Forum - View topicREVIEW: Haruka: Beyond the Stream of Time GN 17
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tuxedocat
 Posts: 2183 |
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Thanks for the review.
Recently, when I was deciding to add some shojo into my collection, I seriously considered buying this title, since it looked like Viz was planning to actually finish it. I was attracted by the art (what I could see of it looking at the covers), which has old-school shojo character designs. I also remember way back when I rented the anime series from Netflix. I couldn't afford it at the time. The anime was released by Honneamise (the 2005 incarnation of Bandai Visual USA), and was incredibly overpriced. I remember being happy that I had rented it, rather than buy it, since the plot was nothing but a thin, recycled variation of Fushigi Yugi. - or so I though at the time, having zero knowledge of Otome games. I have to admit that the anime was pretty terrible. I particularly remember how I felt angry about spoiler[the fate of the poor tengu, who was treated like an expendable slave.] Back to the manga: when I saw all the manga volumes listed. I thought that maybe if I bought this, I would find out if any of these cardboard prettyboys had any kind of personality development beyond what I saw in that anime. I ended up passing on this series, opting instead for Kamisama Kiss, Dawn of the Arcana, and Library Wars (my favorite of the three!  ) I'm not sorry about my decisions.
However; *sigh* Despite the spoilerific cover, and your less than enthusiastic review, the completist in me makes me want to squander my disposable income by purchasing this series. Just to see how it resolves.  
Please, Rebecca, help me. Even though the cost of buying this would not cause me a substantial financial hardship by any means, I still would be very grateful to know if there is enough "there", beyond the pretty art, for me to shell out the money.  
---the art does look reallly pretty. errrrrgh 
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Princess_Irene
ANN Associate Editor
 Posts: 2657 Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City |
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Honestly? Not really. The pacing is really off for most of the series and the guys don't really get enough development to make this worth spending money on. (An artbook, on the other hand...) I'd go with the library option on this one, even if you have to interlibrary loan it, especially since judging from your list we have pretty similar taste. (Go Library Wars!!) For even more context, after I finished reading this, I took it to the used bookstore and traded it for Patricia Wrede's new series, which makes for better re-reading.
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tuxedocat
Posts: 2183 |
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Thank you so much for the advise (belatedly, sorry.
) . I figure the $100+ bucks I save on this series would probably be better spent entertaining my poor husband, since it's his b-day this weekend.
I've never read the author you mentioned, I'll have to check her out. Recently, I read the The Inheritance Trilogy (N.K. Jemisin),... highly recommended. For novels, I usually enjoy the grittier stuff, like Joe Abercrombie and Richard K Morgan, though I love stuff that incorprates all sorts of mythology and folklore (getting a little sick of the Celtic Folklore, though...)
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Dessa
 Posts: 4438 |
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*Glances at her full English series, the full Japanese series, the Japanese Fan Book, the Japanese Guide book, the full English DVD set, the signed lithograph from the director, the Eisen plushie, her AVATAR she's had for years...*
*leaves* |
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