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This is a unabashed ecchi harem manga. So, I'll be comparing it to other unabashed ecchi harem manga (To Love Ru, Love Hina, Nisekoi, Ai Yori Aoshi, etc.). I say this, because genre expectations are different. If you want an in-depth look at one couple and deep relationship building, go read a shoujo romance. If you want a grittier, more realistic vision of young people struggling with sex and relationships, find a good seinen. Hacchi Icchi isn't those things, and was never going to be those things.

So, compared to the expectations of the genre, here's what Hacchi Icchi does well:

- ... Character development. The protagonist spends time with each girl individually, and each girl is a presented as a unique, easily identifiable, and somewhat fleshed out, person.

- Stable cast. This isn't one of those manga that feels like it is necessary to keep adding new characters every couple chapters. In Chapter 1 you meet 8 girls and 1 boy, and then you take 100 chapters to get to know them.

- Moderately aggressive male lead (who also isn't a jerk). This is NOT 100 chapters of cock-blocking and "fainting from a nose bleed every time a girl smiles at him".The male lead is interested in sex, the girls are interested in sex, and they explore each other throughout the manga.


That being said, Hacchi Icchi is far from perfect:

- The ending is bad. The manga introduces unnecessary drama in the last 10 chapters, and then just stops without a conclusive ending. Then in the epilogue tries to make a joke out of the lack of a conclusive ending, which just feels insulting.

- Basically every character who isn't one of the main 9 is annoying, and the manga is worse off for their presence. This includes the MC's brother, the MC's friends, and the few friends of the girls that appear.

- The MC does learn and grow over the course of the manga, but not nearly as much as he needs to. He starts off a nice, horny, immature guy. He ends a nice, horny, slightly-less immature guy. You see enough of his personal growth and nice-guy character to understand why the girls like him, but only at a bare minimal level.


Over all, if you like the genre, Hacchi Icchi is worth reading ONLY if you are already a big fan of ecchi harem manga, and you've read the more well-known books in the genre. Otherwise, skip it.

7/10.

Their are basically two mangas here crammed into one.

One manga is a heart-warming story about a boy who is still mourning his dead mother, as he comes to accept his new step-mother and step-sister/brother. That story is great: great characters and character development, good resolution. The forbidden-romance part of this plot is its weakest link, but it still works well enough.

The other story is a school harem manga. Actually, to call it a story is giving it too much credit, because it doesn't make any sense. Girls join the harem with no warning or explanation--suddenly, they are just there. None ... of them have explained back-stories, none of them get any kind of resolution, and they are drawn almost identically so you can't really tell who is who (not that it matters).

It feels like someone wrote a solid, dramatic, step-sibling romance manga and inserted randomly selected chapters from a bad harem manga throughout. And it works about that well.

Hoshi to Kuzu is a short, four volume shoujo high school romance manga with likable characters, little drama, and a happy ending.

If you want more than that, you're in the wrong place. But if that is the itch you are looking to scratch, then you've come to the right place.

The heroine here is a poor-but-driven (mostly driven to make money) girl who encounters love for the first time when she starts falling for a popular (but seemingly shallow... or is he really?) boy. They find themselves as vice president and president, respectively, of the student council... and if you don't see where this ... is going, you haven't read enough shoujo manga.

Is it horribly original? Heavens no. Is it jam-packed with action, comedy, or telenovela-style "my lover is actually my long-lost brother who murdered my beloved first husband, but not really because the husband actually isn't dead at all but living with my half-sister in Buenos Aires" drama? Not on your life.

It is full, however, of fun likable characters who meet, get into some minor antics, and fall in love with each other, eventually culminating in some hand-holding and (spoiler alert!) first-name calling action.

You've been warned.

This is a slice-of-life about a poor couple in an arranged marriage who slowly fall in love with each other.

Normally, I'm a sucker for that kind of plot. And this one is told with quite a lot of charm. The woman is care-free and extremely likable. The artwork is a little sketchy at times, but adds a lot of charm. The plot is told across a series of very short stories, each of which have some central joke or revelation about the characters, and it's a lot of fun.

But...

The man is such a complete jerk. He gets fired repeatedly for ... incompetence. He constantly falls for gambling and "get-rich-quick" schemes. He regularly insults is wife. He hits on every pretty girl he sees, including his sister-in-law and often in his wife's presence, and at one point it's implied that he cheats on her.

How can I recommend a manga where one of the two main characters--who I'm supposed to be rooting for!--is such a horrible human being? 6/10

Wanko Number One has two interwoven story lines, one which works and one which doesn't. Whether or not you should read this manga depends entirely on what you want out of this manga.

One storyline is "man sees his dog as a human, but the rest of the world sees her as a dog." While not especially original, this plot works very well. It is funny (hilarious at certain points) without actually crossing the line into beastiality or "ewww...." territory. The dog is cute (in both forms), the man is likable, the antics are great, and this part of the ... story wraps up nicely.

The other storyline involves the same man getting dumped by his long-time girlfriend, and suddenly finding himself the center of a seinen harem manga. This plot doesn't work at all. It turns out that his girlfriend was cheating on him with another guy because he wouldn't propose, and left him because the other guy proposed to her. Talk about not caring who she marries... and yet, it's somehow his fault. He then flirts with a bunch of other girls (two of which are serious contenders), only to have his girlfriend dump the other guy and want him back (without ever addressing the whole cheating thing). He gets his happily ever after end (I won't spoil with who), but it all feels unsatisfying.

So, if you want a cute story about a cute dog acting human (some of the time), this is a great manga to read. Just breeze past the romance parts. If, on the other hand, you're looking for a good romance manga... keep looking.

Some manga are exactly what they seem to be from the very start. This is one of those manga.

