If you like stories that keep you thinking and give you hints to discover the answers, this is a great series for you. It is a psychological, complex series with just enough romance to satisfy but not be a prominent overbearing feature. The plethora of characters seems to bother many, but I find that if you take a few minutes to really look at each character they aren't that hard to differentiate. I enjoy having the many characters especially since the minor characters often become important along the way. The art isn't anything special, typical shoujo-esque style that could use a more original touch, but it serves it purpose. I find that though many readers think the characters suffer from too similar designs, they actually all have very different faces. This story keeps you on edge, guessing who is really who and what their motives are. It has an overall dark feel for a josei, but there is comic relief and often side stories to break up the tension. Bokura no Kiseki is among my top 5 favourite comics and highly recommend it!

The mangaka masterfully managed all the cliches of a shoujo manga in a way that you would actually find them interesting and wish to read more. After 10 chapters read I thought "this is a damn shoujo manga... but the story is interesting, the relationships are so complex and yet well played in such an amazing manner that it deserves my praises".

Sometimes it gets stressful because of the conditions the manga develops in (you'll understand when you read it), but that "stress" is what drives you to keep reading.

For those who care, the idiocy level of the characters is in the lowest range of the idiocy spectrum, if you consider an act idiotic, remember their circumstances and how are they related to the other characters... and it wont seem idiotic at all. Just remember, this manga is quite complex, you need to keep two sets of personalities in mind and, good luck not confusing them lol.

I have volumes 1-5, but I've also been keeping track of all the chapters that have been coming out volume 6 and beyond. Whenever I go back to Taiwan, I zoom right to the Japanese bookstores and pick up whatever Zero-Sum manga I can find. It kind of stinks that the Japanese bookstores, in the US, do not carry Zero-Sum manga.

"Bokura no Kiseki" is one series that I definitely keep looking forward to every two months, because that's Zero-Sum Ward's release period. It's worth every wait, even though, I wish it was monthly. (It's all thanks to Bliss scanlations for working on this series in the beginning. I wouldn't have known about this manga's existence if it wasn't for them.)

Getting right to the main point, "Bokura no Kiseki" is literally what I said in my subject line. If you're ever familiar with the American TV series, "Once Upon a Time", then, the formula of "Bokura no Kiseki" is a little similar and different at the same time.

In "Once Upon a Time", you have well-known fairytale characters transported to our modern world stuck in a bubble rural town. They don't have any memories of their previous lives as fairytale characters. They simply live their lives in a never-ending cycle "daze" with false memories. The show uses a pattern of showing us what they're doing in the current time, but also gives us flashbacks to the characters' fairytale lives.

This kind of formula is what "Bokura no Kiseki" plays on in its own successful way. You have characters who existed in another time, and perhaps, another world where magic actually existed. Something terrible happened in the past, between two kingdoms, that caused the involved parties to reincarnate into our modern day earth. So, all these people now have new carefree lives in the 21st century.

However, the main character, Minami, is special among all these reincarnated people. He seems to be the only one(?) who remembered things about his previous life as a princess. Because of this, he carried around a diary detailing everything that he remembered including how to write in that ancient language. However, his diary is also the main catalyst for things to follow as later into the story, more people begin to remember the ancient past...... To say more would be huge spoilers.

You have big reveals, mysteries, characters who are doubtful of other characters, characters who seem to be hiding secrets, who's good and who's bad, magic fights, teachers being slightly involved (whoo), different factions, and the whole feeling of "there's more than what it seems, right?" If you're looking for a good series to theorize on, this is it. What's more awesome is you have

The only thing that makes my head scratch a little is that, it's a little TOO convenient for every reincarnated person to go to the same high school. I mean, what if Minami was accepted to a different high school? But, the fact that we (definite spoilers for future volumes)

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It is now February 2023. Having caught up to the latest chapters both in English and Japanese, I have to say, the story still amazes me at its complexity, twist reveals and depth. We're still learning more about the characters and the previous life this many chapters into the mystery. Some of the supporting cast, who you'd think are "innocent" aren't so innocent, because of their previous lives. I love this. Some other manga stories will have the supporting cast just be exactly as they are set to be, but in Bokuseki, nope. You can't just be a random student extra in the story. No matter how small your role is, your existence is still vital to keep the story flowing.

