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Open Sesame ![]()
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Description
Danjou Yamato is a high-school student who lives in the countryside and is the boxing champion of the region. However, when his family has to move out to live in Tokyo, he is transfered to a school in Tokyo that was previously an all-girls school. Girls have a lot of power and give the guys a hard time. But Yamato will not bow down to the power of the girls, and on his way to claim power for the guys in the school, he finds out something about his past... something that he had forgotten long ago...
Type
Manga
Related Series
N/A
Associated Names
Açık Susam
オープンセサミ（河方 かおる）
恋爱新鲜人
オープンセサミ（河方 かおる）
恋爱新鲜人
Groups Scanlating
Latest Release(s)
v.15 c.Special 2 by MANGA.CLUB over 4 years ago
v.15 c.Special 1 by MANGA.CLUB over 4 years ago
v.15 c.69 by MANGA.CLUB over 4 years ago
Search for all releases of this series
v.15 c.Special 1 by MANGA.CLUB over 4 years ago
v.15 c.69 by MANGA.CLUB over 4 years ago
Search for all releases of this series
Status
in Country of Origin
20 Volumes (Complete)
Completely Scanlated?
Yes
Anime Start/End Chapter
N/A
User Reviews
Open Sesame by Manick
Forum
1 topics, 9 posts
Click here to view the forum
Click here to view the forum
User Rating
Average: 7.4 / 10.0 (565 votes)
Bayesian Average: 7.34 / 10.0
Bayesian Average: 7.34 / 10.0
10
17%
9+
14%
8+
23%
7+
22%
6+
10%
5+
5%
4+
3%
3+
2%
2+
2%
1+
3%
Last Updated
February 13th 2021, 1:40am
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Genre
Categories
Category Recommendations
Recommendations
Author(s)
Artist(s)
Year
2001
Original Publisher
Serialized In (magazine)
Magazine Special (Kodansha)
Licensed (in English)
Yes
English Publisher
Activity Stats (vs. other series)
Weekly Pos #407 
(+180)
Monthly Pos #1018
(-32)
3 Month Pos #1063(-364)
6 Month Pos #950(+413)
Year Pos #1760(+2624)
(+180)Monthly Pos #1018
(-32)3 Month Pos #1063
(-364)6 Month Pos #950
(+413)Year Pos #1760
(+2624)List Stats
On 1310 reading lists
On 489 wish lists
On 1049 completed lists
On 117 unfinished lists
On 206 custom lists
On 489 wish lists
On 1049 completed lists
On 117 unfinished lists
On 206 custom lists
User Comments
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This manga is on a contest between Ginen Shounen,I"s,Kimi no Iru Matchi and Pastel about which one is the WORST.I think Open Sesame and Ginen Shounen get the first place,because from the beginning till the end they continued being crappy.Even it's author has forgotten it's characters(where is Aoi?) and writes the story on the fly.I won't comment about the stupidity of the characters or the lack of plot because i can continue this meaningless,pointless ranting for long.Thankfully the recommendations below mine save me the time.It's a miracle that this manga was serialized for so many years.Avoid opening this sesame at all costs in case a fly gets inside, and if you have already opened it,close it as quickly as possible.
PS: one of 77 people who have given a 10 to this series can (in case you are above 10 years old) you please tell me what's so masterful about it?It's those ratings that recreate these crappy romance manga instead of making the authors think of a better romance story.
@Leris.I don't usually debate on the comment section.But since you commented on my post here is my answer:The least you can do when rating a 1 or 10 is to write a serious recommendation,especially when the manga doesn't have sky high or bottom ratings.
And i also gave 9 Hetakoi and Honeymoon Salad,8 Countrouble,Bitter Virgin and Baby leaf and good enough ratings on a lot more series similar to these and Open Sesame.So,what was this particular one lacking?
Since RexiX and Badkarma as i mentioned covered me almost completely i didn't find necessary to copy my older posts from other sites.Well here are my thoughts:
... Last updated on February 24th, 2011, 11:32am
PS: one of 77 people who have given a 10 to this series can (in case you are above 10 years old) you please tell me what's so masterful about it?It's those ratings that recreate these crappy romance manga instead of making the authors think of a better romance story.
