Ekhein10

For me is the best manga of all the time or GREATEST manga ever.The first three volumes may discourage some of the readers because it's starts off kind of slow and the initial artwork is not quite up to today's standards. The story is incredible in every way imaginable. The setting is realistic fantasy at first with dashes of supernatural and high-fantasy elements sprinkled here and there.o, really: volleyball is the actual hero of this story, and the only one at that. Holy hot damn, it's over. I never thought I would review this, and now that I have the chance to, I'm grappling for words. What a ride this story was, from start to finish, and it's bittersweet to know that such a staple in the manga universe has come to an end. I guess I'm gonna block this out by category and see if I can get a decent review out of that method because, otherwise, I'm at a loss for words.

Seinen masterpiece! If you read manga because you like deep plot, you should read Monster.

This manga contains one of the best villains ever created for manga. I was always at the edge waiting for the next move of the antagonist, And I was never disapointed.

The characters are so real, with a huge palette of personalities, people that dont trust you and also naive characters, people that is greed and also humble, the misunderstandings and situations that involved the main character, the mistery that surrounds him, and how he inflicts on the life of persons that came across him.

The history is developed slowly, but when you manage to reach the end, please, look back. you'll have a sense of satisfaction that its hard to achieve for most of the histories.

[Spoiler Warning]

I read Vagabond to see what all the fuss is about. It's a very fast read. There are huge image panels and barely anything happening per chapter, which flows well if you're reading straight through but hellish if you're waiting chapter by chapter. The art is simply gorgeous - probably the best I've ever seen in a manga - but stands in stark contrast to the lack of actual story... sort of like special effects in a movie.

The "story" appears to be the warrior's drive to be the best, err, I mean "invincible under the sun." This results in such battles as the infamous "lets duel next year when our dojo isn't on fire" incident, the exhilarating stare down with Aang from Avatar, and the riveting stand off with the sleeping guy. It got a bit more interesting after Musashi killed enough people for their friends to start caring about it and gaining motives other than perfecting their skills, thus inspiring a semblance of sympathy and emotional investment in battle outcomes... but this didn't last long.

Over 50 chapters of spoon-fed philosophizing ensued. Triggered not by a sincere, voluntary revelation, mind you, but by circumstances that physically prevented the character from pursuing the goals he otherwise would continue chasing after. Over time the endless conversations and bouts of schizophrenia just glazed over in their repetitiveness for me.

Many of the characters also clung to highly romanticized notions of "honor" which made their motives/actions unrelatable and at times unrealistic. Sometimes they even got confused over conflicting honor codes and nearly sabotaged what their goal was in the first place. Other times they switched gears from a genuine emotional reaction to some intellectualized bushido ideal so quickly that I wanted to slap them. There was much facepalming on my end over this.

The 70-man battle should've been exciting, but it instead served as a perfect example of action over substance. Chapter after chapter of countless sword swings and I didn't care about any of these people. I love action, I truly do, but action only has meaning for me when there's something more at stake than just fighting stronger guys later. That's why my favorite fight, and the highlight of the series, was the twig battle between Sasaki and Musashi. It's sad when a twig battle is more exciting than a 70 man bloodbath.

Simply one of the best light novels I have ever had the pleasure to read, for those who watched the anime series is very worth going in search of reading the original material.
There are many points that differ from the anime, so I recommend you start reading from the beginning of the story, but if you do not have the patience and desire you can go straight to the end of volume 3 and the beginning of volume 4 which is where the anime ends the adaptation.
About the story: It is very well built and we feel light and willing to continue reading to know what will happen to Ayanokoji and his classmates.
About the characters: One of the few novels that can make you care about practically the whole cast, it is clear that we have established a greater connection with Ayanokoji, since he is the protagonist of the story (one of the great differences of the anime for the novel is in Ayanokoji's thoughts that differ greatly).
About art / illustrations: Simply beautiful to see, nothing to complain about.

Hi Izuru Tokoro No Tenshi (Heaven's Son in the Land of the Rising Sun) was written by Ryokou Yamagishi, an esteemed member of the Magnificent 49ers group of female manga artists who revolutionized shojo manga and created works of art that can stand among the greatest works ever created in the medium. This is her magnum opus. The story takes place during the Asuka period in ancient Japan and is about the legendary Prince Shōtoku Taishi (here called by his birth name of Umayado) and his relationship with Soga no Emishi, a son of a powerful noble of the Soga clan.

The story captures 10 years of Umayado and Emishi's life from when they were 10 and 14 to 20 and 24, respectively. While the manga shows many of the historical events that took place during that time, it takes many liberties with the characters of the story. Umayado is portrayed as a charismatic, cold, calculating child prodigy with trap-like beauty (he often disguises himself as a girl, and he's mistaken by Emishi as a girl initially). In addition, he possesses supernatural powers such as the ability to call upon Buddhist demons, astral projection, and other weird powers that the manga doesn't really try to define. However his powers and intelligence alienates him from his mother (she being one of few people who notices his invisible powers and fears him), whose love he craves but cannot have. He's respected, feared, and hated by various parties of the royal court due to his political cunning and influence.

