YesterdaysJoe9

Have you ever wondered why this series is so popular? Why the manga is rated so highly on so many websites that give ratings? How is this series still so popular even though it is already 20 years old? Have you ever wondered why the anime isn't rated as highly as the manga, apart from its sub-par animation? Why is One Piece so huge? If you ever wanted the answers to these questions, continue to read.

I have been a fan of the series since 2005. Back then I was just 12 years old when I was first exposed to the anime of One Piece. My first thoughts were: "What the fuck is this shit? A guy who can extend his body limbs? What is this is silly artstyle? What the hell?"

I was only exposed to shows like Dragonball Z, Digimon and Pokemon, among some others before. Then I discovered One Piece and as I had nothing better to do I watched the anime on the TV canal where it ran on. And I still follow the series today.

Now, 12 years later, I have finished so many things in my life. I'm an adult. I earned my first money and I'm soon attending a University to study. I finished school a long while back. And in all this time I have read the manga as I transitioned from the anime to the manga at one point. Why am I still reading it?

Because and this is also the reason why One Piece is held so highly throughout the fans and manga community in general:

One Piece is one of these rare series that actually got better the longer they went on. You won't realize this by just "reading" it. You won't realize it by just reading the first 300 chapters. And you will never realize it if you decide to burst through pages at some points just because they feel rather boring to you. Oda's story-telling is simply masterful. There is no other way to describe it. He manages a consistent form of foreshadowing that you will not witness in any other manga or work of fiction in a very long time. Clocking up at 851 chapters at the moment, he has been carefully planting hints and foreshadowed events throughout the entire series. There are still so many people who don't realize this because they simply don't bother with it. In the beginning, it's not that clear, as the manga was relatively "small" in its start, back in 1997. The anime fails to adapt it correctly as it buries many things under annoying repetitions and fillers. It sometimes even contradicts with the content of the manga, pacing is horrible, it borrows sound design from DBZ and Toei doesn't even get the proportions of characters right. The manga however doesn't have these issues. Oda offers the best kind of writing in this regard. It can be compared to a movie that gives the audience the normal stuff like action, dialogue and other scenes in the foreground. But when you, as a viewer, decide to dig a bit deeper into it, examining dialogue a bit more or looking for hidden imagery in the background, you will be rewarded. It gives the whole movie a deeper meaning and it leads to a bigger picture. This is what Eichiro Oda does with One Piece. One Piece becomes this bigger picture, if you decide to look beyond the stuff in the foreground. What happens in general is, of course, important too and very good. But you will only realize the actual amount of depth of One Piece if you ever decide to create links between situations and scenes. Of course, the manga itself is huge even without that background stuff. But the additional planning and careful placement of hints and evidence adds an additional layer to everything that happens in One Piece. Things and events are foreshadowed, sometimes even hundreds of chapters before they occur while the main stuff happens in the front. And he has been doing it consistently in the past 20 years as the series has been made. Just search for "One Piece foreshadowing" online and you will be flooded with confirmed theories, evidence and massive throwbacks in terms of hidden background details, imagery and hidden dialogue meanings in thousands of forums. This is One Piece. Things like Ace's tattoo that seemed to be a misspelling by the tattoo artist got a whole new meaning when we saw Sabo's pirate flag. Usopp's funny lies that he tells and the made up stories that he told Kaya actually became real as they happened in the story. Back then they were played for laughs but then, if you remember it or re-read the manga, it simply makes click. This is the foreshadowing that I'm talking about. And this is just the tip of the iceberg that One Piece offers. The world and depth it has is just humongous. This may sound very pretentious what I'm writing here but it's simply the truth. You don't have to look everything up online to make a connection but it does help. Of course you can make all these links by yourself, even if it takes a bit time. While other artists simply fill out background just for the sake of filling them out, Oda plans it.

