You'd expect some ecchi mess from the premise, but Karin is a shockingly wholesome shounen manga with a very sweet, leisurely-paced romance. Characters are endearing, story follows its own rules, the supernatural qualities are silly but consistent. I'm surprised by a lot of the negative reviews — it's not a masterpiece, but it's heartfelt in a way a lot of manga could stand to be.

... Last updated on March 30th, 2022, 2:02pm

Reading this as a young adult made me realize how much I've grown. I used to think this manga was decent...

To avoid any spoilers, let me just say: The manga was a weird mix of comedy, drama, some serious conflict, romance, with a clumsy innocent protagonist, and save for few of the best scenes, it just failed to set the mood right, and simply didn't reach its maximum potential - there were no crowning moments of any kind, character development was fairly minimal, the resolution of problems far too perfect, and on top of that is an ending that was more bitter than sweet for no good reason.

Additionally, some of the events were paced really awkwardly, and in general while it was fun... I feel like I would be giving it less than 6.5/10 if it wasn't for my nostalgia about the anime.

I remember loving this when I was younger, but just like dragon ball, bleach, naruto, one piece and a lot of other works, I now wouldn't touch it with a ten meter long pole, which I confirmed after reading some again. I wish I could keep enjoying stuff like this even after becoming older and having read and watched a lot more. My standards are now too high and the setting, jokes and everything else is just old to me now. It seems immature and generally has low quality, just like most of that shounen stuff that is so popular(the stuff that is probably only that popular because it's what got people into anime/manga and no experienced reader would ever want to read again or try out if they haven't read it). When you're new to stuff like this, everything feels fresh and great even if it really isn't that good. I might never have bothered to read this at all if I was older when I got into anime/manga/novels.

So... It's probably worth reading anyway, especially if you haven't read and seen thousands and thousands of different novels/manga/anime over the years, if you're younger that's also a bonus, but even if you're not, this story is not that long and will probably be possible to skim through in a few hours to a day.

I really enjoyed the series. I read it ages ago but never finished, so I decided to come back.
Anyway, I highly recommend the series, but the ending was just dumb.



In short, ending completely ruined it for me.

... Last updated on August 1st, 2016, 3:24am

While I didn't completely love this manga, I have to admit that there's some things it does really well. For one I thought the pacing was great, I almost never got bored reading through this story and pretty much kept turning pages until the end. The characters are also well done for the most part, I like most of their designs and everyone is pretty well-rounded. Like others have mentioned Karin is one of those few heroines that cries a lot yet it doesn't seem stupid or forced; after all her life is pretty stressful if you look at it objectively, I would probably cry too.

I think the story is where the series kind of drops the ball. The plot isn't really awful or anything, but it is largely absent throughout, preferring for more slice of life-ish moments for the first 75% of the series or so. The problem really arises near the end, when the plot is solved in an anticlimactic way and then the whole story ends on a pretty down note. Then there's the issue that not much memorable stuff happens. When I think back on the manga and the most memorable scenes, I honestly remember Karin and Usui working in a cafe more than anything. Oh and someone might have gotten blood drained a few times I think. The story just doesn't have enough interesting stuff going on to really stay in the mind, especially if you read other manga regularly.

As a teenager I adored this series. I followed it faithfully through the Tokyopop releases from the time volume 2 was just barely released, onwards. I even remember the ending making me cry the first time I read it.

However, I went back and read it again for the first time since then and my tastes have definitely changed. I wouldn't go so far as to label the series 'ecchi', but the panty shots and gigantic breasts really made me cringe this time around. The art isn't very fluid either, and poses that are meant to indicate movement are too stiff. Backgrounds are sparse, as are the variety of settings. Karin's house, the school, the restaurant, Kenta's house… we don't see much beyond those 4 locations and what we see of those isn't even drawn in any detail. The story, too, is bland. Kenta has almost no personality to speak of, and Karin isn't very interesting as a character. Karin's family really out-stages the Kenta/Karin love story - especially Elda, Anju and Ren. I stand by those 3 being pretty good characters (they were my favorites the first time around, as well). I also approve of Boogie-kun (I haven't seen anything quite like him in other series).

So… yeah! If you want a supernatural series just for fun and aren't too concerned with quality, give it a shot.

... Last updated on January 15th, 2016, 6:52am

Some parts just fealt way too sappy for my taste, but the story kept progressing in a good way.
Wish the characters were drawn with more care.

Some parts just fealt way too sappy for my taste, but the story kept progressing in a good way.
Wish the characters were drawn with more care.