Review of Ouran High School Host Club:
Loved it. Especially the character of the heroine, Haruhi. She makes it particularly good (I was so sick of the typical yamato nadeshiko types!). Most of the boys are quite cliqued but the twins develop well, surprisingly. Loved everyone, so much. I will always feel good when I think of this manga, it is like going to a place where I was happy and felt comfortable. It made me laugh and made me feel safe. That may seem ridiculous but that is how I feel on rare occasions when I read a book that suits me well. And I have probably not felt that way about any manga before except perhaps Ranma 1/2. I regret that earlier characters are not able to return much i.e. Kasanoda, Nekozawa, Renge etc. Otherwise like I said, loved it so much. I would give it a 7 out of 7 if it wasn't for the less pleasant side stories that were sometimes included.
The ending was a bit silly (but hey it's a bit silly to begin with) but it was satisfactory. One slight problem, with the development of Suoh's character, he jumped from immature weirdo to mature b/f a bit too fast in the last volume. I will have to carefully look over it again to see if I might just be trying to critique it because I don't want to think of it as perfect. You know what? I take that back. Suoh is not really a mature b/f at all. LOL!
So 6 out of 7*******, not just because of the side stories I didn't like but also the art was a bit too girly regarding Suoh sometimes. I know girly-boys are popular in Japan but sometimes the art went a little overboard.
Um, Faves: EVERYONE!!!! You know, I think I may have reviewed this already but I'm gonna do it again!
Absolute fave... I guess in the end, Kyouya. What can I say. He is so...cool.
Wouldn't want to date him, but still so cool. Fave guy is him, and fave girl is Haruhi - tempted by Renge, but her character is too underdeveloped.
Hated: Well, the twin creepy sisters in the side stories. Disliked them a lot. Also I didn't like Hika and Kao much at first. Then I grew to like them. Esp Kaoru. And Hikaru... ok they are both cool for diff reasons. I think that the author leads the readers to like the twins in this way but who cares. Gotta move to next review, but can't seem to stop... ok!
Ok next review: Chobits.
Loved the art, disliked the adult crap, it was not entirely necessary (it sort of was as you find out in the end, but then again it sort of wasn't, it was mostly clearly fan service).
Give it 5 out of 7*******. Really disliked the ecchi (at least it wasn't hentai). But I liked the storyline, even though it was obvious fairly early on what was happening. I liked the Yumi and cake-store guy (forgot his name, he's pretty forgettable really) story the best. I think that is a real problem we would face if we did have personal humanoid companions.
I think that the ending was good, just finished it. However of course now the problem is that Hideki is going to be in a relationship with a robot woman with a slightly retarded personality (and no useful super-powers) and the body of a 15-16 yr old and he can't ever have sex with her or it will reboot her. So that's kinda dumb. But then they can't have kids anyway. I just think although it is good that he loved her for her personality and cuteness and didn't just want to sleep with her (although it's clear he would like that too), it is hard on him. For the rest of his life he has a girlfriend who is a second-class citizen, is kind of simple-minded (surely his interest in her looks will fade and then she will just be annoying) and also she will most likely never age in appearance. This kinda sucks. And if he loves her for her, that's also crap because the manga points out that she lost a lot of her original personality when she accepted her sister into her body. And what happened to the sister? I think she ceased to exist. If not, now he also has to deal with that problem also. What will happen to Chii-chan when all the humans who knew her die? Of course the answer to that is, read Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicles. But not really. That is an alternate universe so forget it.
Anyway, I guess my favourite character was Yumi (the human, not the persocom) and then Ichiro, the father of the persocoms. If I am right, he is Icchan, from Angelic Layer (let's face it, it's almost completely spelled out for you anyway).
Btw I liked Angelic Layer although the main character is a cheap (and poor) attempt at copying Sakura-chan from Card Captor Sakura. Hmm, never finished Angelic Layer, or even got past vol 1 (no time yet) so might be mistaken about Icchan thing, so it isn't a spoiler if I'm only guessing, right? Anyway, proper reviews are usually spoilers.
Least favourite character was Chii, actually. She is an insult to human girls. I wanted to like her for her gentleness, but she was just too simplistic and I couldn't get past that fact. And that's all I have to say about that. But - one more thing, I kind of hope she will become a real person over time as she develops her learning and then maybe I could like her.
Btw, I love how CLAMP brings characters from one manga to another... <3 Esp in their Tsubasa series...
Before I forget to mention, on an unrelated note; please look up Meca Tanaka's stuff, it is quite good. Simplistic art style but original ideas and characters that aren't always exactly to type which is refreshing. I have read one series (Omukae Desu) and wish to read another one-shot (7-jikanme-rhapsody).
Last review; Cowboy Beebop manga, just quickly say, one story was gross in a bit but otherwise liked it a lot (the series as a whole), not sure I totally like the art style (Spike too girly) but liked it anyway. Good snappy dialogue, no wasted time, only problem is lack of chemistry between main characters. However that is part of who they all are so I guess I shouldn't complain. Never quite liked Ed, always liked Spike and Jet, jury still out about Ein and Fay respectively (at least Fay is cute). I think it does well to stick to the spirit of the anime without being exactly the same or that would be dull.
5 out of 7******* because I don't like the fanservice or that gross bit I mentioned. Also a lot of bittersweet stuff... I dislike bittersweet chocolate and bittersweet feeling. I guess I will never truly understand Japan then, natsukashii, nosutarujii, etc etc. I know the world isn't happy most of the time but that's why I like manga that mostly is, and I like predominantly positive things in general. Yeah, I know I kinda repeated myself there, drop it.
Ok gtg spent too much time on this and should be in bed. Wish I could colour some words... can't be bothered right now.
Night!