And don't imagine Oda being like: "Oh, I will just put this thing here and then I will come back to it 600 chapters later". This isn't what he does. What he actually does is, he creates characters and scenes in the way, that he can use them as a link point for a future reference or connection and then later he simply picks it up as he feels it as most appropriately. This is what he has been doing with characters, items, scenes, story moments and more throughout this entire time. Everything feels connected. Character re-appearances never feel forced, they all become logical. They actually feel like actual characters in an actual functioning world and they don’t just behave the way the plot demands them to like in many other manga. This is what sets One Piece apart from so many other shonen manga and this is one of the main reasons why it's held so high by fans. Some say: "It's the humour", other say: "it's the action". But these are subjective. The foreshadowing is an objective strength of One Piece and there isn't a single manga that can keep up with One Piece. And I love this aspect of it. And back then I didn’t even realize it. I just paid attention to the stuff in the foreground. And when I re-read everything back then and followed some discussions on online forums I was blown away about how much I have simply missed by not paying entirely attention. How is he (Oda) able to do it? Well, he simply devoted his entire life to the creation of the manga and he simply loves writing for it. Yes. He simply loves One Piece. It's that easy. One could argue: "Oh, he is just after the money, it's the most successful manga series of all time after all". Ask again: This is a man who has been working 90 hours (125 when he works on a movie) every week since 1997. Working conditions of mangakas are among the worst in the world but he takes the lead. His breaks only serve for further story writing and are never used for vacation and he only sleeps 3-4 hours a day. Since 1997. He doesn't have any time or room to spend his money on anything. I read every interview about him as I find him simply fascinating. This guy breathes the manga and the level of dedication to the manga is reflected by the quality of the manga. Even at its weakest moments, One Piece still stands higher than many other manga at their weakest times in terms. Oda's dedication is reflected in his art as well. Just look and compare the amount of detail that is put into panels and pages of One Piece with other manga. I adore his style and I know many think his style feels childish, silly and I used to think this too but the amount of work that he puts into his creatively made pages is impressive and I have great respect for him. Look up "One Piece colorspreads" to have an idea about it. And even in black and white it's just beautiful whenever he showcases his islands. And even the smallest panels are filled with rich background details. It's the embodiment of the joy in adventuring a mysterious world.

The series is unpredictable while retaining a basic formula but also offers a lot of variety. And the sense of awe. (Some spoilers here)

From character design, to abilities and motivations. Every manga and artist behind it has a formula. Even writers like Stephen King have found their formula how to make their stories. Oda has a formula too. While being very focused and rather small compared to what happens currently, the beginning of One Piece already had these kinds of aspects of story that Oda would continuously improve upon and further flesh out. The great idea of Devil Fruits that offers an endless set of interesting villains and interesting abilities is just one of the great aspects of the series.

The formula boils down to this: The strawhats appear on an island, they are in awe as they don’t understand what is going on on this weird island. They find out the population has problems or is oppressed. They try to help them while maintaining their actual goals. They beat the arc antagonist in the end. Quite simple, isn’t it? One could say that Dressrosa is a re-skinned Alabasta formula and they are kind of right but Oda switches things up a lot throughout the series. While this formula is Oda‘s basic formula on how to create arcs, he divides it often to offer more variety. Sometimes the strawhats have to interfere in a civil war that is under control of a Warlord (Alabasta). Sometimes they have to do a rescue-mission as they suffer a betrayal (Enies Lobby), sometimes they have to fight a giant on a huge island-ship before the morning sun burns them alive (Thriller Bark), sometimes they have to take action when a racist person shoots down one of the Strawhats friends and their actions lead to the call of an Admiral and a force too big for them to handle. And even taking part in an All Out War where one of the characters suffers a major loss is in. Oda has his core formula but he switches things up so often that it barely feels stale. One of the aspects on why the series is unpredictable in its core content is that Oda doesn’t write for the next cliffhanger but always has the bigger picture in mind. He takes risks. And he pulls them through. One of these risks was the death of Portgas D. Ace, Luffy’s brother and a favorite among fans, despite not being a core character of the series. Until that point it was an unspoken rule that no characters actually die in the series. And then it happened and it was a shock but also brilliant writing as nobody expected it, with amazing build up. Oda pulls his risks through, opposed to many others who make big cliffhangers and then go back to what they have always been doing. And if anybody who has read the series ever wondered why Peru (the falcon guy from Alabasta) survived his sacrifice where he flew the bomb into the sky: Back then 9/11 happened in the USA and out of respect for the people that died that day, Oda let him live. Originally he was supposed to die. Additionally to all of this, the story of the series is written like a path from A to B. It always moves forward. There are many shows and manga where everything just happens in the same place but in One Piece the characters always move forward, giving the entire series a feeling of progress.

