Black Bird

Story: 3
Art: 7
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 4

It's basically the manga version of the Twilight series. The only difference is that instead of vampires, it's demons and spirits. The story line is thin and there's little character development. I prefer my heroine to be strong and in control. Yet, in Black Bird, the heroine, Misao, is weak, whiny, over-dramatic, cries way too much, and doesn't take charge in any situation. She just sits back and waits for Kyo to come running to her rescue. Also, Kyo is an over-sexualized jerk (even for a manga). At first it was funny, but after the third volume it became annoying and almost sickening. I stopped reading after volume nine simply because I couldn't remain interested. There was nothing in the plot of character development to keep my attention.
The art work wasn't that bad, but it wasn't amazing. The artwork was pretty decent, but I've seen a lot better.
I have so much to say about characters because there are so many problems. For one, there are so many characters that you can't keep track of them, and many of them look very similar. Not only are there so many characters you have to keep track of, but you also have to keep track of what they have to do in the series. It seems that every character has their own little subplot. Because of all these subplots and similar looking characters, it's hard to keep track of what's what. Besides this, there is absolutely no character development. All the characters are bland and have one-dimensional personalities.
There was virtually nothing that I enjoyed. It couldn't keep my attention, the way Kyo treated Misao made me sick, the plot is thin and the characters are pretty much awful. I'm being generous of giving the overall a four.

So to start of, I have seen some pretty bad reviews for this manga and that's fair enough, everyone had there own opinions and not everyone like the same thing. That said, I did love this manga so very much so this review may not be very helpful but I'd just like to write what I thought about it.

I personally loved this manga. It may be because I love the whole fantasy genre but I think the mangaka created something really amazing with Black Bird.
I loved the characters, I loved Kyou and Misao. I loved Taro and I loved everyone, seriously even sho. The characters were funny and serious and there was really a good mix (in my opinion) which I loved because it's always great to have a mixture of different character types.
I liked the art, it was different to the other types I'd seen and held a lot of detail which made my breath catch a few times. Really I love most manga art because it's just so amazing how it looks and really as a person who does a lot of art in her spare time, it is one of most favourite types of art to do.
I found the story also very interesting, it wasn't something I'd seen before and it really got me hooked. I stayed up for hours reading this manga the past few days, I just couldn't put them down. I've always liked stories with demons and humans and I love stories with a lot of love and romance and hardships and drama, the good stuff. I found that this manga had all of that for me.
It made me cry so much as well, I cried with happiness, I cried with sadness, I laughed and got so emotional that I can't put it into words, I just so happen to get very emotional attached to fictional things, so this isn't a new feeling for me but honestly I love reading something that makes me feel so emotional and this was one of those things.
SPOILERS
The ending was literally perfect for me, I cried so much because they never actually said whether she lived or died and for those few pages it was so tempting to skip to the end but I didn't and when sou runs up to them both gosh, I cried like a bitch because she was alive and it just showed that there love had kept them both alive and that miracles do happen and omg I was terrified reading the end but I loved it I really did.

Honestly I think a lot of people will disagree with me but I don't think that because Misao is always being attacked and because she cries a lot that she is weak. Really if I were in her situation yes, I may try and defend myself a little more, but I will still cry as much as she has, I love Misao and her character and all these things make her character. I can see however, that these things could be seen as annoying and pathetic and a little stupid but I don't think that.
I guess that could be a criticism even if I don't actually think it to be true, there are a lot of things that could be said as criticism, I know that but honestly I don't have any myself.

Most of you probably won't find this review helpful, I don't write them for that though. I write these reviews because honestly, whether you agree with what I'm saying or not, I like to share my opinions on these things, manga and anime, with others who love manga and anime like I do.

SO yeah, I loved this manga and I'll probably read it again sometime because it really was a great one. It's one of those that leave a permanent emotional imprint, the ones you never forget and now I sound really cheesy but omg I really loved it.
:)

Story - 6
Art - 8
Character - 6
Enjoyment - 8
Overall - 7

Before I continue, I'll say that I'm generous when it comes to ratings...

