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One of the problems with something being truly good is that every so often it becomes a victim of its own success, and in a sense that's what happened with the fans of Full Metal Alchemist.

Arakawa Hiromu's tale of two brothers and their adventures in alchemy is one of the most well known stories in anime and manga to date, and has spawned a horde of games, a movie (with a second one planned), numerous doujins and fanfics, piles of merchandise ranging from tatoos to chibi plushies, and two very different anime series. The story itself is very typically shounen at times, however there is a depth to proceedings that belies the initial look and feel of the manga. While things begin innocuously enough, it's not long before the reader finds themselves wrestling with moral, religious, and even philosophical motives and actions as the Elric brothers make their journey towards their destiny.

Enough waxing lyrical, on to the nitty gritty. Anyone familiar with Arakawa's other works, especially her one shot manga, will undoubtedly find some surprising similarities to certain events and situations that occur in Full Metal Alchemist. The reason for this is because Arakawa had the foresight to test out various ideas in another form and format before adapting them for use in her flagship title, and this refinement process shows throughout the story. Although this is a shounen tale in the truest sense, there's a degree of complexity and innovation which has been carefully applied in an effort to draw the reader in, and this is one of the hallmarks of Arakawa's storytelling style.

As with any work though, there are a few areas that could have been improved upon. In an effort to lighten the mood from time to time the mangaka has seen fit to apply a few doses of comedy here and there, and while stories like Raiden 18 make it clear that Arakawa has some skills in that department, the application of humour in Full Metal Alchemist is sometimes a bit haphazard. That said, it seems like the mangaka herself also had a similar realisation as the tone of the series becomes much more serious during the latter half, and the frequency of comedic moments drops quite sharply. Surprisingly, the humour is less of a distraction and more of an anodyne for the reader during the later stages of the story, which is a testament to the idea that "less is more".

The artwork is very typical of the mangaka, however once more there is that look of refinement about the characters and settings, and even some of the action sequences. One big plus is that the reader is given a more visual, and sometimes visceral, look into the author's world than one might find in other shounen manga. That said, Rumiko Takahashi's InuYasha is a serious contender in this department, but like that manga, Full Metal Alchemist also suffers from the same problem - the highly stylized characters.

The main issue with the design is that some people may find it doesn't suit their tastes, which will in turn impact upon their appreciation of the story. That said, as an advocate of more individualism in manga and anime, it's nice to read something that remains true to the author's style as there are far too many titles that look identical to each other (e.g. harem romantic comedies and about half of the shoujo manga out there).

As for the characters themselves, suffice to say that the development of the lead roles is very good indeed, and the supporting roles are given a healthy amount of space to shine as well. One of the more interesting aspects is the pace at which the characters are developed throughout the story, and a big plus is the degree of attention given to the "bad guys", especially later in the series. It's a sad fact that shounen tales are filled with shallow antagonists who serve no other purpose than to give the lead character a wall they must "beat down" in order to move the story forward, and while Full Metal Alchemist contains the basic elements of this type of progression, it manages to mask them far better than most action manga out there.

Is there a major downside then? Well, unfortunately there is, but it's one that's very much dependent on personal taste. The reason why the Full Metal Alchemist franchise is a victim of its own success is because of the original anime adaptation of the unfinished manga.

Now one of the problems that fans have is that the two versions of the tale are wildly different in terms of atmosphere, story and character mentality (basically they're like chalk and cheese). The main issue at hand is that while the manga version of Full Metal Alchemist is an excellent series, the original anime adaptation is becoming maligned and misunderstood because it deviates too much from Arakawa's story. Personally I consider both to be equally good, just not in the same way.

Here's what I mean.

Arakawa's manga is a very good story that incorporates a number of typical shounen aspects like never giving up, trusting in one's friends and allies, etc, and while the tale is excellent in both content and execution, in all honesty, it lacks a degree of "darkness" that was inherent in the first anime. One of the things that struck me about this dissonance was the fact that the whole theme of obsession seems to peter out by the end of the manga, whereas the first anime actually ended with that theme still running strong.

Now, some of you maybe a little confused by that perspective, especially as both tales feature the same characters to a degree, however one look at their respective endings will begin to make things a little clearer, and pay particular attention to Alphonse Elric as he is the reason why I consider the two tales to be so very different (and if you're still unsure, then feel free to ask me about it).