Sensei Lock On! Starts out a fun 4-Koma manga about a 33-year old fourth grade teacher who has a very chaste boyfriend-girlfriend relationship with her 20-year old former student. It tells the same half dozen jokes over and over again. The first time, the jokes are fun and cute.

The fifth time, the jokes are starting to wear a little thin.

By Chapter 30... well, the jokes have worn out their welcome.

Now, that wouldn't matter much if their was character development or significant relationship building. ... Rest assured: there is not.

I don't want to bash this manga too much. The art is great. The characters are a lot of fun, and I was rooting for them as a couple. And the jokes do start out funny, the first few times they are told.

I just wish the manga had either progressed a bit, or expanded it's comedic repertoire.

A generous, completely inoffensive 7/10.

Virgin Ripper--a horrible and misleading title, by the way--is about an awkward grim reaper who is in love with her boss. The boss steals a powerful artifact and runs away with a dangerous group of minions, leaving her behind. The girl sets out to track down the artifact and find out why her beloved boss could be wrapped up in such evil doings.

It's an odd manga. The content starts off stereotypical shoujo (ditsy girl, cute jerk guy), gets extremely bloody and rather disturbing by about chapter 6, and eventually settles into a plot that has a lot in common with some supernatural ... shounen harem manga, except it's told from one of the girls' perspective.

The end result does work; it is an enjoyable read, with an interesting set of characters and a pretty unique plot. But it is not quite good enough to be a "must-read" if you really aren't into this sort of thing--and I'm really not sure who is going to be really into this sort of thing.

As for the rest: the art is pretty good, for shoujo fantasy artwork, but not spectacular. The characters are mostly interesting, and many have good backstories, although some of them are dispatched way too quickly. The pacing of the manga is pretty good, although the romantic aspect of the ending feels a bit hacked-on.

So overall a pretty good, enjoyable manga... if you want an extremely bloody, and sexualized shoujo romance in a supernatural fantasy setting.

My Bride is His Wife has a lot of good ideas, but the execution of both the plot and characterization are poor throughout.

It begins as a reverse harem: two best friends agree to alternate being married (they each live with her one month at a time) to a woman that they both love. The protagonist has always looked up to the other man; never as smart, popular, wealthy, or successful.

The manga doesn't really dwell on how they get into this relationship. Instead, it wants to be a thoughtful examination of the interaction between love, marriage, and fidelity--and to what extent any of those ... can exist without the other two. Besides his own experience in this odd relationship, the protagonist encounters a variety of other marriages, all of which have their own quirks or dark sides.

But the manga has three big problems:

First, the central love triangle is never firmly established. Characters assert that they are in love with each other, but you never really see it. The manga really needed to spend more time developing each relationship as a pair--both the relationships with the woman, and the friends' relationships with each other.

Second, the plot moves at lightning speed. Clearly the manga was axed--the last chapter covers easily a volume worth of plot. But even before then, the author just jerks you around. In one chapter a character is revealed to be seriously ill. In the next, the protagonist finds out about it. In the next, the problem is solved. What should have been a major plot of the whole manga is wrapped up in a neat little bow with very little consequence in less than a volume.

Third, the major plot of the second volume is about a third man who enters the scene, for no apparent reason. The character adds nothing to the themes and only makes you think less of the woman.

A mangaka with more experience writing Seinen romantic drama could have made an interesting story out of the premise and themes. But, as it is, this manga is best avoided.

Manga versions of long light novel series are often just disappointing advertisements for the novels. Unlimited Fafnir is a little bit better than that... but just a little bit.

Story: 5/10 There are WAY too many plot elements for 20 chapters. Three years earlier, a boy mysteriously saves his sister from a dragon. He then gets whisked off to be an assassin for the military, while she develops supernatural powers, related to the dragons, and is sent to a school to train those. This series starts with him joining her at that school--the only boy there--and encountering a pretty naked girl. ... Then come the harem antics, fights with three different dragons, betrayals at the academy, mysterious backgrounds for each of a dozen characters...

Like I said, way too much plot for 20 chapters. None of it is bad, but it all happens too fast to be comprehensible.

Art: 8/10 The art is solid. The character models are standard, shounen "cute", but done well. The backgrounds and battle sequences are pretty well drawn.

Character 7/10. Too many characters as well. I liked them all, for the most part. They all seemed to have interesting stories, and I wanted to know more about them. But, there is no depth to anyone... cause you know, a dozen characters in 20 chapters.

Enjoyment: 7/10. If you check your brain at the door, there are some amusing harem antics between well-drawn battle sequences. So yeah, pretty fun.

Overall: A generous 7/10. It's not a bad manga, at all, but it's not really good either. If you want to know whether to try out the Light Novel series, it's worth a read. If you really love manga like Trinity Seven or High School DxD... well, this is a not-bad manga in the same genre, and it won't take up much of your time.

For the rest of you, go elsewhere.

A lonely young woman is convinced that the world will end in 10 days, when she gets asked out by her plain-looking neighbor. Thus starts a very sweet, short romance about a young woman focused on death, and the nice guy who is trying to get to know her.

Story: Simple, short, and sweet. The woman goes out with the guy on a whim, then they have some rocky times as they get to know each other. Very little plot, but enough for the length.

Art: The art is very unique, and not necessarily in a good way. The characters are ... all simple, and at times a little funny looking. Still, it does fit the tone of the story, in an odd sort of way.

Character: I love the characters here. The girl starts out kind of a jerk, but has reasons for acting that way. The guy is just sweet, and the best friend character is well done. Nothing horribly original, but extremely well done.

Enjoyment: A very fast read, with not a lot of drama, and a nice happy end. Makes for a very pleasant experience.

Overall: If you like vanilla romances with a bit of a twist to them, this is a really fun manga.