It’s strange how some manga that I think should be shorter have many volumes and chapters, and some manga that I would like to be longer are quite short. This manga is one of those manga that I wish was longer, but isn’t. Even though it isn’t long the story was an excellent one, and though I wish it had gone on for a bit longer it was still a very nice read that was extremely enjoyable!
Plot- The plot is very interesting, great concept for the story. However the shortness of the manga dragged the plot down a bit, it would have been better if the manga had been a bit longer and some parts of the plot were drawn out a bit longer, as it is the manga isn’t bad and the pacing is quite nice.
Characters- The characters are really endearing, Banjou is quite strange, but in a funny way, and Nanaki is sweet and levels off Bajou’s strangeness nicely. The duo is fun to read about. The other characters play more minor rolls and you don’t really get to know the secondary characters that much making them nothing all that special, but not bad characters either.
Art- The art was nice but sometimes it seemed the artist got a bit lazy with some pictures and those images didn’t seem as good as other images on the page. But the artwork was still quite nice.
Other- I felt that the antagonist’s were just thrown in there, quickly defeated, and then just forgotten. I was a bit annoyed by this but not annoyed enough for it to lower my liking of the manga. Another thing to note, everyone, the end is (in all likelihood) a happy one.
I’ve concluded that Banjou lives in the end, the Cassandra mask is what was behind all the prophesies, which included the ones Banjou saw in his book, including the one about his own death, so when they sealed the mask it was suspected that the prophesies made by the Cassandra mask would be broken, which includes the prediction of Bajou’s death. Also at the end Nanaki say’s “Tomorrow Banjou’s new life starts” indicating he will live and Chiasa and Nanaki keep on talking during the end about Banjou's plans for the future also indicating he'll live, and, though this is more just my own assumptions, both Nanaki and Chiasa don’t seem sad at all, on the contrary they seem happy which would be strange if that day Banjou was dying… Plus they are having his birthday under a full blooming sakura tree which would be strange for them to have it there if they didn’t believe the predictions to be broken. Just my thoughts, feel free to disagree.
The ending was a bit open unless you put some thought into it. The manga was good; it captured my attention and kept a firm hold of it all throughout the manga, and even at times had me on the edge of my seat as I awaited what would happen next. I really do recommend this manga!
8/10 – Was good