Venus Capriccio

This is a unique manga to read because the main guy is the strong, dominant person in the relationship. In this manga, not only is he shorter and younger than the main girl, he's also more "girlish" than the main girl.
Our main girl, the protagonist, is very boyish yet not immaturely tomboyish. The way she acts is very realistic--she isn't some cute girl who cries over some little thing or thinks about getting a boyfriend all the time.
I've just finished volume 2, and I found that I enjoyed this series very much. I would recommend this series for people who like looking at "pretty boys." :)

Honestly, I'm being generous by giving this a 5. I don't get why so many people have rated this highly. I'm just going to list what's wrong with it.

- The female lead is completely obnoxious and extremely inconsiderate of the male's feelings. He confesses to her, yet she keeps going on about how she wishes he was her little brother. Actually, it seems like she has forgotten in subsequent chapters, since he has to tell her he likes her a second time and she's like, "OMG, I had no idea!"
- I see absolutely no reason he would even like her. She's nice to him. That's it. This is one of those manga where instead of seeing feelings develop we're just told that one party already likes the other, and then the unrequited love becomes requited because—GASP—they realize their love interest is a member of the opposite sex!
- The female lead is also extremely childish. I mean, I can be immature for my age, but this is just ridiculous.
- One time I got put under for surgery. During the period I was unconscious, I probably still had more personality than the male lead.
- The male lead is all, "Grr, you're at a guy's house, and you don't realize I like you, so Imma threaten to sexually assault you because testosterone." Then he blames her for it.
- She falls for him after he touches her. Because why not?
- The classic, "My heart is beating, and I'm nervous. What on earth could this mean?"
- Whenever they want the female lead to seem attractive to anyone other than the main character they just stick her in a dress because apparently femininity fixes everything.

I'll try forcing myself to finish reading this, but oh gods, it's just the same, painful thing over and over again. This manga is so overrated.

My very first review... how exciting! ^.^ Anyway, Venus Capriccio was a truly beautiful story. At first I had been a bit reluctant to read it due to the age factor between Akira and Takami, but I was like 'Screw it. I'm out of manga to read and she's only two years older.'

Story: 9

Each chapter of this manga was like a little bundle of joy for me. Because it's like each of them had their own story to tell. There wasn't a single moment where I felt that I wanted to stop reading. This story doesn't have major fight scenes like Naruto or Bleach, nor does it have intense drama like in other shoujo mangas. It's Akira and Takami's emotional journey together. It made me feel that I was right there with them.

Art: 9

I'll admit, the art is very good compared to other mangas. Venus Capriccio is definitely on my list of manga with great art. This story was so detailed in its drawing. Each page was showing me the emotions that were happening at the time and it does it in such a beautiful way. When Akira plays the piano, I can literally see his passion because Nishikata Mai did such a wonderful drawing it. It was just amazing.

Character: 10

Both the characters and the character development was fantastic. This captured my attention because of how the summary described Akira as a pretty boy, and Takami was a manly girl. They're definitely unique all right.

I loved how Akira was slowly growing up as each chapter passed. He became more independent and passionate. But it wasn't all at once and it also wasn't at an unbelievably slow rate. It was subtle and really sweet.

Takami was really interesting to read. Her loyalty to Akira made me love her, not to mention that she's not the type to cry whenever something goes wrong. She can take care of herself and she loves to be by Akira's side. It's really heartwarming to read the scenes with those two.

Their relationship wasn't like some mangas where it seems that the girl just *snap* falls in love. Akira's was known from the very beginning but you can still see how he was able to fall for her over the years. Takami was a bit reluctant to fall because for the majority of her life, she had always seen Akira as the sister she's always wanted (He gets upgraded to 'Cute little brother though' ;)). But over time, you can easily see her getting closer and closer to him. It's a really lovely progression.

Enjoyment: 10

I truly fell in love with every aspect of this story! There wasn't any unnecessary drama, and everything was just laid out so that we could finally get to the end. Although I wished Nishikata Mai stretched out the final scenes, it was just perfect.

Overall: 10

Other things I'd like to say:
I would recommend this manga to everyone and anyone of all ages. There's no smut, bloody, gory, scenes. But despite those kinds heart pumping moments, Venus Capriccio makes you slowly but surely fall in love. And before you know it, you've hit rock bottom and realize that it was such an unforgettable journey.

This one missed on the execution I thought, the stand alone storyline could have been a ten. I didn’t really want to comment on this manga but there aren’t many reviews for it so I might as well.

The best way I could describe this is a long short story.

I kept reading chapter after chapter expecting a climax or a big “wow” moment, something, anything at all to pull me in… after a certain point you can tell this story is riding on its ending. And when I came to that point, the emotion didn’t seem conveyed to the level it should have been. It could have reached somewhere amazing but I didn’t feel totally there with it.

The characters start out cliché. Shoujo tends to go one way or another with their characters. This one went with a masculine heroine and feminine hero. Akira’s character development was great. It’s a general progression and he’s fueled by supporting characters. The story follows Takami more but I felt she got cut short. Her role was mostly to encourage Akira’s development.

There is a bit of romance between Akira and Takami but not enough that I would call this managa a romance. The plot shifts from a developing love between the main characters to more about Akira becoming a great pianist. At the beginning I was annoyed with the romance bit. Akira’s comes off as forceful [idk if this was a way of portraying his character maturing or just bad show from the author] it got better as it went on though.

There’s not really much bad about this manga it just didn’t do the job for me. I almost gave it an 8. Would I recommend it? Yes. Would I read it again? Nope.

Story: 9 [great]
Art: 8 [very good]
character: 8 [very good]
enjoyment: 6 [OK]
Overall: 7 [good]

This manga is definitely not your typical shoujo manga.The male lead is a beautiful strong yet calm and composured and feminine guy and the female lead is beautiful strong reckless and definitely boyish girl :)
The boy can play very good piano and the girl can play play but not as well as him.This manga is more to the musical genre and since I love music myself,I really like this manga :)
I think that even though the story development was quite slow,I actually liked it.The son of a world's famous pianist and a normal girl,different worlds,and they have problems in their relationships due to their status differences but i thought that the manga was cute.

For a guy who doesn't want to turn out like his dad, he is sure taking the same path. Musicians especially in the orchestra have the worst relationships. They have to tour around the world every once in a while and to concentrate and practice they need a place with no one around. The series was kinda straightforward romance drama and if it had stayed the same in the end then it would been far better. Nonetheless it was a good read for a Shoujo genre. The last few chapters were unrealistic in every possible way. Akira not only somewhat forgive him but even agreed to train from his dad, who by the way is a sc#m and abandoned his family. Akira's words didn't matched his actions. I still want to know what misunderstanding was that foreigner even trying to say?