Hoozuki no Shima

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tl;dr: A manga focused solely on plot that has a good 'mystery’ but some ridiculous writing to write around inconsistencies and not that great of an ending. 

This manga is one about a small group of kids that were abandoned by adults that they trusted, and thus became incredibly wary of them. Under such circumstances they do what they believe is best to survive while going up against a small group of adults. Both the cast of children and the cast of adults were pretty varied and had interesting personality quirks that played a major role in the plot. There wasn’t anything like character or relationship development though, the manga ... is focused solely on the plot. As for the plot, it was mostly told well to a degree. This is a manga that heavily relies on the suspense arising from a sense of mystery. As is sometimes the case with manga, it feels like how the mystery would be resolved wasn’t determined definitely in the beginning. Hence, there were a series of incredibly forced and somewhat nonsensical aspects to the explanation of everything that happened and how it ties into what the final answer to the mystery was. Still, I think it did decide on what the mystery was somewhat early on even if it wasn't at the beginning, which is a lot better than a lot of similar manga, and hence the majority of this forced writing had to do with writing around elements introduced really early on. The result of that is that when it comes to the majority of the manga, it does feel like it fully supports and builds up to the ending it heads into and I was able to predict what the ending and the ‘twist’ would be. Still, the twist itself I thought was a good one that I rather like and one that works very well with the cast of characters, being as they’re immature kids that don’t trust adults. However, the ending beyond that felt pretty weak, in that it made everything feel kind of pointless and dumb. I suppose that too ties into the twist and it would probably be pretty hard to write an ending that feels more substantial, but as it is it still didn’t feel very satisfying. The art was really rough but it mostly fit the tone and it did look pretty nice at times. 

Story:8
I found the concept of this story to be very interesting, and it had me hooked from the very beginning. I liked how they talked about by what means they must use to survive, and how they explained everything very logically. I didn't like how I couldn't figure out the ending though, but that's not the story's fault. If anything it makes the story great!

Art:7
I liked the art for the most part, though most of the characters look like they're from Boku Dake ga Inai Machi for some reason. Even so I really liked how everything was drawn. But I felt some of the drawing's ... were unnecarrasy, particularly fan shots luckily there wasn't a lot.

Characters:7
I found most of the character's very interesting such as their backstory. I don't like how most of the character's problems are resolved rather conviently. I would go into more details, but I don't really wanna spoil anything.

Enjoyment:7
I enjoyed this manga a lot, and marathoned it pretty fast. Even though it's only twenty-five chapters I have some trouble reading short manga, usually because I feel that it's short because it got cut so I send them to the back of my list. One thing I didn't like were some of the scenes didn't really make sense, and I felt I skipped a chapter. However the reason they did that was very good, so I justify it.

Overall:7
I think this was really good overall. I would probably tell most of my friends about it even if they didn't like horror, or had weak stomaches. Perhaps I may even reread this manga after I wait a couple weeks I don't know. It isn't something I usually do unless I really like the series, or a anime adaption is coming out. Anyway, I really liked it and all.

~*CONTENT DISCLAIMER: manga depicts sensitive topics like sexual harassment (adult & of a minor), pedophilia, suicide, abandonment, child abuse, child neglect, and sexual assault (adult & of a minor)*~

TL;DR: a pair of siblings get abandoned by their parents and are sent off to a school on a remote island with other abandoned/orphaned children. when the pair get there the children become fueled by rumors & speculation that the adults on the island are out to get them and its a mad dash to escape the island in one piece. the story is solid but has a lot of inconsistencies that are conveniently waived away at ... the end making the last chapter a huge dud. the use of ecchi in this story is (IMO) high inappropriate and left me feeling gross. a lot of other things about the childrens backstory may also leave you feeling gross so discretion is advised.

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SUMMARY: siblings kokoro, after being left behind by their parents, are sent to a remote island to attend school. they encounter four instructors and four other students who, have also either been abandoned or orphaned (being the island's only inhabitants). the children ruminate over rumors about the adults and a concealed secret room. growing suspicions & doubts of intent encourage the children to question the adults around them, suspecting hidden truths. to finally uncover the "truth" the children try to escape the island on a daring quest to unveil the mystery, facing challenges and risking their lives.

OVERALL (6/10): the story isnt bad -- i highly DISLIKE the ecchi in it but story wise, its quite compelling and emotional at times. there are some spots where the manga seriously lacks and hinders the overall reading experience and the ending is a huge bummer. it wasnt too long of a read so if youre into a quick psychological murder mystery and can excuse its shortcomings youll enjoy it. just note its not for the faint of heart.

ART (8/10): the art is really well done. it looks polished and not TOO dated. the entire cast looks distinct from each other which is a plus and there are a LOT of different settings in the manga that are depicted very well. everything was immersive and you were never confused about what was being depicted or where you were. there are death scenes with blood and i think they were drawn well & tastefully without negatively affecting the gruesomeness or impact of the scene.

CHARACTERS (7/10): MOST of the child characters, is to some effect, flushed out to a satisfying degree. by the end of the manga you know why they arrived at the island, what their fears were, what their motivations are, and how all of that plays into the story. i will say there was potential to build solid relationships between the children (and have their deaths/injuries be so much more profound) but that never happened, unfortunately. the adults needed some so more TLC -- up until literally the last chapter do you know the reason the school exists, the purpose of the island itself and the motivations for the adults. the only real standout character was yume due to her hearing ability which i thought was clever.

STORY (5/10): the story started off strong! i thought the pacing was good, initially the story was compelling and i liked all of the opened ended questions that were being presented. personally, up until the end a lot of the twists did catch me off guard but alas, the ending was still ruined for me because of *plot armor!* as the children try to survive in the wilderness, it gradually becomes harder to suspend your disbelief and things become super lame. things that should have killed characters, choices that would have doomed characters all get written away very conveniently. like i said previously, the characters dont drive the plot, which is a bummer because there was a lot of potential to really give the characters more depth and make things higher stakes. the plot does have some themes it wants to push like the importance of seeing value in yourself, the importance of communication, the idea that adults and children are not that different which i think came across well but because the adults got very little attention and the ending was so abrupt it felt.....performative. additionally, the ecchi elements were NOT appropriate for this story at all. im not a fan of ecchi in general but it felt gross here -- the story is about mistreated children afraid for their wellbeing and then there are ecchi randomly dropped in.