Kiss of the Rose Princess

I LOVED THIS MANGA (This review may include spoilers) Seriously I have read few manga and this is by far one of the best. I love the idea of the knights being able to be summoned using the cards. This is what drew me in to this manga. I also love the storyline because it's not simple, there are many twists and turns which keeps it exciting. I also love the boys too. Kaede, Tenjoh, Mutsuki and, Seiran. They all have such great and complex personalities and they are such a laugh. OMG and Anis is just, I love her so much. She is my idol. I also love thefact this manga made me laugh hysterically and cry hysterically. It really did pull the emotions out of me which is just another reason I love it. I will say this though, at the end, shit just gets real weird, real fast I was like, whatttt, throughout most of the end chapters and then right at the end the shit just depleted, to be honest I was slightly confused from all the twists the plot took. I guess if I were to fault it, I would say that perhaps the back story about how the knights became knights would have been some things that maybe could have been included because I did wonder how it all worked. Also perhaps the ending could have not been so rushed because it did feel like at the end it was just a rush to fit everything in and it did ruin the effect a little bit. So yeah, exploring the knights a little more and a less rushed ending would have been nice but that's about all the faults I have really. So overall I just love this manga and I truly find it difficult to fault and while some may not share my love for it and that is fine, I don't tend to judge anything on the reviews it gets as everyone has different tastes and this manga just happened to fit mine.

Considering how hit-or-miss (heavy on the "miss") reverse harems can be, I went into this one with low expectations. I was pleasantly surprised at how charming the story and characters turned out to be. >Story-------------------8 I think what makes Barajou no Kiss work so well is that it never really takes itself too seriously. In that sense, it kind of reminded me of Ouran High School Host Club. Not because the plots are in any way similar--they're definitely worlds apart despite being reverse harems--but because it starts out as a pretty solid comedy and gradually works in the drama and romance as thestory progresses without ever losing the funny moments. That way you never really get overloaded with a bunch of heavy feelings from characters you're not even attached to yet. Unfortunately, the ending did feel a little rushed and anticlimactic to me, and left a lot of questions unanswered. I think it could have benefited from an extra chapter or two explaining exactly who "The Society" was and how the power structure within it came to be. And how exactly all the "bonding" stuff worked because that got pretty confusing near the end. >Art---------------------10 Very shoujo, very pretty. Details where necessary, but not so many that your eyes get confused. Character designs were all distinct, so I never questioned who I was looking at. The color pages were absolutely stunning. I actually enjoyed looking at the extra pages and cover art, which is very rare for me. >Character-------------8 I thought the character development was pretty interesting. Normally you get Introduction>Backstory>Growth, but here it's all kind of mixed in together. You learn new things about the characters' pasts right up until the last chapter, but you get to see them grow and change before you even really get to know who they are. It was neat, and ended up being a lot less shallow than I initially thought. As another reviewer pointed out, the characters aren't cliche-free, but the cliches are done well in my opinion. However, as is often the case with harems, some characters are prioritized over others. I think the mangaka did a very good job playing that balancing act between the main cast members, but inevitably some will just get more development and page time. If you happen to really like one of the less fortunate characters, you might be a little disappointed. I have mixed feelings about the heroine. On the one hand, she spends a majority of the story as just a damsel and pointing out how stupid she is. On the other hand, she doesn't ACT helpless, and actually has a pretty fiery personality. She doesn't really get tied down by the romance, either, which is a superhuman feat when you're surrounded by superhuman beauties. Overall, she's not a BAD heroine, but I wouldn't call her GREAT, either. She's acceptable. Good, maybe. And funny. >Enjoyment------9 Once I got through a few chapters, I couldn't put it down again until I was finished. The last few chapters were a little bit of a chore, but I thoroughly enjoyed the ride up to that point. Since I don't normally get that into reverse harems, I think anyone who enjoys them would absolutely LOVE it. Also highly recommend to fans of puns and popculture references.

Now, I thought I was going to give this manga an 8 or 9, but after reading the ending I had to give it a 7. Story: 7 The story starts off with Anis, who has a choker that is suppose to protect her from some punishment. However, it suddenly disappears when she's out on the school grounds, and then she has the power to summon her knights. That is what initially caught my attention and it was interesting! From having to fight off other people and help protect the world (that's how I saw it as) and then finding out more backstory of different characters, thatwas the interesting part of the manga. However, I felt like this could have been longer and more drawn out, because I felt it was almost all over the place with some aspects. I felt more romance could have developed as well, because there was some! I also thought that even the fighting in it could have been more in-depth. Even the ending left me a little bitter. However, it was a page turning manga during some parts, but the story itself could been explained more. Art: 10 I loved the art. No doubt about it! Character: 9 I loved all the characters. I do wish some characters had more time in the manga and I felt the story of her dad was a little rushed. But I did love learning of the 4 knights and there story! Besides Kaede, he didn't really get a back story like the rest. They were all silly and you could see just how much they loved Anis. Enjoyment: 8 I stayed up til 4 to finish this because it was enjoying to read, and I thought the ending would be great. Overall: 7 I just honestly felt the ending was a little bleh. It was good, but not great. As much as I want to give this an 8 or higher, I just felt the ending was lacking in some sense. BUT!!! I would still recommend this manga.