Desire Climax Review

Summary From ShoujoMagic:

Omori Mio is 17 years old. To help out her desperately poor family, she takes on a part-time job. Then, one night, a boy snatches a kiss from her and offers her money, saying, "I'll buy you." Who is the boy who stole Mio's first kiss...!?



Artwork: 9/10
The artwork truly is very lovely. It's really cute in a lot of places, and makes certain male characters appropriately attractive haha. I do love how she does distinguish between several different characters well. (I will get into that later). There are no weird confusing bits where characters look too similar. It is not overly cutesy at all (no flowers all over the place), but it was a little inconsistent in the beginning.

Plot: 4/10
I don't want to spoil anything too much, but the plot was all over the place. I read in a forum that someone thought that it was cool that this had so many plot twists. In my opinion, it had too many. It was really inconsistent, and this series changed so much within such a short span of time that by the end, it was not the manga I had started reading. It was almost about an entirely different subject matter entirely. The family conflict in the end was so cliche, and though you can see the mangaka did foreshadow it, you could see it coming obviously coming a million miles away. I was really disappointed with how many weird plot twists were thrown in such a short time. I wish it had stayed true to its original feel, because it seemed to turn in a completely different direction afterwards.

Characters: 6/10
Overall, characters were likeable, but so dramatic all of the time! And it was really obvious on the mangaka's part for many of the plot twists. I felt that a lot of the arcs were such stretches, and overly dramatic. While this does mean that the characters are vivid, I think that they are too exaggerated most of the time. In addition, it does bother me a little about their relationship--it is somewhat abusive, and rather disturbing.

Overall Appeal: 7/10
The reason I give this overall score so high is that I really like the series and the entire original premise. However, the rest of the series was very disappointing because I really did not expect many of the things the mangaka did. I wish it had not been so disappointing, but otherwise, I did really enjoy reading it. I must warn that it does have some sex in it, so if you don't want to read that, you are forewarned. Also, the title is super awkward haha, but you at least get the idea.

So a few other things I wanted to say.
1. I received notice that someone was having virus problems with the site. If you are too, please let me know in the poll to the right.
2. Are you interested in reading more of these reviews? I read less manga than I used to, but I think I could try to write a few more manga reviews.

Things I've Been Reading Recently

- Steel Rose: My goodness, I'm starting to dislike Leting a lot more. She's really a bitch, and pretty stuck up and rude as well. I used to think she was a cool strong female protagonist, but she's just annoying now.

- Silver: I LOVE THIS SO MUCH. I like the beginning particularly because of the premise. The recent chapters seem to have declined in quality a little; they're mostly just sex scenes o__o". It seems a little overboard/unnecessary. I think I may start reading more Josei because of their more developed plots.

- Paradise City: So random haha. I haven't gotten very far, but I'm liking it so far. All the characters are so colorful!

- Faster Than a Kiss: I came back to this series after not reading it for a while, and while it is cliche, and not the best story ever, I like reading it. It's fun and cute, not really serious reading.

What have YOU been reading? What have you liked so far?

Meditations on Ingenuo Chp 77 [SPOILER ALERT]

Since we are getting close to the close of this manhua, I thought I might finally put in my own two cents about the newest chapter (it will be coming out very soon! Thank you all for being patient through my rocky November!).

I actually really enjoyed this chapter. I think that everything is coming together very nicely, and the characters are just SUPERB. I think we see a great shift in everything.

- Though Aiwen is far from my favorite character, I can finally begin to accept him, as I think he is also beginning to accept Jiayu/Jo. I think that perhaps he may earn some pity points in the future. I really am glad that he has become less forceful. After all, he really is only a teenager, and his behavior is entirely understandable, to be honest.

- Gio begins to look pitiful, not to earn pity points, but his behavior merely makes him look childish, as Aiwen points out. He is like a pathetic puppy that doesn't warrant a pity dogbone. But I think his character is filled out a little more.

- Jo is beginning to look more human. I'm glad that he and Ms. Zhang finally had a heart to heart. I think that Jo is really very complicated. He is such a delightful mix of contradictions, with a painful past and family to boot. A lot of people complain about him, but I really like how Ryan develops his character. Everything has a motivation, everything has a reason, and I think Ryan really does a good job expressing the nature of Jiayu/Jo's relationship in this chapter.

- Jiayu is going back to her cute childish (not annoying immature) ways that I kind of missed. Though she is still a kid, we definitely see her mature.

- HOW COOL IS MS. ZHANG?!?!?!?! Okay, that's all I have to say for her. 8D

- Even the director is a little better, but I am a little uncertain and skeptical still. When he tells Jiayu that he likes her work, I think he is being genuine, though he could also be pointing it out in order to get her to stay with the project. I don't know. I think we should adopt the humanist opinion here, though.

Anyway, because the chapter had so much content (both pagewise, and plotwise), it was really a struggle for Grase and I to translate, but we finally did it! Some things we discovered were UTTERLY UNTRANSLATABLE, but we somehow struggled through it, and hope we conveyed Ryan's message properly.

I will be posting the chapter very, very soon, so remember to be filled with antici--





pation!

Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler) Review!

So... I promised a review on Black Butler :) I'm going to follow up on that promise. Keep in mind that I am not completely caught up! I am only through Volume 5 or so.


