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This is basically a clip show of the best scenes from the manga, it even says as much at the beginning of the first episode. It doesn't even attempt to tell a complete story of its own. Having never read the manga, I had no idea what was going on, who any of the characters were or who was in love with who. I'm sure if you've read the manga, it's great, but as a standalone show it's useless. The second episode was better than the first, but that's not saying very much. The art and music were decent enough, but not amazing, and the ... voice acting was unremarkable.

Maybe I'll enjoy this more if I watch it again once I've read the manga, but if you haven't read the manga, don't waste your time watching this.

Spoilers abound for Story 3.

My respect for Kanan Minami went up so much after I read this story. The first 2 stories in the collection are fairly forgettable, but this series is worth reading just for the final story.When I saw the title of the story, I was put off, but I'm glad I gave it a chance. For once, we have a shojo heroine who is strong enough to stick up for herself and not be a doormat because of a guy and blame herself for being raped by him. The story manages to show her overcoming her doubts and becoming strong enough to ... go back to the police and file the rape charges. I like the way a taboo subject is dealt with honestly (the police at first suggest it was her fault for wearing revealing clothes and other reasons) and realistically, and that the rape=love trope is completely subverted. I wish more shojo manga heroines were like this. Rape is not love, and the story didn't glamourise the subject in the slightest, unlike many other shojo manga. It's short, but that doesn't detract from it too much, as the main character still develops a lot over the course of the story. The art is fairly generic Sho-Comi art, and since it's an early work by the author, it's not brilliantly polished. It's by no means terrible, though.

I'll stop rambling now, but if you want a quick read shojo manga without a wimpy, doormat heroine, but instead a realistic and believable one you could do far worse than reading the last story in this collection.

Note: This review is only for Part 1 (Volumes 1-13) The author intended it to end here, and it shows. Part 2 was written due to fan demand, and it shows. It definitely feels like a tacked on afterthought. Now, onto the review...

I think this is one of the best shoujo manga out there. It takes the basic plot bones of a shounen manga: Teenager faced with epic quest and who must defeat ultimate evil, adds romance and manages to turn it into a beautiful, gripping shoujo manga.

Art: The art is very 90's, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Unlike a lot of ... shoujo artists, Watase is actually good at drawing action scenes, and the period detail in the world of the book is excellent.

Character: This series has a lot of characters, but somehow manages to handle the development of all of them very well. I did think that towards the end it felt a bit rushed, and some characters were killed off unnecessarily, and their deaths got far less page time than some characters who died earlier in the series. Other than that, all the characters were developed very well, and you even care about the bad guys, which is no mean feat of achievement. Miaka and Tamahome can be a bit irritating, but far less so than in the anime.

Story: The story feels a bit rushed towards the end, as I mentioned in the character section, but it's gripping and enjoyable. There are plenty of twists and turns to keep you going and a nice sense of adventure.

Enjoyment: I measure enjoyment by how much I want to read something again and again, and this is a series I've been coming back to over and over again for the past 5 years, so it must be doing something right. It's also the series I most commonly lend to people, male or female, if they're new to manga and want something to read.

Overall: A shoujo fantasy epic that shouldn't be missed. Part 2 is much more of a read once only thing though. It's a shounen manga for girls, in the best possible way.

Overture is basically a backstory explaining why Suigintou hates Shinku so much.

Story: I've pretty much summarised it up there. It is explained nicely in the 2 episodes, and you see the transition from when Suigintou and Shinku first meet, and they are friends, all the way to Suigintou explaning her hatred of Shinku at the end of episode 2. The events leading up to it make sense, and do actually fit together to form a coherent story, unlike some back stories which just appear to be totally random.

Art: I didn't think it was as good as the first series'. I haven't seen ... the 2nd yet so I can't comment on it. The colours weren't as good and it just seemed more amateurish.

Sound: Again, not as good as the first series. The theme song was again excellent. (though I am an Ali Project fan). The soundtrack obviously wasn't memorable as I'm sitting here struggling to remember anything about it even though I only watched it last night.

Character: The chracters were the best thing about this, particularly Shinku and Suigintou. Suigintou's change in attitude was very well done, as was Shinku's pleas with her to understand. I actually felt really sorry for Shinku at the end, as she struggled to get Suigintou to understand her. Shinku's past medium Sara, was a little irritating in her expectations of Shinku though. All the other characters only got a token amount of screen time, so I'm not going to comment on them.

Overall: Don't watch it before anything else, but once you've watched the first season, it's a nice explanation behind Suigintou's hatred.


This is my first review so constructive criticism would be appreciated! ><