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I just want to say, early 2016 is a year of DRRR's rising when many MAL users have been focusing on a certain time leaping anime, most of them forget this.

Durarara!!x2 Ketsu is the 3rd and final sequel of Durarara!!! (DRRR shortly) after DRRRx2 shou and ten. Imagine that DRRR was a Phoenix, DRRR reaches it's peak when around 2010, since many newcomers come one after another, DRRR was slowly buried.

At least in 2015 DRRR have it's sequel twice so she slowly rise from the ashes. But the problem is, DRRR rise too slowly and come back to live with more wings than before. ... Many people confused how much wing DRRR's have in their previous live? Some of them just enjoy the new wing and continue to watch, but some of them are looking to the old wing that they loved before and can't find it.

This review aren't suitable for the one who doesn't know DRRR before, they should read the the prequel reviews. But I give some general explanation of it. DRRR are adaptation of light novel by Ryohgo Narita, the story are focused to it's character rather than usual linear storyline. While usually and anime made their MC to be most interesting, yet we see DRRR made their MC just 'normal' character compared to the others. Almost all characters on DRRR were interesting to the extend of no other anime can't mimic it. You can't see characters like Izaya, Shizuo, Celty, and Shinra in your everyday anime. Not to mention some of them aren't even considered human. You can see tons of characters, tons of theory, tons of relation, tons of conflict. One word to describe this, COMPLICATED!. (oh I forgot to said that the OST and BGM are godly present too...)

The conclusion is, DRRR have high base value, no matter how the story goes or how many new characters introduced, it would remain the same as DRRR we once loved. For the watchers who come this far, you should now what I mean.

So, don't doubt the baby Phoenix who even doesn't fully hatched from her eggs, she has potential to born better than her previous life with more wings, the new one has begun to shine, and the old one can reappear with beautiful feathers than before.

In the end when she's reborn, the Phoenix can fly beautifully. DRRR x2 Ketsu have successfully deliver the potential of previous DRRR. Of all the complicated characters and conflict, it didn't lost the purpose of the story : (Mikado - Masaomi - Anri), (Shizuo vs Izaya), and (Celty x Shinra). And what make me satisfied the most is everything was resolved. It's just sad that we can't see DRRR anymore (T^T).

Story : 9/10 (Great, everything resolved beautifully)
Art : 8/10 (Although slightly below standard of animation nowadays, it's still good)
Sound : 9/10 (DRRR sound, BGM, opening, and ending always fun to listen)
Character : 10/10 (This is the strongest DRRR point, perfect)
Enjoyment : 10/10 (My personal enjoyment of this series is perfect)
Overall : 9.2/10 (Great Series)

Must watch to everyone who watched DRRR before, if you're open minded person, certainly you will enjoy this.

Though it was written josei genre, in my opinion Chihayafuru is rare example of combination between shonen and shojo.

About Chihayafuru :
Chihayafuru is a manga that tells the story of a high school girl named Ayase Chihaya who aspires to become a Karuta Queen because of her encounter with her childhood friend, Wataya Arata. The question is, what is it Karuta anyways? Even I have already read up to chapter 157 (at the time of writing this review) is still not fully understood about Karuta. When I was asked to play it, I definitely can't play it. In essence, Karuta is a card game while ... listening. When both players hear a poem in accordance with one of the existing card, then who was the first to get the card wil get point. The winner is the player who collects the most cards (the player whose card runs out in their area has won).

About Karuta :
Although it sounds simple, but this game requires a lot of requirements. Players must memorize the whole poem to be read, for it takes a strong memory and concentration. Players also must respond immediately when a poem was read when it also takes a keen hearing. Finally, players must take the first card than their opponent, while it also takes speed and accuracy when taking the card. In other words, to be proficient in Karuta. It takes memory, hearing, speed and accuracy. Not to mention also takes stamina, concentration, pose, mental conditions and various other things. This is what makes the game Karuta no less exciting than football, basketball, or volleyball.

Story :
Not much to say about the story like most sport manga in general, make team, join tournamet, and fight various opponent. But the thing many sport manga didn't have is the romance. Chihayafuru can insert beautiful romance in the middle of tournament, not to mention the romance itself is a complicated one between Chihaya-Taichi or Chihaya-Arata.

