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I often equate light novels to be at the similar degree of manga—that is, I also regard them to be inseparable in presenting its medium, given that illustrations were provided to support that this is meant to be visualized with a certain art style. I've never been really familiar with them, only having some in my reading list but never getting around to actually read them.

Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria, or HakoMari, has made me appreciate the light novel medium more as a separate being to how manga presents itself, and shows that it can transcend hopes of ever seeing an anime adaptation that will be able to justify its complexity.

Now that formalities have been set in order, it's time to get on the actual reviewing.

HakoMari thrives on its consistency—not just for entertainment value, but through the constant amount of asspulls it does throughout the whole series. I read the first volume without expectations, and what I got was an interesting approach to Groundhog Day, and just by reading how many times the loops had happened you can already see how ridiculous the situation is. It doesn't stop there, as wishes can apparently be granted through the use of so-called "Boxes"—yessir, you heard it right. BOXES. This is when I noticed that this isn't just your average asspull. This is—advanced asspull.

Oh, did I also mention how edgy as shit this can get?

I mean for the first volume with how they reveal the culprit behind Groundhog Day was already way too fucking edgy, but it doesn't stop there as the series makes you bathe in teenage angst (i.e. BULLSHIT) for the rest of the story way until the final volume. One particular character can't keep his edge and that's why he decides to change the world because that's how a normal high school student really acts. But then again, the characters aren't normal to begin with.

You have this one normal guy who slowly turns psychotic because of all the things he has seen until his moral compass becomes way too deranged, you have this mysterious lady with a severe case of identity crisis, you have a white-haired dude who pierced his ears and dyed his hair just because "pfft I dunno" while being a total dick to his ex, you have a totally irrelevant "best friend" that isn't really relevant to the story but the author tries his best to, and you have the aforementioned ex who has gone through I DON'T FUCKING KNOW because all of them have the same common denominator; they all despair. There are also other side characters who seemingly bear the same amount of intellect as these people who can be very cunning and manipulative with wordy outsmarting tactics (that are so fucking unbelievable for their age) but has as much maturity as a three-year old who just had his candy taken away.

You'd think that with these honest yet accurate descriptions of characters, I wouldn't recommend this series at all right?

Well, of course, if I pose up that question, you already know what the answer is.

Much in the similar vein as Death Note and other series that claim to be "psychological warfare," HakoMari works in the similar manner to be appealing—and that is through unbelievable situations mixed in with a serious and close-to-real-life background. Part of the unbelievable situations are the characters, and that's why they may seem as superficial as they can get.

That is what makes HakoMari entertaining.

It doesn't take as much to suspend your disbelief when you start reading this—in contrast to something like JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, which can be agreed upon that requires an IMMENSE amount of suspension, HakoMari effectively balances its depth as a story while retaining that superficiality—which is like the series was simply made for one to observe it and note how ridiculous everything is, but you keep reading because it has some underlying realism mixed within. It's quite a page-turner because of how fucked up the scenarios are with blood and the stench of angst, the mindgames are very smart that it's hard to predict what will happen with the story. Who will win? How will they do it? It's much more fun to read it without you having any knowledge of who the characters are—because you don't know what their true nature is in the first place, and the author cautiously places Chekov's guns (and gunmen) from start to finish to show that this story has a direction.

With regards to the characters, they aren't as bad as I make them out to be, although there is some degree of truth with my words and how I described them. They aren't really noticeable once you get into the tone of the story overall, and it is with these unbelievable traits that the story gets more interesting. Also, they're anime characters, duh.

If you remove the age and edge though, you get to see these amazingly complex characters. You have Kazuki Hoshino whom at first glance is your average light novel/rom-com MC with his own (psychotic) harem, but eventually grows to be a cunning mastermind at mindgames, paired with Maria Otonashi, who by far is unlike most characters I have ever seen—an antisocial badass chick with a straightforward yet unpredictable personality. And these are just the main characters—I would need a longer page to describe each and every character and their internal conflicts that form the shape and structure of this very series. Each character gets to have their chance in the spotlight and as the story goes on you learn about their motives and how their minds work.

In terms of moods and themes, the very background of Boxes and their abilities to grant wishes are a perfect fit with its characters—it's like they were made exactly to be together. It's as if the series was deconstructing edge with edginess itself, and shows that being too sociopathic/psychopathic destroys your very existence. The themes explored in HakoMari are not in any way positive, and they may even be too mature for the characters themselves. This is probably what a book would look like if Nietzsche decided to write about nihilism at age 15.