It's pretty obvious that I enjoyed Full Metal Alchemist immensely, however my only real gripe with the manga, especially after reading Arakawa's other works, is that there are too many occasions where it feels like the author has purposely moved away from a theme or situation that was used in the original anime, and this can make parts of the story feel a bit rushed. That said, this is actually a minor problem as the whole tale fits together extremely well, and in terms of content Full Metal Alchemist is easily on par with Takahashi Rumiko's masterpiece.

What Arakawa Hiromu has given us is a work that is truly good, despite some minor niggles here and there, and while there are some typically shounen aspects to the tale, Full Metal Alchemist, like Inuaysha, is a far cry from what one would consider a typical shounen manga.

Isn't it ironic then, that the two of greatest shounen tales weren't written by men?

It's just really too bad that I can't find or even read all full 46 chapters of this manhwa because it is so realistic and heartbreaking to see what the Author had actually been through. This is in terms of her experiencing domestic violence, gender discrimination, family estrangement, sexism, emotional abuse, physical abuse and parent neglect. This not just about the Author herself of what she been through, she also interacts with another guy called Jae Hoon who also came from a broken home system.

Danzi definitely did a fantastic job as a mangaka by bringing awareness of what anyone can go through behind close doors. I highly recommend peeps to read this manhwa like it is so underrated and needs to be recognised badly!!!!

I read Mingo volume 1 due to being a big fan of Terrace House, The backgrounds are fantastic, I think it captures the city beatifully, which by the way i will get into that, I think Mingo overall is about metropolitan anxiety.
When i saw the author on Terrace House describing his story as a comedy and how much he loves to make people laugh, I was expecting a light hearted story, but i was surpriced when i read his work. Instead of a hihihi laughing my ass out, what i read was a little fucked up, explicit, full of nudity, deep emotional story about social communication, sexuality and anxiety. I really felt for the protagonist interacting with other characters at the night club or at auditions and how overwhelming Tokyo must be,the depiction of tokyo is phenomenal, the best part of the story.
Now for the negatives, I think the portayal of the female lead was a little weird, like if she is some pure angelic figure, beyond the rest, not like those other slutty chicken heads. Number 2, the italian characters had the mentality of we are italians we will give them some italy ok? and they turned into a caricature of themselves like they were straight out of a 60s mob movie. I would never do that, i dont know people that do that, let alone get laid a lot due to that. Number 3, the protagonist realizes that italians are fantasized in Japan and have a lot of success with women, but if you take a quick look at the author you will quickly realise that he is an 11/10 very handsome man, so that made me think if he draws from experience and by that i dont think his italianess had nothing to do with him being very attractive, i get a feeling a lot when reading his work, did this happen in his life? Did he miss identify the cause of the problem when writting his work? I hope in the future Mingo focuses a lot more on communication and anxiety, i liked those parts and less on nationality and picking up chicks.

Story: 5/10
Well, it is the "Protagonist gets put in supernatural danger, weird friend comes in to save him, boom, guess now I'm involved! What can I do? Maybe I can help you fight the supernatural, go on an adventure and meet friends along the way?!!", but personally, I don't hate it that much, you have a story to tell and 50 pages to get people to pay you to tell it, its tough. The biggest problem I have is that the story didn't seem to be going anywhere, unlike the first few chapters of Bleach for example, that already presented you the expansive potential of that universe and its characters.

Art: 8/10
Honestly, I'm a sucker for this art style, I love it. The design of the "Satan" character looks great, and the Cupid's second form too. The only thing I don't like is how the other characters' faces can be a little inconsistent.

Character: 4/10
Overall, the characters where too shallow, and that's fine in a one-shot because you don't have time to develop them, but in this particular case, you could tell they weren't going anywhere.

Overall (6/10) and conclusion:
Great art, bad characters and an OK story idea. Not much to say, but if it would have gotten a full release, it probably wouldn't amount to much fun. Not a series the world will miss.

Have u ever seen mc avenge for his sister and go to reincarnate world. desire dream wish all this word put in the first act then i love so much

After all when u read through in the middle (ch.9), it so trash and mc have changed character that no sense for him why accept to help someone. Anyway I love how mc find the sister and then godness try to improve character to avoid the problem that had been happened in this world.

This manga have good idea so well but writer throw away. i would like this story change to reincarnate about character development (MC). he get their friend and accept sister not alive again however the first ch i will give 6 (nice idea)

Finally if you just wanna see mc so cool and have dark blade such as dark story, this will fulfill.