@Leris.I don't usually debate on the comment section.But since you commented on my post here is my answer:The least you can do when rating a 1 or 10 is to write a serious recommendation,especially when the manga doesn't have sky high or bottom ratings.
And i also gave 9 Hetakoi and Honeymoon Salad,8 Countrouble,Bitter Virgin and Baby leaf and good enough ratings on a lot more series similar to these and Open Sesame.So,what was this particular one lacking?
Since RexiX and Badkarma as i mentioned covered me almost completely i didn't find necessary to copy my older posts from other sites.Well here are my thoughts:
Spoiler (highlight to view)
The good:
1)Normal(not weak male lead)
2)Good start,bad continuation-execution
The bad:
1)It has become repetitive,long dragging and predictable.
2)Every romance story has a bit of clishe,but when you pass the limit the story fails miserably.Danjou moving in the same city,school,class and sitting by her.I have seen 2 or 3 times random guys trying to hit on the girls on the streets and suddenly our main hero appears to save the day.How many times has Mogami have gone shopping clothes in this series?Has she thought opening her own cloth store with all the clothes she has bought?Ok,we know she lives nearby but the times she has met her by chance is ridiculous.Also,the recreation of the tragic event on chapter 85 was way over the top.
3)The whole idea of the mascot rooster is plain idiotic and it's made only to fill in the pages or make some extra chapters.No seriously,imagine seeing someone walking on the street with a rooster on his elbow,the girls in this story say cute but if you saw in reality someone like that you would say "where this guy came from a village,or that guy is a laughingstock".The doctor is a pedophile(since he has finished medic about 6 years of school i suppose he is 24+) who not only has feelings for his sister but after failing he makes a relationship with her friend who is 15.(Ok,skip that since you will start talking about age of consent in Japan and i want to avoid the procedure about that subject).And the joke is that he says to her "let's get married after i come back from America".The manga is shounen not shoujo.The biggest joke is that we see him in cases talking about his love problems with the 15 year old Danjou.
4)If there was a poll about "which manga is the most inconsistent,Open Sesame would take first place by far in my book".I haven't come across in a manga that the author deletes his characters as easily as this one.Ok,in pastel the same phenomenon occurs,but they are side characters that served their purpose and made their appearance for 3 chapters at most.Also,on Hunter x Hunter,Hishoka the main villain hasn't appeared for 200 chapters.But no this series exceeds even that.Has anyone counted about how many chapters Aoi hadn't made an appearance.That's more than 2 years in real time.And she didn't until the end of the series!She died or sth?Badkarma comments on all of these inconsistencies on his first paragraph on a better degree.I will state the irony of all this issue by saying that someone had created a thread with the subject:"Where is Aoi?"And what about the transfer student girl who joined the boxing club?She said she liked Danjou and she was completely later forgotten.
5)Furthermore is Danjou a moron?There is no chance that either Aoi or either one of his hometown kids hasn't mentioned Mutsuki all those years.If he was a little curious he would knew from the beginning that sth was wrong,you don't have to be a god damn detective.Yeah,let's also skip that part so as to write 94 chapters.
6)Also the ending came out of the blue.I would get that if there was a notification to the author to rush it.But that's not it.It would be more reasonable not to introduce random girls like the drama actress or the photography girl and focus on the character development of the given characters.But the author didn't go down that path.He/She simply preferred making episodic chapters on a plot continuity based story,leaving that way poorly developed characters.
7)Artwork.Well,RexiX gave the better comment on this one.I will only say that if Danjou had long hair i would easily mistake him for Mogami.
Also that Maki is such an egoist and causes so much rage(one of my most hateful characters),so that fact is enough to avoid this manga.
1)Normal(not weak male lead)
2)Good start,bad continuation-execution
The bad:
1)It has become repetitive,long dragging and predictable.
2)Every romance story has a bit of clishe,but when you pass the limit the story fails miserably.Danjou moving in the same city,school,class and sitting by her.I have seen 2 or 3 times random guys trying to hit on the girls on the streets and suddenly our main hero appears to save the day.How many times has Mogami have gone shopping clothes in this series?Has she thought opening her own cloth store with all the clothes she has bought?Ok,we know she lives nearby but the times she has met her by chance is ridiculous.Also,the recreation of the tragic event on chapter 85 was way over the top.