Going back to the actual story, I commend Eiji Mikage for properly constructing the purpose of each volume even with huge intervals with its release dates, in such a consistent manner that every book always manages to surpass the previous installment. In the way arcs are presented, they are always executed with proper plot devices that are surprisingly natural. The story, I believe, was structured with:

Volume 1 - An exposition to the characters and the unbelievable nature of the whole series. Filled with interesting twists that get you hooked as the story goes on.
Volume 2 - A further expounding on how creative can Stands—I mean Boxes get. Presents a conflict that questions how Maria and Kazuki trust each other.
Volumes 3 and 4 - An actual arc that pounces on the status quo and shakes its foundations. A great death game arc that imposes emphasis on eventual character development that will become critical in future volumes.
Volume 5 - The status quo crumbles and you become unfamiliar with this human chess game again. The story retains that serious feeling but you know things are only going to get wider in scale from this point on.
Volume 6 - Every belief you had initially is completely destroyed and you become an atheist. The chess game reaches the endgame stage yet it is still unsure who will finally gain the upper hand.
Volume 7 - Everything comes into full circle as the truth behind everything is revealed and the characters come into terms with their internal and external conflicts.

Volume 7 is probably the weakest of the series, in my opinion, but it is the most necessary. It builds on everything the first six volumes had done thus far—a conclusive character resolution arc that is not as half-assed but still needs to be ridiculous. It doesn't have the same flair as the previous books that are filled to the brim with keikakus, but it does have the edge to the extreme and ends it in the most satisfying way possible—giving the characters more backbone in an emotional rollercoaster of an ending.

In no way is this series perfect. The fact that I can rant for about the first half of my review shows it—but it's this impressive creativity that makes it stand out for me. It isn't that easy to write, mind you—more so pulling out things out of your ass in more than one way possible. These ridiculous stalemate scenarios in HakoMari shows the effort in how the author has known how this world will work—and how he can use its preset rules to his advantage. And after all, I did mention how this was quite a page-turner. It invoked feelings of mental pressure to me, the reader, however I could not drop it because this intensity can only be found in such as HakoMari's world-building. It makes you want to know what happens next, and every volume's ending guarantees a continuation that is too relevant to put it aside for even one moment. (I could just imagine how satisfied are the readers who had to put up with that two-year gap between Volume 6 and 7.)

HakoMari isn't certainly one of the best novels out there either—but it executes so damn well how a light novel can function on its own without having so much as to rely on an anime adaptation to justify its quality. It also ends on a mood that may not be as smart as its original premise, but ties everything to a proper and well-deserved conclusion, utilizing everything it had to that point.

I was desperately searching for a Manga that can catch my breath and move my little fangirl heart in an instant... and this is it! I love the depth of the story, the beautiful and strong princess Yona and her male warriors (I especially like Hak! He is just AWESOME!). The art is beautiful and some of the scenes (especially between Yona and Hak) are just breathtaking if you enjoy super sweet moments. And it contains hilariously funny scenes... Read the first five chapters and you'll love it !

This manga is, in my opinion, overrated. The only reason I’m writing this review is because I didn't think monster was worth a 9 or a 10 and if I don't surely other people out there won't either.

The story for monster is what lets it down. The story basically follows a fugitive doctor that is chasing a serial killer. While this is happening the doctor is being chased by the police, who think he has committed the murders. Along the way the doctor meets a lot of families/individuals, makes friends and teaches people. He is helping them to grow and mature in their own right, simultaneously proving his own innocence. This occurs in a similar way that Ash helps people in pokemon but on a much more mature scale. The good doctor helps to eradicate racism, violence etc.
So far I haven't really given any reason for why the storyline is so bad. This is the thing, the story goes on for way too long in the same manner (the Ash - pokemon manner), it is extremely predictable and there is a huge anticlimax at the end. If I hear that a manga is a 10/10 or 9/10 I expect the end to stay in my mind for a good week at least, I expect it to be somewhat epic in how it captivates and causes me to constantly think back to it, each time thinking to myself 'wow' that manga was sweet. Monster severely let me down in this department the anticlimax left me constantly thinking back to the manga 'how could the artist leave it in such a shit way'.
The art for this manga starts off pretty poorly and at times the reader isn't too sure what’s going on, it quickly improves into a well drawn, well spaced manga. At times I found myself simply looking at the buildings or the scenes thinking 'how did the artist draw this, it would've taken him weeks'. The art is at times top notch but then a lot of the german characters look identical/generic and only the main characters seem to differ in appearance. One thing I really liked about the manga is that the female characters were drawn very well, even provocative and sexy, at times.
The characters. Ok the characters kind of made this manga. While the doctor heads all around the countryside helping people you, as the reader, meet numerous characters that have feeling, that carry emotions, that you can relate to real people and real mannerisms! This is a bonus. Without giving too much of the storyline away I would like to say that the doctor kind of adopts a child along the way and this is where you really start to feel the characters. I kept wondering 'what's going to happen to little *****' or 'how can they do that to children'. You really feel and relate to the characters, so in that way this manga is tops.
The enjoyment? Meh. For a lot of this manga I was honestly thinking 'why are people on myanimelist so in love with manga?' This manga was the first manga I’ve read off reviews from this site. All the other mangas I’ve read have been because of a friends review or a forum review. I trudged through this manga constantly hoping it would get better. So in that way the enjoyment was seriously lacking. It's really not an enjoyable manga to read, reading it seemed like a chore for a long time.
Overall if you have a long holiday break coming up and you want to read a generic storyline with a pokemon-like 'I’m going to aid people along the way’ feel to it, go nuts. This manga is for you, be warned though, there is an anti-climax at the end, you'll think to yourself more than once 'this main character needs to take a concrete pill harden the fuck up and kill the bastard' and you'll probably think at the end of it 'where did all the time go, I’ve gained nothing from this'.

