i lluuurrrrvveed this manga! it was so cute!!!~~~
i found out about this manga cos i was in the library, at the manga section, and all the other mangas had pretty bad art (==), so i chose gentlemen alliance cross, even though it was the second volume. i finished it that night, and when i finished it, i was alll 'kkkyyyyaaaaaaaaaaaaa<3 SO CUTE!'
i reckon one of the best things about this manga is the great art. i loved it . i've read heaps of manga and manhwa where the art is, well, not that great, but this manga had the best art i've seen yet .
i reckon the story was pretty good, and all the characters are pretty LOL-worthy, and the relationship (in terms of the twins) was something i havent encountered before, so that was a nice change of scenery
i loved this manga cos it was mostly happy, and really, really funny. the only thing i would have wanted more from this manga would have been to have more scenes and art of the time when they were in the dancing scene (formal dresses are cute !^^) but even still, i loved this manga, and whoever out there loves funny, cute romantic mangas should read this one <3

the author makes the main girl soooo stupid naiive at first.
the beginning was sort of confusing and could have been made alittle smoother.
i mean....it would be understood wayyy better if it started from chapter 9.
well that's the only problem that i had with the series.

as the story started going, it got better and better!!!
the art is pretty good, too!
check it out! check it out! CHECK IT OUT!!!

... Last updated on June 29th, 2010, 3:38pm

This was an amazing read... It started out a bit lackluster, I suppose. Too many characters all introduced at once and too much going on before I really settled in and could follow it all. A few volumes in, I was hooked! So many twists and turns in the plot - I was expecting a simple high school romance, and got a lot more than I bargained for!

However, I felt the ending was a little... disappointing. It was almost as if Tanemura took the easy way out and tried to make everyone happy when, I'm sorry, but a certain person in this story doesn't really deserve to live happily ever after...

Not to mention...

But even with those foibles at/near the end, I still would say this is a top notch series that any shoujo fan would be remiss not to read!

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?

Great art and an alright storyline, but I felt that the manga tried a little too hard to be unique so the story ended up being pretty nonsensical. None of it is realistic at all and the random angst is totally unnecessary in some chapters, as well as the complex situations that didn't really end up getting dealt with. But if you don't try to understand everything or think about it much, it's a nice read, if you can deal with some of the embarrassments of the main character. Also, I can't really see that much shoujo ai with it besides some underlying tones, but the I do think the shounen ai part comes out a lot in the series as a whole (it's shoujo overall, but it serves as a warning), so if you like/don't like that stuff it's something to consider.

... Last updated on January 17th, 2010, 1:22am

We've seen the classy private High School setting before. We've seen the energetic but stupid main character before. We've seen her cold and on-the-surface perfect love interest before.
But man, I was surprised. Because this manga actually has an unexpected plot and character depth that you don't see until a few chapters in. Something that always makes me happy is a well-planned and solid plot progression. There's good dialogue, too. The mood so far (I'm only on chapter 8) is pretty gloomy, though. This manga reminds me somewhat of Akuma to love song.
The art is... well, fully functional shoujo manga type art. Nothing special, but it looks good enough.

So far, it's been a very nice read. I recommend it.

The ART was AMAZING!! I really like this manga since it is so cute.....the storyline gets confusing at first but once you get to know the character it is much easier to understand.

I loved this manga soo much! <3 soo much that i usually pick this manga when i tell others about cute romance mangas.
It was coincedential that i happened to accidentally (that's right, an accident) kick the second volume of GAC at Borders. The lady at Gloria Jeans death stared me down and so i was sorta forced to read this book at first. Like all manga, especially those that have some confusion in them, not reading from the first volume is a fool's mistake. I read volume 2 and although i was literally screaming and swearing at the ill-natured emperor guy (that is before i started thinking he was pretty cute >~<) i had to admit, this manga was really captivating. I re-read from volume one and things began to make more sense. There are scenes in this manga that sometimes makes you want to hit Haine with a golf club becoz its cheesy or she's just making a total fool of herself but that's whats good to have in a manga that also has a little tragedy in it. I thought it was a little cliche but cute when she changed from the yankee because of Togu (or so she thought^^) and when she realised she loved the guy who really drew the book, i was like "awwwwwwwwwww". I thought it was a little sad how she found out what happened to her mum at highschool and how she thought her step* dad was evil and wanted to rescue the sorta crazy mum from him, but when she finds out the truth and the three of them are lying like dead corspe as the building burns (burn baby burn) it was sad in a cute way. I gotta compliment Tanemura for her drawings, pretty much all her shoujo mangas that have been a great hit (full moon, GAC, KK-Jeanne, Mistress Fortune & her newer ones like Sakurahime Kaden) have fantastic drawings in them. I really like both the guys and girls and i truly think she has a talent like no other because her drawing is so fabulous and unique unlike some artist who share similar art styles (which get confusing when u try to identify who drew what). I just really think that GAC is a great manga and that anyone with a taste for romance, cute characters and more shoujo shud deff read this one>>>


Good luck

... Last updated on July 20th, 2009, 10:25pm

I was at Borders and bought the first 4 volumes on a whim. When i read the first volume, i kinda regret buying it since some parts were confusing, some characters looked alike, but the character's emotional expressions were well drawn. Then i continued to read the other 3 volumes and after that....i was desperate to buy the rest, that i forgot to wait for coupons to come out and use them! Yes, i'd rather buy the manga i owe than reading it online. I really like the artwork, the storyline, the drama, and i have no single regret buying the series. I don't really know why some people don't like this manga.