Diabolik Lovers Anthology

Well, this improved greatly from the anime. If you watched the anime (like me) and got here, then stick around, because this might still be more to your liking. I didn't like the anime. I will never rewatch it because it was honestly a waste of time and I just wanted to get through it. I didn't like the nonconsensual stuff going on, I didn't like how none of the characters had any character other than being sadists, the main character was a blank slate and never resisted anything, and as a girl, I kind of found it demeaning to watch when she was beingtreated that was but being at piece with it. However, while the manga isn't good by any means, I can definitely say it was a step up. To begin with, I would like to put out there that there honestly isn't any story line. It's more of a collection of one-shots depending on who your favorite character is. Kind of like fanfiction, if you've every read any. The art is alright. There were a few chapters (especially one of the Ryeji ones) that were so badly drawn that it was hilarious. I'm not sure if it was a different author, or if it was done at a different time... I don't know, but it was such sad art that I couldn't stop laughing. There was also a lot of disproportional bodies in some parts of the manga, though in other parts, the art was almost beautiful. The low score is more for the inconsistency, really. The characters. Boy, oh boy. Like I said, these were basically one-shots, so there wasn't a lot of development. That being said, Yui was much more tolerable here and I didn't feel like I was betraying womankind by reading this. While Yui still outwardly says no (so technically not consent) she admits to secretly liking the treatment and being a masochist. This makes the rest of the plot much more tolerable and understandable. The guys, while they still act without Yui's consent, give off more of a BDSM-style aura instead of a rapist aura. I prefer this a lot to the anime. While some of the boys (I still hate Kanato) are pretty much the same as the anime, here, some of them are given some character, more feelings, etc. A lot better. I didn't enjoy it enough to give it a super high score, and there were a few chapters that were terribly drawn or just made me super uncomfortable, but there were parts of the manga that I wouldn't mind reading again. They weren't too bad. The score dropped mostly because of the characters. None of them were nice to Yui, even if they were considerably better than the anime versions of themselves. On top of that, while Yui secretly enjoys everything, she never actually gives her consent (save for a few times), but the guys think it's okay to go ahead anyways. I might just be being picky, I don't know, but I don't really feel like this deserves more than a 4. I would recommend this if: you're into anything BDSMy, you like ditzy heroines, you like rough dudes, you like one-shots, you don't need a large overarching plot I would NOT recommend if: you're relatively vanilla, you like character and development, you wanted plot, you want a long series with overarching themes Have a great day everyone!