From a critical standpoint, the most impressive thing about SDC is the art. As you can tell, the art is very, very extravagantly detailed. Perhaps even blindingly so. I respect Tanemura for being able to do all that on her deadline. Honestly, I do. Style is a preference but her foundational skills are better than most, even though I personally think she relies too much on screentones and sparkly flower which makes my eyes hurt sometimes. (I also noticed she’s not particularly good at different perspectives/anatomy – thus causing her characters to appear stiff.) Most of the art is impressive because of the level of detail and the “finished” look of it that a lot of other series fail to accomplish. The backgrounds are really amazing and detailed. So it’s 50/50 based on what impresses you. I would say I am impressed, even if the style is too shoujo to my eyes. On another note, it’s difficult to differentiate between characters because the only thing setting them apart is their hair. The parents look like they’re 15 as well, which was a little unsettling, but other than that, the art is impressive.

I usually attempt to steer clear of fairytales, clichés, and whiny heroines but I was curious since I had already finished Full Moon and didn’t know which way the mangaka was going to develop in terms of style. What I found out was: people like me can never take this story or these characters seriously. The plot is, sadly, borderline non-existent and the entire progression of events was rather obviously conceived as the author wrote, as opposed to being loosely planned out beforehand. There is way too much unnecessary drama at points that it became burdensome. The cast provided adequate humor and cute side stories, but the main characters and their story were not by any means more memorable than the next ones in line. Though Tanemura’s stories are longer than and not as simple as most shoujo stories, they and SDC come off as a little simple-minded.

A lot of people here expressed great dislike for Haine. I actually kind of liked her simplicity and her supposed “idiocy”. She has her extreme yankee moments and her calmer moments. She made me laugh a little and seemed good-natured with a lot of random quirks. (Though Tanemura’s heroines are nowhere close to what I’d consider a proper role model, the only one who ever rubbed me the wrong way was manga Mitsuki. She seemed a lot less bratty in the anime.) I guess the only thing I had an issue with was how weak Haine was around men. Why was it that when a guy tried to kiss her, she suddenly forgot her yankee moves? I do like her angst about her family life and how Tanemura tried to develop her and the two male leads deeper but it seems that a lot of it was not put to use properly.

SDC’s ending was worse than the beginning and middle, but since I wasn’t too emotionally invested in the characters, I just kinda raised my brow and congratulated myself for getting this far. But I can completely understand why it would leave most readers capitally pissed off. I think that was the reason Tanemura wrote an epilogue to fix the problem, though the mere fact that it happened was pretty faceplam-worthy. But despite all these flaws and being totally outside my normal comfort zone with manga, I enjoyed reading it, in a lighthearted way. This seemed like a fantasy to me because the real world does not remotely resemble the world inside this story, so maybe that’s why I didn’t mind it seeming so far-fetched. I would recommend this story to people who are comfortable in shoujo, and don’t mind sugary stories, but if you only read a little shoujo, this may be difficult to sit through.

looks like it's going to be a sad story. it gives me a feeling of the fullmoon manga.. =/

Just as good as my other favorite manga Fruits Basket! I love it and am waiting anciously for more!

I couldnt stand the main characters, in fact, the side characters were much more likable.

Starts out interesting enough with some sort of depth to it. But i suppose she got a bit crazy with the whole thing and tried to over complicate matters, losing me halfway. But being a huge Arina fan, i re-read and what i realised was how predictable it was going despite her "twist".

Granted, Arina has always done cliche stuff, but it was because of the way she sugar-coats it that i enjoyed it. Still, this one seriously went overboard with a gloom gloom gloom storyline becoming a and they all live happily ever after tale. Too unbelievable and too forced. I wish she tried for another kind of ending, one with more realism and more in tune with her story.

I bought the first 5 volumes but i doubt i'll ever get the rest. I'm sorely disappointed with this piece. Though the art's improved now (I've been reading her works since ION and KKJ), the story seems to be fluctuating too wildly. Hopefully, she'll get better.

Well, I loved the entire series. The art was beautiful, the characters well developed, and the plot page turning. The suspense of Haine choosing either Shizu or Taka really gets hold of the reader. All in all, I would rate this a 10/10.

Until the end.



... Last updated on June 7th, 2008, 11:37pm

weird but i read it i'm mad at my self

its not ur typical shoujo where u can see right through it!! IT has soo many twists and it soo exciting!
i luv Takanari!!!! he just makes ur heart melt!
AHHH!! i luv this manga its the best!
tho it does take quite awhile to get used 2 the characters because they all look alike >< lol but other than tht i love everything about it!
AND of course the ART IS UNBELIEVABLY AMAZING!!!

Edit:


... Last updated on June 8th, 2008, 4:35am

I guess my last comment really wasn't a very proper review, so I'm editing it a bit in hopes of helping some other people in deciding whether to read this series or not.

The art, as always by Arina Tanemura, was nothing short of breath-takingly beautiful! Although some complain that her style makes it difficult to differentiate between characters, I had no trouble in this aspect so I can't say I agree. That may be because I've read quite a few works before Shinshi Doumei Cross though.

I began this series after I finished Full Moon, but before it was released in the U.S., so I read scanlations all the way through it's conclusion, waiting faithfully for chapters every month. As others have said, I enjoyed this story from the very beginning! It gave a unique twist to the cliche high school romance story, and I actually genuinely liked the vast majority of the characters, even Shizumasa by the end of the series. Their lives seem surreal in this school so different from our typical setting, but their characters and emotions hit so many of us close to home. You can always relate to the way they feel at one point or another, and you understand these characters. They have a depth that many shoujo series characters don't. So I definitely bow to Arina Tanemura for creating such a lovely, yet realistic world.

At this point, you're probably thinking that since I've gone on and on about how simply amazing this series was, why my rating wasn't the full 10, or even a 9. This is almost purely because of the final few chapters. While there IS a lot of drama present in this series, it's always well paced and feel realistic enough for you to understand and follow it without becoming overdosed in angst. However, the final few chapters completely spiral out of control. As I said before, I was following the series from the beginning, one chapter per month, every month. So when I hit that point, I was very nervous because it seemed like the dive for the ending was coming much too quickly.

The end annoyed me not for it's 'cheesy' or 'happy' mood, but because it became unrealistic. There were a thousand happy ways to end this series realistically, without overusing cliche drama techniques. But instead, what happened in the last few chapters was like a whirlwind of nonsense. It didn't make sense in my mind, and became more like a rush to the finish. It feels like what was put in the final 5 chapters should have been spread out in at least 10, but instead everything was stuffed into a few chapters and the entire series was wrapped up.

I'm not going to spoil anyone on events that happened in those last few chapters, but for me, it wasn't the events themselves, but rather the pacing that became difficult for me to follow. I ended up annoyed, and very disappointed.

However, despite that, this is still an excellent read and well worth your time! To me, the ending was important enough for my personal rating to down a few notches, but it may not be for you! Or you might not even be as saddened as I was by the way the series ended. Either way, I would still recommend this series to anyone who likes a good shoujo with a solid plot and believable characters!

All in all, I was disappointed by the end, but I still rank this series near the tops of my favorite shoujo series. After all, every other aspect was well done, and isn't it unfair to judge by the last few chapters alone, however important they may be?

I read this years ago when it was serialized. I thought why not read it again....never again. Or maybe trim the fat and only read a cut of all the parts when....

... Last updated on September 15th, 2021, 8:02pm

This series was really spectacular to me. There were portions that I did not like, however on a whole I feel it is one of my favorites by the story line.