It’s time for a new set of mini reviews! I went on a bit of a manga binge recently and I also managed to finally pick up The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness! Take a look at what I thought of these titles in a few mini-reviews below!

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Ten Count, Volume 2-5 by Rihito Takarai

I went on a binge and read volumes 2-5 all at once so I’m rating these 4 volumes as a whole. (To see my mini-review of volume 1, click here.)

This series is very problematic. Shirotani is forced into doing things after saying “stop” or “no” on multiple occasions. While sure, maybe he eventually wanted Kurose to do things to him…it didn’t start out that way. While this series has its issues, it’s pretty fast paced and an easy read. I wanted to know what happened next, mainly because I hoped the storyline would change for the better…but so far, it has not.

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A Silent Voice, Volume 1 by Yoshitoki Oima

I decided to read A Silent Voice on a whim when I noticed it was on sale via comixology! I’ve been on a manga kick lately and I’ve been trying to find new series to enjoy. It’s been a little tough, especially because I’m still trying to figure out what genre I most enjoy in manga format. I had been exploring with a few different genres when I came across A Silent Voice. It seemed like a cute manga that was maybe intended for a slightly younger teen audience which is a genre that I hadn’t read in manga format yet. It also had an interesting concept that intrigued me.

A Silent Voice deals with bullying and just mean kids in general. These kids make fun of a young girl who is new to their class just because she’s deaf and uses hearing aids. This first volume really showcased how awful kids can be, especially at an elementary school level. This storyline is all a flashback though as our main character is now a teen starting high school…and guess who he ran into all these years later. The girl he bullied and made fun of those years ago.

I feel like this first volume was the start of something great. It was a little slow for me, but it was providing us with the backstory before it jumped into the two characters reuniting.

While this wasn’t the best manga I have ever read, I’m excited to continue and to see where the story goes!

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The Rest Of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness

I’m not really sure how I feel about this one if I’m being honest. It was definitely good and it was really fast paced, but there was just something about it that felt off for me. I think this entire story could have worked without the subplot of the indie kids…unless I’m missing something? I just didn’t understand that storyline at all. It was a little obscure, which is something that I would normally probably enjoy…but it just felt strange here.

The “normal” characters were alright and I enjoyed reading about them, but none of them really stood out for me. They were just average which I guess is the point. I did really like how this story dealt with anxiety and other mental illnesses as these were the moments that felt the most realistic. This could have been a great coming of age story, but there was just too many strange things going on that interrupted that. Unless maybe I’m missing some sort of deeper meaning here.

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There you have it! A few mini reviews for some recently read titles of mine! Have you read any of these? What did you think!?

Thank you for reading!