Kashimashi 4
February 23, 2008
Hm. I’m really not too happy with this series anymore after this volume. There was a secret revealed at the end of volume three that had the possibility to wring a lot of emotion out of the characters, get some romance going, and break up some of the relationship triangles that are going on. Also, I like a sad ending, so I thought the end of volume three may be a good direction for things.
I know I said that I kind of liked the girls holding hands and flirting with each other, but the secret from the end of the last chapter robbed the series of its light-heartedness, which is what I liked so much. It doesn’t work so well as a sad story. I think it would have worked very well for a few chapters, but a few chapters is not what we get. We get an entire volume of cheesy sadness.
The secret was wrung out for everything it was worth in this volume. Nothing was resolved, and nothing happened. The entire volume was spent rehashing everyone’s feelings for Hatsumu over and over and over again. Things you may expect, like trips taken and gifts given, are stretched out as long as possible and occupy the entire volume when it is really only enough for a chapter or two. There are a couple significant events hinted at, like characters leaving and stuff like that, but these things aren’t resolved or don’t go anywhere. This was the worst kind of stall and/or tease.
I’m willing to believe that I’ll probably like the series resolution, because it still has its occasional bizarre elements, and the relationships are still decent, but my enthusiasm was definitely robbed after reading this volume.
February 26, 2008 at 8:19 pm
[...] Yagyu Ninja Scrolls at Manga Jouhou. At Slightly Biased Manga, Connie reviews vol. 2 of Presents, vol. 4 of Kashimashi, and vol. 5 of Golgo 13. Lissa Pattillo checks out vol. 1 of Level C and writes a thoughtful and [...]