Title: Saikano Volume(s): 7 Creator(s): Shin Takahasi Format: Unflipped; Right-to-Left Publisher: VIZ, LLC. MSRP: $9.95 Genre(s): Science Fiction/Romance Rated: Mature (18+)   Buy From Amazon.com: Coming Soon Buy From Right Stuf International: Not Available

If there is one word I'd use to describe Shin Takahashi's manga hit "Saikano," it's odd. The series revolves around two characters: Shuji and Chise. Shuji is a typical nervous male teenager who doesn't understand women, and Chise is his shy and clumsy girlfriend. These two are currently dating, but hidden demons make their relationship a real chore. Shuji doesn't care much for life, has a low self-esteem, and he takes his frustrations out on people he probably shouldn't (most notably Chise). He wants to be a better person but he has no idea where to begin, and he doesn't understand what Chise sees in him. Chise is a really cute girl who gets average grades, says "sorry" a lot, and thinks that Shuji is, deep down inside, a great person to be with. Chise also has a dark secret that she keeps hidden from everyone, but I'll get to that later. As these two people go along in their relationship, Shuji realizes that he knows nothing about Chise, and Chise also doesn't know much about him. He is about to break up with Chise, but Chise suggests that they share a little bit about themselves in a diary. And so they write something about themselves in this diary, give it to the other person, and so on and so on.

Eventually Shuji comes to realize (while looking over a beautiful view with Chise) that he really does care for Chise, and they both promise that they will just fall more and more in love. If it weren't for the fact that the story goes on, this would have been the perfect ending for the series, but the author just couldn't resist throwing a monkey wrench in the story. The monkey wrench that gets thrown at us is that we find out that Chise is actually some sort of ultimate weapon. Apparently, the military needed to turn her into a weapon so that they can use her to protect the small town from any threats. Not only that, but the military made it so that Chise would only get stronger as a weapon, making fighting evil her destiny or something like that. As you can expect, this news doesn't sit well with Shuji, and he and Chise end up running away together. But can you really run from your destiny? "Saikano" may sound like nothing more than a "he/she's an ultimate weapon of mass destruction whose destiny is to save the world" series, but "Saikano" is, at its core, a love story. It's a love story between two very different people, who are learning to fall in love with each other, except they have bigger romance obstacles then usual.

So far the relationship in this series is very interesting and touching. Shuji actually reminds me of myself when I was younger. Because whenever my (then) girlfriend worried me, I wanted to comfort her, but I would always end up saying something that hurt her feelings. The difference between her and Chise is that Chise is a lot more patient and understanding to the outbursts, while my ex-girlfriend was just simply understanding (long story behind that one). I found myself being able to relate to Shuji and his relationship, and the worry he has for Chise is so real, you swear you can feel it coming straight out of the book. Chise's plight is also very believable, and knowing what she has become definitely gives you a real understanding of why Chise doesn't open up to a lot of people. So as far as the relationship is concerned, I'm okay with this series. The problem I have is with everything else. The first problem I have comes with the fact that I'm just not getting into the whole ultimate weapon thing, the whole destiny to save the world story, and all these other things...or in simple terms, I'm not too excited about the monkey wrench at this point. I don't have anything against stories that are about someone having to save the world, it's just that the saving the world just seems to be getting in the way of the love story in this case (which is where the heart of the series lies).

I can understand that maybe the author wanted to try something different for this series, and I definitely applaud him for at least trying, but I have to be honest with you, the monkey wrench just feels out of place with a story like this. Keep in mind I don't think the twist is awful by any means, it just hasn't worked as well as it should have. My other main beef with this series is the artwork, which is pretty terrible to be completely honest with you. The artwork looks sloppy, jerky, messy, and unfinished. This terrible artwork makes it difficult to be able to see what is going on most of the time, backgrounds look empty and unfinished, and the characters look so ugly, they tend to bug me sometimes. I think that another person doing the art would have helped the series a lot in the long run. So is "Saikano" worth reading? I'm not completely sure. The romance works, and the characters are realistic and very likable, but the monkey wrench isn't working for me so far, and the artwork is so ugly, I can't stand it. Right now, "Saikano" is just between "Must Read" and "Don't Read," and I think that the only way you can decide whether you want to read this or not is to peek inside the book and see if you can stomach the artwork. If you can't, then I wouldn't buy it, as the artwork ends up being quite a big distraction, and you may not like the series as much as you could because of the artwork. But that's just my opinion; yours may differ.