This is truly a philosophical collection of short stories and for being so it was quite hard to fully enjoy it, I'm sure some of the more meaningful parts were lost in the translation, and the lack of some words didn't help either, yet, those stories were intriguing, some making you think about life and other things, some just leaving you curious, it was a good read despite me not being able to enjoy it at its fullest, I will come back some time later and hopefully gather even more from it. This is not an easy read, I do not recommend it to you at all if you just want to read something to calm down and relax.

Art: What a feast for the eyes. This is a truly beautiful manhua. It is colored throughout, but even without colors, the character designs are absolutely gorgeous.

Story: Sadly, no matter how beautiful the art, it wasn't enough to make up for the poor story line and characters. Granted, this is a very short manhua. Thus, there's not much room for development. Nevertheless, the heroine is complete mess. We're forced to think that she's a strong-willed woman when really she's just a whiny brat.

This is fine for a quick read and great as candy for the eyes, but don't go in expecting anything more.

Seeing as nobody has written a review for this, I take it upon myself to recommend a good work by a competent author that got overlooked because it was cut short.

In short, it's good, but a bit heavy for those expecting a light-hearted shoujo comic. It's very short and very much worth a read.

You may know Katsura Asuka from Blood+ and Billionaire Girl. I started to read her comic from Shinwa Ponchi which is quite recent, I admit that. I wasn't particularly interested in reading more after Blood+ and Billionaire Girl, both of which are competently written and drawn. Only after Shinwa Ponchi, which I thought wasn't as well written though was axed similar to this, or so I hope, did I had an interest in reading more of her work. This review wasn't written after my first reading, but after my 20th times and randomly check for review on MAL.
Having admitted that, you probably can tell I prefer more light-hearted story. Blood+ and Billionaire Girl is rather heavy and a bit of a downer, with Blood+ just an adaption and Billionaire Girl lack that satisfaction for me. Which is what I should be saying about both Ponchi and this, but I would not.
The beautiful thing about axed works is the same thing that made it hurts: the unrealised potential. Though unlike Ponchi, which could have ended earlier or later would still be fun, Hanayashiki no Juunin-tachi should have ended a little later, but the way the author ended the plot is beautiful on its own.
All Katsura works have beautiful and rather refreshing art. That's not up for question. There's a certain way that she sets up the scene and the character facial expression that's unique to her. It's quite rare to find an author and illustrator that has a signature strength. Usually we remember them by their character design. Though, art is very subjective in this case, so I won't sing praises any more than that.
More importantly, the plot is the main pull. While it was axed, it left me a lot of impression, so much so that I still like to revisit it out of pure enjoyment, despite the ending being rushed. The central conflict between the characters is identity. I will try not to enter spoiler territory here but the few characters are very influenced by their parents to take on an identity of themselves and their identification of others. It sounds avant-garde but really, it's as old as Greek theatre. Having said that, the conflicts here are a joy to read. Each of the characters have a little spice in them, and while some is discovering their preconception of others can be misleading, others are trying to protect the identity that others have on them. It's all work very well together.
The last part that should be noted is while the conflicts are not completely resolved, the ending leaves everything very much open, well, since it was axed, in that short span of 3 volumes, all of the characters involved in the drama experience some manner of growth, and the story still has some filler left over. as a package, it has everything: comedy, drama, romance. The ending is satisfactory enough in that not everything should be resolved, but the characters experienced enough to have the strength to face them. I think it's very worth of being rated higher, though that's just my opinion.
I recommend this to everyone who wants a short but filled with fun and drama ride. If you are not in the mood for some serious relationship problem, I don't recommend it of course.

Will try to make this slighty short.

Story - 7
Art - 8
Characters - 7
Enjoyment - 7

It is clear that life has its ups and downs, there is little to no one on this Earth who hasn't experienced such a damned algorithm forced into practically every life on Earth. And whilst that may sound depressing, we can dream, we can imagine, we can wish for ideals, regardless of what goes on. Yuru Yuru embodies that optimistic world of which many people would probably agree upon living in if truck-kun gave them the chance to. It genuinely feels like the most soothing, most calming, most relaxed style of life that could be allowed. I've never read anything like it, that isn't to say that other s.o.l manga doesn't achieve what Yuru Yuru does. I have yet to come across any relatives in that faction. Though that does one of two things, further emphasises its status as a gem, concurrently elevating itself with the rest of the huddle. Certainly, one of the most alleviating manga you can come across in today's day and age.

