Manga Monday 39

It's the one year anniversary of Manga Monday at Comics-and-More! So, in celebration, I'm going to list some of my favorite Manga Monday posts before moving on to a review of the latest chapters of Hana-Kimi!

Dragon Head (Volume 7) (Manga Monday Special)

Fushigi Yugi: The Mysterious Play (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 31)

To Terra (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 28)

Until the Full Moon (Volumes 1 & 2) (Manga Monday 26)

Mushishi (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 24)

Mail (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 23)

Hikaru No Go (Volume 1) & The Red Snake: Hino Horror #1 (Manga Monday 11)

My favorite anime & Naruto (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 8)

Flowers & Bees (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 7)

Alien Nine (Volume 1) (Manga Monday 6)

Bambi and Her Pink Gun (Volume 1) & Desire (Manga Monday 2)

Domu: A Child's Dream, Octopus Girl, Planetes & More! (Manga Monday!)


Hana-Kimi (Volumes 15 - 18)
Hisaya Nakajo

These last three volumes are definitely the weakest and least enjoyable of the entire series. Volume 15 had several great moments between the loves in Mizuki's life, but the focus really shifted to Sano beginning with volume 16 in a drawn-out, repetitive story dealing with his relationship with his father. Even Nakajo had to take a break from the story in volume 18, where three chapters flashed back to a scavenger hunt in the dorms with a semi-focus on secondary character Taiki Kayashima, a strange psychic kid. Several scenes seem to just be lazily written by Nakajo as well, like she's forgetting her original premise and simply illustrating a normal scene between a man and a woman when Mizuki and Sano are supposed to be two boys, playing those roles straight. It's really frustrating seeing this dip in quality - I wish the series would have just concluded on a tense, high note instead of being drawn out like this. But what do I know? It may get really good again in the near future. The next volume boasts the culmination of this Sano storyarc at a competition, but really, I'm just going to be glad to get it over with, even if this is where the entire series has been heading. I hope the focus returns to Mizuki and her dilemma soon, so this tired indulgence in the people around her finally comes to an end. One addition I am happy of in these past volumes is Shin, Sano's brother. He adds a great dynamic to the group, especially when it comes to Mizuki, who needs something to do besides cry over Sano while he's stubbornly moping for volumes at a time. C-

Comments

exar khun said…
congrats with the anniversary!!!
I'm really enjoying your reviews....
any chance we'll get a review of MPD PSycho from Dark Horse?...=)
Thank you - I'm glad you're enjoying the feature!

I think I could manage to squeeze that into my reading schedule in the near future...
exar khun said…
and bcoz of your review, i'll be ordering dragon head vols.1-7 very soon...=)

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