Emishi is the polar opposite of Umayado. He's kind to everyone and sensitive to the feelings of others. He cares more for books and culture than politics, much to the chagrin of his father, the head of the powerful Soga clan. As a result he can sometimes be naive and indecisive in view of other people. Maybe it's this kindness and Emishi's earnest treatment of Umayado as his friend - the kind of affection Umayado couldn't have before - that made Umayado fall in love him. In many ways their relationship is similar to that of Eiji and Ash of Banana Fish, although Umayado and Emishi rarely communicated as well with each other as the heroes of Akimi Yoshida's classic. In Emishi the prince finds a source of genuine warmth and happiness, an escape from the cutthroat and dangerous world of politics.

There is a large cast of other important characters (most notable being Emishi's tomboyish sister who has tortured feelings for her brother, Emishi's domineering father, and the beautiful princess of the Soga's rival clan whom Emishi falls for), each with their motives and ambitions.

While the relationship between Emishi and Umayado is central to the story, there are many other themes and subplots as well. Marriage plays a huge role in everything, as they are usually chosen for creating political ties and to gain power and wealth rather than for love. Polygamy is common among the nobles of the royal court, and some even marry their half siblings (checkout this Soga family relationship tree: http://i.imgur.com/gGOUu.jpg). The title of emperor, the head of clan, and other positions can be passed to a brother after death. One's bloodlines and political influence are both important for succession. Obviously, these practices fly in the face of the passions of the story's main characters. Also, in the early volumes the main conflict is between the Soga clan which supported the spread of the new Buddhist religion and has blood ties to the kingdoms of ancient Korea, and the Mononobe clan which opposed Buddhism in favor of Shintoism and represented the indigenous Japanese royalty. The manga shows how Umayado's political and military cunning helps the Soga bring ruin to the Mononobe. Throughout the manga Umayado helps the Soga clan (especially allying with Emishi's father) not so much because he's a clan member, but for Emishi's sake. For Emishi's love, he is willing to do anything, even if it means hurting Emishi in the process. Thus Yamagishi ties all of the layers of the story - the history, politics, religion, culture and customs - into its central relationship between the two boys. It's this kind of ambitious storytelling (and the unbelievably sad ending) that makes Yamagishi's masterpiece such a classic among shojo manga.

Brother tries to bring back his non-blood-related sister with him so that he can support her, but she does not want to be a burden on him so she repeatedly goes back to the uncle's house who is a drunkard (the aunt is a good person though) drowned in debt for his drinking habits and tries to sell the sister to clear his debts.

This is my impression from the scanlated chapters (3, in English).

The story could make for a very intriguing one where siblings defy odds and surpass all the barriers that people around them pose, but no, the author had to make it into some cliche story. Mind me, there's nothing wrong with being cliche. The problem lies within that it tries to follow a bad cliche to attract attention of viewers but falls flat on its back when the epilogue to every major arc is brought up.

I would have liked it if the sister wasn't so defying of her brother and tried to support him at least. I feel bad for the brother who worked his ass off to save so much only to have his sister disrespect his efforts. The storyline makes the brother only a muscle-brained maniac that will fight for his sister and a sister that refuses to acknowledge her brother's efforts. Plus the subtle non-blood-related sibling love trope, which is very poorly incorporated into the story and doesn't blend well with the overall premise.

Tsuyoshi Shikkari shinasai was the best because it shown a boy who is not lazy as his 2 sisters and mother.
the story is funny and romance you read it

Story: 2/10
This is really bad, shallow and confusing, all at the same time.

Art: 8/10
Definitively surprising, I *personally* love this art! such a shame that it is in a bad manga.

Character: 4/10
I see only the protagonist as a person, honestly, and even him is highly underdeveloped.

Overall (5/10) and conclusion:
Look past the really, REALLY bad story and you will find a good art style with innovative "camera angles" on it's panels that make it just bearable enough to read.

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Story: 2/10
This is really bad, shallow and confusing, all at the same time.

Art: 8/10
Definitively surprising, I *personally* love this art! such a shame that it is in a bad manga.

Character: 4/10
I see only the protagonist as a person, honestly, and even him is highly underdeveloped.

Overall (5/10) and conclusion:
Look past the really, REALLY bad story and you will find a good art style with innovative "camera angles" on it's panels that make it just bearable enough to read.

Considering how short this is, at a whooping 2 volumes, one would think that the story itself would not be all that complex. It's true that some things kind of move a little fast; however, it never leaves any stone unturned. Offered is filled with various twists and turns, most of which you did not expect to happen until it was right there in your face.

As with any Ryouichi Ikegami manga, the art is probably the selling point here. His style is the most realistic thing you'll ever find in the world of manga. Though some could bitch and moan about it being far too sketchy, but you cannot fail to recognize how utterly amazing it is to capture people the way he does. In my experience though, his main characters always look strangely alike, haha.

This manga, as you'll find out is filled with sex, mostly rape too. So if that's a problem, you may want to avoid it. Also, the main villain in the story loves getting head in the oddest situations.

Offered was one of those mangas that just left me wishing there was more, but in the back of my mind knowing that more just would have ruined it with every extra chapter. It's just something that I found hard to let go of, though it's most likely because I'm a nerd for everything Gilgamesh.

I'm honestly a little disappointing with this manga. What started out as a really fun read with a cute premise ended up stumbling into just being ok in the end. While I wasn't in love with it or anything, I thought the romance being portrayed was cute and interesting enough for me to keep reading. However, the ending 2 or 3 chapters went with such a boring direction that I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I've never seen a worse "my dad is rich and powerful and disapproves of whatever's happening" story arc.

Here we have a cute Shoujo-ai manga with mediocre art that could have used about 20 more chapters and a more climactic conclusion. There is brisk, and then there is too fast to get invested.