To the folks that monitor the reviews I apologise in advance if this contains too much spoiler info and for mentioning the other reviews but in my defence the other reviews were my reason for reading it and in the context of my review I felt they needed to be mentioned

Since the author realized that he's going to make this run as long as he lives (or as long as there's interest) it has become a formulaic, and repetitive story. It basically runs like this:

-Training
-Fights
-End fight filler
-Rinse and repeat... FOREVER!

Of course there are good fights with the occasional serious Takamura title match. However, there are too many filler fights (Ippo title defense and Kamogawa gym underling matches) to keep things interesting during volume 50+. With how things are going, this manga will stretch forever.

It is likable though since I have lasted up to v60 and still going but I have found myself scanning the post and pre-fight fillers as well as the filler matches in hopes to get to the more important matches. This basically sums up how HNI is going.

Unless the author keeps things interesting, I will simply skim through the repetitive and formulaic discussions/fights and go through the important matches.

This would be so much better if there was no dialogue. The way Madotsuki looks is kind off, and wonky. The backgrounds however look alright, and a nice representation of the game, so that makes it worth at least skimming through.
The only way I got any enjoyment of this is just to ignore 100% of the text.

I'm not used to writing reviews, but this manga left quite an impression on me and I feel I should explain why. Also, it may contain light spoilers, though nothig that reveals the whole plot.

Story 7/10

The story has a fascinating premise. If executed well, it could have become an amazing work. Unfortunately, it wasn't given enough time to show off. At least, that's what I believe happened...There is a lot of pressure on manga authors whose series stay at the bottom of the rankings and I'm guessing that might have had a negative effect on how the story went.
Either way, this seems like a slice of life, but with a little supernatural element: the microwave which delivers future Jump issues. It's intriguing to see how the protagonist decides to use that, how he feels about it and the consequences. I only wish we got to now the reason for that. Well, we kinda find out, but it doesn't go into detail why that is important, except for a tiny hint. Unfortunately, with the abrupt end, it will never get explored.

Art 10/10

The artstyle definitely stands out. I'm not very knowledgeable in this area, so it's based on personal preferrance. I believe it looks stunning and the character designs are well thought out.

Characters 5/10

Unfortunately, the characters suffered the most because of the sudden end. Sasaki and Aino are fine, but the rest start fading into the background. It's a shame, because their designs are great and seemed interesting enough upon their introduction. They had their own ambitions and motivations and I would have loved to know more about them. As well as see them bond more. There might not have been enough time for that, but, at least when the main conflict arrieved, I would have loved to see their perspective on it.
Also, I said Aino was fine, but a little mopre details on her past would have made her an even better character. Maybe it was planned to reveal more, along with the tiny hint I mentioned in the story section, but who knows...