3)The whole idea of the mascot rooster is plain idiotic and it's made only to fill in the pages or make some extra chapters.No seriously,imagine seeing someone walking on the street with a rooster on his elbow,the girls in this story say cute but if you saw in reality someone like that you would say "where this guy came from a village,or that guy is a laughingstock".The doctor is a pedophile(since he has finished medic about 6 years of school i suppose he is 24+) who not only has feelings for his sister but after failing he makes a relationship with her friend who is 15.(Ok,skip that since you will start talking about age of consent in Japan and i want to avoid the procedure about that subject).And the joke is that he says to her "let's get married after i come back from America".The manga is shounen not shoujo.The biggest joke is that we see him in cases talking about his love problems with the 15 year old Danjou.
4)If there was a poll about "which manga is the most inconsistent,Open Sesame would take first place by far in my book".I haven't come across in a manga that the author deletes his characters as easily as this one.Ok,in pastel the same phenomenon occurs,but they are side characters that served their purpose and made their appearance for 3 chapters at most.Also,on Hunter x Hunter,Hishoka the main villain hasn't appeared for 200 chapters.But no this series exceeds even that.Has anyone counted about how many chapters Aoi hadn't made an appearance.That's more than 2 years in real time.And she didn't until the end of the series!She died or sth?Badkarma comments on all of these inconsistencies on his first paragraph on a better degree.I will state the irony of all this issue by saying that someone had created a thread with the subject:"Where is Aoi?"And what about the transfer student girl who joined the boxing club?She said she liked Danjou and she was completely later forgotten.
5)Furthermore is Danjou a moron?There is no chance that either Aoi or either one of his hometown kids hasn't mentioned Mutsuki all those years.If he was a little curious he would knew from the beginning that sth was wrong,you don't have to be a god damn detective.Yeah,let's also skip that part so as to write 94 chapters.
6)Also the ending came out of the blue.I would get that if there was a notification to the author to rush it.But that's not it.It would be more reasonable not to introduce random girls like the drama actress or the photography girl and focus on the character development of the given characters.But the author didn't go down that path.He/She simply preferred making episodic chapters on a plot continuity based story,leaving that way poorly developed characters.
7)Artwork.Well,RexiX gave the better comment on this one.I will only say that if Danjou had long hair i would easily mistake him for Mogami.
Also that Maki is such an egoist and causes so much rage(one of my most hateful characters),so that fact is enough to avoid this manga.
... Last updated on February 24th, 2011, 11:32am
I have to agree with several other reviewers, this manga is frustrating. It starts off interesting with the girls oppressing the smaller population of boys at school and then sort of forgets about it. This was unfortunate because it was the best part of the manga, every time that Yamato is trying to do something to raise the status of the boys the girls counterattack to try to keep them down. All of a sudden this changes to them doing stuff together without enough reasons.
Like other people have said Yamato is a boxing champ, but the author makes him clumsy so he breaks things easily and is constantly tripping and falling into some girls chest. Its very contrived, makes no sense (an excellent athlete with poor coordination and body control?) and is an excuse for some minor ecchi moments (the accidental pervert). Also like someone else mentioned Yamato is always conveniently bumping into Maki, so much so that it becomes again contrived and downright annoying. Oh God, what is it with mangaka's and their love of characters who have amnesia and can't remember significant events from childhood? Usually its chalked up to that the character has a bad memory. Ugh, it is so annoying and overused.
I like that the chapters are long, it leaves alot of room for dialogue, character development, and plot advancement. Unfortunately, not much development or advancement occurs. Instead we have to visit the usual and overused common tropes and settings. Pool setting, beach setting, etc, etc. I don't mind the recycling of this standard stuff, but there is very little attempt to make it different and that makes it stale and boring.
The art is so-so. Most of the girls look like each other except for the standard difference in hair style. I'm sorry but this series does not deserve an excellent rating (unless its your first time reading a harem manga), its average at best and sometimes downright poor.
Like other people have said Yamato is a boxing champ, but the author makes him clumsy so he breaks things easily and is constantly tripping and falling into some girls chest. Its very contrived, makes no sense (an excellent athlete with poor coordination and body control?) and is an excuse for some minor ecchi moments (the accidental pervert). Also like someone else mentioned Yamato is always conveniently bumping into Maki, so much so that it becomes again contrived and downright annoying. Oh God, what is it with mangaka's and their love of characters who have amnesia and can't remember significant events from childhood? Usually its chalked up to that the character has a bad memory. Ugh, it is so annoying and overused.
