a nice read for me.. the plots mystery really got me reading.. twist here, mega twist there.. the ending was satisfying.. nothing spectacular.. at least it had closure.. its great that AW finally released it, and did a great job at it.. and finally MIO RULES!!!

From reading the reviews of the other readers, I was expecting it to be a great read, but it still left me slightly empty when i finished it. It had enough momentum to keep me interested - the first volume was the weakest of them all IMO so once I got past it it got better - but it never really felt like much was happening from Start > End.

Animewaves did a good job scanlating it. Usually old series suffers problems with dialogue that is filled with errors and don't make much sense, but luckily i never noticed this. However as it progressed a fair amount of bubbles were left empty or dashed through. For whatever reason it made me feel like I was missing out on important info or words to emphasise certain situations. Lovely colour pages were included so I was happy with that.

Drawing wise - some of the characters look too similar. Shibuka looks like a boy sometimes, and othertimes I get confused with Taiyo. For me, MIO stood out as the most unique looking of all the characters. The environment and especially the sea were well drawn. Panels at the bottom of the page didn't have whitespace/ending of bottom-most panels give a feeling of excessive cropping - whether it was a scanlation thing or in the raw, I don't know. I just know I wasn't keen on it. Another thing that bothered me was continuity issues or flow problems, one panel they'd have them doing something and then the next they'd sometimes be doing something totally different, so it didn't flow that well a few times.

With regards to the story, as I said I didn't feel much had been happening over the space of 10 volumes. The romance aspect developed nicely, but a few more volumes could have been added to explain the storyline a little better. There was just too much bouncing back and forth physically and with allegances.

Not much info is out there (on the world wide web) about IO's storyline, which is a shame as I was hoping some of it would clear up remaining questions still left unanswered. I'll probably re-read it again but I don't think i'll find these answers on a 2nd read.

... Last updated on December 30th, 2007, 6:34pm

Deeper than it first appears. Don't judge this on the 1st volume, which is quite slow to start (and common, too).
But starting from the second one... just can't help to read to the end.

... Last updated on December 28th, 2007, 5:05pm

At first it seemed to be a typical romantic comedy. But even before the the mistery plot line kicked in I've found myself overwhelmed with the art and the atmosphere of this world.
After that the plot became quite deep and interesting, and the romance deepened too.
It's great.

... Last updated on December 28th, 2007, 8:07am

Following what Master_M2K said, the story does begin as a romantic comedy. The focus is around Scuba Diving, something definitely not seen commonly in any media, as well as supernatural aspects.
Though it is a comedy, it does take a darker tone later on in the series, oddly enough.
The artwork is quite good, but the detail put into everything seemed to make it look awkward at a few instances. For example, Taiyo's pupils seem extremely small. The way the girls sometimes smile just looks off. Everything is quite detailed though, and appears realistic.
The entire plot was gripping, and had me on edge wanting to know what happened next. Many good cliffhangers, and surprises if I recall correctly. However, I feel that the ending was only so-so. I expected too much I believe. Though it may have been the three month gap between reading 1~54, and 55.

Story/Plot
IO basically starts of as a romantic comedy with a typical guy who goes to Okinawa and meets some sisters who he happened to know before, yet he can't seem to recall any of his past with them. Behind what would seem like a typical romantic comedy is a story of supernatural mystery and suba diving.

Artwork
The artwork is one of the best things about the manga. There is so much detail put on every page, you begin to notice little flaws like the eye lines. The few beautiful colour pages are there for the best fanservice ever created...

Final Thoughts
I came into this manga thinking it will be nothing special but it surprised the heck out of me because it doesn't follow the usual trends. One of the best things about it is the romance and it makes it all really believable, which is a nice change from all the cliched shounen manga. After a slow start the story itself becomes so interesting, as it begins to unravel itself and it's able to suck most people into all the mystery, forcing you to read on to discover more.

... Last updated on October 19th, 2007, 5:35am

Rather, it was something much better than I was expecting. The summary makes it sound like a pretty typical ecchi shounen romance manga but in truth there is nothing typical about it.

This is really a story about unravelling a supernatural mystery, with enough plot twists to keep you guessing. Right up until the end you're never really quite sure who to trust. And yes, there is a strong romance element in the story as well, but it's actually done well with believable characters and is never repetive.

The supernatural elements are also handled very well. It's clear from early in the manga that something strange is going on, but it takes basically the entire manga to figure out what. The author does a good job of depicting ordinary people reacting to an extraordinary situation.

I'm trying to think of other similar mangas for comparison, but honestly I can't. IO is pretty unique. And that's a good thing.

And yes, there are plenty of babes in swimsuits ;)

this is a really good manga i didnt expect it to be this good. sort of like ichigo 100% but with some mysterious magic sort of thing at work. also did someone say this is discontinued?? i hope not id be very disappointed =(. and if anyone knows of any group that continued this and is active plz tell

At first I didn't think it was so good. But as I read some more it proved to be pretty good.

This manga is awesome! When I first started reading, I didn't think much of it, nor had any high expectation (I began reading out of boredom with no clue what it was actually about), However as I continued to read, the story just got more and more exiting! truly great in my honest opinion XD

EDIT:
After over a year it's great to see that AW has finaly taken on the project again! I can't wait to complete the final volume

... Last updated on August 8th, 2007, 9:59pm