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There are a limited number of manga series that can be considered worldwide hits. Rather surprisingly, considering the amount of dialogue and seriousness of a story that the author had doubted would be accepted as a Shounen (young boy) Jump title even in Japan, Death Note became one of those titles. When a story about someone in our world finding a killing tool Death Gods use (and killing anyone they view as evil with to create a better world) becomes so successful it's a little special - it isn't every day that a story where words and not fists are used as weapons becomes this popular. Death Note has become so popular that there have even been stories on the American news about kids at school getting suspended after notebooks were found on them with details of deaths written inside!

My first encounter with Death Note was with the anime. I saw discussions about it on a forum I used to visit frequently just after the anime started airing in Japan and what I read interested me, a lover of dark and depressing stories, enough to download the first episode. I was blown away by the quality of the story, the mix of real world and fiction blending superbly. Every episode thrilled me more than the last during the first section of the story, never allowing me to remove myself from the edge of my seat. I watched all 37 episodes weekly and was very rarely disappointed.

Fast forwarding to the recent past, I discovered a Death Note manga box set was coming out by chance. Each of the volumes has a different coloured spine, with an image of a different Death God at the top of each of the spines. The covers all have the same theme: a cross, one or two characters shown and faint Death Note rules in the background, with each cover using a different coloured background. The art inside the books is truly wonderful; clearly benefiting from Death Note having had one person work on the story and another on the art. The characters expressions are amazing, with the artist clearly being very good at showing extreme emotions. The only problem with the art I spotted was with the early drawings of the Kira investigation team members being poor, the reason for this being that the artist didn't know during the early stages if they were important characters or not.

After only recently reading volume 1-27 of Naruto and seeing the author of that series use the pages in-between the chapters to reveal lots about himself, what disappointed me about the volumes wasn't the covers - it was the lack of extras. The author of Death Note seems to have used a pen name, meaning he or she didn't want to reveal too much, which seems to be the reason behind the author not adding any information about his/her life in-between the chapters. Sure, there are a few Death Note rules in-between the chapters, but most of the rules aren't very interesting...reading about the experiences of the author would've been much better.

I can now finally get into what matters: the story. Death Note is, as you can doubt work out from the name alone, one that deals with death on a regular basis. It starts with Light Yagami, a genius student who finds life all too easy, finding a notebook that a Death God dropped into the human world out of boredom. Light's initial reaction was to not take the notebook or the rules written inside it seriously, but he soon came to the horrifying realization that the notebook wasn't a joke when, out of curiosity, he wrote down the name of someone who was holding kids hostages in a school - the person died from a heart-attack 40 seconds after the name had been wrote down, just as the Death Note rules stated. Once Light paid attention to the rules, he understood that he could make anyone have a heart attack if, with their face in mind, he wrote down their name, or he could be more creative and specify exactly how they die.

From there, Light quickly overcame his fear and started to think about how he could better the world with this power. He was bored with his life prior to finding the Death Note and was disgusted with a world where criminals escaped punishment time and time again, so the Death Note made him happier than he'd ever been once he got over the fact that he'd actually killed another human. But, as you'd expect, Light wasn't doing this purely out of the goodness of his cold heart: he wants to become the God of the new world he plans to create with the power of the Death Note. As Ryuk (the Death God who dropped the notebook) accurately points out at the start, even if Light manages to accomplish his goal he would have to write his own name in at the end since he would be the last 'evil' person alive.

Much to the frustration of Light and the joy of suspense lovers worldwide, an enemy who could stop him was quick to stand in his way, the enemy being someone called L; the greatest detective in the world. Light's arrogance and temper allowed L to stun Light in their very first encounter, and from that point onwards a psychological battle between the two got underway. Light/Kira (what he comes to be known as by the public) wants to discover the name and face of L in order to kill him, while L wants to find out who Kira is and capture him. Both hide behind masks and, with Light able to kill anyone he knows the name and face of, the battle between the two is not without many twists and turns as the two geniuses try to outwit the other.

