Say I Love You

School is just around the corner so it's really time to crunch and roll out all these blog posts. I did promise my tumblr following that I would review Say I Love You. Hopefully it'll be as coherent as possible since I have a  tenacity  to post juvenile  writing.  Say I Love You without a doubt has been one of my favorite mangas for 2013. Maybe it's because I'm a sucker for high school romance stories, maybe because the manga has so much goddamn good art but whatever it is, I'm not alone when I say it's a good piece of work.

According to mangaupdate (a manga database used worldwide), out of 1026 votes, this manga on average is rated 8.45 out of 10. For a manga this is an extremely good average since majority of mangas do not score over a 9/10. I also must note, this manga is not complete and it's currently at its peak, so this score will change over time. 

I was attracted to the manga because it was very highly rated, and often compared to other favorites of mine like Mars, Gokinjo Monogatari (I will review that along with Paradise Kiss), and Denegeki Daisy. I almost did not read this manga because it was characterized as a smut manga. It's actually not a smut manga at all, the author is just usually a smut writer. 

Say I Love You's real attraction will depend on if you can become empathic with the main character. As with all shoujo mangas, the main character has a bit naivety and lacks some real world concept. Mei however represents many of our high school lives; bullied and lack of knowledge of love. As she develops, making friendships and growing her love, we as the audience continually look back on our experiences and compare and root on for Mei.

Scorings

Story: 8

The story line for Say I Love you, starts rather slow and quite unrealistic. The whole love affair between Yamato and Mei, RARELY ever happens in high school. Once the story picks up into their constant "love trials", things get more realistic and juicy. The drama between the constant love triangles and other things that tend to get in between their love tend to be interesting. Maybe as an american, there is many things I see and think to myself "Wow, that just doesn't happen." It could also be just how some things translate into English. 

Art: 10

Good manga are is really hard to find these days. Say I Love You consistently has been wowing me with art since the very first page. Oddly, cover art doesn't really appeal to me.

Literary Value: 7 

Overall as a story, it's a shoujo and it's a manga. What sepperates it from regular shoujos is that it has more adult scenes and thought processes but its a shoujo. A shoujo has a million cliches and Say I Love You is no different in that aspect. The overall story has been done before in one way or another. If you delve even further you come to see quite a lack in literary devices. The only one I can really pick out and say its been used to an advantage would be characterization. 

So my scoring would leave the manga at a 8.3 which is not much different from what the general audience would say. It's a good read that I suggest you to pick up. I'm really curious where the author is going to take this.

Anime

In the meantime of waiting for another chapter to release I did watch the anime for this manga. I solomenly ever watch the anime adaption of a manga because I feel the manga is always better and animes don't do enough justice for the manga. However if the manga is really good I will go ahead and watch the anime . 

The anime did justice in someways and did a lot of injustice in other ways. They took out anything that may of referenced sex, something that was discussed openly in the manga. They changed Mei (the heroine) character, to being this extremely shy person who couldn't even say a sentence without stuttering or simply murmuring. The latter made me quite upset because I loved Mei because she wasnt very shy, she would spew realism in a high school where everyone was carefree. In the anime, they shredded away her independent thinking and made Yamato her knight in shining armor who saves her from of world of loneliness. In the manga, Mei is independent and Yamato is simply a catalyst into helping her developing relationships. 

Other then that. The anime isn't bad. Not incredible either. I can't score it because I am a really tough grader for animes so everyone has their cup of tea. I suggest watching the anime first then reading the manga. It saves you from a whole world disappointment. If I didn't read the manga, this probably would've been an incredible anime.


EDIT:
 I just found out that there is an additional 10 special episodes that I didn't see so I will post a  separate  review and I will TRY to be as  unbiased as possible. 

Thanks for reading!! I hope my writing wasnt that bad this time. Comments, opinions, questions? Leave it down in the comment box, I reply as soon as possible!!

