I was drawn to this manga because I felt the plot was interesting and the art was absolutely beautiful but so far, I found it rather dull within the first few chapters.
Not only that, both the art and story was very different than I expected and the protagonist turned out to be cliche, weak, and quite frankly, I found her annoying. Of course, it'd be nice if she changes as the plot moves but so far... Yeah. I'd wait until more chapters come out online before reading this.

Not only does this seem like Fushigi Yuugi, it also seems like Inuyasha, with Kagome being transported to the past and the 4 souls jewels [Shikon No Tama], and kagome is actually a priestess -.-

I'm not sure why people say Haruka is like Fushigi Yuugi, since Fushigi Yuugi is based on a fictional ancient CHINESE world whilst Haruka is based on an alternative Heian JAPANESE society.

Also a lot is lost in translation with this series, since its magic is mostly about the world in which Akane has been dumped and there are so many historical and cultural references which don't really carry over well into Western languages. The fact that real historical figures, families and situations/legends appear throughout the Haruka series (1-3 at least, probably 4 as well) seems to be easily overlooked, but the setting is incredibly detailed. For example, the house at which Akane is staying was the real property of the Sadaijin Fujiwara no Michinaga in the 990s, and Abe no Seimei was a real life Heian onmyouji who practiced the arts he bequeathed down to Yasuaki. Yorihisa's family tree extends back into the real Seiwa Genji line, and both the Fujiwara and Tachibana were significant court families during the Tenth Century. Clearly not just following "some stereotypical theme" then - much as I love Fushigi Yuugi, Mizuno Tooko's renditions of the Miko legend (also a real legend - the four Gods were historically meant to protect Kyou, as was a dragon) and the elements of the Gods is far more accurate than Watase Yuu's.

Secondly, Haruka is not a free-standing storyline but based on a Japanese neoroma game in which the objective is for the main character to save Kyou and wind up picking one of the male characters. So it's hardly surprising that that's the plot of the manga. The characters are from the game, though Mizuno-sensei fleshes them out far more thoroughly and effectively as the plot goes on, right up to the end of volume 17.

Obviously if you're not into historical manga adventure stories, or you have an aversion to romance, you probably won't like Haruka. But in my opinion it is the best and most detailed and interwoven of the Neoroma series (Angelique, Corda D'Oro and NeoAngelique being the others) and definitely worth the read (though those reading translated volumes will probably not have to wait ten years for the story to be finished!)

Nice art..
This manga is making progress (story telling is bad from 1st until 3rd volume). Later, they improve the quality of the manga.
But really, i don't like the main characters. I don't think her character is developed well, after all what we want to see from the manga is the bishonen(s). I like the pair of byakko(s).

... Last updated on July 16th, 2009, 2:52am

Story --- 6
Art --- 8
Characters --- 4

The plot is rather, how can I say..., mediocre. It's not bad thought but it becomes repetitive and the main premisse has nothing of original. Aren't you tired of girls opening books or portals and when to another world where they have to be protected by alot of boys? The mangaka has created a commum story thta only interest people who whant to see pretty boys.
The art is not bad I don't think I even have some critic (bad or good) to make about that... For some people would seems perfect for other a litlle "used".
The characters are clichês and the main character (that should interesting in order to captive the readers) is just another weak and irrealistic character. The male ones have more individul personality but it's like the mangaka don't know how to create a original character and use prototip ones. Like the sharpen tougue, the intelegent, the seductor, the weak...
Read it if you are interesting in a mediocre shoujo with alot of beautiful men but I must advice you that there is better romance with beautifull guys ou there...

... Last updated on June 23rd, 2010, 3:57pm

nice bishies, might seem like a fushigiyuugi, but it's way better :D

beautiful art, interesting plot