Let me talk about the "genre" firstly. From what I've seen so far, it seems like a reverse-harem and reverse-ecchi(Does this exist? Let's just assume it does) which is pretty much an ecchi harem aimed at females. Though I personally enjoy it(Hello? Female here?), why else would I rate enjoyment an "8" anyway, there is a little sensible voice at the back of my head which is nagging at me about the areas this manga does not do so well in.

*sensible mindset tuned*
There are many other ways which a character can heal someone. Long-distance magic, chanting spells, waving magic charms and these are just some of the many. And out of the many, the author HAD to choose LICKING. For what's sake? For fan-service's sake.

The Female Protagonist(Misao) summarised in one sentence:
She. Is. Like. A. God.

Now, let's assume that you're a demon. Even better, let's assume you are a MALE demon. I will now introduce a brand new product to you. Aww, you feel exhausted... NOT TO WORRY, kissing/hugging this wonderful little god- I mean human girl will give you back your energy, like a healing fountain eh? WHY is that so? I do not know. Maybe because she is actually a GOD. That's not all of its functions! You wish to live for eternity? You can just swallow her into your stomach and WA-LA! )Once again, I do not know why.) Find that a pity? Then just get her to marry you, you and your family will have superb prosperity! I repeat! I do not know why! Plus, she has an incredible scent which makes you want to rape her.

And the entire plot is built upon her godly blessings. Different demons want to get her for himself and endless troubles come along blah blah...

Don't get me started on the main male's "true form" outfit. It's a total joke. It looks like a mix of "ninja"+"fallen angel"+"samurai" outfit from a low-budget movie. Yeah, I've checked, that's how a traditional "tengu" is suppose to look like but that doesn't change the fact that it looks funny. And can someone explain to me why is there a need for him to have long hair in his true form and not in his human form? Anyone? To let him seem normal? Then he must truly love his long hair very much for him to keep it that way in his true form. Maybe his hair magically grows when he transforms. He's also the one who has the healing-tongue. A full-time pervert.

I haven't seen any difference in the characters so far. They are just the typical stereotypes I suppose.

You can say that I'm biased if you want.

To sum it all up, it's readable but if you detest excessive fan-service and female protagonist with godly blessings, then I advice you not to.

Story: 7
I really thought this manga was just a silly romance manga with little to no story that I would just read in order to pass time. Well honestly the story is actually pretty cool and unique. The supernatural aspect mixed with romance was well structured and captivating. Yes, it tends to be very sexual and kinda throws the topic of rape in their a lot, but they mix it in the story where it doesn't seem forced (plus if there's a guy and a girl in love, their most likely going to have sex and make out a lot and not just a few times like in other romance manga). If the story was more of a shounen and built on more, it really would have been very engrossing even more so and more mature (mature not only in the sense of sex and stuff).

Art: 9
The art was really nice and the artist rarely or ever got lazy in chapters. It was vibrant and detailed enough sort of like a shoujo and shounen manga's art put together if you know what I mean.

Character: 8
I loved pretty much all of the characters in this manga, especially the main characters. Well the female protagonist, Misao, was very annoying and whinny and cried way to much, but she redeemed herself in many ways and its actually hard to completely hate her, because she's like a lovable puppy (kinda like Nana Komatsu). All the important characters were built on well and all had their own background stories shown (even if it was just briefly). Every character in this series has their own funny and/or honorable trait to them that it just makes it to hard to despise them.

Enjoyment: 10
I do have complaints about this manga, but I really enjoyed it. It was a fun read that had quite unexpected plot twist that keeps you on edge. It's a manga I'm truly glad I read and has a special place on my future manga bookshelf.

Well, I don't normally like fluffy, pretty romantic shojo mangas, so I didn't have high expectations for this when I first read it. In fact, I only did so because someone bought it for me. But I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised as I continued reading.
The beginning was a little slow, and I didn't think the first volume was the strongest, but it gets much better as you continue. The main character Misao improves a little from her weepy start, and Kyo is rather funny with his naughty mind: I found it preferable to him being unrealistically sweet. Also, the second volume introduces the Daitengu (who I think make it much better by giving it a larger and livelier cast) and starts to pick up the pace for the plot.
The art is very stylistic and covered in bubles and patterns, but it's still quite pretty, and some of the weird ghost-creatures are intersting looking.
If you're already thinking about reading this, then you probably should. The characters and story are cute, in a good way, so I think it's worth the read.