By: Natsuki Takaya Publisher: TokyoPop Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: TokyoPop Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 216 Publication Date: February 10, 2004 Reading Level: Young Adult Release Date: February 10, 2004
Product Description: Tohru Honda was an orphan when one day fate kicked her out of the house and on to land belonging to the mysterious Sohma family. After stumbling upon the teenage squatter, the Sohmas invite Tohru to stay in their house in exchange for cooking and cleaning. Everything goes well until she discovers the Sohma family's secret, when hugged by members of the opposite sex, they turn into their Chinese Zodiac animal!
Here we go...*dons chainmail* I know I'm going to earn myself a week in the stocks with a horde of angry otaku hurling rotten eggs at me for this review, but it needs to be said...this manga is boring.
Alright, before you all run me out of town brandishing pitchforks and torches, let me just say that this book definitely does have some good aspects to it. I really like the fact that Tohru never succumbs to her many hardships, and the zodiac curse was original and interesting. Oh yeah, and the simmering homoerotic atmosphere prevalent all throughout the Sohma household was definitely worth the couple of stars I gave in this review. :-P
Now, on to the plethora of reasons as to why I will not be picking up volume 2. (Go get your feathers and hot tar ready.)
While I respected Tohru for making her own way despite the roadblocks fate set before her, I also saw her as being rather MarySue-ish. She is perpetually effervescent, terminally perky, and extremely annoying! She is always apologizing and has a tear in her eye in like, every other panel! I swear to you, she was so damn sweet I was going into diabetic shock just looking at her...Oh, and the whole cat-dude-battling-rat-guy thing stopped being funny after the umpteenth time. Jeez Natsuki, get a shovel and bury that joke already. The rest of the jokes weren't any better. I know it's supposed to be a comedy, but honestly, this book only managed to elicit a few half-hearted chuckles from me. I also thought the art was pretty crappy. Maybe I've just been spoiled by Sang Sung Park, but I thought the characters all looked very stiff and plain.
Luckily, I did not waste any money on this book. I received it as part of a manga swap, and let me tell you, I'm so glad I did. I was curious to find out what all the hulabaloo was about, and had I actually paid for it, I'd have been hopping mad. One good thing about the fact that there are so many (misguided) fans of this series...I'll have no problem trading this in exchange for something good :-)
Alrighty...*extends hands* bring on the thumbscrews!
boring I hope you listen to this review. This is the most boring manga ever. The main character is pathetic. She is such a wimp. The art is pretty bad. This isn't a comedy. You won't laugh at all. The action scenes are terrible. One of the genres is romance. The romance is badly written. If you want manga with beautiful art, try The Tarot Cafe. If you want comedy, try Popo Can. If you want action, try Fullmetal Alchemist. If you want romance, try Dramacon. Please, do not buy this garbage.
My First Manga . . . I read some reviews for this item and figured I might like it. It was a little weird figuring out the order I was supposed to read the boxes in, but after I got that figured out I was really into the story. The story isn't too dramatic or serious; it was really light hearted and funny, although I do feel for Tohru. I think it's refreshing that the main character states her situation but doesn't get depressed or angry about it all the time.
i love it i enjoyed reading this series. the reception of this manga is mixed, and depending on who you talk to they either loved it or didn't. i liked it. i thought torhu was a strong heroine, though this isn't blatantly apparent (though i think that the whole idea behind inner strength is that it happens inside of you, so it might not be that readily apparent to onlookers). she has a quiet strength and is the rock that holds everyone together. i thought that the characters were well done too. the manga was long enough to go in depth on most, if not all of the characters which made the story line pleasingly complex and intricate. i'm loved the ending, i thought it was really cute, and actually, this is one of the cleanest manga i've ever read. most mangas directed at an audience over the puberty line are all about romance and relationships, if shoujo, or have the girls in suggestive clothing, if shounen. this one's a shoujo and though there's romance in it, that isn't the focus, the curse is. so i guess its one of the refreshing ones, as it still manages to pull off a great storyline with compelling characters. its one of my favourite mangas ^^
Fun, imaginative, and a great read If you love mangas and love a story that gives you every emotion a story can give you, then this is the book for you. The main part of the story is comedy but it does have a lot of other emotions to it and there are a lot of plot eliments that will keep you wanting to read. I don't want to give anything away so I wont, you'll just have to read it. ^_^
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