Hotel

I stumbled onto this manga when I was looking for a good one-shot to spend my time on. The apocalyptic premise of the story appealed to me immediately, and the cover looked promising as well, with the skyscrapers half submerged into the glittering ocean. Furthermore, hotel was the highest rated one-shot on this site and so I decided it would be a good investment of my time.

I still think it was, but I'm not sure I would rate it as highly as the others who read it. The poignancy of the story is marred by a rather bizarre and hilariously bad attempt at making Keira Knightley (yes) a main character. She's married to a Japanese professor in the manga and doodles all over the hotel's supercomputer. It's admittedly a little funny but the oddity of the starlet's appearance and the inconsistency of the slapstick humor with the backdrop of a doomed world leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

Once past all that though, the story gets significantly better. I really enjoyed the recounting of the supercomputer's attempts to stabilize its environment and protect the last DNA storehouse on earth. It's a beautiful variation on the Noah's ark theme and the mangaka does a good job at illustrating all the difficulties the AI had.

My only other complaint is that there seems to be a certain patronizing symbolism towards the end of hotel. It's not quite racist per se and it's likely the artist meant no harm, but it's still something that may bother people who catch the implications.

Overall, I did enjoy the one-shot a lot though. I just think it would have been better if the author had stuck to a more serious beginning.

a fantastic compilation of short stories that serves as a great introduction to the art of Boichi. Despite the seemingly unconnected stories can be found that thematic link between all of them, and that ecological and naturalist argument of the author who warns of the danger that involves the human being for the planet and for himself, while leaving that feeling that we can still be able to change the situation. An apparently superficial tome about dystopian science fiction, which contains a sad and melancholic vision of life and existence and the need to put in place values that are increasingly alien to humanity. All this with the powerful drawing of Boichi and an eclectic choice of approaches that make Hotel a unique tome.

Present is a short 40-page-long story about love and presents. Yes, it‘s all about love and presents. But don‘t expect it to be sweet and shallow. It‘s much deeper than that.

Story
Present is a one-shot manga so I won’t say much. Basically, it’s a story about a student who falls in love with her teacher. Sadly, she has a rare disease which causes her to fall into a deep slumber. Doctors do their best to prolong her life but when Hanako finally wakes up, she has only three days left to live. It’s up to her husband to help her spend her last days happily.
Actually, the plot is very unique but you probably won’t realize that until the very end. And let me warn you, although the plot is short and quite simple, not much is explained. It’s left for the reader to grasp everything on his own so it might be confusing at first. It’s just like receiving a present: you get a beautifully wrapped box but no one tells you what’s inside.

Art
Well, Boichi obviously has his own style. His art is nice and consistent and even though it’s not really my type of art, I have to admit that he manages to capture the mood incredibly well.

Characters
You can’t expect much of the character development in 40 pages. Surprisingly, this is not the case in this manga. The characters are consistent and very profound. Sometimes their behavior is unexpected but realistic nevertheless. Each of the main characters has a unique personality and a strong presence. This is probably what I appreciate the most in this one-shot.

Enjoyment
As for me, this manga was very enjoyable. I liked it even more than Hotel (a very popular one-shot from the same author). Boichi managed to trick me into believing what I was supposed to believe so the ending was quite a shock. I actually had to just sit for a few minutes and let everything settle in. I was in awe.

Overall
All in all, I give this manga a big round 10. If you like one-shots, read Present. If you don’t like one-shots, read this anyway. You won’t regret it. It might not become your favorite manga but it’s definitely worth your time. Well, it won’t consume much time anyway:)

This manga was created from multiple artists and authors. Out of all of the five chapters I have read I have only found 3 to be extremely pleasant and satisfying. I won't tell which, but they are psychological and beautifully created.
IF you love to read short pieces of manga that reflect on emotions or on self-satisfaction.
Other than the 3, the other pieces are average or mediocre and a waste of time to read. I would've given this a 10 if the other two stories weren't there, but we can't.
This manga has intelligence, humour, and beauty!

I recommend this one shot to all those who love apocalyptic manga or soever.
When I found out about this manga I though that i had to read it and put it in my "plan to read" list.
the manga has very well drawings ,quite big illustrations giving to the reader a feeling of meditation of what humankind is doing nowadays.Great indeed! that's why i voted for it 10 :)

About the story maybe it's a bit fast but its a one shot after all.Anyway it remembers me a bit of Avatar ..i dont know why O.o

Characters : hmm..to tell the truth only Louis is quite portrayed .The other characters are just to support him and his way of thinking and doing.The interesting thing is that Louis is a computer but in the manga we see him as child..as a little child ,who has feelings (maybe because he's an intelligent computer or maybe because the author is trying to show us something ).