I like that the chapters are long, it leaves alot of room for dialogue, character development, and plot advancement. Unfortunately, not much development or advancement occurs. Instead we have to visit the usual and overused common tropes and settings. Pool setting, beach setting, etc, etc. I don't mind the recycling of this standard stuff, but there is very little attempt to make it different and that makes it stale and boring.
The art is so-so. Most of the girls look like each other except for the standard difference in hair style. I'm sorry but this series does not deserve an excellent rating (unless its your first time reading a harem manga), its average at best and sometimes downright poor.
I don't know why, but someone has irrelevantly compared the manga with Pastel. While it is within the same category, I do not think that what happens in Pastel is the exact same thing happens in here. "that whole throw a random love interest at the male or female lead, keep that love interest unresolved, and then NEVER include that character ANYWHERE in the story ever again thing"? I am sorry, but I seem can't find myself being able to define what it means. The story in Pastel might be patiently developed and for some people, it is boring. But for who dears it, they understand what is being resolved. I agree that OS isn't kind of likable manga, but I kind of accept it. It might be illogical, but the hell with it. If you can't find an interesting part of a bad work, how can you tell yourself mature enough to differentiate things? I found few things here that made me stay longer.
For those of you that are wondering if it is angst (like I was), there is some in the very beginning. But only a little bit, like for a couple of chapters. After that everything is pretty much just romantic comedy.
If you are looking for a boxing manga then this is not for you. This is a light read about a guy who has suppressed some of his memories from childhood. He travels to Tokyo in order to go to school and bumps into a girl (who is actually her childhood friend). The story then takes from there.
The whole story is just some of the quirky things that the main character goes through everyday with the tsundere classmate. Very easy read, and you find yourself able to stop as you please. It does get a little more dramatic towards the remaining chapters and you find yourself unable to stop. There filler does get repetitive and is predictable. But there are some sweet moments between the principle couples.
I'd recommend this to those that like romantic comedies and just looking for a light read.
Finished volume 19 and waiting for the last volume to be scanlated.
If you are looking for a boxing manga then this is not for you. This is a light read about a guy who has suppressed some of his memories from childhood. He travels to Tokyo in order to go to school and bumps into a girl (who is actually her childhood friend). The story then takes from there.
The whole story is just some of the quirky things that the main character goes through everyday with the tsundere classmate. Very easy read, and you find yourself able to stop as you please. It does get a little more dramatic towards the remaining chapters and you find yourself unable to stop. There filler does get repetitive and is predictable. But there are some sweet moments between the principle couples.
I'd recommend this to those that like romantic comedies and just looking for a light read.
Finished volume 19 and waiting for the last volume to be scanlated.
It was entertaining for a bit, but after a while, it's like the author forgot the premise of her manga. Not only the premise, but she forgets about actual plot threads. Remember when the school body oppressed the outnumbered men? That disappeared somewhere between chapter five and nine with no good reason as to why (I said no good reason).
Maybe it was a shallow plot to begin with? After all, it's stated that the 2nd and 3rd years are still 'all girls', so they're somewhat uninvolved. Why? Dunno. Apparently, all the upperclassmen are a slew of unremarkable lowlifes that bow their heads to a gaggle of first-year girls that have been in high school for all of two months.... which brings me to my next point. It's never mentioned when Danjou transfers, but it seems to be summer. If the school year starts in April, we really only have a two month window for the problem to incubate, but the guys that were already there seem to act like they've been in the crags for YEARS. To quote "You have to *insert dramatic 'bridge push'* ABSOLUTELY OBEY the girls!" . Well, at least for the next three chapters, right?
How about when Maki used to know all kinds of judo, yet in later chapters seems kinda weak, or rather, unwilling to protect herself? Specifically, I'm referring to a chapter were she unceremoniously says that it might be a good idea to have a man in the house. Wait, Mogami rely on a man? Why, what amazing character development! Or so you think... till you hit the back half of the chapter where she turns into a full-blown, clingy damsel in distress. At that point it becomes clear the author was so desperate to write an Aoi story that she subbed in Mogami and thought no one would notice. I did.