Death Note is mostly very well written and thrilling to read. The first 34-36(ish) chapters are all brilliant, the best manga I've read. The quality does then drop during the Yotsuba section for a fair few chapters, with comedy and needless chatter taking away from the seriousness and slowing down the story, but the story returns to being epic before too long and then hits its highest point with the tear-inducing finale to the first half of the story. Then, once the second half of the story gets going, it starts out exciting but the quality quickly deteriorates and the pacing becomes very poor, with far too much needless chatter taking up space. And, after a lengthy period of boring chapters, the story resumes being thrilling near chapter 80 and this time it doesn't stop until the very end - the author seemed to rediscover the magic that made the first section of the story so amazing.

I suppose it's fair to call Death Note a bit of a mixed bag due to how the quality shifts from stunning to average from time to time, but the best parts of the story more than make up for the less interesting parts. I don't even think the areas I've described as average were that bad, they just don't have the wow factor the best sections of the story have.

What makes Death Note stand out in my mind is how well the author depicts our world. The Death Note world is bleak, depressing and full of people who don't deserve to live - just like our world. Whilst reading, I couldn't help but wonder what would happen if a Death Note appeared in our world: would people still say killing is wrong or, as the world changed as more and more criminals died and crime reduced dramatically, would Kira become a God in the eyes of people? It's a question we'll never know the answer to but it's pretty interesting thinking material for a Shonen Jump title to provide readers.

The author has made a lot of surprising comments in interviews, the two most attention grabbing being that he/she supposedly only had up to chapter 3 planned when he/she started and that he/she didn't intend to send out a message with the story. It's fascinating that someone could write such an intelligent story with so little forward planning and create so many in-depth discussions about topics such as good and evil when the author only intended to create an entertaining story. Using myself as an example of someone who reads more into Death Note than the author intended, I've always thought the message Death Note sends out is clear: it's not possible for a human to reach the realm of God, no matter how perfect the person who tries may be.

With the story parts done and dusted, there is one more important area I need to talk about: the characters. Death Note has a cast of characters that start out complete, which is highly unusual. Everything you need to know about Light is revealed in the first chapter (he's intelligent, selfish and has a God complex), L is an eccentric genius with no social skills (no development needed), Misa is a simple woman who is obsessed with Kira due to her past and everything you need to know about the important members of the Kira investigation team is clear from their personalities. It would've been nice if, for example, a few flashbacks to L's past had been included, but it wasn't necessary for either the plot or his character, and the same can be said about the others. I mean, did we need to see a flashback of Light's past that tried to make him into a more sympathetic character? It would've ruined his character; he's supposed to be a character that cares only about himself, not one who started hating others because of a tragic event or something.

There is one fairly big character negative that needs to be mentioned and, due to the risk of spoilers, I'm going to have to be vague. A character who enters the story in the second half starts out by doing everything he can in order to be the best, even going as far as using and killing others to reach his goal. But, near the end, he does something illogical that goes against his character, and that illogical action resulted in the story ending how it does. So, at the expense of the character, the author used him in order to reach the conclusion he/she she wanted. Even though I love the ending, it's bad writing for a character to do something out of character for the sake of the story.

...Anyway, since this review has gone on for far longer than I intended already, I'm going to attempt to end this after I touch on one more issue: The anime. In my eyes, the anime is the best manga adaptation in existence - it's near enough perfect in my eyes. Madhouse (the studio behind the anime) made the experience far better with the perfect choice of colour, great 'camera angles', small additions that made certain scenes far more dramatic (such as a certain evil grin in episode 25) and a FAR better second half of the story. Madhouse did the best thing they could've done when they removed all the boring chatter out of the second half of the story - they turned what was slow-paced and boring into something fast-paced and exciting. The ONLY thing they did wrong was changing the ending slightly. Also, I have to mention that Death Note has the best soundtrack I've ever heard (I still listen to it even now) and the best Japanese voice acting performance I've heard.

To sum it all up, Death Note is brilliant and no-one should miss out on reading/seeing it. If you're the sort of person who likes to see a review end with a rating, 8/10 is the rating I give it. I think it's fair that the (in my opinion) inferior manga receives a slightly lower rating than the anime. Although I want to go into more detail, the review has gone on for longer than I intended already and time is getting on, so I'm going to stop here. I hope whoever reads this finds it at least a little bit helpful!

Hamster Club tells a story of adopting and raising three dwarf hamsters through a 4 panel comic strip style. The main element of Hamster Club is it’s cuteness. One volume of the book is usually around 130 pages and it has 6 volumes so it’s not a long read.

