so it's depends on "when" you read rave master too
if you just read it recently, your "reading experience" from other manga will be your comparison object
like "this story pattern is sooo mainstream",
"the art is sooo bad"
"compared to other manga, this one is boring"
or so
but, if you notice this manga's year of publishing, i think it's quite astonishing

in my own opinion, this is my favorite manga
the first shounen manga that made me cried unconsciously, especially for shiba and sieghart, and one of shuda's quote "even the one who had lost his live, fights for today"
urgh, it made me remember again (TvT)

Yup. It's the typical suddenly hero type of story with big-boobed girls and what not.

But, it is also a story that is well drawn and written. Despite the cliches, it manages to pull through in my mind as a good manga. Haru is a fun character to watch, and Plu is just the cutest dog ever.

... Last updated on December 18th, 2013, 7:38pm

Read this if you want a typical feel good, good over evil, happy ending shounen manga. Nothing new here, but I give this one credit over similar mangas like Fairy Tail and One Piece for few reasons.

1. It's not infinitely dragged on. The pacing is good and it has a nice ending that ties up everything. Actually, it feels slightly rushed near the end, but that's OK with me because by then I had already seen enough of good guy fights impossibly strong bad guy, gets beat up, comes back through his will power stuff.

2. People die. Really. This is very unshounen-like in my opinion. Mangaka does pull some typical shounen style "he's-beat-up-so-bad-everyone-thought-he-was-dead-but-he-was-actually-bar ely-hanging-on-to-life-and-will-be-perfectly-fine-after-resting-few-days-with-no-side-effects" . But, some good and bad guys do die. For me, this made the fights feel a lot more epic and meaningful.

3. Ending didn't have any surprises, but it was satisfactory. No wondering whatever happened to...? Or why didn't they do...?

I recommend reading it if you're a fan of the genre.

... Last updated on December 20th, 2013, 11:22pm

I wuz recently reading HUNTER-X-HUNTER & really liked it, n this came up in the category recommendations & the rating for this manga wuz really high, so I started reading this
But this turned out to be so boring :/
I dunno if things got lost on translation or its meant for a MUCH YOUNGER age group (11yr olds), cuz to me it seemed so silly!
The first few chapters were OK but it went downhill frm there...
I read up till ch.30 n dint bother with the other 200+ chapters

I finished readning it fourth or fifth (can't tell for sure) time and I'm sure that it wasn't my last time. No matter how many times i return to Rave, i'll be always be crying . Sombody may say, that it's cliched etc. but i don't care. Besides, i've read many shounen mangas, but no other was like this one! Feelings that it gave me - absolutely uniqe!
I love main characters and enemies too. It's rare that i don't really hate anyone. I was really attached to everyone, thats why i'm always crying while reading it
One of the few mangas, with satisfying ending "right in time".
I like Fairy Tail, but for me Rave far is better. Story is much deeper and has suspense moments ( which FT lacks).

I recommend this manga to EVERYONE! I't will forever stay in my heart. Too bad that anime wasn't so good. I hope that someday there will be remake and it'll contain all volumes.

... Last updated on August 12th, 2013, 7:41am

Who else watched the anime growing up? Brilliant!

Oh, but it PALES in comparison to those wonderful 35 volumes. One of the few long mangas that I read every. single. page of. It was very, very good. I LOVE Ellie, Haru, Musica, and Plue. BEST TEAM EVER!

The storyline is brilliant since there's so much more to it than just finding the scattered stones. Did anyone else cry at the "end." I pour my eyes out like a bloody fool even when I know what happens next. It's beautiful.

After reading this I really was expecting a lot from Fairy Tail and while I have not, exactly, been disappointed yet, I feel it is not quite up to this manga's standard yet. It definitely lacks the attachment you get for the characters in here.

These guys are more than just friends, they're family (some literally later on *wink wink*). It's romantic, it's action-packed, it's sad, it's suspenseful, but it's amazing. A perfect ending to a perfect manga and you'll never get bored.

Read it and to hell with anyone that says they don't like it!

Yes, it's totally cliched, I mean, all the battles seem so alike. The protagonists, in a lot of situations, just need will power and will power alone to level up and kill the enemy that just seconds ago, beat them hell out XD

But, I am indeed moved for characters in this story. All the deaths are glorious and some even moved me to tears. It's just like I never expected the story to be so deep and so meaningful like that. I really hope such details will be included in Fairy Tail XD

This was a really nice manga, one of the few Shounen, if any, that I actually stayed up all night to read. Scratch that, read whenever possible WITHIN my school time.

The beginning, as most manga, isn't heart-racing, but rather a bit curious. You would generally read into it more, wondering who this "old guy" is and such. Rave does, I'll admit, take some time to really get pumping; but once it does, you might as well say goodbye to your social life.

The characters are basically what you'd expect, at the beginning, of any Shounen manga. But what I like about Rave is that, this all changes once you get to the midway point.
You like the side characters.
You love the enemies.
You ADORE the main characters.

Now, I never cry when watching anime or reading manga with the exception of two pieces.
One being Clannad, and the other being this.

The deaths were so heartbreaking that I wanted to curl up into my bed and give up on humanity.
I didn't even realize I was crying, I was just tearing up when

I really recommend this manga for anyone that's beginning the transition from shoujo to shounen. As well as for anyone who's looking for a good pulse-racing and heart-tugging tale.

The ending, though, is a main highlight of the story. Most shounen have a tendency to...*cough cough* end abruptly and make you want to bang your head in disbelief because you didn't realize it was over until the first comment you see is: "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT ENDED!"
But Rave was definitely one of the best concluded Shounen manga that I've read, and I've several.
It' ends all the loose ends you could conjure up. Closes all wounds. . And, the best part for me, is that the small side-omake actually coincides with the real story at the end, closing with a funny short.

So, in conclusion, I highly recommend this manga. Hiro Mashima really did his best here, and I hope he continues in Fairy Tail, another great piece by him.

... Last updated on November 30th, 2012, 11:18pm

I started to read this serie short after starting Fairy Tail, and the only thought that kept me reading was "it's his very first work, have patience, soon it get's better". Not that I can't understand why people like it, but I really am asking myself why this manga got serialized so long and got this popular in the first place.

The plot is okay ( mainstream but at least it has some coherence and a red line in the whole story) and it's really humorous, but the art is childish and primitive (with some obvious perspective mistakes) and the figures are...extraordinary strange - a mix between a snowman and a dog as mascot, some jelly with a face and arms to grope girls, a penguin with a wizard hat... It's fantastic and original, but pointless (though less pointless than your actual Fairy Tail).

You can say whatever you want, I won't change my point of view, mostly because I have too high expectations and maybe also because I'm too old (18 years?) to understand the point in reading it.

However it's not bad. At all. It's just that everything, from characters to the plot and counting the ending, is a huge cliché. You only need to take it as the best you can do with such limitations.
The characters are not bad, some of them are even good, except the main who is uninteresting (I could write his lines one chapter before he said them, only by thinking "what is the most obvious thing that can be said in such a situation ?")
The art is pretty good and improves as the manga goes on, and the battles are well depicted and don't last for like 10 chapters. However every battle follows the same script except for one

: the good guy gets powned, but thanks to his willpower he stands up, then the bad guy says "how is it possible" and in the end the good guy wins thanks to friendship/willpower/resolve/(insert other shounen proposition)

So in the end if you like totally mainstream shounen, you can't go wrong with this one. If you want one that surprises you at every page, go somewhere else.