Countrouble

- - - S T O R Y - - - This manga starts out pretty decently. The first chapter is actually quite good. It makes it seem like this is gonna be a story about a foolish boy who demands shortcuts, but unwittingly learns that his own effort and hard work will pay off more than any shortcut ever could. It's cool since it tells you a fun and romantic story while still having that meaning to it. The chapters each progress with a new gimmick, each involving some silly magic and some absurd consequence. Things are good for a while, but then the storysorta loses its focus with the introduction of new characters and opponents. The romance dies away and the story turns into an ecchi harem. In one scene, a girl is extremely horny, drooling, and basically trying to force herself upon the main character. There are some other stupid things like panty flashing and the main character having really shallow wishes, such as trying to force Yoshizawa to kiss him with magic, or trying to force her to show her breasts to him with magic. I thought the story was good when it actually seemed like it was gonna be about romance, not some little pervert with a rapist's mindset. Overall, it still wasn't bad, but things went over the top near the end of the manga. There was straight up nudity out of nowhere. When I first heard about this manga, I heard it was a romance story, not ecchi, not harem, and not porn. Needless to say, the porn was uncalled for and added nothing to the story - it was merely fan service. The ending feels out of character and unsatisfying. - - - A R T - - - The characters don't look too interesting. Girls blush a lot to try and look sexy or something. Yoshizawa's hair looks detailed and cool, though. - - - C H A R A C T E R S - - - They start out decently, but they don't develop much and end up feeling pretty bland and repetitive. Yoshizawa's character changes significantly for the worse. Whenever the main character does something offensive or inexcusable, he basically just tells her "I can't tell you why I just cheated on you, but I swear there's a good reason for it", and she stupidly just agrees with it and forgives him. She becomes a total ditz; she doesn't question anything he does, which just makes this feel like some loser's fantasy instead of a romance story. He never bothers to tell her the truth about the magic when a lover should be honest about important stuff like that. Yoshizawa becomes even worse later on, though, turning into someone with no self-esteem, just desperate to please him in any way, even when the magic makes him verbally abuse her and make her feel like shit. She lets herself be walked all over completely. It's as if the author thinks we're morons and that we'll accept any half-assed plot like that, too. Overall, it's decent, but the hentai, anti-romance, poorly executed ending, and Yoshizawa being a retard have caused me to give this a low score.

In anime and manga, love tends to be one of the weirdest things to happen. This manga is no exception. Enter, Kouta Matsushiro who happens to have a crush on his classmate and is terrible at him trying to get her attention. One day a cupid (or rather a witch) named Sasara shows up in Kouta's life in order to solve his issue. Only problem is, her magic sucks. It leaves Kouta in often akward, yet funny situations where nothing he does goes according to plan. Story: The story is pretty straight forward, guy falls in love with girl but fails to grab her attention.In comes cupid (witch) in order his problems. The story takes a turn a bit more than your typical romance manga in which the main character uses "Love Magic" in which certain requirements have to be met, such as "Pat your crushes head 10 times" or "Get your crush to say 'thank you' 10 times" Art: Typical with occasional emphasis to detail on some chapters. Characters: The characters were pretty funny and enjoyable to watch them in certain situations. Even the angels had their own running joke that doesn't get stale. Enjoyment: I found myself reading more and more until I was finally done. Overall: This is definitely one of many romance mangas I wouldn't hesitate to re-read for the sake of the enjoyable comedic situations and characters. The ending made it well worth reading. Definitely one for romance comedy fans.

Countrouble follows the story of a boy who gets a visit from a cupid like angel Sasara, who then proceeds to serve as matchmaker between him and the girl of his dreams. She then proceeds to wreck havoc with his life, often casting love spells that all are dependent on the number 10 for some reason. I can't say this manga is unique in anyway, but it wasn't the worst thing I've ever read. It's a fairly "by number" (no pun intended) harem/romance anime. It sits more on the romance side than the harem side, as he is fairly singularly focused on one girl, andmost of the other girls interested in him don't really develop. I felt as I read this manga that the author never really had a plan for it. He wanted to do a love cupid thing, started it, and then kind of just threw stuff around whenever he felt like it. In the end, you end up with a plot that can really only be described as scatterbrained. It's coherent and easy to follow, but there seemed to be no plan. This becomes apparent the farther the author gets into it. He'll introduce side characters only to have them just disappear. A good half of them never develop properly. His childhood friend, which makes the major source of conflict in the first half of the manga, seemingly just disappears when it becomes plot convenient, as does her angel, who was working in opposition of the MC's cupid. The entire story has this flow. Nothing gets foreshadowed. The author decides suddenly he wants one character to have a sister, that sister just happens to show up and be used for the duration of that chapter. There is never any sign of development building over multiple chapters. Sometimes, he'll even backpedal relationships, forgetting events that already happened. From a humor perspective, the manga is self aware, making fun of it's own genre and breaking the 4th wall from time to time. However, the story never really became much better for it. By chapter 20, I was ready for the whole thing to be over. The characters themselves seemed to even realize this, one character stating that the only reason she was still there was because otherwise the manga would be over. Sorry, if even the author realizes he's out of story and just stretching it, making a joke about it doesn't negate the fact that that's what you're doing. On the plus side, the manga is well drawn and amusing and is a nice light read. If you're looking for a light romance, with some comedy, and very light harem, this would be a good one for you. It's kind of like the junk food of the manga world. It's not going to win awards, but it'll keep you entertained and satisfied.