Sakura Namiki

frankly only reason you would be reading this is its historical value. if you try to compare it to todays manga's it loses in almost every aspect to even sub-standart mangas. however i found it nice to be able to read something from so long ago if you have nothing else to do take a look at this it would be quite hard to find something like this even if you went looking for it. its actually very good compared to few i had read close to timeline it has been written/drawn.(don't have enough knowledge on it so i leave this series un-rated)

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Gorgeous illustration

by philip72
14 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

The story is cute, but isn't much to speak of, about what you'd expect from a manga written in '57.

The art on the other hand is fantastic; great composition, a clean mid-century style, amazing graphics. One of best I've ever seen.
Anybody with an interest in retro style art design should definitely pick this up.

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The Rows of Cherry Trees

by akari_mizunashi
16 years ago

Rating: 10.0 / 10.0

Okay, so there isn't much plot here to speak of. There's a ping-pong game in a very romanticized girls' school. Described in extreme detail. And that's about it. But the art makes it a must-read. It's clean, stylized, and streamlined to an extent I've never seen in in any manga from any year. The symbolic action verges on the surreal - when one of the girls starts a major barrage, spheres of all sizes cascade down the page. When the main girl hears herself being gossipped about, the girls' words hit her as arrows. Even an act as simple as taking a shower is given a gorgeous stylized representation. Plus, each section is printed in a different color of ink.

Anyone who's at all interested in the evolution of shoujo manga should give this a look.

... Last updated 16 years ago

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The 1950's weren't that bad, apparently.

by Yeran
17 years ago

Rating: 9.0 / 10.0

Who cares about poodle skirts and malted milkshakes -- all these girls care about is table tennis (pretty much... ping-pong) and each other. I don't usually like old art, but this art is -so- old that it feels nothing like those depressing sparkly-eyed, poofy-haired 70's heroines. These girls are adorable, and I'm surprised that something like this sold well enough to survive to today. There's that much GL in it.

I'd like to thank Lililicious, too, because getting a copy of this couldn't possibly be easy, and the scanlation quality is excellent.

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