The story is quite limited with the 4 panel format. There is no coherent story to follow most of the time. It’s just small individual stories. But the point of Hamster Club isn’t to tell a grandiose story, but instead a cute one. And it does deliver on that. Hamster Club made me smile more times than I would like to admit.

Alongside the story, the artstyle brings a cuteness factor. There are artists who make better panels and such, but Hamster Club has to be one of the cutest manga I have seen. The designs of the three hamsters and their expressions just melt my heart. They could be a little more realistic ofcourse, but I feel as if realism wasn’t a priority.

Speaking of the hamsters, there are three of them. Their names are: Shigecchi, Endoo and Pooh. They all have a great personality. Shigecchi is stubborn, Endoo is hysterical and Pooh is lazy. The design enforces these characteristics. Also there is the writer’s self insert as the main human character who owns the three hamsters. I like how every character is executed. There of course could be more depth, but as I already mentioned that isn’t the point.

I enjoyed reading this wholeheartedly. The story isn’t anything special but that’s what makes Hamster Club special. It’s a comfort manga for me. Something I can read and turn myself off.

This is more of a first reaction, rather than a full review. I will update it as the story progresses.

Red Sprite is a manga that started in SJ right after Bleach ended, yet it received close to zero hype, thus not many people have heard of it. The author, Yagi Tomohiro, is also relatively new to the manga industry, having only drawn one more series for SJ, which never took off and ended after 20 chapters. It's safe to assume that the expectations for this series are not set too high.

STORY: I was pleasantly surprised by the story. The mangaka has managed to create a unique setting, which is a huge plus in today's saturated shounen industry. In only 11 chapters he has managed to create a solid world and has given the reader enough information, so as to prevent confusion, while also not giving out too much. The ordeals thundercore humans face are also very realistic, hence the main cast's troubles stick with the reader.

The progression of the plot is also a potential selling point for this series: this series is quite fast paced. For example, the main character doesn't start off as a total weakling as in other popular shounen. Instead, the first arc begins after a time skip, during which the MC has acquired enough strength to be able to protect himself and his crewmates.

The first arc is both unique and standard. That sounds contradictory at first, but while the premise of the arc is the search for the protagonist's childhood friends, the way the mangaka goes about developing it is different to what we've seen in most other manga so far.

As for complaints I have with the story, I guess I'm not entirely sure where exactly it is headed at this point. Sure, the protagonist has set a goal for himself, but since it's different to the goals of other shounen protagonists, I can't see where this is going. That might be a huge advantage to this series, but the mangaka is treading on new ground, which means that there isn't a set recipe he can follow. Instead, everything depends on his skills as a writer, something which he hasn't proved yet.

CHARACTERS: There is not much to say about the characters at this point, since it's too early. The main character is a classic shounen protagonist, somewhat similar to Luffy in my opinion, since he is quite strong, confident and immature, yet has those few moments where he exhibits unexpected maturity. There is a relatively large cast of characters, but most of them haven't got enough time yet, so I can't comment on them. Two people that stand out are his two childhood friends. They have been fleshed out quite well for the time being.

ART: In the beginning the art was average. It wasn't bad, but it left no impression on me. I'm happy to say that lately I have seen steady improvement and certain panels, where the mangaka "flexes his muscles", were very impressive. I can see this turning in a very good looking manga in the future.

(I'm not in the position to write a paragraph about enjoyment yet. This is too early to judge)

OVERALL: I think this series shows a lot of promise and I hope it turns into something great. However, I can't be sure about it for two reasons: First of all, it hasn't got much attention. That's very scary, since this could indicate a premature cancelling of this series, which would be a huge shame. Secondly, I feel that, while it has the potential to become a relatively popular series in SJ, there is also a high chance of the author making a mistake developing the story, due to not following any paved path. This means that there is a high risk of it crashing and burning.

Ultimately, I feel this deserves more attention and would definitely recommend that you check it out.

Edit: Well, it got axed. Sad, but expected I guess.

I will first start by saying the idea this story is trying to make is a little better than the general death game idea. A group of students are forced to kill each other or die one by one by the hands of the person they bullied. The problem comes from how it is made in the story. The motivation of the bullied kid doesn't have enough weight and is quickly explained within half of a page. None of the students seem redeemable or have enough growth to feel like they deserved this. The story feels rushed and if you are looking for good death game stories, you best look elsewhere.

