Bara wo Karasu Te de Boku wo dake

Bara wo Karasu Te de Boku wo Dake is a shoujo one-shot that attempts to do something a little different but ultimately was not as interesting as it could have been. Since this is a one-shot and not a full series, the review won't be too long. Story - 4 The story doesn't have much direction, which is the primary reason I don't particularly like it or think it will be serialized as a full series. Of course as a new reader you go in knowing absolutely nothing, and the story is told almost as if the author remembers, "Oh wait the readers don't knowthat" and tries to drop a random bit of information somewhere. The story is also told from the male character's point of view, which is a nice change but Makoto still thinks similarly to how a normal female protagonist in a shoujo manga would, just a lot less "kyaaa~"-ing. The author really tries to keep you interested, and succeeds to a small degree. Given the synopsis, I thought the story could be a lot more entertaining than it actually was. Art - 5 The art is pretty standard for a shoujo manga and overall pretty to look at. The character designs aren't anything special. Makoto is virtually indistinguishable from a million other male characters. Alice isn't anything special either. Character - 6 This is the thing the manga did best in my opinion. Makoto, the MC and the POV through which the story is mostly told, is fairly intriguing. He's devoted and cares a lot about Alice, which I like. Alice comes of as really bratty and annoying at first, but she even gets a bit of character development and I come to actually like her afterwards. The reason I gave it a 6 was because the characters weren't phenomenal in any way, but they were presented very nicely. Enjoyment - 4 I read this to waste some time, and though I went in with a bit of a higher expectation than what I actually got given the premise, it ultimately accomplished just that. It was kind of boring other than the characters, and I did think "I just want this to end already" once or twice, even though it's only a one-shot. I didn't hate it or love it, and it didn't elicit any kind of response from me. Overall - 5 This is a decent one-shot if you're looking to waste time. Don't go in expecting anything revolutionary. It's vaguely interesting enough to keep you reading but overall has no real substance to it and isn't as engaging as it could have been. Expect the characters to be the only reason you even read this, and don't even expect them to be anything but slightly better than average either. Most everything about this is average or below average, but it is an alright one-shot overall if you don't go in with any special expectations.