The Best to Worst Ranked Manga: Part Four

Welcome to Part Four, where I tackle the next two series on my list:

• No. 48: Koten-bu Series (with a score of 8.67)
• No. 14,623: Naa-tan to Goshujin-tama (with a score of 5.41)

For the first article in this series, please see here.

For the last article in the series, please see here.

Koten-bu Series

Better known through it’s anime counterpart, Hyouka, Koten-bu Series is the original format of this series and rather then being a manga, actually consists of light novels. The series is still ongoing at the time of writing – it’s initial publication began back in 2001 and about six volumes available. The anime itself has received a lot of praise, and whilst it’s not one I’ve ever watched myself, it’s been on my radar for some time, particularly because it was produced by Kyoto Animation.

I was looking forward to reading this series, especially as it fell under the mystery genre, but ultimately I found this to be a rather uninspiring read. The series does follow mysteries which take place around the school with our lazy protagonist, Oreki, reluctantly solving them but the whole tone is much lighter and more in the slice-of-life category then I was expecting. I really wanted to like the series but I didn’t really warm to the main quartet of characters and I found Oreki to be a frustrating protagonist – his whole personality is based around him being uninterested in most things and watching the others attempt to solve the mysteries before coming in at the last moment to solve it himself. There was a bit of variation throughout but this sequence of events happened enough times that it got old very fast and I would find myself just wanting to skip to the end to see the solution.

This series actually hit me with my first real stumbling block so far in this challenge – I really found it hard to keep reading this series as I found it interested me so little. I had originally planned to not drop any series but after this experience have decided to amend this slightly for my own sanity – if I am really not liking a series I will attempt to at least get halfway through to judge it. After that if I’m still not sold, I can happily put it to one side and move onto the next in my list. Koten-bu as a light novel series was a much longer time sink then a manga and so I read the first three volumes before deciding I’d read enough to know my thoughts on it. The mysteries themselves didn’t really catch my attention either and ultimately I found this series a hard one to finish as I just couldn’t find much to keep me invested or interested in what minimal plot there was. I’m intrigued as to whether the anime presents the mysteries in a more compulsive way but I suspect I am probably just not the right audience for this one as I prefer more intriguing and deadly mystery stories then ones which deal with everyday occurrences.

Naa-tan to Goshujin-tama

And so, onto the ‘worst’ ranked manga – much like last article’s this one is another short one-shot rather than a whole series. It follows a man who recently broke up with his girlfriend after she cheated on him, and finds a girl in a high school uniform on the street, asking to be taken home by someone. Of course, he does so and thus the two begin to live together and form an… unusual relationship.

Yes, this chapter is about as problematic and borderline-porn as it sounds. The girl herself insists she is 19 and not a high school student, but we learn very little about her and our protagonist doesn’t ever really seem interested in questioning her or why she was on the street in the first place. Matters aren’t really helped that for the majority of the chapter, the girl is incredibly passive showing little personality and essentially acting just as a servant to fulfil the  protagonists’ needs and desires. Our protagonist too is similarly bland with little to make him stand out from just an average guy. There’s a small twist towards the end which finally develops the girl’s character somewhat and changes the status quo which made the series end on something of a bizarre offbeat note. Any attempts to make the romance actually work in this fell quite flat as due to the situation their relationship comes across more as creepy and about manipulation then any real feelings between each other.

The series’ only selling point really is it’s art style which is quite nice but ultimately there isn’t really much else going for it and as it’s only a one shot we don’t spend enough time with any of the characters to really get much of a feel for them. Ultimately the plotline for this manga dealt with some pretty twisted characters and problematic situations so it’s not one I could say I would ever recommend to anyone.

My Rating

Koten-bu Series: 6/10

Naa-tan to Goshujin-tama: 3/10

My conclusions: Ironically both of these rating fall much lower than their rating on MAL, though Koten-bu series does manage to still beat Naa-tan to Goshujin-tama by a long shot.

See you in the next article in the series when I rate:

• No. 47: Hunter x Hunter
• No. 14,624: Tetsu no Shojo Jun / Iron Virgin Jun