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FeralKat
Joined: 06 Jan 2005
Posts: 402
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:47 pm
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Gee... A little harsh, huh? I'm a college student who happens to love MeruPuri. Hino Matsuri is also one of my favorite artists...
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RabbitRevolution
Joined: 24 Apr 2004
Posts: 218
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Posted: Mon Sep 05, 2005 11:54 pm
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Count me as one of those teenage fan girls, who is perfectly happy to enjoy something aimed squarely at her
It's certainly a decent light romance with pretty art. I have a friend who considers this to be her new favorite series. Personally, I'd give this a B.
Quote: | Hino’s comments in the page margins suggest that this title was conceived in a manner of days between herself and her editor and it was basically manufactured to be as marketable as possible; some of her comments border on “Well, I know you kids eat this stuff up, so here you go!” It’s surprising to see someone present their own work as being so shallow and callously commercial. |
Yeah, I don't think I've ever read comments from a mangaka that so frankly admit the commercial aim of her work. She even made up the nickname of the series herself (shortening Marchen Prince to MeruPuri), in hopes that it (and the series itself, of course) would become popular. A great deal of this info is given on the first page of the manga, so readers already know what they're getting themselves into. As I've said though, I ended up enjoying this volume regardless.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 2:15 pm
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FeralKat wrote: | Gee... A little harsh, huh? I'm a college student who happens to love MeruPuri. Hino Matsuri is also one of my favorite artists... |
There's nothing in the review that's insulting to you whatsoever.
Chill.
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hagakure|returns
Joined: 11 Aug 2005
Posts: 407
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Posted: Tue Sep 06, 2005 3:50 pm
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Just seem like many shojo fans are upset becaues their favorite series didn't get the review they were hoping for. That's too bad though, Merupuri wasn't even that great (pretty cliche and boring). Good review Zac.
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mangaka-chan
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
Posts: 283
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Posted: Wed Sep 07, 2005 6:30 am
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As a person who's read all of "Merupuri" I'd say the review was kinda harsh. I have all of the manga in Chinese and I didn't think Airi came across as being that, for lack of a better description, air headed.
*Mild Spoiler *
In the following volume the story gets pretty interesting and although there are lots of pretty boys, there's only at most three of them who are in love with Airi and in my mind, only two really, the other is more like a friend. Two of the other bishonens don't even like her that much, and one of them actually has a grudge against her.
I also think the reviewer didn't give the mangaka enough credit for her art work. I love the colored pictures in "Meripuri" because of its soft colors. The designs (especially the clothes IMO) were impressive as well, with the lines painstackingly clean and I know how hard it is to be both detailed and clean. If you take a look at the mangaka's most recent work, "Vampire Knights", it's a much darker story than "Meripuri", with darker colors but it's still very good artisticly. I also think the English cover for "Meripuri" doesn't do it justice and I much prefer the Chinese cover, with a frame for the cover image, making it look less like a children's book title. I know the reviewer is entitled to his/her own opinion and even I admit I don't find the manga all that perfect story wise, but I think "Meripuri" deserves more justice than that.
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holl.e.rama
Joined: 09 Jul 2004
Posts: 102
Location: California
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Posted: Thu Sep 08, 2005 6:35 pm
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Quote: | If you can tolerate a harem story and you’re female and in high school, MeruPuri is right up your alley. |
Wow, that just about hits the nail on the head for me. Not the nicest review, but true, the series isn't very remarkable, though it's just the kind of thing I like. Though, I'm not an escapist, I swear
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Miaka chan
Joined: 08 Apr 2005
Posts: 11
Location: UK
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Posted: Fri Sep 09, 2005 6:58 am
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I thoroughly enjoyed this story as well and I agree with FeralKat, the review is a little harsh. What's wrong with having a harem filled with cute guys
I lap up these kinds of stories and my days of worrying about romance are over, as I'm 38. These stories are just great fun and we all need a little escapism ocassionally and Meruperi fits that bill perfectly!
As with anime, a review of a manga is purely the opinions of the reviewer, but I do feel you haven't given this a chance (or maybe it's just not your cup of tea and you shouldn't have reviewed it in the first place!).
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micchan
Joined: 30 Sep 2009
Posts: 4
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Posted: Wed Sep 30, 2009 9:38 pm
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Well, I agree with much of the review content, but not the way it was put.
While there is not doubt this is not a mature, realistic manga, I see no call for bashing it like that. "Airi is just not ready for real romance", for heaven's sake, the girl is fifteen years old! Of course she isn't.
Besides, while I agree her standard are not realistic, she have quite high exceptions of herself as well - like her never-tardy policy, her being an honor student and on the student committee, always doing her homework without cheating (I must admit I do not see ho using a calculator is cheating, though) etc.
Also I fail to see how see pass as mean - she takes in and take care of a strange and a little rude kid, and while she is somewhat strict with him, it's only natural, as Aram is quite spoiled and rude (in Japan's standards) and Airi is not used to kids like him (she's an only child to boost). As for the violence - it is mostly used in humorous context and not meant to be taken seriously as child abuse.
I must say the review felt biased. This sort of manga is obviously not to your liking, and the whole paragraph about Airi's harem (which, as has been stated before, is not really an harem - one boy is really just a playboy, one actually dislike her, and we remain with the unavoidable shoujo manga's rival) seems unjustified if you know the manga, and quite aggressive if you don't (so I've been told). There's little to no unbiased facts in the review, so it's not very helpful - friends of mine who read it ended up coming to me to ask what is it really about, who are the characters and why is Airi mean/violent/boring (since the reviewer did not grace us with any details about her save the adjectives).
As someone who reads many, many reviews (not all of whom I agree with, of course) I assure you I can separate between my personal opinion of the reviewed content and my opinion of the review itself, and like those before me, I feel this review (and perhaps the reviewer) could definitely improve their style (no, not their score).
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