Comic☆Studio

A sweet romantic story about a mangaka-wannabe and his job at a small studio. PROS - It's a light-hearted funny and romantic type of manga - Relationship starts early in the manga and ACTUALLY PROGRESSES - Main heroine is 20 years old but looks and sometimes acts like a child - Main male character is actually useful, sometimes bold and likeable - Interesting side characters - Kind of rushed ending but still very satisfying- Art is quite Moe CONS - Only 24 Chapters - Since it's so short the story sometimes feels rushed - Main heroine is 20 years old but looks and sometimes acts like a child. (This is really just your preference) - Side characters do get development but not a lot Overall - A manga which you will enjoy if you like sweet romance stories. The ending is satisfying enough to not leave you feeling a lack of closure.

There are a lot of manga out there with crazy stories, moe characters, and sometimes even giving us some rather sexual romances but this one is a little odd. To think they would actually take a moe character and make it the Mangaka of a manga all about fighting and battles is pretty interesting. Not to mention the age of the character or at least how old she looks like and acts. I almost feel sorry for both of the characters, Aihara for finding out exactly who wrote his stuff and Kenji to be judged by how she looks. I can’t blame Aihara for itthough because she does look like and act like a little kid. The sad part is that although they could have made the story interesting, they made it a standard Seinen romance instead. I would have loved to see it more of the type that Kenji actually creates then the cutesy little love story that it is. The whole idea of the two main characters getting together seems to go a bit to fast as from the moment that Aihara ends up on Kenji’s doorstep like a lost little puppy; she seemed to have feelings for him. Then its one misunderstanding after another as we have images of the two falling on top of each other and touching in the wrong areas. And then Kenji would do a standard tsundera answer of punching him or acting all tuff when really she is just like a lovesick child. Then we have the other two characters, one being a high school girl with a crush on Kenji and the other is a more responsible adult who seems to not have much say in what’s going on. Both of them are useless and just get in the way of the two main characters having a relationship. It reminds me a bit of the storyline for Ai Yori Aoshi where you just know from the beginning who was going to be with each other, the side characters were only forced in to make some comedy happen. I can see so much more conflict happening with pretty much anything else so why they fell back on adding extra’s for the conflict seems like it was just going for the fans. I do give them props though that all the girls are not throwing their panties at Aihara though. We at least have a character after Kenji while the other is just more of a parental character. Sadly, just when I thought that the manga was going to end with a really fitting meaning behind it, it just went on. I saw great promise with the end of one of the volumes only to be let down that the manga was still going on. They went into a very perverted area that I really think would have been much cuter if they had left it out (Doesn’t help that Kenji looks like a Lolita character as well). The actual ending was pretty good but somehow, I feel a bit bothered by how the ending summed up. I wish it had more of an underlining meaning like what it had in the middle because some of the rest of the manga felt forced. In my mind, it just should of ended at volume 3 and not had the 4th volume since the last one lacked something. There were also things that I didn’t really understand as they use a lot of manga trade lingo that I have not really learned yet, things like ‘name’ made me feel confused. I thought that it was a rough draft or the basic idea of how the manga would go but then there are times when Kenji is working on it at the end of working on that version of the manga. These questions were not answered anywhere in the manga so I just couldn’t figure it out. The artwork is actually very pretty with really good shading and nice detail work. I actually think it looks like one of the better of the manga’s I’ve read. Still, the male is slightly bland and the girls are all set for the fans with the moe, the tomboy, and the mature adult and with the rather ‘hot’ looking scenes, its hard to take it as different then any other manga out there with this style of story.

if you like funny story, tsundere moe character, plain male mc, ecchi but not harem, and lighthearted yet still have progress romance on it's story, then this manga is perfect for you. aihara minoru is a mangaka "wannabe" who admire takakura kenji, a mangaka who made manga ultimate banchou, but the person who make it turn out to be a moe tsundere girl. the rest of the story is about mc, the other fellow assistants, and the mangaka ichiko spend their time making manga and do their funny daily live. it's really enjoyable manga, the comedy was good, romance really developed well enough and the ending isreally satisfying. nothing could go wrong with this type of manga, they don't have annoying character, drama, or anything that may ruined the enjoyment of the series.

The basic plot is fairly familiar: young man wants to become a mangaka, takes a job working for his favorite artist who turns out to be a young woman, they fall in love. And along the way, there are a number of jokes about breast size, there are beach and onsen episodes, there are jokes about moe culture... basically all the things that you would expect from a shounen or seinen romantic comedy. And Comic Studio does all of those things about as well as the next seinen rom-com. All that being said, there are three things that distinguish Comic Studio from the restof the pack: 1) Some attention is given to the actual details of creating manga as a team, as opposed to idolizing the "artistic genius working alone" myth that is often perpetuated. 2) The love story here is somewhat original, especially for a seinen rom-com. While told from Minoru's perspective, it's clear (to the reader, anyway) Ichiko has a serious crush on him from very early on in the manga. Telling a story from the perspective of the perused--rather than the pursuer, is unusual for a seinen manga and makes the love story seem fresh. 3) Ichiko, despite being 20, looks like a child. Surely this will appeal to some and turn others off, especially when it comes to the more ecchi moments. So is Comic Studio a good, enjoyable manga? I thought so. It is certainly no worse than any other in it's genre, and I found the romance aspect of it particularly refreshing. I did find the loli aspect a bit troubling, which is why I don't consider this to be a great manga. But for a seinen romantic comedy, it's well above average.