Customer Reviews

Marmalade Boy, Vol. 8

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Right, so about the first half of the Marmalade Boy series very nearly makes it one of my favorite shojo manga series ever. It was a humorous tale with unpredictable characters, plenty of plot twists, and- best of all- loads of humor. There were actually quite a few laugh-out-loud moments, which I don't find often in shojo manga.

Really. What happened?

I'm guessing that Yoshizumi got rushed after the first half of her series. The characters started becoming bland and unpredictable, and as the relationship between Yuu and Miki grew heavier, the romance just never grew touching for me. It only seemed sappy- possibly because Yuu, totally dropping his teasing act, merely became embarrassingly emotional and angsty most of the time. He lost everything that had once made him such a fun and interesting character. Ditto with Ginta and Arimi. Everything just felt so- what's the word? Fixed? Hmmm. Maybe the translation just got worse: for example, somewhere along the line it was like all the characters just suddenly stopped using contractions. It made the dialogue unnecessarily awkward in a lot of places.

All that came to its peak in this last volume, where all the nonsense between the parents gets explained at last in an abrupt, convolted manner. There's a whole lot of sap that goes on between Miki and Yuu, of course, and everything is tied up neatly with a few corny jokes and such.

Of course, if you've been a fan of the series all the way through even as (in my humble opinion) it went downhill, chances are, you'll find all the squishy romantic goop here makes up a satisfying conclusion. But personally, I found it to be a big letdown.

i have been borrowing the books from a friend but i cant get enough of them. it doesn't take me an hour to read one book. this is most deffiantly what high school life is like since i am a freshman in high school i would know. i am most deffiantly not an emotional person but this book touches my heart and my soul. i advise everyone to read this series!!! emily aka jimmy

once you pick up the first volume of Marmalade Boy, it's impossible to get rid of it...you're hooked after the first ten pages. it was too late once i bought the book; i knew that i would have to buy the rest!!! its the funniest, cutest, book i've ever read. im really into the whole sappy-love thing, but i hate when it gets cheezy, and yoshizumi kindly walks this fine line with ease. even though i've never gotten over-emotionally involved in anything (i.e., crying during sad movies...seriously, i watched a walk to remember and my eyes were the dryest in the house...crying when you watch a puppy die, etc. etc.) <<i've never done that before, and after i read the seventh volume, i started bawling (crying my heart out) for about an hour...seriously!!! but i was excited the way wataru ended the series in volume eight...it was AWESOME and i can't wait for her next story!!! PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!!