I've completed reading this series in Chinese and I must say, I really love Enjouki Maki's works for being able tug at my heart strings. I can totally feel the widow's pain (I can't remember what her name is in English >.<), as she mourns her lost husband and her dilemma in whether or not to let a new love into her heart. The characters are all lovable. There's no villain because if anyone does something that seems to hurt others, there must have been a reason for his/her actions. Her other works that I've read so far have been great too! I totally recommend reading all of her works. ^^

... Last updated on April 10th, 2009, 9:09am

Enjouji Maki usually produces halfway decent manga, but this was kind of painful. Mostly, it's the main characters. They range from stale to downright terrible. The heroine is probably the worst. She's incredibly bland, romantically fickle, dumb, damsel-in-distress-y, and unredeemably boring. Actually, pretty much all of the characters are boring. Of the three guys at the cafe, one gets almost zero screen time (his only trait is that he likes money), the other is a cardboard cut-out "I had a bad childhood and now I can't trust people anymore, but I still like to appear charming" character, and the last guy is indecisive and passive. The antagonist-ish love interest (the lawyer) is pretty inconsistent, bouncing between being a really nice and level-headed guy to being pretty much abusive.
Characters aside, the art's good, the premise is okay, the plot is non-existent (though, I chalk this up to the fact that there aren't any good characters to move the plot forward), and the romance feels flat (again, probably because the characters).
Even by smutty romance standards, Yoru Cafe is a miss. There's better stuff out there.

Just in case for the "older female younger male" lurkers - it doesn't apply to this manga.

I went into it looking for a light, happy reverse-harem jousei. It's more serious than I expected, but that's not a bad thing. The characters weren't super deep or anything, but they were all right. I mostly felt bad for Hina. She's kind of a mess, emotionally, and holds herself to some strange standards. But the male lead isn't a controlling, abusive jerk like in a lot of series, which is pretty great.

Normally Enjouki Maki's works are enjoyable but Hina's dimness & passivity ruined the story. If you like strong female leads or someone who can think for themselves, you may want to pass on this one. Hina's a 23 yr old who needs others to tell her what she feels for the ENTIRE story and does whatever she's told without question. Yes, hard to believe, she's weaker and more passive than your typical weak shoujo female lead. They, at least, realize, even if eventually, that they're physically attracted to someone & do something (good/bad) to meet/talk to/snag the guy. The "wrestling with guilt about moving on" romantic barrier didn't work as wrestling requires some degree of self awareness & thinking, which, sadly, Hina never showed. That said, everyone's shoujo attractive.

... Last updated on April 15th, 2012, 11:14pm

I dunno what I should be feeling when i read this. I think Hina is a little bit, no, overly naive. Somehow she's making me angry by her actions...But I liked the boys! The lawyer was so-so anyway. Im not sure if this is worth recommending, but if you wanna give it a try, then go ahead~

How can they end it right there?! I must see the ending! Augh!

Anyway, this manga is pretty good. It definitively knows how to hook a person in. I thought the drawing was pretty nice too. If your interested at all in the summary, try out a chapter. Can't go wrong with that.

I really like this manga. The female lead was naive but deep down she knew everything around her. The three knights were entertaining and the male lawyer was quite intuitive. The Cafe environment gives a warm feeling of being home. Cute and Simple Manga!

It got too boring for me halfway through so I skipped over most of the pages but what I can say is that this has not much smut at all, so I don't even see it justifying the tag!
The heroine comes across a bit dumb, easily manipulated and influenced.
I didn't find it having anything special about it and while it's a reverse harem, she decides quickly on who to like (or not) so that wasn't too interesting either.
I liked the guys, including her love interest, but they're a bit shallow and boring as well.
The art is good, the men come across as handsome enough even though a few panels looked weird every now and then (awkward anatomy and such).
Altogether possibly a good read for a typical shojo/josei romance reverse harem bishi fan but it wasn't for me as I look for either real smut or real stories, not a wanna-be mix of both.

the Lawyer was my fav character!!! Why would the artist go and suddenly make the bumbling, awkward cute lawyer such a jerk?? Though I should have expected the guy I like to turn into a jerk in Enjouji Maki's stories.

Still like him though, and feel so bad for him.

... Last updated on August 4th, 2012, 12:01pm