocre at best, and just bearable to look at. Over the course of the series, the manga's artwork steadily declines in appearance, making the series look worse and worse as the series continued. One would expect, being a comparatively long romance manga with sport aspects all over it, that the races would at least be well drawn; unfortunately, the artist seems to have thought otherwise, placing all his focus on cheap ecchi scenes that contributed nothing to the experience unless you're actually into that kind of stuff.

Character (1/10): The worst aspect of this show. The characters are annoying, weak and completely melodramatic and over the top. This shouldn't be a problem if the manga didn't take itself seriously. Problem? It was one hundred percent dead serious when it was being melodramatic, especially in the later half of the series. The characters are poorly written, badly developed, and completely unlikable to the extent of hating. The love "triangle" that forms in the series turned out to be completely annoying to the point where on numerous occasions I felt like screaming at the characters due to them completely changing personalities off the drop of a hat and them not speaking to each other for long periods of the series, an alarm bell when it comes to romance series. The characters never learn from their mistakes, repeating the same bloody mistakes again and again to the point that on one occasion I almost ended flipping the desk my computer was on. An um, really painful experience I don't want to do again (I hurt my leg real bad because of it). So yeah, really, REALLY unlikable characters.

Enjoyment (1/10):
I was raging really, REALLY hard over the course of the series. I was annoyed at the characters, annoyed at the melodrama, and really, REALLY, annoyed at the ending.

Overall (2/10):
There is almost nothing pleasant about this abomination. I'm going to stay away from anything else this writer is going to write, they clearly have no idea what they're doing.

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OK this is my 3rd reviews in this month. I don't think that I have improved since last 2 reviews, but i hope you all can bear with it...Ok I'll talk about my first impression about this manga first. I have read the first few chapters first and...What can I say is: 'Wow, this is definitely a manga that I'm looking for!' And as you can see, I give 9 to this manga. I don't sure if you want to hear about this, but I actually finished this manga in only 2 days! I writes this review immediately after i finished the manga because I’m really, really love it and I can't wait to recommend to all of you!

Well I'll starts with the story first. One word to describe it, very well! Every praise has its very own reasons, and I didn't praise it blindly. Before I continue with it, I have a small advice to -16 children...DON'T READ THIS MANGA; you are still too young to read it! If you insist to read it, read it for your own discretion. OK, enough with it. The story is bit mature, it involve many nudity scenes and some sex in it. I pretty love it anyway though... What I'm really like about the story is the romance in it. Although it can't be great as Titanic, but sometimes it can bring tears out of you (In my case, no!). Not only that, sometimes it may make you really pissed off! This may seems like a negative comment, but unfortunately, it is wrong. That 'pissed off' feelings will bring you even want to know what will happening next! I don't want to bother about the spoilers so read it yourself. 'Prides come before a fall'. And you know what I meant. The reason I didn't give the story full marks is the plot is repetitive. It dint really affect the storyline but somehow it pissed me off! Read the manga carefully and you know what i meant by it. If you don't know what I mean after reads it, just simply ask me. Oh, the story is pretty hilarious, too!

OK the manga will be judged based on the artwork besides the story. It will be useless to have a great story but weak artwork (I know many of you will oppose my opinion but... well to put it simply, this is my style) to tell you, I really like the artworks of this manga! The mangaka have put lot of efforts in it! They have detailed background, and great face expressions (The smile of Suzuka always moves my heart...No! I don't have any 2D girl’s complex!)! What I really want to say is, they have some Slam Dunk styles in when the characters in the SD mode (SDs or super deformed characters are a common image found in manga). I can't say I hate it, though.

The characters you ask? Great! They have put a lot of efforts in character designing! I really like it! But for some reasons, I can't give full marks to it. Nothing to be described though, sorry.

I'm pretty sure that I have told you that i have read the manga in only 2 days. So I give it 10 foe enjoyment without hesitate! As I say, you will really wants to know what will happen next throughout the story, in other word, suspense! This feeling is enough for me to give it 10.

Overall results for this manga are 9. Recommended for all manga lovers. Is you wants to read it, simply go to www.onemanga.com . Don't worry, it is a safe sites and very user-friendly!

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