Big Order is a manga by the same author as Mirai Nikki, and it's very easy to see the resemblances not only in the art style, but in the characters and story as well. It's kind of like a combination of Mirai Nikki, Code Geass, and Devil Survivor 2. This review contains several references to those shows, but there are no spoilers for them either. Currently only 11 chapters are translated.

Story - 8/10

I found the plot to be a little confusing at times, but I can still explain it pretty well.

The world has many people called "Orders" who each have a different power based on whatever wish they initially made to a mysterious being called "Daisy." These orders started appearing many years ago, but the most famous and infamous of them all is the protagonist, Hoshimiya Eiji, who is known for the "Destruction of the world." Ten years ago, Eiji made a wish which led to the world beginning to kind of fall apart. Countless people lost their lives, and he has since become hated and feared worldwide. But all Eiji really wants to do is protect his step-sister, Sena.

For a while, Eiji was just acting like a normal high school boy who skipped class often. One day a new girl named Kurenai Rin transfers into Eiji's class. For the first time in his life, Eiji thinks he is falling in love with someone. But, if you've read Mirai Nikki, you know there's no way the female lead of this manga that resembles it so much could be normal. But don't think Rin is a complete clone of Gasai Yuno either, she's actually quite different. Anyway, later that day, Rin shows up outside of Eiji apartment saying that she just moved in above him, but she lost her key. When he lets his guard down, Rin tries to kill Eiji. It turns out ten years ago, Eiji's wish kill both of Rin's parents. She has been searching for him for years, has finally found him, and now wants to kill him.

Rin attempts to kill Eiji, but he escapes. In the process, he also finds out that Rin is an Order with a power that allows her to regenerate her body making her invincible. Rin goes to the hospital Eiji's sister, Sena, is at and kidnaps her in order to draw Eiji out. She also has troops and a helicopter with a machine gun waiting at the hospital to kill him. In order to save Sena, Eiji finally uses his Order power which he has not used in ten years.

That's the one thing I really love about this manga. Eiji's power is one the most creative and unique powers I have seen in a long time. He has a power that marks his territory anywhere he goes, and only other Orders like Rin can see it. Anyone or anything that is inside his territory can be controlled by him through this strange creature that appears every time he uses his power. By using his power, he forces Rin to do several things: Not kill him or Sena and to stay within his territory at all times. As much as Rin hates this, it has now become physically impossible for her to kill him.

After this, the organization that Rin works for called Dazaifu led by Hiiragi and nine other Orders are revealed. Their plan is to help Eiji gain world domination, which ties in with his wish that he made to Daisy ten years ago. But that doesn't mean the organization, and Hiiragi specfically, is really on his side.

Character - 7/10

Now it's time for a Big Order/Mirai Nikki comparison

- Hoshimiya Eiji = Amano Yukiteru + balls
- Kurenai Rin = Gasai Yuno - the love + revenge against protagonist
- Daisy = Murmur + Deus ex Machina (there's not much explained yet about her and some mysterious other person/being though)
- Dazaifu + Eiji + Rin = 12 diary holders
- Hiiragi (this may be a little bit of a stretch) = Akise Aru
- Heavy Rockstar = Uryuu Minene

The character designs, especially for Eiji and Rin, are fairly similar to those from Mirai Nikki as well. Eiji really has a bit of Lelouch Lamperouge mixed into him as well. His desire to save Sena resembles Lelouch's desire to save Nunally, but Eiji is far less flamboyant and charismatic. Rin, unlike Yuno to Yuki, does not love Eiji. She only goes along with him because she cannot kill him due to his power, but that does not stop her from trying. She only protects him so because she will not let anyone other than her kill Eiji. Hiiragi is really a bit of a mix between Akise Aru and Yamato from Devil Survivor 2. His motives are unclear for keeping Sena hostage and helping to preserve her life from her life-threatening disease. Eiji does not trust him, and I can't blame him. Daisy is the mysterious being who resembles a girl kind of like C.C. (another Code Geass reference). not much is known about her of the other being with her except that she goes around the world granting people's wishes and turning them into Orders with special powers.

Art - 7/10

Being by the same mangaka as Mirai Nikki, the art obviously is extremely similar. Some fighting scenes are a little hard to follow, but the emotions portrayed by the characters in this dark manga are wonderfully portrayed. Not much to really say, if you like Mirai Nikki's art style, you'll like this and vice verse if you don't.