Character :
Many character in Chihayafuru are interesting, the main character herself Chihaya has different when usually the main character of sports manga are boy. Her cheerful and spirited character can make special affection towards myself. Unlike many female characters in general that are sensitive, Chihaya is really insensitive expecially about love, she is just Karuta Otaku, people often call her beauty in vain. Next is Mashima Taichi that has crush on her for a long time and sadly one-sided, he's a real friendzone. But I think his character are the most developed, he can fill the hole that Chihaya flaws as a main character. Next is Arata, when you watch the anime and continue with the manga, you can see his character are develop too.

Other than those three, many supporting character are also interesting. Mizusawa's teammate have their own role to the story. And the character are not only a highschool students, there are many older players too that can make Chihayafuru more interesting than the average High School Sports.

Art :
The art are good, I have no complain.

Conclusion :
Like I said before, chihayafuru is rare example of combination between shonen and shojo. On the one hand this manga can make your heart pumping with it's shonen like tournament but on the other hand can also make your heart melting with it's shojo classical triangle love. I found a new genre of manga, Sportmance (lame is it? LOL).

It's never too late to reach your dreams, that's what you can learn from this manga.
Uchuu Kyodai is one of the few mangas that can motivate my live, read this is more like reading graphic biography than reading manga.

The story tell us about an older brother named Nanba Mutta who want to become an astronout to follow his younger brother path, Nanba Hibito. I think the synopsis was enough to describe the main plot. The story develops every new characters are introduced but still focus on Mutta reaching his dream.

Like my word before, this is more like biography than manga because the characters more ... like real person than fictional character. Our older brother Mutta is 31 years old in first chapter while the other stories have main character in his/her teenage. Same with the other character that their age, jobs, and background is like real person. The environment seems real too even make me thing maybe the mangaka is real japanese astronout.

I think the strongest part of this manga is the story itself, the best mood builder. It can make me laugh, smile, and sad (but not cry). I can feel Mutta's feeling for his brother between happy and envy at the same time or I can feel his feeling when his path is closer to the space little by little. This is why this manga can motivate my live.

Conclusion : I recommend Uchuu Kyodai to everyone who loved realistic story, have a dream, a man who have younger brother, and (maybe) want to become astronout. There is no bad thing to try this, maybe you want to watch the anime first is okay too since it already covers many chapters, read or watch and feel it yourself.

This is my first review and English isn't my first language, so I hope you all understand what I write..

Samurai Deeper Kyo (SDK) is a typical mainstream battle shonen manga and one of my favorite. I was still a middle schooler when I first read this manga, but until know i'm still influenced by it. Reading manga it's been my hobby until know so I know great Samurai mangas like Rurouni Kenshin, Gintama, and Vagabond that have different strong point one of another. But I think SDK is one epic manga too. While Kenshin is best in their story, gintama in enjoyment, and Vagabond in ... art, then SDK is best in their Character.

Story (7) :
SDK plot is historical fiction 4 years after war of Sekigahara. Story is not the strong point from SDK, like the other mainstream battle manga, SDK storyline is always fighting. I think many people give low rating to this manga it's because their look only in the story in the beginning and dropped it. And yes I think the early story when the main characters is still few maybe i'ts not good enough. But later on the story when SDK's Characters introduced one by one it became more and more entertaining.

Art (9) :
No complain for the art, each panel draws cleanly. To be honest, I be hooked by the art the first time I saw it in volume 16 when Kyo fighting Hotaru, it's really great.

Character (10) :
Now, it's the strong point of this manga, The Character. SDK have many main character. Some of them like Yukimura Sanada and Masamune Date named from Japanese history. Some other like clan mibu's are fictional character. The character have their own unique characteristic, Kyo himself is typical badass main character but also childlish when he gets angry, the other character like 'Shisheiten' is really good expecially Hotaru because he's my best character. Not only the main protagonist, the supporting character even the antagonist are really likeable. I can't explain it all because every one of them indroduced later in the series, so it's maybe contain spoiler. I suggest you to read it yourself and you see how great the character is.

Enjoyment (9) :
The Battle scene in SDK is something memorable. I really enjoy every character whose fight and show their skill. Every time kyo is fighting I'm really thrilled because he can always defeat his enemy in cool style. Not only Kyo, the other character have their own thrilling battle too.

Overall (8.75)
If you look for mainstream battle manga and that have ended beautifully, you should read SDK. Maybe other battle manga like Naruto and Bleach are good too, but maybe they can't keep their goodness forever like recent chapter of naruto. SDK is become better and better every chapter, every volume you read, and the ending is really good. I hope my review can give you a little explanation about this manga. So from now, try to read it.