Marmalade boy

Artist: YOSHIZUMI Wataru

Volumes: 8

Status: Complete

Year: 1992

Miki Koishikawa is an ordinary highschool student living in an ordinary Japanese family when she is suddenly confronted with a new and completly reverse way of living: her parents (calmly) anounce they are having a divorce and remarry another couple who has separated from one another. Basically they are going to switch partners and live toghether in the same house as Miki and the couple's son Yuu. Even though Miki starts to be completely against these events she begins to accept them as a way of letting her parents be happy with their new partners. In spite of that acceptance she promises herself that he is going to keep a safe distance of that crazy family and crazier son of the other couple, Yuu. How can she be so distant when her heart is falling for Yuu, her new brother?

When it comes to character development I have to say it is a very deep one. The problems of these people evolve you so deeply that you actually feel compassionate for them an their struggle to be toghether. Their problems are so big that you just want to know more, in order to end them and just let these two be happy once and for all. The characters are few and some of their endings are different in the anime and the manga, being as well fully developed and understood. The closer the characters are from Yuu and Miki, the more indepth you get to see their stories and love quarries.

When it comes to artwork I am usually very picky. The clothes of the characters are extremely dated and they are very poorly dressed. In spite of the terrible outfits, everyone is very well drawn, very enchanting and very beautiful. The main Bishounen of this manga are Yuu, Ginta and even Morisato-kun and I would live with anyone of them for the rest of my life, if of course they were real! The female characters are also quite atractive but you can see that this is a nineties manga by the looks of the drawing of the Mangaka. The backgrounds are often low on detail and sometimes non existing, which you sometimes end up not caring since the proporciones of the characters, their hairs, lines, eyes and expression are very nicely done and satisfying enough for a shoulo lover like myself

The storyline is easy to follow, Miki and Yuu's relationship is in fact the main focus of the whole manga but the side characters are quite developed as well, not stealing the spotlight of those special two.

Finally, when comparing the anime and the manga one has to say that the anime is way longer than the original piece. The 92 (?) episodes are actually quite boring and less intense than the manga, that by being shorter is easily more intense and straight to the point. The story in the manga and the anime is... kinda the same but in the anime it has more fillers and more relationships that in the manga simply dont exist. The side characters are less in depth in the manga than in the anime which is good because as I stated before, they don't steal the spotlight of Miki and Yuu's relationship. In terms of artwork there are hardly any changes from the manga to the anime, but the colour of the anime actually wins (for me) over the black and white manga.

Since it was the first anime of shoujo that I watched it was only natural that it would be the first one I would review. And does it bring back memories! When my personal opinion is concerned I have to say that I love the manga. I read it so many times and I really like how the characters are desingned and developed being also a cute story that will always remain in my mind. The manga is way better than the anime, that is excessively extent and that bores you to death by the first 30 episodes. It is a little dated but I believe it will remain timeless for years to come. because of the story and the real history of the manga itself.

The manga was firstly released in 1992 by Ribon and it has 8 volumes, being already a complete story. You can buy them from Tokyopop (English), Grupo Editorial Vid or Planeta de Agostini Comics (Spanish), Egmont (German), Glenat Benelux (Dutch) and Sharp point Press (Chinese). If you're like me and live in Portugal you can always buy them online from Amazon.com (english) or Fnac.es (Spanish).

Final thoughs?

Storyline - 3+

Artwork - 4

Love development - pure romance

Final Grade - 4