Review: Rurouni Kenshin

Ah, a favorite of mine. It's the story of a samurai who decides to stop killing but to continue helping the world. It's called a love story by the author but it doesn't really seem that way until the last couple chapters which seem kinda forced. Its definetely a comedy most of the time but you can't really see there being love between Kenshin and Kaoru.

Review:

Art: 8
-Perfectly fine. Its one of the few shounen manga that doesn't suffer from the Space Phenomenon (where lots of space is wasted or where pictures are huge to hide these but there is no point or detailed added). Character design is unique enough.

Character: 7
-It does have the stereotypical "useless" character and even a useless female: Kaoru. But they are seen often and used often that it just doesn't seem that terrible. In fact, it is usually the right hand man that seems to be getting weaker and weaker through the story, but Sano is constantly important. For that, RK gets a good score already. As for the enemies, they are unique enough and plenty of interesting ones you can like.

Story: 7
-The idea of helping the world without killing seems fairly unique. But once you get past the Kyoto Saga, the battles are a bit...predictable. However, there are a constantly new plot twists so the story doesn't seem terrible. It kinda feels all the same toward the end but it's still pretty good.

Scene: 8
-Scenes are set up appropriately. There are breaks between fights enough to allow people to get hyped up. Usually, there are never high intensity scenes though there WAS one moment that sticks out for me.

Overall: 8

Final Thoughts: A great manga, even for beginners. It is rated as older teen but I feel a 13 year old who doesn't mind some 'blood' will enjoy it just the same. I recommend this to anyone. It won't be super exciting but the story is fairly enjoyable to read. Great rereadable too.

Review: Negima

You can probably guess my opinion on it, but I LOVE NEGIMA! But I will be unbiased in my review.

It follows a 10 year mage who wants to find and be like his father who did great things around the world, such as stopping a bloody war in the magic world. It's set in the modern times so there are guns, atomic bombs, and high tech robots. However, it has old school swords and ninja skills making it a complex environment. If you want a summary, read my two other posts on it.

Review:

Characters: 9
-every character is unique and uniquely designed. You will find something that you like in every character. Every character is important so you will be sure to see your favorite character appear plenty of times, no matter how minor.

Story: 10
-the highlight of Negima is its story that gets better and better. Though its generic in its setup (finding his father), it gets quite unique and interesting as it goes on. Pactio cards are interesting and unique.

Art: 10
-lovely and detailed. Even backgrounds are amazing. Only problem is the excessive fan service.

Scenes: 8
-every scene has a point: whether improving a characterization, advance the main plot, foreshadow future roles or events, or advance a subplot. The scenes have the usually literary process: slow intesity part that sets up conflict, more and more interesting conflict, high intensity climax (usually amazing action scenes that trump even Naruto, Bleach, YYH, etc), and then refreshing and satisfying resolution which lets us breath again. Sometimes the break between major sagas is too long for me (I love the action) but that can be a necessity sometimes, though its usually comedic effect or to prevent us from dying of anxiousness while Ken takes a break.

Overall Score: 9

Final thoughts: I would recommend this series to anyone, even a beginner to manga. If they can just handle the fan service and slow beginning (which is long), they will get to the very interesting sagas. It has very high rereadability as there is always something new to notice. I've reread it a billion times and the fights never bore you.

Review: Ichigo 100%

I already ranted about its ending but here is the review of the manga as a whole.

A harem manga that is consistently interesting and funny. It has acceptable art and the fan service isn't overdone and done effectively. It's story is quite generic but the main character, Manaka, has a goal: to be a great director! So the story follows his progress through high school, though hounded by females who want to be with him (it's a harem after all). Aya is clearly set up to be the one he falls for but the ending will surprise you. The girls are interesting and you grow fond of them. One or two seem added pointlessly but they don't detract too much from the story. The story might drag on a bit too long but it's humor and story makes it bearable. My only problem is the ending.

Review:
Character: 7.
-Interesting and each is unique. You grow attached to some of them and sympathize with them. Only problem is that some characters are unnecessary and some added so late in the series that their treatment is bad. Surprisingly, I should give this a lower rating as there are some very stereotypical positions seen here (childhood friend, the brains, the beauty, etc) but they are not terriblely stereotypical to detract.

Story: 6.
-Tad generic as its a harem. But the main character's goal makes it something worth following. Ending is definetely unique but might have been done JUST to be unique (since it doesn't fit the plot) or to satisfy ravenous fans. A story cannot change just to satisfy idiots who don't know anything about literary works.

Art: 9
-Great but Manaka's character design could be a bit better. But it's unique!

Scene: 4 or 5
-Every story is made up of scenes. The intensity or interest of most scenes is low though it raises up occasionally. Nothing that hooks you and forces you to read on. I feel humor falls here too, so the humor actually raises the partial score to at least a 6.

Overall score: 8 (including ending)
(excludng ending):9

Those who want a happy ending, STOP immediately after Aya confesses around 166 or wherever and search online to Aya's end online. There is a youtube video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCqNbpOgg1I&feature=channel_page

Final thoughts: A great series. If you can handle harem, go for it. Even if you can't its not terrible and you can definetely survive. I wouldn't go out of my way to recommend it but its a great read (other than the ending). I am unsure what's rereadability but I definetely feel willing to reread it.