Danjou said he'd only give his cell number to one particular person (normally this type of plot hole doesn't bother me, but the author made such a big damn deal out of it...), yet fifteen chapters later we see him chatting it up with someone else, with no prior scene explaining the supposed importance of this number. There was a chapter where this one guy was all fired up to confess to someone... even though he already did five volumes ago. Aoi was handled poorly and was for the most part, lost in the shuffle. So was the doctor while I'm at it. Also, I didn't choose to read this title for the boxing, but on the same coin don't make a HUGE deal that Danjou is an accomplished fighter, have him struggle to establish a boxing club in a school that is 95% female, and then do next to nothing with that plot.
Now, I can go on and on about all the petty crap I mentioned above, but the thing that really irks me is the whole Nami island childhood incident thing. I mean, seriously. There had better be some dead bodies involved for it to be so important. Such over-drama about something that in the end will probably boil down to nothing that affects their current lives (of course the author even forgets this thread for a while). Am I the only one thinking this? Just tell him. He forgot. It happens. Open a dialog and move on. Please. It'd probably save us from eight or nine volumes of filler stories that add no real value to the supposed plot.
And this really needs to be said: there is NO WAY IN HELL two people can coincidentally meet in ALMOST EVERY FLIPPIN' CHAPTER while living in a city the size of TOKYO! My god! It seemed like every time Yamato went somewhere BAM! MAKI! I mean, you can get away with that every once in a while, but lets try to keep it reasonable. Yeah, they live near each other. I live near a lot of people I know too. Do I run into them at every street, shop, restaurant, sporting event, random social gathering, part-time job, hotel, church, bus(stop), train(stop), concert, park, shrine, beach, or hospital that I go to? No. With the way this is going, Yamato could probably blast off to the moon only to "coincidentally" meet his secret stalker. Even while writing this, I'm in the middle of a chapter where Yamato runs into Maki AFTER HE ALREADY RAN INTO HER EARLIER IN THE CHAPTER! Gimme a break!
Anyone else notice that this manga does that annoying thing "Pastel" does? You know, that whole throw a random love interest at the male or female lead, keep that love interest unresolved, and then NEVER include that character ANYWHERE in the story ever again thing? Annoying. "I love you, Danjou!" NOW OFF TO AMERICA I GOOOO!!! Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Is Japan invading America or something? Pastel probably gets away with it because it has phenomenal art. Unfortunately, Open Sesame's art is average at best.
Anyway, read it if you like a shounen that morphs into a shoujo (yeah, it does... maybe not full-blown 'pretty boys with flowers in the background' shoujo, but it's there plot-wise). Although I paint a pretty gloomy picture (it's just so riddled with repeated cliches), it's not the best manga in the world, but it's not the worst either. It must have a reason for lasting twenty volumes.
(As a P.S., I find it HIGHLY annoying that people find Yamato's clumsiness to be acceptable, HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE A BOXER!! Have you ever heard of a championship caliber boxer... THAT TRIPS OVER HIS OWN TWO FEET!? Really!?)
[edit]@KrisKelvin
First off, I like Pastel, or rather it might be more appropriate to say I did like it. It's woefully slow-paced, but it's an endearing title for those who have a truckload of patience and a high tolerance for shounen romance fluff. I personally couldn't stomach anything past Volume 14, when it becomes "The Continuing Story Of The Most Pathetic Couple In The Universe", but to each his own, and I'll never dog anyone for reading it.
NOWHERE in my review did I say Open Sesame is EXACTLY like Pastel. NOWHERE. What I meant was, similar to Pastel, Open Sesame tends to chuck random love interests at the main character, we see this random love interest for a few chapters and then they disappear...mostly unresolved.
Now admittedly, Pastel is far, FAR less guilty than Open Sesame, but still guilty. Hana Hanayama. Where did she go? In volume seven she gunning for Mugi like a rabbit in heat, yet in the next seven volumes, I don't even see her name mentioned. Did she fall off the Earth? Seven volumes is somewhere around two and a half years in real life. Better file a missing persons report.
Murakami and Megumi can be classified as resolved, but they still qualify as out-of-nowhere characters.
Hinako is a pretty big mottza ball that's been hanging for most of the story. The author even said himself that he had no intention of involving her in the story beyond Volume 4. She was only brought back because she was popular. Guess Hana Hanayama wasn't.