Super understandable how some readers still find this many characters a bit hard to keep track of, but if you look at all of the students' eyes and compare them with their previous lives' eyes + eyebrows, they all mostly match. There are just a few minor exceptions to this like Ooki, because of her appearance change.

One big spoiler shoutout (chapters 128+):

Can't wait to see what's next. 🙂 Also,

... Last updated on February 11th, 2023, 6:02pm

If you plan on reading this, please do yourself a favour and do so when you have ample time without stray assignments standing in your path. I picked this up at 11.00 pm, and I need to wake up tomorrow for class at 4.30 a.m. It is now 2.00 a.m. and I have yet to sleep. Or turned off my phone. There's no hope for me anymore because I know for sure I'm pulling an all-nighter tonight.

I have a quiz tomorrow. Please have pity on my soul.

I'm going to admit that my mind being blown to pieces was greatly due to my own initial misconceptions regarding this work. The fantastical summary and the typical-Shoujo art style didn't help me at all. I genuinely thought this was going to be a typical, corny shoujo fantasy. I set the bar far too low and expected nothing from it.

I was proven wrong. So very wrong.

Understand this: expect good things from it. Don't go with too low a bar. Or wait, do exactly that, just so you can have your brain blown to pieces like me. Kumeta Natsuo did a great work in keeping the plots shrouded in enough mystery, yet still stressing on character development. You feel for the characters, you get angry and sad and overwhelmed with them. Their issues feels real and honestly, pretty down to earth for a fantasy work. The suspense fucking killed me and the plot twists are a ride.

This work is a great one, especially because the art made you excuse a lot of minor flaws (like I said, made me set too low a bar). I know once I get shaken out of it, that this work is (while obviously fucking crack) only one of the many good, plot-twisty kinds, but damn do I get the highs for now. Read this. It's fucking good. I want to rave about it to my friends but damn I don't have manga friends in uni. This is the first time I regret not joining the Japanese cultural club because I don't want people to think I'm a weeb. Because of this FUCKING CRACK OF A MANGA.

Read it. It's a great way to pass your time. Join the fandom too while I'm at it.

... Last updated on September 9th, 2015, 12:22pm

I first found this manga about two years ago. Reading the summary I wasn't really interested, but after re-finding it about six months later, I gave it a go.

And oh my god.

It was like eating a cake and finding out it was the god of all cakes. The summary really doesn't do it justice. It looked like the manga started as a Oneshot but was serialised, and the summary is based on said Oneshot: it captures the flavour of the manga, but not the brilliance of it.

Like LaLaLinzo said below, I was thinking this was a light, easy read.

NOPE NOPE NOPE. SO MUCH STORY, SO MUCH EVERYTHING.

I swear, I got way too emotionally attached to everyone. All the characters are likeable, and may I add, act like people and not overdramatic robots you usually find in mangas. No pointless crying, no pointless drama, just actual people in the situation, will real reactions.

The length is great, too. Every about two months (ish) there's a 60-80 page new chapter, enough that I don't feel frustrated but am left wanting more.

And the best thing is in the latest chapter only like one question has been answered while about a gazillion have been asked. And with nothing that actually acts as filler, I find this impressive.

Overall, READ THIS IF IT'S THE LAST THING YOU DO. Worth. Every. Second.

I want to say, AAAAH, I'M GLAD I'M STICK WITH THIS MANGA!

So much story, so much character, so much twisted, and how I got fooled by the twist! OH MY!
So much story for every character which is related each other, every story of each character is WORTH. They didn't just play as "useless filler" character, they make whole the storyline. I feel like I got confused along with them, got exited along with them, got sad along with them, got suprise along with them, and lead to the answer along with them.
It's been a while since I read series like this, I have to say this is an epic. READ IT!

Let me just say this: Minami is a BADASS. Seriously. He is such a troll sometimes, it is the BEST. This is a very cerebral story; you really have to be paying attention to understand what's happening, since everyone has their own past-life back-story clashing with their current-life history as well as different motivations and alliances with other characters.

DEFINITELY give this one a shot, you won't regret it! There's a lot of perfectly justified set-up (it's such a complex story it would be terrible if there weren't), so read at least to chapter 5 before giving up on it. That's around when the real plot begins. READ IT!

So I started this as a light read, ya?