Enjoyment 9/10

This section seems to be the most subjective one. To be honest, I enjoyed every single chapter. It was one of the series I was looking forward to the most each week (along with One Piece and Fire Force). The mystery of the time-crossing microwave was intriguing to me. Sasaki's inner thoughts made a lot of sense, given the circumstances and made me understand him better as a character.
I have to menion a certain moment, which pretty much made me mark this manga as a favorite on the Manga Plus app. At one point, someone says this:
"Some people say that manga is just nonsense and lies...But there are others out there who need these nonsensical stories...I know that I was one."
When I read this line, I started tearing up. I can't describe enough how much it resonated with me. I used to be bullied in school and took refuge in anime/manga. Also, in order to forget about the daily stress at school. Of course, when others found out, it just was another reason to make fun of me...Not even those who were on my side understood it. When in reality, it's similar to those who read a lot of novels, or watch movies. I think a lot of people from my generation can relate to this.
But enough with my personal experiences. There's more to this line. It's also reflecting the motivations of our main characters and I love it. This manga has a lot of heart put into it and it shows.

Overall 8/10

Well, the average of the scores is 7.75, which I round up to 8. Maybe it's a bit too generous, but with the potential it had, I think it deserves it. I'm really sad it didn't reach the Japanese audience the way it reached me...
I wish all the best to Date-sensei and Ichima-sensei and thank you for creating this manga. It might have been short and incomplete, but it still meant a lot to me.

Yakedo Shoujo; where to start? Well, on the optimistic side it had it's moments but those moments aren't necessarily anything to write home about. It's mediocre really, although it doesn't really rub me the right way with it's approach towards suicide.

Story: 5/10

Yakedo Shoujo portrays suicide and depression very crudely. If you're looking for a heavy dose of psychological horror and philosophy; you'll be disappointed with the lack of it. Despite MAL giving it the horror genre, rest assured, there is none of that. In turn, what you really get is a incomprehensible mess of a narrative.

Let's get into the story. In the world of Yakedo Shoujo, we see high school life through our protagonist's eyes. From the get go, the exposition sets itself as very depressing. I for one, liked it. A mother who sees nothing in her son but the husband that left, the nihilist that is the MC and the duality of Shiina and Kaname.

Where it falls flat, is the pacing of it all. The pacing on this manga is like reading at light speeds. We jump from Shiina and her friend, to the disjointed family of Kaname in a single chapter. From there, we jump to Kanae's abusive father and rarely leaves time to flesh out some characters. A good example of good pacing is in Kokoro Connect. Each character has his/her trauma and development. In that anime, it makes to sure to adequately dissect a character and give it time to soak itself in.

Everything happens at the same time, and it's all just messy. Maybe it was written this way to simulate reality, but it ends of falling flat as a fruitless attempt to add meaning to a rushed story.

Art: 7/10

I liked the art. It wasn't god-tier art or anything, but it was good. I believe where this manga shines the most is with the art. With conjunction with the characters, the expressions on some of these character's face just seem real. It's as if you can see life in their eyes, and it symbolized alot. It's such a subtle and minor detail that many don't pick up, but truly the eyes on some of these characters have so much emphasis on them I don't know where to begin. Other than the faces, the art is pretty alright.

Characters: 6/10

The bread and butter of the whole manga has got to be the characters. It's fair, to say the least. It's nothing good per se, but it's nothing horrible. The MC, although shockingly plain and forgetful is more than what what meets the eyes. He suffers from his own problems and goes by his own agenda. I'd say he's the most realistic character here. Kaname's flaws are only brought out by others, but from the outside he seems very stoic. For a generic psychological manga, that was much to be expected, but Kaname is a breath of fresh air compared to the other characters who just fall flat. Kaname goes through a moral lapse and we see his stoic character rust and shatter over the course of the story. Kaname's slow development was a great plus for this story.

On the other hand, we have Shiina. She is laughably edgy and her character all revolves around suicide. Her character glorifies suicide but doesn't even put it in a realistic light at all. She ends up feeling 2D and ingenuine. Maybe if her character was simply just fleshed out more, it would've been drastically better. I think I may have to retouch on her character in the future, but I don't think I can understand where the author was going with this. It ended up feeling like a shitty knock-off Hannah Baker, and that is really saying something.

Enjoyment: 1/10

Absolutely pathetic. I couldn't enjoy this manga at all. I came in expecting some heavy psychological hits, deep philosophy but it all came out edgy for the sake of being edgy. You may like the contrast with the serious topics and the vibrant art, or you may like the relationship dynamic between Shiina and Kaname. Whatever it is, I for one didn't like it one bit. I thought that the contrast was nice, but it really didn't tie into my enjoyment. The dynamic between those two characters felt 2D and I thought the story couldn't touch upon suicide well. In every chapter I have always contemplated why I even continue to the next chapter, it was just a extremely distasteful piece of media.

Overall? 4/10. It's alright but I couldn't find myself enjoying it.