Mercifully, Manami at least got a clear and definite answer. And this is just me mentioning Mugi's little harem. If I'm not mistaken, Yuu had a few "one and done" male suitors as well, but I digress. This isn't a review for Pastel after all.
Anyway, that's what I meant.[/edit]
... Last updated on July 29th, 2011, 6:47pm
Maybe it was a shallow plot to begin with? After all, it's stated that the 2nd and 3rd years are still 'all girls', so they're somewhat uninvolved. Why? Dunno. Apparently, all the upperclassmen are a slew of unremarkable lowlifes that bow their heads to a gaggle of first-year girls that have been in high school for all of two months.... which brings me to my next point. It's never mentioned when Danjou transfers, but it seems to be summer. If the school year starts in April, we really only have a two month window for the problem to incubate, but the guys that were already there seem to act like they've been in the crags for YEARS. To quote "You have to *insert dramatic 'bridge push'* ABSOLUTELY OBEY the girls!" . Well, at least for the next three chapters, right?
How about when Maki used to know all kinds of judo, yet in later chapters seems kinda weak, or rather, unwilling to protect herself? Specifically, I'm referring to a chapter were she unceremoniously says that it might be a good idea to have a man in the house. Wait, Mogami rely on a man? Why, what amazing character development! Or so you think... till you hit the back half of the chapter where she turns into a full-blown, clingy damsel in distress. At that point it becomes clear the author was so desperate to write an Aoi story that she subbed in Mogami and thought no one would notice. I did.
Danjou said he'd only give his cell number to one particular person (normally this type of plot hole doesn't bother me, but the author made such a big damn deal out of it...), yet fifteen chapters later we see him chatting it up with someone else, with no prior scene explaining the supposed importance of this number. There was a chapter where this one guy was all fired up to confess to someone... even though he already did five volumes ago. Aoi was handled poorly and was for the most part, lost in the shuffle. So was the doctor while I'm at it. Also, I didn't choose to read this title for the boxing, but on the same coin don't make a HUGE deal that Danjou is an accomplished fighter, have him struggle to establish a boxing club in a school that is 95% female, and then do next to nothing with that plot.
Now, I can go on and on about all the petty crap I mentioned above, but the thing that really irks me is the whole Nami island childhood incident thing. I mean, seriously. There had better be some dead bodies involved for it to be so important. Such over-drama about something that in the end will probably boil down to nothing that affects their current lives (of course the author even forgets this thread for a while). Am I the only one thinking this? Just tell him. He forgot. It happens. Open a dialog and move on. Please. It'd probably save us from eight or nine volumes of filler stories that add no real value to the supposed plot.
And this really needs to be said: there is NO WAY IN HELL two people can coincidentally meet in ALMOST EVERY FLIPPIN' CHAPTER while living in a city the size of TOKYO! My god! It seemed like every time Yamato went somewhere BAM! MAKI! I mean, you can get away with that every once in a while, but lets try to keep it reasonable. Yeah, they live near each other. I live near a lot of people I know too. Do I run into them at every street, shop, restaurant, sporting event, random social gathering, part-time job, hotel, church, bus(stop), train(stop), concert, park, shrine, beach, or hospital that I go to? No. With the way this is going, Yamato could probably blast off to the moon only to "coincidentally" meet his secret stalker. Even while writing this, I'm in the middle of a chapter where Yamato runs into Maki AFTER HE ALREADY RAN INTO HER EARLIER IN THE CHAPTER! Gimme a break!
Anyone else notice that this manga does that annoying thing "Pastel" does? You know, that whole throw a random love interest at the male or female lead, keep that love interest unresolved, and then NEVER include that character ANYWHERE in the story ever again thing? Annoying. "I love you, Danjou!" NOW OFF TO AMERICA I GOOOO!!! Wash. Rinse. Repeat. Is Japan invading America or something? Pastel probably gets away with it because it has phenomenal art. Unfortunately, Open Sesame's art is average at best.
Anyway, read it if you like a shounen that morphs into a shoujo (yeah, it does... maybe not full-blown 'pretty boys with flowers in the background' shoujo, but it's there plot-wise). Although I paint a pretty gloomy picture (it's just so riddled with repeated cliches), it's not the best manga in the world, but it's not the worst either. It must have a reason for lasting twenty volumes.