Another aspect for the unpredictability and Oda’s knowledge of his own series and his understanding for the characters is the understandable power level system in One Piece. There isn’t a character that can literally destroy planets. There isn‘t one that seems to be the strongest in the entire galaxy. Every character has their limit. And while the main characters, the strawhats, win the majority of their fights (they are the main characters after all), they still lose some fights. In the beginning we get introduced to Zoro, a skilled swordsman who seems to be almost on par with Luffy. Then later we meet Hawkeye, the man that Zoro wants to beat to become the best swordsman in the world. And he doesn’t stand a single chance. Hawkeye beats him with ease. We learn that the strawhats are not the strongest. Later we get to meet Aokiji, one of the Admirals and he singlehandedly beats the entire crew. Oda understands his characters and he knows it’s boring if the main characters win every single fight. It also takes away the excitement if it’s done like that. Not in One Piece. Luffy must have lost about 6 fights so far. The power level system is well done in terms that it offers unpredictability in guessing how strong a character is but also enough evidence to kind of know and learn about the strength of a character and their limits. And one of the main aspects why the series still feels fresh is the amount of creativity that Oda has in terms of world and ability creation. There is a sense of awe as you read One Piece that is also reflected by the main characters reactions as they stumble upon creatively created islands with their own unique eco systems. My best comparison I can make is that this is a world that you want to fall into. Live in it. The best kind of fantasy worlds. Similar worlds that I have experienced in this level are the Harry Potter books and Lord of the Rings. Next point: the story and the world of One Piece.

Oda understands his characters, his series and his writing. And he looks upon our world as well.

From the very first chapter, Oda has made the goal of the series clear. Finding One Piece. This is the ultimate goal and it still is, after 850 chapters. The world of One Piece is a huge, functional world, filled with so many diverse mysteries, islands, characters, all with different motivations and it could actually work in real life too. Oda understands them all. He has created over 800 characters that populate the series and they all feel distinct enough to not be mistaken for others and remarkable enough to at least remind you that you have seen the character before if they re-appear. While some people think that his artstyle is kind of silly, because characters look so vastly different, it helps with this aspect of creating so many characters and making them look very distinguished from each other in the long run.

Apart from the ultimate goal, he gives each of his main characters an ultimate goal as well. Luffy wants to become the pirate king, Zoro the best swordsman, Sanji wants to find the All-Blue (an ocean in which all kinds of sea creatures live) and the others have their „dreams“ as well. While character development is not the main focus of the series (Luffy still behaves a lot like he did in chapter 1) it is not completely absent and some characters like Zoro or Robin behave different than they did back then. Characterization is done well, you understand their motivations, their flashbacks are tragic while not feeling completely forced and they are well done and well implemented. Where One Piece also shines is the depiction of various themes and subjects that exist in our world as well. It deals with racism, slavery, drug-tests, oppression and even depression at one point. It does these themes so flawlessly and barely they feel out of place or forced. Like I said, the world in One Piece feels like an actual functioning world with all its problems that plague our world as well. Tyrannical warlords exist, children get used for drug tests, racism happens between humans and fishmen and vice versa, slavery is used upon those that are deemed as the lower race by those who think that they stand higher (Celestial Dragons). The thing is, Oda inserts these subjects into the series without making a huge fuss about it. He doesn’t necessarily write them in for us to hate those characters for the sake of hating them but he takes neutral points. Characters like the Celestial Dragons have actual reasons why they behave like that and you can actually understand them up to a certain point. This is something that many mangaka don’t understand when they create characters like that. We want to understand them at least slightly. In the end it’s a shonen manga and is aimed at 13-17 year old boys but the amount of subject tackling, depth it offers is simply impressive. And all of these things is part of something bigger. The bigger picture. At its core, The Dark Knight by Nolan is just an adaption of a comic book series that is created to the appeal of young people, as comics were very huge back then. But it offers entertainment and depth for both, young and adult people. The best kind of writing. Entertainment in the front. Depth in the background.

The Will of D., the ancient weapons, One Piece, the revolutionaries, the poneglyphs, the final island Raftel. There are many mysteries that still have to be answered and Oda has given many answers throughout the series while never doing it in a painful, obscure way as done with the sci-fi series Lost where, if you get the answer to something, five new questions pop up. Oda gives us the answers where it feels most appropriately. Because he doesn’t write a series for the next cliffhanger. He writes a story that feels connected and builds upon itself since chapter 1 and while I know that Oda’s original plan in 1997 was to work on it for 5 years, he has found the right ways to make the world bigger and create more interesting mysteries and turned One Piece rightfully in the best selling series in the world. And it deserves it. I hope my „essay“ here gave you the answers on why so many people rate it so highly. For the most part I gave objective answers in terms of planning, foreshadowing and world building that Oda has consistently created throughout the series. I never talked about the negative aspects of the series and to not make it even longer, I’ll keep it short as I only intended this review to be the answer to the question why One Piece is still so popular even after such a long time.