Enjyoment - 7/10

The story is a little confusing at times and the large character cast of the Dazaifu is somewhat confusing. Only around 5 or 6 of the ten Dazaifu Orders have even been showed so far aside from just giving their name and showing them alongside everyone else.

Pros:
- Eiji's power is awesome and he's not a wimp (personally I like Yukiteru despite that fact, but just saying)
- Rin is not quite as good as Yuno so far, but is still a great female lead
- The art is good in darker scenes
- Character designs are good despite some not being that original

Cons:
- While it has elements of Mirai Nikki and Code Geass in the story, it has Devil Survivor 2's confusing plot elements mixed in
- Fighting scenes are sometimes confusing
- Large character cast for only 11 chapters that has not been fleshed out yet

If you like any of the three anime/manga that I have compared Big Order to, then I suggest reading this. It may be a little confusing, but hopefully that will change as the story progresses.

This IS NOT A Yaoi
Just To Let You its A SHOUNEN AI

BRIEFLY SPEAKING

To begin with Maki(Student) lives with a family thats very dependent and demanding of him. He finds relief with Dasku(Teacher), a young looking man who cant seem to do anything himself. Being more than happy to help Dasku out, as he is finally given a thank you for his efforts, he easily falls for the younger looking man. Things are happy between them until Maki learns just who Dasku is, and then misadventures ensue


Hope It Helps

Everything you thought about the harem genre to be destroyed in one manga.

This manga has an exceptionally dark story line that has a mix of mystery together with the story. I would describe this manga as something really 'messed up'.

People breaking down and losing control of their logical thinking and going to extremes to survive. In other words, the story is much like a 'death game' story where everyone will stake everything to survive.

Character developments are well done. The characters change and adapt through the course of the story and have interesting backgrounds. Its a story that keeps you engaged and wanting to know what will happen next and how the characters will continue to change, for better or worse.

So if you're up for an extremely dark and disturbing, psychological manga, then this is for you.

STORY: It's basically Shield Hero, but the foundation isn't as good as the start of Shield Hero. They just skipped to the part where he got killed, I hope they add some stuff first like how he was deceived. Hence it's only a 7.

ART: It's fine, the gore is there and I can feel the intensity. 9/10

CHARACTER: This is the path that I wish Naofumi took in Shield Hero, not the Hero kind. Even the sidekick is a twister raphtalia. 10/10

ENJOYMENT :8/10 too early to judge since it's still quite early,but it's very good so far.

OVERALL: 8/10, i'd recommend this is if you tokyo ghoul and shield hero

Don't read this. It's not worth it, even as a "it's so bad it's good" type of read, and, if you're the sort of person who was interested in the premise due to it sounding like it'd appeal to bdsm tastes: it doesn't get that far, so this manga isn't even that good for that.
If anything, this manga is a cautionary tale of what happens if you have no spine and let people push you around. A story like that by itself isn't bad and in fact can be interesting, however it's extremely tone deaf and almost insultingly predictable, it's a very typical "jerk guy and doormat girl," taken to its worst levels. It reads like a bad y/n wattpad story. If that's your thing, then you'll like this story, otherwise, steer clear.
I will concede and say that the art is appealing, the character designs fit each character well.

wow. my first review... here we go.

this manga is not the kinda thing i read. it's a love story and thats not my cup of tea but hear me out this manga is good on a funny way.

the manga is about a playboy that can get into any girl pants he wants. (lucky, i wish i lived in mangaland) one day he see a girl and wants in her pants and he gets shoot down. the playboy is, at this point pissed and will do anything to get the only girl to ever turn him down.

this manga was fun for me to read. i really liked the offbeat-ness of it all. i hate the shojo art but a fun story kinda makes up for it. it was really short coming in at 1 volume with 5 chapter but i feel the shortness is a good thing not a bad one. i really like the story, it was funny and kinda dare i say....cute? i'm a manly mans man and like to watch stuff blow the hell up real good but it was good to read a love story that was very well done and not over-the-top lovely-dovey. so if you can get passed the bad artwork, you'll find a little hidden gem and a great read.

and yes, i really did read this and like it. a solid manga that pulls in a 7 to of 10.