Summary from MF
Within the noble families of England exists Phantomhive's butler: Sebastian Michaelis. He has unquestionably perfect knowledge, manners and martial arts as well as talents in every other area imaginable. Sebastian is so perfect, though he is forever destined to meet the needs of a 12 year old master (later 13). Wearing a black tailcoat whilst gracefully brewing the world's strongest red tea, how is it possible that such a perfect butler is able to cope with such a demanding master?

The secrets of Sebastian and his cunning young master Ciel slowly unfold as tragic and unexpected cases make their appearance.


Artwork: 10/10
I LOVE IT! I love that this series is shounen drawn by a female author. I actually really love shounen manga, but the one thing that bars me from reading it is the artwork, and this is gorgeous. I love that it is also historical fiction, so the costumes and setting and everything are just excellent! It's cute, yet has the typical action of shounen.
Plot: 9/10
Okay, besides it being about the Victorian age, which is excellent, I really am interested by the premise of this manga. I really enjoy the cases, and the mangaka does superb research on the subjects. It's amazing how in depth and detailed her work goes. I love how she combines fantasy, action, mystery, and historical fiction into one believable, excellently written story. Terrific work! However, sometimes the cases are a little disbelievable, which is not really a word, but you know what I mean, right?
Characters: 10/10
You can definitely tell this is shounen written by a woman. Sebastian is excellently hot all the time, and Ciel is so cute. I think the thing I like most about the characters is that they are complex. Though I am not very far (so I do not know so many secrets), I think that each and every character has a backstory that makes sense. Excellent there.
Overall Appeal: 9/10
I love this series a lot. I love how the mangaka is clever and witty, and her character's little idiosyncrasies are portrayed in such a hilarious way. Overall, love, love, love this series, would highly recommend it, and I can't wait to finish reading it. The story is constructed in such a brilliant fashion, and the characters are so endearing, and nice to look at as well. If you haven't already, check it out!

Reviews on Parfait Tic and C-Blossom

So, just thought I'd share my thoughts on two series. C-Blossom is a series I recently read, and Parfait Tic is a series I recently reread.

C-Blossom Case 729
Artwork: 7/10
Some of the action scenes were a little confusing for me. Maybe it's just because I don't read action a lot :D. All in all, it wasn't that bad, to be honest, it just didn't appeal to me, because I am a shoujo manga reader haha. I think the style can be likened to Death Note? Hair is definitely similar, eyes are kind of.
Plot: 8/10
I liked the premise, and it was really interesting. The situation kept me really on-edge, so it definitely is exciting, and I liked certain surprises. However, I take off points for the ending. First off, I would have liked to see the series filled out more. I realize that it is a spinoff, but still, two volumes is a little short for the content. Secondly, the ending was very open, which in the case left me rather wanting.
Characters: 9/10
I really thought the characters were portrayed very realistically, and I think each character was very dear to me as I read.
Overall Appeal: 8.5/10
I really enjoyed this series. It is a very short (2-volume) series, and it starts off immediately. I really enjoyed the story itself, if not the artwork. I would definitely recommend this to people who enjoy reading action mangas, but not so much to big fans of romance.

Note: it's marked as shoujo on mangafox, but I disagree. It's kind of shounen as well. So boys, don't be scared. :)

Summary (From Condensation)
Matsumiya Kana’s world is turned upside down when her father is arrested on charges of embezzling from the Ministry of Defense. She decides to escape the trauma by transferring to a private boarding school, but trouble follows…

Megane bishounen Kisaragi Kou gets Kana to open up to him, but what’s this?! He isn’t really who he says he is? And who’s the dude in the trucker’s cap lurking outside her window? Welcome to C-blossom -case729- a series with action, intrigue, and well…a plot.

Parfait Tic
Artwork: 9/10
It's very cutesy, typical shoujo. I LOVE the facial expressions though, especially chibi versions. Overall, the artwork is visually appealing, but I enjoy it most for its comedy.
Plot: 6/10
There's a lot of repetition, and back and forth, which is typical for shoujo. Fortunately, I don't think it's *too* repetitive, but it is rather redundant. I don't really enjoy this manga for the plot, though. There are other things to recommend it.
Characters: 8/10
I take of points for the female lead D< (This is inevitable whenever I read shoujo lmao). She cries like EVERY panel! I think sometimes she's cute and quirky, but other times it's just annoying. I give full points to Ichi though (ICHIIII~~ MY LOVEEE~~~ jk). Daiya as a character is well-constructed (no personal preference though XD). No, but seriously, the guys are complicated, and I like that. Fuuko is too simplistic. (This would offend her haha).
Overall appeal: 8.5/10
I've taken points of mostly for plot and Fuuko's annoyingness, but if you ask me, I'm not going to stop reading this manga. I love it for so many other things (ICHIIIII~~~~), like (ICHIII~~~) its comedy. It really cracks me up all the time, and the author has a very good sense of humor. Fuuko sometimes really amuses me when she's not being annoying. Ichi/Daiya are really cute and funny. I think that the plot gets better in the future, though...

Not really the best shoujo out there, but really good if you like a laugh; I really like it!

Summary (from MangaFox):
Fuuko is a happy and cheerful girl. One day, two cousins, Daiya and Ichi, move into the apartment upstairs. Cold Ichi and mischievous Daiya gave a very bad first impression! All three are going to the same school as well! How will Fuuko's high school life turn out?

If you're interested, be sure to read these series and let me know what you think!