There isn't much of a story, and through my treks of the animanga community opinions, it feels as if s.o.l that has no goal at the get-go, tend to get bashed upon. Admittedly, there isn't anything in this to make up for what can be considered a "story", though I ask you, isn't life also a story to tell regardless? Killing two birds with one story here, I think that if s.o.l with no end goal does indeed affect whether you will read this or not, I think you should try it anyway. The story, in this case, is just a schoolgirl trio vibing, yes, in common ways, however, it is as if Yuru Yuru has its fantastical code to embellish as its own. I might have very well been manipulated by the goodness within. But doesn't that mean it has worked as a story, despite generic attributes? The characters here are in the same band as the narrative, they too have their qualities that although they are common, still gives them the humanity needed to be loveable whilst reading this. "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." as Leonardo da Vinci would say.

The art here is a funny topic. It uses a Konami code to enable colours, automatically separating this from the rest of much other manga, however, I am not here to compare it to others, though it does have that benefit from colours that cannot be overlooked. The artworks in the story well, and it gives more life to the surroundings and characters accordingly, it is one of the features that make Yuru Yuru what it is. It is also modelled in a way to make it seem like those paint-like YouTube animations you get now and then, something that gives it more of a relaxation touch rather than what is regularly given.

Overall, I think this is quite the enjoyable manga, as I had noted beforehand with how calm and relaxed it is, has quite a bit of good humour in it too, Yuru Yuru seems to do the chore of setting you up for the manga itself by doing nothing but flow through its narrative to tell. The trio Haruka, Yuki and Misaki sure do know how to allow for some common, but loveable scenes to play out that you can view upon. Irrefutably one of the most chill manga I have come across.

Yuru Yuru is easy to read with about 7-8 pages per chapter, not a lot of words in each page too, so if you want something to fly through with, I would really recommend this. I would even go as far as to say reread this if you have the chance because it is an experience one simply cannot overlook without thought. It is not every day something as so comes out for offer. Enjoy this whilst it is still there.

Overall - 7.25 (7)

This manga was based on a not so popular game (at least not as well known as others in the series) called Link’s Awakening based on the Game Boy version of the game. For reference, I have only watched a playthrough of the game myself so I wasn’t really going in blind on the game, although I haven’t played it. Sadly, the manga lacks much next to the game, where it gives insight into parts that were quieted down, the main story seemed to suffer greatly by just how short and fast passed it was. In order to talk about this manga, I must get into many of the main pieces of the story and also have to spoil a few things since they are major parts in the storyline. I do apologize for this but as it is based off a game, I feel I have no way of not doing this.

We start out with Link in the storm, just as the game starts out and everything goes good up to the point where he is going to the forest and such. It seems that they decided to scratch off many of the side quests that made the game even better then just a linear piece such as Tarin turning into a raccoon or the secret sea shell quest to find them all for the upgrade of the sword. This bothered me for it changed the story, making the quests that would of taken most of the game seem like they were not worth it. And yet, even with the quests being taken out, you would think that they would have spent more time with the temples then as they are the second part of the game that took up the most of it. The answer is no. The barely touch it! It’s a couple images of him jumping over stuff, fighting stuff that looks like blobs and then the boss fight that he has only a little bit of time. What do they do have then? Link walking around and talking to a little fairy character named Felicia who isn’t even in the game at all!!

There the manga lacks in a lot of things, there are a couple things that they do have well. They explain more about who the ghost is that you help is as well as why he died away from his home. They also explain what Link feels as he learns about the secret of the island and what he goes through knowing exactly how things would happen. Sadly, the way they make the owl sound is almost like he is an enemy himself. I didn’t really like that because they do not make him feel like a voice of reason.

The artwork, while mostly well done, does lack a lot in my mind. The characters just seem very bland and I could not recognize some of them as I should. There are times when the characters seem to have ‘jagged cheeks’ where when looking at a 3/4th view, the cheek looks like it has its own nose. The eyes are way too big for the face at times and make the character look really dopy or like the eyes are up on the forehead. They will even slightly curve to put them up on the forehead at times it feels. I would of liked it if they had made the characters look slightly closer to the game because the game had rather good graphics for its time. On the cover, it feels that they can’t decide the color of Link’s clothing is.