So I started this one on a whim and was instantly pulled in. However, I will say had I done my due diligence on this work before I started reading it I probably never would have started to begin with.
As far as the story goes I haven't been able to see much better. This is definitely a great work as far as the story goes. It has depth, humor, sorrow and is pretty much the whole package.
The artwork is second to none. I love how clean everything is no matter what is being shown on the page.
Character development is also second to none. I love how the characters in the story evolve and grow as the story progresses.
Is this enjoyable? Yes it was, until I got to chapter 75 that is.
So why am I saying such great things about this Maniwa and end up giving it a poor overall rating of 3. Well here comes the warning!
THE WORK IS INCOMPLETE TO A DEGREE THAT IT IS AN ABSOLUTE TRAVESTY! Some time about 4 year ago the author, Dal Young Im if I'm not mistaken, walked away from this story and never returned. Apparently this was around the same time that he started working on the FREEZING series. So he basically lost interest in this series and started another one and NEVER finished this one. I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS!
As far as I can tell, the story itself seems to be about 2/3 to 3/4 complete. There may have been more but at this point it's anybody's guess. Unfortunately like I said earlier if I had done my due diligence and seen that the author had a bad habit about leaving his works half finished then I would never have read this one.
I WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS! I WANT TO SEE THE END! AND UNFORTUNATELY AFTER 4 LONG YEARS I DOUBT THERE IS ANY POSSIBILITY THAT THIS WILL EVER HAPPEN. SOME PEOPLE THINK THAT AFTER THE "FREEZING" SERIES IS COMPLETED HE WILL COME BACK TO THIS WORK. BUT AFTER A 4 YEAR HIATUS I JUST DON'T SEE THAT HAPPENING.
SO HERE IS MY WARNING. IF YOU ARE LIKE ME AND CAN NOT STAND TO START A STORY AND BE ABLE FINISH IT THEN THIS MANIWA IS NOT FOR YOU. IF YOU DON'T CARE ANYTHING ABOUT THAT TYPE OF STUFF THEN FEEL FREE TO ENJOY THIS STORY, RIGHT UP UNTIL YOU HIT THE INVISIBLE WALL WAITING FOR YOU AT CHAPTER 75!
**SPOILER ALERT**
So I did do some messing around on the internet and managed to find out how the light novel ended and I have to say WTF! It ended terribly! The bastard author obviously wanted to make sure he would never have to do anything else related to this title so he gave it a scorch the world type ending. Just pisses me off to see a work with so much entertainment potential get flushed down the crapper with a nuke the world and kill everyone ending. I will never read anything by this author again because this appears to be a habit of his. What a waste of a good story and great characters. Wow! Wow!