I'll admit I'm moderately new to creepy manga as I was just doing a little delve into the category for Halloween, but I feel I can confidently say that "Harem End" is one of the eeriest mangas out there. I say this from the story design, which I see as horrifyingly brilliant and intriguing for the horror genre - especially when having been acquainted with anime/manga prior (which I assume all of you have). I definitely won't be speaking much at all into the elements of the story here as this manga is too much of an ongoing experience that just a mention of an aspect could ruin a good sum of the response to it's developments. All I can say to the story is that it's smart, while also a bit wild - taking in some common tropes and not exactly deconstructing them in a way one might expect. To the more technical aspects of the manga though, the art is well-proportioned, but takes a bit of a style similar to how rotoscoping appears. The style might not connect to some, but if you want to try this manga out, you best be ready for things you aren't quite comfortable with - so I wouldn't stop just because of that. The characters are all interesting, while I wouldn't exactly say deep and complex. The characters are consistent, however, and are generally coordinated to be smart for the given circumstance.

Recommendations for this manga aren't that open though, and I don't know if I'd recommend traditional horror fans to read this. This manga isn't exactly horror as it's more suspenseful and grotesquely intriguing. I was never scared while reading "Harem End" (while I should point out I don't scare easily), but I was definitely disturbed. It's kinda odd coming out of something disturbing and summing it up to an enjoyable experience as that'll definitely vary, but I do feel this manga hit hard where it meant to and will likely leave a lasting impression on me. There were no pieces of the story I felt out of place or parts that began to bore, taking note of the extra chapters. It all felt very inter-connected and designed. When bringing some smartness to the table, it also managed to be convincing while I couldn't say for sure if what these characters are set up to do checks out with reality. I would recommend "Harem End" to those that are either interested by this write-up or to those who are really open about their experiences and are ready for something quite eerie and odd to change the pace.

When I got the first two volumes of this manga, I was honestly so addicted to it.
It was so great that I didn't want to stop reading, but that time, only these two volumes were released so I had to wait.

Waiting for a new Volume was really hard. So of couse, I was the happiest person ever when finally, the last volume came out.
The last chapters started out very good, just like the ones before.

The end, however, was a total disappointment. I had expected everything, but this was a bit too..crazy.

Still, the manga is pretty awesome. A very good manga for all splatter fans.

Taguchi Masayuki, the author of the hit Battle Royale, takes us into a world of lush, verdant vegetation and........ monsters. Big, Bad, nasty, hungry, monsters. How do we get there? You have to get hit by a meteor.

The story was VERY PROMISING in the beginning. Without spoiling too much, the story is about an alternate world (mainly a rain forest) where humans turn into monsters and eat each other. The main characters are just trying their best to survive.

The story is divided into three separate arcs. The first arc is the "present," where the heroine gets transported into the alternate world and meets the new hero protagonist. The Second arc is the "past," where we are presented with the events that happened before the heroine met the hero. The third arc is back into the "present," continuing off where the hero and the heroine meet.

I found the story to be very enjoyable to read, but also very depressing. This isnt one of those happy go lucky - alls - well - that - ends - well manga. The manga delivers a deep philosophical message about.... redemption. How one can redeem him/herself if he or she has done something regrettable. How its not too late to atone for your mistakes.

The worst thing about the story has got to be the ending. The ending was WAAAAAAY too rushed. Just when we though we were answering some questions, the manga gives us new ones and just leave us unsatisfied. They also dont tell us what happened to the main characters. What happened? Where are they now? Did they die? Are they okay? These sort of questions popped into my mind at the end of the series.

Nonetheless, it was a very good read and I enjoyed every second of it.

The art is very well drawn. Its graphic and gory, getting down to the details of the organs and such. The women all look beautiful, the men look (normal), and the monsters look hideous and cool. Perfect style for this type of manga.

I found most of the characters to be likable. Even though I loved all of them (even the bad ones), I want to focus on the main protagonist, Shinma Shingo. Shinma Shingo is a happy go lucky eccentric guy who hates fighting, even though he is good at it. He teaches others what his master has taught him, giving others hope when they're in the pits of despair. Hes funny, gentle, and good looking (even though he's bald). Shingo has to be my most favorite character.

Character development can be found throughout this series. Because of Shingo and his teachings from his master, other characters such as Ma boy had the strength to stand up for himself and look at himself in a new light. Not just Ma boy, but others as well.

I enjoyed this manga thoroughly. I recommend it to anyone who is into gore and touchy feel (lol). This manga is only 10 chapters so it will probably take around 15 ~ 20 minutes to read.