
User rating of this review - 4.53 out of 5
Story/Plot - 4 out of 5
Characters - 3 out of 5
Drawing Style - 5 out of 5
Enjoyment - 4 out of 5
Overall - 4.5 out of 5
Plot/Story
Manaka Junpei is the typical shounen protagonist. He has an interest in filmmaking and someday wants to join the film club at Izumisaki High School. One day he walks up to his school's roof and a young girl falls from above on top of him. Almost immediately he sees this girls strawberry panties. Not getting a clear look at her face, he supposedly immediately falls in love. The next few chapters concern him and his attempted search for the girl with strawberry panties. Some of the girls he meets along the way are Toujou Aya, a homely looking girl who is intelligent and has an interest in novelistic writing; Nishino Tsusuka, a beautiful young girl with movie star looks and isn't very good at cooking; Kataooji Satsuki, a seemingly hotheaded girl who's been hinted to hold deep personality secrets; and many more. The plot continues with love triangles and typical shounen romance.
Personal Thoughts
The thing that immediately hit me is the similarities between this manga and KOR, (Kimagure Orange Road). The main characters are both indecisive enough to be somewhat of playboys, and the girls always play along with it. That is something that I personally have grown to hate, so I think I'll be limiting my shounen in the future. The manga is definitly fun tho, so I would definitly recommend it.
Characters
The characters didn't seem to be too greatly developed initially. They don't have too much backstory to go along with them. However, some characters do grow throughout the series and become stronger. They usually do a lot of hinting to future situations.
Drawing Style
Excellent. It was very easy to make out the text from the translations I read, and the pictures were very standard. Placement and flow was also well thought out.
Enjoyment
I'm not typically a shounen guy, but I would have to say that I'm having fun with this series. I've, however, only just begun (chapter 41). My opinions of this series might change in the future, but I've always found myself looking towards the next chapter.
Overall
I would have to say that overall there are some things that I don't like-- for instance the small chapters versus other mangas. I'm also not sure about the length of this particular manga-- I'll have to read more before I see if it is justified. As of now it just seems like another shounen romance... but who knows, it could generate into something more. I think that it has a lot of potential, and as this manga has been called the manga that 'makes you want to go back to high school again', I'm sure that it will get even more interesting in future volumes. Well there you have it; I'm going back to reading more Ichigo 100%! Later!
I think that Manaka was great. I'm on ch.100 and I've read through chapters 1-99 twice now and still don't get enough of it.