It's Monday and time for Manga Mondays! Manga Mondays is a meme hosted by Alison at Alison Can Read where
bloggers can share their passion for reading mangas. It's a great place
to get new manga titles to try and to meet new bloggers. I haven't found a series that I want to dive in and read so I'm trying a few different series in hopes that one of them would grab my attention.
Description: Yume desperately wants
to follow in her mother's footsteps and become a magic user in the worst
way! She innocently practices using magic to help the people she
encounters: struggling soccer players, the wrongly incarcerated, and a
student who wants to show his moon-loving teacher a lunar eclipse on a
cloudy evening. On this coming-of-age journey filled with genuine
imagination and a passionate sense of awe, follow Yume as she learns
that the true magic in life can take place right inside her own heart.
Review: Someday's Dreamers has great potential of being a great manga, unfortunately it is very slow, bland, and confusing. The world-building aspect of the story is very interesting albeit unfinished. I wasn't exactly sure how things worked in this world of magic and mages. The characters also seemed to have depth and interesting motivations. This manga has a hard time deciding whether it wanted to be an action-packed magical adventure series, a deep character study, or even a combination of both of these. The story refuses to dig into either the world or the characters and instead it meanders around on these small episodes, occasionally giving us tantalizing hints of depth, but then just as soon pulling away. The basic story that I got from this volume is a kindhearted girl named Yume travels to Tokyo to further her training as a magic user. With the guidance of her teacher, Masami Oyamada, she takes on different clients to grant them wishes closest to their heart.
As I mentioned earlier the pacing is a bit off in this series. There are a plethora of flashbacks, but it's not always clear that they are flashbacks. On the plus side, I did think the artwork was nicely done but there were a few panels that I found hard to read because there was so much crammed into them. Even though Someday's Dreamers is a two volume series, I didn't feel think this story grabbed me enough to pick up the next volume. I will try and see, however, if there is an anime based on the series that I might watch instead.
Rating: 2 stars
Words of Caution: None. Recommended for strong Grade 5 readers and up.
If you like this book try: Someday's Dreamer: Spellbound series by Norie Yamada
Review: Someday's Dreamers has great potential of being a great manga, unfortunately it is very slow, bland, and confusing. The world-building aspect of the story is very interesting albeit unfinished. I wasn't exactly sure how things worked in this world of magic and mages. The characters also seemed to have depth and interesting motivations. This manga has a hard time deciding whether it wanted to be an action-packed magical adventure series, a deep character study, or even a combination of both of these. The story refuses to dig into either the world or the characters and instead it meanders around on these small episodes, occasionally giving us tantalizing hints of depth, but then just as soon pulling away. The basic story that I got from this volume is a kindhearted girl named Yume travels to Tokyo to further her training as a magic user. With the guidance of her teacher, Masami Oyamada, she takes on different clients to grant them wishes closest to their heart.
As I mentioned earlier the pacing is a bit off in this series. There are a plethora of flashbacks, but it's not always clear that they are flashbacks. On the plus side, I did think the artwork was nicely done but there were a few panels that I found hard to read because there was so much crammed into them. Even though Someday's Dreamers is a two volume series, I didn't feel think this story grabbed me enough to pick up the next volume. I will try and see, however, if there is an anime based on the series that I might watch instead.
Rating: 2 stars
Words of Caution: None. Recommended for strong Grade 5 readers and up.
If you like this book try: Someday's Dreamer: Spellbound series by Norie Yamada
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I just finished a book like this Rummanah - one that had a ton of potential and hinted at layers to the story and characters, but we always moved on before we actually got to dig through those layers and see what they were all about. Hope the next Manga series you pick up is more successful!
Oh too bad. I might have to check this one out and see if I can watch the series. I do like that cover so I can see the appeal of the artwork.
Wow, only two volumes? I've found that I often need to read several volumes before deciding on whether I like a series - unless I really hate the first one. it's kind of like a TV pilot. Or I still kind of dislike the series, but after reading several volumes, I'm attached enough that I keep going anyway. But that's different when there are only two volumes.