Well HOLY SH*T F&(K DID I GET INVESTED INTO IT.
It's got such a solid plot line, you can tell the author knows exactly what they're doing.
I read all available chapters in one go, and I NEED THE NEXT ONE LIKE HOLY SHIZ ITS FINALLY GONNA HAPPEN~?!?!LSIDUFOISDU(FPOEISR

I am in love, and to pass time until the next (much needed!!!) chapter comes out, I'll be reading other works by this mangaka.

This wentt WAYY WAY WAYY beyond any expectations I had.
I am addicted.
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Also for the two comments below: I guess it just depends on the pace you read it? I followed all that happened, but I certainly wasn't expecting for it to happen that way! It kept me on edge and guessing, thats what I loved about it

... Last updated on March 29th, 2014, 7:38pm

Some people says this manga has so many characters but i don't think you should stop reading it just because of that reason it's really amazing and you will recognize the characters with time...here is an idea, open another page while reading that has the characters faces and names so when ever you forget one you go to the other page and look for this character, easy

... Last updated on December 27th, 2015, 4:20pm

I first read this when I was in junior high. I stopped reading because I don't like waiting for an ongoing series to update. I'm now 25 and was bored from reading too many romance fantasy isekai stories. I've been thinking to myself that I should probably reread this and so I did.

I'm just surprised that it's not finished yet. And it felt so weird how these characters who used to be older than me are now way younger than me. I keep thinking that they're causing so much chaos but where are the adults!? It's actually a good thing that I didn't keep track because it's still no where near the finale. There are still so many secrets not yet divulged. Sometimes I wonder if all secrets were already planned back in 2008 or did the author make up some things as they went along? I mean minor characters who didn't have a role in the beginning start having major impacts in the story 10 years later. And then some secrets that you expected to have a large impact end up being anticlimactic.

I was scared that I wouldn't like it anymore because maybe my tastes have changed. But I liked it. I binged it for 3 days straight. Some of the things I liked about it are still there. One of which is how they don't make a big issue on reincarnating as the opposite gender. Minami (MC) is believable as both a female and a male. In other stories, you'd see the female turned male acting too effeminate (even for an average girl), and would constantly be rescued. Their femininity would be played as a joke. But not Minami. This felt like a better done version of NG Life and I liked NG Life when I read it back when I was a teenager. Some people may argue about why they care so much about their past life when they can't do anything about it. That's what I thought for NG Life but in this one, it's understandable because of the threat of magic and death. Multiple characters are sent to near-death experiences as magic is treated seriously like firearms. They're not just fun abilities people use but no one gets hurt.

Another thing that's great about it is how relevant all characters are. Even side characters have their own stories and POVs. Multiple characters have their own version of the truth and Minami will piece these together to uncover the secret to the war.

What I don't like about that is that it's too dialogue heavy. Characters are constantly talking about their version of events and what they think the implication is. I'd rather they just show us, the viewers, what happened through flashbacks, even if the flashback is a lie or intended to mislead.

Another thing I didn't like is the character design. The art is pretty no doubt they all look the same. I legit thought Minami confessed to someone else because they looked almost the same. I was confused why he was calling her Takao. So many times I have to rely on someone calling a character's by their name so I could recognize them. I especially have a hard time connecting a name to a face on the cover pictures/posters except for the main characters. Which is sad because the cover pictures are pretty.

After this are just ramblings and not relevant to the score I gave.

About the main romance, I have to agree with the other comment(s) that it feels forced. 109 chapters later, it still isn't shown how Minami even fell in love with Takao and vice versa. Minami just said he liked her the moment she was introduced to the story because she was straightforward and kind and then a few pages later, he confesses. In one POV, I liked this because it subverts our expectation on the "will-they won't they trope". There is no chase as characters have already established they're in love in the beginning. So we get to see how the memories of the past life will affect their relationship. But beyond some small doubts, they managed to remain true to their feelings. On the other hand, I disliked it because it felt forced. MC has 3 other potential love interests in his past life and I liked his story with those 3 better than Takao's. I also liked the girl (Kamioka) on the first chapter better too as she has more personality. Takao has nothing but devotion. And she hardly shows any emotion besides her "obsession" in protecting MC. And she doesn't even add much to the story. She's just always on the background.

... Last updated on August 8th, 2021, 9:41am