I''s

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

I’s Pure is a Shounen, Ecchi, Romance about a boy named Seto Ichitaka, who has had huge crush on a cute girl in his class, Yoshizuki Iori. This may be the setting for a typical Romantic Comedy but I’s Pure is able to do great things with this plot.

The story starts of normally enough with us getting to know the characters and their typical personalities, but even with these typical personalities the characters are pretty amazingly developed in their own way, through so many situations. But due to its shounen traits, the romantic progression is rather slow (indecisive male protagonist) but the various developments that ... arise do help spice things up a bit (love triangle). Eventually the story finds the right pace of a romance manga however this only occurs after the first couple lacklustre volumes. Once I’s reaches a certain point in the story it becomes truly amazing, in both the romance and comedy areas. There’s also quite a bit of drama but it feels really strange as the manga went from a lot of laughs to plenty of angst. In the end it did go well with the overall story, where everything was able to resolve nicely.

The artwork at the beginning was great, with a lot of detail being put into character designs, especially during the close-ups but it lacked detail in every other aspect. Nonetheless it didn’t take long before the artwork of this manga reached perfection and it becomes difficult to find any faults, especially with the ecchi scenes.

Overall this turns out to be a truly in-depth Rom/Com manga that’s so captivating you’ll find it hard to stop, once you reach the latter half. It is really enjoyable to read but there are times in the story that may seem kind of dull, with plenty of clichés but at least some cliché moments spiced things up (hot springs). The characters also play a huge role in bringing the story to life and it's interesting to see how some of them developed, nevertheless there were some characters that were only there for one purpose, like Ichitaka’s perverted friend.

Well this manga is definitely recommended for anyone who enjoys a good ecchi romance, or feels like giving one a try.

^_^

I desperately wanted I"s to be good, considering its reputation amongst the manga community as being a great romance and one written with relatable characters. The problem is that it relies on predictable and repetitive storytelling, turning "real" characters into more annoying ones. I"s repeats this cycle of the main character being in love with his crush, and then falling for another person, 3 times. It doesn't get any better every time, and the end just feels like its set up for another repetition. At the end of the first cycle, however, when he starts to feel for his childhood friend, I had faith in ... his growth as a character and desire to confess. That's when I realised that I had about 100 more chapters to read.

I"s disappointed me, but at least it has stellar artwork. If anything, its always a treat to the eyes, encapsulating the 90's manga aesthetic that we all know and love.

I"s is everything wrong with shonen romance manga. Everything.

The pacing is nothing short of brutal. Really, after a while, you get the feeling you're on a treadmill and not really moving forward at all. And that feeling holds for well over a hundred chapters.

Seto is a loser. Okay, it's shonen romance, that's to be expected. You can pull out of that. The problem is that it never really does. He spends the vast majority of the series being an indecisive twat to drag this series out to 143 chapters. In the end, he never really progressed at all. He's the same loser from the very ... freaking who never should have got the girl. Hell, he ends the series still having never gotten a job. Stupid NEET.

Almost everything Yoshizuki does is basically centered around Seto. About 20 chapters in, everybody with the ability to see (except Seto) knows where this is going to end up. You'd think some actual development would be coming. But no! We've got to slag through fake love triangle after fake love triangle until we get to exactly where anybody with eyes could have told you I"s was going from chapter one. (Seriously! There's like four of them!)

The only thing that salvaged the character score was Itsuki, simply because she actually acted somewhat like a human being, and for the way she left the picture.

If you wanted to read this, I'd highly recommend reading something good instead, like B-Shock or The Hating Girl. Read Love Hina if you must. Just stay the hell away from this.