The negatives:

- Not enough pirate ship battles in a series about pirates
- Pacing can be an issue at times but barely gets a problem. Biggest pacing problem was the overly long Dressrosa arc but even then OP still held a good level of entertainment
- Some characters like Zoro behave different than back then and while it’s entirely understandable, I still prefer the old Zoro
- A few hiccups in terms story telling in the first half
- Some of the villains motivations are a bit lackluster
- Not enough female villains
- Some of the later female characters suffer from same-face shape syndrome but he has noticed it as well and offers now more variety.

I hope you enjoyed my review. Thanks for reading. If you want additional thoughtful analysis of One Piece, look up SupereyepatchWolfs video "The Appeal of One Piece". It's a good watch.

Hmmm what can I say about Death Note? It's almost indescribable. It's good I can definitely say that. The plot is brilliantly conceived and it excels in the way it evolves, twisting and turning and oh so much thinking.

It has a perfect pace, with events unfolding just right, very calculated. And it also has the comedic relief to lighten the serious tone that this manga so frequently has. The artwork is lovely, the Shinigami are drawn creatively and I like that they differ from preconceptions and no two are the same. I'd love to learn more about them.

The characters are great. I love Near, Mello and L, they are so off the wall and original. Light, wow, he's so calculating and clever it's scary but at the same time he's loveable and I pity him for the curse of the Death Note. The whole idea for a story is so unique and clever and it's been told wonderfully.

Is there a downside to this manga? I don't actually think there is, I can't think of any criticisms. I don't like L and Lights fate but its all in the telling of the story, everything that happened had to. Nope I have to say this manga is all good.

And the best bits are the amount of thinking and calculating and second guessing the characters do. Sometimes I found myself lost in their thoughts and in awe of their plans. I also liked the way we didn't always see the plans being made, we saw the outcomes and then flash backs.

If you like a fast paced action/detective/thriller manga or just fancy a new series give this one a go. Just don't expect it to be a happy go lucky story.

Nanashi Moriko *Possibility of becoming a Death Note fan girl*
22/08/07

Do we all in humanity contain a "Monster" inside of us? Can even the brightest of souls purge to darkness when led to?

These are some of the thematic questions that Monster is based on. Throughout reading this manga, you both follow the development of a seemingly righteous protagonist and misguided antagonist, but follow an initially convoluted story that continues to surprise while reading, leading to the grand climax at the end. While it may primarily sound similar to any other mystery, what separates Monster from other anime/manga is the well-executed philosophical take on society, and how some of the characters shift their ideals after experiences, and how others remained true to their beliefs.

[Story] - 9.8/10

Reading the synopsis, it will likely be difficult to understand the direction of the story, and the reason is without spoilers the direction is meant to be complex, as the story is directly based on the interactions between characters leading to large scale consequences. Seemingly unrelated interactions to the main characters all piece together the story up until the climax, helping to aid the readers understanding of the motives and backstories of all relevant characters and truly appreciate the events that occur. As a result, there may be parts in which you feel the story drags on, but after reaching the end of Monster, you will likely realize all of those events were essential to the central plot.

[Art] - 8.3/10

The art is the weakest section for the manga, as there is not an immense focus on the details of the art, but the art accurately encapsulates the mood throughout the story. The facial expressions drawn on the characters accurately portray their appropriate emotions and personalities, and I found minute details such as when a character smiles or frowns to display the development of either characters or their situation. Some panels, especially at the end, are truly stunning and completely do the scenes justice. However, do not expect the art to continually be breathtaking, while it is in no means poor.

[Characters] - 9.2/10

Monster has a very large character cast, and sometimes it may seem difficult to remember reappearing characters and their personalities (MAL's character database helped me with this), but a large amount of the characters reach individual attention and development, and all relate to the central protagonist and antagonist. Speaking of which, what makes the characters so intriguing is the relationship between the main character and 'villain,' and the brilliant dialogue used by both. The antagonist is truly one of the best I have ever watched/read, and every interaction with him is bound to be enjoyable. During the beginning of the manga, I found there to be a large number of characters who I felt distaste for, but as their character and intentions fully mold throughout the story, I was able to end Monster with a strong appreciation for each character, and admittingly getting largely attached to many of them.