Anyway i felt sad that it was a one shot manga .I wanted more chapters but that's the most beautiful thing about one shots,they leave space for us to think of the future events and to imagine them :)

It's worth reading, very much so. Just through one chapter, the only chapter, they start, and stop what most would make into whole series... simply because the topic is a heavy one. These people brilliantly grasped it though. The emotions in it are mixed, there's a sense of will power, duty, and the fear of extinction.

(and yes, this IS my first review and i know it's bad but... there you go ^_^")

Basically it's a manga that deserves a huge 10!
An engaging and very present story. Even though in some ways it is "impossible" it is very touching, because it portrays the reality that we are living and that we will live if we continue like this.
Just wonderful!
In addition to an exceptional and intelligent plot, the arts of Boichi are fantastic, worth reading, not only for the story, but also for the beautiful drawings! Each stroke was done in a very beautiful way.
And so, I base myself more on the first one-shot of the "series", since it is the most striking, but the other 4 are also very well made and beautiful, just wonderful, the manga is just wonderful.
I recommend you read and cry while reading rsrsrsrs

This is a scintillating tale that will put more emphasis on the time that we share with our loved ones. A Present once opened, the inclement struggle of life shall pass.

Story-There's nothing especially grandeur or ground breaking about this story. A student falls madly in love with her teacher, their is a reluctance in dating his pupil.Fast foward to Hanako being in chronic coma liked state due to an incurable disease , takao sucumbs to these difficulties as times. These stories at times try to be sensationalistic and unrealistic in trying to enthrall the reader but the story tries to be computational to real life. The propriety elicited from this manga showcases the strength of the human heart and mind that combats the turbulent events that can happen in life.

This story entails the struggles that one must go through when witnessing their loved ones suffer. This story also displays how tradegy is an ordinary and common outcome in life which Takaos father is able to empathize with his son. A coalescing of emotions become resurgent within his father remembering the life that his wife took from him will waiting at her bed side. Contrarian to that he also felt helpless watching her suffer and the continuity of her suffering with no consolation.

Due to the recuperative powers of some of the treatments her consciousness is restored but her personality is still dormant. Hanako will never be the same as her lack of what makes her uniquely herself which makes Takao feel that the world is filled with perfidy. Hanako senses Takao's innerdisorder residing inside of him, even though she can't express herself freely she still has some remote cognition.She gave him the present that Takao's father's wife failed to endow and that was the present of severring their bond. The gails and naked winds of suffering finally ended with a Present, as a gesture from a loved one telling him in a way to move on.


Art-As a relatively new manga,the colouring and usage of variations fit well with the mood of the story.Everything congealed well together, with the art being continuous in its consistency.

Character-Some might say that you need an archive or volumes of pages in order to sequester development. In this particular case that would be wrong with Hanako seeming to be a regular day girl at first and then becoming a resolute woman through sufferance. Takao fit the bill of being a concerned and trepidious spouse for his wife and the enduring pain in which he rationalized to keep on going. Their was an innumerable amounts of conflict that prompted development,which would otherwise be maladjusted and weak characters because of the length of the story. Takao's father also remonstrated within himself through the same conflicts, as readers we got a taste of how different people deal with the similar circumstances.

Enjoyment-Heavily enjoyed but saddened when reading a piece that is based upon such a sacred and personal subject.

Overall- If your a fervent supporter of a tear jerker type then I recommend this. However if your conducive to being too emotional then you might be turned off. If you believe in integrity or in the dutiful power that it takes in order to steer the ship out of the storm, I imagine this as your type of manga.

At first the story was quite ok, but when it start to progressing, the first thing i felt is this story kinda criticizing about human stupidity that caused the destruction of the world.
I kinda dislike the way it show The stupidity of human which not just only lead to the end of the world and also the death of entire human population while robots is their savior. Showing like human more stupid than robots.
I not really like the sci fi world shown in this story, human's sci fi seem to be not advanced at all. Seem to be intentionally to make the world is definitely going to end, no other ways to save it. Not really a brilliant way to present the consequence bring by the human's sci fi world.
Overall, the story was just an average, just another common post apocalyptic story. I dislike it also because i believe human that live in future will have their own solution to face this problem, will not be just as easy as the story shown.

One word: fantastic
It shows exactly what humankind is doing with the world: destroying it. Maybe our generation won´t see it, but this day will certainly come if we keep this behavior. The story is about this days, when the destruction or Earth is inevitable some people departs to another planet and, at the same time, builds a "hotel", a tower controled by a super-computer with DNA from all beings , except the man. Its mission is wait to Earth becames liveable again to restore all the plants and animals, the manga shows the records of this computer through the years.
The story is told in a very "realistic" way, beautiful art, hopefully it will make us think about what we are doing to our own house.