Back to cianoc's Profile cianoc's Profile

Excellent world building, interesting characters and beautiful art make this something special. So far this has avoided the many cliches that fantasy Manga tend to fall into. It can easily stand up to Frieren, My Metal Alchemist (though it's much gentler), or Nausica. More people should be talking about this.

The art in this manga is some of the best I've seen in a long time. The landscape and cities are rendered so that you feel you could step into them. This is not a manga you read quickly, but one where you linger on every panel drinking in the details.

Characterization is also excellent, with the ... central character somehow managing to transcend the essential Mary Sueness, through a convicting depiction of 'good'. In addition by showing us how the character struggles to overcome (the many) challenges, and other characters who are (at least on paper) superior, it gives us a character that we can root for. Things don't come easily to him - he has to work at them (mostly). Other characters (mostly - there are a few flat exception) have enough detail, and quirks, to be convincing. This could be better (a couple of characters hint at cliche), and so it's possible that this might be something that ultimately drags this manga down. I hope not.

And finally the story. As someone who finds depictions of the importance of reading incredibly trite and irritating, to my surprise I actually am engaged by the importance this manga puts on books and libraries. Part of this is due to the richness (and enthusiasm) demonstrated by the mangaka as she weaves in historical details on books, writing and the evolution of the written word. And I was fascinated by how she depicted the various facets of book culture in this world. I want to visit these bookstores.

Recommended - with the proviso that this only has 30 chapters, and so the early promise may not be fulfilled.

Deeply mediocre anime with bafflingly high rating. I guess people rate it high because the characters in this anime are all incredibly nice. Everyone is nice. Whenever you think there might be some tension, it turns out there was a misunderstanding.

And this niceness is the only character trait that any character has. Other than apologizing. Everyone apologizes for the weirdest non-infractions. Did a character not share a minor detail about their personal life with their friends - they will apologize for this, and then their friends will apologize for expecting details, and the main character will apologize for... Just endless apologizing.

The main female character ... is nice. Very nice. Implausibly nice. We learn how nice she is because every other character tells us. Because this is a manga that doesn't trust us to make up our own minds about characters. We're also told that the main boy is nice, but misunderstood because people mistake him for a hooligan. Except he isn't particularly nice (just kind of dense), nor does he look like a hooligan. He is tall, and apparently in Japan this is terrifying.

Clearly this manga is aimed at middle school girls, who are shy and bookish. Why anyone else would rate it so highly is a mystery.

Strangely addictive manga series about twin real estate agents who find apartments in Tokyo for their clients (always female for some reason). These clients always have a reason for why they're moving, though its not something the manga is hugely interested in (reasons include divorce, overbearing parents, or the various challenges of being a women in Japan).

The main characters are rather subversive by Japanese standards. They're overweight, have zero interest in getting married and are perfectly content as they are. One of them really likes sex (and has no trouble getting boyfriends), the other doesn't. And they're fun companions; cheerfully (and often gluttonously) telling their ... clients about all the wonderful things in each district.

There's also a subplot about their refurbishment of the house that they inherited from their parents. It's fine, if pretty superfluous. The finished house is pretty nice though.

Each issue you get to see a new area of Tokyo which they will demonstrate to their client is far superior than their original choice of Kichikouji. Usually you'll get to see some sites, a shopping area and some restaurants. And that's it really. If you like architecture, Tokyo or just wish to live vicariously and imagine living in one of the world's more exciting cities - then its pretty great. Just don't expect drama, or much plot.