FullMaPla

Cool-kyou Shinja is a name that many people in the anime, or at the very least the manga community, know. Some only know them as the person, who loves drawing characters with big breasts. But many, myself included, consider them to be one of the best Slice-of-Life authors of all time who can write amazing characters and equally amazing relationships between them. Even if one of them never says a single word… The story is pretty simple. It follows social and energetic girl Kyou and Makoto, who never talks, except with signs with the numbers 1-10, rating things. The manga stays pretty simple, as it justfollows these two, with each chapter dealing with a small adventure or situation they have and how by the end of it, both of them end up getting even closer than before. But because of the rather simple premise, the manga can build on the storys greatest strength...the growing friendship between the two leads. While there aren’t any major conflicts or big drama or anything like that, the story still manages to get a lot of good moments and good messages about friendship across. The art is typically Cool-kyou Shinja, with it looking fairly...ok. Their art was probably always one of their manga's weakest aspects, but it’s not ugly or anything like that. You still get what’s going on, how the characters feel (which is especially important, considering one of them doesn’t talk) and the occasional panel does get the emotion of a certain moment right and help make it stronger. This manga doesn’t have many noteworthy characters and the ones that are important are all likable and full of personality. Especially our two main-leads. Kyou is a fun main-character because of how energetic and social she is and how genuinely she tries to be a good friend for Makoto. Makoto, despite not speaking, is also full of personality. She’s sarcastic, she can easily get annoyed and, even though she only uses signs, has a pretty sharp tongue. Add to these two a few characters that don’t really have big appearances but still have some funny or interesting quirk and you get a pretty likable cast of characters. While this is a rather short series, I still would recommend and I consider it one of the authors best shorter works. And if you’re a fan of Cool-kyou Shinja, you’ll find everything you love about their work here too.