(As a P.S., I find it HIGHLY annoying that people find Yamato's clumsiness to be acceptable, HE'S SUPPOSED TO BE A BOXER!! Have you ever heard of a championship caliber boxer... THAT TRIPS OVER HIS OWN TWO FEET!? Really!?)
[edit]@KrisKelvin
First off, I like Pastel, or rather it might be more appropriate to say I did like it. It's woefully slow-paced, but it's an endearing title for those who have a truckload of patience and a high tolerance for shounen romance fluff. I personally couldn't stomach anything past Volume 14, when it becomes "The Continuing Story Of The Most Pathetic Couple In The Universe", but to each his own, and I'll never dog anyone for reading it.
NOWHERE in my review did I say Open Sesame is EXACTLY like Pastel. NOWHERE. What I meant was, similar to Pastel, Open Sesame tends to chuck random love interests at the main character, we see this random love interest for a few chapters and then they disappear...mostly unresolved.
Now admittedly, Pastel is far, FAR less guilty than Open Sesame, but still guilty. Hana Hanayama. Where did she go? In volume seven she gunning for Mugi like a rabbit in heat, yet in the next seven volumes, I don't even see her name mentioned. Did she fall off the Earth? Seven volumes is somewhere around two and a half years in real life. Better file a missing persons report.
Murakami and Megumi can be classified as resolved, but they still qualify as out-of-nowhere characters.
Hinako is a pretty big mottza ball that's been hanging for most of the story. The author even said himself that he had no intention of involving her in the story beyond Volume 4. She was only brought back because she was popular. Guess Hana Hanayama wasn't.
Mercifully, Manami at least got a clear and definite answer. And this is just me mentioning Mugi's little harem. If I'm not mistaken, Yuu had a few "one and done" male suitors as well, but I digress. This isn't a review for Pastel after all.
Anyway, that's what I meant.[/edit]
... Last updated on July 29th, 2011, 6:47pm
I dont know why the author made this a harem manga because in the first few chapters its already clean who will end up together. And the story is just the road to that, quite boring really.
I could easily say that this series was a 9/10, but man did the author drag it on. I knew there was a bunch of critics already talking about it, but I didn't feel like there was a problem until now. There were too many "useless" character developments that took away from the main plot. It went from a big secret that we all wanted to find out, only to get a CLUE of it after 20 chapters. The plot finally starts to unfold around Chapter 80...but I feel like that it just lacks the luster that I had once felt it had.
I felt that it easily deserved an 8-9, but right now I'm going to go with a 7 until everything starts to flow a little better.Open Sesame is still a good series, no doubt about it, but I just feel that it was a little overstretched.
I felt that it easily deserved an 8-9, but right now I'm going to go with a 7 until everything starts to flow a little better.Open Sesame is still a good series, no doubt about it, but I just feel that it was a little overstretched.
Really it is. No other manga in my list has experienced such a fall in it's ratings over time. The first mark I gave this manga was 8, it has seen 7 and 5 as well, but just today I decreased it to three. The reason for that is that The Masturbation master Kurosawa kicked the shit out of Danjou the boxing master. Really I was forced to lower the mark just because Danjou it didn't stand a chance against Kurosawa.
But now to the point why it fell so horribly.
This manga had this one thing that really separated it from any other harem manga the main hero was no wussie, he had no problems dealing with girls, he was not scared to solve the problems, he was the guy who really deserved to have a harem and you could understand why girls flocked to him. The girls were really cute and well drawn, and just another not typical thing for harem mangas - they were not brainless without their own personalities. The scenario also seemed ok...... again it seeeeemed ok.
Now fast forward 80 chapters (every chapter is at least 40 pages, OMG that means I have wasted my time reading 3200 worthless pages!). Here we have the same guy in the same situations, with zero character development. Scenario in the 3200 pages has moved forward with snales speed, the only hints of the plot that you will notice are some flashbacks from Danjou past and in the end they are still solving the very same problem they had in the beginning - Danjous amnesia. But it is just the big plot moving device, right? There are small but fun events, right? NO! The events at some point start to become so cliche and predictable that the manga literally starts to rip off itself. The events are not even consistent. At one point there is seemingly normal repetetive scene of the swimming pool and then in the next chapter Danjou travels to alternative dimension and then returns as if nothing ever happened. What was the author smoking? The author seems to have tried to describe every possible scenario possible. Just imagine the insanest idea of what could happen with you and a girl and you will get the main picture about this manga.