[Enjoyment] - 10/10

From start to finish, Monster never fails to satisfy, constantly pushing me to read further in the night, with many chapters ending in a development I would not have been able to predict. From the dialogue, actions, and thematic idealism throughout the manga, Monster truly was and is a masterpiece. I recommend it for anyone interested in a reasonably lengthy mystery and thriller which pays homage to the characters while following an intricate plot leading to a breathtaking conclusion. After reaching the end of the final chapter of Monster, I hope the questions I brought up at the beginning of my review now fascinate you as much as it does for me.

This is my first review ever. Also english is NOT my native language.


Shingeki no Kyojin also known as Attack on Titan by Hajime Isayama is one of the most popular and best-selling manga of all time, it has an anime adaptation by the same name, tons of spin-offs and tons of yaoi fan fiction. Some may say it's a genius work of art, others may say it went too far. Judging by my score, you probably already know my thoughts on it.

The story revolves around our main character, Eren Jeager, in a world where the remaining humans were living surrounded by huge walls, to protect themselves from gigantic creatures, known as the Titans. This epic tale is about humanity's fight against the titans to regain the lost territory, while unfolding some of the secrets regarding the Titans along the way.

With such a simple premise and structure, but yet amazing story, SNK relies basically on shock factor to keep its narrative interesting and it's audience entertained, revealing more and more about its world and characters. The story itself is just amazing, world building is perfect, and the steam-punk setting makes it even better, the mysteries and plot twists make the story even more engaging to read. Attack on Titan's story is superb, I can guarantee you that some plot twists will take you by storm.

The characters are simple, but yet memorable. Their personalities can be pretty much resumed to stereotypes (the intelligent one, the energetic one, the cold-blooded one) but they do get proper development later down the line (most of the cast, not only the mains). The emotions of each character are perfectly translated, their goals are established very early on, each one of them has a tragic back story, making the characters pretty memorable. But what I really love about the characters are the plot twists regarding their past, which will shape their personality later on when the story progresses and justify some suspicious and questionable dialogue and actions.

I really can't comprehend what problems people have with Isayama's art, I really don't. The rough artstyle fits the narrative perfectly and, although i must admit that the art may look a bit ugly to look at, it does improve a lot, and it hasn't really bothered me in any way. People tend to say the art is horrendous, but they are just overeacting really.

Loved the series, one of my favorite manga of all time. Most of the plot twist were unpredictable and the way the story slowly escalates and the author reveals more and more information to us about the world and the characters, it becomes a really enjoyable series, and it's just getting better and better at each new chapter.

Go read it, if possible, it definitely will surprise you how amazing this manga really is, every about it pretty much perfect, and although it might have some flaws here and there, it will for sure be an amazing experience.

I love the classic style of art in this series and I love the interaction between the characters! There enough humor, action, mystery, and not to mention hot guys. The historical quality of it is very cool. I really wish this series wasn't so obscure because it would make an awesome anime, or even some doujinshis would be cool,lol. Either way Burai has a new rabid fan in me!

As an American, it's possible that my views on high school, and the culture I grew up in, are affecting the way I view this series. But, that being said, no matter how many times I take a deep breath and reopen this series up on VIZ, I can't get through a chapter without deciding to stop reading.

This story is about a family who decides to go to high school at the same school as their son. From the perspective of someone who has already lived through high school days, the thought of having family go to school is an excruciatingly painful vision. Maybe, from the intended target audience of middle schoolers or high schoolers, the concept may actually be quite humorous (and Japanese readers might have different thoughts on high school), but, in my eyes, this series is hard to read from the very start.

Pros:

One of the very few series where I struggle to find positives; if I needed to pick at least one thing to put here, it would be the artwork. The pacing is good, and the artwork is somewhat minimalist, so it fits well with the jokes that are dotted throughout ( but while they were jokes, I didn't laugh at any of them).

Cons:

The plot of the story sets this manga into a deep hole, which the author isn't able to dig himself out of (in my opinion). Having an entire family attend high school with their kid, like I mentioned before, is an excruciating experience, so, in order to compensate, the mangaka should have included outlets that allow the reader to feel relief from the cringe (and moments of understanding, because I still have no idea why a family would attend high school in the first place). The author attempts to make this scenario lighthearted by having the family perform tasks and fit in with the students, but at the end of every chapter, I'm still plagued by the same questions: how can the father and mother both, on a whim, have a dream to go to high school, and then do it with no questions? How can the entire family begin to acclimate into the school without serious protesting from students? My inability to escape from these questions, while also not experiencing any laughs or smiles, made me feel extremely drained.

