Ahhhh, how I love stories that go against the flow of the river like a beautiful school of salmon. In a type of media that seems to be swarming with Harem, RPG SAO wannabes and bad attempts at making something different, HakoMari certainly comes as a nice a gem. If you are tired of those types of stories, and want something different, or if you like some nice mystery with romance and some suspense, then this is light novel for you.

However, I believe there is just too much hype over this one. It is good, yes, it is great! But I think there are too many people just jumping on the 10/10 wagon, so I wish to bring another point of view as well. Over the course of this review, I will state why I gave this a 9/10.

Story: 9/10

Firstly, as I have said before, HakoMari is different. It is also hard to describe because it is a story that would be hard if not impossible to adapt to other type of media other than a light novel (so we probably won't be seeing any manga or anime adaptation, and if they try, it will suck. I guarantee it). That means that a lot of the descriptions going on in the story is up to your imagination on how you picture it.

Thus, my first and best example of it is also the main theme of the story, the concept of "boxes". Right from the start, the author introduces us to the existence of these "boxes" that can grant wishes depending on the character personality and state of mind. That being said, these "boxes" alter the lives of the people that come in contact with them, and quite frequently, the persons around them as well.

Which sets the tone for our protagonist, Kazuki Hoshino, purpose. Kazuki is obsessed with what the author defines as his "everyday life", that is, the normal life of a male japanese high school student, meeting girls so that he may create his own Har.... I mean, having fun with his friends... Kidding aside, the very concept of "boxes" goes against his idea of "everyday life" as something abnormal, and it is his objective to destroy these "boxes".

The author also does a damn fine job at grabbing your attention right from the get go throwing the mystery right at your face and with the enigmatic words of our lovely main heroine Aya Otonashi.

The story also tries to question several concepts of society and can be considered realistic to a point, although I have some reservation which I will talk about soon. Every novel also has a different setting for the main characters, with a different writing styles all perfectly adequate for each of the volumes making each one unique.

Combine all that with a very well written and revised story with no plot holes that I noticed, and you have a must read.

Character: 7/10

So far, you might be wandering, if it is so good, why is the score a 9 out of 10? Indeed, and the reason is the characters, which for me also happen to lower a bit the score of the other aspects as well (hence I gave 9/10 to the story). Now, let me make this clear, the characters and very good, way better than the vast majority of your run-of-the-mill characters, however it is far from perfect.

Let me present the good aspects.

First, the characters are all not stupid. Which is already more than we can usually ask. But the author also tries to make them deep with dark pasts and real motives as to why they want something or the other. It also presents conflict between the beliefs of each one, which is one of the main driving aspects of the story.

Furthermore, every character that appears for some time has a purpose in the story and contributes significantly to it. The protagonist and main heroine also have personalities that makes the reader root for them. And unlike several stories, all characters develop with their actions and grow as an individual.
The relationship between the two main characters, is also a delight too see and one of the selling points of HakoMari.

However...... during the course of my reading, I always had a feeling, an itch if you will. I couldn't exactly pinpoint what it was at the begging, but in the later volumes it became clear.

The characters feel fake. All of them. And thus the story also suffers from it as well.

And that is why I said the story is realistic to a point. The author just tried too hard to make them realistic with dark pasts and beautiful motivations to the point that they don't feel real. Now before any white knight comes screaming at me that his is just a fantasy, the biggest selling point of the light novel is that it wants the reader to feel connected to the "realism" in it and think of all the the terrible things that happened with the characters so that you may think of all the hidden "messages" it is trying to pass. It wants us to believe that could also happen in a real world setting.

So, when you can't really connect with any of the characters, it doesn't really matter. There were several moments in the story that it was obvious the author was trying to get me connected with the sad moments (and happy parts as well) of the characters. But since they felt "fake", I just didn't really care. I was in more because it was written very well and of the mystery.

Maybe if it were adults in a adult setting or if the author didn't try so hard the, "I wish to change the world", it would be more believable. But, when we remember that all the characters are high school kids... hey, high school students just aren't like that. The "genius" concept is also just not good and overused in HakoMari. The thing is, Geniuses, doesn't actually exist. Well they do, but they are just so very rare, and even so, it doesn't mean they are bound to do great stuff or even want to. In fact, usually, it is quite the contrary. And when HakoMari presents us a school setting apparently full of them, well it is just not believable.

Furthermore, the way the MC likes to flail himself is quite annoying. Try to picture this. People are trying to destroy you, sometimes they are even your friends. You give what they deserve, what do you think:

a) Think that you acted in self-defense and they should apologize
b) Think what a horrible person you are for what you did, even though they started it, and you feel sick with yourself. So you want to beg for forgiveness

Yes I am sure it is option b, because that is certainly what our MC thinks as he always chooses that option. And apparently all the other characters thinks so, because nobody feels bad for what they did and accept his apologies.... the hypocrites.

Also, the way the author seems to just brush off some of the actions that some characters takes bothered me a little. Even if they did something horrible. "Hey I killed someone and manipulated a lot of people against their will. But I suffered in my past and it was all for my distorted sense of justice, so it is ok right?" Well apparently there is no consequence because the character is a good person deep down.

Ok rant over. Even though I said all that, it is way better than it sounded. Those complaints just appeared occasionally, otherwise the score wouldn't be 9/10 overall (which is very good).

If you can just shake off that feeling and apreciate the rest of the story you will enjoy it a lot more, that is what I did.

Art: 7/10:

Pretty good, nothing out of the ordinary, and it is a light novel, so who cares.

Enjoyment 9/10:

So even with that rant, HakoMari is still very enjoying to read, the writing is amazing. It truly is, and the story is fantastic, if it wasn't for the super try hard characters it would be an easy 10. So I enjoyed it not because of it's serious aspect and messages, but because of it is a interesting fantasy story.

I like my readings to be somewhat "smart", and HakoMari certainly fits that bill. Good atmosphere and interesting concept with some mystery some romance, good dialogue and monologue. Specially in the first 4 volumes where the mystery was more in force, it was very enjoyable and I would give a 10/10 for the first part. No overly complicated plot, just a nice read.

Overall 9/10:

I would most definitely recommend HakoMari to anyone and everyone. And I am sure most people will read it in a blaze.