Ok the character development was pathetic, but at least we have cute girls. SURE WE HAVE- like twenty of them all equally cute. Though I should probably add that they are cute in copy-paste way. Sometimes I just wasn't able to guess who this girl that suddenly showed up is because there are around 5 exactly like her. The best example is Mogami and her four-eyed classmate in 70ties something chapter, their look with long black hair was absolutely the same. Even the faces were identical. So when Mogami was talking with her you might have misinterpreted the chapter and started thinking that Mogami's schizophrenia has advanced to such levels that she has started talking with herself (the other person being the representation of Mogami's unfulfilled desires).
So in conclusion this manga is horribly overstretched. Just horribly. The author should just have stopped somewhere in middle when he was out of all the original ideas he had.
It just pains me to think that I liked this manga in the beginning. But as it goes now I will continue downgrading this manga whenever I will read an excellent manga. When it will get to rating 1 I will become a troll.
Unfortunately for Open Sesame there seem to be too many excellent mangas, now I only wish that I could downgrade it even further.
... Last updated on May 18th, 2011, 12:44pm
But now to the point why it fell so horribly.
This manga had this one thing that really separated it from any other harem manga the main hero was no wussie, he had no problems dealing with girls, he was not scared to solve the problems, he was the guy who really deserved to have a harem and you could understand why girls flocked to him. The girls were really cute and well drawn, and just another not typical thing for harem mangas - they were not brainless without their own personalities. The scenario also seemed ok...... again it seeeeemed ok.
Now fast forward 80 chapters (every chapter is at least 40 pages, OMG that means I have wasted my time reading 3200 worthless pages!). Here we have the same guy in the same situations, with zero character development. Scenario in the 3200 pages has moved forward with snales speed, the only hints of the plot that you will notice are some flashbacks from Danjou past and in the end they are still solving the very same problem they had in the beginning - Danjous amnesia. But it is just the big plot moving device, right? There are small but fun events, right? NO! The events at some point start to become so cliche and predictable that the manga literally starts to rip off itself. The events are not even consistent. At one point there is seemingly normal repetetive scene of the swimming pool and then in the next chapter Danjou travels to alternative dimension and then returns as if nothing ever happened. What was the author smoking? The author seems to have tried to describe every possible scenario possible. Just imagine the insanest idea of what could happen with you and a girl and you will get the main picture about this manga.
Ok the character development was pathetic, but at least we have cute girls. SURE WE HAVE- like twenty of them all equally cute. Though I should probably add that they are cute in copy-paste way. Sometimes I just wasn't able to guess who this girl that suddenly showed up is because there are around 5 exactly like her. The best example is Mogami and her four-eyed classmate in 70ties something chapter, their look with long black hair was absolutely the same. Even the faces were identical. So when Mogami was talking with her you might have misinterpreted the chapter and started thinking that Mogami's schizophrenia has advanced to such levels that she has started talking with herself (the other person being the representation of Mogami's unfulfilled desires).
So in conclusion this manga is horribly overstretched. Just horribly. The author should just have stopped somewhere in middle when he was out of all the original ideas he had.
It just pains me to think that I liked this manga in the beginning. But as it goes now I will continue downgrading this manga whenever I will read an excellent manga. When it will get to rating 1 I will become a troll.
Unfortunately for Open Sesame there seem to be too many excellent mangas, now I only wish that I could downgrade it even further.
... Last updated on May 18th, 2011, 12:44pm
Well, it seemed okay before I picked it up. I read the first chapter, then the second, then a couple more after that. Then I couldn't read it anymore. It really got boring; I may as well have been looking at random pictures on a screen. I wouldn't recommend this, it's too long and, quite frankly, gets boring very quick.
It started interesting but has gradually become a typical romance shounen with annoying male character. He was cool in first few volumes, then so stupid and disgustingly has all the girls. I keep reading in hope of knowing their secret from childhood, but the mangaka doesn't seem to want to mention about it anymore, the plot stagnated. Not recommended.
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