To end this review, let me just say that this series could be liked by other people. Unfortunately, for me, I could not get over the premise, and the humor only seemed to instigate my distaste for the lack of explanation as to why the family is there in the first place. My advice to anyone wanting to read this story is this: if you don't like it at first, the manga doesn't change, so stop while you can. If you like it, keep going.

Ah, geez, here we go.... Another review for a borderline-hentai. This time, it's a borderline-hentai manga. I discovered Iinari Princess while looking through some manga by the same mangaka as a manga with a recently-aired (at the time of this review) anime adaptation called Okusama ga Seitokaichou. While I was reading Iinari Princess, I was so worried that someone might walk in on me reading it and also so uncomfortable from how close to hentai this manga was. Well, I can't lie by saying it was terrible, either.

Iinari Princess is about a high school boy named Hyuuga. Hyuuga is in the same class as Rena Reina Rene Richetlunt, who is a transfer student and a princess from a foreign country. Of course, she is a princess who looks down at the common folk....but one day, Hyuuga catches Rena....well, breaking wind. Because of a tradition from the royal family, Hyuuga must now become Rena's lover. Commence erotic situation after erotic situation.

Now, the story was nothing special at all. It left me a bit confused; why would a princess from Northern Europe attend a normal Japanese high school in the place? The characters weren't too bad; I actually liked Rena's character, as well as the relationship between her and Hyuuga. It's just that there was a lot of character development. The art, which was drawn by Yumi Nakata, may be the strongest point in the manga. It's very well-drawn, and the chibis that pop up every once in a while are cute.

Iinari Princess may not have a terrible story, terrible characters, or terrible art, but the borderline-hentai moments left me feeling so uncomfortable that that alone dropped my overall score of it. Even so, there are borderline-hentai anime that are worse than this manga. Thus, if you must see a princess and a normal boy in a lot of erotic situations, read this. I warn you, though; it might make you feel as uncomfortable as it made me.

STORY - How many times have you seen this? Teacher & A Student.

ART - Beautiful work, what the manga lacks in character and storyline, it certainly makes up for in art.

CHARACTER - Ugh..The teacher is very realistic in the sense of he acts very mature and adult like. The main character however? She's a ditz who 'fell in love' at first sight. She has no sense of timing with her words, and despite showing worry over a teacherxstudent relationship, she publicly pulls stunts that should get her noticed in no time at all. She's worse than a Mary Sue, she's constantly walking into a line of trouble only to have the teacher swoop her up out of nowhere.

ENJOYMENT - Certainly not one of the worst I've shoujo I've read, but nowhere near the best. It was good enough for me to not want to drop it, in hopes that it would get better. But that was sort of futile.

OVERALL - If you're bored and you're waiting between releases of other manga, you may as well read this. But don't expect anything special. I have to say I was expecting more from Minase Ai based on her other works, but this one can just hardly hold a candle, but to be fair, this one is an earlier release compared to some of the other works she's done, at least there's been some improvement since.

This manga might be named "Code Geass", but it has almost nothing to do with the anime. I know it is an alternate story, but I loved the anime too much to be at ease with the changes they made to the story and the transformations of some characters. It doesn't make any sense to me, and the historical references are just... weird. The only goods points were the cute flashbacks, and it was interesting to see Nunnally as a main character.

Although I have not finished the series, I have tremendous respect towards the author/artist. In the beginning, I was looking for mangas in the 'shoujo' tag. After reading so many, it's quite easy to recognize how similar one is to another. I will still continue to enjoy them, but I am very satisfied with this manga. Not only is it unique, it also sends a wonderful message across the readers.

Unfortunately, a lot of younger girls (who are the majority of readers for shoujos) may be suffering from similar situations. And if not, the community showing hierarchy towards those with a 'nicer' appearance over those who may not be considered beautiful may be influencing them to think if they don't please others with their appearance, then they are put last. However, this story can change the view of the readers, and I truly believe it will also make their transition from adolescent to adult a smoother one without having to worry as much about their looks being the reason for gaining friends and trust.

In the end, I give the overall rate a 9. I am very pleased, and I hope you will read or consider reading this manga!