lavender__'s reviews
112 reviews

 Funny. everything i know about ygo is related to the card games so its funny to see that the series started out with Yugi being possessed and inflicting bullies and cruel adults with rightful comeuppance through weird games. 
The characters were fun, and endearing. The fan service in the first volume is annoying, but gets better as the series goes on.

  In Library Wars, the library forces, an elite organization, fights against the federal government’s Media Betterment Committee, which exercises extreme censorship over media. Libraries fight against censorship and have their own Library Defense Forces (LDF).
The protagonist, Iku Kasahara, is a young woman who idolized and entered the LDF after one of their soldiers saved her book from being confiscated, while she was a teenager.
I was unexpectedly charmed by the story. One thing that stood out to me was the book's thoughtfulness. For example, in chapter two,

Iku tries to help an elderly man in a wheelchair onto an elevator. He rejects her and politely tells her that he can manage by himself, making Iku embarrassed that she may have imposed herself on him.

I feel that commonly, writers use physically disabled characters to make able-bodied characters seem better without actually uplifting the former. This helped characterize Iku as a caring person without ignoring

the disabled man’s

autonomy, which I personally enjoyed.
The book isn't focused on romance, but it's worth noting that

Iku is implied to have a crush on the soldier who saved her, and that one of her superiors cares very deeply about her despite his prickly persona.

Overall, I enjoyed the manga. I think Library Wars has the potential to say some pretty interesting things about freedom of speech and how the government will always try to exercise control over it. I'll definitely read the next volume to see what Iku will face next.

 In XxxHolic, high schooler Kimihiro Watanuki finds himself working for the mysterious witch, Yuuko Ichihiro, in her wish-granting shop. XxxHolic is largely episodic in nature, and dabbles in supernatural elements, such as spirits and urban legends.
Aesthetically, the original work ran from 2003-2017, and is very influenced by the fashion of that time. Yuuko typically wears stylish clothing of that time, often with a more whimsical aesthetic.
The chapter covers are very detailed and intricate. My favorite one is chapter 6's cover, where Yuuko is laying in between bowls full of fish and flowers, while she is dressed in a kimono with a scale-like and watery pattern. It has the manga's signature smoky borders at its edges, framing the piece nicely. It's a very attractive work.
Translation-wise, I like that the Omnibus has footnotes from the translators, especially since (I feel that) there are few translators that can/are allowed to extensively explain their thought process while translating. It's fun to know what cultural joke, or media the author is referencing. I also enjoyed the honorific box they put at the beginning of the manga which explained how the characters were referring to each other in Japanese. I feel like it's uncommon to romanize honorifics in translation work today, so I appreciated seeing it in an older work. I do think, however, that the publishers could've put a long list of footnotes at the very end of the book, rather than putting short parts of it at the end of each volume.
If I have any real complaints, it's that Yuuko can talk esoterically, and speaks about fortunes and fate in a way that I can't completely understand. Watanuki can't completely understand her either, but because of my lack of understanding, I sometimes feel that I'm flipping pages instead of really understanding and becoming immersed in the story.

 

 Volume 3 is the final volume. While the volume itself was well paced, I feel that the author hasn't explored her story to its fullest potential.
The characters are compelling, and realistic in the way they hurt others. Unfortunately, I feel that they don't show as much remorse towards their victims as they should. This would've made sense in a longer series where they're still undergoing their character arcs and facing the consequences of their actions, and not in the final volume of their series.

Tsugu is the closest thing the story has to a protagonist, but her character is stagnant in comparison to the rest of the cast, at least until the last few chapters. I think it's a deliberate choice by the author, since she wanted to shed more of a spotlight on the other characters, but I think it's a bit of a waste that she didn't have a "I want to change!" moment that the others had.

Despite this, I found The Golden Sheep a very fulfilling story to read. While I don't think it reached its full potential, I'm only upset because I was attached to the main cast and their journeys. I felt very emotional during the final chapter, and was sad to see it end.

The one-shot (standalone story) at the end of the volume was interested in the technical sense as (I believe) it implies that the manga could've been longer, but that the author chose to end it that way.
As for the one-shot's story, I really enjoyed it! It's about a human soul who decides to reincarnate as the son of a very young woman.

The story is told from the perspective of the son in heaven after dying, showing the consequences of his death afterwards.

It made me tear up multiple times during the course of the story. It touches on life, death, poverty, motherhood, and love. 

 In volume two, Tsugu and Sora are adjusting to Tokyo after running away. There's a feeling of hopelessness and getting left behind that the majority of the characters share.

Asari and Yuushin share the same fear of staying in the same state forever,  not realizing that change starts with their own behavior, and that they must apologize for how they've treated others in the past in order to properly grow. In contrast, Sora moves forward by focusing on the croquette shop he and Tsugu are staying in,  moving past his trauma as a victim of bullying.

Its interesting, and I enjoy reading it. 
The art is as lovely as ever. The artist is great at immersing the reader into the setting