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xoxo Moonangelko 

Vampire Knight Review

With everything that's been happening lately... I've been swirling out of control trying to keep on top of everything. Like seriously last week I was all depressed and constantly down on my luck. That changed literally in one or two days. From Fashion shows, to College to employment to blogging. It'll only be a day or two before my bad luck returns again. But I'm not going to bother you guys with all this excitement. I'm going to do what you guys have been asking for (well my tumblr following that is) I'm gonna give you a manga review.

Last year I incoherently touched up on the subject of Vampire Knight and rabbled some fangirling thoughts. Despite the ending, Vampire Knight hits home as one of my favorite mangas of all time (that list includes Tokyo Crazy Paradise, XxxHolic, Gokinjo Monogatari and other completed mangas that I will gladly review if you request it in the comment box). When I really like a manga, I read it a million times and if it's that good, you know I'm the person to come to make a review on it.

Despite my enthusiasm for the manga, according to mangaupdates (a database for manga readers worldwide),  out of 2589 votes, only 35% of readers would give Vampire Knight a 10/10. Majority of reader vote at a slightly lower range.  Its rating dropped to 7.89 when the manga ended (formerly 8.53 at the manga's peak). This makes Vampire Knight the second to lowest rated manga in my favorite (completed) reads and at the time of conclusion it was the lowest rated manga in my current reads (which is compiled of Naruto, Fairy Tail, Dengeki Daisy, Kaichou wa Maid-Sama etc).

My own personal rating of the manga would be an 8/10.00

Why?

Vampire Knight had a strong beginning. It began publication towards the end of Merupuri's serialization (another manga by the author). Merupuri was a strong story (averagely rated at 8.46, a considerably high rating for mangas) which also had a strong fanbase. That fanbase followed over to Vampire Knight expecting another compelling and charming story. The author in turn, tried to step away from the cute and charming world of Merupuri and give a dark edge to those readers. We fell for it.

Vampire Knight begins actually slow with the first few chapters, repetitive and the art wasn't too charming. I will admit it: The manga was flat. However it showed promise so I and thousands of fans worldwide read more. The author quickly changed things up. The art improved, the storyline became less "typical shoujo" and more detailed. By Chapter 3, majority of that charming and cute crap was cut out and evolved into sinister plot with the only thing with even a reminder to Matsuri Hino's usual writing is simply the heroine. Her heroines tend to be outspoken, dense in matters of love, somewhat submissive, rash... Rather typical shoujo writing in my head.

Most of the fanbase are more interested in how sexy every male character is drawn. I look at the actual writing and art. Vampire Knight storyline kept a really nice fast tempo at first. It constantly gave plot twister which was nice for the average reader. However as Miss AP, I had to delve a little further. Those twisters may satify the average reader but not me. Otherwise this manga would only rate a 6 or 7.Matsuri-sensei incorporated many literary device into the manga. It's so hard to find a literary device in a manga besides a flashback these days. Vampire Knight adeptly uses symbolism, foreshadowing, red herring, and even poetic justice.


But what stops this story from being a 9 or a 10?

To be honest, mangas rarely ever score a 9 or higher. The best ratings tend to be in range of 8.80. Vampire Knight remained strong as a a manga for long ride. As the plot focuses on Zero (one of the protagonists) it has a filling that keeps readers loving the story.  However a major plot twist makes the story reach its climax and it took about 30 to 40 chapters for the manga to complete. The manga was drawn out for too long. The pace drastically slowed and no longer had the zest the readers wanted. Everyone was simply anticipating the end. Towards the end Matsuri successfully revive's everyones interest in the story but several chapters too late. It could of been a resurgence, the story could've went places. Instead she lamely ends the series with a very pathetic and confusing chapter. The intention may of been to leave a cliffhanger but instead we are left with confusion and un-fulfillment.

Overall the story is great. The addition of literary devices, dark imagery, solid plotline, and generous amount of bishies makes the story such a win. I will re-read it a hundred times and I will hope that you guys might be persuaded to read the manga as well. So leave your opinions in the comments. I will definitely being give my commentary of Say I Love You soon and tell me what else you want to hear from me.

Xoxo,
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