at first this manga reminded me of 'fushigi yugi' (this manga has a female lead & her best friend was her enemy) and kyo kara maoh (the naivety and kindness of the lead character). All of them had the concept of 'another world'..

but silver diamond, although the story is simple (making the world green & try to stop the enemies from destroying the world) lead to a story of its own, having the unique factor that the 'prince'/savior grows plants, which made it more interesting.

i love the art, the story, the great mix of characters, even the times that chigusa will hug anyone who hugs rakan. gosh. a group of bishies travelling. i think i totally fell for it.

i really hope i can finish reading this (i'm at volume 14). i can't find it in any stores or online..

... Last updated on May 22nd, 2012, 10:04am

I read Koori no Mamono no Monogatari (well, as many volumes as I could get my hands on) and I loved it all - the story, the art, the characters, so I decided to give this one a try. It has a different feel to it, but, once again, I loved it all. I reccomend!

So...it's not really dropped is it? Since Vol. 9 just came out spring of this year, so Vol. 10, maybe soon? Just checking, because then I'll study for exams and wait breathlessly for the English volumes to come out instead of religiously learning Japanese just for this series xD

Just like others have said before me, this series is definitely worth the read. The part about it not deserving the "shounen-ai" tag, however, is a lie in my eyes. It is hinted within the very first pages of the story and continues to develop afterward.

the manga is simple and charming, if a bit slow and plodding (and the latter makes me wonder how long i will stick with it; we're in v9 and still early on in the journey; i'm gonna run out of shelf space!). pretty artwork (though i sometimes have trouble telling characters apart), original storyline. despite running in "ichiraci" there's so little BL here that it barely deserves the "shounen ai" tag; it's likely to just turn off people who avoid any BL like the plague, and they shouldn't be, yet people who actually expect there to be some boy-on-boy interaction will be disappointed. frankly, i would say there isn't even a whole lot of actual subtext. unfortunately the tokyopop version stinks. if tokyopop want me to buy any more, they need to make a much better effort; as it is, i buy the originals instead and am happy there are still scanlators who keep working on it despite the licensing. i am always sad when tokyopop licenses a manga i really like, because they never even come close to the japanese originals; it's like holding a bad chinese rip-off in your hands instead of a small treasure.

Feels like shounen-ai, but more of a story of about pretty guys on a quest.

There is a a point where there is a lot of character introductory and it gets a bit of time (and rereading for me) to know who's who. I bought this manga 'cause I love Sugiura-sensei is one of my favorite mangaka, but dammit, TokyoPop is not doing manga business anymore and doesn't look like any other manga licensing companies are going to pick this up. -___-#

So if you want fantasy storyplot with all-guys characters, this is for you. But if you don't like reading unfinished translated work, better stop before you get hooked int by Sugiura-sensei's magical wonder.

... Last updated on February 13th, 2012, 12:00am

Quoted from In-tuition: "I'm afraid this will become another needlessly prolonged series. I liked the story when it first started, especially with the Rapunzel bit (which I wish was made the main story). Anyway, I haven't picked up this series recently, but I remember it being very good--but not great. It's a good shounen-ai read, even if you don't like that genre. I think it's advancing steadily which isn't all too bad, but when I see 20 volumes (ongoing), I think it's impossible to really drag the story that far. I believe I last stopped at volume 8, and it seemed as if it was already steadily getting toward the big conclusion, or "final battle", if you know what I mean."

You seem to be getting "Koori" & "Silver Diamond" mixed up. The Rapunzel arc was in "Koori" which has finished. (Although the scanlations are still in progress)

Yes, SD is a long series, but in volume 9 they're still near the beginning of their journey. I do hope that unlike in Saiyuki, that journey isn't endless. It's still too early to tell, but they are making some progress. And the trip allows Rakan to spread the green.

But between the eye candy & utter sweetness and fun of the story, I do hope it lasts a long time (but pick up the pace TokyoPop!)

... Last updated on August 5th, 2010, 7:34pm

I'm afraid this will become another needlessly prolonged series. I liked the story when it first started, especially with the Rapunzel bit (which I wish was made the main story). Anyway, I haven't picked up this series recently, but I remember it being very good--but not great. It's a good shounen-ai read, even if you don't like that genre. I think it's advancing steadily which isn't all too bad, but when I see 20 volumes (ongoing), I think it's impossible to really drag the story that far. I believe I last stopped at volume 8, and it seemed as if it was already steadily getting toward the big conclusion, or "final battle", if you know what I mean.

How Sugiura Shiho can make up such a wonderful and unique world is beyond me. The setting is just wonderful, plus the originalities such as the seeds and Sanome makes for an interesting twist. I'm still waiting for a direction with the part in the plot at where I am at, but since we're quite a few volumes behind, I'm guessing and hoping it's going to turn out good. The light humour coupled with fluff is perfect too!

And who doesn't love the four main characters plus a talking snake? Rakan is just so pure and innocent, but can hold his own ground. Chigusa's displays of affection towards Rakan is really sweet, plus his whole mystery surrounding his character holds you at the back of your mind. Narushige almosts seems like the mother duck of the group. He's calm and protects Rakan from Chigusa and everyone making fun of Touji's nest makes me smile, plus how he's always forced to pair up with Chigusa because of Narushige. And Kou! Makes me wish I had a talking snake haha xD Yeah, they are a lovely group that work well together! Sugiura's art is also a bonus, with four bishies to look at makes my day ;D

Lastly, on the Tokyopop release. The only other series I have from them is Demon Diary and CCS, and I wasn't impressed. Since that was a few years ago, I had hopes they could have improved... But no. They disappointed me more. Brownie points for the two colour pages. Hate points for horrible cloning and redrawing, and the cover, as pretty as it may be to have a metallic title, there's no point if one little scratch can spoil it. Also, if you're going to translate sfx, DON'T decide randomly ones to do. Wtf is the point in that? If you don't want to edit them, just put a side note like Del Ray. I don't understand why they do it, but it frustrates me, even if I do know hiragana and katakana, I don't want to sit there with a book I paid for, trying to decifer what a sfx means (though it may be obvious, I still want to know). Just how hard is it to do a proper job? And at the price they charge, I was expecting a whole lot better.

... Last updated on May 20th, 2010, 3:42pm

It usually takes me a while to get into stories that are bound to be more than 5 volumes long. I first looked at Silver Diamond, thinking, I'm not going to enjoy this all that much. I was wrong, though!

The story may be long-winded at some points, but the beautiful art and the gorgeous characters truly make up for it. You come to really like Rakan's peaceful state of mind and how different Chigusa is compared to him. If you're like me, though, I sometimes get impatient with the development between these two! ha ha. All of the characters introduced are connected one way or another to Rakan and the world that Chigusa comes from, and everything's just so heartwarming and lovely.

Plus, the whole idea of seeds (later explained in the story) really struck me as something unique and interesting. I enjoyed how Sugiura Shiho used the flowers that Rakan loved so much in the real world and their eventual impact in the world over.

The different arcs bring different characters that are all so innocent and great. I'm glad TokyoPop decided to publish this, yet I've been clinging onto this for so long, it hurt to see that I'd have to wait who knows how long just to continue the story from where I ended...Oh well. It's been probably a year and a half or so since I've really read this story, and most of those names are still implanted in my mind. I kinda really enjoyed it a lot, ha ha.